manpagez: man pages & more
man as(1)
Home | html | info | man
as(1)                                                                    as(1)




NAME

       as - Mac OS X Mach-O GNU-based assemblers


SYNOPSIS

       as [ option ...  ] [ file ...  ]


DESCRIPTION

       The  as  command  translates assembly code in the named files to object
       code.  If no files are specified, as reads from stdin.   All  undefined
       symbols  in  the  assembly  are  treated  as global.  The output of the
       assembly is left in the file a.out by default.

       The program /usr/bin/as is actually a driver that  executes  assemblers
       for specific target architectures.  If no target architecture is speci-
       fied, it defaults to the architecture of the host it is running on.


OPTIONS

       -o name
              Name the output file name instead of a.out.

       -arch arch_type
              Specifies the target architecture, arch_type, of  the  assembler
              to be executed.  The target assemblers for each architecture are
              in            /usr/libexec/gcc/darwin/arch_type/as            or
              /usr/local/libexec/gcc/darwin/arch_type/as.   There  is only one
              assembler for an architecture family.  If the  specified  target
              architecture is a machine-specific implementation, the assembler
              for   that    architecture    family    is    executed    (e.g.,
              /usr/libexec/gcc/darwin/ppc/as  for -arch ppc604e).  See arch(3)
              for the currently known arch_types.

       -arch_multiple
              Precede any displayed messages with a line stating  the  program
              name  (as) and the architecture (from the -arch arch_type flag),
              to distinguish which architecture the error messages  refer  to.
              When  the cc(1) driver program is run with multiple -arch flags,
              it invokes as with the -arch_multiple option.

       -force_cpusubtype_ALL
              By default, the assembler will produce the CPU subtype  ALL  for
              the  object file it is assembling if it finds no implementation-
              specific instructions.  Also  by  default,  the  assembler  will
              allow  implementation-specific instructions and will combine the
              CPU subtype for those specific implementations.   The  combining
              of  specific  implementations is architecture-dependent; if some
              combination of instructions is not allowed, an error  is  gener-
              ated.    With   the  optional  -force_cpusubtype_ALL  flag,  all
              instructions are allowed and the object file's CPU subtype  will
              be  the  ALL subtype.  If the target architecture specified is a
              machine-specific  implementation  (e.g.,  -arch  ppc603,   -arch
              i486),  the  assembler will flag as errors instructions that are
              not supported on that  architecture,  and  it  will  produce  an
              object  file  with the CPU subtype for that specific implementa-
              tion (even if no implementation-specific instructions are used).
              The  -force_cpusubtype_ALL  flag  is the default for all x86 and
              x86_64 architectures.

       -dynamic
              Enables dynamic linking features.  This is the default.

       -static
              Causes the assembler to treat  as  an  error  any  features  for
              dynamic linking.  Also causes the .text directive to not include
              the pure_instructions section attribute.

       --     Use stdin for the assembly source input.

       -n     Instructs the assembler not to assume  that  the  assembly  file
              starts  with  a .text directive.  Use this option when an output
              file is not to contain a (__TEXT,__text) section or this section
              is not to be first one in the output file.

       -f     Fast;  no  need  for  the assembler preprocessor (``app'').  The
              assembler preprocessor can also be turned off  by  starting  the
              assembly  file  with  "#NO_APP\n".   This is intended for use by
              compilers which produce assembly code in a strict "clean" format
              that  specifies  exactly where whitespace can go.  The assembler
              preprocessor needs to be  run  on  hand-written  assembly  files
              and/or  files  that have been preprocessed by the C preprocessor
              cpp.  This is typically needed when assembler files  are  assem-
              bled  through  the use of the cc(1) command, which automatically
              runs the C preprocessor on assembly source files.  The assembler
              preprocessor strips out excess spaces, turns single-quoted char-
              acters into a decimal constants, and turns # <number> <filename>
              <level>  into  .line <number>;.file <filename>  pairs.  When the
              assembler preprocessor has been turned off by a  "#NO_APP\n"  at
              the start of a file, it can be turned back on and off again with
              pairs of "#APP\n" and "#NO_APP\n" at the  beginnings  of  lines.
              This  is  used  by the compiler to wrap assembly statements pro-
              duced from asm() statements.

       -g     Produce debugging information for the symbolic  debugger  gdb(1)
              so  that  the assembly source can be debugged symbolically.  The
              debugger depends on correct use of the C preprocessor's #include
              directive  or  the  assembler's .include directive:  Any include
              file that produces instructions in the  (__TEXT,__text)  section
              must be included while a .text directive is in effect.  In other
              words, there must be a .text directive before the  include,  and
              the  .text  directive  must still be in effect at the end of the
              include file.  Otherwise, the debugger will get confused when in
              that assembly file.

       -v     Display  the version of the assembler (both the Mac OS X version
              and the GNU version it is based on).

       -V     Print the path and the command line of the assembler the  assem-
              bler driver is using.

       -Idir  Add  the  directory dir to the list of directories to search for
              files included with the .include directive.  The  default  place
              to search is the current directory.

       -W     Suppress warnings.

       -L     Save  non-global  defined  labels  beginning  with an 'L'; these
              labels are normally discarded to save  space  in  the  resultant
              symbol table.  The compiler generates such temporary labels.

       -q     Use  the clang(1) intergrated assembler instead of the GNU based
              system assembler.  This is available for the x86 and arm  archi-
              tectures.  -Q Used the GNU based system assembler.


Assembler options for the PowerPC processors

       -static_branch_prediction_Y_bit
              Treat  a  single trailing '+' or '-' after a conditional PowerPC
              branch instruction as a static branch prediction that  sets  the
              Y-bit  in the opcode.  Pairs of trailing "++" or "--" always set
              the AT-bits. This is the default for Mac OS X.

       -static_branch_prediction_AT_bits
              Treat a single trailing '+' or '-' after a  conditional  PowerPC
              branch  instruction  as a static branch prediction that sets the
              AT-bits in the opcode. Pairs of trailing "++" or "--" always set
              the  AT-bits  but  with  this option a warning is issued if this
              syntax is used.  With this flag the assembler behaves  like  the
              IBM tools.

       -no_ppc601
              Treat any PowerPC 601 instructions as an error.


FILES

       a.out     output file


SEE ALSO

       The  Mac  OS  X  Assembler Reference in the Xcode documentation viewer:
       Perform a title search for "assembler" in Apple > Developer Tools  Ref-
       erence Library.
       The assembler source in the cctools module of the Darwin sources.
       cc(1), ld(1), nm(1), otool(1), arch(3), Mach-O(5)



Apple, Inc.                     March 30, 2012                           as(1)

Mac OS X 10.8 - Generated Sun Aug 19 15:41:27 CDT 2012
© manpagez.com 2000-2024
Individual documents may contain additional copyright information.