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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1" standalone="no"?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><title>mode bit</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="../../jargon.css" type="text/css"/><meta name="generator" content="DocBook XSL Stylesheets V1.61.0"/><link rel="home" href="../index.html" title="The Jargon File"/><link rel="up" href="../M.html" title="M"/><link rel="previous" href="mode.html" title="mode"/><link rel="next" href="modulo.html" title="modulo"/></head><body><div class="navheader"><table width="100%" summary="Navigation header"><tr><th colspan="3" align="center">mode bit</th></tr><tr><td width="20%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="mode.html">Prev</a> </td><th width="60%" align="center">M</th><td width="20%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="modulo.html">Next</a></td></tr></table><hr/></div><dt><a id="mode-bit"/><dt xmlns="" id="mode-bit"><b>mode bit</b>: <span xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" class="grammar">n.</span></dt></dt><dd><p> [common] A <a href="../F/flag.html"><i class="glossterm">flag</i></a>, usually in hardware, that
selects between two (usually quite different) modes of operation. The
connotations are different from <a href="../F/flag.html"><i class="glossterm">flag</i></a> bit in that
mode bits are mainly written during a boot or set-up phase, are seldom
explicitly read, and seldom change over the lifetime of an ordinary
program. The classic example was the EBCDIC-vs.-ASCII bit (#12) of the
Program Status Word of the IBM 360.</p></dd><div class="navfooter"><hr/><table width="100%" summary="Navigation footer"><tr><td width="40%" align="left"><a accesskey="p" href="mode.html">Prev</a> </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="u" href="../M.html">Up</a></td><td width="40%" align="right"> <a accesskey="n" href="modulo.html">Next</a></td></tr><tr><td width="40%" align="left" valign="top">mode </td><td width="20%" align="center"><a accesskey="h" href="../index.html">Home</a></td><td width="40%" align="right" valign="top"> modulo</td></tr></table></div></body></html>