LLVM get constant integer back from Value*

Question

I create a llvm::Value* from a integer constant like this:

llvm::Value* constValue = llvm::ConstantInt::get( llvmContext , llvm::APInt( node->someInt() ));

now i want to retrieve the compile-time constant value back;

int constIntValue = constValue->???

The examples shown in LLVM Programmer manual seem to imply that cast<> will accept a pointer when using the type (rather than the type plus pointer) template parameter, however i'm pretty sure thats failing as from 2.8:

llvm::Value* foo = 0;
llvm::ConstantInt* intValue = & llvm::cast< llvm::ConstantInt , llvm::Value >(foo );

//build error:
//error: no matching function for call to ‘cast(llvm::Value*&)’

What would be the correct approach here?

score 47 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 31 '12 at 09:59

Eli's answer is great, but it's missing the final part, which is getting the integer back. The full picture should look like this:

if (ConstantInt* CI = dyn_cast<ConstantInt>(Val)) {
  if (CI->getBitWidth() <= 32) {
    constIntValue = CI->getSExtValue();
  }
}

Of course, you can also change it to <= 64 if constIntValue is a 64-bit integer, etc.

And as Eli wrote, if you are confident the value is indeed of type ConstInt, you can use cast<ConstantInt> instead of dyn_cast.

Eli Bendersky · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-15T17:33:56.983

39

Given llvm::Value* foo and you know that foo is actually a ConstantInt, I believe that the idiomatic LLVM code approach is to use dyn_cast as follows:

if (llvm::ConstantInt* CI = dyn_cast<llvm::ConstantInt>(foo)) {
  // foo indeed is a ConstantInt, we can use CI here
}
else {
  // foo was not actually a ConstantInt
}

If you're absolutely sure that foo is a ConstantInt and are ready to be hit with an assertion failure if it isn't, you can use cast instead of dyn_cast.

P.S. Do note that cast and dyn_cast are part of LLVM's own implementation of RTTI. dyn_cast acts somewhat similarly to the standard C++ dynamic_cast, though there are differences in implementation and performance (as can be read here).

edited Mar 15 '11 at 17:33

answered Mar 15 '11 at 17:28

Eli Bendersky

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According to the link you provide, if the pointer is not pointing to the expected type, it's `cast` that will lead to an assertion failure, and `dyn_cast` will return 0, instead of the opposite. – RoastDuck Dec 18 '18 at 06:42
How to detect whether this ConstantInt is signed or unsigned ? – linrongbin May 18 '20 at 09:32

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 18 '22 at 08:59

Other answers work if the constant is a variable in current file.

However if the constant variable is a global variable defined in other file, which is refered by current file by extern. In this case the variable in current file is a PointerType value. We have to get its real value through following code:

Constant *c;

if (isa<GlobalValue>(c)) {
        GlobalValue *gvalue = dyn_cast<GlobalValue>(c);
        GlobalVariable *gv = dyn_cast<GlobalVariable>(gvalue);
        ConstantInt *ci = dyn_cast<ConstantInt>(gv->getInitializer());
        errs() << ci->getValue();
}

LLVM get constant integer back from Value*

3 Answers3

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