Statements

An assembly-language program consists of a series of statements separated by a semicolon (;). Multiple statements may be on the same line.

To separate lines, use the standard line termination convention on the local host system, typically CR (carriage return) and LF (line feed). To separate elements within a statement, use the CR, LF, FF (form feed), VT (vertical tab), Space, or Tab that represent white space.

To separate a comment from the code at the end of a statement, insert the comment before the semi colon (;) and precede it with a double-backslash (//). The assembler ignores comments.

The assembler may place a limit on the length of an input line, but this limit must be no less than 256 characters.

The types of assembly-language statements are as follows:

• label statements

• instruction statements

• directive statements

• assignment statements

• equate statements

• data allocation statements

• cross-section data allocation statements

The topics that follow detail each of the statement types, their components and syntax, and provide an example of each.