Editing Instruction set architecture (section)

===Instruction types===
Examples of operations common to many instruction sets include:

====Data handling and memory operations====
*''Set'' a [[processor register|register]] to a fixed constant value.
*''Copy'' data from a memory location or a register to a memory location or a register (a machine instruction is often called ''move''; however, the term is misleading). They are used to store the contents of a register, the contents of another memory location or the result of a computation, or to retrieve stored data to perform a computation on it later. They are often called [[load–store unit|''load'' or ''store'']] operations.
*''Read'' or ''write'' data from hardware devices.

====Arithmetic and logic operations====
*''Add'', ''subtract'', ''multiply'', or ''divide'' the values of two registers, placing the result in a register, possibly setting one or more [[flag (programming)|condition codes]] in a [[status register]].{{Sfn|Hennessy|Patterson|2003|p=108}}
**''{{vanchor|increment}}'', ''{{vanchor|decrement}}'' in some ISAs, saving operand fetch in trivial cases.
*Perform [[bitwise operation]]s, e.g., taking the ''[[logical conjunction|conjunction]]'' and ''[[logical disjunction|disjunction]]'' of corresponding bits in a pair of registers, taking the ''[[logical negation|negation]]'' of each bit in a register.
*''Compare'' two values in registers (for example, to see if one is less, or if they are equal).
*''{{vanchor|Floating-point instruction}}s'' for arithmetic on floating-point numbers.{{Sfn|Hennessy|Patterson|2003|p=108}}

====Control flow operations====
*''[[Branch (computer science)|Branch]]'' to another location in the program and execute instructions there.
*''[[Conditional branch|Conditionally branch]]'' to another location if a certain condition holds.
*''[[Indirect branch|Indirectly branch]]'' to another location.
*''Skip'' one of more instructions, depending on conditions
*''Trap'' Explicitly cause an [[interrupt]], either conditionally or unconditionally.
*''[[Subroutine|Call]]'' another block of code, while saving, e.g., the location of the next instruction, as a point to return to.

====Coprocessor instructions====
*Load/store data to and from a coprocessor or exchanging with CPU registers.
*Perform coprocessor operations.