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* gcc: (gcc).                  The GNU Compiler Collection.
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   This file documents the use and the internals of the GNU compiler.

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File: gcc.info,  Node: RTL Declarations,  Next: Side Effects,  Prev: Conversions,  Up: RTL

Declarations
============

   Declaration expression codes do not represent arithmetic operations
but rather state assertions about their operands.

`(strict_low_part (subreg:M (reg:N R) 0))'
     This expression code is used in only one context: as the
     destination operand of a `set' expression.  In addition, the
     operand of this expression must be a non-paradoxical `subreg'
     expression.

     The presence of `strict_low_part' says that the part of the
     register which is meaningful in mode N, but is not part of mode M,
     is not to be altered.  Normally, an assignment to such a subreg is
     allowed to have undefined effects on the rest of the register when
     M is less than a word.


File: gcc.info,  Node: Side Effects,  Next: Incdec,  Prev: RTL Declarations,  Up: RTL

Side Effect Expressions
=======================

   The expression codes described so far represent values, not actions.
But machine instructions never produce values; they are meaningful only
for their side effects on the state of the machine.  Special expression
codes are used to represent side effects.

   The body of an instruction is always one of these side effect codes;
the codes described above, which represent values, appear only as the
operands of these.

`(set LVAL X)'
     Represents the action of storing the value of X into the place
     represented by LVAL.  LVAL must be an expression representing a
     place that can be stored in: `reg' (or `subreg' or
     `strict_low_part'), `mem', `pc' or `cc0'.

     If LVAL is a `reg', `subreg' or `mem', it has a machine mode; then
     X must be valid for that mode.

     If LVAL is a `reg' whose machine mode is less than the full width
     of the register, then it means that the part of the register
     specified by the machine mode is given the specified value and the
     rest of the register receives an undefined value.  Likewise, if
     LVAL is a `subreg' whose machine mode is narrower than the mode of
     the register, the rest of the register can be changed in an
     undefined way.

     If LVAL is a `strict_low_part' of a `subreg', then the part of the
     register specified by the machine mode of the `subreg' is given
     the value X and the rest of the register is not changed.

     If LVAL is `(cc0)', it has no machine mode, and X may be either a
     `compare' expression or a value that may have any mode.  The
     latter case represents a "test" instruction.  The expression `(set
     (cc0) (reg:M N))' is equivalent to `(set (cc0) (compare (reg:M N)
     (const_int 0)))'.  Use the former expression to save space during
     the compilation.

     If LVAL is `(pc)', we have a jump instruction, and the
     possibilities for X are very limited.  It may be a `label_ref'
     expression (unconditional jump).  It may be an `if_then_else'
     (conditional jump), in which case either the second or the third
     operand must be `(pc)' (for the case which does not jump) and the
     other of the two must be a `label_ref' (for the case which does
     jump).  X may also be a `mem' or `(plus:SI (pc) Y)', where Y may
     be a `reg' or a `mem'; these unusual patterns are used to
     represent jumps through branch tables.

     If LVAL is neither `(cc0)' nor `(pc)', the mode of LVAL must not
     be `VOIDmode' and the mode of X must be valid for the mode of LVAL.

     LVAL is customarily accessed with the `SET_DEST' macro and X with
     the `SET_SRC' macro.

`(return)'
     As the sole expression in a pattern, represents a return from the
     current function, on machines where this can be done with one
     instruction, such as Vaxes.  On machines where a multi-instruction
     "epilogue" must be executed in order to return from the function,
     returning is done by jumping to a label which precedes the
     epilogue, and the `return' expression code is never used.

     Inside an `if_then_else' expression, represents the value to be
     placed in `pc' to return to the caller.

     Note that an insn pattern of `(return)' is logically equivalent to
     `(set (pc) (return))', but the latter form is never used.

`(call FUNCTION NARGS)'
     Represents a function call.  FUNCTION is a `mem' expression whose
     address is the address of the function to be called.  NARGS is an
     expression which can be used for two purposes: on some machines it
     represents the number of bytes of stack argument; on others, it
     represents the number of argument registers.

     Each machine has a standard machine mode which FUNCTION must have.
     The machine description defines macro `FUNCTION_MODE' to expand
     into the requisite mode name.  The purpose of this mode is to
     specify what kind of addressing is allowed, on machines where the
     allowed kinds of addressing depend on the machine mode being
     addressed.

`(clobber X)'
     Represents the storing or possible storing of an unpredictable,
     undescribed value into X, which must be a `reg', `scratch' or
     `mem' expression.

     One place this is used is in string instructions that store
     standard values into particular hard registers.  It may not be
     worth the trouble to describe the values that are stored, but it
     is essential to inform the compiler that the registers will be
     altered, lest it attempt to keep data in them across the string
     instruction.

     If X is `(mem:BLK (const_int 0))', it means that all memory
     locations must be presumed clobbered.

     Note that the machine description classifies certain hard
     registers as "call-clobbered".  All function call instructions are
     assumed by default to clobber these registers, so there is no need
     to use `clobber' expressions to indicate this fact.  Also, each
     function call is assumed to have the potential to alter any memory
     location, unless the function is declared `const'.

     If the last group of expressions in a `parallel' are each a
     `clobber' expression whose arguments are `reg' or `match_scratch'
     (*note RTL Template::.) expressions, the combiner phase can add
     the appropriate `clobber' expressions to an insn it has
     constructed when doing so will cause a pattern to be matched.

     This feature can be used, for example, on a machine that whose
     multiply and add instructions don't use an MQ register but which
     has an add-accumulate instruction that does clobber the MQ
     register.  Similarly, a combined instruction might require a
     temporary register while the constituent instructions might not.

     When a `clobber' expression for a register appears inside a
     `parallel' with other side effects, the register allocator
     guarantees that the register is unoccupied both before and after
     that insn.  However, the reload phase may allocate a register used
     for one of the inputs unless the `&' constraint is specified for
     the selected alternative (*note Modifiers::.).  You can clobber
     either a specific hard register, a pseudo register, or a `scratch'
     expression; in the latter two cases, GNU CC will allocate a hard
     register that is available there for use as a temporary.

     For instructions that require a temporary register, you should use
     `scratch' instead of a pseudo-register because this will allow the
     combiner phase to add the `clobber' when required.  You do this by
     coding (`clobber' (`match_scratch' ...)).  If you do clobber a
     pseudo register, use one which appears nowhere else--generate a
     new one each time.  Otherwise, you may confuse CSE.

     There is one other known use for clobbering a pseudo register in a
     `parallel': when one of the input operands of the insn is also
     clobbered by the insn.  In this case, using the same pseudo
     register in the clobber and elsewhere in the insn produces the
     expected results.

`(use X)'
     Represents the use of the value of X.  It indicates that the value
     in X at this point in the program is needed, even though it may
     not be apparent why this is so.  Therefore, the compiler will not
     attempt to delete previous instructions whose only effect is to
     store a value in X.  X must be a `reg' expression.

     During the reload phase, an insn that has a `use' as pattern can
     carry a reg_equal note.  These `use' insns will be deleted before
     the reload phase exits.

     During the delayed branch scheduling phase, X may be an insn.
     This indicates that X previously was located at this place in the
     code and its data dependencies need to be taken into account.
     These `use' insns will be deleted before the delayed branch
     scheduling phase exits.

`(parallel [X0 X1 ...])'
     Represents several side effects performed in parallel.  The square
     brackets stand for a vector; the operand of `parallel' is a vector
     of expressions.  X0, X1 and so on are individual side effect
     expressions--expressions of code `set', `call', `return',
     `clobber' or `use'.

     "In parallel" means that first all the values used in the
     individual side-effects are computed, and second all the actual
     side-effects are performed.  For example,

          (parallel [(set (reg:SI 1) (mem:SI (reg:SI 1)))
                     (set (mem:SI (reg:SI 1)) (reg:SI 1))])

     says unambiguously that the values of hard register 1 and the
     memory location addressed by it are interchanged.  In both places
     where `(reg:SI 1)' appears as a memory address it refers to the
     value in register 1 *before* the execution of the insn.

     It follows that it is *incorrect* to use `parallel' and expect the
     result of one `set' to be available for the next one.  For
     example, people sometimes attempt to represent a jump-if-zero
     instruction this way:

          (parallel [(set (cc0) (reg:SI 34))
                     (set (pc) (if_then_else
                                  (eq (cc0) (const_int 0))
                                  (label_ref ...)
                                  (pc)))])

     But this is incorrect, because it says that the jump condition
     depends on the condition code value *before* this instruction, not
     on the new value that is set by this instruction.

     Peephole optimization, which takes place together with final
     assembly code output, can produce insns whose patterns consist of
     a `parallel' whose elements are the operands needed to output the
     resulting assembler code--often `reg', `mem' or constant
     expressions.  This would not be well-formed RTL at any other stage
     in compilation, but it is ok then because no further optimization
     remains to be done.  However, the definition of the macro
     `NOTICE_UPDATE_CC', if any, must deal with such insns if you
     define any peephole optimizations.

`(sequence [INSNS ...])'
     Represents a sequence of insns.  Each of the INSNS that appears in
     the vector is suitable for appearing in the chain of insns, so it
     must be an `insn', `jump_insn', `call_insn', `code_label',
     `barrier' or `note'.

     A `sequence' RTX is never placed in an actual insn during RTL
     generation.  It represents the sequence of insns that result from a
     `define_expand' *before* those insns are passed to `emit_insn' to
     insert them in the chain of insns.  When actually inserted, the
     individual sub-insns are separated out and the `sequence' is
     forgotten.

     After delay-slot scheduling is completed, an insn and all the
     insns that reside in its delay slots are grouped together into a
     `sequence'.  The insn requiring the delay slot is the first insn
     in the vector; subsequent insns are to be placed in the delay slot.

     `INSN_ANNULLED_BRANCH_P' is set on an insn in a delay slot to
     indicate that a branch insn should be used that will conditionally
     annul the effect of the insns in the delay slots.  In such a case,
     `INSN_FROM_TARGET_P' indicates that the insn is from the target of
     the branch and should be executed only if the branch is taken;
     otherwise the insn should be executed only if the branch is not
     taken.  *Note Delay Slots::.

   These expression codes appear in place of a side effect, as the body
of an insn, though strictly speaking they do not always describe side
effects as such:

`(asm_input S)'
     Represents literal assembler code as described by the string S.

`(unspec [OPERANDS ...] INDEX)'
`(unspec_volatile [OPERANDS ...] INDEX)'
     Represents a machine-specific operation on OPERANDS.  INDEX
     selects between multiple machine-specific operations.
     `unspec_volatile' is used for volatile operations and operations
     that may trap; `unspec' is used for other operations.

     These codes may appear inside a `pattern' of an insn, inside a
     `parallel', or inside an expression.

`(addr_vec:M [LR0 LR1 ...])'
     Represents a table of jump addresses.  The vector elements LR0,
     etc., are `label_ref' expressions.  The mode M specifies how much
     space is given to each address; normally M would be `Pmode'.

`(addr_diff_vec:M BASE [LR0 LR1 ...] MIN MAX FLAGS)'
     Represents a table of jump addresses expressed as offsets from
     BASE.  The vector elements LR0, etc., are `label_ref' expressions
     and so is BASE.  The mode M specifies how much space is given to
     each address-difference.  MIN and MAX are set up by branch
     shortening and hold a label with a minimum and a maximum address,
     respectively.  FLAGS indicates the relative position of BASE, MIN
     and MAX to the cointaining insn and of MIN and MAX to BASE.  See
     rtl.def for details.


File: gcc.info,  Node: Incdec,  Next: Assembler,  Prev: Side Effects,  Up: RTL

Embedded Side-Effects on Addresses
==================================

   Six special side-effect expression codes appear as memory addresses.

`(pre_dec:M X)'
     Represents the side effect of decrementing X by a standard amount
     and represents also the value that X has after being decremented.
     X must be a `reg' or `mem', but most machines allow only a `reg'.
     M must be the machine mode for pointers on the machine in use.
     The amount X is decremented by is the length in bytes of the
     machine mode of the containing memory reference of which this
     expression serves as the address.  Here is an example of its use:

          (mem:DF (pre_dec:SI (reg:SI 39)))

     This says to decrement pseudo register 39 by the length of a
     `DFmode' value and use the result to address a `DFmode' value.

`(pre_inc:M X)'
     Similar, but specifies incrementing X instead of decrementing it.

`(post_dec:M X)'
     Represents the same side effect as `pre_dec' but a different
     value.  The value represented here is the value X has before being
     decremented.

`(post_inc:M X)'
     Similar, but specifies incrementing X instead of decrementing it.

`(post_modify:M X Y)'
     Represents the side effect of setting X to Y and represents X
     before X is modified.  X must be a `reg' or `mem', but most
     machines allow only a `reg'.  M must be the machine mode for
     pointers on the machine in use.  The amount X is decremented by is
     the length in bytes of the machine mode of the containing memory
     reference of which this expression serves as the address.  Note
     that this is not currently implemented.

     The expression Y must be one of three forms:
          `(plus:M X Z)', `(minus:M X Z)', or `(plus:M X I)', where Z
     is an index register and I is a constant.

     Here is an example of its use:

          (mem:SF (post_modify:SI (reg:SI 42) (plus (reg:SI 42) (reg:SI 48))))

     This says to modify pseudo register 42 by adding the contents of
     pseudo register 48 to it, after the use of what ever 42 points to.

`(pre_modify:M X EXPR)'
     Similar except side effects happen before the use.

   These embedded side effect expressions must be used with care.
Instruction patterns may not use them.  Until the `flow' pass of the
compiler, they may occur only to represent pushes onto the stack.  The
`flow' pass finds cases where registers are incremented or decremented
in one instruction and used as an address shortly before or after;
these cases are then transformed to use pre- or post-increment or
-decrement.

   If a register used as the operand of these expressions is used in
another address in an insn, the original value of the register is used.
Uses of the register outside of an address are not permitted within the
same insn as a use in an embedded side effect expression because such
insns behave differently on different machines and hence must be treated
as ambiguous and disallowed.

   An instruction that can be represented with an embedded side effect
could also be represented using `parallel' containing an additional
`set' to describe how the address register is altered.  This is not
done because machines that allow these operations at all typically
allow them wherever a memory address is called for.  Describing them as
additional parallel stores would require doubling the number of entries
in the machine description.


File: gcc.info,  Node: Assembler,  Next: Insns,  Prev: Incdec,  Up: RTL

Assembler Instructions as Expressions
=====================================

   The RTX code `asm_operands' represents a value produced by a
user-specified assembler instruction.  It is used to represent an `asm'
statement with arguments.  An `asm' statement with a single output
operand, like this:

     asm ("foo %1,%2,%0" : "=a" (outputvar) : "g" (x + y), "di" (*z));

is represented using a single `asm_operands' RTX which represents the
value that is stored in `outputvar':

     (set RTX-FOR-OUTPUTVAR
          (asm_operands "foo %1,%2,%0" "a" 0
                        [RTX-FOR-ADDITION-RESULT RTX-FOR-*Z]
                        [(asm_input:M1 "g")
                         (asm_input:M2 "di")]))

Here the operands of the `asm_operands' RTX are the assembler template
string, the output-operand's constraint, the index-number of the output
operand among the output operands specified, a vector of input operand
RTX's, and a vector of input-operand modes and constraints.  The mode
M1 is the mode of the sum `x+y'; M2 is that of `*z'.

   When an `asm' statement has multiple output values, its insn has
several such `set' RTX's inside of a `parallel'.  Each `set' contains a
`asm_operands'; all of these share the same assembler template and
vectors, but each contains the constraint for the respective output
operand.  They are also distinguished by the output-operand index
number, which is 0, 1, ... for successive output operands.


File: gcc.info,  Node: Insns,  Next: Calls,  Prev: Assembler,  Up: RTL

Insns
=====

   The RTL representation of the code for a function is a doubly-linked
chain of objects called "insns".  Insns are expressions with special
codes that are used for no other purpose.  Some insns are actual
instructions; others represent dispatch tables for `switch' statements;
others represent labels to jump to or various sorts of declarative
information.

   In addition to its own specific data, each insn must have a unique
id-number that distinguishes it from all other insns in the current
function (after delayed branch scheduling, copies of an insn with the
same id-number may be present in multiple places in a function, but
these copies will always be identical and will only appear inside a
`sequence'), and chain pointers to the preceding and following insns.
These three fields occupy the same position in every insn, independent
of the expression code of the insn.  They could be accessed with `XEXP'
and `XINT', but instead three special macros are always used:

`INSN_UID (I)'
     Accesses the unique id of insn I.

`PREV_INSN (I)'
     Accesses the chain pointer to the insn preceding I.  If I is the
     first insn, this is a null pointer.

`NEXT_INSN (I)'
     Accesses the chain pointer to the insn following I.  If I is the
     last insn, this is a null pointer.

   The first insn in the chain is obtained by calling `get_insns'; the
last insn is the result of calling `get_last_insn'.  Within the chain
delimited by these insns, the `NEXT_INSN' and `PREV_INSN' pointers must
always correspond: if INSN is not the first insn,

     NEXT_INSN (PREV_INSN (INSN)) == INSN

is always true and if INSN is not the last insn,

     PREV_INSN (NEXT_INSN (INSN)) == INSN

is always true.

   After delay slot scheduling, some of the insns in the chain might be
`sequence' expressions, which contain a vector of insns.  The value of
`NEXT_INSN' in all but the last of these insns is the next insn in the
vector; the value of `NEXT_INSN' of the last insn in the vector is the
same as the value of `NEXT_INSN' for the `sequence' in which it is
contained.  Similar rules apply for `PREV_INSN'.

   This means that the above invariants are not necessarily true for
insns inside `sequence' expressions.  Specifically, if INSN is the
first insn in a `sequence', `NEXT_INSN (PREV_INSN (INSN))' is the insn
containing the `sequence' expression, as is the value of `PREV_INSN
(NEXT_INSN (INSN))' is INSN is the last insn in the `sequence'
expression.  You can use these expressions to find the containing
`sequence' expression.

   Every insn has one of the following six expression codes:

`insn'
     The expression code `insn' is used for instructions that do not
     jump and do not do function calls.  `sequence' expressions are
     always contained in insns with code `insn' even if one of those
     insns should jump or do function calls.

     Insns with code `insn' have four additional fields beyond the three
     mandatory ones listed above.  These four are described in a table
     below.

`jump_insn'
     The expression code `jump_insn' is used for instructions that may
     jump (or, more generally, may contain `label_ref' expressions).  If
     there is an instruction to return from the current function, it is
     recorded as a `jump_insn'.

     `jump_insn' insns have the same extra fields as `insn' insns,
     accessed in the same way and in addition contain a field
     `JUMP_LABEL' which is defined once jump optimization has completed.

     For simple conditional and unconditional jumps, this field
     contains the `code_label' to which this insn will (possibly
     conditionally) branch.  In a more complex jump, `JUMP_LABEL'
     records one of the labels that the insn refers to; the only way to
     find the others is to scan the entire body of the insn.

     Return insns count as jumps, but since they do not refer to any
     labels, they have zero in the `JUMP_LABEL' field.

`call_insn'
     The expression code `call_insn' is used for instructions that may
     do function calls.  It is important to distinguish these
     instructions because they imply that certain registers and memory
     locations may be altered unpredictably.

     `call_insn' insns have the same extra fields as `insn' insns,
     accessed in the same way and in addition contain a field
     `CALL_INSN_FUNCTION_USAGE', which contains a list (chain of
     `expr_list' expressions) containing `use' and `clobber'
     expressions that denote hard registers used or clobbered by the
     called function.  A register specified in a `clobber' in this list
     is modified *after* the execution of the `call_insn', while a
     register in a `clobber' in the body of the `call_insn' is
     clobbered before the insn completes execution.  `clobber'
     expressions in this list augment registers specified in
     `CALL_USED_REGISTERS' (*note Register Basics::.).

`code_label'
     A `code_label' insn represents a label that a jump insn can jump
     to.  It contains two special fields of data in addition to the
     three standard ones.  `CODE_LABEL_NUMBER' is used to hold the
     "label number", a number that identifies this label uniquely among
     all the labels in the compilation (not just in the current
     function).  Ultimately, the label is represented in the assembler
     output as an assembler label, usually of the form `LN' where N is
     the label number.

     When a `code_label' appears in an RTL expression, it normally
     appears within a `label_ref' which represents the address of the
     label, as a number.

     The field `LABEL_NUSES' is only defined once the jump optimization
     phase is completed and contains the number of times this label is
     referenced in the current function.

`barrier'
     Barriers are placed in the instruction stream when control cannot
     flow past them.  They are placed after unconditional jump
     instructions to indicate that the jumps are unconditional and
     after calls to `volatile' functions, which do not return (e.g.,
     `exit').  They contain no information beyond the three standard
     fields.

`note'
     `note' insns are used to represent additional debugging and
     declarative information.  They contain two nonstandard fields, an
     integer which is accessed with the macro `NOTE_LINE_NUMBER' and a
     string accessed with `NOTE_SOURCE_FILE'.

     If `NOTE_LINE_NUMBER' is positive, the note represents the
     position of a source line and `NOTE_SOURCE_FILE' is the source
     file name that the line came from.  These notes control generation
     of line number data in the assembler output.

     Otherwise, `NOTE_LINE_NUMBER' is not really a line number but a
     code with one of the following values (and `NOTE_SOURCE_FILE' must
     contain a null pointer):

    `NOTE_INSN_DELETED'
          Such a note is completely ignorable.  Some passes of the
          compiler delete insns by altering them into notes of this
          kind.

    `NOTE_INSN_BLOCK_BEG'
    `NOTE_INSN_BLOCK_END'
          These types of notes indicate the position of the beginning
          and end of a level of scoping of variable names.  They
          control the output of debugging information.

    `NOTE_INSN_EH_REGION_BEG'
    `NOTE_INSN_EH_REGION_END'
          These types of notes indicate the position of the beginning
          and end of a level of scoping for exception handling.
          `NOTE_BLOCK_NUMBER' identifies which `CODE_LABEL' is
          associated with the given region.

    `NOTE_INSN_LOOP_BEG'
    `NOTE_INSN_LOOP_END'
          These types of notes indicate the position of the beginning
          and end of a `while' or `for' loop.  They enable the loop
          optimizer to find loops quickly.

    `NOTE_INSN_LOOP_CONT'
          Appears at the place in a loop that `continue' statements
          jump to.

    `NOTE_INSN_LOOP_VTOP'
          This note indicates the place in a loop where the exit test
          begins for those loops in which the exit test has been
          duplicated.  This position becomes another virtual start of
          the loop when considering loop invariants.

    `NOTE_INSN_FUNCTION_END'
          Appears near the end of the function body, just before the
          label that `return' statements jump to (on machine where a
          single instruction does not suffice for returning).  This
          note may be deleted by jump optimization.

    `NOTE_INSN_SETJMP'
          Appears following each call to `setjmp' or a related function.

     These codes are printed symbolically when they appear in debugging
     dumps.

   The machine mode of an insn is normally `VOIDmode', but some phases
use the mode for various purposes.

   The common subexpression elimination pass sets the mode of an insn to
`QImode' when it is the first insn in a block that has already been
processed.

   The second Haifa scheduling pass, for targets that can multiple
issue, sets the mode of an insn to `TImode' when it is believed that the
instruction begins an issue group.  That is, when the instruction
cannot issue simultaneously with the previous.  This may be relied on
by later passes, in particular machine-dependant reorg.

   Here is a table of the extra fields of `insn', `jump_insn' and
`call_insn' insns:

`PATTERN (I)'
     An expression for the side effect performed by this insn.  This
     must be one of the following codes: `set', `call', `use',
     `clobber', `return', `asm_input', `asm_output', `addr_vec',
     `addr_diff_vec', `trap_if', `unspec', `unspec_volatile',
     `parallel', or `sequence'.  If it is a `parallel', each element of
     the `parallel' must be one these codes, except that `parallel'
     expressions cannot be nested and `addr_vec' and `addr_diff_vec'
     are not permitted inside a `parallel' expression.

`INSN_CODE (I)'
     An integer that says which pattern in the machine description
     matches this insn, or -1 if the matching has not yet been
     attempted.

     Such matching is never attempted and this field remains -1 on an
     insn whose pattern consists of a single `use', `clobber',
     `asm_input', `addr_vec' or `addr_diff_vec' expression.

     Matching is also never attempted on insns that result from an `asm'
     statement.  These contain at least one `asm_operands' expression.
     The function `asm_noperands' returns a non-negative value for such
     insns.

     In the debugging output, this field is printed as a number
     followed by a symbolic representation that locates the pattern in
     the `md' file as some small positive or negative offset from a
     named pattern.

`LOG_LINKS (I)'
     A list (chain of `insn_list' expressions) giving information about
     dependencies between instructions within a basic block.  Neither a
     jump nor a label may come between the related insns.

`REG_NOTES (I)'
     A list (chain of `expr_list' and `insn_list' expressions) giving
     miscellaneous information about the insn.  It is often information
     pertaining to the registers used in this insn.

   The `LOG_LINKS' field of an insn is a chain of `insn_list'
expressions.  Each of these has two operands: the first is an insn, and
the second is another `insn_list' expression (the next one in the
chain).  The last `insn_list' in the chain has a null pointer as second
operand.  The significant thing about the chain is which insns appear
in it (as first operands of `insn_list' expressions).  Their order is
not significant.

   This list is originally set up by the flow analysis pass; it is a
null pointer until then.  Flow only adds links for those data
dependencies which can be used for instruction combination.  For each
insn, the flow analysis pass adds a link to insns which store into
registers values that are used for the first time in this insn.  The
instruction scheduling pass adds extra links so that every dependence
will be represented.  Links represent data dependencies,
antidependencies and output dependencies; the machine mode of the link
distinguishes these three types: antidependencies have mode
`REG_DEP_ANTI', output dependencies have mode `REG_DEP_OUTPUT', and
data dependencies have mode `VOIDmode'.

   The `REG_NOTES' field of an insn is a chain similar to the
`LOG_LINKS' field but it includes `expr_list' expressions in addition
to `insn_list' expressions.  There are several kinds of register notes,
which are distinguished by the machine mode, which in a register note
is really understood as being an `enum reg_note'.  The first operand OP
of the note is data whose meaning depends on the kind of note.

   The macro `REG_NOTE_KIND (X)' returns the kind of register note.
Its counterpart, the macro `PUT_REG_NOTE_KIND (X, NEWKIND)' sets the
register note type of X to be NEWKIND.

   Register notes are of three classes: They may say something about an
input to an insn, they may say something about an output of an insn, or
they may create a linkage between two insns.  There are also a set of
values that are only used in `LOG_LINKS'.

   These register notes annotate inputs to an insn:

`REG_DEAD'
     The value in OP dies in this insn; that is to say, altering the
     value immediately after this insn would not affect the future
     behavior of the program.

     This does not necessarily mean that the register OP has no useful
     value after this insn since it may also be an output of the insn.
     In such a case, however, a `REG_DEAD' note would be redundant and
     is usually not present until after the reload pass, but no code
     relies on this fact.

`REG_INC'
     The register OP is incremented (or decremented; at this level
     there is no distinction) by an embedded side effect inside this
     insn.  This means it appears in a `post_inc', `pre_inc',
     `post_dec' or `pre_dec' expression.

`REG_NONNEG'
     The register OP is known to have a nonnegative value when this
     insn is reached.  This is used so that decrement and branch until
     zero instructions, such as the m68k dbra, can be matched.

     The `REG_NONNEG' note is added to insns only if the machine
     description has a `decrement_and_branch_until_zero' pattern.

`REG_NO_CONFLICT'
     This insn does not cause a conflict between OP and the item being
     set by this insn even though it might appear that it does.  In
     other words, if the destination register and OP could otherwise be
     assigned the same register, this insn does not prevent that
     assignment.

     Insns with this note are usually part of a block that begins with a
     `clobber' insn specifying a multi-word pseudo register (which will
     be the output of the block), a group of insns that each set one
     word of the value and have the `REG_NO_CONFLICT' note attached,
     and a final insn that copies the output to itself with an attached
     `REG_EQUAL' note giving the expression being computed.  This block
     is encapsulated with `REG_LIBCALL' and `REG_RETVAL' notes on the
     first and last insns, respectively.

`REG_LABEL'
     This insn uses OP, a `code_label', but is not a `jump_insn'.  The
     presence of this note allows jump optimization to be aware that OP
     is, in fact, being used.

   The following notes describe attributes of outputs of an insn:

`REG_EQUIV'
`REG_EQUAL'
     This note is only valid on an insn that sets only one register and
     indicates that that register will be equal to OP at run time; the
     scope of this equivalence differs between the two types of notes.
     The value which the insn explicitly copies into the register may
     look different from OP, but they will be equal at run time.  If the
     output of the single `set' is a `strict_low_part' expression, the
     note refers to the register that is contained in `SUBREG_REG' of
     the `subreg' expression.

     For `REG_EQUIV', the register is equivalent to OP throughout the
     entire function, and could validly be replaced in all its
     occurrences by OP.  ("Validly" here refers to the data flow of the
     program; simple replacement may make some insns invalid.)  For
     example, when a constant is loaded into a register that is never
     assigned any other value, this kind of note is used.

     When a parameter is copied into a pseudo-register at entry to a
     function, a note of this kind records that the register is
     equivalent to the stack slot where the parameter was passed.
     Although in this case the register may be set by other insns, it
     is still valid to replace the register by the stack slot
     throughout the function.

     A `REG_EQUIV' note is also used on an instruction which copies a
     register parameter into a pseudo-register at entry to a function,
     if there is a stack slot where that parameter could be stored.
     Although other insns may set the pseudo-register, it is valid for
     the compiler to replace the pseudo-register by stack slot
     throughout the function, provided the compiler ensures that the
     stack slot is properly initialized by making the replacement in
     the initial copy instruction as well.  This is used on machines
     for which the calling convention allocates stack space for
     register parameters.  See `REG_PARM_STACK_SPACE' in *Note Stack
     Arguments::.

     In the case of `REG_EQUAL', the register that is set by this insn
     will be equal to OP at run time at the end of this insn but not
     necessarily elsewhere in the function.  In this case, OP is
     typically an arithmetic expression.  For example, when a sequence
     of insns such as a library call is used to perform an arithmetic
     operation, this kind of note is attached to the insn that produces
     or copies the final value.

     These two notes are used in different ways by the compiler passes.
     `REG_EQUAL' is used by passes prior to register allocation (such as
     common subexpression elimination and loop optimization) to tell
     them how to think of that value.  `REG_EQUIV' notes are used by
     register allocation to indicate that there is an available
     substitute expression (either a constant or a `mem' expression for
     the location of a parameter on the stack) that may be used in
     place of a register if insufficient registers are available.

     Except for stack homes for parameters, which are indicated by a
     `REG_EQUIV' note and are not useful to the early optimization
     passes and pseudo registers that are equivalent to a memory
     location throughout there entire life, which is not detected until
     later in the compilation, all equivalences are initially indicated
     by an attached `REG_EQUAL' note.  In the early stages of register
     allocation, a `REG_EQUAL' note is changed into a `REG_EQUIV' note
     if OP is a constant and the insn represents the only set of its
     destination register.

     Thus, compiler passes prior to register allocation need only check
     for `REG_EQUAL' notes and passes subsequent to register allocation
     need only check for `REG_EQUIV' notes.

`REG_UNUSED'
     The register OP being set by this insn will not be used in a
     subsequent insn.  This differs from a `REG_DEAD' note, which
     indicates that the value in an input will not be used subsequently.
     These two notes are independent; both may be present for the same
     register.

`REG_WAS_0'
     The single output of this insn contained zero before this insn.
     OP is the insn that set it to zero.  You can rely on this note if
     it is present and OP has not been deleted or turned into a `note';
     its absence implies nothing.

   These notes describe linkages between insns.  They occur in pairs:
one insn has one of a pair of notes that points to a second insn, which
has the inverse note pointing back to the first insn.

`REG_RETVAL'
     This insn copies the value of a multi-insn sequence (for example, a
     library call), and OP is the first insn of the sequence (for a
     library call, the first insn that was generated to set up the
     arguments for the library call).

     Loop optimization uses this note to treat such a sequence as a
     single operation for code motion purposes and flow analysis uses
     this note to delete such sequences whose results are dead.

     A `REG_EQUAL' note will also usually be attached to this insn to
     provide the expression being computed by the sequence.

     These notes will be deleted after reload, since they are no longer
     accurate or useful.

`REG_LIBCALL'
     This is the inverse of `REG_RETVAL': it is placed on the first
     insn of a multi-insn sequence, and it points to the last one.

     These notes are deleted after reload, since they are no longer
     useful or accurate.

`REG_CC_SETTER'
`REG_CC_USER'
     On machines that use `cc0', the insns which set and use `cc0' set
     and use `cc0' are adjacent.  However, when branch delay slot
     filling is done, this may no longer be true.  In this case a
     `REG_CC_USER' note will be placed on the insn setting `cc0' to
     point to the insn using `cc0' and a `REG_CC_SETTER' note will be
     placed on the insn using `cc0' to point to the insn setting `cc0'.

   These values are only used in the `LOG_LINKS' field, and indicate
the type of dependency that each link represents.  Links which indicate
a data dependence (a read after write dependence) do not use any code,
they simply have mode `VOIDmode', and are printed without any
descriptive text.

`REG_DEP_ANTI'
     This indicates an anti dependence (a write after read dependence).

`REG_DEP_OUTPUT'
     This indicates an output dependence (a write after write
     dependence).

   These notes describe information gathered from gcov profile data.
They are stored in the `REG_NOTES' field of an insn as an `expr_list'.

`REG_EXEC_COUNT'
     This is used to indicate the number of times a basic block was
     executed according to the profile data.  The note is attached to
     the first insn in the basic block.

`REG_BR_PROB'
     This is used to specify the ratio of branches to non-branches of a
     branch insn according to the profile data.  The value is stored as
     a value between 0 and REG_BR_PROB_BASE; larger values indicate a
     higher probability that the branch will be taken.

`REG_BR_PRED'
     These notes are found in JUMP insns after delayed branch scheduling
     has taken place.  They indicate both the direction and the
     likelyhood of the JUMP.  The format is a bitmask of ATTR_FLAG_*
     values.

`REG_FRAME_RELATED_EXPR'
     This is used on an RTX_FRAME_RELATED_P insn wherein the attached
     expression is used in place of the actual insn pattern.  This is
     done in cases where the pattern is either complex or misleading.

   For convenience, the machine mode in an `insn_list' or `expr_list'
is printed using these symbolic codes in debugging dumps.

   The only difference between the expression codes `insn_list' and
`expr_list' is that the first operand of an `insn_list' is assumed to
be an insn and is printed in debugging dumps as the insn's unique id;
the first operand of an `expr_list' is printed in the ordinary way as
an expression.


File: gcc.info,  Node: Calls,  Next: Sharing,  Prev: Insns,  Up: RTL

RTL Representation of Function-Call Insns
=========================================

   Insns that call subroutines have the RTL expression code `call_insn'.
These insns must satisfy special rules, and their bodies must use a
special RTL expression code, `call'.

   A `call' expression has two operands, as follows:

     (call (mem:FM ADDR) NBYTES)

Here NBYTES is an operand that represents the number of bytes of
argument data being passed to the subroutine, FM is a machine mode
(which must equal as the definition of the `FUNCTION_MODE' macro in the
machine description) and ADDR represents the address of the subroutine.

   For a subroutine that returns no value, the `call' expression as
shown above is the entire body of the insn, except that the insn might
also contain `use' or `clobber' expressions.

   For a subroutine that returns a value whose mode is not `BLKmode',
the value is returned in a hard register.  If this register's number is
R, then the body of the call insn looks like this:

     (set (reg:M R)
          (call (mem:FM ADDR) NBYTES))

This RTL expression makes it clear (to the optimizer passes) that the
appropriate register receives a useful value in this insn.

   When a subroutine returns a `BLKmode' value, it is handled by
passing to the subroutine the address of a place to store the value.
So the call insn itself does not "return" any value, and it has the
same RTL form as a call that returns nothing.

   On some machines, the call instruction itself clobbers some register,
for example to contain the return address.  `call_insn' insns on these
machines should have a body which is a `parallel' that contains both
the `call' expression and `clobber' expressions that indicate which
registers are destroyed.  Similarly, if the call instruction requires
some register other than the stack pointer that is not explicitly
mentioned it its RTL, a `use' subexpression should mention that
register.

   Functions that are called are assumed to modify all registers listed
in the configuration macro `CALL_USED_REGISTERS' (*note Register
Basics::.) and, with the exception of `const' functions and library
calls, to modify all of memory.

   Insns containing just `use' expressions directly precede the
`call_insn' insn to indicate which registers contain inputs to the
function.  Similarly, if registers other than those in
`CALL_USED_REGISTERS' are clobbered by the called function, insns
containing a single `clobber' follow immediately after the call to
indicate which registers.


File: gcc.info,  Node: Sharing,  Next: Reading RTL,  Prev: Calls,  Up: RTL

Structure Sharing Assumptions
=============================

   The compiler assumes that certain kinds of RTL expressions are
unique; there do not exist two distinct objects representing the same
value.  In other cases, it makes an opposite assumption: that no RTL
expression object of a certain kind appears in more than one place in
the containing structure.

   These assumptions refer to a single function; except for the RTL
objects that describe global variables and external functions, and a
few standard objects such as small integer constants, no RTL objects
are common to two functions.

   * Each pseudo-register has only a single `reg' object to represent
     it, and therefore only a single machine mode.

   * For any symbolic label, there is only one `symbol_ref' object
     referring to it.

   * There is only one `const_int' expression with value 0, only one
     with value 1, and only one with value -1.  Some other integer
     values are also stored uniquely.

   * There is only one `pc' expression.

   * There is only one `cc0' expression.

   * There is only one `const_double' expression with value 0 for each
     floating point mode.  Likewise for values 1 and 2.

   * No `label_ref' or `scratch' appears in more than one place in the
     RTL structure; in other words, it is safe to do a tree-walk of all
     the insns in the function and assume that each time a `label_ref'
     or `scratch' is seen it is distinct from all others that are seen.

   * Only one `mem' object is normally created for each static variable
     or stack slot, so these objects are frequently shared in all the
     places they appear.  However, separate but equal objects for these
     variables are occasionally made.

   * When a single `asm' statement has multiple output operands, a
     distinct `asm_operands' expression is made for each output operand.
     However, these all share the vector which contains the sequence of
     input operands.  This sharing is used later on to test whether two
     `asm_operands' expressions come from the same statement, so all
     optimizations must carefully preserve the sharing if they copy the
     vector at all.

   * No RTL object appears in more than one place in the RTL structure
     except as described above.  Many passes of the compiler rely on
     this by assuming that they can modify RTL objects in place without
     unwanted side-effects on other insns.

   * During initial RTL generation, shared structure is freely
     introduced.  After all the RTL for a function has been generated,
     all shared structure is copied by `unshare_all_rtl' in
     `emit-rtl.c', after which the above rules are guaranteed to be
     followed.

   * During the combiner pass, shared structure within an insn can exist
     temporarily.  However, the shared structure is copied before the
     combiner is finished with the insn.  This is done by calling
     `copy_rtx_if_shared', which is a subroutine of `unshare_all_rtl'.


File: gcc.info,  Node: Reading RTL,  Prev: Sharing,  Up: RTL

Reading RTL
===========

   To read an RTL object from a file, call `read_rtx'.  It takes one
argument, a stdio stream, and returns a single RTL object.

   Reading RTL from a file is very slow.  This is not currently a
problem since reading RTL occurs only as part of building the compiler.

   People frequently have the idea of using RTL stored as text in a
file as an interface between a language front end and the bulk of GNU
CC.  This idea is not feasible.

   GNU CC was designed to use RTL internally only.  Correct RTL for a
given program is very dependent on the particular target machine.  And
the RTL does not contain all the information about the program.

   The proper way to interface GNU CC to a new language front end is
with the "tree" data structure.  There is no manual for this data
structure, but it is described in the files `tree.h' and `tree.def'.

