Controls whether the original source definition of procedures, views, and event handlers is saved in system files. If saved, the formatted source is saved in the column source in SYSTABLE, SYSPROCEDURE, and SYSEVENT.
When PRESERVE_SOURCE_FORMAT is ON, the server saves the formatted source from CREATE and ALTER statements on procedures, views, and events, and puts original source definition in the source column of the appropriate system table.
Unformatted source text is stored in the same system tables, in the columns proc_defn, and view_defn. However, these definitions are not easy to read in Sybase Central. The formatted source column allows you to view the definitions with the spacing, comments, and case that you want.
This option can be turned off to reduce space used to save object definitions in the database. The option can be set only for the PUBLIC group.