LALK 16–bit constant [, shift]

The LALK instruction has two parameters. The first parameter, 16-bit

con-stant, is required. The second parameter, shift, is optional. As this syntax

shows, if you use the optional second parameter, you must precede it with

a comma.

Square brackets are also used as part of the pathname specification for

VMS pathnames; in this case, the brackets are actually part of the path-name

(they are not optional).

_ Braces ( { and } ) indicate a list. The symbol | (read as or) separates items

within the list. Here’s an example of a list:

{ * | *+ | *– }

This provides three choices: *, *+, or *–.

Unless the list is enclosed in square brackets, you must choose one item

from the list.

_ Some directives can have a varying number of parameters. For example,

the .byte directive can have up to 100 parameters. The syntax for this di-rective

is: