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(gcc-295.info)RTL Objects

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RTL Object Types
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   RTL uses five kinds of objects: expressions, integers, wide integers,
strings and vectors.  Expressions are the most important ones.  An RTL
expression ("RTX", for short) is a C structure, but it is usually
referred to with a pointer; a type that is given the typedef name `rtx'.

   An integer is simply an `int'; their written form uses decimal
digits.  A wide integer is an integral object whose type is
`HOST_WIDE_INT' (Note: Config.); their written form uses decimal
digits.

   A string is a sequence of characters.  In core it is represented as a
`char *' in usual C fashion, and it is written in C syntax as well.
However, strings in RTL may never be null.  If you write an empty
string in a machine description, it is represented in core as a null
pointer rather than as a pointer to a null character.  In certain
contexts, these null pointers instead of strings are valid.  Within RTL
code, strings are most commonly found inside `symbol_ref' expressions,
but they appear in other contexts in the RTL expressions that make up
machine descriptions.

   A vector contains an arbitrary number of pointers to expressions.
The number of elements in the vector is explicitly present in the
vector.  The written form of a vector consists of square brackets
(`[...]') surrounding the elements, in sequence and with whitespace
separating them.  Vectors of length zero are not created; null pointers
are used instead.

   Expressions are classified by "expression codes" (also called RTX
codes).  The expression code is a name defined in `rtl.def', which is
also (in upper case) a C enumeration constant.  The possible expression
codes and their meanings are machine-independent.  The code of an RTX
can be extracted with the macro `GET_CODE (X)' and altered with
`PUT_CODE (X, NEWCODE)'.

   The expression code determines how many operands the expression
contains, and what kinds of objects they are.  In RTL, unlike Lisp, you
cannot tell by looking at an operand what kind of object it is.
Instead, you must know from its context--from the expression code of
the containing expression.  For example, in an expression of code
`subreg', the first operand is to be regarded as an expression and the
second operand as an integer.  In an expression of code `plus', there
are two operands, both of which are to be regarded as expressions.  In
a `symbol_ref' expression, there is one operand, which is to be
regarded as a string.

   Expressions are written as parentheses containing the name of the
expression type, its flags and machine mode if any, and then the
operands of the expression (separated by spaces).

   Expression code names in the `md' file are written in lower case,
but when they appear in C code they are written in upper case.  In this
manual, they are shown as follows: `const_int'.

   In a few contexts a null pointer is valid where an expression is
normally wanted.  The written form of this is `(nil)'.