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<a name="Literal-Directive"></a>Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="Literal-Position-Directive.html#Literal-Position-Directive">Literal Position Directive</a>,
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<h5 class="subsubsection">9.36.5.4 literal</h5>
<p><a name="index-_0040code_007bliteral_007d-directive-1890"></a>
The <code>.literal</code> directive is used to define literal pool data, i.e.,
read-only 32-bit data accessed via <code>L32R</code> instructions.
<pre class="smallexample"> .literal <var>label</var>, <var>value</var>[, <var>value</var>...]
</pre>
<p>This directive is similar to the standard <code>.word</code> directive, except
that the actual location of the literal data is determined by the
assembler and linker, not by the position of the <code>.literal</code>
directive. Using this directive gives the assembler freedom to locate
the literal data in the most appropriate place and possibly to combine
identical literals. For example, the code:
<pre class="smallexample"> entry sp, 40
.literal .L1, sym
l32r a4, .L1
</pre>
<p>can be used to load a pointer to the symbol <code>sym</code> into register
<code>a4</code>. The value of <code>sym</code> will not be placed between the
<code>ENTRY</code> and <code>L32R</code> instructions; instead, the assembler puts
the data in a literal pool.
<p>Literal pools are placed by default in separate literal sections;
however, when using the <span class="samp">--text-section-literals</span>
option (see <a href="Xtensa-Options.html#Xtensa-Options">Command Line Options</a>), the literal
pools for PC-relative mode <code>L32R</code> instructions
are placed in the current section.<a rel="footnote" href="#fn-1" name="fnd-1"><sup>1</sup></a>
These text section literal
pools are created automatically before <code>ENTRY</code> instructions and
manually after <span class="samp">.literal_position</span> directives (see <a href="Literal-Position-Directive.html#Literal-Position-Directive">literal_position</a>). If there are no preceding
<code>ENTRY</code> instructions, explicit <code>.literal_position</code> directives
must be used to place the text section literal pools; otherwise,
<span class="command">as</span> will report an error.
<p>When literals are placed in separate sections, the literal section names
are derived from the names of the sections where the literals are
defined. The base literal section names are <code>.literal</code> for
PC-relative mode <code>L32R</code> instructions and <code>.lit4</code> for absolute
mode <code>L32R</code> instructions (see <a href="Absolute-Literals-Directive.html#Absolute-Literals-Directive">absolute-literals</a>). These base names are used for literals defined in
the default <code>.text</code> section. For literals defined in other
sections or within the scope of a <code>literal_prefix</code> directive
(see <a href="Literal-Prefix-Directive.html#Literal-Prefix-Directive">literal_prefix</a>), the following rules
determine the literal section name:
<ol type=1 start=1>
<li>If the current section is a member of a section group, the literal
section name includes the group name as a suffix to the base
<code>.literal</code> or <code>.lit4</code> name, with a period to separate the base
name and group name. The literal section is also made a member of the
group.
<li>If the current section name (or <code>literal_prefix</code> value) begins with
“<code>.gnu.linkonce.</code><var>kind</var><code>.</code>”, the literal section name is formed
by replacing “<code>.</code><var>kind</var>” with the base <code>.literal</code> or
<code>.lit4</code> name. For example, for literals defined in a section named
<code>.gnu.linkonce.t.func</code>, the literal section will be
<code>.gnu.linkonce.literal.func</code> or <code>.gnu.linkonce.lit4.func</code>.
<li>If the current section name (or <code>literal_prefix</code> value) ends with
<code>.text</code>, the literal section name is formed by replacing that
suffix with the base <code>.literal</code> or <code>.lit4</code> name. For example,
for literals defined in a section named <code>.iram0.text</code>, the literal
section will be <code>.iram0.literal</code> or <code>.iram0.lit4</code>.
<li>If none of the preceding conditions apply, the literal section name is
formed by adding the base <code>.literal</code> or <code>.lit4</code> name as a
suffix to the current section name (or <code>literal_prefix</code> value).
</ol>
<div class="footnote">
<hr>
<h4>Footnotes</h4><p class="footnote"><small>[<a name="fn-1" href="#fnd-1">1</a>]</small> Literals for the
<code>.init</code> and <code>.fini</code> sections are always placed in separate
sections, even when <span class="samp">--text-section-literals</span> is enabled.</p>
<p><hr></div>
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