IO_AREA           ;define console I/O area address (no leading [b].[/b] in IO_AREA)
 .ASCII .BYTE .DB  ;define static data, such as strings, tables, etc.
 .ASCIS            ;like .BYTE, but w/bit 7 of last byte set to mark the end-of-string
 .DBYTE .DD        ;assemble big-endian word
 .DCB              ;equivalent to *=*+N, where N is arg to .DCB,...
                   ;w/optional initialization pattern, e.g., .DCB 10,$FF, which will
                   ;reserve 10 bytes & fill them with $FF
 .DS .RS           ;equivalent to *=*+N, where N is arg to .DS or .RS
 .DW .WORD         ;assemble little-endian word
 .ELSE             ;conditional assembly directive
 .END              ;mark end of source file, optional
 .ENDIF            ;mark end of conditional assembly
 .ENDM             ;mark end of macro definition
 .ENDR             ;mark end of repeated text
 .ERROR            ;emit error message & halt assembly, e.g., .ERROR "operand out of range"
 .EXITM            ;halt continued macro expansion
 .IF               ;start conditional assembly
 .INCLUDE          ;insert contents of named source file
 .IO_WND           ;define console I/O window size (cols, rows)
 .MACRO            ;mark start of macro definition
 .OPT              ;set assembly options
 .ORG              ;set start of assembly address, also * = <addr>
 .PARAMTYPE        ;determine macro parameter type:1 = numeric, 2 = string
 .REF              ;determine if label/symbol was defined, e.g., .IF .REF(abc) evaluates true if abc has been defined
 .REPEAT .REPT     ;repeat following text N times
 .ROM_AREA         ;set simulator's write-protected address range
 .SET              ;(re)define variable value, e.g., .SET .=
 .START            ;set simulator start of execution address
 .STR .STRING      ;generate text string, 1st byte is length
 .STRLEN           ;determine macro parameter string length