Real-Number Encoding Needs Exact Number of Digits (35507)

SUMMARY

In the Microsoft Macro Assembler (MASM) versions 5.1, 5.1a, 6.0, 6.0a, and 6.0b real numbers can be initialized with a hexadecimal encoding by using the DD, DQ, and DT directives. In MASM 6.0, 6.0a, and 6.0b real numbers can also be initialized with a hexadecinal encoding by using the REAL4, REAL8, and REAL10 directives. The number of digits for encoded numbers declared with DD, DQ, and DT or REAL4, REAL8, and REAL16 must be 8, 16, and 20 digits, respectively. If a leading 0 is supplied, the number must be 9, 17, and 21 digits respectively.

MORE INFORMATION

The following example generates the warning:

warning A4057: Illegal size for operand
_DATA SEGMENT 'DATA'
a_var DQ 000000000r
_DATA ENDS
END

MASM will correctly evaluate the constant, but the warning is telling the user that the number of digits is not correct. The real number should be defined with exactly 17 digits as in the following example.

   _DATA SEGMENT 'DATA'
   a_var DQ 00000000000000000r
   _DATA ENDS
   END