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GNU Info File | 1992-02-16 | 40.9 KB | 938 lines

This is Info file gcc.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.43 from the input file gcc.texi. This file documents the use and the internals of the GNU compiler. Copyright (C) 1988, 1989, 1992 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided also that the section entitled "GNU General Public License" is included exactly as in the original, and provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions, except that the section entitled "GNU General Public License" and this permission notice may be included in translations approved by the Free Software Foundation instead of in the original English. File: gcc.info, Node: Patterns, Next: Example, Prev: Machine Desc, Up: Machine Desc Everything about Instruction Patterns ===================================== Each instruction pattern contains an incomplete RTL expression, with pieces to be filled in later, operand constraints that restrict how the pieces can be filled in, and an output pattern or C code to generate the assembler output, all wrapped up in a `define_insn' expression. A `define_insn' is an RTL expression containing four or five operands: 1. An optional name. The presence of a name indicate that this instruction pattern can perform a certain standard job for the RTL-generation pass of the compiler. This pass knows certain names and will use the instruction patterns with those names, if the names are defined in the machine description. The absence of a name is indicated by writing an empty string where the name should go. Nameless instruction patterns are never used for generating RTL code, but they may permit several simpler insns to be combined later on. Names that are not thus known and used in RTL-generation have no effect; they are equivalent to no name at all. 2. The "RTL template" (*note RTL Template::.) is a vector of incomplete RTL expressions which show what the instruction should look like. It is incomplete because it may contain `match_operand', `match_operator', and `match_dup' expressions that stand for operands of the instruction. If the vector has only one element, that element is the template for the instruction pattern. If the vector has multiple elements, then the instruction pattern is a `parallel' expression containing the elements described. 3. A condition. This is a string which contains a C expression that is the final test to decide whether an insn body matches this pattern. For a named pattern, the condition (if present) may not depend on the data in the insn being matched, but only the target-machine-type flags. The compiler needs to test these conditions during initialization in order to learn exactly which named instructions are available in a particular run. For nameless patterns, the condition is applied only when matching an individual insn, and only after the insn has matched the pattern's recognition template. The insn's operands may be found in the vector `operands'. 4. The "output template": a string that says how to output matching insns as assembler code. `%' in this string specifies where to substitute the value of an operand. *Note Output Template::. When simple substitution isn't general enough, you can specify a piece of C code to compute the output. *Note Output Statement::. 5. Optionally, a vector containing the values of attributes for insns matching this pattern. *Note Insn Attributes::. File: gcc.info, Node: Example, Next: RTL Template, Prev: Patterns, Up: Machine Desc Example of `define_insn' ======================== Here is an actual example of an instruction pattern, for the 68000/68020. (define_insn "tstsi" [(set (cc0) (match_operand:SI 0 "general_operand" "rm"))] "" "* { if (TARGET_68020 || ! ADDRESS_REG_P (operands[0])) return \"tstl %0\"; return \"cmpl #0,%0\"; }") This is an instruction that sets the condition codes based on the value of a general operand. It has no condition, so any insn whose RTL description has the form shown may be handled according to this pattern. The name `tstsi' means "test a `SImode' value" and tells the RTL generation pass that, when it is necessary to test such a value, an insn to do so can be constructed using this pattern. The output control string is a piece of C code which chooses which output template to return based on the kind of operand and the specific type of CPU for which code is being generated. `"rm"' is an operand constraint. Its meaning is explained below. File: gcc.info, Node: RTL Template, Next: Output Template, Prev: Example, Up: Machine Desc RTL Template for Generating and Recognizing Insns ================================================= The RTL template is used to define which insns match the particular pattern and how to find their operands. For named patterns, the RTL template also says how to construct an insn from specified operands. Construction involves substituting specified operands into a copy of the template. Matching involves determining the values that serve as the operands in the insn being matched. Both of these activities are controlled by special expression types that direct matching and substitution of the operands. `(match_operand:M N PREDICATE CONSTRAINT)' This expression is a placeholder for operand number N of the insn. When constructing an insn, operand number N will be substituted at this point. When matching an insn, whatever appears at this position in the insn will be taken as operand number N; but it must satisfy PREDICATE or this instruction pattern will not match at all. Operand numbers must be chosen consecutively counting from zero in each instruction pattern. There may be only one `match_operand' expression in the pattern for each operand number. Usually operands are numbered in the order of appearance in `match_operand' expressions. PREDICATE is a string that is the name of a C function that accepts two arguments, an expression and a machine mode. During matching, the function will be called with the putative operand as the expression and M as the mode argument (if M is not specified, `VOIDmode' will be used, which normally causes PREDICATE to accept any mode). If it returns zero, this instruction pattern fails to match. PREDICATE may be an empty string; then it means no test is to be done on the operand, so anything which occurs in this position is valid. Most of the time, PREDICATE will reject modes other than M--but not always. For example, the predicate `address_operand' uses M as the mode of memory ref that the address should be valid for. Many predicates accept `const_int' nodes even though their mode is `VOIDmode'. CONSTRAINT controls reloading and the choice of the best register class to use for a value, as explained later (*note Constraints::.). People are often unclear on the difference between the constraint and the predicate. The predicate helps decide whether a given insn matches the pattern. The constraint plays no role in this decision; instead, it controls various decisions in the case of an insn which does match. On CISC machines, PREDICATE is most often `"general_operand"'. This function checks that the putative operand is either a constant, a register or a memory reference, and that it is valid for mode M. For an operand that must be a register, PREDICATE should be `"register_operand"'. It would be valid to use `"general_operand"', since the reload pass would copy any non-register operands through registers, but this would make GNU CC do extra work, it would prevent invariant operands (such as constant) from being removed from loops, and it would prevent the register allocator from doing the best possible job. On RISC machines, it is usually most efficient to allow PREDICATE to accept only objects that the constraints allow. For an operand that must be a constant, either use `"immediate_operand"' for PREDICATE, or make the instruction pattern's extra condition require a constant, or both. You cannot expect the constraints to do this work! If the constraints allow only constants, but the predicate allows something else, the compiler will crash when that case arises. `(match_scratch:M N CONSTRAINT)' This expression is also a placeholder for operand number N and indicates that operand must be a `scratch' or `reg' expression. When matching patterns, this is completely equivalent to (match_operand:M N "scratch_operand" PRED) but, when generating RTL, it produces a (`scratch':M) expression. If the last few expressions in a `parallel' are `clobber' expressions whose operands are either a hard register or `match_scratch', the combiner can add them when necessary. *Note Side Effects::. `(match_dup N)' This expression is also a placeholder for operand number N. It is used when the operand needs to appear more than once in the insn. In construction, `match_dup' behaves exactly like `match_operand': the operand is substituted into the insn being constructed. But in matching, `match_dup' behaves differently. It assumes that operand number N has already been determined by a `match_operand' appearing earlier in the recognition template, and it matches only an identical-looking expression. `(match_operator:M N PREDICATE [OPERANDS...])' This pattern is a kind of placeholder for a variable RTL expression code. When constructing an insn, it stands for an RTL expression whose expression code is taken from that of operand N, and whose operands are constructed from the patterns OPERANDS. When matching an expression, it matches an expression if the function PREDICATE returns nonzero on that expression *and* the patterns OPERANDS match the operands of the expression. Suppose that the function `commutative_operator' is defined as follows, to match any expression whose operator is one of the commutative arithmetic operators of RTL and whose mode is MODE: int commutative_operator (x, mode) rtx x; enum machine_mode mode; { enum rtx_code code = GET_CODE (x); if (GET_MODE (x) != mode) return 0; return GET_RTX_CLASS (code) == 'c' || code == EQ || code == NE; } Then the following pattern will match any RTL expression consisting of a commutative operator applied to two general operands: (match_operator:SI 3 "commutative_operator" [(match_operand:SI 1 "general_operand" "g") (match_operand:SI 2 "general_operand" "g")]) Here the vector `[OPERANDS...]' contains two patterns because the expressions to be matched all contain two operands. When this pattern does match, the two operands of the commutative operator are recorded as operands 1 and 2 of the insn. (This is done by the two instances of `match_operand'.) Operand 3 of the insn will be the entire commutative expression: use `GET_CODE (operands[3])' to see which commutative operator was used. The machine mode M of `match_operator' works like that of `match_operand': it is passed as the second argument to the predicate function, and that function is solely responsible for deciding whether the expression to be matched "has" that mode. When constructing an insn, argument 3 of the gen-function will specify the operation (i.e. the expression code) for the expression to be made. It should be an RTL expression, whose expression code is copied into a new expression whose operands are arguments 1 and 2 of the gen-function. The subexpressions of argument 3 are not used; only its expression code matters. When `match_operator' is used in a pattern for matching an insn, it usually best if the operand number of the `match_operator' is higher than that of the actual operands of the insn. This improves register allocation because the register allocator often looks at operands 1 and 2 of insns to see if it can do register tying. There is no way to specify constraints in `match_operator'. The operand of the insn which corresponds to the `match_operator' never has any constraints because it is never reloaded as a whole. However, if parts of its OPERANDS are matched by `match_operand' patterns, those parts may have constraints of their own. `(address (match_operand:M N "address_operand" ""))' This complex of expressions is a placeholder for an operand number N in a "load address" instruction: an operand which specifies a memory location in the usual way, but for which the actual operand value used is the address of the location, not the contents of the location. `address' expressions never appear in RTL code, only in machine descriptions. And they are used only in machine descriptions that do not use the operand constraint feature. When operand constraints are in use, the letter `p' in the constraint serves this purpose. M is the machine mode of the *memory location being addressed*, not the machine mode of the address itself. That mode is always the same on a given target machine (it is `Pmode', which normally is `SImode'), so there is no point in mentioning it; thus, no machine mode is written in the `address' expression. If some day support is added for machines in which addresses of different kinds of objects appear differently or are used differently (such as the PDP-10), different formats would perhaps need different machine modes and these modes might be written in the `address' expression. File: gcc.info, Node: Output Template, Next: Output Statement, Prev: RTL Template, Up: Machine Desc Output Templates and Operand Substitution ========================================= The "output template" is a string which specifies how to output the assembler code for an instruction pattern. Most of the template is a fixed string which is output literally. The character `%' is used to specify where to substitute an operand; it can also be used to identify places where different variants of the assembler require different syntax. In the simplest case, a `%' followed by a digit N says to output operand N at that point in the string. `%' followed by a letter and a digit says to output an operand in an alternate fashion. Four letters have standard, built-in meanings described below. The machine description macro `PRINT_OPERAND' can define additional letters with nonstandard meanings. `%cDIGIT' can be used to substitute an operand that is a constant value without the syntax that normally indicates an immediate operand. `%nDIGIT' is like `%cDIGIT' except that the value of the constant is negated before printing. `%aDIGIT' can be used to substitute an operand as if it were a memory reference, with the actual operand treated as the address. This may be useful when outputting a "load address" instruction, because often the assembler syntax for such an instruction requires you to write the operand as if it were a memory reference. `%lDIGIT' is used to substitute a `label_ref' into a jump instruction. `%' followed by a punctuation character specifies a substitution that does not use an operand. Only one case is standard: `%%' outputs a `%' into the assembler code. Other nonstandard cases can be defined in the `PRINT_OPERAND' macro. You must also define which punctuation characters are valid with the `PRINT_OPERAND_PUNCT_VALID_P' macro. The template may generate multiple assembler instructions. Write the text for the instructions, with `\;' between them. When the RTL contains two operands which are required by constraint to match each other, the output template must refer only to the lower-numbered operand. Matching operands are not always identical, and the rest of the compiler arranges to put the proper RTL expression for printing into the lower-numbered operand. One use of nonstandard letters or punctuation following `%' is to distinguish between different assembler languages for the same machine; for example, Motorola syntax versus MIT syntax for the 68000. Motorola syntax requires periods in most opcode names, while MIT syntax does not. For example, the opcode `movel' in MIT syntax is `move.l' in Motorola syntax. The same file of patterns is used for both kinds of output syntax, but the character sequence `%.' is used in each place where Motorola syntax wants a period. The `PRINT_OPERAND' macro for Motorola syntax defines the sequence to output a period; the macro for MIT syntax defines it to do nothing. File: gcc.info, Node: Output Statement, Next: Constraints, Prev: Output Template, Up: Machine Desc C Statements for Generating Assembler Output ============================================ Often a single fixed template string cannot produce correct and efficient assembler code for all the cases that are recognized by a single instruction pattern. For example, the opcodes may depend on the kinds of operands; or some unfortunate combinations of operands may require extra machine instructions. If the output control string starts with a `@', then it is actually a series of templates, each on a separate line. (Blank lines and leading spaces and tabs are ignored.) The templates correspond to the pattern's constraint alternatives (*note Multi-Alternative::.). For example, if a target machine has a two-address add instruction `addr' to add into a register and another `addm' to add a register to memory, you might write this pattern: (define_insn "addsi3" [(set (match_operand:SI 0 "general_operand" "r,m") (plus:SI (match_operand:SI 1 "general_operand" "0,0") (match_operand:SI 2 "general_operand" "g,r")))] "" "@ addr %1,%0 addm %1,%0") If the output control string starts with a `*', then it is not an output template but rather a piece of C program that should compute a template. It should execute a `return' statement to return the template-string you want. Most such templates use C string literals, which require doublequote characters to delimit them. To include these doublequote characters in the string, prefix each one with `\'. The operands may be found in the array `operands', whose C data type is `rtx []'. It is very common to select different ways of generating assembler code based on whether an immediate operand is within a certain range. Be careful when doing this, because the result of `INTVAL' is an integer on the host machine. If the host machine has more bits in an `int' than the target machine has in the mode in which the constant will be used, then some of the bits you get from `INTVAL' will be superfluous. For proper results, you must carefully disregard the values of those bits. It is possible to output an assembler instruction and then go on to output or compute more of them, using the subroutine `output_asm_insn'. This receives two arguments: a template-string and a vector of operands. The vector may be `operands', or it may be another array of `rtx' that you declare locally and initialize yourself. When an insn pattern has multiple alternatives in its constraints, often the appearance of the assembler code is determined mostly by which alternative was matched. When this is so, the C code can test the variable `which_alternative', which is the ordinal number of the alternative that was actually satisfied (0 for the first, 1 for the second alternative, etc.). For example, suppose there are two opcodes for storing zero, `clrreg' for registers and `clrmem' for memory locations. Here is how a pattern could use `which_alternative' to choose between them: (define_insn "" [(set (match_operand:SI 0 "general_operand" "r,m") (const_int 0))] "" "* return (which_alternative == 0 ? \"clrreg %0\" : \"clrmem %0\"); ") The example above, where the assembler code to generate was *solely* determined by the alternative, could also have been specified as follows, having the output control string start with a `@': (define_insn "" [(set (match_operand:SI 0 "general_operand" "r,m") (const_int 0))] "" "@ clrreg %0 clrmem %0") File: gcc.info, Node: Constraints, Next: Standard Names, Prev: Output Statement, Up: Machine Desc Operand Constraints =================== Each `match_operand' in an instruction pattern can specify a constraint for the type of operands allowed. Constraints can say whether an operand may be in a register, and which kinds of register; whether the operand can be a memory reference, and which kinds of address; whether the operand may be an immediate constant, and which possible values it may have. Constraints can also require two operands to match. * Menu: * Simple Constraints:: Basic use of constraints. * Multi-Alternative:: When an insn has two alternative constraint-patterns. * Class Preferences:: Constraints guide which hard register to put things in. * Modifiers:: More precise control over effects of constraints. * No Constraints:: Describing a clean machine without constraints. File: gcc.info, Node: Simple Constraints, Next: Multi-Alternative, Prev: Constraints, Up: Constraints Simple Constraints ------------------ The simplest kind of constraint is a string full of letters, each of which describes one kind of operand that is permitted. Here are the letters that are allowed: `m' A memory operand is allowed, with any kind of address that the machine supports in general. `o' A memory operand is allowed, but only if the address is "offsettable". This means that adding a small integer (actually, the width in bytes of the operand, as determined by its machine mode) may be added to the address and the result is also a valid memory address. For example, an address which is constant is offsettable; so is an address that is the sum of a register and a constant (as long as a slightly larger constant is also within the range of address-offsets supported by the machine); but an autoincrement or autodecrement address is not offsettable. More complicated indirect/indexed addresses may or may not be offsettable depending on the other addressing modes that the machine supports. Note that in an output operand which can be matched by another operand, the constraint letter `o' is valid only when accompanied by both `<' (if the target machine has predecrement addressing) and `>' (if the target machine has preincrement addressing). `V' A memory operand that is not offsettable. In other words, anything that would fit the `m' constraint but not the `o' constraint. `<' A memory operand with autodecrement addressing (either predecrement or postdecrement) is allowed. `>' A memory operand with autoincrement addressing (either preincrement or postincrement) is allowed. `r' A register operand is allowed provided that it is in a general register. `d', `a', `f', ... Other letters can be defined in machine-dependent fashion to stand for particular classes of registers. `d', `a' and `f' are defined on the 68000/68020 to stand for data, address and floating point registers. `i' An immediate integer operand (one with constant value) is allowed. This includes symbolic constants whose values will be known only at assembly time. `n' An immediate integer operand with a known numeric value is allowed. Many systems cannot support assembly-time constants for operands less than a word wide. Constraints for these operands should use `n' rather than `i'. `I', `J', `K', ... `P' Other letters in the range `I' through `P' may be defined in a machine-dependent fashion to permit immediate integer operands with explicit integer values in specified ranges. For example, on the 68000, `I' is defined to stand for the range of values 1 to 8. This is the range permitted as a shift count in the shift instructions. `E' An immediate floating operand (expression code `const_double') is allowed, but only if the target floating point format is the same as that of the host machine (on which the compiler is running). `F' An immediate floating operand (expression code `const_double') is allowed. `G', `H' `G' and `H' may be defined in a machine-dependent fashion to permit immediate floating operands in particular ranges of values. `s' An immediate integer operand whose value is not an explicit integer is allowed. This might appear strange; if an insn allows a constant operand with a value not known at compile time, it certainly must allow any known value. So why use `s' instead of `i'? Sometimes it allows better code to be generated. For example, on the 68000 in a fullword instruction it is possible to use an immediate operand; but if the immediate value is between -128 and 127, better code results from loading the value into a register and using the register. This is because the load into the register can be done with a `moveq' instruction. We arrange for this to happen by defining the letter `K' to mean "any integer outside the range -128 to 127", and then specifying `Ks' in the operand constraints. `g' Any register, memory or immediate integer operand is allowed, except for registers that are not general registers. `X' Any operand whatsoever is allowed, even if it does not satisfy `general_operand'. This is normally used in the constraint of a `match_scratch' when certain alternatives will not actually require a scratch register. `0', `1', `2', ... `9' An operand that matches the specified operand number is allowed. If a digit is used together with letters within the same alternative, the digit should come last. This is called a "matching constraint" and what it really means is that the assembler has only a single operand that fills two roles considered separate in the RTL insn. For example, an add insn has two input operands and one output operand in the RTL, but on most machines an add instruction really has only two operands, one of them an input-output operand. Matching constraints work only in circumstances like that add insn. More precisely, the two operands that match must include one input-only operand and one output-only operand. Moreover, the digit must be a smaller number than the number of the operand that uses it in the constraint. For operands to match in a particular case usually means that they are identical-looking RTL expressions. But in a few special cases specific kinds of dissimilarity are allowed. For example, `*x' as an input operand will match `*x++' as an output operand. For proper results in such cases, the output template should always use the output-operand's number when printing the operand. `p' An operand that is a valid memory address is allowed. This is for "load address" and "push address" instructions. `p' in the constraint must be accompanied by `address_operand' as the predicate in the `match_operand'. This predicate interprets the mode specified in the `match_operand' as the mode of the memory reference for which the address would be valid. `Q', `R', `S', ... `U' Letters in the range `Q' through `U' may be defined in a machine-dependent fashion to stand for arbitrary operand types. The machine description macro `EXTRA_CONSTRAINT' is passed the operand as its first argument and the constraint letter as its second operand. A typical use for this would be to distinguish certain types of memory references that affect other insn operands. Do not define these constraint letters to accept register references (`reg'); the reload pass does not expect this and would not handle it properly. In order to have valid assembler code, each operand must satisfy its constraint. But a failure to do so does not prevent the pattern from applying to an insn. Instead, it directs the compiler to modify the code so that the constraint will be satisfied. Usually this is done by copying an operand into a register. Contrast, therefore, the two instruction patterns that follow: (define_insn "" [(set (match_operand:SI 0 "general_operand" "r") (plus:SI (match_dup 0) (match_operand:SI 1 "general_operand" "r")))] "" "...") which has two operands, one of which must appear in two places, and (define_insn "" [(set (match_operand:SI 0 "general_operand" "r") (plus:SI (match_operand:SI 1 "general_operand" "0") (match_operand:SI 2 "general_operand" "r")))] "" "...") which has three operands, two of which are required by a constraint to be identical. If we are considering an insn of the form (insn N PREV NEXT (set (reg:SI 3) (plus:SI (reg:SI 6) (reg:SI 109))) ...) the first pattern would not apply at all, because this insn does not contain two identical subexpressions in the right place. The pattern would say, "That does not look like an add instruction; try other patterns." The second pattern would say, "Yes, that's an add instruction, but there is something wrong with it." It would direct the reload pass of the compiler to generate additional insns to make the constraint true. The results might look like this: (insn N2 PREV N (set (reg:SI 3) (reg:SI 6)) ...) (insn N N2 NEXT (set (reg:SI 3) (plus:SI (reg:SI 3) (reg:SI 109))) ...) It is up to you to make sure that each operand, in each pattern, has constraints that can handle any RTL expression that could be present for that operand. (When multiple alternatives are in use, each pattern must, for each possible combination of operand expressions, have at least one alternative which can handle that combination of operands.) The constraints don't need to *allow* any possible operand--when this is the case, they do not constrain--but they must at least point the way to reloading any possible operand so that it will fit. * If the constraint accepts whatever operands the predicate permits, there is no problem: reloading is never necessary for this operand. For example, an operand whose constraints permit everything except registers is safe provided its predicate rejects registers. An operand whose predicate accepts only constant values is safe provided its constraints include the letter `i'. If any possible constant value is accepted, then nothing less than `i' will do; if the predicate is more selective, then the constraints may also be more selective. * Any operand expression can be reloaded by copying it into a register. So if an operand's constraints allow some kind of register, it is certain to be safe. It need not permit all classes of registers; the compiler knows how to copy a register into another register of the proper class in order to make an instruction valid. * A nonoffsettable memory reference can be reloaded by copying the address into a register. So if the constraint uses the letter `o', all memory references are taken care of. * A constant operand can be reloaded by allocating space in memory to hold it as preinitialized data. Then the memory reference can be used in place of the constant. So if the constraint uses the letters `o' or `m', constant operands are not a problem. * If the constraint permits a constant and a pseudo register used in an insn was not allocated to a hard register and is equivalent to a constant, the register will be replaced with the constant. If the predicate does not permit a constant and the insn is re-recognized for some reason, the compiler will crash. Thus the predicate must always recognize any objects allowed by the constraint. If the operand's predicate can recognize registers, but the constraint does not permit them, it can make the compiler crash. When this operand happens to be a register, the reload pass will be stymied, because it does not know how to copy a register temporarily into memory. File: gcc.info, Node: Multi-Alternative, Next: Class Preferences, Prev: Simple Constraints, Up: Constraints Multiple Alternative Constraints -------------------------------- Sometimes a single instruction has multiple alternative sets of possible operands. For example, on the 68000, a logical-or instruction can combine register or an immediate value into memory, or it can combine any kind of operand into a register; but it cannot combine one memory location into another. These constraints are represented as multiple alternatives. An alternative can be described by a series of letters for each operand. The overall constraint for an operand is made from the letters for this operand from the first alternative, a comma, the letters for this operand from the second alternative, a comma, and so on until the last alternative. Here is how it is done for fullword logical-or on the 68000: (define_insn "iorsi3" [(set (match_operand:SI 0 "general_operand" "=m,d") (ior:SI (match_operand:SI 1 "general_operand" "%0,0") (match_operand:SI 2 "general_operand" "dKs,dmKs")))] ...) The first alternative has `m' (memory) for operand 0, `0' for operand 1 (meaning it must match operand 0), and `dKs' for operand 2. The second alternative has `d' (data register) for operand 0, `0' for operand 1, and `dmKs' for operand 2. The `=' and `%' in the constraints apply to all the alternatives; their meaning is explained in the next section (*note Class Preferences::.). If all the operands fit any one alternative, the instruction is valid. Otherwise, for each alternative, the compiler counts how many instructions must be added to copy the operands so that that alternative applies. The alternative requiring the least copying is chosen. If two alternatives need the same amount of copying, the one that comes first is chosen. These choices can be altered with the `?' and `!' characters: `?' Disparage slightly the alternative that the `?' appears in, as a choice when no alternative applies exactly. The compiler regards this alternative as one unit more costly for each `?' that appears in it. `!' Disparage severely the alternative that the `!' appears in. This alternative can still be used if it fits without reloading, but if reloading is needed, some other alternative will be used. When an insn pattern has multiple alternatives in its constraints, often the appearance of the assembler code is determined mostly by which alternative was matched. When this is so, the C code for writing the assembler code can use the variable `which_alternative', which is the ordinal number of the alternative that was actually satisfied (0 for the first, 1 for the second alternative, etc.). *Note Output Statement::. File: gcc.info, Node: Class Preferences, Next: Modifiers, Prev: Multi-Alternative, Up: Constraints Register Class Preferences -------------------------- The operand constraints have another function: they enable the compiler to decide which kind of hardware register a pseudo register is best allocated to. The compiler examines the constraints that apply to the insns that use the pseudo register, looking for the machine-dependent letters such as `d' and `a' that specify classes of registers. The pseudo register is put in whichever class gets the most "votes". The constraint letters `g' and `r' also vote: they vote in favor of a general register. The machine description says which registers are considered general. Of course, on some machines all registers are equivalent, and no register classes are defined. Then none of this complexity is relevant. File: gcc.info, Node: Modifiers, Next: No Constraints, Prev: Class Preferences, Up: Constraints Constraint Modifier Characters ------------------------------ `=' Means that this operand is write-only for this instruction: the previous value is discarded and replaced by output data. `+' Means that this operand is both read and written by the instruction. When the compiler fixes up the operands to satisfy the constraints, it needs to know which operands are inputs to the instruction and which are outputs from it. `=' identifies an output; `+' identifies an operand that is both input and output; all other operands are assumed to be input only. `&' Means (in a particular alternative) that this operand is written before the instruction is finished using the input operands. Therefore, this operand may not lie in a register that is used as an input operand or as part of any memory address. `&' applies only to the alternative in which it is written. In constraints with multiple alternatives, sometimes one alternative requires `&' while others do not. See, for example, the `movdf' insn of the 68000. `&' does not obviate the need to write `='. `%' Declares the instruction to be commutative for this operand and the following operand. This means that the compiler may interchange the two operands if that is the cheapest way to make all operands fit the constraints. This is often used in patterns for addition instructions that really have only two operands: the result must go in one of the arguments. Here for example, is how the 68000 halfword-add instruction is defined: (define_insn "addhi3" [(set (match_operand:HI 0 "general_operand" "=m,r") (plus:HI (match_operand:HI 1 "general_operand" "%0,0") (match_operand:HI 2 "general_operand" "di,g")))] ...) `#' Says that all following characters, up to the next comma, are to be ignored as a constraint. They are significant only for choosing register preferences. `*' Says that the following character should be ignored when choosing register preferences. `*' has no effect on the meaning of the constraint as a constraint, and no effect on reloading. Here is an example: the 68000 has an instruction to sign-extend a halfword in a data register, and can also sign-extend a value by copying it into an address register. While either kind of register is acceptable, the constraints on an address-register destination are less strict, so it is best if register allocation makes an address register its goal. Therefore, `*' is used so that the `d' constraint letter (for data register) is ignored when computing register preferences. (define_insn "extendhisi2" [(set (match_operand:SI 0 "general_operand" "=*d,a") (sign_extend:SI (match_operand:HI 1 "general_operand" "0,g")))] ...) File: gcc.info, Node: No Constraints, Prev: Modifiers, Up: Constraints Not Using Constraints --------------------- Some machines are so clean that operand constraints are not required. For example, on the Vax, an operand valid in one context is valid in any other context. On such a machine, every operand constraint would be `g', excepting only operands of "load address" instructions which are written as if they referred to a memory location's contents but actual refer to its address. They would have constraint `p'. For such machines, instead of writing `g' and `p' for all the constraints, you can choose to write a description with empty constraints. Then you write `""' for the constraint in every `match_operand'. Address operands are identified by writing an `address' expression around the `match_operand', not by their constraints. When the machine description has just empty constraints, certain parts of compilation are skipped, making the compiler faster. However, few machines actually do not need constraints; all machine descriptions now in existence use constraints.