Almathera Ten Pack 3: CDPD 3/Almathera Ten on Ten - Disc 3: CDPD3.iso/scope/201-220/scopedisk210/mcasm/mcasm.doc

Text File | 1995-03-19 | 126KB | 4,819 lines

    1    The MCAsm Editor
    2    The MCAsm 68000 Macro Assembler


























































    1    The MCAsm Editor




    1.1    Inserting & deleting text
    1.2    Blocks
    1.3    Moving the cursor
    1.4    Search and replace
    1.5    Projects
    1.6    The Environment
    1.7    Memory functions
    1.8    Loading and saving binary data
    1.9    Summary of the MCAsm Editor key sequences




















































    1.1    Inserting & deleting text

The Editor is always in INSERT mode, any ordinary ASCII characters you type
will be inserted at the current cursor position, it has no OVERWRITE mode.
If you wish to replace something you must first delete the unwanted text
and then insert the new, or vice versa. It is not recommended that an
assembler source line is more than 255 characters, however - the Editor
will allow a line length of 999 characters. If you try to insert one more
you will get an error; Line to long.
If you wish to make a new blank line under the current one press Shift Alt Down
or move the cursor to the end of the line and press return.
If you have typed something in the wrong case there are three functions to
help you out:

    Amiga ^    Change (flip) case on the word to the right of the cursor
    Amiga &    Make the word to the right of the cursor in lower case
    Amiga *    Make the word to the right of the cursor in upper case

If the cursor is positioned on a white space it will first be moved to the
right until an non white space is found and then that word will be changed,
if possible - e.g using Amiga & on a word already in lower case, or a
number, has no effect other than moving the cursor to the end of the word.

BACKSPACE and DEL are used to delete one or a few characters and to delete
larger quantities you can use these functions:

    Amiga y    Delete all text from the cursor to the end of the line.
    Amiga Y    Delete all text from the left of the cursor to start of line.
    Amiga k    Delete the entire current line. When using this function the
        line deleted is saved in an undo-buffer so it may be
        re-inserted if deleted by mistake.

If you delete an entire line by mistake with Amiga k you may restore it
by pressing Amiga l. When doing so the line in the undo-buffer is inserted
at the current line. The line in the undo-buffer may be inserted at any
line and as may times as you wish.

There is also another form of restoring a line, Amiga L - undo all changes.
Doing this will restore the current line to the state it was in when you
first entered it. However, Amiga L is only useful as long as you don't
leave the line since this undo-buffer is updated every time you move from
one line to another.
























    1.2    Blocks

To cut, copy, delete or insert text you use the block commands. You may
also save or print the text currently held in the clip buffer and some
other things. Below is a description of all the block commands.

    Amiga b    Mark block. This will turn block on, or off if block is
        already on, you use this command to mark the beginning of a
        block. You may also turn block on/off by clicking on the
        cursor. Once you have marked the beginning of the block you
        move the cursor to the end of the area you wish to operate on
        and select one of the following block functions. When block is
        on most other functions are locked out, for example -  you
        can't type anything if block is on.

    Amiga c    Copy block. This will copy the selected area to the clip-
        buffer. The previous contents in the clip-buffer is lost.
        Nothing will happen with the text-file. Using this function
        also turns block off.

    Amiga X    Delete block. This will delete the selected area from the
        text-file. The contents in the clip-buffer is not affected.
        Using this function also turns block off.

    Amiga x    Cut block. This function will first copy the selected area to
        the clip-buffer and then delete the selected area from the
        text-file. The previous contents in the clip-buffer is lost.
        Using this function also turns block off.

    Amiga i    Insert block. This function will insert the contents of the
        clip-buffer into the text-file at the current cursor position.
        The cursor will be positioned at the end of the inserted area.
        The contents of the clip-buffer is not affected so you may
        insert it as many times as you wish. This function can only be
        used if block is off.

    Amiga (    Change case block. This function will change (flip) the case
        on all alphabetical characters within the selected area.
        Using this function alsos turn block off.

    Amiga )    Make block lower case. This will make all alphabetical
        characters in the selected area lower case.
        Using this function also turns block off.

    Amiga _    Make block upper case. This will make all alphabetical
        characters in the selected area upper case.
        Using this function also turns block off.

    Amiga C    Clear clip buffer. This function does not affect the selected
        area. It will clear the clip-buffer, freeing all the memory
        it currently occupies.

    Amiga Z    Save clip. This function does not affect the selected area or
        the contents of the clip-buffer. It will merely save the
        contents of the clip-buffer to a file, specified by you.

    Amiga P    Print clip. This function does not affect the selected area
        or the contents of the clip-buffer. It will only print the
        contents of the clip-buffer.







    1.3    Moving the cursor

To move the cursor one character in any direction, Up, Down, Left or Right,
you press the appropriate arrow key. Normally this will just move the
cursor on character but if the cursor is at the edge of the screen and
there is more text in the direction you are moving the screen will be
scrolled.

If you hold down any of the Alt keys when you press the arrow keys you will
cause the cursor to move 12 characters in the chosen direction:

        Alt    Up    move cursor 12 line up
        Alt    Down    move cursor 12 lines down
        Alt    Left    move cursor 12 characters left
        Alt    Right    move cursor 12 characters right

You may also move the cursor word by word, to do this hold down the Ctrl
key when you move the cursor:

        Ctrl    Left    move cursor one word to the left
        Ctrl    Right    move cursor one word to the right

The following functions are used to move fast over large areas:

        Ctrl    Up    move cursor to top of file
        Ctrl    Down    move cursor to end of file
        Shift    Up    move cursor to top of screen
        Shift    Down    move cursor to end of screen
        Shift    Left    move cursor to beginning of line
        Shift    Right    move cursor to end of line

You may also position the cursor anywhere on the screen, inside the text,
just by clicking on the character with the mouse. If you keep pressing the
left mouse button the cursor will follow the mouse when you move it and
scroll the text vertically if you move the mouse off the top or bottom of
the screen.

NOTE,    horizontal scrolling is not possible when moving the cursor with the
    mouse.



























    1.4    Search and replace

To search for a particular piece of text, and maybe replace all occurrences
of that text with something else, or mark a special line in the text so you
can jump to it immediately you use the functions in the Search menu.

    Amiga S    Search for. When you use this function the Search for window is
        opened for you so you can define the string to search for, and
        whether or not the editor shall treat upper and lower case as
        the same and if the search is to be made forward or backwards.

        If the Editor can't find the specified string it will notify
        you with an error:

                    Not found:
                    string


    Amiga s    Repeat Search Forward. This does just what it says, it will
        start a forward search for the string defined with Search for..
        without opening the Search for window.

    Amiga a    Repeat Search Backwards. This will start a backwards search for
        the string defined with Search for.. without opening the
        Search for window.

    Amiga R    Replace. This function is very similar to Search for.., the
        Search for window is opened but now you should enter the
        string that is to replace the search string as well.
        When the Editor finds the search string an inquiry will be
        displayed at the left in the menu bar. To go on from here you
        must press a key and the keys to press are the first in the
        answers.

        Yes    Pressing y or Y means that it is ok to replace this
            occurrence of the search string with the replace
            string and then continue the search.

        No    Pressing n or N means that this occurrence of the
            search string shall not be replaced with the replace
            string but the search shall continue.

        Global    Pressing g or G means that this and all occurrences
            of the search string found after this one shall be
            replaced with the replace string without asking for
            permission to do so.

        Quit    Pressing q or Q aborts the operation.

        Last    Pressing l or L means that it is ok to replace this
            occurrence of the search string with the replace
            string but then the operation is aborted.

    Amiga r    Repeat Replace Forward. This functions is the same as Repeat
        Search Forward except that this will go on with the replace
        procedure described above if the search string is found.

    Amiga A    Repeat Replace Backwards. This is the same as Repeat Replace
        Forward but backwards instead.

    Ctrl Fx    Search for ;Fx. To make it easier for you to move between
        different sections in your text you may insert special marks in
        the text that the Editor can search for automatically, when
        pressing Ctrl Fx (F1-F10).
        These special marks consists of a semicolon (;) an upper case F
        and a digit 0 - 9, for example ;F4. If the Editor is to find
        these marks they must be put at column 1 and they may not
        have any trailing text. Since they start with a semicolon they
        are treated as remarks by the assembler. When searching for a
        ;Fx the Editor always start the search from top of file, so
        only the first occurrence of a mark is used - all sequel marks
        of the same type will never be found. If the Editor can't find
        the mark you are searching for the cursor will be left at the
        position where it was when you started the search.
        These marks have the advantage that they will be saved when you
        save you text - after loading you don't have to mark the lines
        to be able to search for them. The disadvantage is that if it
        is a large file it may take some time for the Editor to scan
        through the text in search for a ;Fx.

    Amiga j    Jump to line. This function will open a window for you asking
        for a line to jump to. If the line you specify is outside the
        file it will jump to the top or bottom respectively. If you
        just press return without typing anything the operation is
        aborted.

    Amiga J    Jump to Error. If any you get any errors or warnings during
        assembly you can use this function to jump to those lines, in
        the same order as the errors/warnings occurred.

        NOTE, if you insert or delete any lines this function will not
              jump to the correct lines.

    Amiga !
    Amiga @
    Amiga #
    Amiga $
    Amiga %    Mark a line. Using one of these functions will cause the Editor
        to remember the location of the current line. If you use the
        same function more than once the old line will be forgotten.

    Amiga 1
    Amiga 2
    Amiga 3
    Amiga 4
    Amiga 5    Jump to line. Using one of these will cause the Editor to jump
        to one of the lines it has remembered. These functions operate
        in pairs with the once described above, for example:

        use Amiga ! to remember a line, Amiga 1 to jump to it.

        Compared with the Search for ;Fx function these functions have
        the advantage that they jump to the marked line instead of
        searching for a mark, which is much faster if the text-file is
        large. However, you must mark the lines before you can jump to
        them.
















    1.5    Projects

This section will describe the functions in the project menu.

    Amiga ?    About MCAsm. Using this function simply opens a window
        containing the copyright texts. To make the window go away just
        click in it or press return.

    Amiga /    Clear file. This will clear the entire text-file, returning all
        allocated memory used for the text to the system memory pool.
        However, if any changes have been made to the text you must
        confirm that you really want to clear it all away.

    Amiga o    Open file. This will load a new text-file. If the file selected
        by you for some reason can't be opened the operation is aborted
        with an error, else the old file will be cleared and the
        selected one loaded, but if an error occurs during the load
        the operation will be aborted with an error and the loaded part
        is cleared away. If any changes have been made to the text you
        must confirm that you want to load a new file without saving
        the changes.

    Amiga O    Include file. This is very similar to Insert Block, but now it
        is not the contents of the clip-buffer that is inserted but a
        file. If the file selected for some reason can't be opened or
        loaded the operation is aborted with an error, else the loaded
        file is inserted in the text-file at the current cursor
        position.

    Amiga w    Save file. This will save the text-file, immediately - without
        opening the FileRequester, with the same name used to load it.
        (unless the name has been changed with Save File As).

    Amiga W    Save file As. This will also save the text-file, but to a file
        selected by you. If the file already exist you must confirm
        that you wish to overwrite it, else the operation is aborted.

    Amiga p    Print file. This will print the entire text-file to whatever
        device/file you select. If the selected device/file for some
        reason can't be opened the operation will be aborted with an
        error. After selecting the output print device a new window is
        opened for you so you may specify the indent amount and choose
        whether or not you want the tabs (ASCII 9) to be converted to a
        number of spaces, specified by the tab-distance. If an error
        occurs during printing the operation is aborted with an
        error.

    Amiga D    Delete file. This function will delete the selected file.
        However, you must confirm that you really want to delete it. If
        the file for some reason can't be deleted an error is reported.

    Amiga d    Current directory. This function lets you specify the current
        directory used by MCAsm. If the selected directory can't be
        found an error will be reported and the old current directory
        will remain.

        NOTE, you must choose a directory, not a file.

    Amiga '    Show registers. This function will open the window that
        shows the return values of the registers. This window is
        automatically opened every time you have executed a program in
        memory. However, should you later wish to see the registers
        again, just use this function. To exit click on the close
        gadget or press return.


    Amiga <    Show symbol table. This function allows you to scan through the
        symbol table. It is very useful if you wish to check if a
        certain symbol exists or what value it has. To move through the
        symbol list you use the slider gadget at the right side, or
        the cursor keys.
        You may also press any alpha-numerical character, causing the
        symbol listing to jump to the first symbol starting with the
        character you pressed. To exit this function click on the close
        gadget or press return.

    Amiga >    Show macro table. This function is similar to Show Symbol Table
        but lists the contents of the macro table instead.

    Amiga q    Save and quit. This function will first save the text-file,
        immediately, without opening the FileRequester, with the same
        name used to load it (unless it has been changed with Save File
        As), and then killing the MCAsm task, returning all memory
        allocated by MCAsm to the system memory pool, closing all
        windows, screens and other things used.

    Amiga Q    Quit. This function will kill the MCAsm task, return all memory
        allocated to the system memory pool and close down all
        resources used. If any changes have been made to the text you
        must confirm that you really want to quit without saving.










































    1.6    The Environment

All the environmental settings for the Editor and the user-definable
assembler defaults are located in the Environment menu.

    Shift F2
    Shift F3
    Shift F4
    Shift F5
    Shift F6
    Shift F7
    Shift F8
    Shift F9
    Shift F10    Tab Distance. Using one of these functions will set the
            tab-distance to the selected value.

    Amiga t    Customize Tab Distance. When selecting this function a window
        is opened containing a ruler and the current tab settings. To
        toggle the tab-mark on a certain column click on it with the
        mouse. When you're happy press any key to exit.

    Amiga H    Load Environment Specify. Using this function opens the
        FileRequester for you to select an environment file to load.
        The FileRequester is always initialized with the default
        environment file S:MCAsmDefaults. Don't load a file that is not
        a MCAsm environment file. If the selected file doesn't exist
        the operation is aborted with an error.

    Amiga e    Load Environment Default. This will load the default
        environment file S:MCAsmDefaults immediately without opening
        the FileRequester.

    Amiga 6    Specify Symbol Table. You use this function to specify how many
        symbols the symbol-table may hold and the size of the symbol
        storage area. In the Max gadget you specify the maximum number
        of labels allowed in the table, this number must be an even 2^n
        but if you enter something that isn't it is automatically
        adjusted. In the Size gadget you specify the byte-size of the
        symbol storage area - that's where the actual symbol names are
        stored. When you redefine the symbol-table all the symbols hold
        in it are lost. If you ask for a big table or storage and it
        can't be allocated - first an error is reported and then MCAsm
        tries to re-allocated the old area. If that fails to another
        error is reported and then it will allocate 256 bytes. In
        either case you probably have to redefine the table again.

    Amiga 7    Specify Macro Table. This function operates in an identical way
        to the one above, but on the macro-table instead.

    Amiga 8    Default Section Size. With this function you specify the
        default byte-size of the area to allocate for each section
        during assembly, if not specified with the SECTION directive,
        see section 2.10.8 Section Control.

        Screen Height. In the sub-menu to this item you may define the
        height of the screen. When changing the screen MCAsm will first
        try to open the new screen and then close down to old one. If
        the new screen can't be opened an error is reported and the
        operation aborted.

    Amiga ,    Source-listing File. This function will open the FileRequester
        to allow you to select the file to which the source-listing, if
        selected, shall be sent during assembly.



    Amiga .    Error-listing File. This function will open the FileRequester
        to allow you to select the file to which the errors and
        warnings, if any, are sent during assembly.
        NOTE, fatal errors are always sent to the screen.

    Amiga ;    Symbol-listing File. This function will open the FileRequester
        to allow you to select the file to which the symbol-listing, if
        selected, shall be sent after assembly.

    Amiga :    Default Include Dir. This function will open the FileRequester
        to allow you to select the default include directory, which is
        normally I: but you may change it to whatever you like.
        NOTE, you must select a directory, not a file.

        Default Source List Ctrl. All the settings in the sub-menu to
        this item are the default source-list settings for the FORMAT
        directive, see 2.10.6 Listing control, 2.4 Listing outputs and
        2.4.1 Source listing for a further discussion of the format and
        control of the source-listing.

        Default Symbol List Ctrl. The settings in the sub-menu to this
        item are the default symbol-list settings for the FORMAT
        directive, see 2.10.6 Listing control, 2.4 Listing outputs and
        2.4.3 Symbol listing for a further discussion of the format and
        control of the symbol-listing.

        Default Assembler Options. In the sub-menu to this item you
        set the defaults for most of the assembler options, see section
        2.10.1 Assembly control - OPT directive for a complete
        description of all the assembler options.




































    1.7    Memory functions

    Amiga h    Allocator. This function is used to allocate and free memory
        from and to the system memory pool. In the allocator window
        there are two lists, the Free Mem List to the left and the
        Alloc Mem List    to the right. The Alloc and Free gadgets and
        the five string gadgets - Alloc Addr, Alloc Size, Pre Addr, Pre
        Size and Free Addr. All numbers, addresses and sizes, in the
        Allocator are in hexadecimal notation.

    Free Mem List    This list simply shows the current system memory
            free list as is and it is updated every time you
            call on the Allocator. To scan through the list
            use the slider gadget. When you find a suitable
            area that you wish to allocate just click on it
            and it will be copied down to the Alloc Addr &
            Alloc Size gadgets, then click on the Alloc
            gadget and the area is allocated and also shown
            in the Alloc Mem List.
            NOTE,since the list is only updated when the
            Allocator is call upon, you may end up in the
            situation where you can't allocate a memory
            block shown in the Free Mem List, due to it has
            been allocated by the system or some other task
            after opening the Allocator.

    Alloc Mem List    This list shows all the areas allocated by
            MCAsm. It is only updated when you allocate a
            new area or free an already allocated one.
            If you wish to free an area click on
            it and the address is copied down to the Free
            Addr gadget, then click on the Free gadget and
            the area is returned to the system memory pool
            and no longer shown in the Alloc Mem List but in
            the Free Mem List.

    Alloc         Click on this gadget to allocate the area
            specified in the Alloc Addr & Alloc Size
            gadgets. If the area can't be allocated an error
            is reported. If the cursor is in the Alloc Size
            gadget you may press return instead of clicking
            on this gadget.

    Free        Click on this gadget to free the area starting
            at the address given in the Free Addr gadget.
            You don't have to specify the size of the area
            to free, the Allocator will do that for you. If
            the cursor is in the Free Addr gadget you may
            press return instead of clicking on this gadget.
            NOTE, you can only free areas allocated by MCAsm

    Alloc Addr    In this gadget you specify the attributes of the
            area to allocate. If you wish to allocate an
            absolute area you give an address, if you want
            public memory you leave it clear, if you want
            chip memory you type 'chip', in lower case, and if
            you want fast you type 'fast', in lower case.

    Alloc Size    In this gadget you specify the byte size of the
            area you wish to allocate. When you press
            return, or click on the Alloc gadget the
            allocated will try to allocated the area
            specified in this and the Alloc Addr gadgets. If
            successful it will be shown in the Alloc Mem List,
            else an error is reported.

    Free Addr    In this gadget you specify the address of the
            area to free. The address must be to one of the
            areas shown in the Alloc Mem List or an error is
            reported when you try to free it, by pressing
            return or clicking on the Free gadget.

    Pre Addr    In this gadget you specify the attributes of the
            pre-allocated area. If you wish to allocate an
            absolute area you give an address, if you want
            public memory you leave it clear, if you want
            chip memory you type 'chip', in lower case, and if
            you want fast you type 'fast', in lower case.

    Pre Size    In this gadget you specify the byte size of the
            pre-allocated area. If you alter this definition
            and you want to use it you must save the
            environment so this new definition is saved in
            the environment file S:MCAsmDefaults. When you
            load MCAsm the first thing it does, after having
            loaded the environment file, is to try to
            allocate the area specified in the Pre Addr &
            Pre Size gadgets. If successful it will be shown
            in the Alloc Mem List, else an error is given.

    Amiga 9    Editor. This function allows you to look at and edit the
        contents of the entire memory area, (where there is any memory,
        e.g NO hardware register) it does not check if the memory
        you a tampering with is allocated by MCAsm or not. When you
        select this function first a window is opened asking for the
        address of the area to edit. If you enter a NULL string or
        click the close gadget the operation is aborted, else another
        window is opened displaying 11 lines with 16 bytes of data. The
        cursor is positioned at the address you gave. Use the cursor
        keys to move the cursor around. When the cursor is in the area
        of the window showing hexadecimal data you may alter the
        contents of a locating, a nibble at time, by pressing a
        hexadecimal character (0-9 a-f and A-F). When the cursor is in
        the area of the window showing ASCII data you may alter the
        contents of a location, a byte at time, by pressing any normal
        ASCII character (" "-~) plus TAB and ENTER. This function
        may be very useful when looking at structures, list, etc - but
        it can also take you on a short-cut to a system crash if you're
        not careful when altering things in memory, especially if you
        didn't allocate it. However, as long as you are just looking
        nothing can happen. If you wish to look at a new address press
        the DEL key to bring up the address window. To close down the
        memory-editor click on the close gadget or press return.

    Amiga 0    Dis-Assembler. When using the dis-assembler, first a window
        will be opened asking for the address of the area to dis-
        assemble. If you enter a NULL string or click on the close
        gadget the dis-assembly is aborted, else a another window is
        opened showing 20 lines of dis-assembled code starting at the
        address you gave. To move one instruction forward in the code
        press the Down cursor key and to move one word backwards in the
        code press the Up cursor key. When you don't want to dis-
        assemble any more click on the close gadget or press the return
        key. If you wish to start a dis-assembly at another address
        press the DEL key to bring up the address window.

        NOTE, With this dis-assembler you can't do anything except just
        dis-assemble. However, the intention with the dis-assembler is
        not to provide you with a full featured symbolic debugger but
        simply to fill the basic need, that sometimes occur, of being
        able to dis-assembler a few lines of code.

    1.8    Loading & saving binary data

    Amiga {    Load Data. This function will open the FileRequester so you can
        select a file to load, binary into memory. After having
        selected a file you will be asked to specify the start and end
        address of the buffer into which the file is to be loaded. If
        you don't specify any end address you have no limit and the
        entire file will be loaded, regardless of how large it is. No
        checks are made to ensure that the file is loaded into memory
        allocated by MCAsm, so this function should be used with great
        care. If you use a symbol not defined in an address or an
        illegal operator or an expression that MCAsm can't handle -
        then the operation is aborted with an error.

    Amiga }    Save Data. This function works the same way as Load Data except
        that this one saves data instead. Also - you must specify the
        end address when using this function.

    Amiga [    Exec BLoad. This will execute the BLOAD list build up during
        assembly with the BLOAD directive, loading all the files
        selected into the specified buffers. If a file can't be opened
        or loaded an error will be reported and then the next file in
        the list will be loaded.

    Amiga ]    Exec BSave. This will execute the BSAVE list build up during
        assembly with the BSAVE directive, saving all the specified
        areas to the selected files. If, for some reason, a file can't
        be saved an error is reported and then the next entry in the
        list is processed.


        NOTE, the BLOAD & BSAVE directives are fully described later in
              chapter 2, section 2.10.10 Binary include.

































    1.9    Summary of the MCAsm Editor key sequences

This is a summary of all key sequences in menu order.


        -- PROJECT MENU --

    Amiga ?            Some info about MCAsm
    Amiga /            Clear file
    Amiga o            Open file
    Amiga O            Include file
    Amiga w            Save file
    Amiga W            Save file as
    Amiga p            Print file
    Amiga D            Delete file
    Amiga d            Select current directory
    Amiga C            Clear clip-buffer
    Amiga Z            Save block as
    Amiga P            Print block
    Amiga '            Show register
    Amiga <            Show symbol table
    Amiga >            Show macro table
    Amiga q            Save file and quit
    Amiga Q            Quit


        -- ENVIRONMENT MENU --

    Shift F2        Set tab-distance to 2
    Shift F3        Set tab-distance to 3
    Shift F4        Set tab-distance to 4
    Shift F5        Set tab-distance to 5
    Shift F6        Set tab-distance to 6
    Shift F7        Set tab-distance to 7
    Shift F8        Set tab-distance to 8
    Shift F9        Set tab-distance to 9
    Shift F10        Set tab-distance to 10
    Amiga t            Customize tab-distance
    Amiga e            Load default environment
    Amiga H            Load specific environment
    Amiga E            Save environment
    Amiga 6            Specify symbol table
    Amiga 7            Specify macro table
    Amiga 8            Specify default section code size
    Amiga ,            Define source-listing filename
    Amiga .            Define error-listing filename
    Amiga ;            Define symbol-listing filename
    Amiga :            Specify default include directory


















        -- ASSEMBLE MENU --

    F1            Assemble, no options
    F2            Assemble, symbol-list on
    F3            Assemble, source-list on
    F4            Assemble, source- and symbol-list on
    F5            Assemble, warnings on
    F6            Assemble, warnings & symbol-list on
    F7            Assemble, warnings & source-list on
    F8            Assemble, warnings, source- and symbol-list on
    F9            Assemble, execute if assembly successful
    F10            Assemble, warnings on, execute if assembly successful
    Amiga G            Execute program in memory
    Alt     F1        Select File as assembler output
    Alt     F2        Select Memory as assembler output
    Alt     F3        Select None as assembler output
    Alt     F6        Set code-type to Absolute
    Alt     F7        Set code-type to Executable
    Alt     F8        Set code-type to Linkable


        -- BLOCK MENU --

    Amiga b            Mark block
    Amiga c            Copy block to clip
    Amiga x            Cut block
    Amiga i            Insert block
    Amiga X            Delete block
    Amiga C            Clear clip-buffer
    Amiga Z            Save block as
    Amiga P            Print block
    Amiga k            Delete line
    Amiga l            Un-Delete line
    Amiga L            Restore line
    Amiga y            Delete to end of line
    Amiga Y            Delete to beginning of line
    Amiga ^            Change case on word
    Amiga &            Make word upper case
    Amiga *            Make word lower case
    Amiga (            Change case on block
    Amiga )            Make block upper case
    Amiga _            Make block lower case
























        -- SEARCH MENU --

    Amiga S            Search for..
    Ctrl  F1        Jump to ;F1 mark
    Ctrl  F2        Jump to ;F2 mark
    Ctrl  F3        Jump to ;F3 mark
    Ctrl  F4        Jump to ;F4 mark
    Ctrl  F5        Jump to ;F5 mark
    Ctrl  F6        Jump to ;F6 mark
    Ctrl  F7        Jump to ;F7 mark
    Ctrl  F8        Jump to ;F8 mark
    Ctrl  F9        Jump to ;F9 mark
    Ctrl  F10        Jump to ;F0 mark
    Amiga s            Repeat search forward
    Amiga a            Repeat search backwards
    Amiga R            Replace..
    Amiga r            Repeat replace forward
    Amiga A            Repeat replace backwards
    Amiga j            Jump to line
    Amiga J            Jump to error-line
    Amiga 1            Mark line #1
    Amiga 2            Mark line #2
    Amiga 3            Mark line #3
    Amiga 4            Mark line #4
    Amiga 5            Mark line #5
    Amiga !            Jump to line #1
    Amiga @            Jump to line #2
    Amiga #            Jump to line #3
    Amiga $            Jump to line #4
    Amiga %            Jump to line #5


        -- MEMORY MENU --

    Amiga h            Memory allocator
    Amiga 9            Memory editor
    Amiga 0            Dis-assembler


        -- DATA MENU --

    Amiga {            Load binary data to memory
    Amiga }            Save binary data from memory to disk
    Amiga [            Execute the BLOAD list
    Amiga ]            Execute the BSAVE list


        -- MOVE MENU --

    Alt   Up        Move cursor 12 lines up
    Alt   Down        Move cursor 12 lines down
    Alt   Left        Move cursor 12 characters left
    Alt   Right        Move cursor 12 characters right
    Ctrl  Up        Move cursor to top of file
    Ctrl  Down        Move cursor to end of file
    Ctrl  Left        Move cursor one word left
    Ctrl  Right        Move cursor one word right
    Shift Up        Move cursor to end of screen
    Shift Down        Move cursor to end of screen
    Shift Left        Move cursor to beginning of line
    Shift Right        Move cursor to end of line





        -- OTHER KEY-SEQUENCES --

    Shift Ctrl Up        Move the entire screen one line up
    Shift Ctrl Down        Move the entire screen one line down
    Shift Ctrl Left        Move the entire screen two pixels left
    Shift Ctrl Right    Move the entire screen two pixels right

    Shift Alt  Down        Insert a blank line under this one


























































    2    The MCAsm 68000 Macro Assembler




    2.1    Introduction
    2.2    Invoking the Assembler
    2.3    Output code-type and destination
    2.4    Listing outputs
    2.4.1    Source listing
    2.4.2    Error listing
    2.4.3    Symbol listing
    2.5    Source code line format
    2.5.1    Label field
    2.5.2    Local labels
    2.5.3    Operation field
    2.5.4    Operand field
    2.5.5    Comments
    2.6    Expressions
    2.6.1    Operators
    2.6.2    Expression types
    2.6.3    Numbers
    2.6.4    Absolute long and absolute short
    2.7    Addressing modes
    2.8    Instruction set
    2.8.1    Instruction coding
    2.8.2    Data movement instructions
    2.8.3    Arithmetic instructions
    2.8.4    Logical instructions
    2.8.5    Bit operation instructions
    2.8.6    Shift and rotate instructions
    2.8.7    Branch instructions
    2.8.8    Odd instructions
    2.8.9    Copper instructions
    2.9    Lattice users
    2.10    Assembler directives
    2.10.1    Assembly control
    2.10.2    Symbol definition
    2.10.3    Data definition
    2.10.4    Repeat loops
    2.10.5    Macros
    2.10.6    Listing control
    2.10.7    Conditional assembly
    2.10.8    Section control
    2.10.9    Linkable directives
    2.10.10    Binary include
    2.10.11    Absolute directives
    2.10.12    Output directive
    2.11    Errors and warnings

















    2.1    Introduction

MCAsm is a fast and powerful assembler, available instantly from within the
editor and it assembles the source code, text that is, into AmigaDOS files
or directly into memory, for immediate execution from the editor.
This chapter will tell you how to use the MCAsm 68000 Macro Assembler, e.g
how to invoke it, what inputs it takes and what outputs it produces, how it
handles numeric expressions, the addressing modes, how to code the
instructions, what directives it uses and how to code them, etc.

In this chapter,

    < >     angled brackets denotes a named item, such as
            <filename>    <label>    <expression>

    [ ]    square brackets indicate an optional piece, such as
            [<label>]        [<size>]

     -    is used to denote a range of choices, such as
            0 - 9    A - F    a - z

     |    is used to denote 'this or that', such as
            An|Dn    .B|.S|.W











































    2.2    Invoking the Assembler

The Assembler is invoked by selecting one of the ten subitems from the
Assemble item in the Assemble menu, or by pressing F1 - F10.
The choices available are:

        Warnings Listing Symbols Execute

        OFF      OFF     OFF     OFF    F1
        OFF      OFF     ON      OFF    F2
        OFF      ON      OFF     OFF    F3
        OFF      ON      ON      OFF    F4
        ON       OFF     OFF     OFF    F5
        ON       OFF     ON      OFF    F6
        ON       ON      OFF     OFF    F7
        ON       ON      ON      OFF    F8
        OFF      OFF     OFF     ON     F9
        ON       OFF     OFF     ON     F10

With this form of invoking you can easily specify if you want the assembler to
write out the warnings, if any, produce a source-listing and/or a
symbol-listing and, if you wish, automatically execute the code, if assembled
to memory and no errors are found - all at the touch of a button.
All other assembler options/defaults are taken from the defaults specified
in the Assemble and Environment menus. (Unless the defaults are overridden
by certain directives in the source.)
If any errors are found in the first pass the assembler will abort at the
beginning of the second pass. At the end of assembly you will be asked to
press any key, or click the left mouse button, to return to the editor.
To abort the assembler, simply press CTRL C. To pause the assembler when it
is writing to the screen, listings, warnings or errors, simply press SPACE
and to resume press BACKSPACE


































    2.3    Output code-type and destination

MCAsm is capable of producing three kinds of code, Absolute, Executable and
Linkable and send it to either an AmigaDOS file, memory or nothing.
The default is to create executable code and send it to nothing.
Now a description of the different destinations, which are accessible in
the Output to item in the Assemble menu or by pressing the key sequence
shown after the destinations.

    File        Alt F1

This will output the code to whatever device selected. If an error has
occurred during assembly no output will be written. If producing executable
code the output file is an AmigaDOS load file, if producing linkable code
it is an AmigaDOS object file and if producing absolute code the output is
a standard AmigaDOS file, with a special structure in the beginning.

    location    type        meaning
    0        long        code origin address
    4        long        code length
    8        long        execute address

For every ORG directive there will be one structure like this.
If you are sending your code to a none storage device e.g SER: the
<outname> has no meaning, else <outname> is calculated as follows.

If a <filename> is given when selecting File as output then
    <outname> = <filename>
else
    if OUTPUT has not been used then
        <outname> = <source filename> without an extension or .o
    else
        if OUTPUT specifies an <extension> then
            <outname> = <source filename> + OUTPUT <extension>
        else
            <outname> = OUTPUT <filename>

NOTE,    the assembler will not give a warning if the output file already
    exists but simply overwrite it.
NOTE,    the OUTPUT directive is described later in 2.10.12 Output directive.

    Memory        Alt F2

Programs assembled to memory can be executed be pressing Amiga G or by
selecting Execute in the Assemble menu. Programs executed from the editor
shall end with a RTS to return control to MCAsm. If you are writing task
manipulating code it is MCAsm's task you are manipulating. Before executing
a program MCAsm saves all system vectors, hardware registers dmaconr,
intenar, adkconr and the initial copper pc, initializes system vectors 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 11 with the address to MCAsm's own guru-catcher.
If a return is made to MCAsm through one of the vectors the hardware
registers and vectors saved earlier are restored and then the CPU registers
will be displayed with a line telling you what error caused the return. If
the return was made by a RTS the PC and SR values will be invalid. If you
must know the PC or SR value on return you can, temporarily, end you
program with the ILLEGAL directive, but if you run that from AmigaDOS the
system will crash. If producing executable code the assembler will allocate
the necessary memory, if producing absolute code you must allocate memory
yourself with the Allocator or ALLOC directive. Even if you can send
linkable code to memory it is not the best thing to do since all external
references are still unresolved.

    None        Alt F3

The assembler will not produce any output at all. Useful for test-assembly.

The different code-types are accessible in the Type of code item in the
Assemble menu or by pressing the key sequence shown after the types.

    Absolute    Alt F6

Absolute code is normally only used in games since these programs normally
not use the Amiga in a normal way but tend to take over the entire machine
and therefore can keep an absolute memory map. If you're using absolute
code it is a smart thing to turn off type-checking so you can perform much
more complex operations with the relative symbols since these are no longer
relative, but absolute.

    Executable    Alt F7

If you are writing entirely in assembly language and the program is not to
large then executable is the normal choice. It does not need any linking,
it can be assembled directly to memory and executed to reduce development
time.

    Linkable        Alt F8

If you are interfacing with a high-level language you have no choice but to
use linkable code. Also, if you are writing a program as a team or the code
is rather large, say 100k code, then linkable is the best suited form.



    2.4    Listing outputs

There are three different types of listings produced by the assembler:
Source, Error and Symbol listing.
Each line of listing can be up to 511 characters long, the default is 132,
and the minimum is 38. The line length is controlled with the LLEN
directive.
The Source and Symbol listing output is paginated by default, it can be
disabled with the NOPAGE directive and re-enabled with PAGEON, and the page
length is either specified by the user with the PLEN directive,
or 60 - the default.
The format of each printed pages is:

<heading>    MCAsm 68000 Macro Assembler Version 1.0          Page : nn
<title>        the <string> given with the TTL directive or if not given
        the name of the source-file.
<subtitle>    the <string> given with the SUBTTL directive or if not
        given just an ASCII LF, e.g a blank line.
ASCII LF    a blank line.
<listing>    PLEN lines of either the source or symbol listing.
ASCII FF    a formfeed character.

Each listing may be sent to it's own file or all to the same. The filenames
for the different listings are specified in the Environment menu.
However, fatal errors are always written to the screen.

NOTE,    if source-listing and/or symbol-listing are not selected when
    starting the assembly the source-list and/or symbol-list file(s) are
    not opened, so if you enable them later they will be sent to the
    screen, regardless of what file specified.

NOTE,    the TTL, SUBTTL and PLEN directives are described later in section
     2.10.6 Listing control.






    2.4.1    Source listing

A fully featured line of source listing have the following format:

    Columns    Contents            Format

    1-5    Line number        5-digit decimal
    6    Blank
    7-8    Section number        2-digit hexadecimal
    9    Dot (.)
    10-17    PC in hexadecimal    8-digit hexadecimal
    18    Blank
    19-29    PC in decimal        10-digit decimal
    30    Blank or '+'        '+' if macro-list else blank
    31-50    Generated code        20-digit hexadecimal
    51    Blank
    52-59    Flags            T S I X N Z V C
    60    Blank
    61-74    Execution time        T-states(reads/writes)
    75    Blank
    76-END    Source line        <label><operation><operand><comment>

Every field except the source line itself can be either enabled or
disabled. The form shown above have all fields enabled. In the simplest
form, with all fields disabled, the source listing output only consists of
the source line.

    Columns    Contents            Format

    1-END    Source line        <label><operation><operand><comment>

The line number start at 1 for the first line in the main source file and
is incremented by 1 for every line assembled in the main file. The line
number is not normally increased in include-files and macros, but if you
wish to do so you can do it either by setting the default line number
increment method in the Default Program List Ctrl in the Environment menu,
or by using the FORMAT directive, see section 2.10.6 Listing control.
The section number simply shows the number of the current section if it is
a CODE, DATA or BSS section. If it is an offset section the section number
will show 'O  ', if it is a REPEAT loop it will show 'R  ' and if the
directive on the line is defining a symbol the section number will show
'  ='.
For instructions and non-symbol defining directives the PC field contain
the current program counter value. For directives containing expressions
whose value are of interest (EQU, SET, REG etc) the value of the expression
is printed in the PC field.
The Generated code field contain up to 5 words of data generated by an
instruction or a data defining directive. If a directive generates more
than 5 words of data these will not be seen. If a directive doesn't
generate any code this field is left blank.
The Flags field show what flags are affected by the instruction and this is
only shown on instructions. The meaning of the characters are as follows:

    - not affected, * affected, 0 cleared, 1 set, U undefined.

The Execution time field show the number of T-states, (reads/ and writes)
required to execute the instruction. However, in some cases it is not
possible to compute the execution time at assembly, e.g dynamic shifts,
mul, div etc. In these cases the time is shown either as a maximum value,
e.g mul, div etc, or as a base time plus n * something, e.g shifts and n is
the number of bits to shift.





    2.4.2    Error listing

The error listing has the following format:

    <source line>    one line of source-listing, e.g the line with the error.
    <error line>    a line with the error/warning message
    ASCII LF


The error/warning messages have the following format:

*** Error nn: text
** Warning nn: text

where:
        nn            is the error/warning number.
        text            is a short text explaining the fault.



    2.4.3    Symbol listing

The symbol table listing is a sorted list of all symbols defined in the
assembly. A fully featured line of symbol listing have the following
format:

    Columns    Contents                    Format

    1-9    Symbol value in hexadecimal    $ + 8-digit hexadecimal number
    10    Blank
    11-21    Symbol value in decimal        10-digit signed decimal number
    22    Blank
    23-26    Symbol type            4-character type
    27    Blank
    28-END    Symbol name

All fields except the symbol name can be either enabled or disabled. Above
all fields are enabled. The simplest form with all fields disabled only
show the symbol name.

The type field contain:

    Type    Meaning

    A    Absolute symbol, defined with EQU, RS or RC
    AT    Absolute temporary symbol, defined by SET
    sn.R    Relative symbol, e.g a label. sn is the section number
    sn.T    Relative temporary symbol, defined by SET
    Loc    Local label
    RL    Register list symbol, defined by REG
    SPEC    Special MCAsm symbols
    E    Un-typed external symbol, defined by XREF
    EA    Absolute external symbol, defined by XREF.A or XREF.L
    E.R    Relative external symbol, defined by XREF.R












    2.5    Source code line format

This section describes the different forms of an input line. It is not
recommended that an input line is more than 255 characters long.
Basically a source line consists of four fields:

    [<label>]    <operation>    [<operand(s)>]    [<comment>]

    start    move.l    a7,init_sp    Save initial stack

    label        Optional, but depends on the operation
    operation    Optional
    operand(s)    Optional, but depends on the operation
    comment        Optional

A source line can be blank, or entirely be a comment line - starting with
an asterisk (*) or a semi-colon (;), in either case it is completely
ignored by the assembler. Each field must be separated by any number of
tabs or spaces, known as <white space>.



    2.5.1    Label field

If a line starts with one of the following combinations it contains a
label:

<symbol><white space>
<symbol>:
<white space><symbol>:

Such a sequence is referred to elsewhere as a <label>.
The normal starting position for a label is column 1, but if it is required
to start in any other column it must end with a colon (:).
If a line contains a label and nothing more, then the current values of the
program and section counters will be assigned to the label and it's type
will be relative (sn.R), otherwise the value and type to be assigned to the
label depends on the operation.
Labels are allowed on all instructions, optional on some directives,
forbidden on some and necessary on others.
A label may consist of any mixture of the characters A-Z, a-z, 0-9, the dot
(.) and the underscore (_).
For example:

start, Text_2, main_1.0, _CX22, loop

You must not use register names as labels.

There are a few reserved symbols in MCAsm:

__LK            3 = linkable, 4 = executable, 5 = absolute
__RS            the current value of the rs_counter
__RC            the base address for the RC definitions, rc_base
NARG            the number of arguments supplied to the current macro
PreAllocatedAddress    start-address of the pre-allocated area
PreAllocatedSize    size of the pre-allocated area
PreAllocatedEnd        end-address of the pre-allocated area
AllocatedAddress_n    start-address of allocated area number n
AllocatedSize_n        size of allocated area number n
AllocatedEnd_n        end-address of allocated area number n






    2.5.2    Local labels

A local label can be defined many times in a program and they are normally
used as loop labels. Local labels are only valid between two non local
labels.
For example:

func1    move.l    #'    ',d1
.loop    move.l    d1,(a1)+
    clr.w    (a1)+
    dbf    d0,.loop
    rts
func2    moveq    #0,d0
.loop    move.l    d0,(a2)+
    dbf    d1,.loop
    rts

Normally a local label begin with a dot (.) but if you wish to introduce a
local label with an underscore (_) you can do so with OPT U+ and change
back to the dot (.) with OPT U-. Also, a label made up of decimal
characters and ending with a dollar-sing ($) is also accepted as a local
label. For example:

func2    moveq    #0,d0
4$    move.l    d0,(a2)+
    dbf    d1,4$
    rts

The local labels .L and .W should not be used to avoid confusion with the
size specifiers absolute long and absolute short.



    2.5.3    Operation field

The Operation field follows the label field and the syntax is:

<white space><operation>

The operation is either an 68000 instruction, a macro, an assembler
directive or blank.
MCAsm is case-insensitive to operations, so MOVE is the save as move and
MoVe and Dc is the save as dc and DC.



    2.5.4    Operand field

The syntax of the operand field depends on the operation and therefore the
operand field syntax is described for every instruction and directive.
MCAsm is case-insensitive to operands, unless it contains a symbol and
OPT C+ is used.














    2.5.5    Comment field

All text after the first not quoted <white space> after the operand field
and all text after a non quoted semicolon (;), or asterisk (*) if it is the
first character on the line, is taken as a comment. This text is ignored by
the assembler.

Some examples of source lines:

; Hi, this is a comment line

* so is this

start    ; a lonely label

    move.l    a7,init_sp    save stack

    test:    dc.b    'an indented label, note spaces allowed in quotes' comment

start:lea    stack,a7

GRAPHICS    =    $20000

COPPER=$10000;The start address of the copper list










































    2.6    Expressions

MCAsm allows complex expressions and supports full operator precedence. All
expressions are made up of any number of symbols, numbers, operators and
parentheses, and they are of two types - absolute and relative.
Absolute expressions are constants, known at assembly time while Relative
expressions are, as the name implies, relative and not known at assembly
time, unless you are producing absolute code when all relative symbols
actually are absolute, since the AmigaDOS loader can put the code anywhere
it likes in memory when loading it.
Some instructions and directives place restrictions on what types of
expressions they can handle and some operators do not work with certain
symbol combinations.



    2.6.1    Operators

The available operators are listed below in decreasing order of precedence.

1. Unary operators    Unary plus (+), Unary minus (-), Logical not (~)
2. Shift operators    Left shift (<<), Right Shift (>>)
3. Binary operators    Binary and (&), Binary or (!or|), Binary xor (^)
4. Multiply, Divide    Multiply (*), Divide (/)
5. Add, Sub        Addition (+), Subtraction (-)
6. Comparison        Equality (=), Less than (<), Greater than (>)

To override the precedence of the operators, you must enclose sub-
expressions in parentheses, ellipses () or square brackets []. Operators of
equal precedence are evaluated from left to right. Spaces and tabs are not
allowed in expressions, unless within quotes, since they are regarded as
delimiters between fields.

The comparison operators are signed and return -1 ($ffffffff) if true or 0
if false.

All expressions are evaluated using 32-bit signed integer arithmetic and no
checks are made for overflow.



    2.6.2    Expression types

         -----------------------------------------------
        |           |             Operands              |
        | Operators |-----------------------------------|
        |           | A op A | A op R | R op A | R op R |
        |-----------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
        | Shift     |   A    |   *    |   *    |   *    |
        |-----------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
        | Binary    |   A    |   *    |   *    |   *    |
        |-----------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
        | Mul & Div |   A    |   *    |   *    |   *    |
        |-----------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
        | Add       |   A    |   R    |   R    |   *    |
        |-----------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
        | Sub       |   A    |   *    |   R    |   A    |
        |-----------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
        | Compare   |   A    |   *    |   *    |   A    |
         -----------------------------------------------

        Figure 2.6.2 - Allowed types of expression combinations




The table in Figure 2.6.2 shows the result produced by each operator for
the different types of combination of parameters and which combinations are
not allowed. A denotes absolute, R denotes relative and * denotes an error,
e.g the operation is not allowed.
NOTE, the unary operators are only allowed on absolute symbols.



    2.6.3    Numbers

Numbers may be used as a term of an expression or as a single value. All
numbers are absolute quantities.
The following formats are allowed for absolute numbers:

    Decimal
    (a string of decimal characters 0 - 9)
    Example:    463

    Hexadecimal
    ($ followed by a string of hexadecimal characters 0- 9, A - F, a - f)
    Example:    $4afc

    Octal
    (@ followed by a string of octal characters 0 - 7)
    Example:    @7345

    Binary
    (% followed by a string of binary characters 0 and 1)
    Example:    %101010100

    ASCII
    (Up to 4 ASCII characters within single or double quotes)
    Example:    'hi'

The quote used to begin an ASCII number must also end it, e.g "hi' is
illegal. To include a quote in the number, either enclose it with the other
quote or type it twice. If less than 4 characters are used the number is
justified to the right, padding it with zeros.
Here are some more examples of ASCII numbers:

    What        'What'
    it's        'it''s'
    it's        "it's"

The use of an asterisk (*) denotes the current value of the program counter
and this is always a relative quantity.



    2.6.4    Absolute long and absolute short

The normal way of specifying absolute short addressing is to end the
expression with .w

        movea.l    AbsExecBase.w,a6

However, this will give an error as the dot is supposed to be a part of the
symbol. To get around this, expressions that are to be absolute short or
forced to absolute long may be enclosed within parentheses ending with .w
or .l, unless it is a single number where the normal way works just fine.

        movea.l    (AbsExecBase).w,a6




    2.7    Addressing modes

The following table shows the addressing modes available. Dn represent one
of the data registers D0 - D7, An represent one of the address registers
A0 - A7, In represents an index register An or Dn with an optional size .W
or .L and if not given .W is assumed. d represents a number.

Mode        Meaning                    Example

Dn      Data register direct                move.w d0,d1
An      Address register direct            move.l a1,a0
(An)      Address register indirect            clr.l  (a0)
(An)+      Address register indirect post increment    tst.w  (a0)+
-(An)      Address register indirect pre decrement    tst.w  -(a0)
d(An)      Address register indirect with displacement    tst.w  10(a0)
d(An,In)  Address register indirect with index        tst.w  10(a0,d1.l)
d.W      Absolute short addressing            move.l 4.w,a6
d.L      Absolute long addressing            clr.l  $1000[.l]
d(pc)      Program counter relative with offset        move.b flag(pc),d0
d(pc,In)  Program counter relative with index        jsr    tb(pc,d1.w)
#d      Immediate data                moveq  #0,d0

In the table above SP may be specified instead of address register A7.
For example:

    move.l    a6,-(sp)

When using Address register indirect with index the displacement must not
be specified. For example:

    jsr    (pc,d0.w)

will be assembled as

    jsr    0(pc,d0.w)

There are also four special addressing modes only available with certain
instructions and these addressing modes are:

    USP    user stack pointer
    SR    status register
    CCR    condition code register (lower byte of SR)

For example:

    and.w    d0,sr
    move    a0,usp
    ori.b    #$10,ccr

    and

    Reg-list    register lists

For example:

func    movem.l    d1-d7/a0-a6,-(a7)
    ..
    ..
    ..
    movem.l    (a7)+,d1-d7/a0-a6
    rts





    2.8    Instruction set

Some instructions have an address variant (destination is an address
register), immediate (source is immediate data), quick (source is immediate
data in the range 0 < data < 9) and a memory variant (both operands are
address register indirect post increment).
If you wish to force a certain variant you may append A, Q, L or M to the
instruction.

NOTE,    the correct forms are always assembled faster than if the assembler
    must make the conversion.

In this case the assembler will use the specified variant, if it exists or
give an error. If you don't specify a particular variant the assembler will
automatically convert to the A, I or M variant where necessary, but not to
the Q variant.
For example:

    add.l    d0,a0

will be assembled as

    adda.l    d0,a0

The following is a table of the instructions that have variants and which:

    ---------------------------------------
   | Instr |   A   |   I   |   Q   |   M   |
   |-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
   | move  | movea |   -   | moveq |   -   |
   |-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
   | cmp   | cmpa  | cmpi  |   -   | cmpm  |
   |-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
   | add   | adda  | addi  | addq  |   -   |
   |-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
   | sub   | suba  | subi  | subq  |   -   |
   |-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
   | and   |   -   | andi  |   -   |   -   |
   |-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
   | or       |   -   | ori   |   -   |   -   |
   |-------|-------|-------|-------|-------|
   | eor   |   -   | eori  |   -   |   -   |
    ---------------------------------------

There are two extensions to the normal condition codes; HS and LO,
equivalent to CC and CS. These extensions are supported by all instructions
using condition codes.

All instructions and directives, except DC.B, DCB.B, DS.B, RC.B and RCB.B
are always assembled on a word boundary. If any of the directives above are
to be on an even address you may use the EVEN directive before it.

NOTE,    even if instructions are always word aligned labels without a
    directive are not. For example:

        dc.b    0
label
        bra.s    label

Here label will be assigned to an odd value and the generated code will not
work. To help you find such errors you may use OPT E+ which will tell the
assembler to check if the addresses used are even, or give an error if not.




    2.8.1    Instruction coding

This section will list all the instructions, and tell you how to code them.
For a detailed description of all 68000 instructions you should consult a
manual for the Motorola MC68000 processor.
Instructions that can operate on different sizes end with a size specifier,
referred to as <size> later in this section, and the allowed sizes are .L,
.W, .B and .S. If no size is given the default size, normally .W, is used.
If an instruction can only operate with one size it may optionally be
defined anyway (in this case the one size allowed is also the default one).
<ea> denotes a general effective address, However - what specific
addressing modes allowed with the instruction in question is not described,
<ea> simply indicates that those allowed are from the table described in
section 3.7. Please note that MCAsm is case-insensitive with both
instructions, sizes and addressing modes (unless the addressing mode chosen
has a symbol and OPT C+ is in use).



    2.8.2    Data movement instructions

The general form for the MOVE instruction is:

    MOVE[<size>]    <ea>,<ea>

Above all sizes are allowed, but if the destination <ea> is An only .L and
.W are allowed and the assembler will generate the instruction:

    MOVEA[<size>]    <ea>,An

The quick form:

    MOVEQ[.L]    #d,Dn

and the special forms of the move instruction:

    MOVE[.L]    An,USP
    MOVE[.L]    USP,An
    MOVE[.W|.B|.S]    <ea>,SR
    MOVE[.W]    SR,<ea>
    MOVE[.B|.S]    <ea>,CCR

The move peripheral instruction, sizes allowed are .L and .W:

    MOVEP[<size>]    Dn,d(An)
    MOVEP[<size>]    d(An),Dn

and the last form of the MOVE instruction, MOVEM, allowed sizes, .L and .W:

    MOVEM[<size>]    Reg-list,<ea>
    MOVEM[<size>]    <ea>,Reg-list

Below are the other data movement instructions, swap, exchange, load
effective address ,push effective address and clear:

    SWAP[.W]    Dn
    EXG[.L]        Dn|An,Dn|An
    LEA[.L]        <ea>,An
    PEA        <ea>
    CLR[<size>]    <ea>






    2.8.3    Arithmetic instructions

The general forms of the ADD, SUB and CMP instructions are:

    ADD[<size>]    <ea>,<ea>
    SUB[<size>]    <ea>,<ea>
    CMP[<size>]    <ea>,<ea>

All sizes are allowed unless the destination is An when only .W and .L are
allowed and the assembler generates the instructions:

    ADDA[<size>]    <ea>,An
    SUBA[<size>]    <ea>,An
    CMPA[<size>]    <ea>,An

The quick forms. Note the an An destination is allowed in the quick form if
the size is .W or .L and that CMP has no quick form:

    ADDQ[<size>]    #d,<ea>
    SUBQ[<size>]    #d,<ea>

The immediate forms:

    ADDI[<size>]    #d,<ea>
    SUBI[<size>]    #d,<ea>
    CMPI[<size>]    #d,<ea>

and for the CMP instruction, the memory form:

    CMPM[<size>]    (An)+,(An)+

The other arithmetic instructions, negate, extend, test, multiply and
divide. All sizes allowed where nothing else is specified:

    NEG[<size>]    <ea>
    EXT[.W|.L]    Dn
    TST[<size>]    <ea>
    MULU[.W]    <ea>,Dn
    MULS[.W]    <ea>,Dn
    DIVU[.W]    <ea>,Dn
    DIVS[.W]    <ea>,Dn

The extended arithmetic instructions, all sizes allowed:

    ADDX[<size>]    Dn,Dn
    ADDX[<size>]    -(An),-(An)
    SUBX[<size>]    Dn,Dn
    SUBX[<size>]    -(An),-(An)
    NEGX[<size>]    <ea>

and the decimal coded arithmetic instructions, allowed sizes are .B and .S:

    ABCD[<size>]    Dn,Dn
    ABCD[<size>]    -(An),-(An)
    SBCD[<size>]    Dn,Dn
    SBCD[<size>]    -(An),-(An)
    NBCD[<size>]    <ea>









    2.8.4    Logical instructions

The general forms for the AND, OR and EOR instructions are as follows; all
sizes are allowed:

    AND[<size>]    Dn,<ea>
    AND[<size>]    <ea>,Dn
    AND[<size>]    #d,<ea>

    OR[<size>]    Dn,<ea>
    OR[<size>]    <ea>,Dn
    OR[<size>]    #d,<ea>

    EOR[<size>]    Dn,<ea>
    EOR[<size>]    <ea>,Dn
    EOR[<size>]    #d,<ea>

If the source is an immediate value, e.g #d, the assembler will generate
the immediate forms:

    ANDI[<size>]    #d,<ea>
    ORI[<size>]    #d,<ea>
    EORI[<size>]    #d,<ea>

The immediate forms also have the following special forms:

    ANDI[.W|.B|.S]    #d,SR
    ORI[.W|.B|.S]    #d,SR
    EORI[.W|.B|.S]    #d,SR

    ANDI[.B|.S]    #d,CCR
    ORI[.B|.S]    #d,CCR
    EORI[.B|.S]    #d,CCR



    2.8.5    Bit operation instructions

The available bit operation instructions are listed below.
Note that if the destination is Dn the size is always .L, and .B | .S if
the destination is anything else.
However - you may specify it if you wish but the assembler ignores it.

    BTST[<size>]    Dn,<ea>
    BTST[<size>]    #d,<ea>

    BSET[<size>]    Dn,<ea>
    BSET[<size>]    #d,<ea>

    BCLR[<size>]    Dn,<ea>
    BCLR[<size>]    #d,<ea>

    BCHG[<size>]    Dn,<ea>
    BCHG[<size>]    #d,<ea>












    2.8.6    Shift and rotate instructions

These are the shift and rotate instructions available, all sizes allowed if
nothing else is specified.

    ASL[<size>]    Dn,Dn
    ASL[<size>]    #d,Dn
    ASL[.W]        <ea>

    ASR[<size>]    Dn,Dn
    ASR[<size>]    #d,Dn
    ASR[.W]        <ea>

    LSL[<size>]    Dn,Dn
    LSL[<size>]    #d,Dn
    LSL[.W]        <ea>

    LSR[<size>]    Dn,Dn
    LSR[<size>]    #d,Dn
    LSR[.W]        <ea>

    ROL[<size>]    Dn,Dn
    ROL[<size>]    #d,Dn
    ROL[.W]        <ea>

    ROR[<size>]    Dn,Dn
    ROR[<size>]    #d,Dn
    ROR[.W]        <ea>

    ROXL[<size>]    Dn,Dn
    ROXL[<size>]    #d,Dn
    ROXL[.W]    <ea>

    ROXR[<size>]    Dn,Dn
    ROXR[<size>]    #d,Dn
    ROXR[.W]    <ea>



    2.8.7    Branch instructions

The branch instructions, except DBcc, may have the sizes .B or .S for short
and .W for word branch. If .L is specified .W is used and a warning is
given since .L is a 68020 and upwards branch size.
If no size is specified .W is used.

NOTE,    if you want to optimize branches you should not specify .W but leave
    them with no size, since the optimizer doesn't optimize branches
    specificly made .W - no matter how close they are.

    Bcc[<size>]    <expr>
    BRA[<size>]    <expr>
    BSR[<size>]    <expr>
    DBcc        Dn,<expr>

The allowed condition codes for Bcc and DBcc are:

    CC, CS, EQ, NE, GT, LT, GE, LE, HI, LO, HS, LS, MI, PL, VC, VS.

for DBcc also:

    F, T, RA.  RA is a synonym for F.




    2.8.8    Other instructions

These are the rest of the instruction:

    CHK[.W]        <ea>,Dn

    TRAP        #d
    TRAPV

    JMP        <ea>
    JSR        <ea>

    LINK        #d,An
    UNLK        An

    NOP

    RESET

    RTE
    RTR
    RTS

    TAS        <ea>

    STOP        #d

    Scc        <ea>

The condition codes allowed for Scc are the same as for DBcc except that RA
is not supported as a synonym for F.



    2.8.9    Copper instructions

This is the copper instruction format accepted by MCAsm.

    CMOVE    #d,Hardware_register

    CWAIT    #vert_pos,#vert_mask,#hor_pos,#hor_mask,#wait_blitter_flag

    CSKIP    #vert_pos,#vert_mask,#hor_pos,#hor_mask,#wait_blitter_flag

See the Hardware Reference Manual for a description on how the copper and
the copper instructions work.




















    2.9    Lattice users

If you do not write assembler programs that are to be linked together with
a C module produced by the Lattice C compiler v4.0 or later, you do not
have to read this section.

Lattice have two external reference classes allowing
relocatable locations to be accessed with d(An) or d(An,In).
Normally all data in a C program are relative to address register A4,
located in the section __MERGED.
To allow the C program to access you assembler data and vice versa:

        XDEF    _Pointer
        XDEF    _Type,_Flag
        XREF    _START,_END

        SECTION    TEXT

        movea.l    _Pointer(a4),a1
        move.l    #_Type,(a1)
        move.w    _Flag(a4),2(a1)
        movea.l    _START(a4),a2
        movea.l    _END(a4),a3
        rts

        SECTION    __MERGED,DATA

_Pointer    dc.l    0
_Type        dc.l    0
_Flag        dc.w    1

If you are interfacing with a C program, don't forget the underscores.
This feature is only usable if you are producing linkable code, but don't
try to use it with the version of Blink supplied with MCAsm or Alink. It
only works with the Blink linker supplied with the Lattice C compiler v4.0
and later.

NOTE,    the labels used this way must be XDEFed and the base address
    register properly initialized (this is normally done by the C
    program).

For further information on interfacing assembly-language with a C program,
look in your Lattice C manual.























    2.10    Assembler Directives

The directives are instructions to the assembler, rather than instructions
that are translated into executable code. Listed below are all the
directives that the assembler recognizes; after that is an individual
description for each and every one.

NOTE,    if nothing is said about the <label> type and value, the type is
    relative and the value will be set to the current value of the
    program counter.

Assembly control    Directive    Description

            END        End of source
            INCLUDE        Include a source file
            INCDIR        Define INCLUDE directories
            OPT        Option control
            EVEN        Align to word boundary
            CNOP        Align to whatever
            FAIL        Generate an error
            ILLEGAL        Generate an illegal instruction


Symbol definition    Directive    Description

            EQU        Assign permanent value
            SET        Assign temporary value
            REG        Assign permanent value, register list
            RS        Assign permanent absolute value
            RSSET        Set RS counter
            RSRESET        Reset RS counter


Data definition        Directive    Description

            DC        Define constant
            DCB        Define constant block
            DS        Define storage
            RC        Define constant, absolute label
            RCB        Define constant block, absolute label
            RCSET        Set RC base
            RCRESET        Reset RC base


Repeat loops        Directive    Description

            REPT        General repeat
            ENDR        General end-repeat
            FREPT        Fast repeat
            ENDFR        End fast repeat
            IREPT        Immediate repeat


Macros             Directive    Description

            MACRO        Define a macro
            ENDM        End a macro definition
            MEXIT        Conditionally exit a macro








Listing control        Directive    Description

            PAGE        Start a new page
            NOPAGE        Turn paging off
            PAGEON        Turn paging on
            LIST        Turn listing on
            NOLIST        Turn listing off
            TTL        Define title
            SUBTTL        Define subtitle
            PLEN        Define page length
            LLEN        Define line length
            SPC        Skip n blank lines
            LISTCHAR    Send control characters
            FORMAT        Define listing format


Conditional assembly    Directive    Description

            IFEQ        Assemble if zero
            IFNE        Assemble if not zero
            IFGT        Assemble if greater than
            IFGE        Assemble if greater or equal
            IFLT        Assemble if less than
            IFLE        Assemble if less or equal
            IFD        Assemble if symbol defined
            IFND        Assemble if symbol not defined
            IFC        Assemble if strings are equal
            IFNC        Assemble if strings are not equal
            ELSE        Switch assembly state
            ELSEIF        Switch assembly state
            ENDC        End conditional
            ENDIF        End conditional
            IF        Short form for IFNE
            IIFEQ        Immediate IFEQ
            IIFNE        Immediate IFNE
            IIFGT        Immediate IFGT
            IIFGE        Immediate IFGE
            IIFLT        Immediate IFLT
            IIFLE        Immediate IFLE
            IIFD        Immediate IFD
            IIFND        Immediate IFND
            IIFC        Immediate IFC
            IIFNC        Immediate IFNC
            IIF        Immediate IF


Section control        Directive    Description

            SECTION        Program section
            CODE        Program code section
            DATA        Data section
            BSS        Bss section
            OFFSET        Absolute offsets


Linkable directives    Directive    Description

            IDNT        Define hunk_unit name
            XREF        Reference external symbol
            XDEF        Define external reference






Binary include        Directive    Description

            INCBIN        Include binary file
            BLOAD        Load binary into memory
            BSAVE        Save binary from memory


Absolute directives    Directive    Description

            ORG        Set program origin
            ENT        Set program execution point
            INITREG        Set register initial value
            ALLOC        Allocate absolute memory


Output directive    Directive    Description

            OUTPUT        Define output filename
















































    2.10.1    Assembly control

    END

Tells the assembler that no more text is to be assembled and everything
after this directive is ignored.
END need not be specified, the assembler will find EOF anyway.

    INCLUDE    <filename>

This will cause the assembler to take the source code from the file named
<filename> (in normal AmigaDOS format). When EOF has been reached, assembly
will continue at the line after the line with the INCLUDE directive.
If a space is present in the filename it should be enclosed in single or
double quotes. If no drive specifier is present e.g DF0:, the assembler
will first look for the file in the default include directory, specified
with the Default Include Dir item in the Environment menu, and after that
in the directories specified with INCDIR. If the file isn't found the
assembler will give an error. INCLUDE directives may be nested as deeply as
memory allows.

    INCDIR    <directory>[,<directory>]...

This directive adds the directory(s) to the directory list used be INCLUDE
and INCBIN. If the directory name contains a space it should be enclosed in
single or double quotes. The directory name may or may not end with a slash
(/).

NOTE,    if INCDIR is to have any effect it must be given before the INCLUDE
    directives.

    OPT    <option>[,<option>]...

This allows control over all the options within the assembler. The default
state for most options may be user specified in the Default Assembler
Options item in the Environment menu. Those who are not listed in the
Default Assembler Options are options that affect something else than a
pure option, such as OPT L - which is used to select executable or linkable
code and therefore affect the code-type, which is selected in the Type of
Code item in the Assemble menu. The allowed options are:

Option A - Automatic PC-relative addressing.

    lea    base,a6

will automatically be transformed into

    lea    base(pc),a6

during assembly.

Note that this is always done if the instruction allow it and before it is
actually assembled, so if the address is out of range you will get an
error. To override this you can force the assembler to use absolute long
addressing by doing the following:

    lea    (base).l,a6

OPT A+ will turn this option on and OPT A- will turn it off. It may be used
as many times as you wish.






Option B - Automatic execution of BLOAD/BSAVE lists after assembly.

B+    will turn on  execution for both BLOAD and BSAVE.
B-    will turn off execution for both BLOAD and BSAVE.
BL+    will turn on  execution for BLOAD.
BL-    will turn off execution for BLOAD.
BS+    will turn on  execution for BSAVE.
BS-    will turn off execution for BSAVE.

NOTE,    only the last given B option is taken into account.

Option C - Case-sensitivity and number of significant characters.

Using OPT C+ will make the assembler case-sensitive and OPT C- will make it
case-insensitive. The number of significant characters may be specified
with a decimal number between the C and the sign, e.g OPT C8- denotes
case-insensitivity and 8 significant characters.

NOTE,    this option is active on both symbols and macro-names and it should
    only be used once at the beginning of the source, before any symbols
    have been defined.

Option D - Debugging information.

AmigaDOS supports the inclusion of a debug_hunk in the binary output file.
This may be useful if you are debugging your code with a symbolic debugger
that can read the debug_hunk. Normally all the relative symbols are
included in the debug_hunk but a special case arise if you use OPT X with
linkable code, described later. Use OPT D+ to activate and OPT D- to
deactivate.

NOTE,    only the last given D option is taken into account.

Option E - Even addresses.

When this option is activated the assembler will check the addresses on
instructions that use a word or longword access and see if they are even,
if not - an error will be given. Use OPT E+ to activate and OPT E- to
deactivate. This option may be used as often as you like.
For example:

    dc.b    0
start
    bra    start

Since the label has an odd value the assembler will give an error.

offset    equ    1

    move.l    offset(a0),d0

This will also give an error,

    move.b    offset(a0),d0

but this is ok.

NOTE,    if the address register holds an odd value an odd offset will result
    in an even effective address and in that case the assemblers even
    checks will report errors on the instructions that will work and
    none on those who will crash. However, normally you do not use an
    odd address as base for word or longword accesses. Also, this option
    only make sense if you are using a 68000 processor, 68020 and
    upwards allow word and longword accesses to odd addresses.


Option F - Fast.

This is the assembler speed control option, e.g how to handle include
files.

F1+    When this option is activated the assembler will read all of the
    include files in one go and store them in memory for the second
    pass. This uses up a lot of memory but it also speeds assembly,
    especially during pass 2.

F1-    When deactivated, the assembler will read include files in blocks of
    488 bytes and not store them in memory. This saves memory but it's
    rather slow.

F2+    Tells the assembler NOT to read any include file during pass 2.
    Since all standard Amiga include-files only contain symbol
    definitions there is no need to even scan them during the second
    pass. This boosts assembly time during pass 2 a great deal.
    However, this option can't be used with include-files containing any
    code, of natural reasons.

F2-    Deactivates the 'read include-file in pass one only' option.

F3    Is not currently used.

This option should only be used once in the beginning of the main source
file.

Option    I - Immediate data check.

When this option is active the assembler will give an error on all
instructions using absolute long addressing as the source operand, unless
it's address 4, since the probable reason is a missing '#' (or perhaps a
missing address-register (An)). This is a useful option when checking for
typing errors. For example:

    or.b    $20,d0

will give an error since the intended instruction was

    or.b    #$20,d0

You can force the assembler to use absolute addressing with the following:

    move.w    (custom+intenar).l,d0

Use OPT I+ to activate and OPT I- to deactivate. This option may be used as
often as you wish.

Option L - Linker mode

OPT L+ will cause the assembler produce linkable code, OPT L- will cause it
to produce executable code. This option MUST be specified before anything
else is done.
Option M - Macro expansion

Using OPT M+ will make the assembler list the instructions in macros, if
source-listing is on, when the macro is called. OPT M- will disable this.
Instructions in macros are preceded by a '+' in the listing.
The default setting for Option M is not in the Default Assembler Options
item but in the Default Program List Ctrl item, both in the Environment
menu. Only the last OPT M is taken into account.




Option O - Optimizing.

The assembler is capable of performing 8 different optimizations, causing
certain statements to be faster and smaller.

    OPT O+        will turn on  all optimizations and warnings.
    OPT O-        will turn off all optimizations and warnings.
    OPT OW+        will turn on  all warnings caused by optimization.
    OPT OW-        will turn off all warnings caused by optimization.
    OPT On+        will turn on  optimization n.
    OPT On-        will turn off optimization n.
    OPT OWn+    will turn on  the warning for optimization n.
    OPT OWn-    will turn off the warning for optimization n.

If more than 100 optimizations are to be made you must turn off the
warnings or the assembler will abort with the error:
"Maximum number of ERRORS/WARNINGS reached"

If any optimizing has been done the number of optimizations made and bytes
saved will be shown at the end of assembly.

Below is a list of the different optimizations with a description of what
they do:

OPT O1+    will optimize backward branches to short if in range.
    For example:

    loop    tst.b    (a2)+
        bne    loop

    will be optimized to

    loop    tst.b    (a2)+
        bne.s    loop

    NOTE, branches that are specified as word branches,
          e.g Bcc.w will not be optimized.

OPT O2+    will optimize address register indirect with displacement
    to address register indirect, if the displacement is zero.
    For example:

        tst.w    flag(a0)

    will be optimized to:

        tst.w    (a0)

    if the symbol flag is zero.

OPT O3+    will optimize absolute long addressing to absolute short
    if the address is within range; -32769 < d < 32768.
    For example:

        movea.l    4,a6

    will be optimized to

        movea.l    4.w,a6

    NOTE, if the address is specificly given as absolute long
    no optimization will be made.




OPT O4+    will optimize move.l #d,Dn to moveq #d,Dn if d is within
    range; -129 < d < 128.
    For example:

        move.l    #MEMF_PUBLIC,d0    ;MEMF_PUBLIC = 1

    will be optimized to

        moveq    #MEMF_PUBLIC,d0

OPT O5+    will optimize ADD and SUB instructions to the quick form
    if the source is an immediate number between 1 and 8.
    For example:

        add.b    #4,counter

    will be optimized to

        addq.b    #4,counter

OPT O6+    this is not really an optimization. If this option is
    active the assembler will give a warning on all branches
    that can be made short.
    For example:

        bne    no_return
        rts
    no_return    ...

    above the bne instruction will generate a warning. You can
    then yourself optimize it if you wish.
    NOTE, even on branches specified as word, e.g Bcc.w.

OPT O7+    will optimize backward absolute long addressing to
    PC-relative if within range.
    For example:

    main    pea    main    ; push right return address

    will be optimized to

    main    pea    main(pc) ; push right return address

    NOTE, if the address is specificly given as absolute long
    no optimization will be made.

OPT O8+    This is not really an optimization. If active the
    assembler will give a warning on all instructions using
    absolute long addressing that can be made PC-relative.
    For example:

        lea    base,a6
        ..
        ..
    base    dc.l    0

    above the lea instruction will generate a warning. You can
    then yourself optimize it if you wish.
    NOTE, even on addresses specified as absolute long.

The default optimization may only be set to OPT O+ or OPT O- thus either
enabling or disabling all optimizations, and the same for the optimization
warnings OPT OW+ or OPT OW-.



Option P - Position independent checks.

If this option is enabled, with OPT P+, the assembler will give an error on
all instructions that require relocation. This way you can check if the
code MCAsm is producing is position-independent or not. This option can be
disabled with OPT P-, and you may use it as much as you like.

Option S - Symbol listing.

OPT S+ will enable the printing of a symbol-listing at the end of assembly
and OPT S- will disable this. Only the last used OPT S is taken into
account.

Option T - Type checking.

With this option active the assembler checks for correct use of symbols and
expressions.

start    equ    10

    bra    start

This is not allowed since the label is an absolute symbol and Bcc requires
a relative one.

start    move.l    start(a0),d0

This will also give an error since a displacement must be absolute
(not really, see Lattice users) and start is relative.
However, under certain circumstances the type-checking may be more of a
hindrance than a help so it can be disabled with OPT T- and enabled with
OPT T+.

Option U - Underlines for local labels.

If you wish to use the underscore (_) rather than the dot (.) to introduce
a local label use OPT U+ in the beginning of the main source file.
The character used to introduce a local label always defaults to the
dot (.). This option should only be used once.

Option W - Warnings.

If you wish to disable the warnings produced by the assembler - use OPT W-,
and when you want to re-enable them use OPT W+. This option can be used as
much as you like.

Option X - Small debug.

This is a special version of Option D (debug) which only outputs the XDEFed
symbols in the debug-hunk. This option is only valid if producing linkable
code - there are no XDEF in executable code.















Below is a summary of all the MCAsm options

    A    Automatic PC-relative addressing
    B    Automatic execution of BLOAD/BSAVE file-lists
    C    Case-sensitivity and significant characters
    D    Debug information (normal)
    E    Check for even addresses
    F    Fast (how to handle include-files)
    I    Immediate data check
    L    Produce linkable or executable code
    M    List macro expansions
    O    Optimize
    P    Position independent checks
    S    Symbol-listing
    T    Type-checking
    U    Local label start character
    W    Warnings
    X    Small debug (only XDEFed symbols, only linkable code)


[<label>]    EVEN

This directive will force the program counter to be even. All instructions
and directives except DS.B, DC.B, DCB.B, RC.B and RCB.B are automatically
forced to an even address.

[<label>]    CNOP    <exp1>,<exp2>

CNOP is used to align code or data to any location you may want.
<exp2> is the base used to compute the boundary and <exp1> is an offset
from this boundary.

    CNOP    0,2    aligns to the next word
    CNOP    6,4    aligns to the next longword + 6
    CNOP    13,64    aligns to the next 64 byte boundary + 13

The start of each section is always guaranteed to be longword aligned.

    FAIL

This directive will force the assembler to produce an error.

    ILLEGAL

This directive will generate the standard user illegal opcode $4afc.



    2.10.2    Symbol definitions

<label>    EQU    <expression>

EQU assigns the value and type, absolute or relative, of the <expression>
in the operand field to the <label> and it is a permanent value, you can
not redefine the label any where else. Do not use forward references or
external symbols in the <expression>.

<label>    =    <expression>

Alternate form of EQU statement.

NOTE,    no <white space> is necessary with this form:

<label>=<expression>


<label>    SET    <expression>

SET assigns the value and type, absolute or relative, of the <expression>
in the operand field to the <label> and it is a temporary value, you can
redefine the label later in the program. Do not use forward references or
external symbols in the <expression>.

<label>    REG    <Reg-list>

This allows a symbol to be defined as a MOVEM register list. A symbol
defined with REG is treated as a permanent absolute symbol. However, in
MOVEM instructions, only symbols defined with REG are valid.

[<label>]    RS[<.size>]    <expression>

This directive lets you create lists of constant symbols, very useful when
creating structures referenced with register indirect with displacement
addressing. For example:

    rsreset
Next    rs.l    1
Flag    rs.b    1
Name    rs.b    32

can be accessed with

    movea.l    Next(a0),a1
    tst.b    Flag(a0)
    beq.s    ..
    lea    Name(a0),a2

When you use the directive the assembler assigns the current rs_counter
value, the type is absolute, to the optional <label> and then increments
the counter according to the <size> and the <expression>. <size> can be .L,
.W, .B or .S. If not specified .W is assumed. No code is generated by the
RS directive, only the <label> is defined. If you want to create
initialized structures you must use the RC directive described later.

[<label>]    RSSET    <expression>

This sets the rs_counter to the value of <expression>.

[<label>]    RSRESET

This resets the rs_counter to zero.





















    2.10.3    Data definition

[<label>]    DC[<.size>]    <expression>[,<expression>]..

DC defines constants in memory. It may have one or more operands, separated
by commas (,). No more than 128 bytes can be defined with a single DC. If
the size is .B or .S then the data can also be an ASCII string.
For example:

    dc.b    'Hello World'

this will cause the ASCII string 'Hello World' to be defined in memory

    dc.b    'b'-'a'

this still works the 'normal' way and will produce one byte in memory with
the value 1.

Expressions and strings may be mixed in a single DC.B, separated with
commas (,).
The <size> is optional and can be .L, .W, .B or .S. If no size is given .W
is assumed.

[<label>]    DCB[<.size>]    <number>,<value>

This directive allows constant blocks to be defined with the specified
size. <number> specifies how many times <value> should be repeated.
The <size> is optional an can be .L, .W, .B or .S. If not specified .W is
assumed.
For example:

    dcb.b    80,0
    dcb.w    40,0
    dcb.l    20,0

These directives all create a block with 80 bytes of zero.

[<label>]    DS[<.size>]    <expression>

DS will reserve memory locations and the contents will not be initialized.
The <size> if optional and can be .L, .W, .B or .S. If not specified .W is
assumed.
For example:

    ds.b    80
    ds.w    40
    ds.l    20

These directives also create a block with 80 bytes (each) but this time the
blocks are not initialized, this is why DS directives are faster to
assemble than DCB directives. If you need to have the block initialised you
must use the DCB directive.

[<label>]    RCSET    <expression>

This directive sets the rc_base to the current value of the program counter
- <expression>.
The label is made relative and its value will be the same as rc_base.








[<label>]    RCRESET

This directive sets the rc_base to the current value of the program
counter.

[<label>]    RC[<.size>]    <expression>[,<expression>]

This directive is a mixture of the RS and DC directives. If you use RC or
DC without the <label> there is no difference. The difference between these
two directives is how and to what the <label> is defined. With the DC
directive the label is set to the value the program counter had at the
start of the constant block being defined and the type is relative. With
the RC directive the label is first of all absolute as with RS, second -
the value of the label is computed as the current value of PC - rc_base.

[<label>]    RCB[<.size>]    <number>,<value>

This directive is a mixture of the RS and DCB directives. The operation of
the directive is the same as for DCB and the <label> assignment is made in
the same manner as described for the RC directive.

A small example with the RC directive:

PC

0000    base    rcset    -4    ; base = PC+4
0000    l1    rc.l    0    ; l1 = -4
0004                ; base actually points to this address
0004        lea    base,a0    ; lea 4,a0
0008        move.l    l1(a0),d0    ; l1 = -4 => l1(a0) = 0
000c        move.l    l2(a0),d1    ; l2 = $c => l2(a0) = $12
0010        rts
0012    l2    rc.l    -1    ; l2 = $c

If you use a negative expression of -32768 in rcset you can use the whole
64K area accessible by register indirect with displacement addressing.






























    2.10.4    Repeat loops

Sometimes it is useful to be able to repeat instruction(s) a number of
times, and there are 3 different repeat directives to help you with this.
The instructions will be repeated the number of times specified in
<expression>. If <expression> is zero or negative nothing will be repeated.
It is not possible to nest repeat loops and no symbol definitions except
SET are allowed to prevent "Redefined symbol" errors, however SET is only
allowed in the general form of the repeat loop.

[<label>]    REPT    <expression>
        ENDR

This is the general form of the repeat loop. Instructions to be repeated
should be enclosed with REPT and ENDR.
For example, to create a table with constants from 3 to 90 step 3:

exp    set    3
    rept    30
    dc.l    exp
exp    set    exp+3
    endr

This form of the repeat loop is assembled each and every loop.

[<label>]    FREPT    <expression>
        ENDFR

This is the fast form of the repeat loop. Now the instructions are only
assembled once and them copied <expression> times to the code.
Instructions to be repeated should be enclosed with FREPT and ENDFR.

    frept    10
    move.l    d0,(a1)+
    move.l    base,(a1)+
    clr.l    (a1)+
    endfr

By natural causes the SET directive is not allowed in the FREPT loop, it is
only assembled once.

[<label>]    IREPT    <expression>

This is the immediate form of the repeat loop and only repeats the next
instruction, no END is necessary.

    irept    512/4
    move.l    (a0)+,(a1)+

Also, in the immediate form, instructions that require relocation are not
allowed.















    2.10.5    Macros

MCAsm is a macro assembler, which means that it can handle macros. Macros
is a way of referencing frequently used instructions with a single symbol.
The use of macros together with conditional assembly can make an assembler
programers life much easier. Before a macro can be used it must be defined,
and the directives below takes care of that.

<label>    MACRO

MACRO starts a macro definition. You must provide a symbol which the
assembler uses as the name of the macro. A macro can contain any opcode,
most directives and any already defined macro. Macro definitions may not be
nested.

    ENDM

This directive terminates a macro definition.

    MEXIT

This directive is used to exit a macro during expansion.

    NARG

This is not a directive but a symbol, holding the number of arguments
supplied to the current macro.



Once a macro has been defined, you should only define a macro once, if may
be called upon as many times as you wish and you may append a number of
arguments (max 36  0-9 a-z or A-Z), separated by commas (,). The symbol
backslash (\) has a special meaning. Backslash followed by a number "n"
(0-9 a-z or A-Z) tells the assembler to replace the \n with the nth
argument supplied to the macro when called or with nothing if the requested
parameter is missing. Argument 0 is the size specification on the macro and
arguments 1 - z are the arguments supplied as operands to the macro.
If no size is specified argument 0 defaults to 'w'. A true \ may be
included by specifying \\. If a macro parameter is to include a space or a
tab then the parameter must be enclosed within angled brackets (< and >)
and in this case a true > may be included by specifying >>.

Macro calls may be nested as long as there is enough memory so recursion is
allowed if required.

There is special parameter starting with a backslash followed by "@". This
sequence, \@, tells the assembler to generate the text "_nnnn" (or .nnnn if
the underscore is used to introduce local labels), where nnnn is the macro
call counter, in hexadecimal. This is used to generate unique labels within
a macro.

A special form allows the conversion of a symbol to ASCII decimal,
hexadecimal or binary using the syntax \<symbol> for decimal, \<$symbol>
for hex and \<%symbol> for binary. The symbol must be defined when the
macro is expanded.

Normally the assembler only shows the macro name in the source listing by
if you wish to list the entire macro use OPT M+ or FORMAT 4+. All
instructions/directives in a macro is preceded with a '+' in the
source-listing.





A few examples with macros:

The normal way to call a library is:

    movea.l    library_base,a6
    jsr    _LVOfunction(a6)

now, this can be done a little easier with a macro:

CALL    macro
    movea.l    \1,a6
    jsr    _LVO\2(a6)
    endm

first define the macro

    CALL    library_base,function

then use it. Now let's se what happens; the assembler finds the symbol CALL
in the macro table and it then scans the rest of the line to obtain the
parameters supplied to the macro - and in this example:

    \0    w
    \1    library_base
    \2    function

after the assembler has inserted the parameters the macro looks like this

    movea.l    library_base,a6
    jsr    _LVOfunction(a6)
    endm

the macro is assembled and when the assembler finds the endm directive it
resumes on the line after the line with the macro.

Calling the library functions may be made even easier if you make special
macros for each library and perhaps you want to save a6 as well:

CALL_EXEC    macro
        move.l    a6,-(sp)
        movea.l    4.w,a6
        jsr    _LVO\1(a6)
        movea.l    (sp)+,a6
        endm

When this macro is used you do not need to specify which library, it always
calls exec. For example, to allocate some memory:

    moveq    #MEMF_CHIP,d1
    moveq    #100,d0
    CALL_EXEC    AllocMem
    tst.l    d0
    beq    error
    ..

NOTE,    macros are no subroutines. Every time you use a macro it is
    assembled and produce some code. If you have large macros, e.g
    macros that produce much code, that only use a few or none arguments
    and you use them heavily you should consider making them subroutines
    instead.






This example creates a macro that can do both ADDQ and SUBQ, depending on
the parameters supplied:

chgq    macro
    iifeq    \2
    mexit
    iflt    \2
    subq.\0    #-(\2),\1
    else
    addq.\0    #\2,\1
    endc
    endm

and use it like this:

    chgq.w    d0,-1    ; decrease d0.w with one
    chgq.l    a4,4    ; increase a4.l with 4

The macro first checks if the value to be added/subtracted is zero, if this
is the case then the macro is terminated with the mexit directive.
Next it checks if the value is negative, if so a subq is assembler, else an
addq is assembled. Let's see what happens in the two examples above:

    chgq.w    d0,-1

the parameters are:    \0    w
            \1    d0
            \2    -1

when the parameters are inserted the macro looks like this:

    iifeq    -1    ; is -1 EQ to 0
    mexit        ; no, so don't terminate
    iflt    -1    ; is -1 LT to 0
    subq.w    #-(-1),d0    ; Yes, insert parameters, -(-1) = 1
    else        ; toggle condition
    addq.\0    #\2,\1    ; nothing is done
    endc        ; end condition
    endm        ; end macro

the other example:

    chgq.l    a4,4

the parameters are:    \0    l
            \1    a4
            \2    4

and the macro looks like this with the parameters inserted:

    iifeq    4    ; is 4 EQ to 0
    mexit        ; no, so don't terminate
    iflt    4    ; is 4 LT to 0
    subq.\0    #-(\2),\1    ; no, so do nothing
    else        ; toggle condition
    addq.l    #4,a4    ; insert parameters
    endc        ; end condition
    endm        ; end macro

NOTE,    if a subtraction is to be made, the value must start with a minus
    (-) or an error will occur when the parameter is inserted in the
    subq instruction.




    2.10.6    Listing control

    PAGE

Cause a new page in the listing to be started, if paging is enabled.

    NOPAGE

The NOPAGE directive disables the printing of page headers.

    PAGEON

The PAGEON directive re-enables the printing of page headers.

    LIST

This will turn the source-listing on. If source-listing was selected at the
start of assembly the listing will be outputed to whatever device selected
or else to the screen. You can also change the source-listing  counter with
LIST + and LIST -. LIST + adds 1 to the counter and LIST - subtracts 1. If
the counter is zero or positive source-listing is on, if it is negative
source-listing is off. The normal LIST sets the counter to 0.
The default starting value (e.g no source-list) is -1, if source listing is
initially selected the starting value is 0. This system allows greater
control over the source-listing being or not being.

    NOLIST

This will turn of the source-listing. (putting -1 in the source-listing
counter).

    TTL    <string>

This will set the title printed at top of each page to <string>. Only the
first encountered TTL is used. If no title is specified the filename of the
source file is used.

    SUBTTL    <string>

This will set the sub-title printed at top of each page to <string>. Only
the first encountered SUBTTL is used. If no sub-title is specified nothing
is printed.

    PLEN    <expression>

This will set the page length of the source- and symbol-listing to
<expression> and it defaults to 60.

    LLEN    <expression>

This will set the line width of the source- and symbol-listing to
<expression> and it defaults to 132. The <expression> must be between 38
and 511. (if the listing is sent to the screen llen is always 80).

    SPC    <expression>

This will output <expression> number of blank lines in the source-listing.
That is, if source-listing is enabled.








    LISTCHAR    <expression>[,<expression>]...

This will send the <expression>(s) to the listing device (if not the
screen) and is intended to do things as setting the margins, character mode
etc on the printer.

        FORMAT    <option>[,<option>]...

This allows control over the listed format. Each <option> controls a field
in the listing.

    0-    line number off
    0+    line number on
    1-    PC off
    1+    PC on ( in hex )
    1++    PC on ( in dec )
    1+++    PC on ( in hex and dec )
    2-    hex data off
    2+    5 words of hex data
    2++    3 words of hex data
    2+++    1 word of hex data
    3-    list off in include-files
    3+    list on in include-files
    4-    list off in macros (equal to opt m-)
    4+    list on in macros (equal to opt m+)
    5-    don't increase line number in include-files
    5+    increase line number in include-files
    6-    don't increase line number in macros
    6+    increase line number in macros
    7-    don't show flags
    7+    show flags
    8-    don't show execution time
    8+    show execution time
    9-    tabs to spaces
    9+    tabs to tabs
    A-    don't show symbol value ( in symbol listing )
    A+    show symbol value in hex ( in symbol listing )
    A++    show symbol value in dec ( in symbol listing )
    A+++    show symbol value in hex and dec ( in symbol listing )
    B-    don't show symbol type ( in symbol listing)
    B+    show symbol type ( in symbol listing )

























    2.10.7    Conditional assembly

There are a wide range of directives concerning conditional assembly.
At the start of a conditional block there is always one of many IFcc
directives and at the end mostly a ENDC or ENDIF.

    IFEQ    <expression>
    IFNE    <expression>
    IFGT    <expression>
    IFGE    <expression>
    IFLT    <expression>
    IFLE    <expression>
    IF    <expression>

NOTE,    IF is a short form for IFNE.

These directives will evaluate and compare <expression> with zero and then
turn assembly on or off depending on the result. The conditions correspond
exactly to the 68000 condition codes. For example:

    ifeq    do_what
    addq.l    #1,d0
    endc
    ifne    do_what
    subq.l    #1,d0
    endc

If do_what is 0 the first condition will turn assembly on as 0 is EQ to 0
and thereby increasing d0 with one, the second condition will not turn
assembly on as 0 is NE to 0. The summary of it all is; if do_what is zero
d0 will be increased with one, for all other values on do_what d0 will be
decreased by one. Endc will terminate each condition.

    IFC    '<string>','<string>'

This directive compares two strings, both must be enclosed within single or
double quotes, and if they are equal assembly will by turned on, else
assembly is turned off.

    IFNC    '<string>','<string>'

This directive also compares two enclosed strings, but now assembly is
turned on if the strings are not equal and off if they are equal.

    IFD    <symbol>

This directive will turn on assembly if the <symbol> is defined, else
assembly is turned off.

    IFND    <symbol>

This directive will turn on assembly if the <symbol> is not defined, else
assembly is turned off.


    ENDC
    ENDIF

These directives will terminate the current level of conditional assembly.
If the assembler finds more ENDC/ENDIF than it has previously found IFcc or
if the number of IFccs doesn't match the number of ENDC/ENDIfs at the end
off assembly, an error is given.




    ELSEIF
    ELSE

These two directives toggles conditional assembly from on to off or vice
versa. For example, another way to write the example used earlier in this
section:

    ifeq    do_what
    addq.l    #1,d0
    elseif
    subq.l    #1,d0
    endc

If do_what is 0 the condition will turn assembly on as 0 is EQ to 0 and
thereby increasing d0 with one, then elseif will toggle the conditional
assembly to off, the subq will not be assembled and endc terminates the
condition. If do_what is not 0 the condition will turn assembly off, elseif
will turn it on and therefore assemble the subq. Endc will terminate the
condition.

    IIF    <expression>
    IIFEQ    <expression>
    IIFNE    <expression>
    IIFGT    <expression>
    IIFGE    <expression>
    IIFLT    <expression>
    IIFLE    <expression>
    IIFC    '<string>','<string>'
    IIFNC    '<string>','<string>'
    IIFD    <symbol>
    IIFND    <symbol>

These are the immediate forms of the IFcc directives and they are only
effective on the next instruction. No ENDC, ENDIF, ELSE or ELSEIF should be
used with the immediate forms. So - yet another version of the example used
earlier:

    iifeq    do_what
    addq.l    #1,d0
    iifne    do_what
    subq.l    #1,d0

If do_what is 0 the first condition will turn assembly on as 0 is EQ to 0,
the second condition will not turn assembly on as 0 is NE to 0. The summary
of it all is still the same but now in only 4 lines.





















    2.10.8    Section control

    SECTION     <name>[,<type>,<code_size>,<reloc_size>,<extern_size>]

This directive switches to the section <name> or if this is the first time
it's encountered, defines it. A program may consist of many sections which
will be put together with other sections with the same name by the linker.
The section name can be 32 characters and if it contains a space it should
be enclosed within single of double quotes. The casing of the name is
significant. The <type> can be one of the following and if no type is given
CODE is selected.

    CODE    code section, public memory
    CODE_C    code section, chip memory
    CODE_F    code section, fast memory
    DATA    data section, public memory
    DATA_C    data section, chip memory
    DATA_F    data section, fast memory
    BSS    bss  section, public memory
    BSS_C    bss  section, chip memory
    BSS_F    bss  section, fast memory

CODE sections are used for executable code, DATA sections for initialised
data and BSS sections for un-initialised data.
CODE & DATA sections can contain any directive, BSS only DS.
BSS sections take no disk-space. Only the bss_hunk and length is saved.
When loading the area allocated is always filled with zero.

<code_size> is the size of the code buffer, in bytes. If not present the
default section size will be used.

<reloc_size> is the size of the reloc-hunk buffer, in bytes. If not present
reloc_size is computed as 1/5 of the code_size.

<extern_size> is the size of the ext-hunk buffer, in bytes. If not present
extern_size is computed as 1/5 of the code_size.
For example:

    section    text,code_c,50000,,3000

This defines a code_c section with the name text, code_size is 50000,
reloc_size is 10000 (50000/5) and extern_size is 3000.

    CODE/DATA/BSS

These directives are for compatibility only. They are the same as
specifying the directive as the section name and type.

    OFFSET    <expression>

This switches to a special section to generate absolute labels. The
<expression>, if given, sets the program counter for the start of this
section. No code is generated and the only directive allowed is DS.
For example, to define some 68000 vectors:

        offset    0
initial_sp    ds.l    1
initial_pc    ds.l    1
bus_error    ds.l    1
address_error    ds.l    1
illegal_instr    ds.l    1





    2.10,9   Linkable directives

    XDEF    <label>[,<label>]..

This defines the <label>(s) listed for export to other programs or
sections. It is not possible to export local labels or temporary symbols.
It's only effective if the code type is linkable. You should not XDEF a
label more than once, if you do you will get a 'Redefined symbol error'
when linking.

    XREF[.R|.A|.L]    <symbol>[,<symbol>]..

This defines symbols to be imported from other programs or sections.
It's only effective if the code type is linkable. The type may be .R for
relative imports and .L or .A for absolute imports. A XREF without any type
defines un-typed imports that may be used either as relatives or absolutes.
If you try to XREF a symbol that has already been defined you will get a
'Redefined symbol error'. The same will happen if you XREF the same symbol
more than once.

    IDNT    <string>

This will set the hunk_unit name to <string>. The name can be 32 characters
long and if it contains spaces or tabs it should be enclosed within single
or double quotes.



    2.10.10    Binary include

    INCBIN    <filename>

This takes the file <filename> and includes it, binary, in the code at the
current position. The data is always put on an even address and if the file
is an odd number of bytes in length it is padded to an even length.
If <filename> contains a space it should be enclosed in single or double
quotes. See INCLUDE for a more detailed description on where the assembler
looks for the file.

    BLOAD    <filename>,<start>[,<end>]

BLOAD loads binary data into the code starting at address <start>. If the
<end> address is given the maximum file-length will be limited to
<end>-<start>, else the entire file is loaded. If a space or tab is to be
included in the <filename> it must be enclosed with single or double
quotes. Since the data isn't loaded until after assembly the complete
file-name must be specified, e.g df0:graphics/lo-res/picture1. BLOAD does
not reserve any memory for the data it loads, you must do so. For example:

gfx    ds.b    1000
    bload    df0:graphics/font,gfx

The BLOAD directive must be placed in that same section as the destination
of the data it is going to load, otherwise you will get a warning. If you
do - do not execute the BLOAD list, the data may end up outside the area
allocated for the section. However, if you are writing absolute code this
might be just what you want. At last, BLOAD directives should be used, or
to be correct, executed with care. Also - see Warning 04.

    BSAVE    <filename>,<start>,<end>

The same as BLOAD but this saves data instead, and <end> is not optional.




    2.10.11    Absolute directives

    ORG    <expression>

This directive is only effective if the code type is absolute, if the code
type is executable or linkable you will get a warning and then the
directive is ignored. ORG will set the program counter to the value of
<expression> which must evaluate and be absolute.

    ENT    <expression>

This directive is only effective if the code type is absolute, if the code
type is executable or linkable you will get a warning and then the
directive is ignored. ENT will set the program counter to the value of
<expression> which must evaluate and be absolute.

    INITREG    xn=<expression>

This directive is only effective if output is memory. It is used to
pre-load data-registers d0-d7 or address-registers a0-a6 with the value
<expression>. All data and address registers, except a7, are cleared by
default before executing any code.

[<label>]    ALLOC    <address>,<size>

This is to make memory allocation easier. You can make a list of what
memory you need in your source and then the assembler tries to allocate it
the first time you assemble the source. If successful the allocated area is
stored in the Allocators AllocMemList so that the assembler doesn't try to
allocate the same area twice but take the address and size from the list in
sequel assemblies. If the assembler can't allocate the area it will abort
with a fatal error. If a label is present the address of the allocated area
is assigned to the label and the type is absolute. Memory allocated with
the ALLOC directive can be freed with the Allocator in the usual way.



    2.10.12    Output directive

    OUTPUT    <filename>

This directive defines the output filename. If the output filename is
already defined you will get a warning and then the directive is ignored.
See section 3.3 Output code-type and destination for a more detailed
description on how the output filename is built up.





















    2.11    Errors and warnings

This section lists all the errors and warnings and gives a short
description of what that might have caused the error or warning.
A fatal error means that assembly will be aborted if the error occur.


*** Error 01: Symbol table is full.

Fatal error. The allocated symbol table is full and you must increase it.
This is done in the Specify Symbol Table item in the Environment menu.


*** Error 02: Break.

Fatal error. You pressed break - CTRL C.


*** Error 03: FREPT buffer is full.

Fatal error. The fast-repeat code buffer is full. The only thing you can do
about this is to have less instructions/directives in this FREPT-loop.
The size of the FREPT buffer is 128 bytes.


*** Error 04: Can't allocate macro expansion space.

Fatal error. Allocation memory for a macro expansion failed. This is
usually a very small amount and therefore this error should never occur,
but if it does - you are really out of memory.


*** Error 05: Error reading include file.

Fatal error. The assembler can't read an include file, probably due to
disk-failure.


*** Error 06: Error writing to symbol file.

Fatal error. The assembler can't write the symbol listing to the specified
file, normally because the disk is full but it may be something else.


*** Error 07: Error writing to list file.

Fatal error, same as Error 06 but this concerns the source listing file.


*** Error 08: Error writing to error file.

Fatal error, same as Error 06 but this concerns the error listing file.


*** Error 09: Not enough memory for include file buffer.

Fatal error. Allocating space for an include-file failed. This error should
only occur if you are using OPT F1+, if so - try F1-, else you are really
out of memory.


*** Error 10: Symbol storage buffer is full.

Fatal error. The symbol storage buffer, where the actual symbol names are
held, is full. Proceed as with Error 01.

*** Error 11: Macro table is full.

Fatal error. The allocated macro table is full and you must increase it.
This is done in the Specify Macro Table item in the Environment menu.


*** Error 12: Macro storage buffer is full.

Fatal error. The macro storage buffer, where the actual macro is held, is
full. Proceed as with Error 11.


*** Error 13: Maximum number of ERRORS/WARNINGS reached.

Fatal error. The assembler have had enough and aborts, e.g 101 errors
and/or warnings have been detected. Deal with those first.


*** Error 14: REPT buffer is full.

Fatal error. The REPT directive's source code buffer is full. You must use
less instructions/directives in this REPT-loop.


*** Error 15: Allocated code buffer is full.

Fatal error. The code buffer allocated is full. If you are writing absolute
code you must allocate a larger area. If writing executable or linkable you
must increase the size of the code buffer requested when defining this
section or increase the Default Section Size in the Environment menu.


*** Error 16: Can't allocate code buffer.

Fatal error. The area you want is to large, try a smaller if possible,
if not - you must either remove something else from memory or buy more!!


*** Error 17: Can't open output file.

Fatal error. The assembler can not open the output file you have specified.
The reasons may be many but must likely an invalid file-name.


*** Error 18: Can't allocate reloc buffer.

Fatal error, same as Error 16 but this is about the reloc-buffer.


*** Error 19: Can't allocate extern buffer.

Fatal error, same as Error 16 but this is about the external-buffer.


*** Error 20: Allocated reloc buffer is full.

Fatal error. The buffer allocated for reloc-information is full. You must
increase the size of the reloc buffer requested when defining this section
or increase the Default Section Size in the Environment menu.


*** Error 21: Allocated extern buffer is full.

Fatal error, same as Error 20 but this goes for the external buffer.


*** Error 22: Missing operands.

You have forgotten to specify one or more operands needed by the
instruction/directive in question. For example:

    MOVE.L    D0    ; to what? - destination missing


*** Error 23: To many operands.

This time you have specified to much. This error will only occur if a DC
directive becomes more than 128 bytes. Simply make two of it and the error
is gone.


*** Error 24: Invalid operand.

The operand(s) specified are not valid for this instruction. For example:

    DIVU    #10,A0    or    BRA.S    10(A0,D0.L)


*** Error 25: Value out of range.

This is the general 'Value out of range' error and it is reported where the
more specific forms do not fit in. For example:

    PLEN    -1000


*** Error 26: XREF symbols not allowed here.

You will get this error if you use a label defined with XREF in an EQU or
SET expression.


*** Error 27: A non SET symbol can not be redefined by SET.

This will happen if you try to SET a symbol that has not originally been
defined by SET. For example:

symbol        EQU    10
symbol        SET    20


*** Error 28: 8-bit displacement value out of range.

The displacement value is simple to big for 8 bits (signed). For example:

    JSR    130(A0,D0.W)


*** Error 29: Location out of range for short branch.

To far away, use a word branch.


*** Error 30: Location out of range for word branch.

The location is more than 32k away. You must use JMP, or JSR if the branch
was a BSR.





*** Error 31: Number to large for 16-bit integer.

For example:    MOVE.W    #100000,D0


*** Error 32: number to large for 8-bit integer.

For example:    MOVE.B    #256,D1


*** Error 33: ENDC without matching IFcc.

This error is give if an ENDC or ENDIF is found without a matching IFcc, or
simpler - there are more ENDC/ENDIF than there are IFcc. This is most
likely to happen if you are writing a program with a lot of nested
conditions.


*** Error 34: End of file without matching ENDC.

This is the other way around, now you have more IFcc than ENDC/ENDIF


*** Error 35: ENDM without any macro being defined.

If the assembler finds a lonely ENDM it will give this error.


*** Error 36: Missing symbol for assignment.

If you don't supply a symbol to a directive that needs one this error will
be reported. For example:

    EQU    10    ; EQU what?


*** Error 37: Invalid arithmetic operand.

If the assembler finds an operand that it can not handle it will give you
this error. Note, normally this is due to typing errors. For example:

    MOVE.L    #mask\op,D0    ; should have been | - missed shift.


*** Error 38: Unbalanced parentheses.

This is just what it says; for example:

    MOVE.L    10*((2+2),D0


*** Error 39: Illegal decimal character.

This error is reported if a character not valid for a decimal number, e.g
outside 0 - 9, is present in a decimal number. For example:

    MOVE.L    #1234a,D0


*** Error 40: Illegal hexadecimal character.

This error is reported if a character not valid for a hexadecimal number,
e.g outside 0 - 9, A - F, a - f, is present in a hexadecimal number.
For example:


*** Error 41: Illegal binary character.

This error is reported if any other character than 0 and 1 is found in a
binary number. For example:

    MOVE.L    #%10010k,D0


*** Error 42: MEXIT outside macro.

This error will be reported if the assembler finds a MEXIT that is not
within a macro.


*** Error 43: user error.

This error is a result of the FAIL directive. For example:

    FAIL


*** Error 44: Illegal option selected.

If you request an option that the assembler do not support, it will respond
with this error. For example:

    OPT    K+


*** Error 45: Expression missing.

This error will only occur if you leave out an expression in a DC.
For example:

    DC.B    10,,20


*** Error 46: BSS and OFFSET sections can not contain data.

You will get this error if you try to use a code generating directive or an
instruction in a BSS or OFFSET section.


*** Error 47: End of file with open REPEAT.

This error will be reported if end of file is reached before an END-REPEAT
in a REPEAT-loop.


*** Error 48: REPEAT inside a REPEAT.

You will get this error if you try to nest REPEAT-loops.


*** Error 49: END-REPEAT without REPEAT.

If the assembler finds an END-REPEAT and no REPEAT has been specified this
error will be reported.


*** Error 50: SET definitions only in REPT - ENDR.

This will happen if you try to use a SET directive in a FREPT or IREPT
loop.


*** Error 51: Macro definitions not allowed in REPEAT.

This error will be given it you try do define any macro in a REPEAT loop.


*** Error 52: Label definitions not allowed in REPEAT.

For example:

    REPT    10
start    ...        ; this will give the error


*** Error 53: Permanent symbol definitions not allowed in REPEAT.

For example:

    REPT    10
test    EQU    4    ; this will give the error


*** Error 54: Unable to open include file.

If the assembler for some reason can't open the include-file requested it
will report this error. The most likely reason is a mistyped filename or a
wrong directory path.


*** Error 55 Unknown instruction/directive.

If the assembler finds an operation that is not one of the built in
instructions/directives and that is not listed as a macro; then this error
will be reported.


*** Error 56: String to large or not terminated.

This error will be given if a string is not terminated, if a string in a
DC.B cause the total byte length for that DC.B to by more than 128 bytes or
if a ASCII number is more that 4 letters. For example:

    MOVE.L    #'TESTING',D0
    DC.B    'TEST


*** Error 57: Redefined symbol.

The symbol in the label field on this line has already been defined
elsewhere.


*** Error 58: Undefined symbol ->

However, this symbol (after the arrow ->) has not been defined anywhere.


*** Error 59: Unknown section type requested.

You have specified a section type that is not valid. Look under the SECTION
directive for a list of valid section types.






*** Error 60: Illegal size specification for this instruction.

For example:

    LEA.B    Start,A0


*** Error 61: 16-bit displacement value out of range.

An address register displacement is out of range or a PC-relative address
is more than 32k away. For example:

    MOVE.L    100000(A0),D0


*** Error 62: Negative value not allowed here.

In some places, negative values just can't exist. For example:

    DS.B    -1    ; negative storage length???


*** Error 63: Illegal symbol character.

If you try to define a symbol that includes a character that is not one of
the following,  0 - 9, A - Z, a - z, (.), (_), you will get this error.
For example:

what?    EQU    4


*** Error 64: Invalid type for XREF requested.

You have used a type specifier with XREF that is not .R, .A or .L


*** Error 65: Local and temporary symbols can't be exported.

Don't try do XDEF locals and temporaries, if won't work.


*** Error 66: Short bsr to next instruction.

The only example:

    BSR.S    next
next    ...


*** Error 67: Address is NOT even.

This error will only be reported if OPT E+ is used and the assembler finds
and odd address in use with a word or longword access. For example:

    MOVE.W    $1,D0    ; error
    MOVE.B    $1,D0    ; ok


*** Error 68: Positive or odd link offset.

For example:

    LINK    #33,A5



*** Error 69: Expression must be absolute.

You have used a relative expression, e.g something that needs relocation,
where the assembler must have an absolute value. For example:

empty    DS.L    empty    ; the assembler must know the size of the area.


*** Error 70: Linker format error.

This error only occurs in executable code. You have made an illegal
reference between two different sections. For example:

    SECTION    ONE
    BRA    START
    SECTION    TWO
START    ...

Since you don't know where the sections are loaded this is not allowed.


*** Error 71: Expression must be relative.

You have used a absolute value where the assembler expects a relative one.
For example:

    BRA    $10


*** Error 72: Instruction needs relocation.

If OPT P+ is in use and the assembler finds an instruction/directive that
needs relocation, this error will be given.
*** Error 73: Relative expressions not allowed.

You will get this error if you use an relative expression in a place where
relocation is impossible. For example:

tt    DC.W    tt


*** Error 74: '#' probably missing.

This error will only be given if OPT I+ is in use and an absolute long
source operand is given where it is not normally supposed to be.
For example:

    AND.B    $20,D0


*** Error 75: Illegal octal character.

If a character outside 0 - 7 is found in an octal number you will get this
error. For example:

    MOVE.L    #@1238,D0


*** Error 76: Number out of range for 32-bit integer.

For example:    MOVE.L    #17985783498423964397543,D0





*** Error 77: Invalid monadic operator.

The monadic operators allowed are +, - and ~. Any attempt to use any other
operator as a monadic one will result in this error. For example:

    MOVE.L    #/10,D0


*** Error 78: Illegal operation with these symbol-types.

Take a look at section 3.6.2 for detailed description of what is wrong if
you get this error.


*** Error 79: Local labels not allowed here.

Local labels are only allowed under special conditions, see section 3.5.2,
and if you use them anywhere else you will get this error. For example:

4$    EQU    10    ; oh no


** Warning 01: 68010 and upwards instruction, Converted to MOVE SR,.

If you try MOVE CCR, you will get this warning.


** Warning 02: Garbage found after instruction.

For example:    DS.B    10,20 ; ,20 is ignored but the syntax is wrong.

** Warning 03: Directive has no effect in reloc-files.

For example, if you use an ORG directive in an executable or linkable file
you will get this warning, but the directive is ignored by the assembler.


** Warning 04: BLOAD to outside allocated section.

If you get this error when producing executable or linkable code you should
not execute the BLOADs since the load address is outside the allocated
space and loading binary data into memory owned by something else than
MCAsm is generally not a very good idea, the system will most likely crash.
If you are writing absolute code you may want to load something into memory
not related to the actual code, say you have your code at $40000-$50000 and
want to load some graphics into memory at $60000, in this case you can
ignore the warning (if you have allocated the memory at $60000, else...).


** Warning 05: BSAVE from outside allocated section.

This is the same as for BLOAD except that the system can't crash if you
just save something. The warning simply indicates the you may be saving the
wrong data.


** Warning 06: Directive has no effect in absolute files.

For example, a SECTION directive has no effect in absolute code and is
ignored, but this warning is given.






** Warning 07: Output file-name has already been defined.

If you give an output file-name when selecting FILE as output and then try
to redefine the file-name with OUTPUT you will get this warning. The OUTPUT
directive is ignored in this case.


** Warning 08: Directive has no effect if output isn't a file.

For example, if you use OUTPUT and the output is memory.


** Warning 09: Directive has no effect if output isn't a linkable file.

For example, if you use XREF in and don't produce linkable file.


** Warning 10: 68020 and upwards branch size, '.W' should be used.

If you used .L as branch size this warning will be given and the size
converted to .W.

** Warning 11: Short branch to next instruction, Converted to a NOP.

For example:

    BRA.S    next
next    ...


The following warnings are optimisation warnings and only occur if the
relevant optimisation and warning is enabled, and of course - the assembler
have found something to optimise.

** Warning 12: Branch made short.

Backwards un-size branch made short.


** Warning 13: Offset removed.

The displacement d is zero, d(An), so it is removed and the address
converted to (An).


** Warning 14: Absolute long made absolute short.

An absolute long address in range for absolute short was made short.


** Warning 15: MOVE.L made to MOVEQ.

A MOVE.L #d,Dn had a d in range for MOVEQ. -129 < d < 128.


** Warning 16: Quick form used.

An ADD/SUB #d,<ea> had a d in range for the quick form. 0 < d < 9.


** Warning 17: Branch can be made short.

This warning will be given on all branches that can be made short.



** Warning 18: Absolute long made PC-relative.

An absolute long backward address were in range for PC-relative addressing.


** Warning 19: Absolute long can be made PC-relative.

This warning will be given on all absolute long addresses that are in range
for PC-relative addressing.