12.7: Segmentation
- Page ID
- 82910
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)Segmentation in Operating System
A process is divided into segments. The segments are not required to be of the same sizes.
There are 2 types of segmentation:
- Virtual memory segmentation
Each process is divided into a number of segments, not all of which are resident at any one point in time. - Simple segmentation
Each process is divided into a number of segments, all of which are loaded into memory at run time, though not necessarily contiguously.
There is no simple relationship between logical addresses and physical addresses in segmentation. A table stores the information about all such segments and is called Segment Table.

("Segmentation Table Mapping to Physical Address" by VaibhavRai3, Geeks for Geeks is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)
The Segment Table maps the logical address, made up of the base address and the limit, into one-dimensional physical address. It’s each table entry has:
- Base Address: It contains the starting physical address where the segments reside in memory.
- Limit: It specifies the length of the segment.
Translation of a two dimensional Logical Address to one dimensional Physical Address.
.png?revision=1)
("Translate Logical Address to Physical Address" by VaibhavRai3, Geeks for Geeks is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0)
Address generated by the CPU is divided into:
- Segment number (s): Number of bits required to represent the segment.
- Segment offset (d): Number of bits required to represent the size of the segment.
Walking through the diagram above:
- CPU generates a 2 part logival address.
- The segment number is used to get the Limit and the Base Address value from the segment table.
- If the segment offset (d) is less than the Limit value from the segment table then
- The Base Address returned from the segment table, points to the beginning of the segment
- The Limit value points to the end of the segment in physcial memory.
Advantages of Segmentation
- No Internal fragmentation.
- Segment Table consumes less space in comparison to Page table in paging.
Disadvantage of Segmentation
- As processes are loaded and removed from the memory, the free memory space is broken into little pieces, causing External fragmentation.
Adapted from:
"Segmentation in Operating System" by VaibhavRai3, Geeks for Geeks is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0