ASEM(1)

NAME
asem - assemble an 8051 assembly language program

SYNOPSIS
asem [options] source [object [listing]]

DESCRIPTION
asem is a two-pass macro assembler for the Intel MCS-51 family of microcontrollers.

FILES
source is the 8051 assembler source, object is the output file, and listing is the assembler list file.
All file names that are specified explicitly, are left unchanged. The parameters object and listing are optional. When omitted, the object file name is derived from the source file name, but with extension .hex (or .omf if the -o option is set). When the listing file name is omitted, it is derived from the object file name, but with extension .lst.
The maximum length of a file parameter is limited to 255 characters!

OPTIONS
asem recognizes the following options:

-i path1:path2:path3
--includes=path1:path2:path3
    specifies a search path for include files that cannot be found in the working directory

-d symbol[:value[:type]]
--define=symbol[:value[:type]]
    defines a symbol with an optional value and segment type (C, D, I, X, B, N). Defaults: value=0, type=N

-o, --omf-51
    generate an object file in absolute OMF-51 format

-c, --columns
    output additional column numbers after the line numbers of program error messages

-v, --verbose
    output additional product, version, and error summary information

Long options may be abbreviated as long as they remain unique. All option names are case-sensitive!

ENVIRONMENT
To specify a search path for include files, an optional environment variable ASEM51INC can be defined. The assembler searches the specified search path for include files that can neither be found in the working directory, nor in the search path specified with the --includes option.

EXIT STATUS
When terminating, asem returns an exit code to the calling process:

    0 no errors
    1 program errors detected
    2 fatal runtime error

Note: Warnings do not influence the returned exit code!

USAGE
For detailed information on writing 8051 assembly language programs see the ASEM-51 User's Manual in ASCII file asem_51.doc, or start reading with HTML file docs.htm!

CONFORMING TO
The ASEM-51 assembly language is a rich subset of the Intel standard that guarantees maximum compatibility with existing 8051 assembler sources. It can generate two sorts of object files: Intel-HEX format, which is directly accepted by most EPROM programmers, and absolute Intel OMF-51 format (with debug information), which is required for many simulators, emulators and target debuggers.

AUTHOR
W.W. Heinz

SEE ALSO
hexbin(1), customiz(1), reset51(1), boot(1)