VMS Help MACRO, VAX MACRO Assembler, Directives, .PSECT  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

    Defines a program section and its attributes and refers to a
    program section once it is defined.

      .PSECT [program-section-name[,argument-list]]

    program-section-name

    The name of  the  program  section.   This  name  can  be  up  to
    31 characters  long  and  can contain any alphanumeric character
    and the special characters underline (_), dollar sign ($),  and
    period  (.). The first character must not be a digit.

    argument-list

    A list containing the program  section  attributes  and  the
    program section  alignment.  Program sections are aligned when you
    specify an integer in the range of 0 through 9 or  one  of  the
    five  keywords; byte,  word,  long,  quad,  or  page.  If you
    specify an integer, the program section is linked to begin at the
    next virtual address, which is  a  multiple  of  2  raised  to  the
    power of the integer.  If you specify a keyword, the program
    section is linked to begin at the next virtual  address  (a
    multiple  of the specified values.) BYTE is the default.

      Program Section Attributes:

      Attribute      Function

      ABS            Absolute
      CON            Concatenate (Default)
      EXE            Executable (Default)
      GBL            Global
      LCL            Local (Default)
      LIB            Library Segment
      NOEXE          Not Executable
      NOPIC          Non-Position-Independent Content (Default)
      NORD           Nonreadable
      NOSHR          No Share (Default)
      NOVEC          Nonvector-Containing (Default)
      NOWRT          Nonwriteable
      OVR            Overlay
      PIC            Position-Independent Content
      RD             Readable (Default)
      REL            Relocatable (Default)
      SHR            Share
      USR            User Segment
      VEC            Vector-Containing
      WRT            Write (Default)

    The  assembler  automatically  defines  two  program  sections:
    the absolute  program section and the unnamed (or blank) program
    section.

    Any symbol definitions that appear before any instruction,  data,
    or .PSECT directive are placed in the absolute program section.