Here are the MIPS that you will see in PS2DIS. This should better help you understand their purpose.

ADD - Add
Description: Adds two registers and stores the result in a register
Operation: $d = $s + $t; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: add $d, $s, $t
Encoding: 0000 00ss ssst tttt dddd d000 0010 0000


ADDI - Add immediate
Description: Adds a register and a signed immediate value and stores the result in a register
Operation: $t = $s + imm; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: addi $t, $s, imm
Encoding: 0010 00ss ssst tttt iiii iiii iiii iiii


ADDIU - Add immediate unsigned
Description: Adds a register and an unsigned immediate value and stores the result in a register
Operation: $t = $s + imm; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: addiu $t, $s, imm
Encoding: 0010 01ss ssst tttt iiii iiii iiii iiii


ADDU - Add unsigned
Description: Adds two registers and stores the result in a register
Operation: $d = $s + $t; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: addu $d, $s, $t
Encoding: 0000 00ss ssst tttt dddd d000 0010 0001


AND - Bitwise and
Description: Bitwise ands two registers and stores the result in a register
Operation: $d = $s & $t; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: and $d, $s, $t
Encoding: 0000 00ss ssst tttt dddd d000 0010 0100


ANDI - Bitwise and immediate
Description: Bitwise ands a register and an immediate value and stores the result in a register
Operation: $t = $s & imm; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: andi $t, $s, imm
Encoding: 0011 00ss ssst tttt iiii iiii iiii iiii


BEQ - Branch on equal
Description: Branches if the two registers are equal
Operation: if $s == $t advance_pc (offset << 2)); else advance_pc (4);
Syntax: beq $s, $t, offset
Encoding: 0001 00ss ssst tttt iiii iiii iiii iiii


BGEZ - Branch on greater than or equal to zero
Description: Branches if the register is greater than or equal to zero
Operation: if $s >= 0 advance_pc (offset << 2)); else advance_pc (4);
Syntax: bgez $s, offset
Encoding: 0000 01ss sss0 0001 iiii iiii iiii iiii


BGEZAL - Branch on greater than or equal to zero and link
Description: Branches if the register is greater than or equal to zero and saves the return address in $31
Operation: if $s >= 0 $31 = PC + 8 (or nPC + 4); advance_pc (offset << 2)); else advance_pc (4);
Syntax: bgezal $s, offset
Encoding: 0000 01ss sss1 0001 iiii iiii iiii iiii


BGTZ - Branch on greater than zero
Description: Branches if the register is greater than zero
Operation: if $s > 0 advance_pc (offset << 2)); else advance_pc (4);
Syntax: bgtz $s, offset
Encoding: 0001 11ss sss0 0000 iiii iiii iiii iiii


BLEZ - Branch on less than or equal to zero
Description: Branches if the register is less than or equal to zero
Operation: if $s <= 0 advance_pc (offset << 2)); else advance_pc (4);
Syntax: blez $s, offset
Encoding: 0001 10ss sss0 0000 iiii iiii iiii iiii


BLTZ - Branch on less than zero
Description: Branches if the register is less than zero
Operation: if $s < 0 advance_pc (offset << 2)); else advance_pc (4);
Syntax: bltz $s, offset
Encoding: 0000 01ss sss0 0000 iiii iiii iiii iiii


BLTZAL - Branch on less than zero and link
Description: Branches if the register is less than zero and saves the return address in $31
Operation: if $s < 0 $31 = PC + 8 (or nPC + 4); advance_pc (offset << 2)); else advance_pc (4);
Syntax: bltzal $s, offset
Encoding: 0000 01ss sss1 0000 iiii iiii iiii iiii


BNE - Branch on not equal
Description: Branches if the two registers are not equal
Operation: if $s != $t advance_pc (offset << 2)); else advance_pc (4);
Syntax: bne $s, $t, offset
Encoding: 0001 01ss ssst tttt iiii iiii iiii iiii


DIV - Divide
Description: Divides $s by $t and stores the quotient in $LO and the remainder in $HI
Operation: $LO = $s / $t; $HI = $s % $t; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: div $s, $t
Encoding: 0000 00ss ssst tttt 0000 0000 0001 1010


DIVU - Divide unsigned
Description: Divides $s by $t and stores the quotient in $LO and the remainder in $HI
Operation: $LO = $s / $t; $HI = $s % $t; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: divu $s, $t
Encoding: 0000 00ss ssst tttt 0000 0000 0001 1011


J - Jump
Description: Jumps to the calculated address
Operation: PC = nPC; nPC = (PC & 0xf0000000) | (target << 2);
Syntax: j target
Encoding: 0000 10ii iiii iiii iiii iiii iiii iiii


JAL - Jump and link
Description: Jumps to the calculated address and stores the return address in $31
Operation: $31 = PC + 8 (or nPC + 4); PC = nPC; nPC = (PC & 0xf0000000) | (target << 2);
Syntax: jal target
Encoding: 0000 11ii iiii iiii iiii iiii iiii iiii


JR - Jump register
Description: Jump to the address contained in register $s
Operation: PC = nPC; nPC = $s;
Syntax: jr $s
Encoding: 0000 00ss sss0 0000 0000 0000 0000 1000


LB - Load byte
Description: A byte is loaded into a register from the specified address.
Operation: $t = MEM[$s + offset]; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: lb $t, offset($s)
Encoding: 1000 00ss ssst tttt iiii iiii iiii iiii


LUI - Load upper immediate
Description: The immediate value is shifted left 16 bits and stored in the register. The lower 16 bits are zeroes.
Operation: $t = (imm << 16); advance_pc (4);
Syntax: lui $t, imm
Encoding: 0011 11-- ---t tttt iiii iiii iiii iiii


LW - Load word
Description: A word is loaded into a register from the specified address.
Operation: $t = MEM[$s + offset]; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: lw $t, offset($s)
Encoding: 1000 11ss ssst tttt iiii iiii iiii iiii


MFHI - Move from HI
Description: The contents of register HI are moved to the specified register.
Operation: $d = $HI; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: mfhi $d
Encoding: 0000 0000 0000 0000 dddd d000 0001 0000


MFLO - Move from LO
Description: The contents of register LO are moved to the specified register.
Operation: $d = $LO; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: mflo $d
Encoding: 0000 0000 0000 0000 dddd d000 0001 0010


MULT - Multiply
Description: Multiplies $s by $t and stores the result in $LO.
Operation: $LO = $s * $t; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: mult $s, $t
Encoding: 0000 00ss ssst tttt 0000 0000 0001 1000


MULTU - Multiply unsigned
Description: Multiplies $s by $t and stores the result in $LO.
Operation: $LO = $s * $t; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: multu $s, $t
Encoding: 0000 00ss ssst tttt 0000 0000 0001 1001


NOP - no operation
Description: Performs no operation.
Operation: advance_pc (4);
Syntax: nop
Encoding: 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000


Note: The encoding for a NOOP represents the instruction SLL $0, $0, 0 which has no side effects. In fact, nearly every instruction that has $0 as its destination register will have no side effect and can thus be considered a NOOP instruction.


OR - Bitwise or
Description: Bitwise logical ors two registers and stores the result in a register
Operation: $d = $s | $t; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: or $d, $s, $t
Encoding: 0000 00ss ssst tttt dddd d000 0010 0101


ORI - Bitwise or immediate
Description: Bitwise ors a register and an immediate value and stores the result in a register
Operation: $t = $s | imm; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: ori $t, $s, imm
Encoding: 0011 01ss ssst tttt iiii iiii iiii iiii


SB - Store byte
Description: The least significant byte of $t is stored at the specified address.
Operation: MEM[$s + offset] = (0xff & $t); advance_pc (4);
Syntax: sb $t, offset($s)
Encoding: 1010 00ss ssst tttt iiii iiii iiii iiii


SLL - Shift left logical
Description: Shifts a register value left by the shift amount listed in the instruction and places the result in a third register. Zeroes are shifted in.
Operation: $d = $t << h; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: sll $d, $t, h
Encoding: 0000 00ss ssst tttt dddd dhhh hh00 0000


SLLV - Shift left logical variable
Description: Shifts a register value left by the value in a second register and places the result in a third register. Zeroes are shifted in.
Operation: $d = $t << $s; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: sllv $d, $t, $s
Encoding: 0000 00ss ssst tttt dddd d--- --00 0100


SLT - Set on less than (signed)
Description: If $s is less than $t, $d is set to one. It gets zero otherwise.
Operation: if $s < $t $d = 1; advance_pc (4); else $d = 0; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: slt $d, $s, $t
Encoding: 0000 00ss ssst tttt dddd d000 0010 1010


SLTI - Set on less than immediate (signed)
Description: If $s is less than immediate, $t is set to one. It gets zero otherwise.
Operation: if $s < imm $t = 1; advance_pc (4); else $t = 0; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: slti $t, $s, imm
Encoding: 0010 10ss ssst tttt iiii iiii iiii iiii


SLTIU - Set on less than immediate unsigned
Description: If $s is less than the unsigned immediate, $t is set to one. It gets zero otherwise.
Operation: if $s < imm $t = 1; advance_pc (4); else $t = 0; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: sltiu $t, $s, imm
Encoding: 0010 11ss ssst tttt iiii iiii iiii iiii


SLTU - Set on less than unsigned
Description: If $s is less than $t, $d is set to one. It gets zero otherwise.
Operation: if $s < $t $d = 1; advance_pc (4); else $d = 0; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: sltu $d, $s, $t
Encoding: 0000 00ss ssst tttt dddd d000 0010 1011


SRA - Shift right arithmetic
Description: Shifts a register value right by the shift amount (shamt) and places the value in the destination register. The sign bit is shifted in.
Operation: $d = $t >> h; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: sra $d, $t, h
Encoding: 0000 00-- ---t tttt dddd dhhh hh00 0011


SRL - Shift right logical
Description: Shifts a register value right by the shift amount (shamt) and places the value in the destination register. Zeroes are shifted in.
Operation: $d = $t >> h; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: srl $d, $t, h
Encoding: 0000 00-- ---t tttt dddd dhhh hh00 0010


SRLV - Shift right logical variable
Description: Shifts a register value right by the amount specified in $s and places the value in the destination register. Zeroes are shifted in.
Operation: $d = $t >> $s; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: srlv $d, $t, $s
Encoding: 0000 00ss ssst tttt dddd d000 0000 0110


SUB - Subtract
Description: Subtracts two registers and stores the result in a register
Operation: $d = $s - $t; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: sub $d, $s, $t
Encoding: 0000 00ss ssst tttt dddd d000 0010 0010


SUBU - Subtract unsigned
Description: Subtracts two registers and stores the result in a register
Operation: $d = $s - $t; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: subu $d, $s, $t
Encoding: 0000 00ss ssst tttt dddd d000 0010 0011


SW - Store word
Description: The contents of $t is stored at the specified address.
Operation: MEM[$s + offset] = $t; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: sw $t, offset($s)
Encoding: 1010 11ss ssst tttt iiii iiii iiii iiii


SYSCALL - System call
Description: Generates a software interrupt.
Operation: advance_pc (4);
Syntax: syscall
Encoding: 0000 00-- ---- ---- ---- ---- --00 1100


XOR - Bitwise exclusive or
Description: Exclusive ors two registers and stores the result in a register
Operation: $d = $s ^ $t; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: xor $d, $s, $t
Encoding: 0000 00ss ssst tttt dddd d--- --10 0110


XORI - Bitwise exclusive or immediate
Description: Bitwise exclusive ors a register and an immediate value and stores the result in a register
Operation: $t = $s ^ imm; advance_pc (4);
Syntax: xori $t, $s, imm
Encoding: 0011 10ss ssst tttt iiii iiii iiii iiii