The synopses of the pseudo-operations in this appendix use the following notation:
Pseudo-operations and literal characters are displayed in typewriter font. For example, .popsection
Italics are used to denote a replaceable (variable) item explained in the description. For example, .section section_name
Items enclosed in square brackets are optional. For example, [item, ..., item] denotes an optional list of items of arbitrary length. When shown as item[, item, ..., item], at least one instance of item is required. The brackets [ and ] are meta-characters and not part of the declaration.
string denotes a string of characters enclosed in double quotes, as in “a string of characters”.
Items in curly brackets separated by a vertical bar denote a required option with at least two choices. For example, {#scratch | symbol_name} denotes that either #scratch or a symbolic name is required. The brackets { and }are meta-characters and not part of the declaration.