To start the assembler enter the following (the line spacing is only for readability; enter the command on a single line):

 ./asma90   input_path_name
        -l   list_path_name
        -o object_path_name
        -t   term_path_name
        -L syslib_path_names
        -E object_exit_path_name

1. input_path_name is not prefixed by an identifier while the other dataset names are.
2. The identifiers are:
   • -l for the listing output
   • -o for the GOFF/object output
   • -t for the TERM output
   • -L for the SYSLIB datasets
   • -E for exits when the elf32 option is supplied (see below)

   Identifiers are case sensitive.

3. Options are specified as --options='options'.

   The options identifier must be prefixed by two hyphens and the options enclosed in apostrophes.

4. It is not necessary to enter the full path name for any file. If the current directory is to be used, no directory information is required except for SYSLIB, where ./ must be supplied.
5. Multiple SYSLIB path names can be supplied. Each path name is separated by a colon (for example, path_name_1:path_name_2:...).
6. SYSLIB path name extensions are supported. The extension is specified as path_name/*.ext. If more than one extension is required, this can be specified as path_name/*.ext1:/path_name/*ext2:....

   You may need to quote the library directory name, as in './*.mac', or specify a set of specifications separated by colons, as in ./*.mac:./*.MAC:....

7. The assembler searches for macros or copy files first in uppercase, then in lowercase. The case of the extension is not changed. Mixed-case names are not recognized.
8. Either ASCII or EBCDIC files may be provided as input. The assembler will convert the ASCII input to EBCDIC for internal processing. The assembler determines if the data is in ASCII by looking for an ASCII blank (X'20'), ASCII asterisk (X'21') or ASCII numbers (X'30' to X'39') in the first record of the file.
   • Care must be exercised in using characters whose encodings are not stable when converted between EBCDIC and ASCII. Examples of such characters include not sign (¬), vertical bar (|), and square brackets ([ ]).
   • ASCII DBCS characters will not be correctly translated to EBCDIC DBCS.
9. TERM messages are written in ASCII. If you specify the TERM option but provide no -t term_path_name, output goes to stdout (the terminal), and can be redirected with > to a file.

To create ELF32 object files on zLinux, specify the HLASM ELF32 option (--options='ELF32'). You will also need to provide the following parameter so that the assembler can locate and load the object exit that does this translation:

-E /usr/bin/asmalib