Local Labels

A local label is a symbol that represents an address and has local scope: the range forward and backward within the file to the points where the assembler encounters non-local labels.

The first character of a local label must be an at-sign (@). The subsequent characters of a local label can be:

• letters (a-z or A-Z)
• numerals (0-9)
• underscores (_)
• question marks (?)
• dollar sign. ($)
• periods (.)
  Note: You cannot export local labels; local labels do not appear in debugging tables.

Within an expanded macro, the scope of local labels works differently:

• The scope of local labels defined in macros does not extend outside the macro.
• A non-local label in an expanded macro does not end the scope of locals in the unexpanded source.

The following listing shows the scope of local labels in macros: the @SKIP label defined in the macro does not conflict with the @SKIP label defined in the main body of code.

MAKEPOS .MACRO 
 cmp #1, d0 
 bne @SKIP 
 neg d0 
@SKIP: ;Scope of this label is within the macro 
 .ENDM 
START: 
 move COUNT, d0 
 cmp #1, d0 
 bne @SKIP 
 MAKEPOS 
@SKIP: ;Scope of this label is START to END 
 ;excluding lines arising from 
 ;macro expansion 
 addq #1, d0 
END: rts