ARM VERSION 1.2 - Manual (Page 56)

Writing ARM and Thumb Assembly Language
2-44 Copyright © 2000, 2001 ARM Limited. All rights reserved. ARM DUI 0068B
2.8.4 Block copy with LDM and STM
Example 2-11 is an ARM code routine that copies a set of words from a source location
to a destination by copying a single word at a time. It is supplied as
word.s in the
examples\asm subdirectory of the ADS. Refer to Code examples on page 2-2 for
instructions on how to assemble, link, and execute the example.
Example 2-11 Block copy
AREA Word, CODE, READONLY ; name this block of code
num EQU 20 ; set number of words to be copied
ENTRY ; mark the first instruction to call
start
LDR r0, =src ; r0 = pointer to source block
LDR r1, =dst ; r1 = pointer to destination block
MOV r2, #num ; r2 = number of words to copy
wordcopy LDR r3, [r0], #4 ; load a word from the source and
STR r3, [r1], #4 ; store it to the destination
SUBS r2, r2, #1 ; decrement the counter
BNE wordcopy ; ... copy more
stop MOV r0, #0x18 ; angel_SWIreason_ReportException
LDR r1, =0x20026 ; ADP_Stopped_ApplicationExit
SWI 0x123456 ; ARM semihosting SWI
AREA BlockData, DATA, READWRITE
src DCD 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,1,2,3,4
dst DCD 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
END
This module can be made more efficient by using LDM and STM for as much of the copying
as possible. Eight is a sensible number of words to transfer at a time, given the number
of registers that the ARM has. The number of eight-word multiples in the block to be
copied can be found (if r2 = number of words to be copied) using:
MOVS r3, r2, LSR #3 ; number of eight word multiples
This value can be used to control the number of iterations through a loop that copies
eight words per iteration. When there are less than eight words left, the number of words
left can be found (assuming that r2 has not been corrupted) using:
ANDS r2, r2, #7
Example 2-12 on page 2-45 lists the block copy module rewritten to use LDM and STM for
copying.