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<h4 class="subsection">9.23.2 Instruction expansion</h4>
<p><a name="index-instruction-expansion_002c-MMIX-1263"></a>When <code>as</code> encounters an instruction with an operand that is
either not known or does not fit the operand size of the instruction,
<code>as</code> (and <code>ld</code>) will expand the instruction into
a sequence of instructions semantically equivalent to the operand fitting
the instruction. Expansion will take place for the following
instructions:
<dl>
<dt><span class="samp">GETA</span><dd>Expands to a sequence of four instructions: <code>SETL</code>, <code>INCML</code>,
<code>INCMH</code> and <code>INCH</code>. The operand must be a multiple of four.
<br><dt>Conditional branches<dd>A branch instruction is turned into a branch with the complemented
condition and prediction bit over five instructions; four instructions
setting <code>$255</code> to the operand value, which like with <code>GETA</code> must
be a multiple of four, and a final <code>GO $255,$255,0</code>.
<br><dt><span class="samp">PUSHJ</span><dd>Similar to expansion for conditional branches; four instructions set
<code>$255</code> to the operand value, followed by a <code>PUSHGO $255,$255,0</code>.
<br><dt><span class="samp">JMP</span><dd>Similar to conditional branches and <code>PUSHJ</code>. The final instruction
is <code>GO $255,$255,0</code>.
</dl>
<p>The linker <code>ld</code> is expected to shrink these expansions for
code assembled with <span class="samp">--relax</span> (though not currently implemented).
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