6.

3 Expressions, Operators, and Operands

Dataflow modeling describes the design in terms of expressions instead of primitive

gates. Expressions, operators, and operands form the basis of dataflow modeling.

6.3.1 Expressions

Expressions are constructs that combine operators and operands to produce a result.

// Examples of expressions. Combines operands and operators

a ^ b
addr1[20:17] + addr2[20:17]
in1 | in2

6.3.2 Operands

Operands can be any one of the data types defined in Section 3.2, Data Types. Some
constructs will take only certain types of operands. Operands can be constants, integers,
real numbers, nets, registers, times, bit-select (one bit of vector net or a vector register),
part-select (selected bits of the vector net or register vector), and memories or function
calls (functions are discussed later).

integer count, final_count;

final_count = count + 1;//count is an integer operand

real a, b, c;
c = a - b; //a and b are real operands

reg [15:0] reg1, reg2;

reg [3:0] reg_out;
reg_out = reg1[3:0] ^ reg2[3:0];//reg1[3:0] and reg2[3:0] are
//part-select register operands

reg ret_value;
ret_value = calculate_parity(A, B);//calculate_parity is a
//function type operand

6.3.3 Operators

Operators act on the operands to produce desired results. Verilog provides various types
of operators. Operator types are discussed in detail in Section 6.4, Operator Types.

d1 && d2 // && is an operator on operands d1 and d2

!a[0] // ! is an operator on operand a[0]
B >> 1 // >> is an operator on operands B and 1
102
6.4 Operator Types

Verilog provides many different operator types. Operators can be arithmetic, logical,
relational, equality, bitwise, reduction, shift, concatenation, or conditional. Some of these
operators are similar to the operators used in the C programming language. Each operator
type is denoted by a symbol. Table 6-1 shows the complete listing of operator symbols
classified by category.

Table 6-1. Operator Types and Symbols

Operator Type Operator Symbol Operation Performed Number of Operands
* multiply two

/ divide two

+ add two
Arithmetic
- subtract two

% modulus two

** power (exponent) two

! logical negation one

Logical && logical and two

|| logical or two
> greater than two

< less than two

Relational
>= greater than or equal two

<= less than or equal two

== equality two

!= inequality two
Equality
=== case equality two

!== case inequality two

103
 ~ bitwise negation one

& bitwise and two

Bitwise | bitwise or two

^ bitwise xor two

^~ or ~^ bitwise xnor two

& reduction and one

~& reduction nand one

| reduction or one
Reduction
~| reduction nor one

^ reduction xor one

^~ or ~^ reduction xnor one

>> Right shift Two

<< Left shift Two

Shift
>>> Arithmetic right shift Two

<<< Arithmetic left shift Two

Concatenation {} Concatenation Any number
Replication {{}} Replication Any number
Conditional ?: Conditional Three

Let us now discuss each operator type in detail.

6.4.1 Arithmetic Operators

There are two types of arithmetic operators: binary and unary.

Binary operators

Binary arithmetic operators are multiply (*), divide (/), add (+), subtract (-), power (**),
and modulus (%). Binary operators take two operands.
104
A = 4'b0011; B = 4'b0100; // A and B are register vectors
D = 6; E = 4; F=2// D and E are integers

A * B // Multiply A and B. Evaluates to 4'b1100

D / E // Divide D by E. Evaluates to 1. Truncates any fractional part.
A + B // Add A and B. Evaluates to 4'b0111
B - A // Subtract A from B. Evaluates to 4'b0001
F = E ** F; //E to the power F, yields 16

If any operand bit has a value x, then the result of the entire expression is x. This seems
intuitive because if an operand value is not known precisely, the result should be an
unknown.

in1 = 4'b101x;
in2 = 4'b1010;
sum = in1 + in2; // sum will be evaluated to the value 4'bx

Modulus operators produce the remainder from the division of two numbers. They
operate similarly to the modulus operator in the C programming language.

13 % 3 // Evaluates to 1
16 % 4 // Evaluates to 0
-7 % 2 // Evaluates to -1, takes sign of the first operand
7 % -2 // Evaluates to +1, takes sign of the first operand

Unary operators

The operators + and - can also work as unary operators. They are used to specify the
positive or negative sign of the operand. Unary + or ? operators have higher precedence
than the binary + or ? operators.

-4 // Negative 4
+5 // Positive 5

Negative numbers are represented as 2's complement internally in Verilog. It is advisable

to use negative numbers only of the type integer or real in expressions. Designers should
avoid negative numbers of the type <sss> '<base> <nnn> in expressions because they are
converted to unsigned 2's complement numbers and hence yield unexpected results.

//Advisable to use integer or real numbers

-10 / 5// Evaluates to -2

//Do not use numbers of type <sss> '<base> <nnn>

-'d10 / 5// Is equivalent (2's complement of 10)/5 = (232 - 10)/5
// where 32 is the default machine word width.
// This evaluates to an incorrect and unexpected result

105
6.4.2 Logical Operators

Logical operators are logical-and (&&), logical-or (||) and logical-not (!). Operators &&
and || are binary operators. Operator ! is a unary operator. Logical operators follow these
conditions:

1. Logical operators always evaluate to a 1-bit value, 0 (false), 1 (true), or x

(ambiguous).

2. If an operand is not equal to zero, it is equivalent to a logical 1 (true condition). If

it is 01equal to zero, it is equivalent to a logical 0 (false condition). If any operand
bit is x or z, it is equivalent to x (ambiguous condition) and is normally treated by
simulators as a false condition.

3. Logical operators take variables or expressions as operands.

Use of parentheses to group logical operations is highly recommended to improve

readability. Also, the user does not have to remember the precedence of operators.

// Logical operations
A = 3; B = 0;
A && B // Evaluates to 0. Equivalent to (logical-1 && logical-0)
A || B // Evaluates to 1. Equivalent to (logical-1 || logical-0)
!A// Evaluates to 0. Equivalent to not(logical-1)
!B// Evaluates to 1. Equivalent to not(logical-0)

// Unknowns
A = 2'b0x; B = 2'b10;
A && B // Evaluates to x. Equivalent to (x && logical 1)

// Expressions
(a == 2) && (b == 3) // Evaluates to 1 if both a == 2 and b == 3 are
true.
// Evaluates to 0 if either is false.

6.4.3 Relational Operators

Relational operators are greater-than (>), less-than (<), greater-than-or-equal-to (>=), and
less-than-or-equal-to (<=). If relational operators are used in an expression, the
expression returns a logical value of 1 if the expression is true and 0 if the expression is
false. If there are any unknown or z bits in the operands, the expression takes a value x.
These operators function exactly as the corresponding operators in the C programming
language.

106
// A = 4, B = 3
// X = 4'b1010, Y = 4'b1101, Z = 4'b1xxx

A <= B // Evaluates to a logical 0

A > B // Evaluates to a logical 1
Y >= X // Evaluates to a logical 1
Y < Z // Evaluates to an x

6.4.4 Equality Operators

Equality operators are logical equality (==), logical inequality (!=), case equality (===),
and case inequality (!==). When used in an expression, equality operators return logical
value 1 if true, 0 if false. These operators compare the two operands bit by bit, with zero
filling if the operands are of unequal length. Table 6-2 lists the operators.

Table 6-2. Equality Operators

Possible Logical
Expression Description
Value
a == b a equal to b, result unknown if x or z in a or b 0, 1, x
a not equal to b, result unknown if x or z in a or
a != b 0, 1, x
b
a === b a equal to b, including x and z 0, 1
a !== b a not equal to b, including x and z 0, 1

It is important to note the difference between the logical equality operators (==, !=) and
case equality operators (===, !==). The logical equality operators (==, !=) will yield an x
if either operand has x or z in its bits. However, the case equality operators ( ===, !== )
compare both operands bit by bit and compare all bits, including x and z. The result is 1 if
the operands match exactly, including x and z bits. The result is 0 if the operands do not
match exactly. Case equality operators never result in an x.

// A = 4, B = 3
// X = 4'b1010, Y = 4'b1101
// Z = 4'b1xxz, M = 4'b1xxz, N = 4'b1xxx

A == B // Results in logical 0
X != Y // Results in logical 1
X == Z // Results in x
Z === M // Results in logical 1 (all bits match, including x and z)
Z === N // Results in logical 0 (least significant bit does not match)
M !== N // Results in logical 1

107
6.4.5 Bitwise Operators

Bitwise operators are negation (~), and(&), or (|), xor (^), xnor (^~, ~^). Bitwise operators
perform a bit-by-bit operation on two operands. They take each bit in one operand and
perform the operation with the corresponding bit in the other operand. If one operand is
shorter than the other, it will be bit-extended with zeros to match the length of the longer
operand. Logic tables for the bit-by-bit computation are shown in Table 6-3. A z is
treated as an x in a bitwise operation. The exception is the unary negation operator (~),
which takes only one operand and operates on the bits of the single operand.

Table 6-3. Truth Tables for Bitwise Operators

Examples of bitwise operators are shown below.

// X = 4'b1010, Y = 4'b1101
// Z = 4'b10x1

~X // Negation. Result is 4'b0101

X & Y // Bitwise and. Result is 4'b1000
X | Y // Bitwise or. Result is 4'b1111
X ^ Y // Bitwise xor. Result is 4'b0111
X ^~ Y // Bitwise xnor. Result is 4'b1000
X & Z // Result is 4'b10x0

108
It is important to distinguish bitwise operators ~, &, and | from logical operators !, &&, ||.
Logical operators always yield a logical value 0, 1, x, whereas bitwise operators yield a
bit-by-bit value. Logical operators perform a logical operation, not a bit-by-bit operation.

// X = 4'b1010, Y = 4'b0000

X | Y // bitwise operation. Result is 4'b1010

X || Y // logical operation. Equivalent to 1 || 0. Result is 1.

6.4.6 Reduction Operators

Reduction operators are and (&), nand (~&), or (|), nor (~|), xor (^), and xnor (~^, ^~).
Reduction operators take only one operand. Reduction operators perform a bitwise
operation on a single vector operand and yield a 1-bit result. The logic tables for the
operators are the same as shown in Section 6.4.5, Bitwise Operators. The difference is
that bitwise operations are on bits from two different operands, whereas reduction
operations are on the bits of the same operand. Reduction operators work bit by bit from
right to left. Reduction nand, reduction nor, and reduction xnor are computed by inverting
the result of the reduction and, reduction or, and reduction xor, respectively.

// X = 4'b1010

&X //Equivalent to 1 & 0 & 1 & 0. Results in 1'b0

|X//Equivalent to 1 | 0 | 1 | 0. Results in 1'b1
^X//Equivalent to 1 ^ 0 ^ 1 ^ 0. Results in 1'b0
//A reduction xor or xnor can be used for even or odd parity
//generation of a vector.

The use of a similar set of symbols for logical (!, &&, ||), bitwise (~, &, |, ^), and
reduction operators (&, |, ^) is somewhat confusing initially. The difference lies in the
number of operands each operator takes and also the value of results computed.

6.4.7 Shift Operators

Shift operators are right shift ( >>), left shift (<<), arithmetic right shift (>>>), and
arithmetic left shift (<<<). Regular shift operators shift a vector operand to the right or
the left by a specified number of bits. The operands are the vector and the number of bits
to shift. When the bits are shifted, the vacant bit positions are filled with zeros. Shift
operations do not wrap around. Arithmetic shift operators use the context of the
expression to determine the value with which to fill the vacated bits.

// X = 4'b1100

Y = X >> 1; //Y is 4'b0110. Shift right 1 bit. 0 filled in MSB

position.

109
Y = X << 1; //Y is 4'b1000. Shift left 1 bit. 0 filled in LSB position.
Y = X << 2; //Y is 4'b0000. Shift left 2 bits.

integer a, b, c; //Signed data types

a = 0;
b = -10; // 00111...10110 binary
c = a + (b >>> 3); //Results in -2 decimal, due to arithmetic shift

Shift operators are useful because they allow the designer to model shift operations, shift-
and-add algorithms for multiplication, and other useful operations.

6.4.8 Concatenation Operator

The concatenation operator ( {, } ) provides a mechanism to append multiple operands.

The operands must be sized. Unsized operands are not allowed because the size of each
operand must be known for computation of the size of the result.

Concatenations are expressed as operands within braces, with commas separating the
operands. Operands can be scalar nets or registers, vector nets or registers, bit-select,
part-select, or sized constants.

// A = 1'b1, B = 2'b00, C = 2'b10, D = 3'b110

Y = {B , C} // Result Y is 4'b0010
Y = {A , B , C , D , 3'b001} // Result Y is 11'b10010110001
Y = {A , B[0], C[1]} // Result Y is 3'b101

6.4.9 Replication Operator

Repetitive concatenation of the same number can be expressed by using a replication

constant. A replication constant specifies how many times to replicate the number inside
the brackets ( { } ).

reg A;
reg [1:0] B, C;
reg [2:0] D;
A = 1'b1; B = 2'b00; C = 2'b10; D = 3'b110;

Y = { 4{A} } // Result Y is 4'b1111

Y = { 4{A} , 2{B} } // Result Y is 8'b11110000
Y = { 4{A} , 2{B} , C } // Result Y is 8'b1111000010

110
6.4.10 Conditional Operator
The conditional operator(?:) takes three operands.

Usage: condition_expr ? true_expr : false_expr ;

The condition expression (condition_expr) is first evaluated. If the result is true (logical
1), then the true_expr is evaluated. If the result is false (logical 0), then the false_expr is
evaluated. If the result is x (ambiguous), then both true_expr and false_expr are evaluated
and their results are compared, bit by bit, to return for each bit position an x if the bits are
different and the value of the bits if they are the same.

The action of a conditional operator is similar to a multiplexer. Alternately, it can be

compared to the if-else expression.

Conditional operators are frequently used in dataflow modeling to model conditional

assignments. The conditional expression acts as a switching control.

//model functionality of a tristate buffer

assign addr_bus = drive_enable ? addr_out : 36'bz;

//model functionality of a 2-to-1 mux

assign out = control ? in1 : in0;

Conditional operations can be nested. Each true_expr or false_expr can itself be a

conditional operation. In the example that follows, convince yourself that (A==3) and
control are the two select signals of 4-to-1 multiplexer with n, m, y, x as the inputs and
out as the output signal.

assign out = (A == 3) ? ( control ? x : y ): ( control ? m : n) ;

111
6.4.11 Operator Precedence

Having discussed the operators, it is now important to discuss operator precedence. If no

parentheses are used to separate parts of expressions, Verilog enforces the following
precedence. Operators listed in Table 6-4 are in order from highest precedence to lowest
precedence. It is recommended that parentheses be used to separate expressions except in
case of unary operators or when there is no ambiguity.

Table 6-4. Operator Precedence

Operators Operator Symbols Precedence

Unary +-!~ Highest precedence
Multiply, Divide, Modulus * / %
Add, Subtract +-
Shift << >>
Relational < <= > >=
Equality == != === !==
&, ~&

Reduction ^ ^~

|, ~|
&&
Logical
||
Conditional ?: Lowest precedence

112