The .SYMBOL_ALIGNMENT directive is used to associate an alignment attribute with the fields in a structure when you know the base alignment. It is used in pairs. The first .SYMBOL_ALIGNMENT directive associates either longword (long) or quadword (quad) alignment with the symbol or symbols that follow. The second directive, .SYMBOL_ALIGNMENT none, turns it off. Any time a reference is made with a symbol with an alignment attribute, the base register of that reference, in effect, inherits the symbol's alignment. The compiler also resets the base register's alignment to longword for subsequent alignment tracking. This alignment guarantee enables the compiler to produce more efficient code sequences.