Sylpheed/tools/ppc-manual/memory/lvewx.md

lvewx — Load Vector Element Word Indexed

Category: Memory · Form: X · Opcode: 0x7c00008e

Assembler Mnemonics

Mnemonic	XML entry	Flags	Description
lvewx	lvewx	—	Load Vector Element Word Indexed
lvewx128	lvewx128	—	Load Vector Element Word Indexed 128

Syntax

lvewx [VD], [RA0], [RB]
lvewx128 [VD], [RA0], [RB]

Encoding

lvewx — form X

• Opcode word: 0x7c00008e
• Primary opcode (bits 0–5): 31
• Extended opcode: 71
• Synchronising: no

Bits	Field	Meaning
0–5	OPCD	primary opcode
6–10	RT/FRT/VRT	destination
11–15	RA/FRA/VRA	source A
16–20	RB/FRB/VRB	source B
21–30	XO	extended opcode (10 bits)
31	Rc	record-form flag

lvewx128 — form VX128_1

• Opcode word: 0x10000083
• Primary opcode (bits 0–5): 4
• Extended opcode: 131
• Synchronising: no

Bits	Field	Meaning
0–5	OPCD	primary opcode (4)
6–10	VD128l	destination low 5 bits
11–15	RA	address register
16–20	RB	offset register
21–27	XO	extended opcode
28–29	VD128h	destination high 2 bits
30–31	—	reserved

Operands

Field	Role	Description
RA0	lvewx: read; lvewx128: read	Source GPR; when the encoded register number is 0 the operand is the literal 64-bit zero, not r0.
RB	lvewx: read; lvewx128: read	Source GPR.
VD	lvewx: write; lvewx128: write	Destination vector register.

Register Effects

lvewx

• Reads (always): RA0, RB
• Reads (conditional): none
• Writes (always): VD
• Writes (conditional): none

lvewx128

• Reads (always): RA0, RB
• Reads (conditional): none
• Writes (always): VD
• Writes (conditional): none

Status-Register Effects

No condition-register or status-register effects.

Operation (pseudocode)

; No hand-written pseudocode for this instruction yet.
; The authoritative semantics are the Canary emitter snapshot under
; Implementation References; about half of Canary's emitters open
; with the PPC-style definition as a comment (`RD <- (RA) + (RB)`).
; Every side effect is also enumerated in the Register Effects and
; Status-Register Effects tables above.

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

lvewx

• Canary XML: tools/ppc-instructions.xml — search for mnem="lvewx"
• Canary emitter: src/xenia/cpu/ppc/ppc_emit_altivec.cc:96
• Sylpheed opcode: crates/sylpheed-ppc/src/opcode.rs:138
• Sylpheed decoder: crates/sylpheed-ppc/src/decoder.rs:885

Canary emitter (frozen snapshot @ f21ebd49e9)

int InstrEmit_lvewx(PPCHIRBuilder& f, const InstrData& i) {
  return InstrEmit_lvewx_(f, i, i.X.RT, i.X.RA, i.X.RB);
}

// ── delegates to (src/xenia/cpu/ppc/ppc_emit_altivec.cc:89) ──
int InstrEmit_lvewx_(PPCHIRBuilder& f, const InstrData& i, uint32_t vd,
                     uint32_t ra, uint32_t rb) {
  // Same as lvx.
  Value* ea = f.And(CalculateEA_0(f, ra, rb), f.LoadConstantUint64(~0xFull));
  f.StoreVR(vd, f.ByteSwap(f.Load(ea, VEC128_TYPE)));
  return 0;
}

lvewx128

• Canary XML: tools/ppc-instructions.xml — search for mnem="lvewx128"
• Canary emitter: src/xenia/cpu/ppc/ppc_emit_altivec.cc:99
• Sylpheed opcode: crates/sylpheed-ppc/src/opcode.rs:139
• Sylpheed decoder: crates/sylpheed-ppc/src/decoder.rs:529

Canary emitter (frozen snapshot @ f21ebd49e9)

int InstrEmit_lvewx128(PPCHIRBuilder& f, const InstrData& i) {
  return InstrEmit_lvewx_(f, i, VX128_1_VD128, i.VX128_1.RA, i.VX128_1.RB);
}

// ── delegates to (src/xenia/cpu/ppc/ppc_emit_altivec.cc:89) ──
int InstrEmit_lvewx_(PPCHIRBuilder& f, const InstrData& i, uint32_t vd,
                     uint32_t ra, uint32_t rb) {
  // Same as lvx.
  Value* ea = f.And(CalculateEA_0(f, ra, rb), f.LoadConstantUint64(~0xFull));
  f.StoreVR(vd, f.ByteSwap(f.Load(ea, VEC128_TYPE)));
  return 0;
}

Special Cases & Edge Conditions

• Single word element load. Architecturally lvewx loads exactly four bytes from EA (which must be 4-byte aligned) and places them in the word lane (EA mod 16) >> 2 of the destination vector; the other 3 word lanes are undefined.
• EA must be word-aligned. The low two bits of EA are masked by hardware. ⚠️ Canary treats lvewx and lvewx128 exactly like lvx: it masks to 16-byte alignment and loads the whole 128-bit vector.
• Canary simplification — full-line read. Canary's lvewx and lvewx128 both load the full aligned 16 bytes from ea & ~0xF into the destination vector. Architectural undefined lanes are filled deterministically.
• RA0 semantics. When RA = 0, base is literal zero.
• No update form. No lvewux exists.
• VMX128 sibling. lvewx128 shares semantics; the only difference is the operand encoding. VMX128 uses a 7-bit register index split across VD128l ‖ VD128h so it can address v0..v127 instead of the 32-register Altivec space.
• Big-endian word within the lane. The byte at the lower address is the most-significant byte of the word lane.
• Common idiom. Pair with vspltw to broadcast the loaded word to all four lanes, or with vperm to gather words from sparse memory into one vector.

Related Instructions

• lvebx, lvehx — byte and half element loads.
• lvx, lvxl — full 16-byte aligned vector loads.
• lvlx, lvrx — load-left / load-right partial-vector ops.
• stvewx — symmetric single-word store.

IBM Reference

• AIX 7.3 — lvewx (Load Vector Element Word Indexed)
• PowerISA v2.07B Book I "Vector Facility" § "Vector Load and Store" for lane-placement rules; Microsoft XDK for lvewx128.