Symbols

A symbol refers to a location in memory, an object file section, a numeric constant, or a register. A symbol has the following attributes:

• name

• type

• value

The special symbols dollar sign ($) and period (.) when used in expressions, always refer to the current location counter. The current location counter points to the address of a bundle containing the current instruction, or to the address of the first data object defined by the current assembly statement. There is no difference between these symbols, either can be used.

In the following example, the movl instruction moves the address of the bundle containing the current instruction ($) into register r1:

movl r1=$

In the following data allocation statement, the period (.) is the address of the first data object defined by the assembly statement:

data4 2, 3, .