HLASM: V1R6 Language Ref

ALIAS instructionALIAS instructionThe ALIAS instruction specifies alternate names for the external symbols thatidentify control sections, entry points, and external references. The instruction hasnothing to do with the link-time aliases in libraries.►► symbol ALIAS alias_string ►◄symbolis an external symbol that is represented by one of the following:v An ordinary symbolv A variable symbol that has been assigned a character string with a value thatis valid for an ordinary symbolalias_stringis the alternate name for the external symbol, represented by one of thefollowing:v A character constant in the form C'aaaaaaaa', where aaaaaaaa is a string ofcharacters each of which has a hexadecimal value of X'42' to X'FE' inclusivev A hexadecimal constant in the form X'xxxxxxxx', where xxxxxxxx is a stringof hexadecimal digits, each pair of which is in the range X'42' to X'FE'inclusiveThe ordinary symbol denoted by symbol must also appear in one of the followingin this assembly:v The name entry field of a START, CSECT, RSECT, COM, or DXD instructionv The name entry field of a DSECT instruction and the nominal value of a Q-typeoffset constantv The operand of an ENTRY, EXTRN or WXTRN instructionv The nominal value of a V-type address constant||The assembler uses the string denoted by alias_string to replace the external symboldenoted by symbol in the external symbol dictionary records in the object module.Because the change is made only in the external symbol dictionary, references tothe ALIASed symbol in the source program must use the original symbol. If thestring is shorter than 8 characters, or 16 hexadecimal digits, it is padded on theright with EBCDIC spaces (X'40'). If the string is longer than 8 characters, it istruncated. Some programs that process object modules do not support externalsymbols longer than 8 characters.z/VM and z/OSIf the extended object format is being generated (GOFF assembler option), thealias_string can be up to 256 characters, or 512 hexadecimal digits.End of z/VM and z/OSThe following examples are of the ALIAS instruction, and show both formats ofthe alternate name denoted by alias_string.EXTSYM1 ALIAS C’lower1’EXTSYM2 ALIAS X’9396A68599F2’108 HLASM: V1R6 Language Ref