<article>
<title>ca65 Users Guide
<author>Ullrich von Bassewitz, <htmlurl url="mailto:uz@cc65.org" name="uz@cc65.org">
-<date>19.07.2000, 29.11.2000, 02.10.2001
+<date>2000-07-19, 2000-11-29, 2001-10-02, 2005-09-08
<abstract>
ca65 is a powerful macro assembler for the 6502, 65C02 and 65816 CPUs. It is
Usage: ca65 [options] file
Short options:
-D name[=value] Define a symbol
- -I dir Set an include directory search path
- -U Mark unresolved symbols as import
- -V Print the assembler version
- -W n Set warning level n
- -g Add debug info to object file
- -h Help (this text)
- -i Ignore case of symbols
- -l Create a listing if assembly was ok
- -o name Name the output file
- -s Enable smart mode
- -t sys Set the target system
- -v Increase verbosity
+ -I dir Set an include directory search path
+ -U Mark unresolved symbols as import
+ -V Print the assembler version
+ -W n Set warning level n
+ -g Add debug info to object file
+ -h Help (this text)
+ -i Ignore case of symbols
+ -l Create a listing if assembly was ok
+ -mm model Set the memory model
+ -o name Name the output file
+ -s Enable smart mode
+ -t sys Set the target system
+ -v Increase verbosity
Long options:
--auto-import Mark unresolved symbols as import
- --cpu type Set cpu type
+ --cpu type Set cpu type
--debug-info Add debug info to object file
- --feature name Set an emulation feature
- --help Help (this text)
+ --feature name Set an emulation feature
+ --help Help (this text)
--ignore-case Ignore case of symbols
--include-dir dir Set an include directory search path
- --listing Create a listing if assembly was ok
+ --listing Create a listing if assembly was ok
+ --list-bytes n Maximum number of bytes per listing line
+ --macpack-dir dir Set a macro package directory
+ --memory-model model Set the memory model
--pagelength n Set the page length for the listing
- --smart Enable smart mode
- --target sys Set the target system
- --verbose Increase verbosity
- --version Print the assembler version
+ --smart Enable smart mode
+ --target sys Set the target system
+ --verbose Increase verbosity
+ --version Print the assembler version
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
</verb></tscreen>
Set the default for the CPU type. The option takes a parameter, which
may be one of
- 6502, 65SC02, 65C02, 65816 and sunplus
+ 6502, 65SC02, 65C02, 65816, sunplus, sweet16, HuC6280
- The last one (sunplus) is not available in the freeware version, because the
- instruction set of the sunplus CPU is "proprietary and confidential".
+ The sunplus cpu is not available in the freeware version, because the
+ instruction set is "proprietary and confidential".
<label id="option--feature">
<tag><tt>-i, --ignore-case</tt></tag>
This option makes the assembler case insensitive on identifiers and labels.
- This option will override the default, but may itself be overriden by the
+ This option will override the default, but may itself be overridden by the
<tt><ref id=".CASE" name=".CASE"></tt> control command.
may change in future versions.
+ <tag><tt>--list-bytes n</tt></tag>
+
+ Set the maximum number of bytes printed in the listing for one line of
+ input. See the <tt><ref id=".LISTBYTES" name=".LISTBYTES"></tt> directive
+ for more information. The value zero can be used to encode an unlimited
+ number of printed bytes.
+
+
+ <tag><tt>--macpack-dir dir</tt></tag>
+
+ This options allows to specify a directory containing macro files that are
+ used instead of the builtin images when a <tt><ref id=".MACPACK"
+ name=".MACPACK"></tt> directive is encountered. If <tt>--macpack-dir</tt>
+ was specified, a <tt>.mac</tt> extension is added to the package name and
+ the resulting file is loaded from the given directory. This is most useful
+ when debugging the builtin macro packages.
+
+
+ <tag><tt>-mm model, --memory-model model</tt></tag>
+
+ Define the default memory model. Possible model specifiers are near, far and
+ huge.
+
+
<tag><tt>-o name</tt></tag>
The default output name is the name of the input file with the extension
Name a directory which is searched for include files. The option may be
used more than once to specify more than one directory to search. The
current directory is always searched first before considering any
- additional directores.
+ additional directories.
<tag><tt>-U, --auto-import</tt></tag>
contain a label (which is identified by a colon), and, in addition to the
label, an assembler mnemonic, a macro, or a control command (see section <ref
id="control-commands" name="Control Commands"> for supported control
-commands). Alternatively, the line may contain a symbol definition using the
-'=' token. Everything after a semicolon is handled as a comment (that is, it
-is ignored).
+commands). Alternatively, the line may contain a symbol definition using
+the '=' token. Everything after a semicolon is handled as a comment (that is,
+it is ignored).
Here are some examples for valid input lines:
<itemize>
<item>all valid 6502 mnemonics when in 6502 mode (the default or after the
<tt><ref id=".P02" name=".P02"></tt> command was given).
+<item>all valid 6502 mnemonics plus a set of illegal instructions when in
+ <ref id="6502X-mode" name="6502X mode">.
<item>all valid 65SC02 mnemonics when in 65SC02 mode (after the
<tt><ref id=".PSC02" name=".PSC02"></tt> command was given).
<item>all valid 65C02 mnemonics when in 65C02 mode (after the
DEA is an alias for DEC A
INA is an alias for INC A
SWA is an alias for XBA
- TAD is an alias for TCD
+ TAD is an alias for TCD
TAS is an alias for TCS
TDA is an alias for TDC
TSA is an alias for TSC
</verb></tscreen>
-Evaluation of banked expressions in 65816 mode differs slightly from the
-official syntax:
-Instead of accepting a 24 bit address (something that is difficult for
-the assembler to determine and would have required one more special
-.import command), the bank and the absolute address in that bank are
-separated by a dot:
-<tscreen><verb>
- jsl 3.$1234 ; Call subroutine at $1234 in bank 3
-</verb></tscreen>
+<sect1>6502X mode<label id="6502X-mode"><p>
+
+6502X mode is an extension to the normal 6502 mode. In this mode, several
+mnemonics for illegal instructions of the NMOS 6502 CPUs are accepted. Since
+these instructions are illegal, there are no official mnemonics for them. The
+unofficial ones are taken from <htmlurl
+url="http://oxyron.net/graham/opcodes02.html"
+name="http://oxyron.net/graham/opcodes02.html">. Please note that only the
+ones marked as "stable" are supported. The following table uses information
+from the mentioned web page, for more information, see there.
+
+<itemize>
+<item><tt>ALR: A:=(A and #{imm})*2;</tt>
+<item><tt>ANC: A:=A and #{imm};</tt> Generates opcode $0B.
+<item><tt>ARR: A:=(A and #{imm})/2;</tt>
+<item><tt>AXS: X:=A and X-#{imm};</tt>
+<item><tt>DCP: {adr}:={adr}-1; A-{adr};</tt>
+<item><tt>ISC: {adr}:={adr}+1; A:=A-{adr};</tt>
+<item><tt>LAS: A,X,S:={adr} and S;</tt>
+<item><tt>LAX: A,X:={adr};</tt>
+<item><tt>RLA: {adr}:={adr}rol; A:=A and {adr};</tt>
+<item><tt>RRA: {adr}:={adr}ror; A:=A adc {adr};</tt>
+<item><tt>SAX: {adr}:=A and X;</tt>
+<item><tt>SLO: {adr}:={adr}*2; A:=A or {adr};</tt>
+<item><tt>SRE: {adr}:={adr}/2; A:=A xor {adr};</tt>
+</itemize>
+
+
+
+<sect1>sweet16 mode<label id="sweet16-mode"><p>
+
+SWEET 16 is an interpreter for a pseudo 16 bit CPU written by Steve Wozniak
+for the Apple ][ machines. It is available in the Apple ][ ROM. ca65 can
+generate code for this pseudo CPU when switched into sweet16 mode. The
+following is special in sweet16 mode:
+
+<itemize>
+
+<item>The '@' character denotes indirect addressing and is no longer available
+for cheap local labels. If you need cheap local labels, you will have to
+switch to another lead character using the <tt/<ref id=".LOCALCHAR"
+name=".LOCALCHAR">/ command.
+
+<item>Registers are specified using <tt/R0/ .. <tt/R15/. In sweet16 mode,
+these identifiers are reserved words.
+
+</itemize>
+
+Please note that the assembler does neither supply the interpreter needed for
+SWEET 16 code, nor the zero page locations needed for the SWEET 16 registers,
+nor does it call the interpreter. All this must be done by your program. Apple
+][ programmers do probably know how to use sweet16 mode.
+
+For more information about SWEET 16, see
+<htmlurl url="http://www.6502.org/source/interpreters/sweet16.htm"
+name="http://www.6502.org/source/interpreters/sweet16.htm">.
+
<sect1>Number format<p>
-For literal values, the assembler accepts the widely used number formats:
-A preceeding '$' denotes a hex value, a preceeding '%' denotes a
-binary value, and a bare number is interpeted as a decimal. There are
-currently no octal values and no floats.
+For literal values, the assembler accepts the widely used number formats: A
+preceding '$' or a trailing 'h' denotes a hex value, a preceding '%'
+denotes a binary value, and a bare number is interpreted as a decimal. There
+are currently no octal values and no floats.
<sect1>Conditional assembly<p>
In the context of a boolean expression, any non zero value is evaluated as
true, any other value to false. The result of a boolean expression is 1 if
-it's true, and zero if it's false. There are boolean operators with extrem
+it's true, and zero if it's false. There are boolean operators with extreme
low precedence with version 2.x (where x > 0). The <tt/.AND/ and <tt/.OR/
operators are shortcut operators. That is, if the result of the expression is
already known, after evaluating the left hand side, the right hand side is
<sect1>Available operators<label id="operators"><p>
-Available operators sorted by precedence:
-
-<tscreen><verb>
- Op Description Precedence
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
- .CONCAT Builtin function 0
- .LEFT Builtin function 0
- .MID Builtin function 0
- .RIGHT Builtin function 0
- .STRING Builtin function 0
-
- * Builtin pseudo variable (r/o) 1
- .BLANK Builtin function 1
- .CONST Builtin function 1
- .CPU Builtin pseudo variable (r/o) 1
- .DEFINED Builtin function 1
- .MATCH Builtin function 1
- .TCOUNT Builtin function 1
- .TIME Builtin function 1
- .VERSION Builtin function 1
- .XMATCH Builtin function 1
- .PARAMCOUNT Builtin pseudo variable (r/o) 1
- .REFERENCED Builtin function 1
- + Unary plus 1
- - Unary minus 1
- ~ Unary bitwise not 1
- .BITNOT Unary bitwise not 1
- < Low byte operator 1
- > High byte operator 1
- ^ Bank byte operator 1
-
- * Multiplication 2
- / Division 2
- .MOD Modulo operation 2
- & Bitwise and 2
- .BITAND Bitwise and 2
- ^ Bitwise xor 2
- .BITXOR Bitwise xor 2
- << Shift left operator 2
- .SHL Shift left operator 2
- >> Shift right operator
- .SHR Shift right operator 2
-
- + Binary plus 3
- - Binary minus 3
- | Binary or 3
- .BITOR Binary or 3
-
- = Compare operation (equal) 4
- <> Compare operation (not equal) 4
- < Compare operation (less) 4
- > Compare operation (greater) 4
- <= Compare operation (less or equal) 4
- >= Compare operation (greater or equal) 4
-
- && Boolean and 5
- .AND Boolean and 5
- .XOR Boolean xor 5
-
- || Boolean or 6
- .OR Boolean or 6
-
- ! Boolean not 7
- .NOT Boolean not 7
-</verb></tscreen>
-
-
-To force a specific order of evaluation, braces may be used as usual.
-
-Some of the pseudo variables mentioned above need some more explanation:
-
-<tscreen><verb>
- * This symbol is replaced by the value of the program
- counter at start of the current instruction. Note, that
- '*' yields a rvalue, that means, you cannot assign to it.
- Use .ORG to set the program counter in sections with
- absolute code.
-</verb></tscreen>
-<p>
+<table>
+<tabular ca="clc">
+<bf/Operator/| <bf/Description/| <bf/Precedence/@<hline>
+| Built-in string functions| 0@
+||~@
+| Built-in pseudo-variables| 1@
+| Built-in pseudo-functions| 1@
++| Unary positive| 1@
+-| Unary negative| 1@
+˜<newline>
+.BITNOT| Unary bitwise not| 1@
+<<newline>
+.LOBYTE| Unary low-byte operator| 1@
+><newline>
+.HIBYTE| Unary high-byte operator| 1@
+^<newline>
+.BANKBYTE| Unary bank-byte operator| 1@
+||~@
+*| Multiplication| 2@
+/| Division| 2@
+.MOD| Modulo operator| 2@
+&<newline>
+.BITAND| Bitwise and| 2@
+^<newline>
+.BITXOR| Binary bitwise xor| 2@
+<<<newline>
+.SHL| Shift-left operator| 2@
+>><newline>
+.SHR| Shift-right operator| 2@
+||~@
++| Binary addition| 3@
+-| Binary subtraction| 3@
+|<newline>
+.BITOR| Bitwise or| 3@
+||~@
+= | Compare operator (equal)| 4@
+<>| Compare operator (not equal)| 4@
+<| Compare operator (less)| 4@
+>| Compare operator (greater)| 4@
+<=| Compare operator (less or equal)| 4@
+>=| Compare operator (greater or equal)| 4@
+||~@
+&&<newline>
+.AND| Boolean and| 5@
+.XOR| Boolean xor| 5@
+||~@
+||<newline>
+.OR| Boolean or| 6@
+||~@
+!<newline>
+.NOT| Boolean not| 7@<hline>
+</tabular>
+<caption>Available operators, sorted by precedence
+</table>
+
+To force a specific order of evaluation, parentheses may be used, as usual.
<sect1>Unnamed labels<p>
-If you really want to write messy code, there are also unnamed
-labels. These labels do not have a name (you guessed that already,
-didn't you?). A colon is used to mark the absence of the name.
+If you really want to write messy code, there are also unnamed labels. These
+labels do not have a name (you guessed that already, didn't you?). A colon is
+used to mark the absence of the name.
-Unnamed labels may be accessed by using the colon plus several minus
-or plus characters as a label designator. Using the '-' characters
-will create a back reference (use the n'th label backwards), using
-'+' will create a forward reference (use the n'th label in forward
-direction). An example will help to understand this:
+Unnamed labels may be accessed by using the colon plus several minus or plus
+characters as a label designator. Using the '-' characters will create a back
+reference (use the n'th label backwards), using '+' will create a forward
+reference (use the n'th label in forward direction). An example will help to
+understand this:
<tscreen><verb>
: lda (ptr1),y ; #1
-<sect>Scopes<label id="scopes">
+<sect>Scopes<label id="scopes"><p>
+
+ca65 implements several sorts of scopes for symbols.
+
+<sect1>Global scope<p>
+
+All (non cheap local) symbols that are declared outside of any nested scopes
+are in global scope.
+
+
+<sect1>Cheap locals<p>
+
+A special scope is the scope for cheap local symbols. It lasts from one non
+local symbol to the next one, without any provisions made by the programmer.
+All other scopes differ in usage but use the same concept internally.
+
+
+<sect1>Generic nested scopes<p>
+
+A nested scoped for generic use is started with <tt/<ref id=".SCOPE"
+name=".SCOPE">/ and closed with <tt/<ref id=".ENDSCOPE" name=".ENDSCOPE">/.
+The scope can have a name, in which case it is accessible from the outside by
+using <ref id="scopesyntax" name="explicit scopes">. If the scope does not
+have a name, all symbols created within the scope are local to the scope, and
+aren't accessible from the outside.
+
+A nested scope can access symbols from the local or from enclosing scopes by
+name without using explicit scope names. In some cases there may be
+ambiguities, for example if there is a reference to a local symbol that is not
+yet defined, but a symbol with the same name exists in outer scopes:
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+ .scope outer
+ foo = 2
+ .scope inner
+ lda #foo
+ foo = 3
+ .endscope
+ .endscope
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+In the example above, the <tt/lda/ instruction will load the value 3 into the
+accumulator, because <tt/foo/ is redefined in the scope. However:
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+ .scope outer
+ foo = $1234
+ .scope inner
+ lda foo,x
+ foo = $12
+ .endscope
+ .endscope
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+Here, <tt/lda/ will still load from <tt/$12,x/, but since it is unknown to the
+assembler that <tt/foo/ is a zeropage symbol when translating the instruction,
+absolute mode is used instead. In fact, the assembler will not use absolute
+mode by default, but it will search through the enclosing scopes for a symbol
+with the given name. If one is found, the address size of this symbol is used.
+This may lead to errors:
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+ .scope outer
+ foo = $12
+ .scope inner
+ lda foo,x
+ foo = $1234
+ .endscope
+ .endscope
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+In this case, when the assembler sees the symbol <tt/foo/ in the <tt/lda/
+instruction, it will search for an already defined symbol <tt/foo/. It will
+find <tt/foo/ in scope <tt/outer/, and a close look reveals that it is a
+zeropage symbol. So the assembler will use zeropage addressing mode. If
+<tt/foo/ is redefined later in scope <tt/inner/, the assembler tries to change
+the address in the <tt/lda/ instruction already translated, but since the new
+value needs absolute addressing mode, this fails, and an error message "Range
+error" is output.
+
+Of course the most simple solution for the problem is to move the definition
+of <tt/foo/ in scope <tt/inner/ upwards, so it precedes its use. There may be
+rare cases when this cannot be done. In these cases, you can use one of the
+address size override operators:
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+ .scope outer
+ foo = $12
+ .scope inner
+ lda a:foo,x
+ foo = $1234
+ .endscope
+ .endscope
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+This will cause the <tt/lda/ instruction to be translated using absolute
+addressing mode, which means changing the symbol reference later does not
+cause any errors.
+
+
+<sect1>Nested procedures<p>
+
+A nested procedure is created by use of <tt/<ref id=".PROC" name=".PROC">/. It
+differs from a <tt/<ref id=".SCOPE" name=".SCOPE">/ in that it must have a
+name, and a it will introduce a symbol with this name in the enclosing scope.
+So
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+ .proc foo
+ ...
+ .endscope
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+is actually the same as
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+ foo:
+ .scope foo
+ ...
+ .endscope
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+This is the reason why a procedure must have a name. If you want a scope
+without a name, use <tt/<ref id=".SCOPE" name=".SCOPE">/.
+
+<bf/Note:/ As you can see from the example above, scopes and symbols live in
+different namespaces. There can be a symbol named <tt/foo/ and a scope named
+<tt/foo/ without any conflicts (but see the section titled <ref
+id="scopesearch" name=""Scope search order"">).
+
+
+<sect1>Structs, unions and enums<p>
+
+Structs, unions and enums are explained in a <ref id="structs" name="separate
+section">, I do only cover them here, because if they are declared with a
+name, they open a nested scope, similar to <tt/<ref id=".SCOPE"
+name=".SCOPE">/. However, when no name is specified, the behaviour is
+different: In this case, no new scope will be opened, symbols declared within
+a struct, union, or enum declaration will then be added to the enclosing scope
+instead.
+
+
+<sect1>Explicit scope specification<label id="scopesyntax"><p>
+
+Accessing symbols from other scopes is possible by using an explicit scope
+specification, provided that the scope where the symbol lives in has a name.
+The namespace token (<tt/::/) is used to access other scopes:
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+ .scope foo
+ bar: .word 0
+ .endscope
+
+ ...
+ lda foo::bar ; Access foo in scope bar
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+The only way to deny access to a scope from the outside is to declare a scope
+without a name (using the <tt/<ref id=".SCOPE" name=".SCOPE">/ command).
+
+A special syntax is used to specify the global scope: If a symbol or scope is
+preceded by the namespace token, the global scope is searched:
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+ bar = 3
+
+ .scope foo
+ bar = 2
+ lda #::bar ; Access the global bar (which is 3)
+ .endscope
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+
+<sect1>Scope search order<label id="scopesearch"><p>
+
+The assembler searches for a scope in a similar way as for a symbol. First, it
+looks in the current scope, and then it walks up the enclosing scopes until
+the scope is found.
+
+However, one important thing to note when using explicit scope syntax is, that
+a symbol may be accessed before it is defined, but a scope may <bf/not/ be
+used without a preceding definition. This means that in the following
+example:
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+ .scope foo
+ bar = 3
+ .endscope
+
+ .scope outer
+ lda #foo::bar ; Will load 3, not 2!
+ .scope foo
+ bar = 2
+ .endscope
+ .endscope
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+the reference to the scope <tt/foo/ will use the global scope, and not the
+local one, because the local one is not visible at the point where it is
+referenced.
+
+Things get more complex if a complete chain of scopes is specified:
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+ .scope foo
+ .scope outer
+ .scope inner
+ bar = 1
+ .endscope
+ .endscope
+ .scope another
+ .scope nested
+ lda #outer::inner::bar ; 1
+ .endscope
+ .endscope
+ .endscope
+
+ .scope outer
+ .scope inner
+ bar = 2
+ .endscope
+ .endscope
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+When <tt/outer::inner::bar/ is referenced in the <tt/lda/ instruction, the
+assembler will first search in the local scope for a scope named <tt/outer/.
+Since none is found, the enclosing scope (<tt/another/) is checked. There is
+still no scope named <tt/outer/, so scope <tt/foo/ is checked, and finally
+scope <tt/outer/ is found. Within this scope, <tt/inner/ is searched, and in
+this scope, the assembler looks for a symbol named <tt/bar/.
+
+Please note that once the anchor scope is found, all following scopes
+(<tt/inner/ in this case) are expected to be found exactly in this scope. The
+assembler will search the scope tree only for the first scope (if it is not
+anchored in the root scope). Starting from there on, there is no flexibility,
+so if the scope named <tt/outer/ found by the assembler does not contain a
+scope named <tt/inner/, this would be an error, even if such a pair does exist
+(one level up in global scope).
+
+Ambiguities that may be introduced by this search algorithm may be removed by
+anchoring the scope specification in the global scope. In the example above,
+if you want to access the "other" symbol <tt/bar/, you would have to write:
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+ .scope foo
+ .scope outer
+ .scope inner
+ bar = 1
+ .endscope
+ .endscope
+ .scope another
+ .scope nested
+ lda #::outer::inner::bar ; 2
+ .endscope
+ .endscope
+ .endscope
+
+ .scope outer
+ .scope inner
+ bar = 2
+ .endscope
+ .endscope
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+
+<sect>Address sizes and memory models<label id="address-sizes"><p>
+
+<sect1>Address sizes<p>
+
+ca65 assigns each segment and each symbol an address size. This is true, even
+if the symbol is not used as an address. You may also think of a value range
+of the symbol instead of an address size.
+
+Possible address sizes are:
+
+<itemize>
+<item>Zeropage or direct (8 bits)
+<item>Absolute (16 bits)
+<item>Far (24 bits)
+<item>Long (32 bits)
+</itemize>
+
+Since the assembler uses default address sizes for the segments and symbols,
+it is usually not necessary to override the default behaviour. In cases, where
+it is necessary, the following keywords may be used to specify address sizes:
+
+<itemize>
+<item>DIRECT, ZEROPAGE or ZP for zeropage addressing (8 bits).
+<item>ABSOLUTE, ABS or NEAR for absolute addressing (16 bits).
+<item>FAR for far addressing (24 bits).
+<item>LONG or DWORD for long addressing (32 bits).
+</itemize>
+
+
+<sect1>Address sizes of segments<p>
+
+The assembler assigns an address size to each segment. Since the
+representation of a label within this segment is "segment start + offset",
+labels will inherit the address size of the segment they are declared in.
+
+The address size of a segment may be changed, by using an optional address
+size modifier. See the <tt/<ref id=".SEGMENT" name="segment directive">/ for
+an explanation on how this is done.
+
+
+<sect1>Address sizes of symbols<p>
+
+
+
+
+<sect1>Memory models<p>
+
+The default address size of a segment depends on the memory model used. Since
+labels inherit the address size from the segment they are declared in,
+changing the memory model is an easy way to change the address size of many
+symbols at once.
+
+
+
+
+<sect>Pseudo variables<label id="pseudo-variables"><p>
+
+Pseudo variables are readable in all cases, and in some special cases also
+writable.
+
+<sect1><tt>*</tt><p>
+
+ Reading this pseudo variable will return the program counter at the start
+ of the current input line.
+
+ Assignment to this variable is possible when <tt/<ref id=".FEATURE"
+ name=".FEATURE pc_assignment">/ is used. Note: You should not use
+ assignments to <tt/*/, use <tt/<ref id=".ORG" name=".ORG">/ instead.
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.CPU</tt><label id=".CPU"><p>
+
+ Reading this pseudo variable will give a constant integer value that
+ tells which CPU is currently enabled. It can also tell which instruction
+ set the CPU is able to translate. The value read from the pseudo variable
+ should be further examined by using one of the constants defined by the
+ "cpu" macro package (see <tt/<ref id=".MACPACK" name=".MACPACK">/).
+
+ It may be used to replace the .IFPxx pseudo instructions or to construct
+ even more complex expressions.
+
+ Example:
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .macpack cpu
+ .if (.cpu .bitand CPU_ISET_65816)
+ phx
+ phy
+ .else
+ txa
+ pha
+ tya
+ pha
+ .endif
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.PARAMCOUNT</tt><label id=".PARAMCOUNT"><p>
+
+ This builtin pseudo variable is only available in macros. It is replaced by
+ the actual number of parameters that were given in the macro invocation.
+
+ Example:
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .macro foo arg1, arg2, arg3
+ .if .paramcount <> 3
+ .error "Too few parameters for macro foo"
+ .endif
+ ...
+ .endmacro
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+ See section <ref id="macros" name="Macros">.
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.TIME</tt><label id=".TIME"><p>
+
+ Reading this pseudo variable will give a constant integer value that
+ represents the current time in POSIX standard (as seconds since the
+ Epoch).
+
+ It may be used to encode the time of translation somewhere in the created
+ code.
+
+ Example:
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .dword .time ; Place time here
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.VERSION</tt><label id=".VERSION"><p>
+
+ Reading this pseudo variable will give the assembler version according to
+ the following formula:
+
+ VER_MAJOR*$100 + VER_MINOR*$10 + VER_PATCH
+
+ It may be used to encode the assembler version or check the assembler for
+ special features not available with older versions.
+
+ Example:
+
+ Version 2.11.1 of the assembler will return $2B1 as numerical constant when
+ reading the pseudo variable <tt/.VERSION/.
+
+
+
+<sect>Pseudo functions<label id="pseudo-functions"><p>
+
+Pseudo functions expect their arguments in parenthesis, and they have a result,
+either a string or an expression.
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.BANKBYTE</tt><label id=".BANKBYTE"><p>
+
+ The function returns the bank byte (that is, bits 16-23) of its argument.
+ It works identical to the '^' operator.
+
+ See: <tt><ref id=".HIBYTE" name=".HIBYTE"></tt>,
+ <tt><ref id=".LOBYTE" name=".LOBYTE"></tt>
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.BLANK</tt><label id=".BLANK"><p>
+
+ Builtin function. The function evaluates its argument in braces and yields
+ "false" if the argument is non blank (there is an argument), and "true" if
+ there is no argument. The token list that makes up the function argument
+ may optionally be enclosed in curly braces. This allows the inclusion of
+ tokens that would otherwise terminate the list (the closing right
+ parenthesis). The curly braces are not considered part of the list, a list
+ just consisting of curly braces is considered to be empty.
+
+ As an example, the <tt/.IFBLANK/ statement may be replaced by
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .if .blank({arg})
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.CONCAT</tt><label id=".CONCAT"><p>
+
+ Builtin string function. The function allows to concatenate a list of string
+ constants separated by commas. The result is a string constant that is the
+ concatenation of all arguments. This function is most useful in macros and
+ when used together with the <tt/.STRING/ builtin function. The function may
+ be used in any case where a string constant is expected.
+
+ Example:
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .include .concat ("myheader", ".", "inc")
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+ This is the same as the command
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .include "myheader.inc"
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.CONST</tt><label id=".CONST"><p>
+
+ Builtin function. The function evaluates its argument in braces and
+ yields "true" if the argument is a constant expression (that is, an
+ expression that yields a constant value at assembly time) and "false"
+ otherwise. As an example, the .IFCONST statement may be replaced by
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .if .const(a + 3)
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.HIBYTE</tt><label id=".HIBYTE"><p>
+
+ The function returns the high byte (that is, bits 8-15) of its argument.
+ It works identical to the '>' operator.
+
+ See: <tt><ref id=".LOBYTE" name=".LOBYTE"></tt>,
+ <tt><ref id=".BANKBYTE" name=".BANKBYTE"></tt>
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.HIWORD</tt><label id=".HIWORD"><p>
+
+ The function returns the high word (that is, bits 16-31) of its argument.
+
+ See: <tt><ref id=".LOWORD" name=".LOWORD"></tt>
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.IDENT</tt><label id=".IDENT"><p>
+
+ The function expects a string as its argument, and converts this argument
+ into an identifier. If the string starts with the current <tt/<ref
+ id=".LOCALCHAR" name=".LOCALCHAR">/, it will be converted into a cheap local
+ identifier, otherwise it will be converted into a normal identifier.
+
+ Example:
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .macro makelabel arg1, arg2
+ .ident (.concat (arg1, arg2)):
+ .endmacro
+
+ makelabel "foo", "bar"
+
+ .word foobar ; Valid label
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.LEFT</tt><label id=".LEFT"><p>
+
+ Builtin function. Extracts the left part of a given token list.
+
+ Syntax:
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .LEFT (<int expr>, <token list>)
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+ The first integer expression gives the number of tokens to extract from
+ the token list. The second argument is the token list itself. The token
+ list may optionally be enclosed into curly braces. This allows the
+ inclusion of tokens that would otherwise terminate the list (the closing
+ right paren in the given case).
+
+ Example:
+
+ To check in a macro if the given argument has a '#' as first token
+ (immediate addressing mode), use something like this:
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .macro ldax arg
+ ...
+ .if (.match (.left (1, {arg}), #))
+
+ ; ldax called with immediate operand
+ ...
+
+ .endif
+ ...
+ .endmacro
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+ See also the <tt><ref id=".MID" name=".MID"></tt> and <tt><ref id=".RIGHT"
+ name=".RIGHT"></tt> builtin functions.
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.LOBYTE</tt><label id=".LOBYTE"><p>
+
+ The function returns the low byte (that is, bits 0-7) of its argument.
+ It works identical to the '<' operator.
+
+ See: <tt><ref id=".HIBYTE" name=".HIBYTE"></tt>,
+ <tt><ref id=".BANKBYTE" name=".BANKBYTE"></tt>
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.LOWORD</tt><label id=".LOWORD"><p>
+
+ The function returns the low word (that is, bits 0-15) of its argument.
+
+ See: <tt><ref id=".HIWORD" name=".HIWORD"></tt>
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.MATCH</tt><label id=".MATCH"><p>
+
+ Builtin function. Matches two token lists against each other. This is
+ most useful within macros, since macros are not stored as strings, but
+ as lists of tokens.
+
+ The syntax is
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .MATCH(<token list #1>, <token list #2>)
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+ Both token list may contain arbitrary tokens with the exception of the
+ terminator token (comma resp. right parenthesis) and
+
+ <itemize>
+ <item>end-of-line
+ <item>end-of-file
+ </itemize>
+
+ The token lists may optionally be enclosed into curly braces. This allows
+ the inclusion of tokens that would otherwise terminate the list (the closing
+ right paren in the given case). Often a macro parameter is used for any of
+ the token lists.
+
+ Please note that the function does only compare tokens, not token
+ attributes. So any number is equal to any other number, regardless of the
+ actual value. The same is true for strings. If you need to compare tokens
+ <em/and/ token attributes, use the <tt><ref id=".XMATCH"
+ name=".XMATCH"></tt> function.
+
+ Example:
+
+ Assume the macro <tt/ASR/, that will shift right the accumulator by one,
+ while honoring the sign bit. The builtin processor instructions will allow
+ an optional "A" for accu addressing for instructions like <tt/ROL/ and
+ <tt/ROR/. We will use the <tt><ref id=".MATCH" name=".MATCH"></tt> function
+ to check for this and print and error for invalid calls.
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .macro asr arg
+
+ .if (.not .blank(arg)) .and (.not .match ({arg}, a))
+ .error "Syntax error"
+ .endif
+
+ cmp #$80 ; Bit 7 into carry
+ lsr a ; Shift carry into bit 7
+
+ .endmacro
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+ The macro will only accept no arguments, or one argument that must be the
+ reserved keyword "A".
+
+ See: <tt><ref id=".XMATCH" name=".XMATCH"></tt>
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.MID</tt><label id=".MID"><p>
+
+ Builtin function. Takes a starting index, a count and a token list as
+ arguments. Will return part of the token list.
+
+ Syntax:
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .MID (<int expr>, <int expr>, <token list>)
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+ The first integer expression gives the starting token in the list (the first
+ token has index 0). The second integer expression gives the number of tokens
+ to extract from the token list. The third argument is the token list itself.
+ The token list may optionally be enclosed into curly braces. This allows the
+ inclusion of tokens that would otherwise terminate the list (the closing
+ right paren in the given case).
+
+ Example:
+
+ To check in a macro if the given argument has a '<tt/#/' as first token
+ (immediate addressing mode), use something like this:
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .macro ldax arg
+ ...
+ .if (.match (.mid (0, 1, {arg}), #))
+
+ ; ldax called with immediate operand
+ ...
+
+ .endif
+ ...
+ .endmacro
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+ See also the <tt><ref id=".LEFT" name=".LEFT"></tt> and <tt><ref id=".RIGHT"
+ name=".RIGHT"></tt> builtin functions.
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.REF, .REFERENCED</tt><label id=".REFERENCED"><p>
+
+ Builtin function. The function expects an identifier as argument in braces.
+ The argument is evaluated, and the function yields "true" if the identifier
+ is a symbol that has already been referenced somewhere in the source file up
+ to the current position. Otherwise the function yields false. As an example,
+ the <tt><ref id=".IFREF" name=".IFREF"></tt> statement may be replaced by
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .if .referenced(a)
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+ See: <tt><ref id=".DEFINED" name=".DEFINED"></tt>
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.RIGHT</tt><label id=".RIGHT"><p>
+
+ Builtin function. Extracts the right part of a given token list.
+
+ Syntax:
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .RIGHT (<int expr>, <token list>)
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+ The first integer expression gives the number of tokens to extract from the
+ token list. The second argument is the token list itself. The token list
+ may optionally be enclosed into curly braces. This allows the inclusion of
+ tokens that would otherwise terminate the list (the closing right paren in
+ the given case).
+
+ See also the <tt><ref id=".LEFT" name=".LEFT"></tt> and <tt><ref id=".MID"
+ name=".MID"></tt> builtin functions.
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.SIZEOF</tt><label id=".SIZEOF"><p>
+
+ <tt/.SIZEOF/ is a pseudo function that returns the size of its argument. The
+ argument can be a struct/union, a struct member, a procedure, or a label. In
+ case of a procedure or label, its size is defined by the amount of data
+ placed in the segment where the label is relative to. If a line of code
+ switches segments (for example in a macro) data placed in other segments
+ does not count for the size.
+
+ Please note that a symbol or scope must exist, before it is used together with
+ <tt/.SIZEOF/ (this may get relaxed later, but will always be true for scopes).
+ A scope has preference over a symbol with the same name, so if the last part
+ of a name represents both, a scope and a symbol, the scope is chosen over the
+ symbol.
+
+ After the following code:
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .struct Point ; Struct size = 4
+ xcoord .word
+ xcoord .word
+ .endstruct
+
+ P: .tag Point ; Declare a point
+ @P: .tag Point ; Declare another point
+
+ .code
+ .proc Code
+ nop
+ .proc Inner
+ nop
+ .endproc
+ nop
+ .endproc
+
+ .proc Data
+ .data ; Segment switch!!!
+ .res 4
+ .endproc
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+ <descrip>
+ <tag><tt/.sizeof(Point)/</tag>
+ will have the value 4, because this is the size of struct <tt/Point/.
+
+ <tag><tt/.sizeof(Point::xcoord)/</tag>
+ will have the value 2, because this is the size of the member <tt/xcoord/
+ in struct <tt/Point/.
+
+ <tag><tt/.sizeof(P)/</tag>
+ will have the value 4, this is the size of the data declared on the same
+ source line as the label <tt/P/, which is in the same segment that <tt/P/
+ is relative to.
+
+ <tag><tt/.sizeof(@P)/</tag>
+ will have the value 4, see above. The example demonstrates that <tt/.SIZEOF/
+ does also work for cheap local symbols.
+
+ <tag><tt/.sizeof(Code)/</tag>
+ will have the value 3, since this is amount of data emitted into the code
+ segment, the segment that was active when <tt/Code/ was entered. Note that
+ this value includes the amount of data emitted in child scopes (in this
+ case <tt/Code::Inner/).
+
+ <tag><tt/.sizeof(Code::Inner)/</tag>
+ will have the value 1 as expected.
+
+ <tag><tt/.sizeof(Data)/</tag>
+ will have the value 0. Data is emitted within the scope <tt/Data/, but since
+ the segment is switched after entry, this data is emitted into another
+ segment.
+ </descrip>
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.STRAT</tt><label id=".STRAT"><p>
+
+ Builtin function. The function accepts a string and an index as
+ arguments and returns the value of the character at the given position
+ as an integer value. The index is zero based.
+
+ Example:
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .macro M Arg
+ ; Check if the argument string starts with '#'
+ .if (.strat (Arg, 0) = '#')
+ ...
+ .endif
+ .endmacro
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.SPRINTF</tt><label id=".SPRINTF"><p>
+
+ Builtin function. It expects a format string as first argument. The number
+ and type of the following arguments depend on the format string. The format
+ string is similar to the one of the C <tt/printf/ function. Missing things
+ are: Length modifiers, variable width.
+
+ The result of the function is a string.
+
+ Example:
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ num = 3
+
+ ; Generate an identifier:
+ .ident (.sprintf ("%s%03d", "label", num)):
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.STRING</tt><label id=".STRING"><p>
+
+ Builtin function. The function accepts an argument in braces and converts
+ this argument into a string constant. The argument may be an identifier, or
+ a constant numeric value.
+
+ Since you can use a string in the first place, the use of the function may
+ not be obvious. However, it is useful in macros, or more complex setups.
+
+ Example:
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ ; Emulate other assemblers:
+ .macro section name
+ .segment .string(name)
+ .endmacro
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.STRLEN</tt><label id=".STRLEN"><p>
+
+ Builtin function. The function accepts a string argument in braces and
+ evaluates to the length of the string.
+
+ Example:
+
+ The following macro encodes a string as a pascal style string with
+ a leading length byte.
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .macro PString Arg
+ .byte .strlen(Arg), Arg
+ .endmacro
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+
+<sect1><tt>.TCOUNT</tt><label id=".TCOUNT"><p>
+
+ Builtin function. The function accepts a token list in braces. The function
+ result is the number of tokens given as argument. The token list may
+ optionally be enclosed into curly braces which are not considered part of
+ the list and not counted. Enclosement in curly braces allows the inclusion
+ of tokens that would otherwise terminate the list (the closing right paren
+ in the given case).
-<p>
+ Example:
+ The <tt/ldax/ macro accepts the '#' token to denote immediate addressing (as
+ with the normal 6502 instructions). To translate it into two separate 8 bit
+ load instructions, the '#' token has to get stripped from the argument:
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .macro ldax arg
+ .if (.match (.mid (0, 1, {arg}), #))
+ ; ldax called with immediate operand
+ lda #<(.right (.tcount ({arg})-1, {arg}))
+ ldx #>(.right (.tcount ({arg})-1, {arg}))
+ .else
+ ...
+ .endif
+ .endmacro
+ </verb></tscreen>
+<sect1><tt>.XMATCH</tt><label id=".XMATCH"><p>
+ Builtin function. Matches two token lists against each other. This is
+ most useful within macros, since macros are not stored as strings, but
+ as lists of tokens.
-<sect>Address sizes<label id="address-sizes">
+ The syntax is
-<p>
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .XMATCH(<token list #1>, <token list #2>)
+ </verb></tscreen>
+ Both token list may contain arbitrary tokens with the exception of the
+ terminator token (comma resp. right parenthesis) and
+ <itemize>
+ <item>end-of-line
+ <item>end-of-file
+ </itemize>
+ The token lists may optionally be enclosed into curly braces. This allows
+ the inclusion of tokens that would otherwise terminate the list (the closing
+ right paren in the given case). Often a macro parameter is used for any of
+ the token lists.
+ The function compares tokens <em/and/ token values. If you need a function
+ that just compares the type of tokens, have a look at the <tt><ref
+ id=".MATCH" name=".MATCH"></tt> function.
+ See: <tt><ref id=".MATCH" name=".MATCH"></tt>
-<sect>Control commands<label id="control-commands">
-<p>
+
+<sect>Control commands<label id="control-commands"><p>
+
Here's a list of all control commands and a description, what they do:
Valid only in 65816 mode. Switch the accumulator to 16 bit.
Note: This command will not emit any code, it will tell the assembler to
- create 16 bit operands for immediate accumulator adressing mode.
+ create 16 bit operands for immediate accumulator addressing mode.
See also: <tt><ref id=".SMART" name=".SMART"></tt>
Valid only in 65816 mode. Switch the accumulator to 8 bit.
Note: This command will not emit any code, it will tell the assembler to
- create 8 bit operands for immediate accu adressing mode.
+ create 8 bit operands for immediate accu addressing mode.
See also: <tt><ref id=".SMART" name=".SMART"></tt>
<sect1><tt>.ASSERT</tt><label id=".ASSERT"><p>
Add an assertion. The command is followed by an expression, an action
- specifier and a message that is output in case the assertion fails. The
- action specifier may be one of <tt/warning/ or <tt/error/. The assertion
- is passed to the linker and will be evaluated when segment placement has
- been done.
+ specifier, and an optional message that is output in case the assertion
+ fails. If no message was given, the string "Assertion failed" is used. The
+ action specifier may be one of <tt/warning/ or <tt/error/. The assertion is
+ evaluated by the assembler if possible, and also passed to the linker in the
+ object file (if one is generated). The linker will then evaluate the
+ expression when segment placement has been done.
Example:
the case. More complex expressions are possible. The action specifier
<tt/warning/ outputs a warning, while the <tt/error/ specifier outputs
an error message. In the latter case, generation if the output file is
- suppressed.
+ suppressed in both the assembler and linker.
<sect1><tt>.AUTOIMPORT</tt><label id=".AUTOIMPORT"><p>
giving errors. When switched off (which is the default so this does not
make much sense), this does not happen and an error message is
displayed. The state of the autoimport flag is evaluated when the
- complete source was translated, before outputing actual code, so it is
+ complete source was translated, before outputting actual code, so it is
<em/not/ possible to switch this feature on or off for separate sections
of code. The last setting is used for all symbols.
</verb></tscreen>
-<sect1><tt>.BLANK</tt><label id=".BLANK"><p>
-
- Builtin function. The function evaluates its argument in braces and
- yields "false" if the argument is non blank (there is an argument), and
- "true" if there is no argument. As an example, the <tt/.IFBLANK/ statement
- may be replaced by
-
- <tscreen><verb>
- .if .blank(arg)
- </verb></tscreen>
-
-
<sect1><tt>.BSS</tt><label id=".BSS"><p>
Switch to the BSS segment. The name of the BSS segment is always "BSS",
<tt/.CONDES/ is followed by the type, which may be <tt/constructor/,
<tt/destructor/ or a numeric value between 0 and 6 (where 0 is the same as
- specifiying <tt/constructor/ and 1 is equal to specifying <tt/destructor/).
- The <tt><ref id=".CONSTRUCTOR" name=".CONSTRUCTOR"></tt> and <tt><ref
- id=".DESTRUCTOR" name=".DESTRUCTOR"></tt> commands are actually shortcuts
- for <tt/.CONDES/ with a type of <tt/constructor/ resp. <tt/destructor/.
+ specifying <tt/constructor/ and 1 is equal to specifying <tt/destructor/).
+ The <tt><ref id=".CONSTRUCTOR" name=".CONSTRUCTOR"></tt>, <tt><ref
+ id=".DESTRUCTOR" name=".DESTRUCTOR"></tt> and <tt><ref id=".INTERRUPTOR"
+ name=".INTERRUPTOR"></tt> commands are actually shortcuts for <tt/.CONDES/
+ with a type of <tt/constructor/ resp. <tt/destructor/ or <tt/interruptor/.
After the type, an optional priority may be specified. Higher numeric values
mean higher priority. If no priority is given, the default priority of 7 is
.condes ModInit, 0, 16
</verb></tscreen>
- See the <tt><ref id=".CONSTRUCTOR" name=".CONSTRUCTOR"></tt> and <tt><ref
- id=".DESTRUCTOR" name=".DESTRUCTOR"></tt> commands and the separate section
- <ref id="condes" name="Module constructors/destructors"> explaining the
- feature in more detail.
-
-
-<sect1><tt>.CONCAT</tt><label id=".CONCAT"><p>
-
- Builtin function. The function allows to concatenate a list of string
- constants separated by commas. The result is a string constant that
- is the concatentation of all arguments. This function is most useful
- in macros and when used together with the <tt/.STRING/ builtin function.
- The function may be used in any case where a string constant is
- expected.
-
- Example:
-
- <tscreen><verb>
- .include .concat ("myheader", ".", "inc")
- </verb></tscreen>
-
- This is the same as the command
-
- <tscreen><verb>
- .include "myheader.inc"
- </verb></tscreen>
-
-
-<sect1><tt>.CONST</tt><label id=".CONST"><p>
-
- Builtin function. The function evaluates its argument in braces and
- yields "true" if the argument is a constant expression (that is, an
- expression that yields a constant value at assembly time) and "false"
- otherwise. As an example, the .IFCONST statement may be replaced by
-
- <tscreen><verb>
- .if .const(a + 3)
- </verb></tscreen>
+ See the <tt><ref id=".CONSTRUCTOR" name=".CONSTRUCTOR"></tt>, <tt><ref
+ id=".DESTRUCTOR" name=".DESTRUCTOR"></tt> and <tt><ref id=".INTERRUPTOR"
+ name=".INTERRUPTOR"></tt> commands and the separate section <ref id="condes"
+ name="Module constructors/destructors"> explaining the feature in more
+ detail.
<sect1><tt>.CONSTRUCTOR</tt><label id=".CONSTRUCTOR"><p>
feature in more detail.
-<sect1><tt>.CPU</tt><label id=".CPU"><p>
-
- Reading this pseudo variable will give a constant integer value that
- tells which CPU is currently enabled. It can also tell which instruction
- set the CPU is able to translate. The value read from the pseudo variable
- should be further examined by using one of the constants defined by the
- "cpu" macro package (see <tt/<ref id=".MACPACK" name=".MACPACK">/).
-
- It may be used to replace the .IFPxx pseudo instructions or to construct
- even more complex expressions.
-
- Example:
-
- <tscreen><verb>
- .macpack cpu
- .if (.cpu .bitand CPU_ISET_65816)
- phx
- phy
- .else
- txa
- pha
- tya
- pha
- .endif
- </verb></tscreen>
-
-
<sect1><tt>.DATA</tt><label id=".DATA"><p>
Switch to the DATA segment. The name of the DATA segment is always
End a <tt><ref id=".REPEAT" name=".REPEAT"></tt> block.
+<sect1><tt>.ENDSCOPE</tt><label id=".ENDSCOPE"><p>
+
+ End of local lexical level (see <tt/<ref id=".SCOPE" name=".SCOPE">/).
+
+
<sect1><tt>.ENDSTRUCT</tt><label id=".ENDSTRUCT"><p>
- Ends a struct definition. See the section named <ref id="structs"
- name="Structs and unions">.
+ Ends a struct definition. See the <tt/<ref id=".STRUCT" name=".STRUCT">/
+ command and the separate section named <ref id="structs" name=""Structs
+ and unions"">.
<sect1><tt>.ENUM</tt><label id=".ENUM"><p>
otherwise the enumeration members are placed in the enclosing scope.
In the enumeration body, symbols are declared. The first symbol has a value
- of zero, and each following symbol will get the value of the preceeding plus
- one. This behaviour may be overriden by an explicit assignment. Two symbols
+ of zero, and each following symbol will get the value of the preceding plus
+ one. This behaviour may be overridden by an explicit assignment. Two symbols
may have the same value.
Example:
<sect1><tt>.ERROR</tt><label id=".ERROR"><p>
Force an assembly error. The assembler will output an error message
- preceeded by "User error" and will <em/not/ produce an object file.
+ preceded by "User error" and will <em/not/ produce an object file.
This command may be used to check for initial conditions that must be
set before assembling a source file.
<sect1><tt>.EXITMAC, .EXITMACRO</tt><label id=".EXITMACRO"><p>
- Abort a macro expansion immidiately. This command is often useful in
+ Abort a macro expansion immediately. This command is often useful in
recursive macros. See separate section <ref id="macros" name="Macros">.
<sect1><tt>.EXPORT</tt><label id=".EXPORT"><p>
Make symbols accessible from other modules. Must be followed by a comma
- separated list of symbols to export.
+ separated list of symbols to export, with each one optionally followed by
+ an address specification. The default is to export the symbol with the
+ address size it actually has. The assembler will issue a warning, if the
+ symbol is exported with an address size smaller than the actual address
+ size.
Example:
<tscreen><verb>
- .export foo, bar
+ .export foo
+ .export bar: far
</verb></tscreen>
See: <tt><ref id=".EXPORTZP" name=".EXPORTZP"></tt>
Make symbols accessible from other modules. Must be followed by a comma
separated list of symbols to export. The exported symbols are explicitly
- marked as zero page symols.
+ marked as zero page symbols.
Example:
<descrip>
+ <tag><tt>at_in_identifiers</tt></tag>
+
+ Accept the at character (`@') as a valid character in identifiers. The
+ at character is not allowed to start an identifier, even with this
+ feature enabled.
+
+ <tag><tt>dollar_in_identifiers</tt></tag>
+
+ Accept the dollar sign (`$') as a valid character in identifiers. The
+ at character is not allowed to start an identifier, even with this
+ feature enabled.
+
<tag><tt>dollar_is_pc</tt></tag>
The dollar sign may be used as an alias for the star (`*'), which
Allow labels without a trailing colon. These labels are only accepted,
if they start at the beginning of a line (no leading white space).
- <tag><tt>loose_string_term</tt></tag>
+ <tag><tt>leading_dot_in_identifiers</tt></tag>
- Accept single quotes as well as double quotes as terminators for string
- constants.
+ Accept the dot (`.') as the first character of an identifier. This may be
+ used for example to create macro names that start with a dot emulating
+ control directives of other assemblers. Note however, that none of the
+ reserved keywords built into the assembler, that starts with a dot, may be
+ overridden. When using this feature, you may also get into trouble if
+ later versions of the assembler define new keywords starting with a dot.
<tag><tt>loose_char_term</tt></tag>
Accept single quotes as well as double quotes as terminators for char
constants.
- <tag><tt>at_in_identifiers</tt></tag>
+ <tag><tt>loose_string_term</tt></tag>
- Accept the at character (`@') as a valid character in identifiers. The
- at character is not allowed to start an identifier, even with this
- feature enabled.
+ Accept single quotes as well as double quotes as terminators for string
+ constants.
- <tag><tt>dollar_in_identifiers</tt></tag>
+ <tag><tt>missing_char_term</tt></tag>
- Accept the dollar sign (`$') as a valid character in identifiers. The
- at character is not allowed to start an identifier, even with this
- feature enabled.
+ Accept single quoted character constants where the terminating quote is
+ missing.
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ lda #'a
+ </verb></tscreen>
+ <bf/Note:/ This does not work in conjunction with <tt/.FEATURE
+ loose_string_term/, since in this case the input would be ambiguous.
- <tag><tt>leading_dot_in_identifiers</tt></tag>
+ <tag><tt>org_per_seg</tt><label id="org_per_seg"></tag>
- Accept the dot (`.') as the first character of an identifier. This may be
- used for example to create macro names that start with a dot emulating
- control directives of other assemblers. Note however, that none of the
- reserved keywords built into the assembler, that starts with a dot, may be
- overridden. When using this feature, you may also get into trouble if
- later versions of the assembler define new keywords starting with a dot.
+ This feature makes relocatable/absolute mode local to the current segment.
+ Using <tt><ref id=".ORG" name=".ORG"></tt> when <tt/org_per_seg/ is in
+ effect will only enable absolute mode for the current segment. Dito for
+ <tt><ref id=".RELOC" name=".RELOC"></tt>.
<tag><tt>pc_assignment</tt></tag>
removing the lines with the assignments may also be an option when porting
code written for older assemblers).
+ <tag><tt>ubiquitous_idents</tt></tag>
+
+ Allow the use of instructions names as names for macros and symbols. This
+ makes it possible to "overload" instructions by defining a macro with the
+ same name. This does also make it possible to introduce hard to find errors
+ in your code, so be careful!
+
</descrip>
It is also possible to specify features on the command line using the
source, are exported, all others are imported. Additional <tt><ref
id=".IMPORTZP" name=".IMPORTZP"></tt> or <tt><ref id=".EXPORTZP"
name=".EXPORTZP"></tt> commands for the same symbol are allowed. The symbols
- in the list are explicitly marked as zero page symols.
+ in the list are explicitly marked as zero page symbols.
Example:
<sect1><tt>.IF</tt><label id=".IF"><p>
- Conditional assembly: Evalute an expression and switch assembler output
+ Conditional assembly: Evaluate an expression and switch assembler output
on or off depending on the expression. The expression must be a constant
expression, that is, all operands must be defined.
<sect1><tt>.IMPORT</tt><label id=".IMPORT"><p>
Import a symbol from another module. The command is followed by a comma
- separated list of symbols to import.
+ separated list of symbols to import, with each one optionally followed by
+ an address specification.
Example:
<tscreen><verb>
- .import foo, bar
+ .import foo
+ .import bar: zeropage
</verb></tscreen>
See: <tt><ref id=".IMPORTZP" name=".IMPORTZP"></tt>
In addition to that, a start offset and a size value may be specified,
separated by commas. If no size is specified, all of the file from the
start offset to end-of-file is used. If no start position is specified
- either, zero is assume (which means that the whole file is inserted).
+ either, zero is assumed (which means that the whole file is inserted).
Example:
</verb></tscreen>
-<sect1><tt>.LEFT</tt><label id=".LEFT"><p>
-
- Builtin function. Extracts the left part of a given token list.
+<sect1><tt>.INTERRUPTOR</tt><label id=".INTERRUPTOR"><p>
- Syntax:
+ Export a symbol and mark it as an interruptor. This may be used together
+ with the linker to build a table of interruptor subroutines that are called
+ in an interrupt.
- <tscreen><verb>
- .LEFT (<int expr>, <token list>)
- </verb></tscreen>
+ Note: The linker has a feature to build a table of marked routines, but it
+ is your code that must call these routines, so just declaring a symbol as
+ interruptor does nothing by itself.
- The first integer expression gives the number of tokens to extract from
- the token list. The second argument is the token list itself.
+ An interruptor is always exported as an absolute (16 bit) symbol. You don't
+ need to use an additional <tt/.export/ statement, this is implied by
+ <tt/.interruptor/. It may have an optional priority that is separated by a
+ comma. Higher numeric values mean a higher priority. If no priority is
+ given, the default priority of 7 is used. Be careful when assigning
+ priorities to your own module constructors so they won't interfere with the
+ ones in the cc65 library.
Example:
- To check in a macro if the given argument has a '#' as first token
- (immidiate addressing mode), use something like this:
-
<tscreen><verb>
- .macro ldax arg
- ...
- .if (.match (.left (1, arg), #))
-
- ; ldax called with immidiate operand
- ...
-
- .endif
- ...
- .endmacro
+ .interruptor IrqHandler
+ .interruptor Handler, 16
</verb></tscreen>
- See also the <tt><ref id=".MID" name=".MID"></tt> and <tt><ref id=".RIGHT"
- name=".RIGHT"></tt> builtin functions.
+ See the <tt><ref id=".CONDES" name=".CONDES"></tt> command and the separate
+ section <ref id="condes" name="Module constructors/destructors"> explaining
+ the feature in more detail.
<sect1><tt>.LINECONT</tt><label id=".LINECONT"><p>
packages are:
<tscreen><verb>
+ atari Defines the scrcode macro.
+ cbm Defines the scrcode macro.
+ cpu Defines constants for the .CPU variable.
generic Defines generic macros like add and sub.
longbranch Defines conditional long jump macros.
- cbm Defines the scrcode macro
- cpu Defines constants for the .CPU variable
</verb></tscreen>
Including a macro package twice, or including a macro package that
</verb></tscreen>
Macro packages are explained in more detail in section <ref
- id="macropackages" name="Macro packages">.
-
-
-<sect1><tt>.MAC, .MACRO</tt><label id=".MAC"><p>
-
- Start a classic macro definition. The command is followed by an identifier
- (the macro name) and optionally by a comma separated list of identifiers
- that are macro parameters.
-
- See section <ref id="macros" name="Macros">.
-
-
-<sect1><tt>.MATCH</tt><label id=".MATCH"><p>
-
- Builtin function. Matches two token lists against each other. This is
- most useful within macros, since macros are not stored as strings, but
- as lists of tokens.
-
- The syntax is
-
- <tscreen><verb>
- .MATCH(<token list #1>, <token list #2>)
- </verb></tscreen>
-
- Both token list may contain arbitrary tokens with the exception of the
- terminator token (comma resp. right parenthesis) and
-
- <itemize>
- <item>end-of-line
- <item>end-of-file
- </itemize>
-
- Often a macro parameter is used for any of the token lists.
-
- Please note that the function does only compare tokens, not token
- attributes. So any number is equal to any other number, regardless of the
- actual value. The same is true for strings. If you need to compare tokens
- <em/and/ token attributes, use the <tt><ref id=".XMATCH"
- name=".XMATCH"></tt> function.
-
- Example:
-
- Assume the macro <tt/ASR/, that will shift right the accumulator by one,
- while honoring the sign bit. The builtin processor instructions will allow
- an optional "A" for accu addressing for instructions like <tt/ROL/ and
- <tt/ROR/. We will use the <tt><ref id=".MATCH" name=".MATCH"></tt> function
- to check for this and print and error for invalid calls.
-
- <tscreen><verb>
- .macro asr arg
-
- .if (.not .blank(arg)) .and (.not .match (arg, a))
- .error "Syntax error"
- .endif
-
- cmp #$80 ; Bit 7 into carry
- lsr a ; Shift carry into bit 7
-
- .endmacro
- </verb></tscreen>
-
- The macro will only accept no arguments, or one argument that must be the
- reserved keyword "A".
-
- See: <tt><ref id=".XMATCH" name=".XMATCH"></tt>
-
-
-<sect1><tt>.MID</tt><label id=".MID"><p>
-
- Builtin function. Takes a starting index, a count and a token list as
- arguments. Will return part of the token list.
-
- Syntax:
-
- <tscreen><verb>
- .MID (<int expr>, <int expr>, <token list>)
- </verb></tscreen>
-
- The first integer expression gives the starting token in the list (the
- first token has index 0). The second integer expression gives the number
- of tokens to extract from the token list. The third argument is the
- token list itself.
-
- Example:
-
- To check in a macro if the given argument has a '<tt/#/' as first token
- (immidiate addressing mode), use something like this:
+ id="macropackages" name="Macro packages">.
- <tscreen><verb>
- .macro ldax arg
- ...
- .if (.match (.mid (0, 1, arg), #))
- ; ldax called with immidiate operand
- ...
+<sect1><tt>.MAC, .MACRO</tt><label id=".MAC"><p>
- .endif
- ...
- .endmacro
- </verb></tscreen>
+ Start a classic macro definition. The command is followed by an identifier
+ (the macro name) and optionally by a comma separated list of identifiers
+ that are macro parameters.
- See also the <tt><ref id=".LEFT" name=".LEFT"></tt> and <tt><ref id=".RIGHT"
- name=".RIGHT"></tt> builtin functions.
+ See section <ref id="macros" name="Macros">.
<sect1><tt>.ORG</tt><label id=".ORG"><p>
assembled. Use <tt><ref id=".RELOC" name=".RELOC"></tt> to switch back to
relocatable code.
- Please note that you <em/do not need/ this command in most cases. Placing
+ By default, absolute/relocatable mode is global (valid even when switching
+ segments). Using <tt>.FEATURE <ref id="org_per_seg" name="org_per_seg"></tt>
+ it can be made segment local.
+
+ Please note that you <em/do not need/ <tt/.ORG/ in most cases. Placing
code at a specific address is the job of the linker, not the assembler, so
there is usually no reason to assemble code to a specific address.
- You may not switch segments while inside a section of absolute code.
-
Example:
<tscreen><verb>
<sect1><tt>.OUT</tt><label id=".OUT"><p>
Output a string to the console without producing an error. This command
- is similiar to <tt/.ERROR/, however, it does not force an assembler error
+ is similar to <tt/.ERROR/, however, it does not force an assembler error
that prevents the creation of an object file.
Example:
</verb></tscreen>
-<sect1><tt>.PARAMCOUNT</tt><label id=".PARAMCOUNT"><p>
-
- This builtin pseudo variable is only available in macros. It is replaced by
- the actual number of parameters that were given in the macro invocation.
-
- Example:
-
- <tscreen><verb>
- .macro foo arg1, arg2, arg3
- .if .paramcount <> 3
- .error "Too few parameters for macro foo"
- .endif
- ...
- .endmacro
- </verb></tscreen>
-
- See section <ref id="macros" name="Macros">.
-
-
<sect1><tt>.PC02</tt><label id=".PC02"><p>
Enable the 65C02 instructions set. This instruction set includes all
<sect1><tt>.PROC</tt><label id=".PROC"><p>
- Start a nested lexical level. All new symbols from now on are in the local
- lexical level and are not accessible from outside. Symbols defined outside
- this local level may be accessed as long as their names are not used for new
- symbols inside the level. Symbols names in other lexical levels do not
- clash, so you may use the same names for identifiers. The lexical level ends
- when the <tt><ref id=".ENDPROC" name=".ENDPROC"></tt> command is read.
- Lexical levels may be nested up to a depth of 16.
-
- The command may be followed by an identifier, in this case the
- identifier is declared in the outer level as a label having the value of
- the program counter at the start of the lexical level.
+ Start a nested lexical level with the given name and adds a symbol with this
+ name to the enclosing scope. All new symbols from now on are in the local
+ lexical level and are accessible from outside only via <ref id="scopesyntax"
+ name="explicit scope specification">. Symbols defined outside this local
+ level may be accessed as long as their names are not used for new symbols
+ inside the level. Symbols names in other lexical levels do not clash, so you
+ may use the same names for identifiers. The lexical level ends when the
+ <tt><ref id=".ENDPROC" name=".ENDPROC"></tt> command is read. Lexical levels
+ may be nested up to a depth of 16 (this is an artificial limit to protect
+ against errors in the source).
Note: Macro names are always in the global level and in a separate name
space. There is no special reason for this, it's just that I've never
.endproc ; Leave lexical level
</verb></tscreen>
- See: <tt><ref id=".ENDPROC" name=".ENDPROC"></tt>
+ See: <tt/<ref id=".ENDPROC" name=".ENDPROC">/ and <tt/<ref id=".SCOPE"
+ name=".SCOPE">/
<sect1><tt>.PSC02</tt><label id=".PSC02"><p>
See: <tt><ref id=".POPSEG" name=".POPSEG"></tt>
-<sect1><tt>.REF, .REFERENCED</tt><label id=".REFERENCED"><p>
-
- Builtin function. The function expects an identifier as argument in braces.
- The argument is evaluated, and the function yields "true" if the identifier
- is a symbol that has already been referenced somewhere in the source file up
- to the current position. Otherwise the function yields false. As an example,
- the <tt><ref id=".IFREF" name=".IFREF"></tt> statement may be replaced by
-
- <tscreen><verb>
- .if .referenced(a)
- </verb></tscreen>
+<sect1><tt>.RELOC</tt><label id=".RELOC"><p>
- See: <tt><ref id=".DEFINED" name=".DEFINED"></tt>
+ Switch back to relocatable mode. See the <tt><ref id=".ORG"
+ name=".ORG"></tt> command.
<sect1><tt>.REPEAT</tt><label id=".REPEAT"><p>
<tscreen><verb>
.macro Crypt Arg
.repeat .strlen(Arg), I
- .byte .strat(Arg, I) .xor $55
+ .byte .strat(Arg, I) ^ $55
.endrep
.endmacro
</verb></tscreen>
See: <tt><ref id=".ENDREPEAT" name=".ENDREPEAT"></tt>
-<sect1><tt>.RELOC</tt><label id=".RELOC"><p>
-
- Switch back to relocatable mode. See the <tt><ref id=".ORG"
- name=".ORG"></tt> command.
-
-
<sect1><tt>.RES</tt><label id=".RES"><p>
Reserve storage. The command is followed by one or two constant
<tscreen><verb>
; Reserve 12 bytes of memory with value $AA
- .res 12, $AA
- </verb></tscreen>
-
-
-<sect1><tt>.RIGHT</tt><label id=".RIGHT"><p>
-
- Builtin function. Extracts the right part of a given token list.
-
- Syntax:
-
- <tscreen><verb>
- .RIGHT (<int expr>, <token list>)
+ .res 12, $AA
</verb></tscreen>
- The first integer expression gives the number of tokens to extract from
- the token list. The second argument is the token list itself.
-
- See also the <tt><ref id=".LEFT" name=".LEFT"></tt> and <tt><ref id=".MID"
- name=".MID"></tt> builtin functions.
-
<sect1><tt>.RODATA</tt><label id=".RODATA"><p>
See also the <tt><ref id=".SEGMENT" name=".SEGMENT"></tt> command.
+<sect1><tt>.SCOPE</tt><label id=".SCOPE"><p>
+
+ Start a nested lexical level with the given name. All new symbols from now
+ on are in the local lexical level and are accessible from outside only via
+ <ref id="scopesyntax" name="explicit scope specification">. Symbols defined
+ outside this local level may be accessed as long as their names are not used
+ for new symbols inside the level. Symbols names in other lexical levels do
+ not clash, so you may use the same names for identifiers. The lexical level
+ ends when the <tt><ref id=".ENDSCOPE" name=".ENDSCOPE"></tt> command is
+ read. Lexical levels may be nested up to a depth of 16 (this is an
+ artificial limit to protect against errors in the source).
+
+ Note: Macro names are always in the global level and in a separate name
+ space. There is no special reason for this, it's just that I've never
+ had any need for local macro definitions.
+
+ Example:
+
+ <tscreen><verb>
+ .scope Error ; Start new scope named Error
+ None = 0 ; No error
+ File = 1 ; File error
+ Parse = 2 ; Parse error
+ .endscope ; Close lexical level
+
+ ...
+ lda #Error::File ; Use symbol from scope Error
+ </verb></tscreen>
+
+ See: <tt/<ref id=".ENDSCOPE" name=".ENDSCOPE">/ and <tt/<ref id=".PROC"
+ name=".PROC">/
+
+
<sect1><tt>.SEGMENT</tt><label id=".SEGMENT"><p>
Switch to another segment. Code and data is always emitted into a
(and up to 65534 per executable). There are shortcut commands for
the most common segments ("CODE", "DATA" and "BSS").
- The command is followed by a string containing the segment name (there
- are some constraints for the name - as a rule of thumb use only those
- segment names that would also be valid identifiers). There may also be
- an optional attribute separated by a comma. Valid attributes are
- "<tt/zeropage/" and "<tt/absolute/".
+ The command is followed by a string containing the segment name (there are
+ some constraints for the name - as a rule of thumb use only those segment
+ names that would also be valid identifiers). There may also be an optional
+ address size separated by a colon. See the section covering <tt/<ref
+ id="address-sizes" name="address sizes">/ for more information.
- When specifying a segment for the first time, "absolute" is the
- default. For all other uses, the attribute specified the first time
- is the default.
+ The default address size for a segment depends on the memory model specified
+ on the command line. The default is "absolute", which means that you don't
+ have to use an address size modifier in most cases.
- "absolute" means that this is a segment with absolute addressing. That
- is, the segment will reside somewhere in core memory outside the zero
- page. "zeropage" means the opposite: The segment will be placed in the
- zero page and direct (short) addressing is possible for data in this
- segment.
+ "absolute" means that the is a segment with 16 bit (absolute) addressing.
+ That is, the segment will reside somewhere in core memory outside the zero
+ page. "zeropage" (8 bit) means that the segment will be placed in the zero
+ page and direct (short) addressing is possible for data in this segment.
Beware: Only labels in a segment with the zeropage attribute are marked
as reachable by short addressing. The `*' (PC counter) operator will
work as in other segments and will create absolute variable values.
- Example:
+ Please note that a segment cannot have two different address sizes. A
+ segment specified as zeropage cannot be declared as being absolute later.
+
+ Examples:
<tscreen><verb>
.segment "ROM2" ; Switch to ROM2 segment
- .segment "ZP2", zeropage ; New direct segment
- .segment "ZP2" ; Ok, will use last attribute
- .segment "ZP2", absolute ; Error, redecl mismatch
+ .segment "ZP2": zeropage ; New direct segment
+ .segment "ZP2" ; Ok, will use last attribute
+ .segment "ZP2": absolute ; Error, redecl mismatch
</verb></tscreen>
See: <tt><ref id=".BSS" name=".BSS"></tt>, <tt><ref id=".CODE"
Switch the CPU instruction set. The command is followed by a string that
specifies the CPU. Possible values are those that can also be supplied to
the <tt><ref id="option--cpu" name="--cpu"></tt> command line option,
- namely: 6502, 65SC02, 65C02, 65816 and sunplus. Please note that support
- for the sunplus CPU is not available in the freeware version, because the
- instruction set of the sunplus CPU is "proprietary and confidential".
+ namely: 6502, 6502X, 65SC02, 65C02, 65816, sunplus and HuC6280. Please
+ note that support for the sunplus CPU is not available in the freeware
+ version, because the instruction set of the sunplus CPU is "proprietary
+ and confidential".
See: <tt><ref id=".CPU" name=".CPU"></tt>,
<tt><ref id=".IFP02" name=".IFP02"></tt>,
<sect1><tt>.SMART</tt><label id=".SMART"><p>
- Switch on or off smart mode. The command must be followed by a '+' or
- '-' character to switch the option on or off respectively. The default
- is off (that is, the assembler doesn't try to be smart), but this
- default may be changed by the -s switch on the command line.
+ Switch on or off smart mode. The command must be followed by a '+' or '-'
+ character to switch the option on or off respectively. The default is off
+ (that is, the assembler doesn't try to be smart), but this default may be
+ changed by the -s switch on the command line.
+
+ In smart mode the assembler will do the following:
- In smart mode the assembler will track usage of the <tt/REP/ and <tt/SEP/
- instructions in 65816 mode and update the operand sizes accordingly. If
- the operand of such an instruction cannot be evaluated by the assembler
- (for example, because the operand is an imported symbol), a warning is
- issued. Beware: Since the assembler cannot trace the execution flow this
- may lead to false results in some cases. If in doubt, use the <tt/.Inn/ and
- <tt/.Ann/ instructions to tell the assembler about the current settings.
+ <itemize>
+ <item>Track usage of the <tt/REP/ and <tt/SEP/ instructions in 65816 mode
+ and update the operand sizes accordingly. If the operand of such an
+ instruction cannot be evaluated by the assembler (for example, because
+ the operand is an imported symbol), a warning is issued. Beware: Since
+ the assembler cannot trace the execution flow this may lead to false
+ results in some cases. If in doubt, use the <tt/.Inn/ and <tt/.Ann/
+ instructions to tell the assembler about the current settings.
+ <item>In 65816 mode, replace a <tt/RTS/ instruction by <tt/RTL/ if it is
+ used within a procedure declared as <tt/far/, or if the procedure has
+ no explicit address specification, but it is <tt/far/ because of the
+ memory model used.
+ </itemize>
Example:
.smart - ; Stop being smart
</verb></tscreen>
-
-<sect1><tt>.STRAT</tt><label id=".STRAT"><p>
-
- Builtin function. The function accepts a string and an index as
- arguments and returns the value of the character at the given position
- as an integer value. The index is zero based.
-
- Example:
-
- <tscreen><verb>
- .macro M Arg
- ; Check if the argument string starts with '#'
- .if (.strat (Arg, 0) = '#')
- ...
- .endif
- .endmacro
- </verb></tscreen>
-
-
-<sect1><tt>.STRING</tt><label id=".STRING"><p>
-
- Builtin function. The function accepts an argument in braces and converts
- this argument into a string constant. The argument may be an identifier, or
- a constant numeric value.
-
- Since you can use a string in the first place, the use of the function may
- not be obvious. However, it is useful in macros, or more complex setups.
-
- Example:
-
- <tscreen><verb>
- ; Emulate other assemblers:
- .macro section name
- .segment .string(name)
- .endmacro
- </verb></tscreen>
-
-
-<sect1><tt>.STRLEN</tt><label id=".STRLEN"><p>
-
- Builtin function. The function accepts a string argument in braces and
- eveluates to the length of the string.
-
- Example:
-
- The following macro encodes a string as a pascal style string with
- a leading length byte.
-
- <tscreen><verb>
- .macro PString Arg
- .byte .strlen(Arg), Arg
- .endmacro
- </verb></tscreen>
+ See: <tt><ref id=".A16" name=".A16"></tt>,
+ <tt><ref id=".A8" name=".A8"></tt>,
+ <tt><ref id=".I16" name=".I16"></tt>,
+ <tt><ref id=".I8" name=".I8"></tt>
<sect1><tt>.STRUCT</tt><label id=".STRUCT"><p>
- Starts a struct definition. See the section named <ref id="structs"
- name="Structs and unions">.
+ Starts a struct definition. Structs are covered in a separate section named
+ <ref id="structs" name=""Structs and unions"">.
+
+ See: <tt><ref id=".ENDSTRUCT" name=".ENDSTRUCT"></tt>
<sect1><tt>.SUNPLUS</tt><label id=".SUNPLUS"><p>
</verb></tscreen>
-<sect1><tt>.TCOUNT</tt><label id=".TCOUNT"><p>
-
- Builtin function. The function accepts a token list in braces. The
- function result is the number of tokens given as argument.
-
- Example:
-
- The <tt/ldax/ macro accepts the '#' token to denote immidiate addressing (as
- with the normal 6502 instructions). To translate it into two separate 8 bit
- load instructions, the '#' token has to get stripped from the argument:
-
- <tscreen><verb>
- .macro ldax arg
- .if (.match (.mid (0, 1, arg), #))
- ; ldax called with immidiate operand
- lda #<(.right (.tcount (arg)-1, arg))
- ldx #>(.right (.tcount (arg)-1, arg))
- .else
- ...
- .endif
- .endmacro
- </verb></tscreen>
-
-
-<sect1><tt>.TIME</tt><label id=".TIME"><p>
-
- Reading this pseudo variable will give a constant integer value that
- represents the current time in POSIX standard (as seconds since the
- Epoch).
-
- It may be used to encode the time of translation somewhere in the created
- code.
-
- Example:
-
- <tscreen><verb>
- .dword .time ; Place time here
- </verb></tscreen>
-
-
-<sect1><tt>.VERSION</tt><label id=".VERSION"><p>
-
- Reading this pseudo variable will give the assembler version according to
- the following formula:
-
- VER_MAJOR*$100 + VER_MINOR*$10 + VER_PATCH
-
- It may be used to encode the assembler version or check the assembler for
- special features not available with older versions.
-
- Example:
-
- Version 2.11.1 of the assembler will return $2B1 as numerical constant when
- reading the pseudo variable <tt/.VERSION/.
-
-
<sect1><tt>.WARNING</tt><label id=".WARNING"><p>
Force an assembly warning. The assembler will output a warning message
- preceeded by "User warning". This warning will always be output, even if
+ preceded by "User warning". This warning will always be output, even if
other warnings are disabled with the <tt><ref id="option-W" name="-W0"></tt>
command line option.
</verb></tscreen>
-<sect1><tt>.XMATCH</tt><label id=".XMATCH"><p>
-
- Builtin function. Matches two token lists against each other. This is
- most useful within macros, since macros are not stored as strings, but
- as lists of tokens.
-
- The syntax is
-
- <tscreen><verb>
- .XMATCH(<token list #1>, <token list #2>)
- </verb></tscreen>
-
- Both token list may contain arbitrary tokens with the exception of the
- terminator token (comma resp. right parenthesis) and
-
- <itemize>
- <item>end-of-line
- <item>end-of-file
- </itemize>
-
- Often a macro parameter is used for any of the token lists.
-
- The function compares tokens <em/and/ token values. If you need a function
- that just compares the type of tokens, have a look at the <tt><ref
- id=".MATCH" name=".MATCH"></tt> function.
-
- See: <tt><ref id=".MATCH" name=".MATCH"></tt>
-
-
<sect1><tt>.ZEROPAGE</tt><label id=".ZEROPAGE"><p>
Switch to the ZEROPAGE segment and mark it as direct (zeropage) segment.
.endmacro
</verb></tscreen>
-When calling the macro, you may give a parameter, and each occurence of
+When calling the macro, you may give a parameter, and each occurrence of
the name "addr" in the macro definition will be replaced by the given
parameter. So
are separated by commas. You are free to give less parameters than the
macro actually takes in the definition. You may also leave intermediate
parameters empty. Empty parameters are replaced by empty space (that is,
-they are removed when the macro is exanded). If you have a look at our
+they are removed when the macro is expanded). If you have a look at our
macro definition above, you will see, that replacing the "addr" parameter
by nothing will lead to wrong code in most lines. To help you, writing
macros with a variable parameter list, there are some control commands:
ldaxy 1,2,3 ; .PARAMCOUNT = 3
</verb></tscreen>
+Macro parameters may optionally be enclosed into curly braces. This allows the
+inclusion of tokens that would otherwise terminate the parameter (the comma in
+case of a macro parameter).
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+ .macro foo arg1, arg2
+ ...
+ .endmacro
+
+ foo ($00,x) ; Two parameters passed
+ foo {($00,x)} ; One parameter passed
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+In the first case, the macro is called with two parameters: '<tt/($00/'
+and 'x)'. The comma is not passed to the macro, since it is part of the
+calling sequence, not the parameters.
+
+In the second case, '($00,x)' is passed to the macro, this time
+including the comma.
+
<sect1>Detecting parameter types<p>
<tscreen><verb>
.macro ldax arg
- .if (.match (.left (1, arg), #))
+ .if (.match (.left (1, {arg}), #))
; immediate mode
- lda #<(.right (.tcount (arg)-1, arg))
- ldx #>(.right (.tcount (arg)-1, arg))
+ lda #<(.right (.tcount ({arg})-1, {arg}))
+ ldx #>(.right (.tcount ({arg})-1, {arg}))
.else
; assume absolute or zero page
lda arg
Using the <tt/<ref id=".MATCH" name=".MATCH">/ function, the macro is able to
check if its argument begins with a hash mark. If so, two immediate loads are
emitted, Otherwise a load from an absolute zero page memory location is
-assumed. So this macro can be used as
+assumed. Please note how the curly braces are used to enclose parameters to
+pseudo functions handling token lists. This is necessary, because the token
+lists may include commas or parens, which would be treated by the assembler
+as end-of-list.
+
+The macro can be used as
<tscreen><verb>
foo: .word $5678
There's also a special macro to help writing recursive macros: <tt><ref
id=".EXITMACRO" name=".EXITMACRO"></tt> This command will stop macro expansion
-immidiately:
+immediately:
<tscreen><verb>
.macro push r1, r2, r3, r4, r5, r6, r7
CPU_65C02
CPU_65816
CPU_SUNPLUS
+ CPU_SWEET16
+ CPU_HUC6280
</verb></tscreen>
is defined. These constants may be used to determine the exact type of the
CPU_ISET_65C02
CPU_ISET_65816
CPU_ISET_SUNPLUS
+ CPU_ISET_SWEET16
+ CPU_ISET_HUC6280
</verb></tscreen>
The value read from the <tt/<ref id=".CPU" name=".CPU">/ pseudo variable may
+<sect>Predefined constants<label id="predefined-constants"><p>
+
+For better orthogonality, the assembler defines similar symbols as the
+compiler, depending on the target system selected:
+
+<itemize>
+<item><tt/__ACE__/ - Target system is <tt/ace/
+<item><tt/__APPLE2__",/ - Target system is <tt/apple2/
+<item><tt/__APPLE2ENH__",/ - Target system is <tt/apple2enh/
+<item><tt/__ATARI__/ - Target system is <tt/atari/
+<item><tt/__ATMOS__",/ - Target system is <tt/atmos/
+<item><tt/__BBC__",/ - Target system is <tt/bbc/
+<item><tt/__C128__/ - Target system is <tt/c128/
+<item><tt/__C16__/ - Target system is <tt/c16/
+<item><tt/__C64__/ - Target system is <tt/c64/
+<item><tt/__CBM__/ - Target is a Commodore system
+<item><tt/__CBM510__/ - Target system is <tt/cbm510/
+<item><tt/__CBM610__/ - Target system is <tt/cbm610/
+<item><tt/__GEOS__",/ - Target system is <tt/geos/
+<item><tt/__LUNIX__",/ - Target system is <tt/lunix/
+<item><tt/__NES__",/ - Target system is <tt/nes/
+<item><tt/__PET__/ - Target system is <tt/pet/
+<item><tt/__PLUS4__/ - Target system is <tt/plus4/
+<item><tt/__SUPERVISION__",/ - Target system is <tt/supervision/
+<item><tt/__VIC20__/ - Target system is <tt/vic20/
+</itemize>
+
+
<sect>Structs and unions<label id="structs"><p>
+<sect1>Overview<p>
+
Structs and unions are special forms of <ref id="scopes" name="scopes">. They
are to some degree comparable to their C counterparts. Both have a list of
members. Each member allocates storage and may optionally have a name, which,
-in case of a struct, is the offset from the beginning and, in case of a union
+in case of a struct, is the offset from the beginning and, in case of a union,
is always zero.
+
+<sect1>Declaration<p>
+
Here is an example for a very simple struct with two members and a total size
of 4 bytes:
.endstruct
</verb></tscreen>
-Using the <ref id=".TAG" name=".TAG"> keyword, it is possible to embedd
-already defined structs or unions in structs:
+
+<sect1>The <tt/.TAG/ keyword<p>
+
+Using the <ref id=".TAG" name=".TAG"> keyword, it is possible to reserve space
+for an already defined struct or unions within another struct:
<tscreen><verb>
.struct Point
.struct Circle
Origin .tag Point
- Radius .word
+ Radius .byte
.endstruct
</verb></tscreen>
Space for a struct or union may be allocated using the <ref id=".TAG"
name=".TAG"> directive.
+<tscreen><verb>
+ C: .tag Circle
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+Currently, members are just offsets from the start of the struct or union. To
+access a field of a struct, the member offset has to be added to the address
+of the struct itself:
+
+<tscreen><verb>
+ lda C+Circle::Radius ; Load circle radius into A
+</verb></tscreen>
+
+This may change in a future version of the assembler.
+
+
+<sect1>Limitations<p>
+
+Structs and unions are currently implemented as nested symbol tables (in fact,
+they were a by-product of the improved scoping rules). Currently, the
+assembler has no idea of types. This means that the <ref id=".TAG"
+name=".TAG"> keyword will only allocate space. You won't be able to initialize
+variables declared with <ref id=".TAG" name=".TAG">, and adding an embedded
+structure to another structure with <ref id=".TAG" name=".TAG"> will not make
+this structure accessible by using the '::' operator.
+
<sect>Module constructors/destructors<label id="condes"><p>
useful for assembler programs.
-<sect1>
Module overview<p>
-Using the <tt><ref id=".CONSTRUCTOR" name=".CONSTRUCTOR"></tt> and <tt><ref
-id=".DESTRUCTOR" name=".DESTRUCTOR"></tt> keywords it it possible to export
-functions in a special way. The linker is able to generate tables with all
-functions of a specific type. Such a table will <em>only</em> include symbols
-from object files that are linked into a specific executable. This may be used
-to add initialization and cleanup code for library modules.
+Using the <tt><ref id=".CONSTRUCTOR" name=".CONSTRUCTOR"></tt>, <tt><ref
+id=".DESTRUCTOR" name=".DESTRUCTOR"></tt> and <tt><ref id=".INTERRUPTOR"
+name=".INTERRUPTOR"></tt> keywords it it possible to export functions in a
+special way. The linker is able to generate tables with all functions of a
+specific type. Such a table will <em>only</em> include symbols from object
+files that are linked into a specific executable. This may be used to add
+initialization and cleanup code for library modules, or a table of interrupt
+handler functions.
The C heap functions are an example where module initialization code is used.
All heap functions (<tt>malloc</tt>, <tt>free</tt>, ...) work with a few
<sect1>Calling order<p>
-Both, constructors and destructors are sorted in increasing priority order by
-the linker when using one of the builtin linker configurations, so the
-functions with lower priorities come first and are followed by those with
-higher priorities. The C library runtime subroutine that walks over the
-constructor and destructor tables calls the functions starting from the top of
-the table - which means that functions with a high priority are called first.
+The symbols are sorted in increasing priority order by the linker when using
+one of the builtin linker configurations, so the functions with lower
+priorities come first and are followed by those with higher priorities. The C
+library runtime subroutine that walks over the function tables calls the
+functions starting from the top of the table - which means that functions with
+a high priority are called first.
-So when using the C runtime, both constructors and destructors are called with
-high priority functions first, followed by low priority functions.
+So when using the C runtime, functions are called with high priority functions
+first, followed by low priority functions.
<sect1>Pitfalls<p>
-When creating and using module constructors and destructors, please take care
-of the following:
+When using these special symbols, please take care of the following:
<itemize>
The linker will only generate function tables, it will not generate code to
call these functions. If you're using the feature in some other than the
existing C environments, you have to write code to call all functions in a
-linker generated table yourself. See the <tt>condes</tt> module in the C
-runtime for an example on how to do this.
+linker generated table yourself. See the <tt/condes/ and <tt/callirq/ modules
+in the C runtime for an example on how to do this.
<item>
The linker will only add addresses of functions that are in modules linked to
the executable. This means that you have to be careful where to place the
-condes functions. If initialization is needed for a group of functions, be
-sure to place the initialization function into a module that is linked in
+condes functions. If initialization or an irq handler is needed for a group of
+functions, be sure to place the function into a module that is linked in
regardless of which function is called by the user.
<item>
<item>
Constructors and destructors may have priorities. These priorities determine
-the order of the functions in the table. If your intialization or cleanup code
+the order of the functions in the table. If your initialization or cleanup code
does depend on other initialization or cleanup code, you have to choose the
priority for the functions accordingly.
<item>
-Besides the <tt><ref id=".CONSTRUCTOR" name=".CONSTRUCTOR"></tt> and <tt><ref
-id=".DESTRUCTOR" name=".DESTRUCTOR"></tt> statements, there is also a more
-generic command: <tt><ref id=".CONDES" name=".CONDES"></tt>. This allows to
-specify an additional type. Predefined types are 0 (constructor) and 1
-(destructor). The linker generates a separate table for each type on request.
+Besides the <tt><ref id=".CONSTRUCTOR" name=".CONSTRUCTOR"></tt>, <tt><ref
+id=".DESTRUCTOR" name=".DESTRUCTOR"></tt> and <tt><ref id=".INTERRUPTOR"
+name=".INTERRUPTOR"></tt> statements, there is also a more generic command:
+<tt><ref id=".CONDES" name=".CONDES"></tt>. This allows to specify an
+additional type. Predefined types are 0 (constructor), 1 (destructor) and 2
+(interruptor). The linker generates a separate table for each type on request.
</itemize>
<item>Replace all program counter assignments (which are not possible in ca65
by default, and the respective emulation feature works different from what
-you'd expect) by another way to skip to another memory location, for example
-the <tt><ref id=".RES" name=".RES"></tt>directive.
+you'd expect) by another way to skip to memory locations, for example the
+<tt><ref id=".RES" name=".RES"></tt> directive.
<tscreen><verb>
; *=$2000
.res $2000-* ; reserve memory up to $2000
</verb></tscreen>
-notice that other than the original TASS, ca65 can never move the
-programmcounter backwards - think of it as if you are assembling to disc with
-TASS.
+Please note that other than the original TASS, ca65 can never move the program
+counter backwards - think of it as if you are assembling to disk with TASS.
<item>Conditional assembly (<tt/.ifeq//<tt/.endif//<tt/.goto/ etc.) must be
rewritten to match ca65 syntax. Most importantly notice that due to the lack
cl65 --start-addr 0x0ffe -t none myprog.s -o myprog.prg
</verb></tscreen>
-notice that you need to use the actual start address minus two, since two
-bytes are used for the cbm load address.
+Note that you need to use the actual start address minus two, since two bytes
+are used for the cbm load address.
</enum>
projects / cc65 / blobdiff