Label (computer science)

In programming languages, a label is a sequence of characters that identifies a location within source code. In most languages, labels take the form of an identifier, often followed by a punctuation character (e.g., a colon). In many high-level languages, the purpose of a label is to act as the destination of a GOTO statement.^[1][2] In assembly language, labels can be used anywhere an address can (for example, as the operand of a JMP or MOV instruction).^[3] Also in Pascal and its derived variations. Some languages, such as Fortran and BASIC, support numeric labels.^[4] Labels are also used to identify an entry point into a compiled sequence of statements (e.g., during debugging).