Syntax

              .labelsymbol

Description

The .label directive defines a special symbol that refers to the load-time address rather than the run-time address within the current section. Most sections created by the assembler have relocatable addresses. The assembler assembles each section as if it started at 0, and the linker relocates it to the address at which it loads and runs.

For some applications, it is desirable to have a section load at one address and run at a different address. For example, you may want to load a block of performance-critical code into slower memory to save space and then move the code to high-speed memory to run it. Such a section is assigned two addresses at link time: a load address and a run address. All labels defined in the section are relocated to refer to the run-time address so that references to the section (such as branches) are correct when the code runs. See Section 4.6 for more information about run-time relocation.

The .label directive creates a special label that refers to the load-time address. This function is useful primarily to designate where the section was loaded for purposes of the code that relocates the section.

Example

This example shows the use of a load-time address label.

sect  ".examp"
       .label examp_load ; load address of section
start:                   ; run address of section
       <code>
finish:                  ; run address of section end
       .label examp_end  ; load address of section end

See Section 9.6.6 for more information about assigning run-time and load-time addresses in the linker.