JJ,
No pain, no gain. Humour aside, the ugly notation for MASM code does exactly what I want a single line macro to do and it is tidy in code output terms.
IF 0 ; ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
Build this template with "CONSOLE ASSEMBLE AND LINK"
ENDIF ; ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
include \masm32\include\masm32rt.inc
slen PROTO pstr:DWORD
iph MACRO arg1,arg2,arg3,arg4,arg5,arg6,arg7,arg8
.if arg1
arg2
arg3
arg4
arg5
arg6
arg7
arg8
.endif
ENDM
nsf MACRO ;; no stack frame
OPTION PROLOGUE:NONE
OPTION EPILOGUE:NONE
ENDM
sfo MACRO ;; stack frame on
OPTION PROLOGUE:PrologueDef
OPTION EPILOGUE:EpilogueDef
ENDM
mi MACRO arg1,arg2,arg3,arg4,arg5,arg6,arg7,arg8,arg9,arga,argb,argc,argd,arge,argf, \
argg,argh,argi,argj,argk,argl,argm,argn,argo,argp,argq,argr,args,argt,argu,argv,argw
arg1
arg2
arg3
arg4
arg5
arg6
arg7
arg8
arg9
arga
argb
argc
argd
arge
argf
argg
argh
argi
argj
argk
argl
argm
argn
argo
argp
argq
argr
args
argt
argu
argv
argw
ENDM
.code
start:
; ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
call main
inkey
exit
; ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
main proc
mov eax, 1
iph eax !!= 1,<mov eax, 3>
mov eax, 1
iph eax == 1,<xor eax, eax>,<add eax, 10>
mov eax, 2
mi <.if eax !!= 1>,<xor eax, eax>,<add eax, 1>,<add eax, 1>,<add eax, 1>,<.endif>
ret
main endp
; ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
mi <nsf>,<slen proc pstr:DWORD>,<mov eax,[esp+4]>,<sub eax,1>,<lbl:>,<add eax,1>,\
<cmp DWORD PTR [eax],0>,<jne lbl>,<sub eax,[esp+4]>,<retn>,<slen endp>,<sfo>
; ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
end start
the /EP listing output shows the result.
; ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
main proc
mov eax, 1
.if eax != 1
mov eax, 3
.endif
mov eax, 1
.if eax == 1
xor eax, eax
add eax, 10
.endif
mov eax, 2
.if eax != 1
xor eax, eax
add eax, 1
add eax, 1
add eax, 1
.endif
ret
main endp
; ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤
OPTION PROLOGUE:NONE
OPTION EPILOGUE:NONE
slen proc pstr:DWORD
mov eax,[esp+4]
sub eax,1
lbl:
add eax,1
cmp DWORD PTR [eax],0
jne lbl
sub eax,[esp+4]
retn
slen endp
OPTION PROLOGUE:PrologueDef
OPTION EPILOGUE:EpilogueDef
; ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤