Continuation lines

To continue a statement on another line, follow these rules:

  1. Enter a non-space character in the continuation-indicator field (column 72). This non-space character must not be part of the statement coding. When more than one continuation line is needed, enter a non-space character in column 72 of each line that is to be continued.
  2. Continue the statement on the next line, starting in the continue column (column 16). Columns to the left of the continue column must be spaces. Comment statements may be continued after column 16.

If an operand is continued after column 16, it is taken to be a comment. Also, if the continuation-indicator field is filled in on one line and you try to start a new statement after column 16 on the next line, this statement is taken as a comment belonging to the previous statement.

Specify the FLAG(CONT) assembler option to instruct the assembler to issue warning messages when it suspects a continuation error in a macro call instruction. Refer to the FLAG option description in the section "FLAG" in the HLASM Programmer's Guide for details about the situations that might be flagged as continuation errors.

Unless it is one of the statement types listed below, nine continuation lines are allowed for a single assembler language statement.

Alternative statement format

The alternative statement format, which allows as many continuation lines as are needed, can be used for the following instructions:

Examples of the alternative statement format for each of these instructions are given with the description of the individual instruction.

Continuation of double-byte data

No special considerations apply to continuation:

A double-byte character string may be continued at any point, and SO and SI must be balanced within a field, but not within a statement line.

Where double-byte data is created by a workstation that has the capability of presenting DBCS characters, such as the IBM 5550 multistation, or where readability of double-byte data in High Level Assembler source input or listings is required, special features of the High Level Assembler language may be used. When the DBCS assembler option is specified, High Level Assembler provides the flexibility to cater for any combination of double-byte data and single-byte data. The special features provided are:

The examples below show the use of these features. Refer to Double-byte character set notation for the notation used in the examples.

Source input considerations

Examples:

Name     Operation       Operand                            Continuation
                                                                  |
                                                                  V
DBCS1    DC              C'<D1D2D3D4D5D6D7D8D9>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
                         <DaDb>'

DBCS2    DC              C'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789XXXX
                         <DaDb>'

DBCS3    DC              C'abcdefghijklmnopqrstuv<D1D2D3D4D5D6D7>XX
                         <DaDb>'
DBCS1
The DBCS1 constant contains 11 double-byte characters bracketed by SO and SI. The SI and SO at the continuation point are not assembled into the operand. The assembled value of DBCS1 is:
<D1D2D3D4D5D6D7D8D9DaDb>
DBCS2
The DBCS2 constant contains an EBCDIC string which is followed by a double-byte string. Because there is no space for any double-byte data on the first line, the end column is extended three columns to the left and the double-byte data started on the next line. The assembled value of DBCS2 is:
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789<DaDb>
DBCS3
The DBCS3 constant contains 22 EBCDIC characters followed by 9 double-byte characters. Alignment of the double-byte data requires that the end column be extended one column to the left. The SI and SO at the continuation point are not assembled into the operand. The assembled value of DBCS3 is:
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuv<D1D2D3D4D5D6D7DaDb>
Source listing considerations

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