Alternate macro syntax

If you specify `-a' or `--alternate' on the GASP command line, the preprocessor uses somewhat different syntax. This syntax is reminiscent of the syntax of Phar Lap macro assembler, but it is not meant to be a full emulation of Phar Lap or similar assemblers. In particular, GASP does not support directives such as DB and IRP, even in alternate syntax mode.

In particular, `-a' (or `--alternate') elicits these differences:

Preprocessor directives

You can use GASP preprocessor directives without a leading `.' dot. For example, you can write `SDATA' with the same effect as `.SDATA'.

LOCAL

One additional directive, LOCAL, is available. See section Defining your own directives, for an explanation of how to use LOCAL.

String delimiters

You can write strings delimited in these other ways besides "string":

'string'

You can delimit strings with single-quote charaters.

<string>

You can delimit strings with matching angle brackets.

single-character string escape

To include any single character literally in a string (even if the character would otherwise have some special meaning), you can prefix the character with `!' (an exclamation mark). For example, you can write `<4.3 !> 5.4!!>' to get the literal text `4.3 > 5.4!'.

Expression results as strings

You can write `%expr' to evaluate the expression expr and use the result as a string.