The first and foremost important step is understanding how the style file is laid out itself. The format is:
DIRECTIVE<whitespace>VALUE
Where <whitespace> is one or more spaces or tabs. There should be no spaces or tabs at the beginning of the line; all directives start at the left edge in column zero.
An example style format is shown here:
# Format: MS S&T 2002/2003
# Author: Alex Mottram
#   Date: 12/09/2002
#
DESCRIPTION 		Microsoft Streets and Trips 2002-2006
EXTENSION               txt
#
# FILE LAYOUT DEFINITIIONS:
#
FIELD_DELIMITER		TAB
RECORD_DELIMITER	NEWLINE
BADCHARS		,"
PROLOGUE	Name	Latitude	Longitude	Description	URL	Type	Container	Diff	Terr
#
# INDIVIDUAL DATA FIELDS, IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE:
# NOTE: MS S&T ONLY IMPORTS DATA, IT DOESN'T 
#       EXPORT THIS ANYWHERE SO WE CAN HAVE OUR 
#       WAY WITH THE FORMATTING. 
#
IFIELD	SHORTNAME, "", "%s"		# Name
IFIELD	LAT_DECIMAL, "", "%f"		# Latitude
IFIELD	LON_DECIMAL, "", "%f"		# Longitude
IFIELD	DESCRIPTION, "", "%s"		# Name 2 (Big Description)
IFIELD	URL, "", "%s"			# URL
IFIELD	GEOCACHE_TYPE, "", "%s"		# Geocache Type
IFIELD	GEOCACHE_CONTAINER, "", "%s"	# Geocache Type
IFIELD	GEOCACHE_DIFF, "", "%3.1f"	# Geocache Type
IFIELD	GEOCACHE_TERR, "", "%3.1f"	# Geocache Type
Each of these lines will be explained in the following sections.