Data Section Directives

The data section is used to allocate static space for variables. While there are many directives for the data section, below are some of the most commonly used ones. RARS has a help menu that lists all of the directives. Skim through it for future reference.

Here is a list of common directives:

• .space Allocates an specified number of bytes in the program's data segment in memory.
• .align Aligns the next data item along a specified byte boundary: 0 = byte, 1 = half, 2 = word, 3 = double. The align directive is commonly used in conjunction with another directive.
• .byte, .half, .word Store the listed value(s) as bytes/halfwords/words in the data segment of memory.
• .include Inserts the contents of a specified file. Use double-quotes around the file name.
• .asciz Stores the string in memory, with a null-terminator.
• .ascii Stores the string in memory without a null-terminator.

Link to a file containing all of the above directives