srec_mif(5)

Okay bestie, welcome to srec_mif(5) from the File Formats Manual — it’s giving “Memory Initialization File (MIF) format” and honestly it ate 🎀

💖 NAME 💖

srec_mif — Memory Initialization File (MIF) format. That’s the whole name vibe, no cap: srec_mif is the page/tool name and MIF is the format ✨

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

Altera invented this format — periodt.

Okay so picture an ASCII text file with the extension .mif. It specifies the initial content of a memory block (CAM, RAM, or ROM), like the initial values for each address. This file gets used during project compilation and/or simulation. You can create a Memory Initialization File in the Memory Editor, the In‐System Memory Content Editor, or the Quartus II Text Editor — main character energy 💅

A Memory Initialization File serves as an input file for memory initialization in the Compiler and Simulator. You can also use a Hexadecimal (Intel‐Format) File (.hex) to provide memory initialization data — iconic alternative.

A MIF contains the initial values for each address in the memory. A separate file is required for each memory block. In a MIF, you must specify the memory depth and width values. In addition, you can specify data radixes as binary (BIN), hexadecimal (HEX), octal (OCT), signed decimal (DEC), or unsigned decimal (UNS) to display and interpret addresses and data values. Data values must match the specified data radix — fr fr, no vibes-only data.

When you’re creating a Memory Initialization File in the Quartus II Text Editor, you must start with the DEPTH, WIDTH, ADDRESS_RADIX and DATA_RADIX keywords. You can use Tab "" and Space " " characters as separators, and insert multiple lines of comments with the percent "%" character, or a single comment with double dash "--" characters. Address:data pairs represent data contained inside certain memory addresses, and you must place them between the CONTENT, BEGIN, and END keywords, as shown in the following examples:

%  multiple‐line comment
multiple‐line comment  %
-- single‐line comment
DEPTH = 8;                    -- The size of data in bits
WIDTH = 32;                   -- The size of memory in words
ADDRESS_RADIX = HEX;          -- The radix for address values
DATA_RADIX = BIN;             -- The radix for data values
CONTENT                       -- start of (address : data pairs)
BEGIN
00 : 00000000;                -- memory address : data
01 : 00000001;
02 : 00000010;
03 : 00000011;
04 : 00000100;
05 : 00000101;
06 : 00000110;
07 : 00000111;
08 : 00001000;
09 : 00001001;
0A : 00001010;
0B : 00001011;
0C : 00001100;
END;

There are several ways to specify the address and data, as seen in the following table — but bestie, I’m giving it to you as a list because tables are not the vibe here:

• A : D; — interpretation: Addr[A] = D. Example:

2 : 4
Address: 01234567
Data:    00400000

• [A0..A1] : D; (See note below.) — interpretation: Addr[A0] to [A1] contain data D. Example:

[0..7] : 6
Address: 01234567
Data:    66666666

• [A0..A1] : D0 D1; (See note below.) — interpretation: Addr[A0] = D0, Addr[A0+1] = D1, Addr[A0+2] = D0, Addr[A0+3] = D1, until A0+n = A1. Example:

[0..7] : 5 6
Address: 01234567
Data:    56565656

• A : D0 D1 D2; — interpretation: Addr[A] = D0, Addr[A+1] = D1, Addr[A+2] = D2. Example:

2 : 4 5 6
Address: 01234567
Data:    00456000

Note: The address range forms are limited in SRecord — the range must be less than 255 bytes. SRecord will never write an address range. 💀

Note: When reading a MIF file, SRecord will round up the number of bits in the WIDTH to be a multiple of 8. Multi‐byte values will be laid down in memory as big‐endian. 🧚

And because the page says it again, here’s the MIF recap one more time — literally: An ASCII text file (with the extension .mif) that specifies the initial content of a memory block (CAM, RAM, or ROM), that is, the initial values for each address. This file is used during project compilation and/or simulation. A MIF contains the initial values for each address in the memory. In a MIF, you are also required to specify the memory depth and width values. In addition, you can specify the radixes used to display and interpret addresses and data values. 🦋

🌈 SIZE MULTIPLIER 🌈

In general, binary data will expand in sized by approximately 3.29 times when 8‐bit data is represented with this format (16 bit = 2.75, 32 bit = 2.47, 64 bit = 2.34). That’s the math, bestie — no cap.

🎀 EXAMPLE 🎀

Following is a sample MIF, and yes it’s serving memory-init realness:

DEPTH = 32; % Memory depth and width are required %
% DEPTH is the number of addresses %
WIDTH = 14; % WIDTH is the number of bits of data per word %
% DEPTH and WIDTH should be entered as decimal numbers %
ADDRESS_RADIX = HEX; % Address and value radixes are required %
DATA_RADIX = HEX; % Enter BIN, DEC, HEX, OCT, or UNS; unless %
                  % otherwise specified, radixes = HEX %
 --Specify values for addresses, which can be single address or range
CONTENT
BEGIN
[0..F]: 3FFF;     % Range: Every address from 0 to F = 3FFF %
6     :    F;     % Single address: Address 6 = F %
8     :    F E 5; % Range starting from specific address %
--                % Addr[8] = F, Addr[9] = E, Addr[A] = 5 %
END;

💜 REFERENCE 💜

The above information was gleaned from the following sources:

• http://www.altera.com/support/software/nativelink/quartus2/glossary/def_mif.html
• http://www.mil.ufl.edu/4712/docs/mif_help.pdf

👑 COPYRIGHT 👑

srec_mif version 1.65

Copyright (C) 1998... Peter Miller

The srec_mif program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details use the 'srec_mif -VERSion License' command. This is free software and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; for details use the 'srec_mif -VERSion License' command. 💖

🫶 MAINTAINER 🫶

• Scott Finneran — E‐Mail: scottfinneran@yahoo.com.au
• Peter Miller — E‐Mail: pmiller@opensource.org.au

---

That’s the page, bestie — from the Reference Manual for SRecord, page srec_mif(5), with version 1.65 up in COPYRIGHT. Mwah 💋