SECTION 6.

1: IMMEDIATE AND DIRECT ADDRESSING MODES

Immediate addressing mode
In this addressing mode, the operand is a literal constant. In immediate
addressing mode, as the name implies, the operand comes immediately after the
opcode when the instruction is assembled. Notice that immediate data is called a
literal in the PIC. This addressing mode can be used to load information into
WREG and selected registers, but not to any file register. The immediate address-ing
mode is also used for arithmetic and logic instructions. Examine the following
examples.
MOVLW Ox25 ;load 25H into WREG
SUBLW D1
621
;subtract WREG from 62
ANDLW B'01000000' ;AND WREG with 40H
We can use the EQU directive to access immediate data as shown below.
COUNT EQU Ox30
MOVLW COUNT ;WREG = 30h
Notice that we can also use immediate addressing mode to perform arithmetic and
logic operations on WREG only. For example, "ADDLW Ox2 5" adds value 25 to
WREG
Direct addressing mode
As mentioned in Chapter 2, the 256-byte access bank file register is split
into two sections: The lower addresses, 00 to 7FH, are assigned to the general purpose registers, and the upper addresses, F80-FFFH, to the SFR. The access bank
is the default bank when the PIC 18 is powered up. It is the minimum bank that all
PIC18 processors have. The MOVFF instruction also plays a role in choosing the

access bank. We will discuss that issue in Section 6.5 when we discuss bank
switching.
The entire data RAM file register can be accessed using either direct or
register indirect addressing modes. The register indirect addressing mode will be
discussed in the next section. In direct addressing mode, the operand data is in a
RAM memory location whose address is known, and this address is given as a part
of the instruction. Contrast this with immediate addressing mode in which the
operand data itself is provided with the instruction. While the letter "L" in the
instruction means literal (immediate), the letter "F" in the instruction signifies the
address of the file register location. See the example below, and note the letter F
in the instructions.
MOVLW Ox56
MOVWF Ox40
MOVFF Ox40,0x50
;WREG = 56H (immediate addressing mode)
;copy WREG into fileReg RAM location 40H
;copy data from loc 40H to SOH.
The last two instructions use direct addressing mode. If we dissect the
opcode we see that the addresses are embedded in the instruction, as shown in
Figure 6-1 a.
SECTION 6.2: REGISTER INDIRECT ADDRESSING MODE
We can use register direct or register indirect addressing modes to access
data stored in the general purpose RAM section of the file register. In the last section we showed how to use direct addressing mode, which is also called register
direct. The register indirect addressing mode is a very important addressing mode
in the PIC 18. This topic will be discussed thoroughly in this section.
Register indirect addressing mode

In the register indirect addressing mode, a register is used as a pointer to

the data RAM location. In the PICI8, three registers are used for this purpose:
FSRO, FSRI, and FSR2. FSR stands for file select register and must not be con-fused
with SFR (special function register). The FSR is a 12-bit register allowing
access to the entire 4096 bytes of data RAM space in the PIC 18. We use LFSR
(load FSR) to load the RAM address. In other words, when FSRx are used as
pointers, they must be loaded first with the RAM addresses as shown below.
LFSR 0, Ox30
LFSR 1, Ox40
LFSR 2, Ox6F
;load FSRO with Ox30
;load FSRl with Ox40
;load FSR2 with Ox6F
Because FSRO, FSRl, and FSR2 are 12-bit registers they cannot fit into the
SFR address space unless they are split into pieces of an 8-bit size. That is exact-ly
what PIC I 8 has done. The FSR registers have the low-byte and high-byte parts
called FSRxL and FSRxH, as shown in the SFR table of Table 6-1. In Table 6-1
we see FSROL and FSROH, representing the low and high parts of the 12-bit FSRO
register. Note that the FSRxH is only 4-bit and the upper 4 bits are not used.
Another register associated with the register indirect addressing mode is the INDF
(indirect register). Each of the FSRO, FSRl, and FSR2 registers has an INDF reg-ister
associated with it, and these are called INDFO, INDFI, and INDF2. When we
move data into INDFx we are moving data into a RAM location pointed to by the
FSR. In the same way, when we read data from the INDF register, we are reading
data from a RAM location pointed to by the FSR. This is shown below.
LFSR 0, Ox30
MOVWF INDFO

;FSRO = 30H RAM location pointer

;copy contents of WREG into RAM
;location whose address is held by
;12-bit FSRO register
Advantages of register indirect addressing mode
One of the advantages of register indirect addressing mode is that it makes
accessing data dynamic rather than static, as with direct addressing mode.
Example 6-2 shows three cases of copying 55H into RAM locations 40H to 45H.
Notice in solution (b) that two instructions are repeated numerous times. We can
create a loop with those two instructions as shown in solution (c). Solution (c) is
the most efficient and is possible only because of the register indirect addressing
mode. In Example 6-2, we must use "INCF FSROL, F" to increment the pointer
because there is no such instruction as "INCF FSRO, F". Looping is not possible
in direct addressing mode, and that is the main difference between the direct and
register indirect addressing modes. For example, trying to send a string of data
located in consecutive locations of data RAM is much more efficient and dynam-ic
using register indirect addressing mode than using direct addressing mode. See
Example 6-3.
Example 6-2
Write a program to copy the value 55H into RAM memory locations 40H to 45H
using
(a) Direct addressing mode.
(b) Register indirect addressing mode without a loop.
(c) A loop.
Solution:
(a)
MOVLW Ox55

MOVWF Ox40
MOVWF Ox41
MOVWF Ox42
MOVWF Ox43
MOVWF Ox44
(b)
MOVLW SSH
LFSR O,Ox40
MOVWF INDFO
INCF FSROL,F
MOVWF INDFO
INCF FSROL,F
MOVWF INDFO
INCF FSROL,F
MOVWF INDFO
INCF FSROL,F
MOVWF INDFO
(c)
COUNT EQU OxlO
MOVLW oxs
MOVWF COUNT
LFSR O,Ox40
MOVLW Ox55
Bl MOVWF INDFO
INCF FSROL,F
DECF COUNT,F

BNZ Bl
;load WREG with value SSH
;copy WREG to RAM location 40H
;copy WREG to RAM location 41H
;copy WREG to RAM location 42H
;copy WREG to RAM location 43H
;copy WREG to RAM location 44H
;load with value SSH
;load the pointer. FSRO = 40H
;copy w to RAM loc FSRO points
;increment pointer. Now FSRO =
;copy W to RAM loc FSRO points
;increment pointer. Now FSRO =
;copy W to RAM loc FSRO points
;increment pointer. Now FSRO =
;copy W to RAM loc FSRO points
;increment pointer. Now FSRO =
;copy W to RAM loc FSRO points
;location lOH for counter
;WREG = 5
;load the counter, Count = 5
to
41H
to
42H
to

43H
to
44H
to
;load pointer. FSRO = 40H, RAM address
;WREG = 55h value to be copied
;copy WREG to RAM loc SFRO points to
;increment FSRO pointer
;decrement the counter
;loop until counter = zero