An equal sign can appear in the value of a macro instruction operand or sublist entry:

• As the first character
• Inside quoted strings
• Between paired parentheses
• In a keyword operand
• In a positional operand, provided the parameter does not resemble a keyword operand

Examples:

=H'201'
A'='B
C(A=B)
2X=B
KEY=A=B

The assembler issues a warning message for a positional operand containing an equal sign, if the operand resembles a keyword operand. Thus, if we assume that this is the prototype of a macro definition:

          MAC1           &F

then this macro instruction generates a warning message:

          MAC1           K=L  (K appears to be a valid keyword)

while this macro instruction does not:

          MAC1           2+2=4  (2+2 is not a valid keyword)