Program status word explained
The program status word (PSW) is a register that performs the function of a status register and program counter, and sometimes more. The term is also applied to a copy of the PSW in storage. This article only discusses the PSW in the IBM System/360 and its successors, and follows the IBM convention of numbering bits starting with 0 as the leftmost (most significant) bit.
Although certain fields within the PSW may be tested or set by using non-privileged instructions, testing or setting the remaining fields may only be accomplished by using privileged instructions.
Contained within the PSW are the two bit condition code, representing zero, positive, negative, overflow, and similar flags of other architectures' status registers. Conditional branch instructions test this encoded as a four bit value, with each bit representing a test of one of the four condition code values, 23 + 22 + 21 + 20. (Since IBM uses big-endian bit numbering, mask value 8 selects code 0, mask value 4 selects code 1, mask value 2 selects code 2, and mask value 1 selects code 3.)
The 64-bit PSW describes (among other things)
- Interrupt masks
- Privilege states
- Condition code
- Instruction address
In the early instances of the architecture (System/360 and early System/370), the instruction address was 24 bits; in later instances (XA/370), the instruction address was 31 bits plus a mode bit (24 bit addressing mode if zero; 31 bit addressing mode if one) for a total of 32 bits.
In the present instances of the architecture (z/Architecture), the instruction address is 64 bits and the PSW itself is 128 bits.
The PSW may be loaded by the LOAD PSW instruction (LPSW or LPSWE). Its contents may be examined with the Extract PSW instruction (EPSW).
Format
S/360
On all but 360/20, the PSW has the following formats. S/360 Extended PSW format only applies to the 360/67 with bit 8 of control register 6 set.
IBM S/360 PSW formats S/360 Standard PSW
| | System Mask | Key | A | M | W | P | Interruption Code | | | 0 | < | -- 1 --> | < | -- 2 --> | < | -- 3 --> | < | -- 4 --> | < | -- 5 --> | < | -- 6 --> | 7 | 8 | < | -- 9 --> | < | -- 10 --> | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | < | -- 17 --> | < | -- 18 --> | < | -- 19 --> | < | -- 20 --> | < | -- 21 --> | < | -- 22 --> | < | -- 23 --> | < | -- 24 --> | < | -- 25 --> | < | -- 26 --> | < | -- 27 --> | < | -- 28 --> | < | -- 29 --> | < | -- 30 --> | 31 | |
---|
| | ILC | CC | Program Mask | Instruction Address | | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | < | -- 37 --> | < | -- 38 --> | 39 | 40 | < | -- 41 --> | < | -- 42 --> | < | -- 43 --> | < | -- 44 --> | < | -- 45 --> | < | -- 46 --> | < | -- 47 --> | < | -- 48 --> | < | -- 49 --> | < | -- 50 --> | < | -- 51 --> | < | -- 52 --> | < | -- 53 --> | < | -- 54 --> | < | -- 55 --> | < | -- 56 --> | < | -- 57 --> | < | -- 58 --> | < | -- 59 --> | < | -- 60 --> | < | -- 61 --> | < | -- 62 --> | 63 | |
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Bits | Field | Meaning |
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0-7 | SM | ! Bit! Meaning0 | Channel 0 mask | 1 | Channel 1 mask | 2 | Channel 2 mask | 3 | Channel 3 mask | 4 | Channel 4 mask | 5 | Channel 5 mask | 6 | Channel 6 mask | 7 | External Mask | | | 8-11 | Key | PSW key | 12 | A | ASCII | 13 | M | Machine-check mask | 14 | W | Wait state | 15 | P | Problem state | 16-31 | IC | Interruption Code | 32-33 | ILC | Instruction-Length Code | 34-35 | CC | Condition Code | 36-39 | PM | ! Bit! Meaning36 | Fixed-point overflow | 37 | Decimal overflow | 38 | Exponent underflow | 39 | Significance | | | 40-63 | IA | Instruction Address | |
| | |
S/360 Extended PSW
| | spare | 24/32 Bit Mode | Tran Ctrl | I/O Mask | Ext. Mask | Key | A | M | W | P | ILC | CC | Program Mask | spare | | | 0 | < | -- 1 --> | < | -- 2 --> | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | < | -- 9 --> | < | -- 10 --> | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | < | -- 21 --> | < | -- 22 --> | 23 | 24 | < | -- 25 --> | < | -- 26 --> | < | -- 27 --> | < | -- 28 --> | < | -- 29 --> | < | -- 30 --> | 31 | |
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| | Instruction Address | | 32 | < | -- 33 --> | < | -- 34 --> | < | -- 35 --> | < | -- 36 --> | < | -- 37 --> | < | -- 38 --> | < | -- 39 --> | < | -- 40 --> | < | -- 41 --> | < | -- 42 --> | < | -- 43 --> | < | -- 44 --> | < | -- 45 --> | < | -- 46 --> | < | -- 47 --> | < | -- 48 --> | < | -- 49 --> | < | -- 50 --> | < | -- 51 --> | < | -- 52 --> | < | -- 53 --> | < | -- 54 --> | < | -- 55 --> | < | -- 56 --> | < | -- 57 --> | < | -- 58 --> | < | -- 59 --> | < | -- 60 --> | < | -- 61 --> | < | -- 62 --> | 63 | |
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Bits | Field | Meaning |
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0-3 | | Spare (must be 0) | 4 | | 24/32-bit Address mode | 5 | | Translation Control | 6 | IO | I/O Mask (Summary) | 7 | EX | External Mask (Summary) | 8-11 | Key | Protection Key | 12 | A | ASCII | 13 | M | Machine-check mask | 14 | W | Wait state | 15 | P | Problem state | 16-17 | ILC | Instruction-Length Code | 18-19 | CC | Condition Code | 20-23 | PM | ! Bit! Meaning20 | Fixed-point overflow | 21 | Decimal overflow | 22 | Exponent underflow | 23 | Significance | | | 24-31 | | Spare | 32-63 | IA | Instruction Address | |
| | | |
S/370
IBM S/370 PSW formats S/370 Basic Control mode PSW
| | Chan. Mask | I O | E X | Key | 0 | M | W | P | Interruption Code | | | 0 | 1 | 2 | < | -- 3 --> | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | < | -- 9 --> | < | -- 10 --> | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | < | -- 17 --> | < | -- 18 --> | < | -- 19 --> | < | -- 20 --> | < | -- 21 --> | < | -- 22 --> | < | -- 23 --> | < | -- 24 --> | < | -- 25 --> | < | -- 26 --> | < | -- 27 --> | < | -- 28 --> | < | -- 29 --> | < | -- 30 --> | 31 | |
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| | ILC | CC | Program Mask | Instruction Address | | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | < | -- 37 --> | < | -- 38 --> | 39 | 40 | < | -- 41 --> | < | -- 42 --> | < | -- 43 --> | < | -- 44 --> | < | -- 45 --> | < | -- 46 --> | < | -- 47 --> | < | -- 48 --> | < | -- 49 --> | < | -- 50 --> | < | -- 51 --> | < | -- 52 --> | < | -- 53 --> | < | -- 54 --> | < | -- 55 --> | < | -- 56 --> | < | -- 57 --> | < | -- 58 --> | < | -- 59 --> | < | -- 60 --> | < | -- 61 --> | < | -- 62 --> | 63 | |
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Bits | Field | Meaning |
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0-5 | | Channel Masks for channels 0-5 | 6 | IO | I/O Mask for channels > 5 | 7 | EX | External Mask | 8-11 | Key | PSW key | 12 | E=0 | Basic Control mode | 13 | M | Machine-check mask | 14 | W | Wait state | 15 | P | Problem state | 16-31 | IC | Interruption Code | 32-33 | ILC | Instruction-Length Code | 34-35 | CC | Condition Code | 36-39 | PM | ! Bit! Meaning36 | Fixed-point overflow | 37 | Decimal overflow | 38 | Exponent underflow | 39 | Significance | | | 40-63 | IA | Instruction Address | |
| | |
S/370 Extended Control mode PSW
| | 0 | R | 0 | 0 | 0 | T | I O | E X | Key | 1 | M | W | P | S | 0 | CC | Program Mask | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | 0 | 1 | 2 | < | -- 3 --> | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | < | -- 9 --> | < | -- 10 --> | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | < | -- 21 --> | < | -- 22 --> | 23 | 24 | < | -- 25 --> | < | -- 26 --> | < | -- 27 --> | < | -- 28 --> | < | -- 29 --> | < | -- 30 --> | 31 | |
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| | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Instruction Address | | 32 | < | -- 33 --> | < | -- 34 --> | < | -- 35 --> | < | -- 36 --> | < | -- 37 --> | < | -- 38 --> | 39 | 40 | < | -- 41 --> | < | -- 42 --> | < | -- 43 --> | < | -- 44 --> | < | -- 45 --> | < | -- 46 --> | < | -- 47 --> | < | -- 48 --> | < | -- 49 --> | < | -- 50 --> | < | -- 51 --> | < | -- 52 --> | < | -- 53 --> | < | -- 54 --> | < | -- 55 --> | < | -- 56 --> | < | -- 57 --> | < | -- 58 --> | < | -- 59 --> | < | -- 60 --> | < | -- 61 --> | < | -- 62 --> | 63 | |
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Bits | Field | Meaning |
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1 | R | PER Mask | 5 | T | DAT mode | 6 | IO | I/O Mask; subject to channel mask in CR2 | 7 | EX | External Mask; subject to external subclass mask in CR0 | 8-11 | Key | PSW key | 12 | E=1 | Extended Control mode | 13 | M | Machine-check mask | 14 | W | Wait state | 15 | P | Problem state | 16 | S | Address-Space Control 0=primary-space mode 1=Secondary-space mode | 18-19 | CC | Condition Code | 20-23 | PM | ! Bit! Meaning20 | Fixed-point overflow | 21 | Decimal overflow | 22 | Exponent underflow | 23 | Significance | | | 40-63 | IA | Instruction Address | |
| | | |
S/370 Extended Architecture (S/370-XA)
IBM Extended Architecture (XA) PSW format Extended Architecture Extended Control mode PSW
| | 0 | R | 0 | 0 | 0 | T | I O | E X | Key | 1 | M | W | P | S | 0 | CC | Program Mask | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | 0 | 1 | 2 | < | -- 3 --> | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | < | -- 9 --> | < | -- 10 --> | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | < | -- 21 --> | < | -- 22 --> | 23 | 24 | < | -- 25 --> | < | -- 26 --> | < | -- 27 --> | < | -- 28 --> | < | -- 29 --> | < | -- 30 --> | 31 | |
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| | A | Instruction Address | | 32 | 33 | < | -- 34 --> | < | -- 35 --> | < | -- 36 --> | < | -- 37 --> | < | -- 38 --> | < | -- 39 --> | < | -- 40 --> | < | -- 41 --> | < | -- 42 --> | < | -- 43 --> | < | -- 44 --> | < | -- 45 --> | < | -- 46 --> | < | -- 47 --> | < | -- 48 --> | < | -- 49 --> | < | -- 50 --> | < | -- 51 --> | < | -- 52 --> | < | -- 53 --> | < | -- 54 --> | < | -- 55 --> | < | -- 56 --> | < | -- 57 --> | < | -- 58 --> | < | -- 59 --> | < | -- 60 --> | < | -- 61 --> | < | -- 62 --> | 63 | |
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Bits | Field | Meaning |
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1 | R | PER Mask | 5 | T | DAT mode | 6 | IO | I/O Mask; subject to channel mask in CR2 | 7 | EX | External Mask; subject to external subclass mask in CR0 | 8-11 | Key | PSW key | 12 | E=1 | Extended Control mode | 13 | M | Machine-check mask | 14 | W | Wait state | 15 | P | Problem state | 16 | S | Address-Space Control 0=primary-space mode 1=Secondary-space mode | 18-19 | CC | Condition Code | 20-23 | PM | ! Bit! Meaning20 | Fixed-point overflow | 21 | Decimal overflow | 22 | Exponent underflow | 23 | Significance | | | 32 | A | Addressing mode 0=24 bit; 1=31 bit | 33-63 | IA | Instruction Address | |
| | | |
Enterprise Systems Architecture (ESA)
IBM Enterprise Systems Architecture (ESA) PSW format Enterprise Systems Architecture Extended Control mode PSW
| | 0 | R | 0 | 0 | 0 | T | I O | E X | Key | 1 | M | W | P | AS | CC | Program Mask | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | | 0 | 1 | 2 | < | -- 3 --> | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | < | -- 9 --> | < | -- 10 --> | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | < | -- 21 --> | < | -- 22 --> | 23 | 24 | < | -- 25 --> | < | -- 26 --> | < | -- 27 --> | < | -- 28 --> | < | -- 29 --> | < | -- 30 --> | 31 | |
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| | A | Instruction Address | | 32 | 33 | < | -- 34 --> | < | -- 35 --> | < | -- 36 --> | < | -- 37 --> | < | -- 38 --> | < | -- 39 --> | < | -- 40 --> | < | -- 41 --> | < | -- 42 --> | < | -- 43 --> | < | -- 44 --> | < | -- 45 --> | < | -- 46 --> | < | -- 47 --> | < | -- 48 --> | < | -- 49 --> | < | -- 50 --> | < | -- 51 --> | < | -- 52 --> | < | -- 53 --> | < | -- 54 --> | < | -- 55 --> | < | -- 56 --> | < | -- 57 --> | < | -- 58 --> | < | -- 59 --> | < | -- 60 --> | < | -- 61 --> | < | -- 62 --> | 63 | |
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Bits | Field | Meaning |
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1 | R | PER Mask | 5 | T | DAT mode | 6 | IO | I/O Mask; subject to channel mask in CR2 | 7 | EX | External Mask; subject to external subclass mask in CR0 | 8-11 | Key | PSW key | 12 | E=1 | Extended Control mode | 13 | M | Machine-check mask | 14 | W | Wait state | 15 | P | Problem state | 16-17 | AS | Address-Space Control 00=primary-space mode 01=Access-register mode 10=Secondary-space mode 11=Home-space mode | 18-19 | CC | Condition Code | 20-23 | PM | ! Bit! Meaning20 | Fixed-point overflow | 21 | Decimal overflow | 22 | Exponent underflow | 23 | Significance | | | 32 | A | Addressing mode 0=24 bit; 1=31 bit | 33-63 | IA | Instruction Address | |
| | | |
z/Architecture
IBM z/Architecture PSW formats z/Architecture long PSW
| | 0 | R | 0 | 0 | 0 | T | I O | E X | Key | 0 | M | W | P | AS | CC | Program Mask | R I | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | E A | | | 0 | 1 | 2 | < | -- 3 --> | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | < | -- 9 --> | < | -- 10 --> | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | < | -- 21 --> | < | -- 22 --> | 23 | 24 | < | -- 25 --> | < | -- 26 --> | < | -- 27 --> | < | -- 28 --> | < | -- 29 --> | 30 | 31 | |
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| | B A | 0 | | | 32 | 33 | < | -- 34 --> | < | -- 35 --> | < | -- 36 --> | < | -- 37 --> | < | -- 38 --> | < | -- 39 --> | < | -- 40 --> | < | -- 41 --> | < | -- 42 --> | < | -- 43 --> | < | -- 44 --> | < | -- 45 --> | < | -- 46 --> | < | -- 47 --> | < | -- 48 --> | < | -- 49 --> | < | -- 50 --> | < | -- 51 --> | < | -- 52 --> | < | -- 53 --> | < | -- 54 --> | < | -- 55 --> | < | -- 56 --> | < | -- 57 --> | < | -- 58 --> | < | -- 59 --> | < | -- 60 --> | < | -- 61 --> | < | -- 62 --> | 63 | |
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| | Instruction Address | | | 64 | < | -- 65 --> | < | -- 66 --> | < | -- 67 --> | < | -- 68 --> | < | -- 69 --> | < | -- 70 --> | < | -- 71 --> | < | -- 72 --> | < | -- 73 --> | < | -- 74 --> | < | -- 75 --> | < | -- 76 --> | < | -- 77 --> | < | -- 78 --> | < | -- 79 --> | < | -- 80 --> | < | -- 81 --> | < | -- 82 --> | < | -- 83 --> | < | -- 84 --> | < | -- 85 --> | < | -- 86 --> | < | -- 87 --> | < | -- 88 --> | < | -- 89 --> | < | -- 90 --> | < | -- 91 --> | < | -- 92 --> | < | -- 93 --> | < | -- 94 --> | 95 | |
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| | Instruction Address (Continued) | | | 96 | < | -- 97 --> | < | -- 98 --> | < | -- 99 --> | < | -- 100 --> | < | -- 101 --> | < | -- 102 --> | < | -- 103 --> | < | -- 104 --> | < | -- 105 --> | < | -- 106 --> | < | -- 107 --> | < | -- 108 --> | < | -- 109 --> | < | -- 110 --> | < | -- 111 --> | < | -- 112 --> | < | -- 113 --> | < | -- 114 --> | < | -- 115 --> | < | -- 116 --> | < | -- 117 --> | < | -- 118 --> | < | -- 119 --> | < | -- 120 --> | < | -- 121 --> | < | -- 122 --> | < | -- 123 --> | < | -- 124 --> | < | -- 125 --> | < | -- 126 --> | 127 | |
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Bits | Field | Meaning |
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1 | R | PER Mask | 5 | T | DAT mode | 6 | IO | I/O mask | 7 | EX | External Mask | 8-11 | Key | PSW key | 12 | E=0 | Must be zero for LPSWE | 13 | M | Machine-check mask | 14 | W | Wait state | 15 | P | Problem state | 16-17 | AS | Address-Space Control 00=primary-space mode 01=Access-register mode 10=Secondary-space mode 11=Home-space mode | 18-19 | CC | Condition Code | 20-23 | PM | ! Bit! Meaning20 | Fixed-point overflow | 21 | Decimal overflow | 22 | HFP Exponent underflow | 23 | HFP Significance | | | 24 | RI | Reserved for IBM | 31 | EA | Extended Addressing mode 0=defined by BA below; 1=64-bit, BA must be zero | 32 | BA | Basic Addressing mode 0=24 or 64; 1=31 | 64-127 | IA | Instruction Address | |
| | |
|
z/Architecture short PSW
| | 0 | R | 0 | 0 | 0 | T | I O | E X | Key | 1 | M | W | P | AS | CC | Program Mask | R I | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | E A | | | 0 | 1 | 2 | < | -- 3 --> | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | < | -- 9 --> | < | -- 10 --> | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | < | -- 21 --> | < | -- 22 --> | 23 | 24 | 25 | < | -- 26 --> | < | -- 27 --> | < | -- 28 --> | < | -- 29 --> | 30 | 31 | |
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| | B A | Instruction Address | | 32 | 33 | < | -- 34 --> | < | -- 35 --> | < | -- 36 --> | < | -- 37 --> | < | -- 38 --> | < | -- 39 --> | < | -- 40 --> | < | -- 41 --> | < | -- 42 --> | < | -- 43 --> | < | -- 44 --> | < | -- 45 --> | < | -- 46 --> | < | -- 47 --> | < | -- 48 --> | < | -- 49 --> | < | -- 50 --> | < | -- 51 --> | < | -- 52 --> | < | -- 53 --> | < | -- 54 --> | < | -- 55 --> | < | -- 56 --> | < | -- 57 --> | < | -- 58 --> | < | -- 59 --> | < | -- 60 --> | < | -- 61 --> | < | -- 62 --> | 63 | |
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Bits | Field | Meaning |
---|
1 | R | PER Mask | 5 | T | DAT mode | 6 | IO | I/O mask | 7 | EX | External Mask | 8-11 | Key | PSW key | 12 | E=1 | Must be one for LPSW | 13 | M | Machine-check mask | 14 | W | Wait state | 15 | P | Problem state | 16-17 | AS | Address-Space Control 00=primary-space mode 01=Access-register mode 10=Secondary-space mode 11=Home-space mode | 18-19 | CC | Condition Code | 20-23 | PM | ! Bit! Meaning20 | Fixed-point overflow | 21 | Decimal overflow | 22 | HFP Exponent underflow | 23 | HFP Significance | | | 24 | RI | Reserved for IBM | 31 | EA | Extended Addressing mode 0=defined by BA below; 1=64-bit, BA must be zero | 32 | BA | Basic Addressing mode 0=24 or 64; 1=31 | 33-63 | IA | Instruction Address | |
| | | |
References
- S360
IBM System/360 Principles of Operation . Eighth . September 1968 . A22-6821-7 . . IBM .
- func67
IBM System/360 Model 67 Functional Characteristics . GA27-2719-2 . February 1972 . Third . . IBM .
- S370
IBM System/370 Principles of Operation . A22-7000-10 . September 1987 . Eleventh . . IBM .
- S370-XA
IBM System/370 Extended Architecture Principles of Operation . SA22-7085-1 . January 1987 . Second . . IBM .
- S370-ESA
IBM Enterprise Systems Architecture/370 Principles of Operation . SA22-7200-0 . August 1988 . First . . IBM .
- z
z/Architecture Principles of Operation . Fourteenth . May 2022 . SA22-7832-13 . . IBM .