Branching in arm assembly

Question

This is an example assembly code:

     function0()
 0x0.mov r0, #1
 0x8.mov r1, #20
0x10.mov r2, #6
0x18.cmp r1, #16
0x20.b function1

     function1()
0x28.cmp r0, #1
0x30.b functionX

     functionX()
0x38.bx lr

As far as I know, function0 moved those values into the first 3 registers. In function1 no values were moved into registers.

What I don't understand is:

1. after branching to function1 do registers r1 and r2 still have those values or those registers have been zeroed out?

2. After branching to functionX, is the link register still the same as the one in function0?

Answer 1

It looks like you confuse between functions and blocks. It looks like what you call function0, function1 and functionX are in fact parts of the same function, and just different basic blocks within the function.

To your specific questions:

1. Nothing changes r0, r1, and r2 between 0x20.b function1 and 0x28.cmp r0 #1. So yes, they still hold the values from what you called function0. There is nothing in the code, or in assembly as general that implicitly zero out all registers.

2. This is the place where the lr is fetched, and jumped to - it is supposed to hold the value of the caller function - The instruction after the call to what you called function0. the lr didn't change between what you called function0, function1 and functionX.