Info: (as) Input Files

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as: Input Files

 
 1.5 Input Files
 ===============
 
 We use the phrase "source program", abbreviated "source", to describe
 the program input to one run of 'as'.  The program may be in one or more
 files; how the source is partitioned into files doesn't change the
 meaning of the source.
 
    The source program is a concatenation of the text in all the files,
 in the order specified.
 
    Each time you run 'as' it assembles exactly one source program.  The
 source program is made up of one or more files.  (The standard input is
 also a file.)
 
    You give 'as' a command line that has zero or more input file names.
 The input files are read (from left file name to right).  A command-line
 argument (in any position) that has no special meaning is taken to be an
 input file name.
 
    If you give 'as' no file names it attempts to read one input file
 from the 'as' standard input, which is normally your terminal.  You may
 have to type <ctl-D> to tell 'as' there is no more program to assemble.
 
    Use '--' if you need to explicitly name the standard input file in
 your command line.
 
    If the source is empty, 'as' produces a small, empty object file.
 
 Filenames and Line-numbers
 --------------------------
 
 There are two ways of locating a line in the input file (or files) and
 either may be used in reporting error messages.  One way refers to a
 line number in a physical file; the other refers to a line number in a
 "logical" file.  Error and Warning Messages Errors.
 
    "Physical files" are those files named in the command line given to
 'as'.
 
    "Logical files" are simply names declared explicitly by assembler
 directives; they bear no relation to physical files.  Logical file names
 help error messages reflect the original source file, when 'as' source
 is itself synthesized from other files.  'as' understands the '#'