MIPS Instruction Coding

Instruction Coding Formats

MIPS instructions are classified into four groups according to their coding formats:

R-Type - This group contains all instructions that do not require an immediate value, target offset, memory address displacement, or memory address to specify an operand. This includes arithmetic and logic with all operands in registers, shift instructions, and register direct jump instructions (jalr and jr).
All R-type instructions use opcode 000000.
I-Type - This group includes instructions with an immediate operand, branch instructions, and load and store instructions. In the MIPS architecture, all memory accesses are handled by the main processor, so coprocessor load and store instructions are included in this group.
All opcodes except 000000, 00001x, and 0100xx are used for I-type instructions.
J-Type - This group consists of the two direct jump instructions (j and jal). These instructions require a memory address to specify their operand.
J-type instructions use opcodes 00001x.
Coprocessor Instructions - MIPS processors all have two standard coprocessors, CP0 and CP1. CP0 processes various kinds of program exceptions. CP1 is a floating point processor. The MIPS architecture makes allowance for future inclusion of two additional coprocessors, CP2 and CP3.
All coprocessor instructions instructions use opcodes 0100xx.

R-Type Instructions (Opcode 000000)

Main processor instructions that do not require a target address, immediate value, or branch displacement use an R-type coding format. This format has fields for specifying of up to three registers and a shift amount. For instructions that do not use all of these fields, the unused fields are coded with all 0 bits. All R-type instructions use a 000000 opcode. The operation is specified by the function field.

opcode (6) rs (5) rt (5) rd (5) sa (5) function (6)

Instruction Function
add rd, rs, rt 100000
addu rd, rs, rt 100001
and rd, rs, rt 100100
break 001101
div rs, rt 011010
divu rs, rt 011011
jalr rd, rs 001001
jr rs 001000
mfhi rd 010000
mflo rd 010010
mthi rs 010001
mtlo rs 010011
mult rs, rt 011000
multu rs, rt 011001
nor rd, rs, rt 100111
or rd, rs, rt 100101
sll rd, rt, sa 000000
sllv rd, rt, rs 000100
slt rd, rs, rt 101010
sltu rd, rs, rt 101011
sra rd, rt, sa 000011
srav rd, rt, rs 000111
srl rd, rt, sa 000010
srlv rd, rt, rs 000110
sub rd, rs, rt 100010
subu rd, rs, rt 100011
syscall 001100
xor rd, rs, rt 100110

Instruction	Function
add	rd, rs, rt	100000
addu	rd, rs, rt	100001
and	rd, rs, rt	100100
break		001101
div	rs, rt	011010
divu	rs, rt	011011
jalr	rd, rs	001001
jr	rs	001000
mfhi	rd	010000
mflo	rd	010010
mthi	rs	010001
mtlo	rs	010011
mult	rs, rt	011000
multu	rs, rt	011001
nor	rd, rs, rt	100111
or	rd, rs, rt	100101
sll	rd, rt, sa	000000
sllv	rd, rt, rs	000100
slt	rd, rs, rt	101010
sltu	rd, rs, rt	101011
sra	rd, rt, sa	000011
srav	rd, rt, rs	000111
srl	rd, rt, sa	000010
srlv	rd, rt, rs	000110
sub	rd, rs, rt	100010
subu	rd, rs, rt	100011
syscall		001100
xor	rd, rs, rt	100110

I-Type Instructions (All opcodes except 000000, 00001x, and 0100xx)

I-type instructions have a 16-bit immediate field that codes an immediate operand, a branch target offset, or a displacement for a memory operand. For a branch target offset, the immediate field contains the signed difference between the address of the following instruction and the target label, with the two low order bits dropped. The dropped bits are always 0 since instructions are word-aligned.

For the bgez, bgtz, blez, and bltz instructions, the rt field is used as an extension of the opcode field.

opcode (6) rs (5) rt (5) immediate (16)

Instruction Opcode Notes
addi rt, rs, immediate 001000
addiu rt, rs, immediate 001001
andi rt, rs, immediate 001100
beq rs, rt, label 000100
bgez rs, label 000001 rt = 00001
bgtz rs, label 000111 rt = 00000
blez rs, label 000110 rt = 00000
bltz rs, label 000001 rt = 00000
bne rs, rt, label 000101
lb rt, immediate(rs) 100000
lbu rt, immediate(rs) 100100
lh rt, immediate(rs) 100001
lhu rt, immediate(rs) 100101
lui rt, immediate 001111
lw rt, immediate(rs) 100011
lwc1 rt, immediate(rs) 110001
ori rt, rs, immediate 001101
sb rt, immediate(rs) 101000
slti rt, rs, immediate 001010
sltiu rt, rs, immediate 001011
sh rt, immediate(rs) 101001
sw rt, immediate(rs) 101011
swc1 rt, immediate(rs) 111001
xori rt, rs, immediate 001110

Instruction	Opcode	Notes
addi	rt, rs, immediate	001000
addiu	rt, rs, immediate	001001
andi	rt, rs, immediate	001100
beq	rs, rt, label	000100
bgez	rs, label	000001	rt = 00001
bgtz	rs, label	000111	rt = 00000
blez	rs, label	000110	rt = 00000
bltz	rs, label	000001	rt = 00000
bne	rs, rt, label	000101
lb	rt, immediate(rs)	100000
lbu	rt, immediate(rs)	100100
lh	rt, immediate(rs)	100001
lhu	rt, immediate(rs)	100101
lui	rt, immediate	001111
lw	rt, immediate(rs)	100011
lwc1	rt, immediate(rs)	110001
ori	rt, rs, immediate	001101
sb	rt, immediate(rs)	101000
slti	rt, rs, immediate	001010
sltiu	rt, rs, immediate	001011
sh	rt, immediate(rs)	101001
sw	rt, immediate(rs)	101011
swc1	rt, immediate(rs)	111001
xori	rt, rs, immediate	001110

J-Type Instructions (Opcode 00001x)

The only J-type instructions are the jump instructions j and jal. These intructions require a 26-bit coded address field to specify the target of the jump. The coded address is formed from the bits at positions 27 to 2 in the binary representation of the address. The bits at positions 1 and 0 are always 0 since instructions are word-aligned.

When a J-type instruction is executed, a full 32-bit jump target address is formed by concatenating the high order four bits of the PC (the address of the instruction following the jump), the 26 bits of the target field, and two 0 bits.

opcode (6) target (26)

Instruction Opcode Target
j label 000010 coded address of label
jal label 000011 coded address of label

Instruction	Opcode	Target
j	label	000010	coded address of label
jal	label	000011	coded address of label

Coprocessor Instructions (Opcode 0100xx)

The only instructions that are described here are the floating point instructions that are common to all processors in the MIPS family. All coprocessor instructions instructions use opcode 0100xx. The last two bits specify the coprocessor number. Thus all floating point instructions use opcode 010001.

The instruction is broken up into fields of the same sizes as in the R-type instruction format. However, the fields are used in different ways.

Most floating point intructions use the format field to specify a numerical coding format: single precision (.s), double precision (.d), or fixed point (.w). The mfc1 and mtc1 instructions uses the format field as an extension of the function field.

opcode (6) format (5) ft (5) fs (5) fd (5) function (6)

Instruction Function Format
add.s fd, fs, ft 000000 10000
cvt.s.w fd, fs, ft 100000 10100
cvt.w.s fd, fs, ft 100100 10000
div.s fd, fs, ft 000011 10000
mfc1 ft, fs 000000 00000
mov.s fd, fs 000110 10000
mtc1 ft, fs 000000 00100
mul.s fd, fs, ft 000010 10000
sub.s fd, fs, ft 000001 10000

Instruction	Function	Format
add.s	fd, fs, ft	000000	10000
cvt.s.w	fd, fs, ft	100000	10100
cvt.w.s	fd, fs, ft	100100	10000
div.s	fd, fs, ft	000011	10000
mfc1	ft, fs	000000	00000
mov.s	fd, fs	000110	10000
mtc1	ft, fs	000000	00100
mul.s	fd, fs, ft	000010	10000
sub.s	fd, fs, ft	000001	10000

Page URL: http://www.d.umn.edu/~gshute/spimsal/talref.html
Page Author: Gary Shute
Last Modified: Tuesday, 26-Jun-2007 12:33:40 CDT
Comments to: gshute@d.umn.edu