Symbols

A symbol has a value and a symbol type, each of which is either specified explicitly by an assignment statement or implicitly from context. Refer to the next section for the regular definition of the expressions of a symbol.

The following symbols are reserved by the assembler:

.

Commonly referred to as dot. This is the location counter while assembling a program. It takes on the current location in the text, data, or bss section.

.text

This symbol is of type text. It is used to label the beginning of a .text section in the program being assembled.

.data

This symbol is of type data. It is used to label the beginning of a data section in the program being assembled.

.bss

This symbol is of type bss. It is used to label the beginning of a .bss section in the program being assembled.

.init

This is used with C++ programs which require constructors.

.fini

This is used with C++ programs which require destructors.