The assembler maintains a separate location counter for each section, element, and part. The location counter setting for the first section starts at 0, except when an initial section is started with a START instruction that specifies a nonzero location counter value. The location values assigned to the instructions and other data in a section, element, or part are, therefore, relative to the location counter setting at the beginning of that section, element, or part.

For reference control sections, the location values that appear in the listings always start from 0.

You can continue a control section, element, or part that has been discontinued and thus intersperse code sequences from different control sections, elements, or parts. The location values that appear in the listings for such discontiguous sequences are divided into segments that follow from the end of one segment to the beginning of the subsequent segment.

The location values, listed for the next defined control section, element, or part, begin after the last location value assigned to the preceding such item.

On z/VSE, or when you specify the NOGOFF assembler option on z/OS and CMS, the maximum value of the location counter and the maximum length of a control section is 2²⁴-1, or X'FFFFFF' bytes. If LIST(133) is in force, then the high-order byte is shown as zero.

z/VM and z/OS

When you specify the GOFF assembler option, the maximum value of the location counter and the maximum length of an element or part is 2³¹-1, or X'7FFFFFFF' bytes.