docs: def format_parameters(params):
      '''Reformat parameters into dict of format expected by the API.'''
  
      if not params:
          return {}
  
      # expect multiple invocations of --parameters but fall back
      # to ; delimited if only one --parameters is specified
      if len(params) == 1:
          if params[0].find(';') != -1:  # found
              params = params[0].split(';')
          else:
              params = params[0].split(',')
  
      parameters = {}
      for p in params:
          try:
              (n, v) = p.split('=', 1)
          except ValueError:
              msg = '%s(%s). %s.' % ('Malformed parameter', p,
                                     'Use the key=value format')
              raise exc.CommandError(msg)
  
          if n not in parameters:
              parameters[n] = v
          else:
              if not isinstance(parameters[n], list):
                  parameters[n] = [parameters[n]]
              parameters[n].append(v)
  
      return parameters