BRANCH

INSTRUCTION
S
CALL, JMP,
RET
 Branching instructions
• Program branching instructions
are used to
control the flow of actions in a

program
• Some instructions provide
decision making capabilities
and transfer control to other
parts of the program.
– e.g. conditional and
unconditional branches
 CALL  ACALL & LCALL
• The 8051 provides 2 forms for
the CALL instruction:
– Absolute Call – ACALL
• Uses an 11-bit address
• The subroutine must be within the
same 2K page.
– Long Call – LCALL
• Uses a 16-bit address
• The subroutine can be anywhere.
– Both forms push the 16-bit
address of PC on the stack and
update the stack pointer.

 A b so lu te C a ll – A C A L L a d d r1 1

• This instruction unconditionally calls a

subroutine indicated by the address
• 2 byte instruction: The upper 3-bits of
the address combine with the 5-bit
opcode to form the 1st byte and the
lower 8-bits of the address form the
2nd byte
 Eg. ACALL LOC_SUB
• If SP=07H initially
• label “LOC_SUB” is at memory 0567H,
• then executing instruction at 0230H
(PC),
– SP=09H, internal RAM locations
 LONG CALL - LCALL
addr16
• It is a Long call, the subroutine
may therefore begin anywhere
in the full 64 kB program
memory address space
• 3 byte instruction
 LCALL LOC_SUB
• Initially, SP=07H
• label “LOC_SUB” is at memory
4100H
• Executing the instruction at
0230H ( PC),
 RETURN  RET & RETI
• The 8051 provides 2 forms for the
return instruction:
– Return from subroutine – RET
• Pop the return address from the
stack and continue execution
there.
– Return from ISR – RETI
• Pop the return address from the
stack.
• Restore the interrupt logic to
accept additional interrupts at
the same priority level as the
one just processed.
• Continue execution at the address
retrieved from the stack.
 JUMP  SJMP
• The 8051 provides four different types
of unconditional jump instructions:
• Short Jump – SJMP addr
• Uses an 8-bit signed offset
relative to the 1st byte of the
next instruction.
• the range of destination
allowed is from -128 to+127
bytes from the instruction
 SJMP RELSRT
• If the label RELSRT is at program
memory location 0120H and the
SJMP instruction is located at
 JUMP  LJMP
• Long Jump – LJMP
• Uses a 16-bit address.
• 3 byte instruction capable of
referencing any location in the
entire 64K of program
memory.
 LJMP FAR_ADR
• If the label FAR_ADR is at program
memory location 3456H
– the LJMP instruction at location
0120H (PC)
– After instruction, it loads the PC
with 3456H
 JUMP  AJMP
– Absolute Jump – AJMP
• Uses an 11-bit address.
• 2 byte instruction
• The 11-bit address is substituted
for the lower 11-bits of the PC to
calculate the 16-bit address of
the target.
• The location referenced must be
within the 2K Byte
 AJMP NEAR
• If the label NEAR is at program
memory location 0120H, the
AJMP instruction at location
0234H (PC) loads the PC with
 In d ire ct Ju m p
• This instruction adds the 8-bit
unsigned value of the ACC to the 16-
bit data pointer and the resulting
sum is returned to the PC
• Neither ACC nor DPTR is altered
• No flags are affected
 MOV DPTR, #LOOK_TBL
 JMP @A + DPTR
 LOOK_TBL: AJMP LOC0
 AJMP LOC1
 AJMP LOC2
• If the ACC=02H, execution
jumps to LOC2
• AJMP is a two byte
instruction
 CONDITIONAL JUMP
• The 8051 supports different
conditional jump instructions.
– ALL conditional jump instructions
use an 8-bit address.
– Jump on Zero – JZ / JNZ
• Jump if the A == 0 / A != 0
– The check is done at the time of
the instruction execution.
– Jump on Carry – JC / JNC
• Jump if the C flag is set / cleared.
•

 CONDITIONAL JUMP
– Jump on Bit – JB / JNB
• Jump if the specified bit is set /
cleared.
• Any addressable bit can be
specified.
•
– Jump if the Bit is set then Clear
the bit – JBC
• Jump if the specified bit is set.
• Then clear the bit.

 Compare and Jump if Not
Equal – CJNE
– Compare the magnitude of the
two operands and jump if they
are not equal.
• The values are considered to be
unsigned.
• The Carry flag is set / cleared
appropriately.
• CJNE A, direct, rel
• CJNE A, #data, rel
• CJNE Rn, #data, rel
• CJNE @Ri, #data, rel

Decrement and Jump if Not
Zero – DJNZ
– Decrement the first operand by 1
and jump to the location
identified by the second operand
if the resulting value is not zero.
 DJNZ 20H,LOC1
 DJNZ 30H,LOC2
 DJNZ 40H,LOC3
• If internal RAM locations 20H,
30H and 40H contain the values
01H, 5FH and 16H respectively,
• the above instruction sequence
will cause a jump to the
 NOP
• This is the no operation instruction
• The instruction takes one machine
cycle operation time
• Hence it is useful to time the ON/OFF
bit of an output port
 CLR P1.2
 NOP
 NOP
 NOP
 NOP
 SETB P1.2