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Assembler Reference

Conventions and feedback Assembler command line options ARM and Thumb Instructions Instruction summary Instruction width specifiers Memory access instructions General data processing instructions Flexible second operand (Operand2) Operand2 as a constant Operand2 as a register with optional shift Shift operations Multiply instructions Saturating instructions Parallel instructions Parallel add and subtract Packing and unpacking instructions Branch and control instructions Coprocessor instructions Miscellaneous instructions ThumbEE instructions Pseudo-instructions Condition codes ADD, SUB, RSB, ADC, SBC, and RSC ADR (PC-relative) ADR (register-relative) ADRL pseudo-instruction AND, ORR, EOR, BIC, and ORN ASR, LSL, LSR, ROR, and RRX B, BL, BX, BLX, and BXJ BFC and BFI BKPT CBZ and CBNZ CDP and CDP2 CHKA CLREX CLZ CMP and CMN CPS CPY pseudo-instruction DBG DMB, DSB, and ISB ENTERX and LEAVEX ERET HB, HBL, HBLP, and HBP IT LDC, LDC2, STC, and STC2 LDM and STM LDR and STR (immediate offset) LDR and STR (register offset) LDR and STR, unprivileged LDR (PC-relative) LDR (register-relative) LDR pseudo-instruction LDREX and STREX MAR and MRA MCR, MCR2, MCRR, and MCRR2 MIA, MIAPH, and MIAxy MOV and MVN MOV32 pseudo--instruction MOVT MRC, MRC2, MRRC and MRRC2 MRS (system coprocessor register to ARM register) MRS (PSR to general-purpose register) MSR (ARM register to system coprocessor register) MSR (general-purpose register to PSR) MUL, MLA, and MLS NEG pseudo-instruction PKHBT and PKHTB PLD, PLDW, and PLI PUSH and POP QADD, QSUB, QDADD, and QDSUB REV, REV16, REVSH, and RBIT RFE SBFX and UBFX SDIV and UDIV SEL SETEND SEV, WFE, WFI, and YIELD SMC NOP SMLAD and SMLSD SMLALxy SMLALD and SMLSLD SMMUL, SMMLA, and SMMLS SMUAD{X} and SMUSD{X} SMULxy and SMLAxy SMULWy and SMLAWy SRS SSAT and USAT SSAT16 and USAT16 SUBS pc, lr SVC SWP and SWPB SXT, SXTA, UXT, and UXTA SYS TBB and TBH TST and TEQ UMULL, UMLAL, SMULL, and SMLAL UMAAL UND pseudo-instruction USAD8 and USADA8 VFP Programming Directives Reference

Assembler Reference

CMP and CMN

CMP and CMN

Compare and Compare Negative.

Show/hideSyntax

CMP{cond} Rn, Operand2
CMN{cond} Rn, Operand2

where:

cond

is an optional condition code.

Rn

is the ARM register holding the first operand.

Operand2

is a flexible second operand.

Show/hideUsage

These instructions compare the value in a register with Operand2. They update the condition flags on the result, but do not place the result in any register.

The CMP instruction subtracts the value of Operand2 from the value in Rn. This is the same as a SUBS instruction, except that the result is discarded.

The CMN instruction adds the value of Operand2 to the value in Rn. This is the same as an ADDS instruction, except that the result is discarded.

In certain circumstances, the assembler can substitute CMN for CMP, or CMP for CMN. Be aware of this when reading disassembly listings.

Show/hideUse of PC in ARM and Thumb instructions

You cannot use PC for any operand in any data processing instruction that has a register-controlled shift.

You can use PC (R15) in these ARM instructions without register controlled shift but this is deprecated in ARMv6T2 and above.

If you use PC as Rn in ARM instructions, the value used is the address of the instruction plus 8.

You cannot use PC for any operand in these Thumb instructions.

Show/hideUse of SP in ARM and Thumb instructions

You can use SP for Rn in ARM and Thumb instructions.

You can use SP for Rm in ARM instructions but this is deprecated in ARMv6T2 and above.

You can use SP for Rm in a 16-bit Thumb CMP Rn, Rm instruction but this is deprecated in ARMv6T2 and above. Other use of SP for Rm is not permitted in Thumb.

Show/hideCondition flags

These instructions update the N, Z, C and V flags according to the result.

Show/hide16-bit instructions

The following forms of these instructions are available in Thumb code, and are 16-bit instructions:

CMP Rn, Rm

Lo register restriction does not apply.

CMN Rn, Rm

Rn and Rm must both be Lo registers.

CMP Rn, #imm

Rn must be a Lo register. imm range 0-255.

Show/hideExamples

    CMP     r2, r9
    CMN     r0, #6400
    CMPGT   sp, r7, LSL #2

Show/hideIncorrect example

    CMP     r2, pc, ASR r0 ; PC not permitted with register-controlled shift
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