If you code the correct assembler instruction, the assembler computes the relative offset, or displacement from a base address, of any symbolic addresses you specify in a machine instruction. It inserts this displacement, along with the base register assigned by the assembler instruction, into the object code of the machine instruction.

At execution time, the object code of address references must be in relative-immediate or base-displacement form. The computer obtains the required address by adding the displacement to the base address contained in the base register, or from the relative-immediate offset of the instruction.