Meaning of: Array1 : .word 0:20

Question

What is the meaning of :

Array1 :    .word 0:20

Answer 1

Array1 : is a label (the space is optional).

For MIPS, a :<n> suffix to an expression in directives such as .word, .byte etc. is a repeat count.

So Array1 : .word 0:20 creates a block of 20 words (i.e. 80 bytes) of 0, with the label Array1 pointing to the start of it.

(Footnote: The GNU assembler, gas, tends to try to follow the "traditional" assembler syntax for each platform; a brief glance suggests that this syntax is not that common on other platforms - only MIPS and Alpha obviously support it.)