MIPS Overview

From OSDev Wiki
Jump to: navigation, search

This page is under construction! This page or section is a work in progress and may thus be incomplete. Its content may be changed in the near future.

The MIPS CPU architecture is used in computer architectures like SGI O2 and Octane systems, Nintendo N64 as well as the Sony Playstation, Playstation 2 and Playstation Portable.

Contents

General Registers

Name Number Function Callee must preserve?
$zero $0 constant 0 n/a
$at $1 assembler temporary no
$v0–$v1 $2–$3 values for function returns and expression evaluation no
$a0–$a3 $4–$7 function arguments no
$t0–$t7 $8–$15 temporaries no
$s0–$s7 $16–$23 saved temporaries yes
$t8–$t9 $24–$25 temporaries no
$k0–$k1 $26–$27 reserved for OS kernel no
$gp $28 global pointer yes
$sp $29 stack pointer yes
$fp/$s8 $30 frame pointer yes
$ra $31 return address n/a

Note: All except registers on the MIPS except $zero, HI and LO are general registers; the listed usage is per convention and not enforced by the processor or the assembler. The register name $s8 is a synonym for $fp used in some assemblers, in systems where the frame pointer is not regularly used.

Arithmetic Registers

Register Multiplication Division
HI Multiplicand Upper word Quotient
LOW Multiplicand Lower word Remainder

Coprocessor 0 Registers

Name Number Function Callee must preserve?
c0_index cop0 $0 TLB entry index register n/a
c0_random cop0 $1 TLB randomized access register n/a
c0_entrylo cop0 $2 Low-order word of "current" TLB entry n/a
c0_context cop0 $4 Page-table lookup address n/a
c0_vaddr cop0 $8 Virtual address associated with certain exceptions n/a
c0_entryhi cop0 $10 High-order word of "current" TLB entry n/a
c0_status cop0 $12 Processor status register n/a
c0_cause cop0 $13 Exception cause register n/a
c0_epc cop0 $14 PC at which exception occurred n/a

Instruction fields

Field Size Position Op Types Description
op 6 26-31 R, I, J opcode for the instruction or group of instructions.
rs 5 21-25 R, I Source register for store operations, destination for all other operations.
rt 5 16-20 R, I First operand register.
rd 5 11-15 R Second operand register.
shift 5 6-10 R Immediate operand for shift and rotate instructions.
func 6 0-5 R Extended opcode.
imm 16 0-15 I Half-word immediate operand.
address 0-25 J 26-bit address field for unconditional jump operations.

Addressing modes

Type Assembly Format Opcode format Comments
Register inst rs, rd, rt op rs, rd, rt, shift, func The opcode represents a group of operations rather than a specific instruction; the func field contains the actual operation. The shift field is only used in shift and rotate operations.
Immediate (I-type) inst rs, rt, imm opcode rs, rt, imm Immediate operation use a 16-bit immediate value from the instruction word itself.
Load (I-type) inst rs, imm(rt) op rs, rt, imm Load/Store operations are a special case of immediate, where the offset is the immediate operand.
Store (I-type) inst rs, offset(rt) op rs, rt, imm Unlike in most other operations, the rs register is the data source.
Cond. Branch(I-type) inst rs, rt, label op rs, rt, imm Conditional branches have a 16-bit relative range.
Jump {J-type) inst label op address the J and JAL operations have a 26-bit relative range.

Note: The assembly formats given are those from the official MIPS Technologies documentation. Other assemblers (e.g., gas) may use different formats.

See Also

Articles

References

Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
About
Toolbox