EIP-145: Bitwise shifting instructions in EVM

To Provide native bitwise shifting with cost on par with other arithmetic operations.

Abstract

Native bitwise shifting instructions are introduced, which are more efficient processing wise on the host and are cheaper to use by a contract.

Motivation

EVM is lacking bitwise shifting operators, but supports other logical and arithmetic operators. Shift operations can be implemented via arithmetic operators, but that has a higher cost and requires more processing time from the host. Implementing SHL and SHR using arithmetic cost each 35 gas, while the proposed instructions take 3 gas.

Specification

The following instructions are introduced:

0x1b: SHL (shift left)

The SHL instruction (shift left) pops 2 values from the stack, first arg1 and then arg2, and pushes on the stack arg2 shifted to the left by arg1 number of bits. The result is equal to

(arg2 * 2^arg1) mod 2^256

Notes:

• The value (arg2) is interpreted as an unsigned number.
• The shift amount (arg1) is interpreted as an unsigned number.
• If the shift amount (arg1) is greater or equal 256 the result is 0.
• This is equivalent to PUSH1 2 EXP MUL.

0x1c: SHR (logical shift right)

The SHR instruction (logical shift right) pops 2 values from the stack, first arg1 and then arg2, and pushes on the stack arg2 shifted to the right by arg1 number of bits with zero fill. The result is equal to

floor(arg2 / 2^arg1)

Notes:

• The value (arg2) is interpreted as an unsigned number.
• The shift amount (arg1) is interpreted as an unsigned number.
• If the shift amount (arg1) is greater or equal 256 the result is 0.
• This is equivalent to PUSH1 2 EXP DIV.

0x1d: SAR (arithmetic shift right)

The SAR instruction (arithmetic shift right) pops 2 values from the stack, first arg1 and then arg2, and pushes on the stack arg2 shifted to the right by arg1 number of bits with sign extension. The result is equal to

floor(arg2 / 2^arg1)

Notes:

• The value (arg2) is interpreted as a signed number.
• The shift amount (arg1) is interpreted as an unsigned number.
• If the shift amount (arg1) is greater or equal 256 the result is 0 if arg2 is non-negative or -1 if arg2 is negative.
• This is not equivalent to PUSH1 2 EXP SDIV, since it rounds differently. See SDIV(-1, 2) == 0, while SAR(-1, 1) == -1.

The cost of the shift instructions is set at verylow tier (3 gas).

Rationale

Instruction operands were chosen to fit the more natural use case of shifting a value already on the stack. This means the operand order is swapped compared to most arithmetic instructions.

Backwards Compatibility

The newly introduced instructions have no effect on bytecode created in the past.

Test Cases

SHL (shift left)

1. PUSH 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
   PUSH 0x00
   SHL
   ---
   0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
   

2. PUSH 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
   PUSH 0x01
   SHL
   ---
   0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000002
   

3. PUSH 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
   PUSH 0xff
   SHL
   ---
   0x8000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   

4. PUSH 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
   PUSH 0x0100
   SHL
   ---
   0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   

5. PUSH 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
   PUSH 0x0101
   SHL
   ---
   0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   

6. PUSH 0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   PUSH 0x00
   SHL
   ---
   0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   

7. PUSH 0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   PUSH 0x01
   SHL
   ---
   0xfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffe
   

8. PUSH 0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   PUSH 0xff
   SHL
   ---
   0x8000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   

9. PUSH 0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   PUSH 0x0100
   SHL
   ---
   0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   

10. PUSH 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    PUSH 0x01
    SHL
    ---
    0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    

11. PUSH 0x7fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
    PUSH 0x01
    SHL
    ---
    0xfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffe
    

SHR (logical shift right)

1. PUSH 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
   PUSH 0x00
   SHR
   ---
   0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
   

2. PUSH 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
   PUSH 0x01
   SHR
   ---
   0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   

3. PUSH 0x8000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   PUSH 0x01
   SHR
   ---
   0x4000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   

4. PUSH 0x8000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   PUSH 0xff
   SHR
   ---
   0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
   

5. PUSH 0x8000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   PUSH 0x0100
   SHR
   ---
   0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   

6. PUSH 0x8000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   PUSH 0x0101
   SHR
   ---
   0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   

7. PUSH 0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   PUSH 0x00
   SHR
   ---
   0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   

8. PUSH 0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   PUSH 0x01
   SHR
   ---
   0x7fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   

9. PUSH 0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   PUSH 0xff
   SHR
   ---
   0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
   

10. PUSH 0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
    PUSH 0x0100
    SHR
    ---
    0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    

11. PUSH 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    PUSH 0x01
    SHR
    ---
    0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    

SAR (arithmetic shift right)

1. PUSH 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
   PUSH 0x00
   SAR
   ---
   0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
   

2. PUSH 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
   PUSH 0x01
   SAR
   ---
   0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   

3. PUSH 0x8000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   PUSH 0x01
   SAR
   ---
   0xc000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   

4. PUSH 0x8000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   PUSH 0xff
   SAR
   ---
   0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   

5. PUSH 0x8000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   PUSH 0x0100
   SAR
   ---
   0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   

6. PUSH 0x8000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
   PUSH 0x0101
   SAR
   ---
   0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   

7. PUSH 0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   PUSH 0x00
   SAR
   ---
   0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   

8. PUSH 0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   PUSH 0x01
   SAR
   ---
   0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   

9. PUSH 0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   PUSH 0xff
   SAR
   ---
   0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
   

10. PUSH 0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
    PUSH 0x0100
    SAR
    ---
    0xffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
    

11. PUSH 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    PUSH 0x01
    SAR
    ---
    0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    

12. PUSH 0x4000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    PUSH 0xfe
    SAR
    ---
    0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
    

13. PUSH 0x7fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
    PUSH 0xf8
    SAR
    ---
    0x000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000007f
    

14. PUSH 0x7fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
    PUSH 0xfe
    SAR
    ---
    0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001
    

15. PUSH 0x7fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
    PUSH 0xff
    SAR
    ---
    0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    

16. PUSH 0x7fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff
    PUSH 0x0100
    SAR
    ---
    0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
    

Implementation

Client support:

• cpp-ethereum: https://github.com/ethereum/cpp-ethereum/pull/4054

Compiler support:

• Solidity/LLL: https://github.com/ethereum/solidity/pull/2541

Tests

Sources:

• https://github.com/ethereum/tests/tree/develop/src/GeneralStateTestsFiller/stShift

Filled Tests:

• https://github.com/ethereum/tests/tree/develop/GeneralStateTests/stShift
• https://github.com/ethereum/tests/tree/develop/BlockchainTests/GeneralStateTests/stShift

Copyright

Copyright and related rights waived via CC0.

Citation

Please cite this document as:

Alex Beregszaszi (@axic), Paweł Bylica (@chfast), "EIP-145: Bitwise shifting instructions in EVM," Ethereum Improvement Proposals, no. 145, February 2017. [Online serial]. Available: https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-145.