FIX: DUP Operator Must Be Preceded by White Space

Last reviewed: September 16, 1997
Article ID: Q106403

6.00 6.00a 6.00b MS-DOS kbprg kbfixlist kbbuglist

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Macro Assembler for MS-DOS, versions 6.0, 6.0a, and 6.0b

SYMPTOMS

The DUP operator must be preceded by white space. The number of items and the DUP operator must be separated by spaces or tabs. In MASM 6.0, no error message is given, but space for only one data item is allocated if the white space is missing. MASM 6.1 and later issue the error message:

   error A2206: missing operator in expression

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in MASM versions 6.0x. The problem was corrected in MASM 6.1.

Sample Code

; Assemble options needed: /Fl ; View the listing file to see the error in MASM 6.0 for data item b

.MODEL SMALL .STACK

.DATA

a        db 4 dup(0)
size_a   db SIZEOF a
b        db 4dup(?)    ; A2206 here in MASM 6.1
size_b   db SIZEOF b

.CODE start:

   mov   ax,4C00H
   int   21H    ;Terminate Process

END start

Additional reference words: 6.00 6.00a 6.00b buglist6.00 buglist6.00a
buglist6.00b fixlist6.10
KBCategory: kbprg kbfixlist kbbuglist
KBSubCategory: MASMLngIss
Solution Type : kbfix

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Last reviewed: September 16, 1997
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