Index: /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140904/Ohana/src/dvomerge/include/dvomerge.h
===================================================================
--- /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140904/Ohana/src/dvomerge/include/dvomerge.h	(revision 37789)
+++ /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140904/Ohana/src/dvomerge/include/dvomerge.h	(revision 37790)
@@ -41,4 +41,5 @@
 int    REPLACE_BY_PHOTCODE;
 int    FORCE_MERGE;
+char  *UPDATE_CATFORMAT;
 
 int    MATCHED_TABLES;
Index: /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140904/Ohana/src/dvomerge/src/args.c
===================================================================
--- /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140904/Ohana/src/dvomerge/src/args.c	(revision 37789)
+++ /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140904/Ohana/src/dvomerge/src/args.c	(revision 37790)
@@ -56,4 +56,11 @@
     FORCE_MERGE = TRUE;
     remove_argument (N, argc, argv);
+  }
+
+  UPDATE_CATFORMAT = NULL;
+  if ((N = get_argument (argc, argv, "-update-catformat"))) {
+    remove_argument (N, &argc, argv);
+    UPDATE_CATFORMAT = strcreate (argv[N]);
+    remove_argument (N, &argc, argv);
   }
 
Index: /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140904/Ohana/src/dvomerge/src/dvomergeUpdate_catalogs.c
===================================================================
--- /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140904/Ohana/src/dvomerge/src/dvomergeUpdate_catalogs.c	(revision 37789)
+++ /branches/eam_branches/ipp-20140904/Ohana/src/dvomerge/src/dvomergeUpdate_catalogs.c	(revision 37790)
@@ -175,7 +175,11 @@
       LoadCatalog (&outcatalog, outlist[0].regions[j], outcatalog.filename, "w", NsecfiltOutput);
 
-      // if no catalog already exists, use the input catalog to define the format
+      // if no catalog already exists, use the input catalog to define the format or the specified format
       if (outcatalog.Naves_disk == 0) {
-	outcatalog.catformat = incatalog.catformat;
+	if (UPDATE_CATFORMAT) {
+	  outcatalog.catformat = dvo_catalog_catformat (UPDATE_CATFORMAT);
+	} else {
+	  outcatalog.catformat = incatalog.catformat;
+	}
       }