I want to create a macro like the following:
.altmacro
.macro assert_eq a, b=%eax
LOCAL ok
#...
.endm
To be used as:
assert_eq $1
assert_eq $1, %eax
I want .altmacro
for LOCAL
(I see the other possibility of using \@
, but I want LOCAL
).
But when I try to compile this I get:
Error: % operator needs absolute expression
I am guessing that this problem is created by the fact that b=%eax
is attempting to use another feature enabled by .altmacro
: Expression results as strings,
since without .altmacro
I could write this without problem.
If this is true, how do I escape that for my macro to work? If not, what is wrong with my code?
Bonus question: how to use %
?
GAS version: 2.23.52
I have run into a very similar problem where I wanted to pass registers as arguments to a macro that required the use .altmacro. The fix that worked was to enclose the registers in <> and place ! before %. So try changing your macro to be
.macro assert_eq a, b=<%eax>
and if you ever want to call your macro with a register as an argument do
assert_eq <%eax>, <%ecx>
With .altmacro
, any parameter passed or default with a percent %
gets treated as an expression.
Sample usage:
.altmacro
.macro PERCENT x
mov $\x, %eax
.endm
mov $0, %eax
PERCENT %1+1
/* eax == 2 */
.macro PERCENT_DEFAULT x=%1+1
mov $\x, %eax
.endm
mov $0, %eax
PERCENT_DEFAULT 1
/* eax == 1 */
PERCENT_DEFAULT
/* eax == 2 */
To prevent that expansion from happening, we have to do as mentioned by mfbutner:
.altmacro
.macro PERCENT x
mov \x, %eax
.endm
PERCENT <%ebx>
.macro PERCENT_DEFAULT x=<%ebx>
mov \x, %eax
.endm
PERCENT_DEFAULT
Since this expansion happens only to arguments, not inside the macro itself, one alternative if we are sure that the argument is a register, is to put the percent inside the macro:
.macro PERCENT_ESCAPE_REG x
mov %x, %eax
.endm
mov $0, %eax
mov $1, %ebx
PERCENT_ESCAPE_REG ebx
/* eax == 1 */
But this has the downside that we cannot pass immediates like $1
anymore:
PERCENT_ESCAPE_REG $1
This is to me a huge turnoff to using .altmacro
, as it requires callers to use extra noise on every call...