When a section is created, a section header is generated and entered in the ELF object file section header table. The section control pseudo-ops allow you to make entries in this table. Sections that can be manipulated with the section control directives are known as user sections. You can also use the section control directives to change the user section in which code or data is generated.
The section control directives also create a section symbol which is associated with the location at the beginning of each created section. The section symbol has an offset value of zero.
The symbol attribute pseudo-ops declare the symbol type and size and whether it is local or global.
The assignment directive associates the value and type of expression with the symbol and creates a symbol table entry for the symbol. This directive constitutes a definition of the symbol and, therefore, must be the only definition of the symbol.
The data generating directives are used for allocating storage and loading values.