Direct Assignment Statements

This section describes direct assignment statements, which don't conform to the normal statement syntax described throughout this chapter. A direct assignment statement can be used to assign the value of an expression to an identifier. The format of a direct assignment statement is:

If expression in a direct assignment is absolute, identifier is also absolute, and it may be treated as a constant in subsequent expressions. If expression is relocatable, identifier is also relocatable, and it is considered to be declared in the same program section as the expression.

The use of an assignment statement is analogous to using the .set directive (described in the following chapter), except that the .set directive requires that expression be absolute.

Once an identifier has been defined by a direct assignment statement, it may be redefined--its value is then the result of the last assignment statement. There are a few restrictions, however, concerning the redefinition of identifiers:

• Register identifiers may not be redefined.
• An identifier that has already been used as a label should not be redefined, since this would amount to redefining the address of a place in the program. Moreover, an identifier that has been defined in a direct assignment statement cannot later be used as a label. Only the second situation produces an assembler error message.

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