Previous Program Counter

MPLAB® X IDE has a Previous Program Counter (PrevPC) display. Its value can be used as discussed below.

The caller of a subroutine or branch can be identified from the PrevPC value if a breakpoint is set on the first instruction of the destination routine (or subroutine). When the part is halted in the debug session, the PrevPC display in MPLAB X IDE will indicate the address of the calling or branch instruction.

Similarly, if a breakpoint is set on the instruction that follows a BTFSC-pair (not the skipped instruction, but the next one), PrevPC will identify whether or not the skip occurred.

Additionally, if an 'execution out-of-bounds' halt exception occurs, the PrevPC feature can be used to identify the wild-branch instruction that caused the 'execution out-of-bounds' halt exception.

PreviousPC.jpg
Figure 1: Previous PC View

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