FIX: Omitting Range Keyword After LABEL Directive Causes Error (30412)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Macro Assembler (MASM) 5.1

This article was previously published under Q30412

SYMPTOMS

When a LABEL directive is used without a type specifier, it will cause the error:

error A2003: Unknown type specifier

This error will correctly occur if the LABEL directive is the first statement in the segment. However, if you also have executable statements prior to the LABEL directive in the code segment, error messages, such as:

error A2009: Symbol not defined: AX
error A2006: Phase error between passes

will incorrectly occur on every statement.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in MASM version 5.1. This problem was corrected in MASM 5.1a.

MORE INFORMATION

The following program demonstrates the problem. The "mov ax, 1" statement will incorrectly generate the error message:

error A2009: Symbol not defined: AX

The statement "pt1 LABEL" will generate an:

error A2003: Unknown type specifier

as expected.

Sample Code

; Assemble options needed: none

.MODEL small
.CODE
main PROC
    mov ax, 1
    pt1 LABEL   ; This line is incorrect and should generate an error
main ENDP
END main

Modification Type:	Major	Last Reviewed:	10/29/2003
Keywords:	kbfix KB30412