Both of those will be flagged and the result won't be what you're expecting. 
USING just informs the assembler of how to convert a relocatable expression 
into a base and displacement; it doesn;t change the architecture.

I can't e-mail a list from work due to network security but maybe someone else 
will be willing to do it, Or is everybody locked down these days?

-- 
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz
http://mason.gmu.edu/~smetz3
עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי
נֵ֣צַח יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לֹ֥א יְשַׁקֵּ֖ר




________________________________________
From: IBM Mainframe Assembler List <[email protected]> on behalf 
of Tony Harminc <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, February 11, 2026 12:27 AM
To: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Move data to a location prior to a given (based) address


External Message: Use Caution


On Tue, 10 Feb 2026 at 23:21, Seymour J Metz <[email protected]> wrote:

> You can't have a negative displacement on an RS or RX instruction. It's a
> 12 bit unsigned field, padded with zeros on the left.


Sure - 12-bit displacements are unsigned, and addressing arithmetic using
them is unsigned. But the assembler can help you by allowing specification
of a negative number if there is a suitable USING in effect.

Off the top of my head, something like

LHI   R5,-1024
USING  -1024,R5

LA    R1,-123(R1)  Subtract 123 from R1

Tony H.


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