/sys$common/syshlp/helplib.hlb MACRO, VAX MACRO Assembler, Directives, .PACKED  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

    Generates packed decimal data, two digits per byte.

      .PACKED decimal-string[,symbol]

    decimal-string

    A decimal number from 0 through 31 digits long with an optional
    sign. Digits can be in the range of 0 through 9.

    symbol

    An optional symbol that is assigned a value equivalent to the
    number of decimal digits in the string.  The sign is not counted as
    a digit.