Editing Instruction cycle (section)

=== Program counter ===
The [[program counter]] (PC) is a register that holds the memory address of the next instruction to be executed. After each instruction copy to the [[memory address register]] (MAR), the PC can either increment the pointer to the next sequential instruction, jump to a specified pointer, or branch conditionally to a specified pointer.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dodge |first=N.B. |date=2017 |title=The Program Counter |url=https://personal.utdallas.edu/~dodge/EE2310/lec13.pdf |url-status=live |access-date=2025-01-03 |website=personal.utdallas.edu |type=Slides}}</ref> Also, during a [[HLT (x86 instruction)|CPU halt]], the PC holds the instruction being executed, until an external interrupt or a reset signal is received.