First attempts to use format_target as a config path or gets the default format
            if it's invalid or is empty.

        :param format_target: (str, list(str)), can be either a query path to a format
                                                or in format of a naming string the sections should be spaced around
                                                e.g. - this_is_a_naming_string
        :raises: IOError

def initialize_format_options(self, format_target=''):
        """ First attempts to use format_target as a config path or gets the default format
            if it's invalid or is empty.

        :param format_target: (str, list(str)), can be either a query path to a format
                                                or in format of a naming string the sections should be spaced around
                                                e.g. - this_is_a_naming_string
        :raises: IOError
        """
        try:
            if format_target:
                self.format = format_target
            else:
                raise errors.FormatError
        except errors.FormatError:
            self.format_string_object.swap_format(self.CFG.get(self.DEFAULT_FORMAT_PATH, return_type=str))