step

Execute one or more instructions.

Syntax

[[px]] step [into | over | out | branch] [step-cnt]

[[px]] step-cmd [step-cnt]

Where:

[px]	is a viewpoint override, including punctuation ( [ ] ), specifying that the viewpoint is temporarily set to processor x of the boundary scan chain.  The processor can be specified as px (where x is the processor ID), or an alias you have defined for a given processor ID.  ALL cannot be used as a viewpoint override.
step-cnt	specifies the number of instructions to step (1-255).
step-cmd	{ stepinto | stepover | stepoutof | bstep | istep }
stepinto	step into function calls
stepover	step over function calls
stepout	step out of a function call
bstep	step til the next branch instruction
istep	step into function calls (always low level step)

Discussion

Use the step commands to step a processor one or more instructions.  Step commands can also be executed from the Processor menu or the Processor toolbar.

You can control whether stepping takes place at the source level or machine level via the Code window. If a single Code window is open, then the display mode of that window controls how stepping is performed. If the display mode is Source, a line of source code will be stepped.  If the display mode is Mixed or Disassembly, a single assembly language instruction will be stepped.  

Interrupts can be enabled, or disabled during steps.  This preference is set in Options | Emulator Configuration | General.

Breakpoints can be enabled or disabled during steps.  This preference is set in Options | Emulator Configuration | General.

The source level step algorithm uses a combination of go’s and steps depending on the instructions contained in the source line.  During go operations, interrupts and breakpoints will be enabled.

The step out command sets a temporary breakpoint at the return address of the current function.

The step branch command steps until a branch instruction is executed, or until an exception or interrupt occurs.  Conditional branches that are not taken will not terminate the step. This command is only available on Intel IA-32 processors.

If a step count larger than 255 is specified, then the step count is truncated.  Note that the step count uses the default input radix.  If the input radix is set to hex, then step 10 will step 16 times.

Examples

step             // step viewpoint processor one inst. (step into calls)

[p1]step         // step processor 1 (p1) once

step 5           // step 5 instructions (step into function calls)

step into 5      // step 5 instructions (step into function calls)

stepinto 5       // step 5 instructions (step into function calls)

step out         // step out of the current function

stepout          // step out of the current function

[p2]step over 5  // step p2 5 instructions (step over function calls)

step branch      // step til next branch instruction

Related topics

go

stop