The Symbol Table described in this section is inherited from the traditional COFF format. It is distinct from CodeView® information. A file may contain both a COFF Symbol Table and CodeView debug information, and the two are kept separate. Some Microsoft tools use the Symbol Table for limited but important purposes, such as communicating COMDAT information to the linker. Section names and file names, as well as code and data symbols, are listed in the Symbol Table.
The location of the Symbol Table is indicated in the COFF Header.
The Symbol Table is an array of records, each 18 bytes long. Each record is either a standard or auxiliary symbol-table record. A standard record defines a symbol or name, and has the following format:
| Offset | Size | Field | Description |
| 0 | 8 | Name (*) | Name of the symbol, represented by union of three structures. An array of eight bytes is used if the name is not more than eight bytes long. See Section 5.4.1, "Symbol Name Representation, " for more information. |
| 8 | 4 | Value | Value associated with the symbol. The interpretation of this field depends on Section Number and Storage Class. A typical meaning is the relocatable address. |
| 12 | 2 | SectionNumber | Signed integer identifying the section, using a one-based index into the Section Table. Some values have special meaning defined in "Section Number Values." |
| 14 | 2 | Type | A number representing type. Microsoft tools set this field to 0x20 (function) or 0x0 (not a function). See Section 5.4.3, "Type Representation," for more information. |
| 16 | 1 | StorageClass | Enumerated value representing storage class. See Section 5.4.4, "Storage Class," for more information. |
| 17 | 1 | NumberOfAuxSymbols | Number of auxiliary symbol table entries that follow this record. |
Zero or more auxiliary symbol-table records immediately follow each standard symbol-table record. However, typically not more than one auxiliary symbol-table record follows a standard symbol-table record (except for .file records with long file names). Each auxiliary record is the same size as a standard symbol-table record (18 bytes), but rather than define a new symbol, the auxiliary record gives additional information on the last symbol defined. The choice of which of several formats to use depends on the Storage Class field. Currently-defined formats for auxiliary symbol table records are shown in "Auxiliary Symbol Records."
Tools that read COFF symbol tables must ignore auxiliary symbol records whose interpretation is unknown. This allows the symbol table format to be extended to add new auxiliary records, without breaking existing tools.