15.12.1 USART I/O Data Register 0

The USART Transmit Data Buffer Register and USART Receive Data Buffer Registers share the same I/O address referred to as USART Data Register or UDR0. The Transmit Data Buffer Register (TXB) will be the destination for data written to the UDR0 Register location. Reading the UDR0 Register location will return the contents of the Receive Data Buffer Register (RXB).

For 5-, 6-, or 7-bit characters the upper unused bits will be ignored by the Transmitter and set to zero by the Receiver.

The transmit buffer can only be written when the UDRE0 Flag in the UCSR0A Register is set. Data written to UDR0 when the UDRE0 Flag is not set, will be ignored by the USART Transmitter. When data is written to the transmit buffer, and the Transmitter is enabled, the Transmitter will load the data into the Transmit Shift Register when the Shift Register is empty. Then the data will be serially transmitted on the TxD0 pin.

The receive buffer consists of a two level FIFO. The FIFO will change its state whenever the receive buffer is accessed. Due to this behavior of the receive buffer, do not use Read-Modify-Write instructions (SBI and CBI) on this location. Be careful when using bit test instructions (SBIC and SBIS), since these also will change the state of the FIFO.