$ in GNU as assembler

[sushil]

Hi All,

    What is the meaning of $ in the GNU as assembler when it is prefixed
to a number. For example, what is the difference between

mov     $0x53, %al

and 

mov     0x53, %al.

I have the following as:

GNU assembler version 2.10.90 (i386-redhat-linux) using BFD version
2.10.0.18

I looked at the info pages of as but could not find this. It only mentions
that since $ has no special meaning it can be used in symbol names, but
says nothing about its meaning when prefixed to a number.


Thank you,
Sushil.