Microchip Technology MA160014 Data Sheet

Page of 560
 2010-2012 Microchip Technology Inc.
DS41412F-page 75
PIC18(L)F2X/4XK22
5.3.3
INSTRUCTIONS IN PROGRAM 
MEMORY
The program memory is addressed in bytes.
Instructions are stored as either two bytes or four bytes
in program memory. The Least Significant Byte of an
instruction word is always stored in a program memory
location with an even address (LSb = 0). To maintain
alignment with instruction boundaries, the PC
increments in steps of two and the LSb will always read
‘0’ (see 
 shows an example of how instruction words
are stored in the program memory.
The  CALL and GOTO instructions have the absolute
program memory address embedded into the
instruction. Since instructions are always stored on word
boundaries, the data contained in the instruction is a
word address. The word address is written to PC<20:1>,
which accesses the desired byte address in program
memory. Instruction #2 in 
 shows how the
instruction  GOTO 0006h is encoded in the program
memory. Program branch instructions, which encode a
relative address offset, operate in the same manner. The
offset value stored in a branch instruction represents the
number of single-word instructions that the PC will be
offset by
provides further details of the instruction set.
FIGURE 5-4:
INSTRUCTIONS IN PROGRAM MEMORY
5.3.4
TWO-WORD INSTRUCTIONS
The standard PIC18 instruction set has four two-word
instructions:  CALL,  MOVFF,  GOTO and LSFR. In all
cases, the second word of the instruction always has
‘1111’ as its four Most Significant bits; the other 12 bits
are literal data, usually a data memory address. 
The use of ‘1111’ in the 4 MSbs of an instruction
specifies a special form of NOP. If the instruction is
executed in proper sequence – immediately after the
first word – the data in the second word is accessed
and used by the instruction sequence. If the first word
is skipped for some reason and the second word is
executed by itself, a NOP is executed instead. This is
necessary for cases when the two-word instruction is
preceded by a conditional instruction that changes the
PC. 
 shows how this works.
EXAMPLE 5-4:
TWO-WORD INSTRUCTIONS
Word Address
LSB = 1
LSB = 0
Program Memory
Byte Locations 
 
      
000000h
000002h
000004h
000006h
Instruction 1:
MOVLW
055h
0Fh
55h
000008h
Instruction 2:
GOTO
0006h
EFh
03h
00000Ah
F0h
00h
00000Ch
Instruction 3:
MOVFF
123h, 456h
C1h
23h
00000Eh
F4h
56h
000010h
000012h
000014h
Note:
See 
 for information on two-word
instructions in the extended instruction set.
CASE 1:
Object Code
Source Code
0110 0110 0000 0000
TSTFSZ
REG1
; is RAM location 0?
1100 0001 0010 0011
MOVFF
REG1, REG2
; No, skip this word
1111 0100 0101 0110
; Execute this word as a NOP
0010 0100 0000 0000
ADDWF
REG3
; continue code
CASE 2:
Object Code
Source Code
0110 0110 0000 0000
TSTFSZ
REG1
; is RAM location 0?
1100 0001 0010 0011
MOVFF
REG1, REG2
; Yes, execute this word
1111 0100 0101 0110
; 2nd word of instruction
0010 0100 0000 0000
ADDWF
REG3
; continue code