1 ==========================
2 Exception Handling in LLVM
3 ==========================
11 This document is the central repository for all information pertaining to
12 exception handling in LLVM. It describes the format that LLVM exception
13 handling information takes, which is useful for those interested in creating
14 front-ends or dealing directly with the information. Further, this document
15 provides specific examples of what exception handling information is used for in
18 Itanium ABI Zero-cost Exception Handling
19 ----------------------------------------
21 Exception handling for most programming languages is designed to recover from
22 conditions that rarely occur during general use of an application. To that end,
23 exception handling should not interfere with the main flow of an application's
24 algorithm by performing checkpointing tasks, such as saving the current pc or
27 The Itanium ABI Exception Handling Specification defines a methodology for
28 providing outlying data in the form of exception tables without inlining
29 speculative exception handling code in the flow of an application's main
30 algorithm. Thus, the specification is said to add "zero-cost" to the normal
31 execution of an application.
33 A more complete description of the Itanium ABI exception handling runtime
34 support of can be found at `Itanium C++ ABI: Exception Handling
35 <http://mentorembedded.github.com/cxx-abi/abi-eh.html>`_. A description of the
36 exception frame format can be found at `Exception Frames
37 <http://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/LSB_3.0.0/LSB-Core-generic/LSB-Core-generic/ehframechpt.html>`_,
38 with details of the DWARF 4 specification at `DWARF 4 Standard
39 <http://dwarfstd.org/Dwarf4Std.php>`_. A description for the C++ exception
40 table formats can be found at `Exception Handling Tables
41 <http://mentorembedded.github.com/cxx-abi/exceptions.pdf>`_.
43 Setjmp/Longjmp Exception Handling
44 ---------------------------------
46 Setjmp/Longjmp (SJLJ) based exception handling uses LLVM intrinsics
47 `llvm.eh.sjlj.setjmp`_ and `llvm.eh.sjlj.longjmp`_ to handle control flow for
50 For each function which does exception processing --- be it ``try``/``catch``
51 blocks or cleanups --- that function registers itself on a global frame
52 list. When exceptions are unwinding, the runtime uses this list to identify
53 which functions need processing.
55 Landing pad selection is encoded in the call site entry of the function
56 context. The runtime returns to the function via `llvm.eh.sjlj.longjmp`_, where
57 a switch table transfers control to the appropriate landing pad based on the
58 index stored in the function context.
60 In contrast to DWARF exception handling, which encodes exception regions and
61 frame information in out-of-line tables, SJLJ exception handling builds and
62 removes the unwind frame context at runtime. This results in faster exception
63 handling at the expense of slower execution when no exceptions are thrown. As
64 exceptions are, by their nature, intended for uncommon code paths, DWARF
65 exception handling is generally preferred to SJLJ.
67 Windows Runtime Exception Handling
68 -----------------------------------
70 LLVM supports handling exceptions produced by the Windows runtime, but it
71 requires a very different intermediate representation. It is not based on the
72 ":ref:`landingpad <i_landingpad>`" instruction like the other two models, and is
73 described later in this document under :ref:`wineh`.
78 When an exception is thrown in LLVM code, the runtime does its best to find a
79 handler suited to processing the circumstance.
81 The runtime first attempts to find an *exception frame* corresponding to the
82 function where the exception was thrown. If the programming language supports
83 exception handling (e.g. C++), the exception frame contains a reference to an
84 exception table describing how to process the exception. If the language does
85 not support exception handling (e.g. C), or if the exception needs to be
86 forwarded to a prior activation, the exception frame contains information about
87 how to unwind the current activation and restore the state of the prior
88 activation. This process is repeated until the exception is handled. If the
89 exception is not handled and no activations remain, then the application is
90 terminated with an appropriate error message.
92 Because different programming languages have different behaviors when handling
93 exceptions, the exception handling ABI provides a mechanism for
94 supplying *personalities*. An exception handling personality is defined by
95 way of a *personality function* (e.g. ``__gxx_personality_v0`` in C++),
96 which receives the context of the exception, an *exception structure*
97 containing the exception object type and value, and a reference to the exception
98 table for the current function. The personality function for the current
99 compile unit is specified in a *common exception frame*.
101 The organization of an exception table is language dependent. For C++, an
102 exception table is organized as a series of code ranges defining what to do if
103 an exception occurs in that range. Typically, the information associated with a
104 range defines which types of exception objects (using C++ *type info*) that are
105 handled in that range, and an associated action that should take place. Actions
106 typically pass control to a *landing pad*.
108 A landing pad corresponds roughly to the code found in the ``catch`` portion of
109 a ``try``/``catch`` sequence. When execution resumes at a landing pad, it
110 receives an *exception structure* and a *selector value* corresponding to the
111 *type* of exception thrown. The selector is then used to determine which *catch*
112 should actually process the exception.
117 From a C++ developer's perspective, exceptions are defined in terms of the
118 ``throw`` and ``try``/``catch`` statements. In this section we will describe the
119 implementation of LLVM exception handling in terms of C++ examples.
124 Languages that support exception handling typically provide a ``throw``
125 operation to initiate the exception process. Internally, a ``throw`` operation
126 breaks down into two steps.
128 #. A request is made to allocate exception space for an exception structure.
129 This structure needs to survive beyond the current activation. This structure
130 will contain the type and value of the object being thrown.
132 #. A call is made to the runtime to raise the exception, passing the exception
133 structure as an argument.
135 In C++, the allocation of the exception structure is done by the
136 ``__cxa_allocate_exception`` runtime function. The exception raising is handled
137 by ``__cxa_throw``. The type of the exception is represented using a C++ RTTI
143 A call within the scope of a *try* statement can potentially raise an
144 exception. In those circumstances, the LLVM C++ front-end replaces the call with
145 an ``invoke`` instruction. Unlike a call, the ``invoke`` has two potential
148 #. where to continue when the call succeeds as per normal, and
150 #. where to continue if the call raises an exception, either by a throw or the
153 The term used to define the place where an ``invoke`` continues after an
154 exception is called a *landing pad*. LLVM landing pads are conceptually
155 alternative function entry points where an exception structure reference and a
156 type info index are passed in as arguments. The landing pad saves the exception
157 structure reference and then proceeds to select the catch block that corresponds
158 to the type info of the exception object.
160 The LLVM :ref:`i_landingpad` is used to convey information about the landing
161 pad to the back end. For C++, the ``landingpad`` instruction returns a pointer
162 and integer pair corresponding to the pointer to the *exception structure* and
163 the *selector value* respectively.
165 The ``landingpad`` instruction looks for a reference to the personality
166 function to be used for this ``try``/``catch`` sequence in the parent
167 function's attribute list. The instruction contains a list of *cleanup*,
168 *catch*, and *filter* clauses. The exception is tested against the clauses
169 sequentially from first to last. The clauses have the following meanings:
171 - ``catch <type> @ExcType``
173 - This clause means that the landingpad block should be entered if the
174 exception being thrown is of type ``@ExcType`` or a subtype of
175 ``@ExcType``. For C++, ``@ExcType`` is a pointer to the ``std::type_info``
176 object (an RTTI object) representing the C++ exception type.
178 - If ``@ExcType`` is ``null``, any exception matches, so the landingpad
179 should always be entered. This is used for C++ catch-all blocks ("``catch
182 - When this clause is matched, the selector value will be equal to the value
183 returned by "``@llvm.eh.typeid.for(i8* @ExcType)``". This will always be a
186 - ``filter <type> [<type> @ExcType1, ..., <type> @ExcTypeN]``
188 - This clause means that the landingpad should be entered if the exception
189 being thrown does *not* match any of the types in the list (which, for C++,
190 are again specified as ``std::type_info`` pointers).
192 - C++ front-ends use this to implement C++ exception specifications, such as
193 "``void foo() throw (ExcType1, ..., ExcTypeN) { ... }``".
195 - When this clause is matched, the selector value will be negative.
197 - The array argument to ``filter`` may be empty; for example, "``[0 x i8**]
198 undef``". This means that the landingpad should always be entered. (Note
199 that such a ``filter`` would not be equivalent to "``catch i8* null``",
200 because ``filter`` and ``catch`` produce negative and positive selector
201 values respectively.)
205 - This clause means that the landingpad should always be entered.
207 - C++ front-ends use this for calling objects' destructors.
209 - When this clause is matched, the selector value will be zero.
211 - The runtime may treat "``cleanup``" differently from "``catch <type>
214 In C++, if an unhandled exception occurs, the language runtime will call
215 ``std::terminate()``, but it is implementation-defined whether the runtime
216 unwinds the stack and calls object destructors first. For example, the GNU
217 C++ unwinder does not call object destructors when an unhandled exception
218 occurs. The reason for this is to improve debuggability: it ensures that
219 ``std::terminate()`` is called from the context of the ``throw``, so that
220 this context is not lost by unwinding the stack. A runtime will typically
221 implement this by searching for a matching non-``cleanup`` clause, and
222 aborting if it does not find one, before entering any landingpad blocks.
224 Once the landing pad has the type info selector, the code branches to the code
225 for the first catch. The catch then checks the value of the type info selector
226 against the index of type info for that catch. Since the type info index is not
227 known until all the type infos have been gathered in the backend, the catch code
228 must call the `llvm.eh.typeid.for`_ intrinsic to determine the index for a given
229 type info. If the catch fails to match the selector then control is passed on to
232 Finally, the entry and exit of catch code is bracketed with calls to
233 ``__cxa_begin_catch`` and ``__cxa_end_catch``.
235 * ``__cxa_begin_catch`` takes an exception structure reference as an argument
236 and returns the value of the exception object.
238 * ``__cxa_end_catch`` takes no arguments. This function:
240 #. Locates the most recently caught exception and decrements its handler
243 #. Removes the exception from the *caught* stack if the handler count goes to
246 #. Destroys the exception if the handler count goes to zero and the exception
247 was not re-thrown by throw.
251 a rethrow from within the catch may replace this call with a
257 A cleanup is extra code which needs to be run as part of unwinding a scope. C++
258 destructors are a typical example, but other languages and language extensions
259 provide a variety of different kinds of cleanups. In general, a landing pad may
260 need to run arbitrary amounts of cleanup code before actually entering a catch
261 block. To indicate the presence of cleanups, a :ref:`i_landingpad` should have
262 a *cleanup* clause. Otherwise, the unwinder will not stop at the landing pad if
263 there are no catches or filters that require it to.
267 Do not allow a new exception to propagate out of the execution of a
268 cleanup. This can corrupt the internal state of the unwinder. Different
269 languages describe different high-level semantics for these situations: for
270 example, C++ requires that the process be terminated, whereas Ada cancels both
271 exceptions and throws a third.
273 When all cleanups are finished, if the exception is not handled by the current
274 function, resume unwinding by calling the :ref:`resume instruction <i_resume>`,
275 passing in the result of the ``landingpad`` instruction for the original
281 C++ allows the specification of which exception types may be thrown from a
282 function. To represent this, a top level landing pad may exist to filter out
283 invalid types. To express this in LLVM code the :ref:`i_landingpad` will have a
284 filter clause. The clause consists of an array of type infos.
285 ``landingpad`` will return a negative value
286 if the exception does not match any of the type infos. If no match is found then
287 a call to ``__cxa_call_unexpected`` should be made, otherwise
288 ``_Unwind_Resume``. Each of these functions requires a reference to the
289 exception structure. Note that the most general form of a ``landingpad``
290 instruction can have any number of catch, cleanup, and filter clauses (though
291 having more than one cleanup is pointless). The LLVM C++ front-end can generate
292 such ``landingpad`` instructions due to inlining creating nested exception
300 The unwinder delegates the decision of whether to stop in a call frame to that
301 call frame's language-specific personality function. Not all unwinders guarantee
302 that they will stop to perform cleanups. For example, the GNU C++ unwinder
303 doesn't do so unless the exception is actually caught somewhere further up the
306 In order for inlining to behave correctly, landing pads must be prepared to
307 handle selector results that they did not originally advertise. Suppose that a
308 function catches exceptions of type ``A``, and it's inlined into a function that
309 catches exceptions of type ``B``. The inliner will update the ``landingpad``
310 instruction for the inlined landing pad to include the fact that ``B`` is also
311 caught. If that landing pad assumes that it will only be entered to catch an
312 ``A``, it's in for a rude awakening. Consequently, landing pads must test for
313 the selector results they understand and then resume exception propagation with
314 the `resume instruction <LangRef.html#i_resume>`_ if none of the conditions
317 Exception Handling Intrinsics
318 =============================
320 In addition to the ``landingpad`` and ``resume`` instructions, LLVM uses several
321 intrinsic functions (name prefixed with ``llvm.eh``) to provide exception
322 handling information at various points in generated code.
324 .. _llvm.eh.typeid.for:
326 ``llvm.eh.typeid.for``
327 ----------------------
331 i32 @llvm.eh.typeid.for(i8* %type_info)
334 This intrinsic returns the type info index in the exception table of the current
335 function. This value can be used to compare against the result of
336 ``landingpad`` instruction. The single argument is a reference to a type info.
338 Uses of this intrinsic are generated by the C++ front-end.
340 .. _llvm.eh.begincatch:
342 ``llvm.eh.begincatch``
343 ----------------------
347 void @llvm.eh.begincatch(i8* %ehptr, i8* %ehobj)
350 This intrinsic marks the beginning of catch handling code within the blocks
351 following a ``landingpad`` instruction. The exact behavior of this function
352 depends on the compilation target and the personality function associated
353 with the ``landingpad`` instruction.
355 The first argument to this intrinsic is a pointer that was previously extracted
356 from the aggregate return value of the ``landingpad`` instruction. The second
357 argument to the intrinsic is a pointer to stack space where the exception object
358 should be stored. The runtime handles the details of copying the exception
359 object into the slot. If the second parameter is null, no copy occurs.
361 Uses of this intrinsic are generated by the C++ front-end. Many targets will
362 use implementation-specific functions (such as ``__cxa_begin_catch``) instead
363 of this intrinsic. The intrinsic is provided for targets that require a more
366 When used in the native Windows C++ exception handling implementation, this
367 intrinsic serves as a placeholder to delimit code before a catch handler is
368 outlined. When the handler is is outlined, this intrinsic will be replaced
369 by instructions that retrieve the exception object pointer from the frame
373 .. _llvm.eh.endcatch:
376 ----------------------
380 void @llvm.eh.endcatch()
383 This intrinsic marks the end of catch handling code within the current block,
384 which will be a successor of a block which called ``llvm.eh.begincatch''.
385 The exact behavior of this function depends on the compilation target and the
386 personality function associated with the corresponding ``landingpad``
389 There may be more than one call to ``llvm.eh.endcatch`` for any given call to
390 ``llvm.eh.begincatch`` with each ``llvm.eh.endcatch`` call corresponding to the
391 end of a different control path. All control paths following a call to
392 ``llvm.eh.begincatch`` must reach a call to ``llvm.eh.endcatch``.
394 Uses of this intrinsic are generated by the C++ front-end. Many targets will
395 use implementation-specific functions (such as ``__cxa_begin_catch``) instead
396 of this intrinsic. The intrinsic is provided for targets that require a more
399 When used in the native Windows C++ exception handling implementation, this
400 intrinsic serves as a placeholder to delimit code before a catch handler is
401 outlined. After the handler is outlined, this intrinsic is simply removed.
404 .. _llvm.eh.exceptionpointer:
406 ``llvm.eh.exceptionpointer``
407 ----------------------------
411 i8 addrspace(N)* @llvm.eh.padparam.pNi8(token %catchpad)
414 This intrinsic retrieves a pointer to the exception caught by the given
421 The ``llvm.eh.sjlj`` intrinsics are used internally within LLVM's
422 backend. Uses of them are generated by the backend's
423 ``SjLjEHPrepare`` pass.
425 .. _llvm.eh.sjlj.setjmp:
427 ``llvm.eh.sjlj.setjmp``
428 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
432 i32 @llvm.eh.sjlj.setjmp(i8* %setjmp_buf)
434 For SJLJ based exception handling, this intrinsic forces register saving for the
435 current function and stores the address of the following instruction for use as
436 a destination address by `llvm.eh.sjlj.longjmp`_. The buffer format and the
437 overall functioning of this intrinsic is compatible with the GCC
438 ``__builtin_setjmp`` implementation allowing code built with the clang and GCC
441 The single parameter is a pointer to a five word buffer in which the calling
442 context is saved. The front end places the frame pointer in the first word, and
443 the target implementation of this intrinsic should place the destination address
444 for a `llvm.eh.sjlj.longjmp`_ in the second word. The following three words are
445 available for use in a target-specific manner.
447 .. _llvm.eh.sjlj.longjmp:
449 ``llvm.eh.sjlj.longjmp``
450 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
454 void @llvm.eh.sjlj.longjmp(i8* %setjmp_buf)
456 For SJLJ based exception handling, the ``llvm.eh.sjlj.longjmp`` intrinsic is
457 used to implement ``__builtin_longjmp()``. The single parameter is a pointer to
458 a buffer populated by `llvm.eh.sjlj.setjmp`_. The frame pointer and stack
459 pointer are restored from the buffer, then control is transferred to the
462 ``llvm.eh.sjlj.lsda``
463 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
467 i8* @llvm.eh.sjlj.lsda()
469 For SJLJ based exception handling, the ``llvm.eh.sjlj.lsda`` intrinsic returns
470 the address of the Language Specific Data Area (LSDA) for the current
471 function. The SJLJ front-end code stores this address in the exception handling
472 function context for use by the runtime.
474 ``llvm.eh.sjlj.callsite``
475 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
479 void @llvm.eh.sjlj.callsite(i32 %call_site_num)
481 For SJLJ based exception handling, the ``llvm.eh.sjlj.callsite`` intrinsic
482 identifies the callsite value associated with the following ``invoke``
483 instruction. This is used to ensure that landing pad entries in the LSDA are
484 generated in matching order.
489 There are two tables that are used by the exception handling runtime to
490 determine which actions should be taken when an exception is thrown.
492 Exception Handling Frame
493 ------------------------
495 An exception handling frame ``eh_frame`` is very similar to the unwind frame
496 used by DWARF debug info. The frame contains all the information necessary to
497 tear down the current frame and restore the state of the prior frame. There is
498 an exception handling frame for each function in a compile unit, plus a common
499 exception handling frame that defines information common to all functions in the
502 The format of this call frame information (CFI) is often platform-dependent,
503 however. ARM, for example, defines their own format. Apple has their own compact
504 unwind info format. On Windows, another format is used for all architectures
505 since 32-bit x86. LLVM will emit whatever information is required by the
511 An exception table contains information about what actions to take when an
512 exception is thrown in a particular part of a function's code. This is typically
513 referred to as the language-specific data area (LSDA). The format of the LSDA
514 table is specific to the personality function, but the majority of personalities
515 out there use a variation of the tables consumed by ``__gxx_personality_v0``.
516 There is one exception table per function, except leaf functions and functions
517 that have calls only to non-throwing functions. They do not need an exception
522 Exception Handling using the Windows Runtime
523 =================================================
525 (Note: Windows C++ exception handling support is a work in progress and is not
526 yet fully implemented. The text below describes how it will work when
529 Background on Windows exceptions
530 ---------------------------------
532 Interacting with exceptions on Windows is significantly more complicated than on
533 Itanium C++ ABI platforms. The fundamental difference between the two models is
534 that Itanium EH is designed around the idea of "successive unwinding," while
537 Under Itanium, throwing an exception typically involes allocating thread local
538 memory to hold the exception, and calling into the EH runtime. The runtime
539 identifies frames with appropriate exception handling actions, and successively
540 resets the register context of the current thread to the most recently active
541 frame with actions to run. In LLVM, execution resumes at a ``landingpad``
542 instruction, which produces register values provided by the runtime. If a
543 function is only cleaning up allocated resources, the function is responsible
544 for calling ``_Unwind_Resume`` to transition to the next most recently active
545 frame after it is finished cleaning up. Eventually, the frame responsible for
546 handling the exception calls ``__cxa_end_catch`` to destroy the exception,
547 release its memory, and resume normal control flow.
549 The Windows EH model does not use these successive register context resets.
550 Instead, the active exception is typically described by a frame on the stack.
551 In the case of C++ exceptions, the exception object is allocated in stack memory
552 and its address is passed to ``__CxxThrowException``. General purpose structured
553 exceptions (SEH) are more analogous to Linux signals, and they are dispatched by
554 userspace DLLs provided with Windows. Each frame on the stack has an assigned EH
555 personality routine, which decides what actions to take to handle the exception.
556 There are a few major personalities for C and C++ code: the C++ personality
557 (``__CxxFrameHandler3``) and the SEH personalities (``_except_handler3``,
558 ``_except_handler4``, and ``__C_specific_handler``). All of them implement
559 cleanups by calling back into a "funclet" contained in the parent function.
561 Funclets, in this context, are regions of the parent function that can be called
562 as though they were a function pointer with a very special calling convention.
563 The frame pointer of the parent frame is passed into the funclet either using
564 the standard EBP register or as the first parameter register, depending on the
565 architecture. The funclet implements the EH action by accessing local variables
566 in memory through the frame pointer, and returning some appropriate value,
567 continuing the EH process. No variables live in to or out of the funclet can be
568 allocated in registers.
570 The C++ personality also uses funclets to contain the code for catch blocks
571 (i.e. all user code between the braces in ``catch (Type obj) { ... }``). The
572 runtime must use funclets for catch bodies because the C++ exception object is
573 allocated in a child stack frame of the function handling the exception. If the
574 runtime rewound the stack back to frame of the catch, the memory holding the
575 exception would be overwritten quickly by subsequent function calls. The use of
576 funclets also allows ``__CxxFrameHandler3`` to implement rethrow without
577 resorting to TLS. Instead, the runtime throws a special exception, and then uses
578 SEH (``__try / __except``) to resume execution with new information in the child
581 In other words, the successive unwinding approach is incompatible with Visual
582 C++ exceptions and general purpose Windows exception handling. Because the C++
583 exception object lives in stack memory, LLVM cannot provide a custom personality
584 function that uses landingpads. Similarly, SEH does not provide any mechanism
585 to rethrow an exception or continue unwinding. Therefore, LLVM must use the IR
586 constructs described later in this document to implement compatible exception
589 SEH filter expressions
590 -----------------------
592 The SEH personality functions also use funclets to implement filter expressions,
593 which allow executing arbitrary user code to decide which exceptions to catch.
594 Filter expressions should not be confused with the ``filter`` clause of the LLVM
595 ``landingpad`` instruction. Typically filter expressions are used to determine
596 if the exception came from a particular DLL or code region, or if code faulted
597 while accessing a particular memory address range. LLVM does not currently have
598 IR to represent filter expressions because it is difficult to represent their
599 control dependencies. Filter expressions run during the first phase of EH,
600 before cleanups run, making it very difficult to build a faithful control flow
601 graph. For now, the new EH instructions cannot represent SEH filter
602 expressions, and frontends must outline them ahead of time. Local variables of
603 the parent function can be escaped and accessed using the ``llvm.localescape``
604 and ``llvm.localrecover`` intrinsics.
606 New exception handling instructions
607 ------------------------------------
609 The primary design goal of the new EH instructions is to support funclet
610 generation while preserving information about the CFG so that SSA formation
611 still works. As a secondary goal, they are designed to be generic across MSVC
612 and Itanium C++ exceptions. They make very few assumptions about the data
613 required by the personality, so long as it uses the familiar core EH actions:
614 catch, cleanup, and terminate. However, the new instructions are hard to modify
615 without knowing details of the EH personality. While they can be used to
616 represent Itanium EH, the landingpad model is strictly better for optimization
619 The following new instructions are considered "exception handling pads", in that
620 they must be the first non-phi instruction of a basic block that may be the
621 unwind destination of an invoke: ``catchpad``, ``cleanuppad``, and
622 ``terminatepad``. As with landingpads, when entering a try scope, if the
623 frontend encounters a call site that may throw an exception, it should emit an
624 invoke that unwinds to a ``catchpad`` block. Similarly, inside the scope of a
625 C++ object with a destructor, invokes should unwind to a ``cleanuppad``. The
626 ``terminatepad`` instruction exists to represent ``noexcept`` and throw
627 specifications with one combined instruction. All potentially throwing calls in
628 a ``noexcept`` function should transitively unwind to a terminateblock. Throw
629 specifications are not implemented by MSVC, and are not yet supported.
631 New instructions are also used to mark the points where control is transferred
632 out of a catch/cleanup handler (which will correspond to exits from the
633 generated funclet). A catch handler which reaches its end by normal execution
634 executes a ``catchret`` instruction, which is a terminator indicating where in
635 the function control is returned to. A cleanup handler which reaches its end
636 by normal execution executes a ``cleanupret`` instruction, which is a terminator
637 indicating where the active exception will unwind to next. A catch or cleanup
638 handler which is exited by another exception being raised during its execution will
639 unwind through a ``catchendpad`` or ``cleanuupendpad`` (respectively). The
640 ``catchendpad`` and ``cleanupendpad`` instructions are considered "exception
641 handling pads" in the same sense that ``catchpad``, ``cleanuppad``, and
642 ``terminatepad`` are.
644 Each of these new EH pad instructions has a way to identify which
645 action should be considered after this action. The ``catchpad`` and
646 ``terminatepad`` instructions are terminators, and have a label operand considered
647 to be an unwind destination analogous to the unwind destination of an invoke. The
648 ``cleanuppad`` instruction is different from the other two in that it is not a
649 terminator. The code inside a cleanuppad runs before transferring control to the
650 next action, so the ``cleanupret`` and ``cleanupendpad`` instructions are the
651 instructions that hold a label operand and unwind to the next EH pad. All of
652 these "unwind edges" may refer to a basic block that contains an EH pad instruction,
653 or they may simply unwind to the caller. Unwinding to the caller has roughly the
654 same semantics as the ``resume`` instruction in the ``landingpad`` model. When
655 inlining through an invoke, instructions that unwind to the caller are hooked
656 up to unwind to the unwind destination of the call site.
658 Putting things together, here is a hypothetical lowering of some C++ that uses
659 all of the new IR instructions:
682 define i32 @f() nounwind personality i32 (...)* @__CxxFrameHandler3 {
684 %obj = alloca %struct.Cleanup, align 4
685 %e = alloca i32, align 4
686 %call = invoke %struct.Cleanup* @"\01??0Cleanup@@QEAA@XZ"(%struct.Cleanup* nonnull %obj)
687 to label %invoke.cont unwind label %lpad.catch
689 invoke.cont: ; preds = %entry
690 invoke void @"\01?may_throw@@YAXXZ"()
691 to label %invoke.cont.2 unwind label %lpad.cleanup
693 invoke.cont.2: ; preds = %invoke.cont
694 call void @"\01??_DCleanup@@QEAA@XZ"(%struct.Cleanup* nonnull %obj) nounwind
697 return: ; preds = %invoke.cont.2, %invoke.cont.3
698 %retval.0 = phi i32 [ 0, %invoke.cont.2 ], [ %9, %catch ]
701 ; EH scope code, ordered innermost to outermost:
703 lpad.cleanup: ; preds = %invoke.cont
704 %cleanup = cleanuppad []
705 call void @"\01??_DCleanup@@QEAA@XZ"(%struct.Cleanup* nonnull %obj) nounwind
706 cleanupret %cleanup unwind label %lpad.catch
708 lpad.catch: ; preds = %entry, %lpad.cleanup
709 %catch = catchpad [%rtti.TypeDescriptor2* @"\01??_R0H@8", i32 0, i32* %e]
710 to label %catch.body unwind label %catchend
712 catch.body: ; preds = %lpad.catch
713 invoke void @"\01?may_throw@@YAXXZ"()
714 to label %invoke.cont.3 unwind label %catchend
716 invoke.cont.3: ; preds = %catch.body
717 %9 = load i32, i32* %e, align 4
718 catchret %catch to label %return
720 catchend: ; preds = %lpad.catch, %catch.body
721 catchendpad unwind label %lpad.terminate
723 lpad.terminate: ; preds = %catchend
724 terminatepad [void ()* @"\01?terminate@@YAXXZ"]