Object oriented framework for specifying the format of compiler output with a template facility

The format of an output file from a compiler is altered using two new objects, a template definition file for specifying the desired formats for the sections of the output file and a template facility for formatting output from the compiler according to the template definition file. The desired formats are specified by patterned sets of symbol names in the template definition file. A symbol table which is maintained by the template facility stores a set of symbol values corresponding to the symbol names. The template facility outputs the section by placing symbol values from the symbol table in the output file according to the positions of the corresponding symbol names in the patterned sets of symbol names.