[llvm] [InstCombine] Fold variable extract of a constant-strided pointer vector (PR #217078)

Domenic Nutile via llvm-commits llvm-commits at lists.llvm.org
Tue Aug 18 09:47:23 PDT 2026


https://github.com/saxlungs created https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/pull/217078

A vector built from pointers that all point into the same object at a constant stride is a table of addresses, so a variable extract from it is address arithmetic:

  %v0 = insertelement <4 x ptr> poison, ptr %b,      i64 0
  %v1 = insertelement <4 x ptr> %v0,    ptr %b + 8,  i64 1
  %v2 = insertelement <4 x ptr> %v1,    ptr %b + 16, i64 2
  %v3 = insertelement <4 x ptr> %v2,    ptr %b + 24, i64 3
  %r  = extractelement <4 x ptr> %v3, i32 %i
  -->
  %r  = getelementptr i8, ptr %b, i64 %i * 8

Fold it to a single GEP. Every element must be reachable from one base pointer at a constant byte offset, every lane of the vector must be defined, and the offsets must form an arithmetic sequence; otherwise the pattern is left alone.

>From 9ed44dce8649e9437e8f9b681a59a4a9815425f9 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Domenic Nutile <domenic.nutile at gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:44:36 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] [InstCombine] Fold variable extract of a constant-strided
 pointer vector

A vector built from pointers that all point into the same object at a
constant stride is a table of addresses, so a variable extract from it is
address arithmetic:

  %v0 = insertelement <4 x ptr> poison, ptr %b,      i64 0
  %v1 = insertelement <4 x ptr> %v0,    ptr %b + 8,  i64 1
  %v2 = insertelement <4 x ptr> %v1,    ptr %b + 16, i64 2
  %v3 = insertelement <4 x ptr> %v2,    ptr %b + 24, i64 3
  %r  = extractelement <4 x ptr> %v3, i32 %i
  -->
  %r  = getelementptr i8, ptr %b, i64 %i * 8

Fold it to a single GEP. Every element must be reachable from one base
pointer at a constant byte offset, every lane of the vector must be
defined, and the offsets must form an arithmetic sequence; otherwise the
pattern is left alone.
---
 .../InstCombine/InstCombineVectorOps.cpp      |  71 +++++++++
 .../extractelement-strided-ptr-vector.ll      | 147 ++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 218 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 llvm/test/Transforms/InstCombine/extractelement-strided-ptr-vector.ll

diff --git a/llvm/lib/Transforms/InstCombine/InstCombineVectorOps.cpp b/llvm/lib/Transforms/InstCombine/InstCombineVectorOps.cpp
index 226253a7de3f8..c88bce5859b19 100644
--- a/llvm/lib/Transforms/InstCombine/InstCombineVectorOps.cpp
+++ b/llvm/lib/Transforms/InstCombine/InstCombineVectorOps.cpp
@@ -410,6 +410,71 @@ static ConstantInt *getPreferredVectorIndex(ConstantInt *IndexC) {
                           IndexC->getValue().zextOrTrunc(64));
 }
 
+/// Fold a variable extract from a vector of pointers that all point into the
+/// same object at a constant stride
+static Value *
+foldExtractOfStridedPointerVector(ExtractElementInst &EI,
+                                  InstCombiner::BuilderTy &Builder,
+                                  const DataLayout &DL) {
+  auto *VecTy = dyn_cast<FixedVectorType>(EI.getVectorOperandType());
+  if (!VecTy || !VecTy->getElementType()->isPointerTy())
+    return nullptr;
+
+  unsigned NumElts = VecTy->getNumElements();
+  if (NumElts < 2)
+    return nullptr;
+
+  // Walk the insertelement chain outermost-first, so the first value seen for
+  // an index is the one that survives
+  SmallVector<Value *> Elts(NumElts, nullptr);
+  unsigned NumFound = 0;
+  for (Value *V = EI.getVectorOperand(); NumFound != NumElts;) {
+    auto *IE = dyn_cast<InsertElementInst>(V);
+    if (!IE)
+      return nullptr;
+    auto *IdxC = dyn_cast<ConstantInt>(IE->getOperand(2));
+    if (!IdxC || IdxC->uge(NumElts))
+      return nullptr;
+    unsigned Idx = IdxC->getZExtValue();
+    if (!Elts[Idx]) {
+      Elts[Idx] = IE->getOperand(1);
+      ++NumFound;
+    }
+    V = IE->getOperand(0);
+  }
+
+  // Every element must be the same base pointer plus a constant byte offset
+  unsigned IdxWidth = DL.getIndexTypeSizeInBits(VecTy->getElementType());
+  Value *Base = nullptr;
+  SmallVector<APInt> Offsets;
+  for (Value *Elt : Elts) {
+    APInt Offset(IdxWidth, 0);
+    Value *EltBase =
+        Elt->stripAndAccumulateConstantOffsets(DL, Offset,
+                                               /*AllowNonInbounds=*/true);
+    if (!Base)
+      Base = EltBase;
+    else if (Base != EltBase)
+      return nullptr;
+    Offsets.push_back(Offset);
+  }
+
+  // The offsets must form an arithmetic sequence.
+  APInt Stride = Offsets[1] - Offsets[0];
+  for (unsigned I = 1; I != NumElts; ++I)
+    if (Offsets[I] - Offsets[0] != Stride * I)
+      return nullptr;
+
+  // Element 0 already carries Offsets[0], so index off it directly.
+  if (Stride.isZero())
+    return Elts[0];
+
+  Type *IdxTy = DL.getIndexType(VecTy->getElementType());
+  Value *Idx = Builder.CreateZExtOrTrunc(EI.getIndexOperand(), IdxTy);
+  Value *ByteOff = Builder.CreateMul(Idx, ConstantInt::get(IdxTy, Stride));
+  return Builder.CreateGEP(Builder.getInt8Ty(), Elts[0], ByteOff);
+}
+
 Instruction *InstCombinerImpl::visitExtractElementInst(ExtractElementInst &EI) {
   Value *SrcVec = EI.getVectorOperand();
   Value *Index = EI.getIndexOperand();
@@ -431,6 +496,12 @@ Instruction *InstCombinerImpl::visitExtractElementInst(ExtractElementInst &EI) {
       if (Instruction *R = FoldOpIntoSelect(EI, SI))
         return R;
 
+  // Fold a variable index into a table of pointers into one object into
+  // address arithmetic
+  if (!isa<ConstantInt>(Index))
+    if (Value *V = foldExtractOfStridedPointerVector(EI, Builder, DL))
+      return replaceInstUsesWith(EI, V);
+
   // If extracting a specified index from the vector, see if we can recursively
   // find a previously computed scalar that was inserted into the vector.
   auto *IndexC = dyn_cast<ConstantInt>(Index);
diff --git a/llvm/test/Transforms/InstCombine/extractelement-strided-ptr-vector.ll b/llvm/test/Transforms/InstCombine/extractelement-strided-ptr-vector.ll
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..519657c945994
--- /dev/null
+++ b/llvm/test/Transforms/InstCombine/extractelement-strided-ptr-vector.ll
@@ -0,0 +1,147 @@
+; NOTE: Assertions have been autogenerated by utils/update_test_checks.py UTC_ARGS: --version 5
+; RUN: opt -S -passes=instcombine < %s | FileCheck %s
+
+target datalayout = "e-m:e-i64:64-f80:128-n8:16:32:64-S128"
+
+; A variable extract from a table of pointers into one object at a constant
+; stride is address arithmetic, so it folds to a single GEP.
+define ptr @strided(ptr %b, i32 %i) {
+; CHECK-LABEL: define ptr @strided(
+; CHECK-SAME: ptr [[B:%.*]], i32 [[I:%.*]]) {
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[TMP1:%.*]] = zext i32 [[I]] to i64
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[TMP2:%.*]] = shl nuw nsw i64 [[TMP1]], 3
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[R:%.*]] = getelementptr i8, ptr [[B]], i64 [[TMP2]]
+; CHECK-NEXT:    ret ptr [[R]]
+;
+  %g1 = getelementptr i8, ptr %b, i64 8
+  %g2 = getelementptr i8, ptr %b, i64 16
+  %g3 = getelementptr i8, ptr %b, i64 24
+  %v0 = insertelement <4 x ptr> poison, ptr %b, i64 0
+  %v1 = insertelement <4 x ptr> %v0, ptr %g1, i64 1
+  %v2 = insertelement <4 x ptr> %v1, ptr %g2, i64 2
+  %v3 = insertelement <4 x ptr> %v2, ptr %g3, i64 3
+  %r = extractelement <4 x ptr> %v3, i32 %i
+  ret ptr %r
+}
+
+; The base element may itself sit at a non-zero offset.
+define ptr @strided_nonzero_base(ptr %b, i32 %i) {
+; CHECK-LABEL: define ptr @strided_nonzero_base(
+; CHECK-SAME: ptr [[B:%.*]], i32 [[I:%.*]]) {
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[G0:%.*]] = getelementptr i8, ptr [[B]], i64 4
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[TMP1:%.*]] = zext i32 [[I]] to i64
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[TMP2:%.*]] = shl nuw nsw i64 [[TMP1]], 2
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[R:%.*]] = getelementptr i8, ptr [[G0]], i64 [[TMP2]]
+; CHECK-NEXT:    ret ptr [[R]]
+;
+  %g0 = getelementptr i8, ptr %b, i64 4
+  %g1 = getelementptr i8, ptr %b, i64 8
+  %v0 = insertelement <2 x ptr> poison, ptr %g0, i64 0
+  %v1 = insertelement <2 x ptr> %v0, ptr %g1, i64 1
+  %r = extractelement <2 x ptr> %v1, i32 %i
+  ret ptr %r
+}
+
+; Inserts need not appear in index order.
+define ptr @strided_out_of_order(ptr %b, i32 %i) {
+; CHECK-LABEL: define ptr @strided_out_of_order(
+; CHECK-SAME: ptr [[B:%.*]], i32 [[I:%.*]]) {
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[TMP1:%.*]] = zext i32 [[I]] to i64
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[TMP2:%.*]] = shl nuw nsw i64 [[TMP1]], 3
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[R:%.*]] = getelementptr i8, ptr [[B]], i64 [[TMP2]]
+; CHECK-NEXT:    ret ptr [[R]]
+;
+  %g1 = getelementptr i8, ptr %b, i64 8
+  %v0 = insertelement <2 x ptr> poison, ptr %g1, i64 1
+  %v1 = insertelement <2 x ptr> %v0, ptr %b, i64 0
+  %r = extractelement <2 x ptr> %v1, i32 %i
+  ret ptr %r
+}
+
+; All elements equal: the extract is just that pointer.
+define ptr @zero_stride(ptr %b, i32 %i) {
+; CHECK-LABEL: define ptr @zero_stride(
+; CHECK-SAME: ptr [[B:%.*]], i32 [[I:%.*]]) {
+; CHECK-NEXT:    ret ptr [[B]]
+;
+  %v0 = insertelement <2 x ptr> poison, ptr %b, i64 0
+  %v1 = insertelement <2 x ptr> %v0, ptr %b, i64 1
+  %r = extractelement <2 x ptr> %v1, i32 %i
+  ret ptr %r
+}
+
+; Negative: offsets 0, 8, 12, 24 are not an arithmetic sequence.
+define ptr @irregular_stride(ptr %b, i32 %i) {
+; CHECK-LABEL: define ptr @irregular_stride(
+; CHECK-SAME: ptr [[B:%.*]], i32 [[I:%.*]]) {
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[G1:%.*]] = getelementptr i8, ptr [[B]], i64 8
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[G2:%.*]] = getelementptr i8, ptr [[B]], i64 12
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[G3:%.*]] = getelementptr i8, ptr [[B]], i64 24
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[V0:%.*]] = insertelement <4 x ptr> poison, ptr [[B]], i64 0
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[V1:%.*]] = insertelement <4 x ptr> [[V0]], ptr [[G1]], i64 1
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[V2:%.*]] = insertelement <4 x ptr> [[V1]], ptr [[G2]], i64 2
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[V3:%.*]] = insertelement <4 x ptr> [[V2]], ptr [[G3]], i64 3
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[R:%.*]] = extractelement <4 x ptr> [[V3]], i32 [[I]]
+; CHECK-NEXT:    ret ptr [[R]]
+;
+  %g1 = getelementptr i8, ptr %b, i64 8
+  %g2 = getelementptr i8, ptr %b, i64 12
+  %g3 = getelementptr i8, ptr %b, i64 24
+  %v0 = insertelement <4 x ptr> poison, ptr %b, i64 0
+  %v1 = insertelement <4 x ptr> %v0, ptr %g1, i64 1
+  %v2 = insertelement <4 x ptr> %v1, ptr %g2, i64 2
+  %v3 = insertelement <4 x ptr> %v2, ptr %g3, i64 3
+  %r = extractelement <4 x ptr> %v3, i32 %i
+  ret ptr %r
+}
+
+; Negative: elements point into two unrelated objects.
+define ptr @two_bases(ptr %b, ptr %c, i32 %i) {
+; CHECK-LABEL: define ptr @two_bases(
+; CHECK-SAME: ptr [[B:%.*]], ptr [[C:%.*]], i32 [[I:%.*]]) {
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[V0:%.*]] = insertelement <2 x ptr> poison, ptr [[B]], i64 0
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[V1:%.*]] = insertelement <2 x ptr> [[V0]], ptr [[C]], i64 1
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[R:%.*]] = extractelement <2 x ptr> [[V1]], i32 [[I]]
+; CHECK-NEXT:    ret ptr [[R]]
+;
+  %v0 = insertelement <2 x ptr> poison, ptr %b, i64 0
+  %v1 = insertelement <2 x ptr> %v0, ptr %c, i64 1
+  %r = extractelement <2 x ptr> %v1, i32 %i
+  ret ptr %r
+}
+
+; Negative: element 3 is never defined, so the sequence is unknown.
+define ptr @partially_defined(ptr %b, i32 %i) {
+; CHECK-LABEL: define ptr @partially_defined(
+; CHECK-SAME: ptr [[B:%.*]], i32 [[I:%.*]]) {
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[G1:%.*]] = getelementptr i8, ptr [[B]], i64 8
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[G2:%.*]] = getelementptr i8, ptr [[B]], i64 16
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[V0:%.*]] = insertelement <4 x ptr> poison, ptr [[B]], i64 0
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[V1:%.*]] = insertelement <4 x ptr> [[V0]], ptr [[G1]], i64 1
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[V2:%.*]] = insertelement <4 x ptr> [[V1]], ptr [[G2]], i64 2
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[R:%.*]] = extractelement <4 x ptr> [[V2]], i32 [[I]]
+; CHECK-NEXT:    ret ptr [[R]]
+;
+  %g1 = getelementptr i8, ptr %b, i64 8
+  %g2 = getelementptr i8, ptr %b, i64 16
+  %v0 = insertelement <4 x ptr> poison, ptr %b, i64 0
+  %v1 = insertelement <4 x ptr> %v0, ptr %g1, i64 1
+  %v2 = insertelement <4 x ptr> %v1, ptr %g2, i64 2
+  %r = extractelement <4 x ptr> %v2, i32 %i
+  ret ptr %r
+}
+
+; Negative: a non-pointer vector is left to the existing folds.
+define i32 @not_pointers(i32 %a, i32 %b, i32 %i) {
+; CHECK-LABEL: define i32 @not_pointers(
+; CHECK-SAME: i32 [[A:%.*]], i32 [[B:%.*]], i32 [[I:%.*]]) {
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[V0:%.*]] = insertelement <2 x i32> poison, i32 [[A]], i64 0
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[V1:%.*]] = insertelement <2 x i32> [[V0]], i32 [[B]], i64 1
+; CHECK-NEXT:    [[R:%.*]] = extractelement <2 x i32> [[V1]], i32 [[I]]
+; CHECK-NEXT:    ret i32 [[R]]
+;
+  %v0 = insertelement <2 x i32> poison, i32 %a, i64 0
+  %v1 = insertelement <2 x i32> %v0, i32 %b, i64 1
+  %r = extractelement <2 x i32> %v1, i32 %i
+  ret i32 %r
+}



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