AArch64 Register and Instruction Quick Start
Contents
Registers
General-Purpose Registers
The aarch64 registers are named:
- r0 through r30 - for 64-bit-wide access
- w0 through w30 - for 32-bit-wide access (same registers - upper 16 bits are cleared on load)
Register '31' is one of two registers depending on the instruction context:
- For instructions dealing with the stack, it is the stack pointer, named rsp
- For all other instructions, it is a "zero" register, which returns 0 when read and discards data when written - named rzr
Usage during syscall/function call:
- r0-r7 are used for arguments and return values
- For syscalls, the syscall number is in r8
- r9-r15 are for temporary values (may get trampled)
- r16-r18 are used for intra-procedure-call and platform values (avoid)
- The called routine is expected to save r19-r28
- r29 and r30 are used as the frame register and link register (avoid)
See the ARM Procedure Call Reference for details.
Floating-Point and SIMD Registers
Aarch64 also defines a set of large registers for floating-point and single-instruction/multiple-data (SIMD) operations. For details, refer to the ARM documentation.
Instructions
Starter Kit
These instructions are sufficient to complete the SPO600 Assembler Lab:
add r0,r1,r2 // load r0 with r1+r2 add r0,r1,99 // load r0 with r1+99 adr r0,label // load r0 with the address label (this actually calculates an address from the PC plus an offset) beq label // branch to label if equal bne label // branch to label if not equal blt label // branch to label if less bgt label // branch to label if greater cmp r0,r1 // compare register r0 with register r1 cmp r0,99 // compare the number 99 with register r0 ldr r0,[r1,0] // load register r0 from the address pointed to by (r1 + (0 * size)) where size is 8 bytes for 64-bit stores, 4 bytes for 32-bit stores ldr w0,[r1,0] // like ldr but reads one byte only - note the use of w0 instead of r0 for the source register name ldur r0,[r1,0] // load register r0 from the address pointed to by (r1 + 0) - the mnemonic means "load unscaled register" mov r0,r1 // move data from r1 to r0 mov r0,99 // load r0 with 99 (only certain immediate values are possible) str r0,[r1,0] // store register r0 to address pointed to by (r1 + (0 * size)) where size is 8 bytes for 64-bit stores strb w0,[r1,0] // like str but writes one byte only - note the use of w0 instead of r0 for the source register name stur r0,[r1,0] // store register r0 to the address pointed to by (r1 + 0) - the mnemonic means "store unscaled register" svc 0 // perform a syscall msub r0,r1,r2,r3 // load r0 with r3-(r1*r2) (useful for calculating remainders) madd r0,r1,r2,r3 // load r0 with r3+(r1*r2) mul r0,r1,r2 // load r0 with r1*r2 (actually an alias - see ARM ARM) push r0 // push r0 onto the stack pop r0 // pop r0 off the stack udiv r0,r1,r2 // unsigned - divide r1 by r2, places quotient into r0 - remainder is not calculated (use msub)
References
- Instruction Set and Software Developer Manual: http://infocenter.arm.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.arm.doc.genc010197a/index.html
- Procedure call reference: http://infocenter.arm.com/help/topic/com.arm.doc.ihi0055b/IHI0055B_aapcs64.pdf