ALIAS instruction

The ALIAS instruction specifies alternate names for the external symbols that identify control sections, entry points, and external references. The instruction has nothing to do with the link-time aliases in libraries.

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagram>>-symbol--ALIAS--alias_string---------------------------------><
 
symbol
is an external symbol that is represented by one of the following:
alias_string
is the alternate name for the external symbol, represented by one of the following:

The ordinary symbol denoted by symbol must also appear in one of the following in this assembly:

The assembler uses the string denoted by alias_string to replace the external symbol denoted by symbol in the external symbol dictionary records in the object module. Because the change is made only in the external symbol dictionary, references to the ALIASed symbol in the source program must use the original symbol. If the string is shorter than 8 characters, or 16 hexadecimal digits, it is padded on the right with EBCDIC spaces (X'40'). If the string is longer than 8 characters, it is truncated. Some programs that process object modules do not support external symbols longer than 8 characters.

z/VM and z/OS

If the extended object format is being generated (GOFF assembler option), the alias_string can be up to 256 characters, or 512 hexadecimal digits.

End of z/VM and z/OS

The following examples are of the ALIAS instruction, and show both formats of the alternate name denoted by alias_string.

EXTSYM1  ALIAS           C'lower1'
EXTSYM2  ALIAS           X'9396A68599F2'

The alias_string must not match any external symbol, regardless of case. References to an ALIASed symbol must be made using the original name; the original symbol is changed only in the external symbol dictionary. For example, you would write

        EXTRN    EXTSYM1

to refer to the external symbol 'lower1'.

Aliased names are not checked against ALIASes for possible duplicates or conflicts.


[ Top of Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Contents | Index ]