program counter
nounUK /ˈprəʊ.ɡræm ˌkaʊn.tər/
US /ˈproʊ.ɡræm ˌkaʊn.tɚ/
A tiny helper inside a computer that remembers which step to do next.
The program counter points to the next instruction the computer will run.
OTHER MEANINGS
2. A register in a processor that holds the memory address of the next instruction to be executed.
After each fetch, the program counter is incremented to point to the following instruction.
3. A pointer used by an interpreter to track the current position in a program's instruction stream.
The virtual machine saves the program counter before handling an interrupt.
4. In some architectures, a counter that can be directly read or written to control execution flow.
The jump instruction loads a new value into the program counter.