4.2 Memory allocation

A program can allocate memory from any section/segment and initialize the memory locations at the same time. This is quite useful for initialized variables in a program.

The following is a summary of the main types of memory allocation and initialization directives:

• .int <v1>{, <v>}*
  This notation means that the .int directive has one or more integer values, separated by commas. The curly braces {} is a grouping mechanism, while the asterisk * means any number of the previous item. Each value of an .int directive is encoded as a 32-bit integer.
• .word <v1>{, <v>}*
  Similar to .int, except each value is encoded as a 16-bit (word) integer.
• .byte <v1>{, <v>}*
  Similar to .int, except each value is encoded as a 8-bit (byte) integer.
• .fill <count>[, <size>[, <value]]
  .fill lets you specify a flexible repeating pattern. <count> specifies how many items. <size> specifies the number of bytes used by each item, and <value> is the value of each item. In the absence of <value>, 0 is assumed. In the absence of <size>, 1 is assumed.
• .ascii <string>
  .ascii allocates and initializes memory locations for a string, represented in ASCII (one byte per character). A string is quoted by the single quote symbol.
• asciz <string>
  .asciz is similar to ascii, except a trailing byte of 0 is included for a null-terminated string.