Thumb Instruction Reference

5.4.2BL

Long branch with Link.

Syntax

BL label

where:

 

label

is a program-relative expression. See Register-relative and

 

program-relative expressions on page 3-23 for more information.

Usage

The BL instruction copies the address of the next instruction into r14 (lr, the link register), and causes a branch to label.

The machine-level instruction cannot branch to an address outside ±4Mb of the current instruction. When necessary, the ARM linker inserts code (a veneer) to allow longer branches (see The ARM linker chapter in ADS Linker and Utilities Guide).

Architectures

This instruction is available in all T variants of the ARM architecture.

Example

BL extract

5-34

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ARM DUI 0068B

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ARM VERSION 1.2 manual 2 BL, Long branch with Link