Generate for loop lists

Question

Is there anyway to generate a list using a for loop in verilog?

ex

logic [NUM-1:0] [31:0] data;
logic [3:0] addr, cmd, testvalue;
logic [(NUM/2+1)*32-1:0] list;
assign list = {addr, cmd,
 for ( i=0;i<NUM;i=i+2) begin
 data[i],
 end
 testvalue};

This is a bit of a nonsense example but just to get the point across about selecting and concatenating regular fixed intervals.

Answer 1

Since list is a reg, it cannot be continuously driven by data. But if we change it to wire, then we can create a continuous assignment with a generate block as follows:

module main
#(parameter NUM = 8);
 logic [NUM-1:0] [31:0] data;
 wire [(NUM/2+1)*32-1:0] list;
 
 genvar i;
 for (i = 0; i < NUM ; i = i + 2) begin: genbit
 assign list[(i+1)*32-1 -: 32] = data[i];
 end
endmodule

If I understood correctly your intention, you want to "flatten" the data into a list of bits while taking every second data word, so the code above is using the bit selection syntax to assign chunks of 32 bits at a time. You might want to reverse the selection depending on "endianess" you want the data to be flatten with.

• Mitu Raj: 'logic can be driven continuously using assign as well ... no problems ...
• togaclad: Thanks! I was toying around with that approach. I guess what I'm after is something that allows multiple items in "list" including slices of data without having to create temporary wires. Ex list = {addr, cmd, data[5:4], data[1:0], testvalue}; It would be nice to use a "for loop" to add in slices but it seems you can only loop over complete code ( terminated by ; ) versus sub portions of code.
• Eugene Sh.: @Mitu my compiler is shouting at me when I do it..
• Mitu Raj: That's weird. logic was meant to be a replacement to both wire and reg in Verilog-2009/SV,

Answer 2

First of all, you cannot do it in verilog the way you proposed. You need to have the loop setting those bits separately. The only slight problem in your case is to figure out correct offsetts and widths.

BTW, your decalaration of data logic [NUM-1:0] [31:0] data; does not correspond the proposed usage int the for loop. You need to swap the ranges. Also, size of the list is smaller than you need for the concat. If i am not mistaken, you should use (NUM-1)/2 to be precise. Check me :-).

I propose you use the following in order to simplify the code: use a separate temp variable for extracting elements form data and use it in the following concat. BTW, there is no need to use assign.

 logic [31:0] [NUM-1:0] data; // << swap array ranges
 logic [3:0] addr, cmd, testvalue;
 logic [((NUM-1)/2)*32+$bits(addr)+$bits(cmd)+$bits(testvalue)-1:0] list; //<< fix the width
 logic [31:0][(NUM-1)/2-1:0] list_data;
 always_comb begin 
 for(int i = 0; i < NUM; i+=2)
 list_data[i/2] = data[i];
 end
 always_comb 
 list = {addr, cmd, list_data, testvalue};

or if you wish, yhou can use assign for logic

assign list = {addr, cmd, list_data, testvalue};

Another variation is to use functions. This one should be definied inside the module in order to see data. Or you can pass data as an argument.

 function logic [31:0][(NUM-1)/2-1:0] list_data(); 
 for(int i = 0; i < NUM; i+=2)
 list_data[i/2] = data[i];
 endfunction
 
 assign // or always_comb
 list = {addr, cmd, list_data(), testvalue};