arm64.md

arm64 assembly crash course

Note: May or may not be specific to iOS.

Registers

• General purpose registers 0 through 30 with two addressing modes:
  • w0 = 32-bit
  • x0 = 64-bit
• Zero register wzr or xzr. Write to = discard, read from = 0.
• Stack pointer sp - unlike other instruction sets, never modified implicitly (e.g. no push/pop).
• Instruction pointer pc, not modifiable directly.
• A lot of float, vector and system registers, look up as needed.
• First register in assembly is usually destination, rest are source (except for str).

Register manipulation

• mov to copy one register to another, e.g. mov x0, x1 -> x0 = x1.
• Constant 0 loaded from wzr/xzw.
• Small constants usually OR'ed with zero register, e.g. orr x0, xzr, 5.
• Big constants usually loaded with movz+movk, e.g.:

  movz x0, 0x1234, lsl 32
  movk x0, 0x5678, lsl 16
  movk x0, 0x9abc

  -> x0 = 0x123456789abc.
• movn for negative values, e.g. movn x0, 1 -> x0 = -1.
• lsl and lsr instructions = logic-shift-left and logic-shift-right, e.g. lsl x0, x0, 8 -> x0 <<= 8.
  • lsl and lsr not only used as instructions, but also as operands to other instructions (see movz above).
  • asl for arithmetic shift also exists, but less frequently used.
• Lots of arithmetic, logic and bitwise instructions, look up as needed.

Memory

• ldr and str with multiple variations and addressing modes:
  • ldr x0, [x1] -> x0 = *x1
  • str x0, [x1] -> *x1 = x0
  • ldr x0, [x1, 0x10] -> x0 = *(x1 + 0x10)
  • ldp/stp to load/store two registers at once behind each other, e.g.:
    stp x0, x1, [x2] -> *x2 = x0; *(x2 + 8) = x1;
  • Multiple variations for load/store size:
    • Register names xN for 64-bit, wN for 32-bit
    • ldrh/srth for 16-bit
    • ldrb/strb for 8-bit
  • Multiple variations for sign-extending registers smaller than 64-bit:
    • ldrsw x0, [x1] -> load 32-bit int, sign extend to 64-bit
    • ldrsh x0, [x1] -> load 16-bit int, sign extend to 64-bit
    • ldrsb x0, [x1] -> load 8-bit int, sign extend to 64-bit
    • (No equivalent str instructions)
• Three register addressing modes:
  • Normal: ldr x0, [x1, 0x10]
  • Pre-indexing: ldr x0, [x1, 0x10]! (notice the !) -> x1 += 0x10; x0 = *x1;
  • Post-indexing: ldr x0, [x1], 0x10 -> x0 = *x1; x1 += 0x10;
• Memory addresses usually computed by PC-relative instructions:
  • adr x0, 0x12345 (only works for small offset from PC)
  • Bigger ranges use adrp+add:

    adrp x0, 0xffffff8012345000 ; "address of page", last 12 bits are always zero
    add x0, x0, 0x678

  • Even bigger ranges usually stored as pointers in data segment, offset by linker and loaded with ldr.

Calling convention

• x0-x7 first 8 arguments, rest on the stack (low address to high) with natural alignment (as if they were members of a struct)
• x8-x17 scratch registers
• x18 reserved (unused)
• x19-x28 callee-saved
• x29 frame pointer (basically also just callee-saved)
• x30 return address
• Functions that save anything in x19-x28 usually start like this:

  stp x24, x23, [sp, -0x40]!
  stp x22, x21, [sp, 0x10]
  stp x20, x19, [sp, 0x20]
  stp x29, x30, [sp, 0x30]
  add x29, sp, 0x30

  and end like this:

  ldp x29, x30, [sp, 0x30]
  ldp x20, x19, [sp, 0x20]
  ldp x22, x21, [sp, 0x10]
  ldp x24, x23, [sp], 0x40
  ret

  The stack for local variables is usually managed separately though, with add sp, sp, 0x... and sub sp, sp, 0x....
• Variadic arguments are passed on the stack (low address to high), each promoted to 8 bytes. Structs that don't fit into 8 bytes have a pointer passed instead.
  Fixed arguments that don't fit into x0-x7 come before variadic arguments on the stack, naturally aligned.

Conditions

• System register nzcv holds condition flags (Negative, Zero, Carry, oVerflow).
  Set by one instruction and acted upon by a subsequent one, the latter using condition codes.
  (Could be accessed as normal system register, but usually isn't.)
• Some instructions use condition codes as suffixes (instr.cond), others as source operands (instr ..., cond). List of condition codes:
  • eq/ne = equal/not equal
  • lt/le/gt/ge = less than/less or equal/greater than/greater or equal (signed)
  • lo/ls/hi/hs = lower/lower or same/higher/higher or same (unsigned)
  • A few more weird flags, seldom used.
  • Unlike many other instruction sets, arm64 sets carry on no-borrow rather than borrow.
    Thus, cs/cc = carry set/carry clear are aliases of hs/lo.
• cmp = most common/basic compare instruction, sets condition flags. Examples:

  cmp x0, x1
  cmp x0, 3

• Other instructions that set condition flags:
  • cmn = compare negative
  • tst = bitwise test
  • adds/adcs = add/add with carry
  • subs/sbcs = subtract/subtract with carry
  • negs/ngcs = negate/negate with carry
  • Some more bitwise and float instructions.
• Some instructions that act on condition flags:
  • cset = conditional set, e.g.:

    cmp x0, 3
    cset x0, lo

    -> x0 = (x0 < 3)
  • csel = conditional select, e.g.:

    cmp x0, 3
    csel x0, x1, x2, lo

    -> x0 = (x0 < 3) ? x1 : x2
    (Translates nicely to ternary conditional.)
  • ccmp = conditional compare, e.g.:

    cmp x0, 3
    ccmp x0, 7, 2, hs
    b.hi 0xffffff8012345678

    -> hi condition will be true if x0 < 3 || x0 > 7 (third ccmp operand is raw nzcv data).
    Often generated by compiler for logical and/or of two conditions.
  • Many, many more.

Branches

• b = simple branch, jump to PC-relative address.
  Can be unconditional:

  b 0xffffff8012345678

  or conditional:

  cmp x0, 3
  b.lo 0xffffff8012345678 ; jump to 0xffffff8012345678 if x < 3

  Used primarily within function for flow control.
• Shortcuts cbz/cbnz = compare-branch-zero and compare-branch-non-zero.
  Just shorter ways to write

  cmp xN, 0
  b.eq 0x...

  or

  cmp xN, 0
  b.ne 0x...

  (Translate nicely to C if(x) or if(!x).)
• Shortcurts tbz/tbnz = test single bit and branch if zero/non-zero.
  E.g. tbz x0, 3, ... translates to if((x0 & (1 << 3)) == 0) goto ....
• bl = branch-and-link (e.g. bl 0xffffff8012345678)
  Store return address to x30 and jump to PC-relative address. Used for static function calls.
• blr = branch-and-link to register (e.g. blr x8)
  Store return address to x30 and jump to address in x8. Used for calls with function pointers or C++ virtual methods.
• br = branch to register (e.g. br x8)
  Jump to address in x8. Used for tail calls.
• ret = return to address in register, default: x30
  Can in theory use registers other than x30 (e.g. ret x8), but compiler doesn't usually generate that.