7 the e bit, 8 the a bit, 9 the i and f bits – ARM Cortex R4F User Manual

Page 59: 10 the t bit

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Programmer’s Model

ARM DDI 0363E

Copyright © 2009 ARM Limited. All rights reserved.

2-13

ID013010

Non-Confidential, Unrestricted Access

Note

GE bit is 1 if A op B

≥ C, otherwise 0.

The

SEL

instruction uses GE[3:0] to select which source register supplies each byte of its result.

Note

For unsigned operations, the usual ARM rules determine the GE bits for carries out of
unsigned additions and subtractions, and so are carry-out bits.

For signed operations, the rules for setting the GE bits are chosen so that they have the
same sort of greater than or equal functionality as for unsigned operations.

2.7.7

The E bit

ARM and Thumb instructions are provided to set and clear the E bit. The E bit controls
load/store endianness. See the ARM Architecture Reference Manual for information on where
the E bit is used.

Architecture versions prior to ARMv6 specify this bit as SBZ. This ensures no endianness
reversal on loads or stores.

2.7.8

The A bit

The A bit is set automatically. It disables imprecise Data Aborts. For more information on how
to use the A bit, see Imprecise abort masking on page 2-23.

2.7.9

The I and F bits

The I and F bits are the interrupt disable bits:

when the I bit is set, IRQ interrupts are disabled

when the F bit is set, FIQ interrupts are disabled.

Software can use

MSR

,

CPS

,

MOVS pc

,

SUBS pc

,

LDM ..,{..pc}^

, or

RFE

instructions to change the

values of the I and F bits.

When NMFIs are enabled, updates to the F bit are restricted. For more information see
Non-maskable fast interrupts on page 2-19.

2.7.10

The T bit

The T bit reflects the instruction set state:

when the T bit is set, the processor executes in Thumb state

when the T bit is clear, the processor executes in ARM state.

Note

Never use an

MSR

instruction to force a change to the state of the T bit in the CPSR. The processor

ignores any attempt to modify the T bit using an

MSR

instruction.

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