Sylpheed/tools/ppc-manual/branch/bcctrx.md

bcctrx — Branch Conditional to Count Register

Category: Branch & System · Form: XL · Opcode: 0x4c000420 · sync

Assembler Mnemonics

Mnemonic	XML entry	Flags	Description
bcctr	bcctrx	—	Branch Conditional to Count Register
bcctrl	bcctrx	LK=1	Branch Conditional to Count Register

Syntax

bcctr[LK] [BO], [BI]

Encoding

bcctrx — form XL

• Opcode word: 0x4c000420
• Primary opcode (bits 0–5): 19
• Extended opcode: 528
• Synchronising: yes

Bits	Field	Meaning
0–5	OPCD	primary opcode (19)
6–10	BT/BO	target / branch options
11–15	BA/BI	source A / CR bit to test
16–20	BB	source B
21–30	XO	extended opcode (10 bits)
31	LK	link flag

Operands

Field	Role	Description
LK	bcctrx: read	Link bit. When 1, LR ← address-of-next-instruction before the branch is taken.
BO	bcctrx: read	5-bit branch options — selects CTR decrement, CTR test polarity, and CR bit test polarity. See forms/XL.md.
BI	bcctrx: read	CR bit index (0–31) selected by BO's condition test.
CR	bcctrx: read	Condition-register update. When Rc=1, CR field 0 (or CR6 for vector compares, CR1 for FPU) is updated from the result.
CTR	bcctrx: read	Count register. Decremented and optionally tested by conditional branches when BO[2]=0.
LR	bcctrx: write (conditional)	Link register. Written by bl/bla/bcl/bclrl/bcctrl; read by bclr/bclrl.

Register Effects

bcctrx

• Reads (always): LK, BO, BI, CR, CTR
• Reads (conditional): none
• Writes (always): none
• Writes (conditional): LR

Status-Register Effects

No condition-register or status-register effects.

Operation (pseudocode)

cond_ok <- BO[0] | (CR[BI] ≡ BO[1])
if cond_ok then NIA <- CTR[0:61] || 0b00
if LK then LR <- CIA + 4

C Translation Example

/* No hand-written C yet. Translate the Canary emitter snapshot   */
/* under Implementation References; its HIR maps directly:        */
/*   f.LoadGPR(n) / f.StoreGPR(n, v)  -> r[n] / r[n] = v          */
/*   f.LoadFPR / StoreFPR, f.LoadVR / StoreVR -> f[n], v[n]        */
/*   f.Load(ea, T), f.Store(ea, v) -> raw read / write; emitters   */
/*     wrap them in f.ByteSwap for the big-endian guest value      */
/*   f.UpdateCR(n, v)  -> CR field n from v's LOW 32 BITS vs 0     */
/*   f.LoadCA / f.StoreCA -> xer.CA;  f.StoreSAT -> vscr.SAT       */
/*   i.XO.RA, i.D.DS, ... -> the bit-fields listed under Operands  */
/* The Register Effects and Status-Register Effects tables above  */
/* enumerate every side effect a faithful translation must emit.  */

Implementation References

bcctrx

• Canary XML: tools/ppc-instructions.xml — search for mnem="bcctrx"
• Canary emitter: src/xenia/cpu/ppc/ppc_emit_control.cc:250
• Sylpheed opcode: crates/sylpheed-ppc/src/opcode.rs:22
• Sylpheed decoder: crates/sylpheed-ppc/src/decoder.rs:836

Canary emitter (frozen snapshot @ f21ebd49e9)

int InstrEmit_bcctrx(PPCHIRBuilder& f, const InstrData& i) {
  // cond_ok <- BO[0] | (CR[BI+32] ≡ BO[1])
  // if cond_ok then
  //   NIA <- CTR[0:61] || 0b00
  // if LK then
  //   LR <- CIA + 4

  // NOTE: the condition bits are reversed!
  // 01234 (docs)
  // 43210 (real)

  Value* cond_ok = NULL;
  bool not_cond_ok = false;
  if (select_bits(i.XL.BO, 4, 4)) {
    // Ignore cond.
  } else {
    Value* cr = f.LoadCRField(i.XL.BI >> 2, i.XL.BI & 3);
    cond_ok = cr;
    if (select_bits(i.XL.BO, 3, 3)) {
      // Expect true.
      not_cond_ok = false;
    } else {
      // Expect false.
      not_cond_ok = true;
    }
  }

  bool expect_true = !not_cond_ok;
  return InstrEmit_branch(f, "bcctrx", i.address, f.LoadCTR(), i.XL.LK, cond_ok,
                          expect_true);
}

Special Cases & Edge Conditions

• No CTR decrement. Unlike bcx and bclrx, bcctr cannot decrement CTR (the CTR is the target). The PowerISA reserves BO[2] = 0 encodings — they are invalid on bcctrx. Canary ignores BO[2]/BO[3] and treats every bcctr as a pure CR-conditional branch.

• CTR alignment mask. The target is CTR & ~3. Like bclr, the low two bits are stripped — a misaligned CTR is silently rounded down rather than trapping.

• BO encoding (CR-only subset). Because CTR-test bits are unused, only four BO patterns are meaningful:

  BO (binary)	Meaning
  0100z	branch if CR[BI] false
  0101z	branch if CR[BI] true
  1z1zz	branch always (bctr)
  0000z/001at/etc.	reserved — implementation-defined

• Indirect call/dispatch idiom. mtctr rN; bctrl is the canonical PPC indirect call: load function pointer into CTR, call. With LK=1, PowerISA writes LR ← CIA + 4 whether or not the branch is taken, and Canary does the same — its InstrEmit_branch stores LR before the conditional transfer, exactly as for bcx.

• bctr for switch tables. Compilers emit bctr (not bctrl) for jump-table dispatch, with CTR loaded from a base + (index*4) lookup. Canary emits an indirect call to the CTR value (CallIndirect).

• Synchronisation. Marked sync in Canary's tools/ppc-instructions.xml — context-synchronising. JIT backends must ensure prior side effects have committed before the indirect transfer.

• No prediction hint sensitivity. Xenon predicts indirect branches via a separate target cache; the BO[4] hint is mostly cosmetic for bcctr.

Related Instructions

• bclrx — branch conditional to LR (function returns).
• bcx — branch conditional to displacement (B-form).
• bx — unconditional displacement branch (I-form).
• mtctr, mfctr — load/read CTR via mtspr 9 / mfspr 9.
• sc — alternative control-flow exit (system call).

Simplified Mnemonics

Simplified	Expansion
bctr	bcctr BO=0b10100, BI=0 — unconditional indirect branch
bctrl	bcctrl BO=0b10100, BI=0 — unconditional indirect call
beqctr crN	bcctr BO=0b01100, BI=4·N+2 — call CTR if crN.EQ
bnectr crN	bcctr BO=0b00100, BI=4·N+2 — call CTR if crN.NE
bltctr crN	bcctr BO=0b01100, BI=4·N+0 — call CTR if crN.LT
bgectr crN	bcctr BO=0b00100, BI=4·N+0 — call CTR if crN.GE
bgtctr crN	bcctr BO=0b01100, BI=4·N+1 — call CTR if crN.GT
blectr crN	bcctr BO=0b00100, BI=4·N+1 — call CTR if crN.LE

The unconditional bctr/bctrl are by far the most common in Xbox 360 disassembly (compiler-emitted indirect calls and switch dispatch).

IBM Reference

• AIX 7.3 — bcctr (Branch Conditional to Count Register)
• AIX 7.3 — Branch simplified mnemonics