mov esi,[preprocessor_directives]
movzx eax,byte [esi] ;length of string
    

mov eax,[esp+4]
    

preprocessor_directives:
 db 6,'define'
 dw define_symbolic_constant-directive_handler
 db 7,'include'
 dw include_file-directive_handler
 db 3,'irp'
 dw irp_directive-directive_handler
 db 4,'irps'
 dw irps_directive-directive_handler
 db 5,'macro'
 dw define_macro-directive_handler
 db 5,'match'
 dw match_directive-directive_handler
 db 5,'purge'
 dw purge_macro-directive_handler
 db 4,'rept'
 dw rept_directive-directive_handler
 db 7,'restore'
 dw restore_equ_constant-directive_handler
 db 7,'restruc'
 dw purge_struc-directive_handler
 db 5,'struc'
 dw define_struc-directive_handler
 db 0    

; TEXTS t[]='abc', 'xyz', '123'
; TEXTS t[](4)='ann', 'kim', 'sue'

; create array of literal 'text' + addresses
; example: TEXTA colors, 'Black', 'White'
; access: let ecx=[index], eax=[colors+ecx*4]

macro TEXTA name, [t] {
?nta=0
common
label name dword
forward local l
dd l
?nta=?nta+1
forward l db t, 0
name#.$=?nta
}

; same but align each to size

macro TEXTAA name, size, [t] {
common
?nta=0
label name dword
forward
local l
dd l
?nta=?nta+1
forward
l db t, 0
times (size-($-l)) db 0 ; align
common
name#.$=?nta
}

macro TEXTS [p] {
common
define ?s 0
match name[](size)==t, p \{
 TEXTAA name, size, t
 define ?s 1
\}
match =0 name[]==t, ?s p \{
 TEXTA name, t
 define ?s 1
\}
if ?s eq 0
 'Syntax error'
end if
}    

I wouldn't say that in your example it is an array - it's more a table.

In an array all elements have the same (maximum) size.
The table created from Tomasz saves space due to a defined structure.
So the first byte is the length of the following token in bytes, followed by an address of the preprocessor-directive handler.

So if there is a token found and to be processed it is checked with a simple string compare and if found the handler is called. And there is some more restriction, all items have to be in alphabetical order.

mov [ebp- 12],DWORD PTR [STR0]
mov [ebp- 8], DWORD PTR [STR1]
mov [ebp -4], DWORD PTR [STR2]
    

STR0:
.string "etc"
    

str0: db "etc"
    

Quote:

I will learn more about macros in fasm to understand you code and back here.

Then you may want to read this: http://bos.asmhackers.net/docs/FASM%20tutorial/preproc.html
and this http://flatassembler.net/docs.php

Maybe.

Also,why all items have to be in alphabetical order? because your search algorithm? well,how is it called really? I thought Tomasz use hash in somewhere..

array_of_anything:
.size dd @f-$-4 ;size in bytes
.elements:
 dd element1
 dd element2
 dd element3
 dd element4
 dd element1 ;you can point multiple times to the same element
 dd element4
 ...
@@:

element1 db "this is a string",0
element2 db "this is another string",0
element4 db "this string is another element",0
element3 db 0;and this string is empty
    

Well it's not really on area of the data - just an array of pointers.
For me an array is something you defined in BASIC with DIM which holds real data.

DIM A$(100,50)
or
DIM B(16)
or
DIM XY(10,10,10,10)
a four dimensional array ...

an array of anything is just:

Code:

array_of_anything:
.size dd @f-$-4 ;size in bytes
.elements:
 dd element1
 dd element2
 dd element3
 dd element4
 dd element1 ;you can point multiple times to the same element
 dd element4
 ...
@@:

element1 db "this is a string",0
element2 db "this is another string",0
element4 db "this string is another element",0
element3 db 0;and this string is empty
    

if is relativelly easy to implement the methods to exploit theses kind of lists.

@Bob++: so you need an array, which can dynamically change?
Like add some elements and remove some as needed?
I would use the private heap for this - WinAPI provides Heapxxx functions for this purpose.
Also the # of heaps created for a process is limited only by memory left within a process 2Gb room.