5.2.1 Outline

Instructions are translated into object codes (machine language) as a result of assembling, but directives are not converted into object codes in principle.

Directives contain the following functions mainly:

-

To facilitate description of source programs

-

To initialize memory and reserve memory areas

-

To provide the information required for assemblers and linkers to perform their intended processing

The following table shows the types of directives.

Type

Directives

Link directives

.SECTION, .GLB, .RVECTOR

Assembler directives

.EQU, .END, .INCLUDE

Address directives

.ORG, .OFFSET, .ENDIAN, .BLKB, .BLKW, .BLKL, .BLKD, .BYTE, .WORD, .LWORD, .FLOAT, .DOUBLE, .ALIGN

Macro directives

.MACRO, .EXITM, .LOCAL, .ENDM, .MREPEAT, .ENDR, ..MACPARA, ..MACREP, .LEN, .INSTR, .SUBSTR

Specific compiler directives

._LINE_TOP, ._LINE_END, .SWSECTION, .SWMOV, .SWITCH, .INSTALIGN

The following sections explain the details of each directive.