LA Example

At run time, la translates into one or several machine instructions that load the designated register with the required address. No memory access is done. (So there is no delay slot after this instruction.)

Here is the previous example code done using la:

main:                        #  Load memory address:
        la    $10,val2       #  load a 32-bit address into $10
        lw    $11,0($10)     #  Load contents of memory at the address into $11

        . . . 

        .data
val0:   .word   0 
val1:   .word   1 
val2:   .word   2            # base register $10 points at "2"
val3:   .word   3 
val4:   .word   4 
val5:   .word   5