Case statements in VHDL and (System)Verilog

In programming languages, case (or switch) statements are used as a conditional statement in which a selection is made based on different values of a particular variable or expression. A general discussion of these statements can be found here .

In hardware description languages (HDL) such as VHDL and (System)Verilog, case statements are also available.

case sel is -- VHDL
   when "00" => y <= a;
   when "01" => y <= b;
   when "10" => y <= c;
   when "11" => y <= d;
end case;

case (sel)  // (System)Verilog
   "00" : y = a;
   "01" : y = b;
   "10" : y = c;
   "11" : y = d;
endcase

The above code fragments demonstrate the use of a case statement to describe a 4-to-1 multiplexer, a common case where a case statement is used. Using case in VHDL has the advantage that the language guarantees that all cases are covered. Any choice not covered in a VHDL case statement will lead to a compilation error. As a consequence, a case statement is preferred over an if-else if (or elsif) tree.

But what if a number of cases trigger the same action? Code duplication should be avoided, because that makes the code harder to maintain. Fortunately, VHDL case statements can handle ranges and lists of values.

variable bmi: natural range 0 to 100;

-- code omitted

case bmi is
   when 18 downto 0            => verdict <= "too low   ";  -- range
   when 20                     => verdict <= "perfect   ";  -- single value
   when 19 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 => verdict <= "good      ";  -- list of values
   when 25 to 29               => verdict <= "a bit high";  -- range
   when 30 to 100              => verdict <= "too high  ";  -- range
end case;

SystemVerilog (but not Verilog) has a case inside statement with similar functionality:

logic [3:0] sel;

// code omitted

case (sel) inside
   [4'h0:4'h7] : y = a;  // range
   [4'h9:4'hD] : y = b;  // range
   4'h8, 4'hE  : y = c;  // list of values
   4'hF        : y = d;  // single value
endcase

Verilog has casex and casez statements, in which some bits of the selection pattern can be marked as don’t care. These statements should be avoided for range matching. The wildcard match could hide an undefined or illegal signal value of x, i.e. it could hide a design flaw. Priority encoding is one example where casez is a good fit:

casez (sel)           // priority encoder
  4'b???1 : prio = 0;
  4'b??10 : prio = 1;
  4'b?100 : prio = 2;
  4'b1000 : prio = 3;
  default : prio = 0; //no match
endcase

Finally, a default action may be added to the case statement using an others (VHDL) or default (Verilog/SystemVerilog) clause. This removes the requirement to enumerate every option in the case statement. For clarity, the default should be the last clause of the case statement.

logic [3:0] sel;

// code omitted

case (sel) inside
   [4'h0:4'h7] : y = a;  // particular values
   [4'h9:4'hD] : y = b;
   4'hF        : y = d;
   default     : y = c;  // default value, in this case `8` and `E`
endcase

The example below shows one of the most common uses of case statements, namely a finite state machine (FSM).

type t_state is (SIT, STAND, WALK, RUN, FLY);
signal state: t_state;

-- code omitted
p_state : process(clk) is
begin
   if rising_edge(clk) then
      if rst = '1' then
         state <= SIT;
      else
         case state is
            when SIT =>
               if start_moving then
                  state <= STAND;
               end if;
            when STAND =>
               state <= WALK;
            when WALK =>
               state <= RUN;
            when RUN =>
               if cleared_for_takeoff then
                  state <= FLY;
               end if;
            when others =>   -- default, includes state FLY
               state <= SIT;
         end case;
      end if;
   end if;
end process p_state;

A discussion exists whether an others or default clause is recommended if all possible cases have been enumerated in the case statement. We believe that it should be up to the designer to make that decision, taking the following considerations into account:

• If the code is meant for simulation only, the presence or absence of a default clause will not affect the design. For clarity, it may be better to leave it out.

• If the selection variable may be extended (e.g. more bits, more enumeration literals), a default clause will ensure that the design will still compile with the extension. This may be convenient, but there is a risk that the designer may forget to add specific selections.

• A synthesis tool may add hardware to protect the circuit against illegal patterns. This may happen in particular if the selection variable is an enumerated type. If the enumerated type has a number of values that is not a power of 2, or if one-hot encoding is used, some bit patterns of the enumeration value don’t correspond to an enumerated value. In that case, a default value may be used by the synthesis tool to determine what should happen if an illegal selection value is seen, e.g. raise an alarm, or bring a finite state machine (FSM) to a safe state. Depending on the synthesis tool and nature of the circuit, it may be desirable or not to add a protective circuit.

• In (System)Verilog, it is not required to cover all possible options of a case statement. Combinations of 'x' and 'z' would typically be omitted, potentially hiding the propagation of uninitialized data and leading to synthesis-simulation mismatch. Adding a default which produces 'x'-es on its outputs will reveal potential design flaws in simulation and will help debug the design.

In conclusion, case in HDL is a powerful conditional control statement. Case statements are easy to understand and maintain. Use the most suitable variant in your design case for optimal design quality and maintainability.

Sigasi Visual HDL  offers case statement templates and configurable validations to improve designers' productivity.