In computer programming, a directive or pragma (from "pragmatic") is a language construct that specifies how a compiler (or other translator) should process its input.
They can be processed by a preprocessor to specify compiler behavior, or function as a form of in-band parameterization.
This term could be used to refer to proprietary third-party tags and commands (or markup) embedded in code that result in additional executable processing that extend the existing compiler, assembler and language constructs present in the development environment.
All preprocessor commands begin with a hash symbol (#) with the exception of the import and module directives in C++.
Note the use of stropping for the pragmat keyword itself (abbreviated pr), either in the POINT or quote regimes: Today directives are best known in the C language, of early 1970s vintage, and continued through the current C99 standard, where they are either instructions to the C preprocessor, or, in the form of #pragma, directives to the compiler itself.