IDA Help: Names Representation

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 Action    name: SetNameType

Dummy names are automatically generated by IDA. They are used to denote subroutines, program locations and data.

Dummy names have various prefixes depending on the item type and value:

  sub_          instruction, subroutine start
  locret_       'return' instruction
  loc_          instruction
  off_          data, contains offset value
  seg_          data, contains segment address value
  asc_          data, string literal
  byte_         data, byte
  word_         data, 16-bit
  dword_        data, 32-bit
  qword_        data, 64-bit
  byte3_        data, 3 bytes
  xmmword_      data, 128-bit
  ymmword_      data, 256-bit
  packreal_     data, packed real
  flt_          floating point data, 32-bit
  dbl_          floating point data, 64-bit
  tbyte_        floating point data, 80-bit
  stru_         structure
  custdata_     custom data type
  algn_         alignment directive
  unk_          unexplored byte

You can change representation of dummy names. IDA supports several types of dummy names:

  0     loc_0_1234     segment base address relative to program base address
                       & offset from the segment base
  1     loc_1000_1234  segment base address & offset from the segment base
  2     loc_dseg_1234  segment name & offset from the segment base
  3     loc_0_11234    segment relative to base address & full address
  4     loc_1000_11234 segment base address & full address
  5     loc_dseg_11234 segment name & full address
  6     loc_12         full address
  7     loc_0012       full address (at least 4 digits)
  8     loc_00000012   full address (at least 8 digits)
  9     dseg_1234      the same as 2, but without data type specifier
 10     loc_1          enumerated names (loc_1,loc_2,loc_3...)

If you have selected names type 10 (enumerated names), you may renumber them using a checkbox. The process is relatively fast, surprisingly.

The best representation for MS DOS programs is #0, for 16-bit processors - #7, and for 32-bit processors - #8. You can change dummy names type any time you want.

You can also set up types of names included in the name list. IDA knows about the following types of names:

        - normal names
        - public names
        - weak public or extern names
        - autogenerated (meaningful) names.
        - dummy (meaningless) names.

Dummy names may be public or weak, but they never appear in the list of names. You can specify the type of a name when you create or modify it.

You can also set maximal length of new names. Old names will not be affected by this parameter.