The mode variable attribute (IBM extension)

The variable attribute mode allows you to override the type specifier in a variable declaration, to specify the size of a particular integral type.


mode variable attribute syntax

>>-__attribute__--((--+-mode-----+--(--+-byte--------+--)--))--><
                      '-__mode__-'     +-word--------+          
                                       +-pointer-----+          
                                       +-__byte__----+          
                                       +-__word__----+          
                                       '-__pointer__-'

The valid argument for the mode is any of the of the following type specifiers that indicates a specific width:

byte means a 1-byte integer type
word means a 4-byte integer type
pointer means 4-byte integer type in 32-bit mode and an 8-byte integer type in 64-bit mode