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

    Equivalent to .BYTE, except that VAX MACRO indicates that the data
    is signed in the object module.

      .SIGNED_BYTE expression1[expression2], ...

    An expression or list of expressions separated by commas.   You
    have the  option  of  following  each  expression with a repetition
    factor delimited by square brackets.

    expression1

    An expression that specifies the value to be stored.  The value
    must be in the range -128 through +127.

    [expression2]

    An expression that specifies the number of times the  value  will
    be repeated.   The expression must not contain any undefined
    symbols and must be an absolute expression.  The square brackets
    are required.

    .SIGNED_WORD

    Equivalent to .WORD except that the assembler indicates that the
    data is signed in the object module.

      .SIGNED_WORD expression1[expression2], ...

    An expression or list of expressions separated by commas.   You
    have the  option  of  following  each  expression with a repetition
    factor delimited by square brackets.

    expression1

    An expression that specifies the value to be stored.  The value
    must be in the range -32,768 through +32,767.

    [expression2]

    An expression that specifies the number of times the  value  will
    be repeated.   The expression must not contain any undefined
    symbols and must be an absolute expression.  The square brackets
    are required.

    .SUBTITLE_(.SBTTL)

    Causes the assembler to print the line of text,  represented  by
    the comment-string, in the table of contents.

      .SUBTITLE comment-string

    comment-string

    An ASCII string from 1 to 40 characters long; excess  characters
    are truncated.

    The assembler also prints the line of text as  the  subtitle  on
    the second  line  of  each  assembly listing page.  This subtitle
    text is printed  on  each  page  until  altered  by  a  subsequent
    .SUBTITLE directive in the program.

    The alternate form of .SUBTITLE is .SBTTL.