In many cases, it is desirable for extended attributes (EAs) to store more than a single piece of information. For example, an extended attribute can store a list of names to which a document was sent. The multi-value formats specify how individual pieces of data are stored.

Data entries are length-preceded, making it easy to traverse a multi-valued list.

In order to allow EAs of different code pages, multi-valued EAs include a field in which the EA's code page is specified. For example, the code page field could be used to indicate that the comments for a Kanji file are written in Spanish. If this value is 0, the file default is assumed. (Code page data is for use by applications. OS/2 does not examine or use EA code page information.)

When the concept of a default applies to a multi-valued EA, the first entry in the list is assumed to be the default. For example, suppose an EA entry contains the strings "Text" and "C Code". "Text" is considered the default type. If "C Code" were the first entry in the list ("C Code" then "Text"), then "C Code" would be considered the default type.

There are three multi-valued EA data types:


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