The Draughts/checkers problem format describes a certain positition in draughts or checkers.

The computer reads and processes one line at a time. Junk at the end of a line is discarded. Each files begins with a number (this may be zero) of lines starting with a '#' character, followed by a tag and additional information.

If a line starts with a space, this means the current and the next 9 or 7 lines describe the board. The board is followed by either 'W' or 'B' to indicate who is to move, followed by the first move of the solution.

The board format:
  • Double spaces indicate a white field.
  • Double dots inclcate an empty black field.
  • A 'w'/'b' indicates a white/black piece.
  • A 'O'/'X' incicates a man/crown.
    The list format:
    All positions of white/black pieces are given in one line, seperated by a comma, ended with a dot. Crowns have a '*' attached.
    Possible tags:
  • 'DCP ', indentifies the file format, followed by a version number.
  • 'game: ', with string one of "draughts" or "checkers".
  • 'author: ', author or source of the problem.
  • '# ', a comment line.
  • 'format: ', with string one of 'board' or 'list'.

    Example file:

    # DCP 1.00
# game: draughts
# format: list
# author: unknown
# # this is a test
# # adsfasfd
  ..  ..  bO  ..  ..
bO  ..  ..  bO  ..
  ..  bO  ..  bO  bO
bO  ..  ..  bO  bO
  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..
bO  wO  wO  ..  ..
  ..  ..  wO  ..  wO
..  wO  wO  wO  ..
  ..  ..  wO  ..  ..
..  wO  wO  ..  ..  
W 37-31 (26x37) 27-21 (16x27) 28-22

    

    Another example:
    
# DCP 1.00
# game: draughts
# author: J. de Heer
# format: list
W: 27,28,31,32,34,35,40,42,43,48,49,50.
B: 02,04,09,13,16,19,20,23,24,25,26,45.
W 27-21 50-44 44-39