3 \# Source code to NASM documentation
10 \IR{-On} \c{-On} option
26 \IR{!=} \c{!=} operator
27 \IR{$ here} \c{$} Here token
30 \IR{%%} \c{%%} operator
31 \IR{%+1} \c{%+1} and \c{%-1} syntax
33 \IR{%0} \c{%0} parameter count
35 \IR{&&} \c{&&} operator
37 \IR{..@} \c{..@} symbol prefix
39 \IR{//} \c{//} operator
41 \IR{<<} \c{<<} operator
42 \IR{<=} \c{<=} operator
43 \IR{<>} \c{<>} operator
45 \IR{==} \c{==} operator
47 \IR{>=} \c{>=} operator
48 \IR{>>} \c{>>} operator
49 \IR{?} \c{?} MASM syntax
51 \IR{^^} \c{^^} operator
53 \IR{||} \c{||} operator
55 \IR{%$} \c{%$} and \c{%$$} prefixes
57 \IR{+ opaddition} \c{+} operator, binary
58 \IR{+ opunary} \c{+} operator, unary
59 \IR{+ modifier} \c{+} modifier
60 \IR{- opsubtraction} \c{-} operator, binary
61 \IR{- opunary} \c{-} operator, unary
62 \IR{alignment, in bin sections} alignment, in \c{bin} sections
63 \IR{alignment, in elf sections} alignment, in \c{elf} sections
64 \IR{alignment, in win32 sections} alignment, in \c{win32} sections
65 \IR{alignment, of elf common variables} alignment, of \c{elf} common
67 \IR{alignment, in obj sections} alignment, in \c{obj} sections
68 \IR{a.out, bsd version} \c{a.out}, BSD version
69 \IR{a.out, linux version} \c{a.out}, Linux version
70 \IR{autoconf} Autoconf
71 \IR{bitwise and} bitwise AND
72 \IR{bitwise or} bitwise OR
73 \IR{bitwise xor} bitwise XOR
74 \IR{block ifs} block IFs
75 \IR{borland pascal} Borland, Pascal
76 \IR{borland's win32 compilers} Borland, Win32 compilers
77 \IR{braces, after % sign} braces, after \c{%} sign
79 \IR{c calling convention} C calling convention
80 \IR{c symbol names} C symbol names
81 \IA{critical expressions}{critical expression}
82 \IA{command line}{command-line}
83 \IA{case sensitivity}{case sensitive}
84 \IA{case-sensitive}{case sensitive}
85 \IA{case-insensitive}{case sensitive}
86 \IA{character constants}{character constant}
87 \IR{common object file format} Common Object File Format
88 \IR{common variables, alignment in elf} common variables, alignment
90 \IR{common, elf extensions to} \c{COMMON}, \c{elf} extensions to
91 \IR{common, obj extensions to} \c{COMMON}, \c{obj} extensions to
92 \IR{declaring structure} declaring structures
93 \IR{default-wrt mechanism} default-\c{WRT} mechanism
96 \IR{dll symbols, exporting} DLL symbols, exporting
97 \IR{dll symbols, importing} DLL symbols, importing
99 \IR{dos archive} DOS archive
100 \IR{dos source archive} DOS source archive
101 \IA{effective address}{effective addresses}
102 \IA{effective-address}{effective addresses}
103 \IR{elf shared libraries} \c{elf} shared libraries
105 \IR{freelink} FreeLink
106 \IR{functions, c calling convention} functions, C calling convention
107 \IR{functions, pascal calling convention} functions, Pascal calling
109 \IR{global, aoutb extensions to} \c{GLOBAL}, \c{aoutb} extensions to
110 \IR{global, elf extensions to} \c{GLOBAL}, \c{elf} extensions to
111 \IR{global, rdf extensions to} \c{GLOBAL}, \c{rdf} extensions to
113 \IR{got relocations} \c{GOT} relocations
114 \IR{gotoff relocation} \c{GOTOFF} relocations
115 \IR{gotpc relocation} \c{GOTPC} relocations
116 \IR{linux elf} Linux ELF
117 \IR{logical and} logical AND
118 \IR{logical or} logical OR
119 \IR{logical xor} logical XOR
121 \IA{memory reference}{memory references}
122 \IA{misc directory}{misc subdirectory}
123 \IR{misc subdirectory} \c{misc} subdirectory
124 \IR{microsoft omf} Microsoft OMF
125 \IR{mmx registers} MMX registers
126 \IA{modr/m}{modr/m byte}
127 \IR{modr/m byte} ModR/M byte
129 \IR{ms-dos device drivers} MS-DOS device drivers
130 \IR{multipush} \c{multipush} macro
131 \IR{nasm version} NASM version
135 \IR{operating-system} operating system
137 \IR{pascal calling convention}Pascal calling convention
138 \IR{passes} passes, assembly
143 \IR{plt} \c{PLT} relocations
144 \IA{pre-defining macros}{pre-define}
146 \IA{rdoff subdirectory}{rdoff}
147 \IR{rdoff} \c{rdoff} subdirectory
148 \IR{relocatable dynamic object file format} Relocatable Dynamic
150 \IR{relocations, pic-specific} relocations, PIC-specific
151 \IA{repeating}{repeating code}
152 \IR{section alignment, in elf} section alignment, in \c{elf}
153 \IR{section alignment, in bin} section alignment, in \c{bin}
154 \IR{section alignment, in obj} section alignment, in \c{obj}
155 \IR{section alignment, in win32} section alignment, in \c{win32}
156 \IR{section, elf extensions to} \c{SECTION}, \c{elf} extensions to
157 \IR{section, win32 extensions to} \c{SECTION}, \c{win32} extensions to
158 \IR{segment alignment, in bin} segment alignment, in \c{bin}
159 \IR{segment alignment, in obj} segment alignment, in \c{obj}
160 \IR{segment, obj extensions to} \c{SEGMENT}, \c{elf} extensions to
161 \IR{segment names, borland pascal} segment names, Borland Pascal
162 \IR{shift commane} \c{shift} command
164 \IR{sib byte} SIB byte
165 \IA{standard section names}{standardised section names}
166 \IR{symbols, exporting from dlls} symbols, exporting from DLLs
167 \IR{symbols, importing from dlls} symbols, importing from DLLs
169 \IR{test subdirectory} \c{test} subdirectory
171 \IR{underscore, in c symbols} underscore, in C symbols
173 \IR{unix source archive} Unix source archive
175 \IR{version number of nasm} version number of NASM
176 \IR{visual c++} Visual C++
177 \IR{www page} WWW page
180 \IR{windows 95} Windows 95
181 \IR{windows nt} Windows NT
182 \# \IC{program entry point}{entry point, program}
183 \# \IC{program entry point}{start point, program}
184 \# \IC{MS-DOS device drivers}{device drivers, MS-DOS}
185 \# \IC{16-bit mode, versus 32-bit mode}{32-bit mode, versus 16-bit mode}
186 \# \IC{c symbol names}{symbol names, in C}
189 \C{intro} Introduction
191 \H{whatsnasm} What Is NASM?
193 The Netwide Assembler, NASM, is an 80x86 assembler designed for
194 portability and modularity. It supports a range of object file
195 formats, including Linux \c{a.out} and \c{ELF}, \c{NetBSD/FreeBSD},
196 \c{COFF}, Microsoft 16-bit \c{OBJ} and \c{Win32}. It will also output
197 plain binary files. Its syntax is designed to be simple and easy to
198 understand, similar to Intel's but less complex. It supports \c{Pentium},
199 \c{P6}, \c{MMX}, \c{3DNow!}, \c{SSE} and \c{SSE2} opcodes, and has
203 \S{yaasm} Why Yet Another Assembler?
205 The Netwide Assembler grew out of an idea on \i\c{comp.lang.asm.x86}
206 (or possibly \i\c{alt.lang.asm} - I forget which), which was
207 essentially that there didn't seem to be a good \e{free} x86-series
208 assembler around, and that maybe someone ought to write one.
210 \b \i\c{a86} is good, but not free, and in particular you don't get any
211 32-bit capability until you pay. It's \c{DOS} only, too.
213 \b \i\c{gas} is free, and ports over \c{DOS} and \c{Unix}, but it's not
214 very good, since it's designed to be a back end to \i\c{gcc}, which
215 always feeds it correct code. So its error checking is minimal. Also,
216 its syntax is horrible, from the point of view of anyone trying to
217 actually \e{write} anything in it. Plus you can't write 16-bit code in
220 \b \i\c{as86} is \c{Linux-specific}, and (my version at least) doesn't
221 seem to have much (or any) documentation.
223 \b \i{MASM} isn't very good, and it's expensive, and it runs only under
226 \b \i{TASM} is better, but still strives for \i{MASM} compatibility,
227 which means millions of directives and tons of red tape. And its syntax
228 is essentially \i{MASM}'s, with the contradictions and quirks that
229 entails (although it sorts out some of those by means of Ideal mode).
230 It's expensive too. And it's \c{DOS-only}.
232 So here, for your coding pleasure, is NASM. At present it's
233 still in prototype stage - we don't promise that it can outperform
234 any of these assemblers. But please, \e{please} send us bug reports,
235 fixes, helpful information, and anything else you can get your hands
236 on (and thanks to the many people who've done this already! You all
237 know who you are), and we'll improve it out of all recognition.
241 \S{legal} Licence Conditions
243 Please see the file \c{Licence}, supplied as part of any NASM
244 distribution archive, for the \i{licence} conditions under which you
248 \H{contact} Contact Information
250 The current version of NASM (since about 0.98.08) are maintained by a
251 team of developers, accessible through the \c{nasm-devel} mailing list
252 (see below for the link).
253 If you want to report a bug, please read \k{bugs} first.
255 NASM has a \i{WWW page} at
256 \W{http://www.web-sites.co.uk/nasm}\c{http://www.web-sites.co.uk/nasm},
257 and another, with additional information, at
258 \W{http://nasm.2y.net/}\c{http://nasm.2y.net/}
260 The original authors are \i{e\-mail}able as
261 \W{mailto:jules@dsf.org.uk}\c{jules@dsf.org.uk} and
262 \W{mailto:anakin@pobox.com}\c{anakin@pobox.com}.
263 The latter is no longer involved in the development team.
265 \i{New releases} of NASM are uploaded to the official sites
266 \W{http://www.web-sites.co.uk/nasm}\c{http://www.web-sites.co.uk/nasm}
268 \W{ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/software/devel/nasm/}\i\c{ftp.kernel.org}
270 \W{ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/devel/lang/assemblers/}\i\c{ibiblio.org}.
272 Announcements are posted to
273 \W{news:comp.lang.asm.x86}\i\c{comp.lang.asm.x86},
274 \W{news:alt.lang.asm}\i\c{alt.lang.asm} and
275 \W{news:comp.os.linux.announce}\i\c{comp.os.linux.announce}
277 If you want information about NASM beta releases, and the current
278 development status, please subscribe to the \i\c{nasm-devel} email list
280 \W{http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nasm-devel}\c{http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nasm-devel},
281 \W{http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/nasm-devel}\c{http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/nasm-devel}
283 \W{http://sourceforge.net/projects/nasm}\c{http://sourceforge.net/projects/nasm}.
285 The preferred list is the list at Sourceforge, which is also the home to
286 the latest nasm source code and releases. The other lists are open, but
287 may not continue to be supported in the long term.
290 \H{install} Installation
292 \S{instdos} \i{Installing} NASM under MS-\i{DOS} or Windows
294 Once you've obtained the \i{DOS archive} for NASM, \i\c{nasmXXX.zip}
295 (where \c{XXX} denotes the version number of NASM contained in the
296 archive), unpack it into its own directory (for example \c{c:\\nasm}).
298 The archive will contain four executable files: the NASM executable
299 files \i\c{nasm.exe} and \i\c{nasmw.exe}, and the NDISASM executable
300 files \i\c{ndisasm.exe} and \i\c{ndisasmw.exe}. In each case, the
301 file whose name ends in \c{w} is a \I{Win32}\c{Win32} executable,
302 designed to run under \I{Windows 95}\c{Windows 95} or \I{Windows NT}
303 \c{Windows NT} Intel, and the other one is a 16-bit \I{DOS}\c{DOS}
306 The only file NASM needs to run is its own executable, so copy
307 (at least) one of \c{nasm.exe} and \c{nasmw.exe} to a directory on
308 your PATH, or alternatively edit \i\c{autoexec.bat} to add the
309 \c{nasm} directory to your \i\c{PATH}. (If you're only installing the
310 \c{Win32} version, you may wish to rename it to \c{nasm.exe}.)
312 That's it - NASM is installed. You don't need the \c{nasm} directory
313 to be present to run NASM (unless you've added it to your \c{PATH}),
314 so you can delete it if you need to save space; however, you may
315 want to keep the documentation or test programs.
317 If you've downloaded the \i{DOS source archive}, \i\c{nasmXXXs.zip},
318 the \c{nasm} directory will also contain the full NASM \i{source
319 code}, and a selection of \i{Makefiles} you can (hopefully) use to
320 rebuild your copy of NASM from scratch.
322 Note that the source files \c{insnsa.c}, \c{insnsd.c}, \c{insnsi.h}
323 and \c{insnsn.c} are automatically generated from the master
324 instruction table \c{insns.dat} by a Perl script; the file
325 \c{macros.c} is generated from \c{standard.mac} by another Perl
326 script. Although the NASM 0.98 distribution includes these generated
327 files, you will need to rebuild them (and hence, will need a Perl
328 interpreter) if you change \c{insns.dat}, \c{standard.mac} or the
329 documentation. It is possible future source distributions may not
330 include these files at all. Ports of \i{Perl} for a variety of
331 platforms, including \c{DOS} and \c{Windows}, are available from
332 \W{http://www.cpan.org/ports/}\i{www.cpan.org}.
335 \S{instdos} Installing NASM under \i{Unix}
337 Once you've obtained the \i{Unix source archive} for NASM,
338 \i\c{nasm-X.XX.tar.gz} (where \c{X.XX} denotes the version number of
339 NASM contained in the archive), unpack it into a directory such
340 as \c{/usr/local/src}. The archive, when unpacked, will create its
341 own subdirectory \c{nasm-X.XX}.
343 NASM is an \I{Autoconf}\I\c{configure}auto-configuring package: once
344 you've unpacked it, \c{cd} to the directory it's been unpacked into
345 and type \c{./configure}. This shell script will find the best C
346 compiler to use for building NASM and set up \i{Makefiles}
349 Once NASM has auto-configured, you can type \i\c{make} to build the
350 \c{nasm} and \c{ndisasm} binaries, and then \c{make install} to
351 install them in \c{/usr/local/bin} and install the \i{man pages}
352 \i\c{nasm.1} and \i\c{ndisasm.1} in \c{/usr/local/man/man1}.
353 Alternatively, you can give options such as \c{--prefix} to the
354 \c{configure} script (see the file \i\c{INSTALL} for more details), or
355 install the programs yourself.
357 NASM also comes with a set of utilities for handling the \c{RDOFF}
358 custom object-file format, which are in the \i\c{rdoff} subdirectory
359 of the NASM archive. You can build these with \c{make rdf} and
360 install them with \c{make rdf_install}, if you want them.
362 If NASM fails to auto-configure, you may still be able to make it
363 compile by using the fall-back Unix makefile \i\c{Makefile.unx}.
364 Copy or rename that file to \c{Makefile} and try typing \c{make}.
365 There is also a \c{Makefile.unx} file in the \c{rdoff} subdirectory.
368 \C{running} Running NASM
370 \H{syntax} NASM \i{Command-Line} Syntax
372 To assemble a file, you issue a command of the form
374 \c nasm -f <format> <filename> [-o <output>]
378 \c nasm -f elf myfile.asm
380 will assemble \c{myfile.asm} into an \c{ELF} object file \c{myfile.o}. And
382 \c nasm -f bin myfile.asm -o myfile.com
384 will assemble \c{myfile.asm} into a raw binary file \c{myfile.com}.
386 To produce a listing file, with the hex codes output from NASM
387 displayed on the left of the original sources, use the \c{-l} option
388 to give a listing file name, for example:
390 \c nasm -f coff myfile.asm -l myfile.lst
392 To get further usage instructions from NASM, try typing
396 This will also list the available output file formats, and what they
399 If you use Linux but aren't sure whether your system is \c{a.out} or
404 (in the directory in which you put the NASM binary when you
405 installed it). If it says something like
407 \c nasm: ELF 32-bit LSB executable i386 (386 and up) Version 1
409 then your system is \c{ELF}, and you should use the option \c{-f elf}
410 when you want NASM to produce Linux object files. If it says
412 \c nasm: Linux/i386 demand-paged executable (QMAGIC)
414 or something similar, your system is \c{a.out}, and you should use
415 \c{-f aout} instead (Linux \c{a.out} systems are considered obsolete,
416 and are rare these days.)
418 Like Unix compilers and assemblers, NASM is silent unless it
419 goes wrong: you won't see any output at all, unless it gives error
423 \S{opt-o} The \i\c{-o} Option: Specifying the Output File Name
425 NASM will normally choose the name of your output file for you;
426 precisely how it does this is dependent on the object file format.
427 For Microsoft object file formats (\i\c{obj} and \i\c{win32}), it
428 will remove the \c{.asm} \i{extension} (or whatever extension you
429 like to use - NASM doesn't care) from your source file name and
430 substitute \c{.obj}. For Unix object file formats (\i\c{aout},
431 \i\c{coff}, \i\c{elf} and \i\c{as86}) it will substitute \c{.o}. For
432 \i\c{rdf}, it will use \c{.rdf}, and for the \i\c{bin} format it
433 will simply remove the extension, so that \c{myfile.asm} produces
434 the output file \c{myfile}.
436 If the output file already exists, NASM will overwrite it, unless it
437 has the same name as the input file, in which case it will give a
438 warning and use \i\c{nasm.out} as the output file name instead.
440 For situations in which this behaviour is unacceptable, NASM
441 provides the \c{-o} command-line option, which allows you to specify
442 your desired output file name. You invoke \c{-o} by following it
443 with the name you wish for the output file, either with or without
444 an intervening space. For example:
446 \c nasm -f bin program.asm -o program.com
447 \c nasm -f bin driver.asm -odriver.sys
449 Note that this is a small o, and is different from a capital O , which
450 is used to specify the number of optimisation passes required. See \k{opt-On}.
453 \S{opt-f} The \i\c{-f} Option: Specifying the \i{Output File Format}
455 If you do not supply the \c{-f} option to NASM, it will choose an
456 output file format for you itself. In the distribution versions of
457 NASM, the default is always \i\c{bin}; if you've compiled your own
458 copy of NASM, you can redefine \i\c{OF_DEFAULT} at compile time and
459 choose what you want the default to be.
461 Like \c{-o}, the intervening space between \c{-f} and the output
462 file format is optional; so \c{-f elf} and \c{-felf} are both valid.
464 A complete list of the available output file formats can be given by
465 issuing the command \i\c{nasm -hf}.
468 \S{opt-l} The \i\c{-l} Option: Generating a \i{Listing File}
470 If you supply the \c{-l} option to NASM, followed (with the usual
471 optional space) by a file name, NASM will generate a
472 \i{source-listing file} for you, in which addresses and generated
473 code are listed on the left, and the actual source code, with
474 expansions of multi-line macros (except those which specifically
475 request no expansion in source listings: see \k{nolist}) on the
478 \c nasm -f elf myfile.asm -l myfile.lst
481 \S{opt-M} The \i\c{-M} Option: Generate \i{Makefile Dependencies}.
483 This option can be used to generate makefile dependencies on stdout.
484 This can be redirected to a file for further processing. For example:
486 \c NASM -M myfile.asm > myfile.dep
489 \S{opt-F} The \i\c{-F} Option: Selecting a \i{Debugging Format}
491 This option can be used to select a debugging format for the output file.
492 The syntax is the same as for the -f option, except that it produces
493 output in a debugging format.
495 A complete list of the available debug file formats for an output format
496 can be seen by issuing the command \i\c{nasm -f <format> -y}.
498 This option is not built into NASM by default. For information on how
499 to enable it when building from the sources, see \k{dbgfmt}
502 \S{opt-g} The \i\c{-g} Option: Enabling \i{Debug Information}.
504 This option can be used to generate debugging information in the specified
507 See \k{opt-F} for more information.
510 \S{opt-E} The \i\c{-E} Option: Send Errors to a File
512 Under \I{DOS}\c{MS-DOS} it can be difficult (though there are ways) to
513 redirect the standard-error output of a program to a file. Since
514 NASM usually produces its warning and \i{error messages} on
515 \i\c{stderr}, this can make it hard to capture the errors if (for
516 example) you want to load them into an editor.
518 NASM therefore provides the \c{-E} option, taking a filename argument
519 which causes errors to be sent to the specified files rather than
520 standard error. Therefore you can \I{redirecting errors}redirect
521 the errors into a file by typing
523 \c nasm -E myfile.err -f obj myfile.asm
526 \S{opt-s} The \i\c{-s} Option: Send Errors to \i\c{stdout}
528 The \c{-s} option redirects \i{error messages} to \c{stdout} rather
529 than \c{stderr}, so it can be redirected under \I{DOS}\c{MS-DOS}. To
530 assemble the file \c{myfile.asm} and pipe its output to the \c{more}
531 program, you can type:
533 \c nasm -s -f obj myfile.asm | more
535 See also the \c{-E} option, \k{opt-E}.
538 \S{opt-i} The \i\c{-i}\I\c{-I} Option: Include File Search Directories
540 When NASM sees the \i\c{%include} directive in a source file (see
541 \k{include}), it will search for the given file not only in the
542 current directory, but also in any directories specified on the
543 command line by the use of the \c{-i} option. Therefore you can
544 include files from a \i{macro library}, for example, by typing
546 \c nasm -ic:\\macrolib\\ -f obj myfile.asm
548 (As usual, a space between \c{-i} and the path name is allowed, and
551 NASM, in the interests of complete source-code portability, does not
552 understand the file naming conventions of the OS it is running on;
553 the string you provide as an argument to the \c{-i} option will be
554 prepended exactly as written to the name of the include file.
555 Therefore the trailing backslash in the above example is necessary.
556 Under Unix, a trailing forward slash is similarly necessary.
558 (You can use this to your advantage, if you're really \i{perverse},
559 by noting that the option \c{-ifoo} will cause \c{%include "bar.i"}
560 to search for the file \c{foobar.i}...)
562 If you want to define a \e{standard} \i{include search path},
563 similar to \c{/usr/include} on Unix systems, you should place one or
564 more \c{-i} directives in the \c{NASMENV} environment variable (see
567 For Makefile compatibility with many C compilers, this option can also
568 be specified as \c{-I}.
571 \S{opt-p} The \i\c{-p}\I\c{-P} Option: \I{pre-including files}Pre-Include a File
573 \I\c{%include}NASM allows you to specify files to be
574 \e{pre-included} into your source file, by the use of the \c{-p}
577 \c nasm myfile.asm -p myinc.inc
579 is equivalent to running \c{nasm myfile.asm} and placing the
580 directive \c{%include "myinc.inc"} at the start of the file.
582 For consistency with the \c{-I}, \c{-D} and \c{-U} options, this
583 option can also be specified as \c{-P}.
586 \S{opt-d} The \i\c{-d}\I\c{-D} Option: \I{pre-defining macros} Pre-Define a Macro
588 \I\c{%define}Just as the \c{-p} option gives an alternative to placing
589 \c{%include} directives at the start of a source file, the \c{-d}
590 option gives an alternative to placing a \c{%define} directive. You
593 \c nasm myfile.asm -dFOO=100
595 as an alternative to placing the directive
599 at the start of the file. You can miss off the macro value, as well:
600 the option \c{-dFOO} is equivalent to coding \c{%define FOO}. This
601 form of the directive may be useful for selecting \i{assembly-time
602 options} which are then tested using \c{%ifdef}, for example
605 For Makefile compatibility with many C compilers, this option can also
606 be specified as \c{-D}.
609 \S{opt-u} The \i\c{-u}\I\c{-U} Option: \I{Undefining macros} Undefine a Macro
611 \I\c{%undef}The \c{-u} option undefines a macro that would otherwise
612 have been pre-defined, either automatically or by a \c{-p} or \c{-d}
613 option specified earlier on the command lines.
615 For example, the following command line:
617 \c nasm myfile.asm -dFOO=100 -uFOO
619 would result in \c{FOO} \e{not} being a predefined macro in the
620 program. This is useful to override options specified at a different
623 For Makefile compatibility with many C compilers, this option can also
624 be specified as \c{-U}.
627 \S{opt-e} The \i\c{-e} Option: Preprocess Only
629 NASM allows the \i{preprocessor} to be run on its own, up to a
630 point. Using the \c{-e} option (which requires no arguments) will
631 cause NASM to preprocess its input file, expand all the macro
632 references, remove all the comments and preprocessor directives, and
633 print the resulting file on standard output (or save it to a file,
634 if the \c{-o} option is also used).
636 This option cannot be applied to programs which require the
637 preprocessor to evaluate \I{preprocessor expressions}\i{expressions}
638 which depend on the values of symbols: so code such as
640 \c %assign tablesize ($-tablestart)
642 will cause an error in \i{preprocess-only mode}.
645 \S{opt-a} The \i\c{-a} Option: Don't Preprocess At All
647 If NASM is being used as the back end to a compiler, it might be
648 desirable to \I{suppressing preprocessing}suppress preprocessing
649 completely and assume the compiler has already done it, to save time
650 and increase compilation speeds. The \c{-a} option, requiring no
651 argument, instructs NASM to replace its powerful \i{preprocessor}
652 with a \i{stub preprocessor} which does nothing.
655 \S{opt-On} The \i\c{-On} Option: Specifying \i{Multipass Optimization}.
657 NASM defaults to being a two pass assembler. This means that if you
658 have a complex source file which needs more than 2 passes to assemble
659 correctly, you have to tell it.
661 Using the \c{-O} option, you can tell NASM to carry out multiple passes.
664 \b \c{-O0} strict two-pass assembly, JMP and Jcc are handled more
665 like v0.98, except that backward JMPs are short, if possible.
666 Immediate operands take their long forms if a short form is
669 \b \c{-O1} strict two-pass assembly, but forward branches are assembled
670 with code guaranteed to reach; may produce larger code than
671 -O0, but will produce successful assembly more often if
672 branch offset sizes are not specified.
673 Additionally, immediate operands which will fit in a signed byte
674 are optimised, unless the long form is specified.
676 \b \c{-On} multi-pass optimization, minimize branch offsets; also will
677 minimize signed immediate bytes, overriding size specification.
678 If 2 <= n <= 3, then there are 5 * n passes, otherwise there
682 Note that this is a capital O, and is different from a small o, which
683 is used to specify the output format. See \k{opt-o}.
686 \S{opt-t} The \i\c{-t} option: Enable TASM Compatibility Mode
688 NASM includes a limited form of compatibility with Borland's \c{TASM}.
689 When NASM's \c{-t} option is used, the following changes are made:
691 \b local labels may be prefixed with \c{@@} instead of \c{.}
693 \b TASM-style response files beginning with \c{@} may be specified on
694 the command line. This is different from the \c{-@resp} style that NASM
697 \b size override is supported within brackets. In TASM compatible mode,
698 a size override inside square brackets changes the size of the operand,
699 and not the address type of the operand as it does in NASM syntax. E.g.
700 \c{mov eax,[DWORD val]} is valid syntax in TASM compatibility mode.
701 Note that you lose the ability to override the default address type for
704 \b \c{%arg} preprocessor directive is supported which is similar to
705 TASM's \c{ARG} directive.
707 \b \c{%local} preprocessor directive
709 \b \c{%stacksize} preprocessor directive
711 \b unprefixed forms of some directives supported (\c{arg}, \c{elif},
712 \c{else}, \c{endif}, \c{if}, \c{ifdef}, \c{ifdifi}, \c{ifndef},
713 \c{include}, \c{local})
717 For more information on the directives, see the section on TASM
718 Compatiblity preprocessor directives in \k{tasmcompat}.
721 \S{opt-w} The \i\c{-w} Option: Enable or Disable Assembly \i{Warnings}
723 NASM can observe many conditions during the course of assembly which
724 are worth mentioning to the user, but not a sufficiently severe
725 error to justify NASM refusing to generate an output file. These
726 conditions are reported like errors, but come up with the word
727 `warning' before the message. Warnings do not prevent NASM from
728 generating an output file and returning a success status to the
731 Some conditions are even less severe than that: they are only
732 sometimes worth mentioning to the user. Therefore NASM supports the
733 \c{-w} command-line option, which enables or disables certain
734 classes of assembly warning. Such warning classes are described by a
735 name, for example \c{orphan-labels}; you can enable warnings of
736 this class by the command-line option \c{-w+orphan-labels} and
737 disable it by \c{-w-orphan-labels}.
739 The \i{suppressible warning} classes are:
741 \b \i\c{macro-params} covers warnings about \i{multi-line macros}
742 being invoked with the wrong number of parameters. This warning
743 class is enabled by default; see \k{mlmacover} for an example of why
744 you might want to disable it.
746 \b \i\c{orphan-labels} covers warnings about source lines which
747 contain no instruction but define a label without a trailing colon.
748 NASM does not warn about this somewhat obscure condition by default;
749 see \k{syntax} for an example of why you might want it to.
751 \b \i\c{number-overflow} covers warnings about numeric constants which
752 don't fit in 32 bits (for example, it's easy to type one too many Fs
753 and produce \c{0x7ffffffff} by mistake). This warning class is
757 \S{opt-v} The \i\c{-v} Option: Display \i{Version} Info
759 Typing \c{NASM -v} will display the version of NASM which you are using,
760 and the date on which it was compiled.
762 You will need the version number if you report a bug.
765 \S{nasmenv} The \c{NASMENV} \i{Environment} Variable
767 If you define an environment variable called \c{NASMENV}, the program
768 will interpret it as a list of extra command-line options, which are
769 processed before the real command line. You can use this to define
770 standard search directories for include files, by putting \c{-i}
771 options in the \c{NASMENV} variable.
773 The value of the variable is split up at white space, so that the
774 value \c{-s -ic:\\nasmlib} will be treated as two separate options.
775 However, that means that the value \c{-dNAME="my name"} won't do
776 what you might want, because it will be split at the space and the
777 NASM command-line processing will get confused by the two
778 nonsensical words \c{-dNAME="my} and \c{name"}.
780 To get round this, NASM provides a feature whereby, if you begin the
781 \c{NASMENV} environment variable with some character that isn't a minus
782 sign, then NASM will treat this character as the \i{separator
783 character} for options. So setting the \c{NASMENV} variable to the
784 value \c{!-s!-ic:\\nasmlib} is equivalent to setting it to \c{-s
785 -ic:\\nasmlib}, but \c{!-dNAME="my name"} will work.
787 This environment variable was previously called \c{NASM}. This was
788 changed with version 0.98.31.
791 \H{qstart} \i{Quick Start} for \i{MASM} Users
793 If you're used to writing programs with MASM, or with \i{TASM} in
794 MASM-compatible (non-Ideal) mode, or with \i\c{a86}, this section
795 attempts to outline the major differences between MASM's syntax and
796 NASM's. If you're not already used to MASM, it's probably worth
797 skipping this section.
800 \S{qscs} NASM Is \I{case sensitivity}Case-Sensitive
802 One simple difference is that NASM is case-sensitive. It makes a
803 difference whether you call your label \c{foo}, \c{Foo} or \c{FOO}.
804 If you're assembling to \c{DOS} or \c{OS/2} \c{.OBJ} files, you can
805 invoke the \i\c{UPPERCASE} directive (documented in \k{objfmt}) to
806 ensure that all symbols exported to other code modules are forced
807 to be upper case; but even then, \e{within} a single module, NASM
808 will distinguish between labels differing only in case.
811 \S{qsbrackets} NASM Requires \i{Square Brackets} For \i{Memory References}
813 NASM was designed with simplicity of syntax in mind. One of the
814 \i{design goals} of NASM is that it should be possible, as far as is
815 practical, for the user to look at a single line of NASM code
816 and tell what opcode is generated by it. You can't do this in MASM:
817 if you declare, for example,
822 then the two lines of code
827 generate completely different opcodes, despite having
828 identical-looking syntaxes.
830 NASM avoids this undesirable situation by having a much simpler
831 syntax for memory references. The rule is simply that any access to
832 the \e{contents} of a memory location requires square brackets
833 around the address, and any access to the \e{address} of a variable
834 doesn't. So an instruction of the form \c{mov ax,foo} will
835 \e{always} refer to a compile-time constant, whether it's an \c{EQU}
836 or the address of a variable; and to access the \e{contents} of the
837 variable \c{bar}, you must code \c{mov ax,[bar]}.
839 This also means that NASM has no need for MASM's \i\c{OFFSET}
840 keyword, since the MASM code \c{mov ax,offset bar} means exactly the
841 same thing as NASM's \c{mov ax,bar}. If you're trying to get
842 large amounts of MASM code to assemble sensibly under NASM, you
843 can always code \c{%idefine offset} to make the preprocessor treat
844 the \c{OFFSET} keyword as a no-op.
846 This issue is even more confusing in \i\c{a86}, where declaring a
847 label with a trailing colon defines it to be a `label' as opposed to
848 a `variable' and causes \c{a86} to adopt NASM-style semantics; so in
849 \c{a86}, \c{mov ax,var} has different behaviour depending on whether
850 \c{var} was declared as \c{var: dw 0} (a label) or \c{var dw 0} (a
851 word-size variable). NASM is very simple by comparison:
852 \e{everything} is a label.
854 NASM, in the interests of simplicity, also does not support the
855 \i{hybrid syntaxes} supported by MASM and its clones, such as
856 \c{mov ax,table[bx]}, where a memory reference is denoted by one
857 portion outside square brackets and another portion inside. The
858 correct syntax for the above is \c{mov ax,[table+bx]}. Likewise,
859 \c{mov ax,es:[di]} is wrong and \c{mov ax,[es:di]} is right.
862 \S{qstypes} NASM Doesn't Store \i{Variable Types}
864 NASM, by design, chooses not to remember the types of variables you
865 declare. Whereas MASM will remember, on seeing \c{var dw 0}, that
866 you declared \c{var} as a word-size variable, and will then be able
867 to fill in the \i{ambiguity} in the size of the instruction \c{mov
868 var,2}, NASM will deliberately remember nothing about the symbol
869 \c{var} except where it begins, and so you must explicitly code
870 \c{mov word [var],2}.
872 For this reason, NASM doesn't support the \c{LODS}, \c{MOVS},
873 \c{STOS}, \c{SCAS}, \c{CMPS}, \c{INS}, or \c{OUTS} instructions,
874 but only supports the forms such as \c{LODSB}, \c{MOVSW}, and
875 \c{SCASD}, which explicitly specify the size of the components of
876 the strings being manipulated.
879 \S{qsassume} NASM Doesn't \i\c{ASSUME}
881 As part of NASM's drive for simplicity, it also does not support the
882 \c{ASSUME} directive. NASM will not keep track of what values you
883 choose to put in your segment registers, and will never
884 \e{automatically} generate a \i{segment override} prefix.
887 \S{qsmodel} NASM Doesn't Support \i{Memory Models}
889 NASM also does not have any directives to support different 16-bit
890 memory models. The programmer has to keep track of which functions
891 are supposed to be called with a \i{far call} and which with a
892 \i{near call}, and is responsible for putting the correct form of
893 \c{RET} instruction (\c{RETN} or \c{RETF}; NASM accepts \c{RET}
894 itself as an alternate form for \c{RETN}); in addition, the
895 programmer is responsible for coding CALL FAR instructions where
896 necessary when calling \e{external} functions, and must also keep
897 track of which external variable definitions are far and which are
901 \S{qsfpu} \i{Floating-Point} Differences
903 NASM uses different names to refer to floating-point registers from
904 MASM: where MASM would call them \c{ST(0)}, \c{ST(1)} and so on, and
905 \i\c{a86} would call them simply \c{0}, \c{1} and so on, NASM
906 chooses to call them \c{st0}, \c{st1} etc.
908 As of version 0.96, NASM now treats the instructions with
909 \i{`nowait'} forms in the same way as MASM-compatible assemblers.
910 The idiosyncratic treatment employed by 0.95 and earlier was based
911 on a misunderstanding by the authors.
914 \S{qsother} Other Differences
916 For historical reasons, NASM uses the keyword \i\c{TWORD} where MASM
917 and compatible assemblers use \i\c{TBYTE}.
919 NASM does not declare \i{uninitialised storage} in the same way as
920 MASM: where a MASM programmer might use \c{stack db 64 dup (?)},
921 NASM requires \c{stack resb 64}, intended to be read as `reserve 64
922 bytes'. For a limited amount of compatibility, since NASM treats
923 \c{?} as a valid character in symbol names, you can code \c{? equ 0}
924 and then writing \c{dw ?} will at least do something vaguely useful.
925 \I\c{RESB}\i\c{DUP} is still not a supported syntax, however.
927 In addition to all of this, macros and directives work completely
928 differently to MASM. See \k{preproc} and \k{directive} for further
932 \C{lang} The NASM Language
934 \H{syntax} Layout of a NASM Source Line
936 Like most assemblers, each NASM source line contains (unless it
937 is a macro, a preprocessor directive or an assembler directive: see
938 \k{preproc} and \k{directive}) some combination of the four fields
940 \c label: instruction operands ; comment
942 As usual, most of these fields are optional; the presence or absence
943 of any combination of a label, an instruction and a comment is allowed.
944 Of course, the operand field is either required or forbidden by the
945 presence and nature of the instruction field.
947 NASM uses backslash (\\) as the line continuation character; if a line
948 ends with backslash, the next line is considered to be a part of the
949 backslash-ended line.
951 NASM places no restrictions on white space within a line: labels may
952 have white space before them, or instructions may have no space
953 before them, or anything. The \i{colon} after a label is also
954 optional. (Note that this means that if you intend to code \c{lodsb}
955 alone on a line, and type \c{lodab} by accident, then that's still a
956 valid source line which does nothing but define a label. Running
957 NASM with the command-line option
958 \I{orphan-labels}\c{-w+orphan-labels} will cause it to warn you if
959 you define a label alone on a line without a \i{trailing colon}.)
961 \i{Valid characters} in labels are letters, numbers, \c{_}, \c{$},
962 \c{#}, \c{@}, \c{~}, \c{.}, and \c{?}. The only characters which may
963 be used as the \e{first} character of an identifier are letters,
964 \c{.} (with special meaning: see \k{locallab}), \c{_} and \c{?}.
965 An identifier may also be prefixed with a \I{$prefix}\c{$} to
966 indicate that it is intended to be read as an identifier and not a
967 reserved word; thus, if some other module you are linking with
968 defines a symbol called \c{eax}, you can refer to \c{$eax} in NASM
969 code to distinguish the symbol from the register.
971 The instruction field may contain any machine instruction: Pentium
972 and P6 instructions, FPU instructions, MMX instructions and even
973 undocumented instructions are all supported. The instruction may be
974 prefixed by \c{LOCK}, \c{REP}, \c{REPE}/\c{REPZ} or
975 \c{REPNE}/\c{REPNZ}, in the usual way. Explicit \I{address-size
976 prefixes}address-size and \i{operand-size prefixes} \c{A16},
977 \c{A32}, \c{O16} and \c{O32} are provided - one example of their use
978 is given in \k{mixsize}. You can also use the name of a \I{segment
979 override}segment register as an instruction prefix: coding
980 \c{es mov [bx],ax} is equivalent to coding \c{mov [es:bx],ax}. We
981 recommend the latter syntax, since it is consistent with other
982 syntactic features of the language, but for instructions such as
983 \c{LODSB}, which has no operands and yet can require a segment
984 override, there is no clean syntactic way to proceed apart from
987 An instruction is not required to use a prefix: prefixes such as
988 \c{CS}, \c{A32}, \c{LOCK} or \c{REPE} can appear on a line by
989 themselves, and NASM will just generate the prefix bytes.
991 In addition to actual machine instructions, NASM also supports a
992 number of pseudo-instructions, described in \k{pseudop}.
994 Instruction \i{operands} may take a number of forms: they can be
995 registers, described simply by the register name (e.g. \c{ax},
996 \c{bp}, \c{ebx}, \c{cr0}: NASM does not use the \c{gas}-style
997 syntax in which register names must be prefixed by a \c{%} sign), or
998 they can be \i{effective addresses} (see \k{effaddr}), constants
999 (\k{const}) or expressions (\k{expr}).
1001 For \i{floating-point} instructions, NASM accepts a wide range of
1002 syntaxes: you can use two-operand forms like MASM supports, or you
1003 can use NASM's native single-operand forms in most cases. Details of
1004 all forms of each supported instruction are given in
1005 \k{iref}. For example, you can code:
1007 \c fadd st1 ; this sets st0 := st0 + st1
1008 \c fadd st0,st1 ; so does this
1010 \c fadd st1,st0 ; this sets st1 := st1 + st0
1011 \c fadd to st1 ; so does this
1013 Almost any floating-point instruction that references memory must
1014 use one of the prefixes \i\c{DWORD}, \i\c{QWORD} or \i\c{TWORD} to
1015 indicate what size of \i{memory operand} it refers to.
1018 \H{pseudop} \i{Pseudo-Instructions}
1020 Pseudo-instructions are things which, though not real x86 machine
1021 instructions, are used in the instruction field anyway because
1022 that's the most convenient place to put them. The current
1023 pseudo-instructions are \i\c{DB}, \i\c{DW}, \i\c{DD}, \i\c{DQ} and
1024 \i\c{DT}, their \i{uninitialised} counterparts \i\c{RESB},
1025 \i\c{RESW}, \i\c{RESD}, \i\c{RESQ} and \i\c{REST}, the \i\c{INCBIN}
1026 command, the \i\c{EQU} command, and the \i\c{TIMES} prefix.
1029 \S{db} \c{DB} and friends: Declaring Initialised Data
1031 \i\c{DB}, \i\c{DW}, \i\c{DD}, \i\c{DQ} and \i\c{DT} are used, much
1032 as in MASM, to declare initialised data in the output file. They can
1033 be invoked in a wide range of ways:
1034 \I{floating-point}\I{character constant}\I{string constant}
1036 \c db 0x55 ; just the byte 0x55
1037 \c db 0x55,0x56,0x57 ; three bytes in succession
1038 \c db 'a',0x55 ; character constants are OK
1039 \c db 'hello',13,10,'$' ; so are string constants
1040 \c dw 0x1234 ; 0x34 0x12
1041 \c dw 'a' ; 0x41 0x00 (it's just a number)
1042 \c dw 'ab' ; 0x41 0x42 (character constant)
1043 \c dw 'abc' ; 0x41 0x42 0x43 0x00 (string)
1044 \c dd 0x12345678 ; 0x78 0x56 0x34 0x12
1045 \c dd 1.234567e20 ; floating-point constant
1046 \c dq 1.234567e20 ; double-precision float
1047 \c dt 1.234567e20 ; extended-precision float
1049 \c{DQ} and \c{DT} do not accept \i{numeric constants} or string
1050 constants as operands.
1053 \S{resb} \c{RESB} and friends: Declaring \i{Uninitialised} Data
1055 \i\c{RESB}, \i\c{RESW}, \i\c{RESD}, \i\c{RESQ} and \i\c{REST} are
1056 designed to be used in the BSS section of a module: they declare
1057 \e{uninitialised} storage space. Each takes a single operand, which
1058 is the number of bytes, words, doublewords or whatever to reserve.
1059 As stated in \k{qsother}, NASM does not support the MASM/TASM syntax
1060 of reserving uninitialised space by writing \I\c{?}\c{DW ?} or
1061 similar things: this is what it does instead. The operand to a
1062 \c{RESB}-type pseudo-instruction is a \i\e{critical expression}: see
1067 \c buffer: resb 64 ; reserve 64 bytes
1068 \c wordvar: resw 1 ; reserve a word
1069 \c realarray resq 10 ; array of ten reals
1072 \S{incbin} \i\c{INCBIN}: Including External \i{Binary Files}
1074 \c{INCBIN} is borrowed from the old Amiga assembler \i{DevPac}: it
1075 includes a binary file verbatim into the output file. This can be
1076 handy for (for example) including \i{graphics} and \i{sound} data
1077 directly into a game executable file. It can be called in one of
1080 \c incbin "file.dat" ; include the whole file
1081 \c incbin "file.dat",1024 ; skip the first 1024 bytes
1082 \c incbin "file.dat",1024,512 ; skip the first 1024, and
1083 \c ; actually include at most 512
1086 \S{equ} \i\c{EQU}: Defining Constants
1088 \c{EQU} defines a symbol to a given constant value: when \c{EQU} is
1089 used, the source line must contain a label. The action of \c{EQU} is
1090 to define the given label name to the value of its (only) operand.
1091 This definition is absolute, and cannot change later. So, for
1094 \c message db 'hello, world'
1095 \c msglen equ $-message
1097 defines \c{msglen} to be the constant 12. \c{msglen} may not then be
1098 redefined later. This is not a \i{preprocessor} definition either:
1099 the value of \c{msglen} is evaluated \e{once}, using the value of
1100 \c{$} (see \k{expr} for an explanation of \c{$}) at the point of
1101 definition, rather than being evaluated wherever it is referenced
1102 and using the value of \c{$} at the point of reference. Note that
1103 the operand to an \c{EQU} is also a \i{critical expression}
1107 \S{times} \i\c{TIMES}: \i{Repeating} Instructions or Data
1109 The \c{TIMES} prefix causes the instruction to be assembled multiple
1110 times. This is partly present as NASM's equivalent of the \i\c{DUP}
1111 syntax supported by \i{MASM}-compatible assemblers, in that you can
1114 \c zerobuf: times 64 db 0
1116 or similar things; but \c{TIMES} is more versatile than that. The
1117 argument to \c{TIMES} is not just a numeric constant, but a numeric
1118 \e{expression}, so you can do things like
1120 \c buffer: db 'hello, world'
1121 \c times 64-$+buffer db ' '
1123 which will store exactly enough spaces to make the total length of
1124 \c{buffer} up to 64. Finally, \c{TIMES} can be applied to ordinary
1125 instructions, so you can code trivial \i{unrolled loops} in it:
1129 Note that there is no effective difference between \c{times 100 resb
1130 1} and \c{resb 100}, except that the latter will be assembled about
1131 100 times faster due to the internal structure of the assembler.
1133 The operand to \c{TIMES}, like that of \c{EQU} and those of \c{RESB}
1134 and friends, is a critical expression (\k{crit}).
1136 Note also that \c{TIMES} can't be applied to \i{macros}: the reason
1137 for this is that \c{TIMES} is processed after the macro phase, which
1138 allows the argument to \c{TIMES} to contain expressions such as
1139 \c{64-$+buffer} as above. To repeat more than one line of code, or a
1140 complex macro, use the preprocessor \i\c{%rep} directive.
1143 \H{effaddr} Effective Addresses
1145 An \i{effective address} is any operand to an instruction which
1146 \I{memory reference}references memory. Effective addresses, in NASM,
1147 have a very simple syntax: they consist of an expression evaluating
1148 to the desired address, enclosed in \i{square brackets}. For
1153 \c mov ax,[wordvar+1]
1154 \c mov ax,[es:wordvar+bx]
1156 Anything not conforming to this simple system is not a valid memory
1157 reference in NASM, for example \c{es:wordvar[bx]}.
1159 More complicated effective addresses, such as those involving more
1160 than one register, work in exactly the same way:
1162 \c mov eax,[ebx*2+ecx+offset]
1165 NASM is capable of doing \i{algebra} on these effective addresses,
1166 so that things which don't necessarily \e{look} legal are perfectly
1169 \c mov eax,[ebx*5] ; assembles as [ebx*4+ebx]
1170 \c mov eax,[label1*2-label2] ; ie [label1+(label1-label2)]
1172 Some forms of effective address have more than one assembled form;
1173 in most such cases NASM will generate the smallest form it can. For
1174 example, there are distinct assembled forms for the 32-bit effective
1175 addresses \c{[eax*2+0]} and \c{[eax+eax]}, and NASM will generally
1176 generate the latter on the grounds that the former requires four
1177 bytes to store a zero offset.
1179 NASM has a hinting mechanism which will cause \c{[eax+ebx]} and
1180 \c{[ebx+eax]} to generate different opcodes; this is occasionally
1181 useful because \c{[esi+ebp]} and \c{[ebp+esi]} have different
1182 default segment registers.
1184 However, you can force NASM to generate an effective address in a
1185 particular form by the use of the keywords \c{BYTE}, \c{WORD},
1186 \c{DWORD} and \c{NOSPLIT}. If you need \c{[eax+3]} to be assembled
1187 using a double-word offset field instead of the one byte NASM will
1188 normally generate, you can code \c{[dword eax+3]}. Similarly, you
1189 can force NASM to use a byte offset for a small value which it
1190 hasn't seen on the first pass (see \k{crit} for an example of such a
1191 code fragment) by using \c{[byte eax+offset]}. As special cases,
1192 \c{[byte eax]} will code \c{[eax+0]} with a byte offset of zero, and
1193 \c{[dword eax]} will code it with a double-word offset of zero. The
1194 normal form, \c{[eax]}, will be coded with no offset field.
1196 Similarly, NASM will split \c{[eax*2]} into \c{[eax+eax]} because
1197 that allows the offset field to be absent and space to be saved; in
1198 fact, it will also split \c{[eax*2+offset]} into
1199 \c{[eax+eax+offset]}. You can combat this behaviour by the use of
1200 the \c{NOSPLIT} keyword: \c{[nosplit eax*2]} will force
1201 \c{[eax*2+0]} to be generated literally.
1204 \H{const} \i{Constants}
1206 NASM understands four different types of constant: numeric,
1207 character, string and floating-point.
1210 \S{numconst} \i{Numeric Constants}
1212 A numeric constant is simply a number. NASM allows you to specify
1213 numbers in a variety of number bases, in a variety of ways: you can
1214 suffix \c{H}, \c{Q} and \c{B} for \i{hex}, \i{octal} and \i{binary},
1215 or you can prefix \c{0x} for hex in the style of C, or you can
1216 prefix \c{$} for hex in the style of Borland Pascal. Note, though,
1217 that the \I{$prefix}\c{$} prefix does double duty as a prefix on
1218 identifiers (see \k{syntax}), so a hex number prefixed with a \c{$}
1219 sign must have a digit after the \c{$} rather than a letter.
1223 \c mov ax,100 ; decimal
1224 \c mov ax,0a2h ; hex
1225 \c mov ax,$0a2 ; hex again: the 0 is required
1226 \c mov ax,0xa2 ; hex yet again
1227 \c mov ax,777q ; octal
1228 \c mov ax,10010011b ; binary
1231 \S{chrconst} \i{Character Constants}
1233 A character constant consists of up to four characters enclosed in
1234 either single or double quotes. The type of quote makes no
1235 difference to NASM, except of course that surrounding the constant
1236 with single quotes allows double quotes to appear within it and vice
1239 A character constant with more than one character will be arranged
1240 with \i{little-endian} order in mind: if you code
1244 then the constant generated is not \c{0x61626364}, but
1245 \c{0x64636261}, so that if you were then to store the value into
1246 memory, it would read \c{abcd} rather than \c{dcba}. This is also
1247 the sense of character constants understood by the Pentium's
1248 \i\c{CPUID} instruction (see \k{insCPUID}).
1251 \S{strconst} String Constants
1253 String constants are only acceptable to some pseudo-instructions,
1254 namely the \I\c{DW}\I\c{DD}\I\c{DQ}\I\c{DT}\i\c{DB} family and
1257 A string constant looks like a character constant, only longer. It
1258 is treated as a concatenation of maximum-size character constants
1259 for the conditions. So the following are equivalent:
1261 \c db 'hello' ; string constant
1262 \c db 'h','e','l','l','o' ; equivalent character constants
1264 And the following are also equivalent:
1266 \c dd 'ninechars' ; doubleword string constant
1267 \c dd 'nine','char','s' ; becomes three doublewords
1268 \c db 'ninechars',0,0,0 ; and really looks like this
1270 Note that when used as an operand to \c{db}, a constant like
1271 \c{'ab'} is treated as a string constant despite being short enough
1272 to be a character constant, because otherwise \c{db 'ab'} would have
1273 the same effect as \c{db 'a'}, which would be silly. Similarly,
1274 three-character or four-character constants are treated as strings
1275 when they are operands to \c{dw}.
1278 \S{fltconst} \I{floating-point, constants}Floating-Point Constants
1280 \i{Floating-point} constants are acceptable only as arguments to
1281 \i\c{DD}, \i\c{DQ} and \i\c{DT}. They are expressed in the
1282 traditional form: digits, then a period, then optionally more
1283 digits, then optionally an \c{E} followed by an exponent. The period
1284 is mandatory, so that NASM can distinguish between \c{dd 1}, which
1285 declares an integer constant, and \c{dd 1.0} which declares a
1286 floating-point constant.
1290 \c dd 1.2 ; an easy one
1291 \c dq 1.e10 ; 10,000,000,000
1292 \c dq 1.e+10 ; synonymous with 1.e10
1293 \c dq 1.e-10 ; 0.000 000 000 1
1294 \c dt 3.141592653589793238462 ; pi
1296 NASM cannot do compile-time arithmetic on floating-point constants.
1297 This is because NASM is designed to be portable - although it always
1298 generates code to run on x86 processors, the assembler itself can
1299 run on any system with an ANSI C compiler. Therefore, the assembler
1300 cannot guarantee the presence of a floating-point unit capable of
1301 handling the \i{Intel number formats}, and so for NASM to be able to
1302 do floating arithmetic it would have to include its own complete set
1303 of floating-point routines, which would significantly increase the
1304 size of the assembler for very little benefit.
1307 \H{expr} \i{Expressions}
1309 Expressions in NASM are similar in syntax to those in C.
1311 NASM does not guarantee the size of the integers used to evaluate
1312 expressions at compile time: since NASM can compile and run on
1313 64-bit systems quite happily, don't assume that expressions are
1314 evaluated in 32-bit registers and so try to make deliberate use of
1315 \i{integer overflow}. It might not always work. The only thing NASM
1316 will guarantee is what's guaranteed by ANSI C: you always have \e{at
1317 least} 32 bits to work in.
1319 NASM supports two special tokens in expressions, allowing
1320 calculations to involve the current assembly position: the
1321 \I{$ here}\c{$} and \i\c{$$} tokens. \c{$} evaluates to the assembly
1322 position at the beginning of the line containing the expression; so
1323 you can code an \i{infinite loop} using \c{JMP $}. \c{$$} evaluates
1324 to the beginning of the current section; so you can tell how far
1325 into the section you are by using \c{($-$$)}.
1327 The arithmetic \i{operators} provided by NASM are listed here, in
1328 increasing order of \i{precedence}.
1331 \S{expor} \i\c{|}: \i{Bitwise OR} Operator
1333 The \c{|} operator gives a bitwise OR, exactly as performed by the
1334 \c{OR} machine instruction. Bitwise OR is the lowest-priority
1335 arithmetic operator supported by NASM.
1338 \S{expxor} \i\c{^}: \i{Bitwise XOR} Operator
1340 \c{^} provides the bitwise XOR operation.
1343 \S{expand} \i\c{&}: \i{Bitwise AND} Operator
1345 \c{&} provides the bitwise AND operation.
1348 \S{expshift} \i\c{<<} and \i\c{>>}: \i{Bit Shift} Operators
1350 \c{<<} gives a bit-shift to the left, just as it does in C. So \c{5<<3}
1351 evaluates to 5 times 8, or 40. \c{>>} gives a bit-shift to the
1352 right; in NASM, such a shift is \e{always} unsigned, so that
1353 the bits shifted in from the left-hand end are filled with zero
1354 rather than a sign-extension of the previous highest bit.
1357 \S{expplmi} \I{+ opaddition}\c{+} and \I{- opsubtraction}\c{-}:
1358 \i{Addition} and \i{Subtraction} Operators
1360 The \c{+} and \c{-} operators do perfectly ordinary addition and
1364 \S{expmul} \i\c{*}, \i\c{/}, \i\c{//}, \i\c{%} and \i\c{%%}:
1365 \i{Multiplication} and \i{Division}
1367 \c{*} is the multiplication operator. \c{/} and \c{//} are both
1368 division operators: \c{/} is \i{unsigned division} and \c{//} is
1369 \i{signed division}. Similarly, \c{%} and \c{%%} provide \I{unsigned
1370 modulo}\I{modulo operators}unsigned and
1371 \i{signed modulo} operators respectively.
1373 NASM, like ANSI C, provides no guarantees about the sensible
1374 operation of the signed modulo operator.
1376 Since the \c{%} character is used extensively by the macro
1377 \i{preprocessor}, you should ensure that both the signed and unsigned
1378 modulo operators are followed by white space wherever they appear.
1381 \S{expmul} \i{Unary Operators}: \I{+ opunary}\c{+}, \I{- opunary}\c{-},
1382 \i\c{~} and \i\c{SEG}
1384 The highest-priority operators in NASM's expression grammar are
1385 those which only apply to one argument. \c{-} negates its operand,
1386 \c{+} does nothing (it's provided for symmetry with \c{-}), \c{~}
1387 computes the \i{one's complement} of its operand, and \c{SEG}
1388 provides the \i{segment address} of its operand (explained in more
1389 detail in \k{segwrt}).
1392 \H{segwrt} \i\c{SEG} and \i\c{WRT}
1394 When writing large 16-bit programs, which must be split into
1395 multiple \i{segments}, it is often necessary to be able to refer to
1396 the \I{segment address}segment part of the address of a symbol. NASM
1397 supports the \c{SEG} operator to perform this function.
1399 The \c{SEG} operator returns the \i\e{preferred} segment base of a
1400 symbol, defined as the segment base relative to which the offset of
1401 the symbol makes sense. So the code
1403 \c mov ax,seg symbol
1407 will load \c{ES:BX} with a valid pointer to the symbol \c{symbol}.
1409 Things can be more complex than this: since 16-bit segments and
1410 \i{groups} may \I{overlapping segments}overlap, you might occasionally
1411 want to refer to some symbol using a different segment base from the
1412 preferred one. NASM lets you do this, by the use of the \c{WRT}
1413 (With Reference To) keyword. So you can do things like
1415 \c mov ax,weird_seg ; weird_seg is a segment base
1417 \c mov bx,symbol wrt weird_seg
1419 to load \c{ES:BX} with a different, but functionally equivalent,
1420 pointer to the symbol \c{symbol}.
1422 NASM supports far (inter-segment) calls and jumps by means of the
1423 syntax \c{call segment:offset}, where \c{segment} and \c{offset}
1424 both represent immediate values. So to call a far procedure, you
1425 could code either of
1427 \c call (seg procedure):procedure
1428 \c call weird_seg:(procedure wrt weird_seg)
1430 (The parentheses are included for clarity, to show the intended
1431 parsing of the above instructions. They are not necessary in
1434 NASM supports the syntax \I\c{CALL FAR}\c{call far procedure} as a
1435 synonym for the first of the above usages. \c{JMP} works identically
1436 to \c{CALL} in these examples.
1438 To declare a \i{far pointer} to a data item in a data segment, you
1441 \c dw symbol, seg symbol
1443 NASM supports no convenient synonym for this, though you can always
1444 invent one using the macro processor.
1447 \H{crit} \i{Critical Expressions}
1449 A limitation of NASM is that it is a \i{two-pass assembler}; unlike
1450 TASM and others, it will always do exactly two \I{passes}\i{assembly
1451 passes}. Therefore it is unable to cope with source files that are
1452 complex enough to require three or more passes.
1454 The first pass is used to determine the size of all the assembled
1455 code and data, so that the second pass, when generating all the
1456 code, knows all the symbol addresses the code refers to. So one
1457 thing NASM can't handle is code whose size depends on the value of a
1458 symbol declared after the code in question. For example,
1460 \c times (label-$) db 0
1461 \c label: db 'Where am I?'
1463 The argument to \i\c{TIMES} in this case could equally legally
1464 evaluate to anything at all; NASM will reject this example because
1465 it cannot tell the size of the \c{TIMES} line when it first sees it.
1466 It will just as firmly reject the slightly \I{paradox}paradoxical
1469 \c times (label-$+1) db 0
1470 \c label: db 'NOW where am I?'
1472 in which \e{any} value for the \c{TIMES} argument is by definition
1475 NASM rejects these examples by means of a concept called a
1476 \e{critical expression}, which is defined to be an expression whose
1477 value is required to be computable in the first pass, and which must
1478 therefore depend only on symbols defined before it. The argument to
1479 the \c{TIMES} prefix is a critical expression; for the same reason,
1480 the arguments to the \i\c{RESB} family of pseudo-instructions are
1481 also critical expressions.
1483 Critical expressions can crop up in other contexts as well: consider
1487 \c symbol1 equ symbol2
1490 On the first pass, NASM cannot determine the value of \c{symbol1},
1491 because \c{symbol1} is defined to be equal to \c{symbol2} which NASM
1492 hasn't seen yet. On the second pass, therefore, when it encounters
1493 the line \c{mov ax,symbol1}, it is unable to generate the code for
1494 it because it still doesn't know the value of \c{symbol1}. On the
1495 next line, it would see the \i\c{EQU} again and be able to determine
1496 the value of \c{symbol1}, but by then it would be too late.
1498 NASM avoids this problem by defining the right-hand side of an
1499 \c{EQU} statement to be a critical expression, so the definition of
1500 \c{symbol1} would be rejected in the first pass.
1502 There is a related issue involving \i{forward references}: consider
1505 \c mov eax,[ebx+offset]
1508 NASM, on pass one, must calculate the size of the instruction \c{mov
1509 eax,[ebx+offset]} without knowing the value of \c{offset}. It has no
1510 way of knowing that \c{offset} is small enough to fit into a
1511 one-byte offset field and that it could therefore get away with
1512 generating a shorter form of the \i{effective-address} encoding; for
1513 all it knows, in pass one, \c{offset} could be a symbol in the code
1514 segment, and it might need the full four-byte form. So it is forced
1515 to compute the size of the instruction to accommodate a four-byte
1516 address part. In pass two, having made this decision, it is now
1517 forced to honour it and keep the instruction large, so the code
1518 generated in this case is not as small as it could have been. This
1519 problem can be solved by defining \c{offset} before using it, or by
1520 forcing byte size in the effective address by coding \c{[byte
1524 \H{locallab} \i{Local Labels}
1526 NASM gives special treatment to symbols beginning with a \i{period}.
1527 A label beginning with a single period is treated as a \e{local}
1528 label, which means that it is associated with the previous non-local
1529 label. So, for example:
1531 \c label1 ; some code
1539 \c label2 ; some code
1547 In the above code fragment, each \c{JNE} instruction jumps to the
1548 line immediately before it, because the two definitions of \c{.loop}
1549 are kept separate by virtue of each being associated with the
1550 previous non-local label.
1552 This form of local label handling is borrowed from the old Amiga
1553 assembler \i{DevPac}; however, NASM goes one step further, in
1554 allowing access to local labels from other parts of the code. This
1555 is achieved by means of \e{defining} a local label in terms of the
1556 previous non-local label: the first definition of \c{.loop} above is
1557 really defining a symbol called \c{label1.loop}, and the second
1558 defines a symbol called \c{label2.loop}. So, if you really needed
1561 \c label3 ; some more code
1566 Sometimes it is useful - in a macro, for instance - to be able to
1567 define a label which can be referenced from anywhere but which
1568 doesn't interfere with the normal local-label mechanism. Such a
1569 label can't be non-local because it would interfere with subsequent
1570 definitions of, and references to, local labels; and it can't be
1571 local because the macro that defined it wouldn't know the label's
1572 full name. NASM therefore introduces a third type of label, which is
1573 probably only useful in macro definitions: if a label begins with
1574 the \I{label prefix}special prefix \i\c{..@}, then it does nothing
1575 to the local label mechanism. So you could code
1577 \c label1: ; a non-local label
1578 \c .local: ; this is really label1.local
1579 \c ..@foo: ; this is a special symbol
1580 \c label2: ; another non-local label
1581 \c .local: ; this is really label2.local
1583 \c jmp ..@foo ; this will jump three lines up
1585 NASM has the capacity to define other special symbols beginning with
1586 a double period: for example, \c{..start} is used to specify the
1587 entry point in the \c{obj} output format (see \k{dotdotstart}).
1590 \C{preproc} The NASM \i{Preprocessor}
1592 NASM contains a powerful \i{macro processor}, which supports
1593 conditional assembly, multi-level file inclusion, two forms of macro
1594 (single-line and multi-line), and a `context stack' mechanism for
1595 extra macro power. Preprocessor directives all begin with a \c{%}
1598 The preprocessor collapses all lines which end with a backslash (\\)
1599 character into a single line. Thus:
1601 \c %define THIS_VERY_LONG_MACRO_NAME_IS_DEFINED_TO \\
1604 will work as expected.
1606 \H{slmacro} \i{Single-Line Macros}
1608 \S{define} The Normal Way: \I\c{%idefine}\i\c{%define}
1610 Single-line macros are defined using the \c{%define} preprocessor
1611 directive. The definitions work in a similar way to C; so you can do
1614 \c %define ctrl 0x1F &
1615 \c %define param(a,b) ((a)+(a)*(b))
1617 \c mov byte [param(2,ebx)], ctrl 'D'
1619 which will expand to
1621 \c mov byte [(2)+(2)*(ebx)], 0x1F & 'D'
1623 When the expansion of a single-line macro contains tokens which
1624 invoke another macro, the expansion is performed at invocation time,
1625 not at definition time. Thus the code
1627 \c %define a(x) 1+b(x)
1632 will evaluate in the expected way to \c{mov ax,1+2*8}, even though
1633 the macro \c{b} wasn't defined at the time of definition of \c{a}.
1635 Macros defined with \c{%define} are \i{case sensitive}: after
1636 \c{%define foo bar}, only \c{foo} will expand to \c{bar}: \c{Foo} or
1637 \c{FOO} will not. By using \c{%idefine} instead of \c{%define} (the
1638 `i' stands for `insensitive') you can define all the case variants
1639 of a macro at once, so that \c{%idefine foo bar} would cause
1640 \c{foo}, \c{Foo}, \c{FOO}, \c{fOO} and so on all to expand to
1643 There is a mechanism which detects when a macro call has occurred as
1644 a result of a previous expansion of the same macro, to guard against
1645 \i{circular references} and infinite loops. If this happens, the
1646 preprocessor will only expand the first occurrence of the macro.
1649 \c %define a(x) 1+a(x)
1653 the macro \c{a(3)} will expand once, becoming \c{1+a(3)}, and will
1654 then expand no further. This behaviour can be useful: see \k{32c}
1655 for an example of its use.
1657 You can \I{overloading, single-line macros}overload single-line
1658 macros: if you write
1660 \c %define foo(x) 1+x
1661 \c %define foo(x,y) 1+x*y
1663 the preprocessor will be able to handle both types of macro call,
1664 by counting the parameters you pass; so \c{foo(3)} will become
1665 \c{1+3} whereas \c{foo(ebx,2)} will become \c{1+ebx*2}. However, if
1670 then no other definition of \c{foo} will be accepted: a macro with
1671 no parameters prohibits the definition of the same name as a macro
1672 \e{with} parameters, and vice versa.
1674 This doesn't prevent single-line macros being \e{redefined}: you can
1675 perfectly well define a macro with
1679 and then re-define it later in the same source file with
1683 Then everywhere the macro \c{foo} is invoked, it will be expanded
1684 according to the most recent definition. This is particularly useful
1685 when defining single-line macros with \c{%assign} (see \k{assign}).
1687 You can \i{pre-define} single-line macros using the `-d' option on
1688 the NASM command line: see \k{opt-d}.
1691 \S{concat%+} Concatenating Single Line Macro Tokens: \i\c{%+}
1693 Individual tokens in single line macros can be concatenated, to produce
1694 longer tokens for later processing. This can be useful if there are
1695 several similar macros that perform simlar functions.
1697 As an example, consider the following:
1699 \c %define BDASTART 400h ; Start of BIOS data area
1701 \c struc tBIOSDA ; its structure
1707 Now, if we need to access the elements of tBIOSDA in different places,
1710 \c mov ax,BDASTART + tBIOSDA.COM1addr
1711 \c mov bx,BDASTART + tBIOSDA.COM2addr
1713 This will become pretty ugly (and tedious) if used in many places, and
1714 can be reduced in size significantly by using the following macro:
1716 \c ; Macro to access BIOS variables by their names (from tBDA):
1718 \c %define BDA(x) BDASTART + tBIOSDA. %+ x
1720 Now the above code can be written as:
1722 \c mov ax,BDA(COM1addr)
1723 \c mov bx,BDA(COM2addr)
1725 Using this feature, we can simplify references to a lot of macros (and,
1726 in turn, reduce typing errors).
1729 \S{undef} Undefining macros: \i\c{%undef}
1731 Single-line macros can be removed with the \c{%undef} command. For
1732 example, the following sequence:
1739 will expand to the instruction \c{mov eax, foo}, since after
1740 \c{%undef} the macro \c{foo} is no longer defined.
1742 Macros that would otherwise be pre-defined can be undefined on the
1743 command-line using the `-u' option on the NASM command line: see
1747 \S{assign} \i{Preprocessor Variables}: \i\c{%assign}
1749 An alternative way to define single-line macros is by means of the
1750 \c{%assign} command (and its \i{case sensitive}case-insensitive
1751 counterpart \i\c{%iassign}, which differs from \c{%assign} in
1752 exactly the same way that \c{%idefine} differs from \c{%define}).
1754 \c{%assign} is used to define single-line macros which take no
1755 parameters and have a numeric value. This value can be specified in
1756 the form of an expression, and it will be evaluated once, when the
1757 \c{%assign} directive is processed.
1759 Like \c{%define}, macros defined using \c{%assign} can be re-defined
1760 later, so you can do things like
1764 to increment the numeric value of a macro.
1766 \c{%assign} is useful for controlling the termination of \c{%rep}
1767 preprocessor loops: see \k{rep} for an example of this. Another
1768 use for \c{%assign} is given in \k{16c} and \k{32c}.
1770 The expression passed to \c{%assign} is a \i{critical expression}
1771 (see \k{crit}), and must also evaluate to a pure number (rather than
1772 a relocatable reference such as a code or data address, or anything
1773 involving a register).
1776 \H{strlen} \i{String Handling in Macros}: \i\c{%strlen} and \i\c{%substr}
1778 It's often useful to be able to handle strings in macros. NASM
1779 supports two simple string handling macro operators from which
1780 more complex operations can be constructed.
1783 \S{strlen} \i{String Length}: \i\c{%strlen}
1785 The \c{%strlen} macro is like \c{%assign} macro in that it creates
1786 (or redefines) a numeric value to a macro. The difference is that
1787 with \c{%strlen}, the numeric value is the length of a string. An
1788 example of the use of this would be:
1790 \c %strlen charcnt 'my string'
1792 In this example, \c{charcnt} would receive the value 8, just as
1793 if an \c{%assign} had been used. In this example, \c{'my string'}
1794 was a literal string but it could also have been a single-line
1795 macro that expands to a string, as in the following example:
1797 \c %define sometext 'my string'
1798 \c %strlen charcnt sometext
1800 As in the first case, this would result in \c{charcnt} being
1801 assigned the value of 8.
1804 \S{substr} \i{Sub-strings}: \i\c{%substr}
1806 Individual letters in strings can be extracted using \c{%substr}.
1807 An example of its use is probably more useful than the description:
1809 \c %substr mychar 'xyz' 1 ; equivalent to %define mychar 'x'
1810 \c %substr mychar 'xyz' 2 ; equivalent to %define mychar 'y'
1811 \c %substr mychar 'xyz' 3 ; equivalent to %define mychar 'z'
1813 In this example, mychar gets the value of 'y'. As with \c{%strlen}
1814 (see \k{strlen}), the first parameter is the single-line macro to
1815 be created and the second is the string. The third parameter
1816 specifies which character is to be selected. Note that the first
1817 index is 1, not 0 and the last index is equal to the value that
1818 \c{%strlen} would assign given the same string. Index values out
1819 of range result in an empty string.
1822 \H{mlmacro} \i{Multi-Line Macros}: \I\c{%imacro}\i\c{%macro}
1824 Multi-line macros are much more like the type of macro seen in MASM
1825 and TASM: a multi-line macro definition in NASM looks something like
1828 \c %macro prologue 1
1836 This defines a C-like function prologue as a macro: so you would
1837 invoke the macro with a call such as
1839 \c myfunc: prologue 12
1841 which would expand to the three lines of code
1847 The number \c{1} after the macro name in the \c{%macro} line defines
1848 the number of parameters the macro \c{prologue} expects to receive.
1849 The use of \c{%1} inside the macro definition refers to the first
1850 parameter to the macro call. With a macro taking more than one
1851 parameter, subsequent parameters would be referred to as \c{%2},
1854 Multi-line macros, like single-line macros, are \i{case-sensitive},
1855 unless you define them using the alternative directive \c{%imacro}.
1857 If you need to pass a comma as \e{part} of a parameter to a
1858 multi-line macro, you can do that by enclosing the entire parameter
1859 in \I{braces, around macro parameters}braces. So you could code
1868 \c silly 'a', letter_a ; letter_a: db 'a'
1869 \c silly 'ab', string_ab ; string_ab: db 'ab'
1870 \c silly {13,10}, crlf ; crlf: db 13,10
1873 \S{mlmacover} \i{Overloading Multi-Line Macros}
1875 As with single-line macros, multi-line macros can be overloaded by
1876 defining the same macro name several times with different numbers of
1877 parameters. This time, no exception is made for macros with no
1878 parameters at all. So you could define
1880 \c %macro prologue 0
1887 to define an alternative form of the function prologue which
1888 allocates no local stack space.
1890 Sometimes, however, you might want to `overload' a machine
1891 instruction; for example, you might want to define
1900 so that you could code
1902 \c push ebx ; this line is not a macro call
1903 \c push eax,ecx ; but this one is
1905 Ordinarily, NASM will give a warning for the first of the above two
1906 lines, since \c{push} is now defined to be a macro, and is being
1907 invoked with a number of parameters for which no definition has been
1908 given. The correct code will still be generated, but the assembler
1909 will give a warning. This warning can be disabled by the use of the
1910 \c{-w-macro-params} command-line option (see \k{opt-w}).
1913 \S{maclocal} \i{Macro-Local Labels}
1915 NASM allows you to define labels within a multi-line macro
1916 definition in such a way as to make them local to the macro call: so
1917 calling the same macro multiple times will use a different label
1918 each time. You do this by prefixing \i\c{%%} to the label name. So
1919 you can invent an instruction which executes a \c{RET} if the \c{Z}
1920 flag is set by doing this:
1930 You can call this macro as many times as you want, and every time
1931 you call it NASM will make up a different `real' name to substitute
1932 for the label \c{%%skip}. The names NASM invents are of the form
1933 \c{..@2345.skip}, where the number 2345 changes with every macro
1934 call. The \i\c{..@} prefix prevents macro-local labels from
1935 interfering with the local label mechanism, as described in
1936 \k{locallab}. You should avoid defining your own labels in this form
1937 (the \c{..@} prefix, then a number, then another period) in case
1938 they interfere with macro-local labels.
1941 \S{mlmacgre} \i{Greedy Macro Parameters}
1943 Occasionally it is useful to define a macro which lumps its entire
1944 command line into one parameter definition, possibly after
1945 extracting one or two smaller parameters from the front. An example
1946 might be a macro to write a text string to a file in MS-DOS, where
1947 you might want to be able to write
1949 \c writefile [filehandle],"hello, world",13,10
1951 NASM allows you to define the last parameter of a macro to be
1952 \e{greedy}, meaning that if you invoke the macro with more
1953 parameters than it expects, all the spare parameters get lumped into
1954 the last defined one along with the separating commas. So if you
1957 \c %macro writefile 2+
1963 \c mov cx,%%endstr-%%str
1970 then the example call to \c{writefile} above will work as expected:
1971 the text before the first comma, \c{[filehandle]}, is used as the
1972 first macro parameter and expanded when \c{%1} is referred to, and
1973 all the subsequent text is lumped into \c{%2} and placed after the
1976 The greedy nature of the macro is indicated to NASM by the use of
1977 the \I{+ modifier}\c{+} sign after the parameter count on the
1980 If you define a greedy macro, you are effectively telling NASM how
1981 it should expand the macro given \e{any} number of parameters from
1982 the actual number specified up to infinity; in this case, for
1983 example, NASM now knows what to do when it sees a call to
1984 \c{writefile} with 2, 3, 4 or more parameters. NASM will take this
1985 into account when overloading macros, and will not allow you to
1986 define another form of \c{writefile} taking 4 parameters (for
1989 Of course, the above macro could have been implemented as a
1990 non-greedy macro, in which case the call to it would have had to
1993 \c writefile [filehandle], {"hello, world",13,10}
1995 NASM provides both mechanisms for putting \i{commas in macro
1996 parameters}, and you choose which one you prefer for each macro
1999 See \k{sectmac} for a better way to write the above macro.
2002 \S{mlmacdef} \i{Default Macro Parameters}
2004 NASM also allows you to define a multi-line macro with a \e{range}
2005 of allowable parameter counts. If you do this, you can specify
2006 defaults for \i{omitted parameters}. So, for example:
2008 \c %macro die 0-1 "Painful program death has occurred."
2016 This macro (which makes use of the \c{writefile} macro defined in
2017 \k{mlmacgre}) can be called with an explicit error message, which it
2018 will display on the error output stream before exiting, or it can be
2019 called with no parameters, in which case it will use the default
2020 error message supplied in the macro definition.
2022 In general, you supply a minimum and maximum number of parameters
2023 for a macro of this type; the minimum number of parameters are then
2024 required in the macro call, and then you provide defaults for the
2025 optional ones. So if a macro definition began with the line
2027 \c %macro foobar 1-3 eax,[ebx+2]
2029 then it could be called with between one and three parameters, and
2030 \c{%1} would always be taken from the macro call. \c{%2}, if not
2031 specified by the macro call, would default to \c{eax}, and \c{%3} if
2032 not specified would default to \c{[ebx+2]}.
2034 You may omit parameter defaults from the macro definition, in which
2035 case the parameter default is taken to be blank. This can be useful
2036 for macros which can take a variable number of parameters, since the
2037 \i\c{%0} token (see \k{percent0}) allows you to determine how many
2038 parameters were really passed to the macro call.
2040 This defaulting mechanism can be combined with the greedy-parameter
2041 mechanism; so the \c{die} macro above could be made more powerful,
2042 and more useful, by changing the first line of the definition to
2044 \c %macro die 0-1+ "Painful program death has occurred.",13,10
2046 The maximum parameter count can be infinite, denoted by \c{*}. In
2047 this case, of course, it is impossible to provide a \e{full} set of
2048 default parameters. Examples of this usage are shown in \k{rotate}.
2051 \S{percent0} \i\c{%0}: \I{counting macro parameters}Macro Parameter Counter
2053 For a macro which can take a variable number of parameters, the
2054 parameter reference \c{%0} will return a numeric constant giving the
2055 number of parameters passed to the macro. This can be used as an
2056 argument to \c{%rep} (see \k{rep}) in order to iterate through all
2057 the parameters of a macro. Examples are given in \k{rotate}.
2060 \S{rotate} \i\c{%rotate}: \i{Rotating Macro Parameters}
2062 Unix shell programmers will be familiar with the \I{shift
2063 command}\c{shift} shell command, which allows the arguments passed
2064 to a shell script (referenced as \c{$1}, \c{$2} and so on) to be
2065 moved left by one place, so that the argument previously referenced
2066 as \c{$2} becomes available as \c{$1}, and the argument previously
2067 referenced as \c{$1} is no longer available at all.
2069 NASM provides a similar mechanism, in the form of \c{%rotate}. As
2070 its name suggests, it differs from the Unix \c{shift} in that no
2071 parameters are lost: parameters rotated off the left end of the
2072 argument list reappear on the right, and vice versa.
2074 \c{%rotate} is invoked with a single numeric argument (which may be
2075 an expression). The macro parameters are rotated to the left by that
2076 many places. If the argument to \c{%rotate} is negative, the macro
2077 parameters are rotated to the right.
2079 \I{iterating over macro parameters}So a pair of macros to save and
2080 restore a set of registers might work as follows:
2082 \c %macro multipush 1-*
2091 This macro invokes the \c{PUSH} instruction on each of its arguments
2092 in turn, from left to right. It begins by pushing its first
2093 argument, \c{%1}, then invokes \c{%rotate} to move all the arguments
2094 one place to the left, so that the original second argument is now
2095 available as \c{%1}. Repeating this procedure as many times as there
2096 were arguments (achieved by supplying \c{%0} as the argument to
2097 \c{%rep}) causes each argument in turn to be pushed.
2099 Note also the use of \c{*} as the maximum parameter count,
2100 indicating that there is no upper limit on the number of parameters
2101 you may supply to the \i\c{multipush} macro.
2103 It would be convenient, when using this macro, to have a \c{POP}
2104 equivalent, which \e{didn't} require the arguments to be given in
2105 reverse order. Ideally, you would write the \c{multipush} macro
2106 call, then cut-and-paste the line to where the pop needed to be
2107 done, and change the name of the called macro to \c{multipop}, and
2108 the macro would take care of popping the registers in the opposite
2109 order from the one in which they were pushed.
2111 This can be done by the following definition:
2113 \c %macro multipop 1-*
2122 This macro begins by rotating its arguments one place to the
2123 \e{right}, so that the original \e{last} argument appears as \c{%1}.
2124 This is then popped, and the arguments are rotated right again, so
2125 the second-to-last argument becomes \c{%1}. Thus the arguments are
2126 iterated through in reverse order.
2129 \S{concat} \i{Concatenating Macro Parameters}
2131 NASM can concatenate macro parameters on to other text surrounding
2132 them. This allows you to declare a family of symbols, for example,
2133 in a macro definition. If, for example, you wanted to generate a
2134 table of key codes along with offsets into the table, you could code
2137 \c %macro keytab_entry 2
2139 \c keypos%1 equ $-keytab
2145 \c keytab_entry F1,128+1
2146 \c keytab_entry F2,128+2
2147 \c keytab_entry Return,13
2149 which would expand to
2152 \c keyposF1 equ $-keytab
2154 \c keyposF2 equ $-keytab
2156 \c keyposReturn equ $-keytab
2159 You can just as easily concatenate text on to the other end of a
2160 macro parameter, by writing \c{%1foo}.
2162 If you need to append a \e{digit} to a macro parameter, for example
2163 defining labels \c{foo1} and \c{foo2} when passed the parameter
2164 \c{foo}, you can't code \c{%11} because that would be taken as the
2165 eleventh macro parameter. Instead, you must code
2166 \I{braces, after % sign}\c{%\{1\}1}, which will separate the first
2167 \c{1} (giving the number of the macro parameter) from the second
2168 (literal text to be concatenated to the parameter).
2170 This concatenation can also be applied to other preprocessor in-line
2171 objects, such as macro-local labels (\k{maclocal}) and context-local
2172 labels (\k{ctxlocal}). In all cases, ambiguities in syntax can be
2173 resolved by enclosing everything after the \c{%} sign and before the
2174 literal text in braces: so \c{%\{%foo\}bar} concatenates the text
2175 \c{bar} to the end of the real name of the macro-local label
2176 \c{%%foo}. (This is unnecessary, since the form NASM uses for the
2177 real names of macro-local labels means that the two usages
2178 \c{%\{%foo\}bar} and \c{%%foobar} would both expand to the same
2179 thing anyway; nevertheless, the capability is there.)
2182 \S{mlmaccc} \i{Condition Codes as Macro Parameters}
2184 NASM can give special treatment to a macro parameter which contains
2185 a condition code. For a start, you can refer to the macro parameter
2186 \c{%1} by means of the alternative syntax \i\c{%+1}, which informs
2187 NASM that this macro parameter is supposed to contain a condition
2188 code, and will cause the preprocessor to report an error message if
2189 the macro is called with a parameter which is \e{not} a valid
2192 Far more usefully, though, you can refer to the macro parameter by
2193 means of \i\c{%-1}, which NASM will expand as the \e{inverse}
2194 condition code. So the \c{retz} macro defined in \k{maclocal} can be
2195 replaced by a general \i{conditional-return macro} like this:
2205 This macro can now be invoked using calls like \c{retc ne}, which
2206 will cause the conditional-jump instruction in the macro expansion
2207 to come out as \c{JE}, or \c{retc po} which will make the jump a
2210 The \c{%+1} macro-parameter reference is quite happy to interpret
2211 the arguments \c{CXZ} and \c{ECXZ} as valid condition codes;
2212 however, \c{%-1} will report an error if passed either of these,
2213 because no inverse condition code exists.
2216 \S{nolist} \i{Disabling Listing Expansion}\I\c{.nolist}
2218 When NASM is generating a listing file from your program, it will
2219 generally expand multi-line macros by means of writing the macro
2220 call and then listing each line of the expansion. This allows you to
2221 see which instructions in the macro expansion are generating what
2222 code; however, for some macros this clutters the listing up
2225 NASM therefore provides the \c{.nolist} qualifier, which you can
2226 include in a macro definition to inhibit the expansion of the macro
2227 in the listing file. The \c{.nolist} qualifier comes directly after
2228 the number of parameters, like this:
2230 \c %macro foo 1.nolist
2234 \c %macro bar 1-5+.nolist a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h
2236 \H{condasm} \i{Conditional Assembly}\I\c{%if}
2238 Similarly to the C preprocessor, NASM allows sections of a source
2239 file to be assembled only if certain conditions are met. The general
2240 syntax of this feature looks like this:
2243 \c ; some code which only appears if <condition> is met
2244 \c %elif<condition2>
2245 \c ; only appears if <condition> is not met but <condition2> is
2247 \c ; this appears if neither <condition> nor <condition2> was met
2250 The \i\c{%else} clause is optional, as is the \i\c{%elif} clause.
2251 You can have more than one \c{%elif} clause as well.
2254 \S{ifdef} \i\c{%ifdef}: \i{Testing Single-Line Macro Existence}
2256 Beginning a conditional-assembly block with the line \c{%ifdef
2257 MACRO} will assemble the subsequent code if, and only if, a
2258 single-line macro called \c{MACRO} is defined. If not, then the
2259 \c{%elif} and \c{%else} blocks (if any) will be processed instead.
2261 For example, when debugging a program, you might want to write code
2264 \c ; perform some function
2266 \c writefile 2,"Function performed successfully",13,10
2268 \c ; go and do something else
2270 Then you could use the command-line option \c{-dDEBUG} to create a
2271 version of the program which produced debugging messages, and remove
2272 the option to generate the final release version of the program.
2274 You can test for a macro \e{not} being defined by using
2275 \i\c{%ifndef} instead of \c{%ifdef}. You can also test for macro
2276 definitions in \c{%elif} blocks by using \i\c{%elifdef} and
2280 \S{ifmacro} \i\c{ifmacro}: \i{Testing Multi-Line Macro Existence}
2282 The \c{%ifmacro} directive oeprates in the same way as the \c{%ifdef}
2283 directive, except that it checks for the existence of a multi-line macro.
2285 For example, you may be working with a large project and not have control
2286 over the macros in a library. You may want to create a macro with one
2287 name if it doesn't already exist, and another name if one with that name
2290 The %ifmacro is considered true if defining a macro with the given name
2291 and number of arguements would cause a definitions conflict. For example:
2293 \c %ifmacro MyMacro 1-3
2295 \c %error "MyMacro 1-3" causes a conflict with an existing macro.
2299 \c %macro MyMacro 1-3
2301 \c ; insert code to define the macro
2307 This will create the macro "MyMacro 1-3" if no macro already exists which
2308 would conflict with it, and emits a warning if there would be a definition
2311 You can test for the macro not existing by using the \i\c{ifnmacro} instead
2312 of \c{ifmacro}. Additional tests can be performed in %elif blocks by using
2313 \i\c{elifmacro} and \i\c{elifnmacro}.
2316 \S{ifctx} \i\c{%ifctx}: \i{Testing the Context Stack}
2318 The conditional-assembly construct \c{%ifctx ctxname} will cause the
2319 subsequent code to be assembled if and only if the top context on
2320 the preprocessor's context stack has the name \c{ctxname}. As with
2321 \c{%ifdef}, the inverse and \c{%elif} forms \i\c{%ifnctx},
2322 \i\c{%elifctx} and \i\c{%elifnctx} are also supported.
2324 For more details of the context stack, see \k{ctxstack}. For a
2325 sample use of \c{%ifctx}, see \k{blockif}.
2328 \S{if} \i\c{%if}: \i{Testing Arbitrary Numeric Expressions}
2330 The conditional-assembly construct \c{%if expr} will cause the
2331 subsequent code to be assembled if and only if the value of the
2332 numeric expression \c{expr} is non-zero. An example of the use of
2333 this feature is in deciding when to break out of a \c{%rep}
2334 preprocessor loop: see \k{rep} for a detailed example.
2336 The expression given to \c{%if}, and its counterpart \i\c{%elif}, is
2337 a critical expression (see \k{crit}).
2339 \c{%if} extends the normal NASM expression syntax, by providing a
2340 set of \i{relational operators} which are not normally available in
2341 expressions. The operators \i\c{=}, \i\c{<}, \i\c{>}, \i\c{<=},
2342 \i\c{>=} and \i\c{<>} test equality, less-than, greater-than,
2343 less-or-equal, greater-or-equal and not-equal respectively. The
2344 C-like forms \i\c{==} and \i\c{!=} are supported as alternative
2345 forms of \c{=} and \c{<>}. In addition, low-priority logical
2346 operators \i\c{&&}, \i\c{^^} and \i\c{||} are provided, supplying
2347 \i{logical AND}, \i{logical XOR} and \i{logical OR}. These work like
2348 the C logical operators (although C has no logical XOR), in that
2349 they always return either 0 or 1, and treat any non-zero input as 1
2350 (so that \c{^^}, for example, returns 1 if exactly one of its inputs
2351 is zero, and 0 otherwise). The relational operators also return 1
2352 for true and 0 for false.
2355 \S{ifidn} \i\c{%ifidn} and \i\c{%ifidni}: \i{Testing Exact Text
2358 The construct \c{%ifidn text1,text2} will cause the subsequent code
2359 to be assembled if and only if \c{text1} and \c{text2}, after
2360 expanding single-line macros, are identical pieces of text.
2361 Differences in white space are not counted.
2363 \c{%ifidni} is similar to \c{%ifidn}, but is \i{case-insensitive}.
2365 For example, the following macro pushes a register or number on the
2366 stack, and allows you to treat \c{IP} as a real register:
2368 \c %macro pushparam 1
2379 Like most other \c{%if} constructs, \c{%ifidn} has a counterpart
2380 \i\c{%elifidn}, and negative forms \i\c{%ifnidn} and \i\c{%elifnidn}.
2381 Similarly, \c{%ifidni} has counterparts \i\c{%elifidni},
2382 \i\c{%ifnidni} and \i\c{%elifnidni}.
2385 \S{iftyp} \i\c{%ifid}, \i\c{%ifnum}, \i\c{%ifstr}: \i{Testing Token
2388 Some macros will want to perform different tasks depending on
2389 whether they are passed a number, a string, or an identifier. For
2390 example, a string output macro might want to be able to cope with
2391 being passed either a string constant or a pointer to an existing
2394 The conditional assembly construct \c{%ifid}, taking one parameter
2395 (which may be blank), assembles the subsequent code if and only if
2396 the first token in the parameter exists and is an identifier.
2397 \c{%ifnum} works similarly, but tests for the token being a numeric
2398 constant; \c{%ifstr} tests for it being a string.
2400 For example, the \c{writefile} macro defined in \k{mlmacgre} can be
2401 extended to take advantage of \c{%ifstr} in the following fashion:
2403 \c %macro writefile 2-3+
2412 \c %%endstr: mov dx,%%str
2413 \c mov cx,%%endstr-%%str
2424 Then the \c{writefile} macro can cope with being called in either of
2425 the following two ways:
2427 \c writefile [file], strpointer, length
2428 \c writefile [file], "hello", 13, 10
2430 In the first, \c{strpointer} is used as the address of an
2431 already-declared string, and \c{length} is used as its length; in
2432 the second, a string is given to the macro, which therefore declares
2433 it itself and works out the address and length for itself.
2435 Note the use of \c{%if} inside the \c{%ifstr}: this is to detect
2436 whether the macro was passed two arguments (so the string would be a
2437 single string constant, and \c{db %2} would be adequate) or more (in
2438 which case, all but the first two would be lumped together into
2439 \c{%3}, and \c{db %2,%3} would be required).
2441 \I\c{%ifnid}\I\c{%elifid}\I\c{%elifnid}\I\c{%ifnnum}\I\c{%elifnum}
2442 \I\c{%elifnnum}\I\c{%ifnstr}\I\c{%elifstr}\I\c{%elifnstr}
2443 The usual \c{%elifXXX}, \c{%ifnXXX} and \c{%elifnXXX} versions exist
2444 for each of \c{%ifid}, \c{%ifnum} and \c{%ifstr}.
2447 \S{pperror} \i\c{%error}: Reporting \i{User-Defined Errors}
2449 The preprocessor directive \c{%error} will cause NASM to report an
2450 error if it occurs in assembled code. So if other users are going to
2451 try to assemble your source files, you can ensure that they define
2452 the right macros by means of code like this:
2454 \c %ifdef SOME_MACRO
2456 \c %elifdef SOME_OTHER_MACRO
2457 \c ; do some different setup
2459 \c %error Neither SOME_MACRO nor SOME_OTHER_MACRO was defined.
2462 Then any user who fails to understand the way your code is supposed
2463 to be assembled will be quickly warned of their mistake, rather than
2464 having to wait until the program crashes on being run and then not
2465 knowing what went wrong.
2468 \H{rep} \i{Preprocessor Loops}\I{repeating code}: \i\c{%rep}
2470 NASM's \c{TIMES} prefix, though useful, cannot be used to invoke a
2471 multi-line macro multiple times, because it is processed by NASM
2472 after macros have already been expanded. Therefore NASM provides
2473 another form of loop, this time at the preprocessor level: \c{%rep}.
2475 The directives \c{%rep} and \i\c{%endrep} (\c{%rep} takes a numeric
2476 argument, which can be an expression; \c{%endrep} takes no
2477 arguments) can be used to enclose a chunk of code, which is then
2478 replicated as many times as specified by the preprocessor:
2482 \c inc word [table+2*i]
2486 This will generate a sequence of 64 \c{INC} instructions,
2487 incrementing every word of memory from \c{[table]} to
2490 For more complex termination conditions, or to break out of a repeat
2491 loop part way along, you can use the \i\c{%exitrep} directive to
2492 terminate the loop, like this:
2507 \c fib_number equ ($-fibonacci)/2
2509 This produces a list of all the Fibonacci numbers that will fit in
2510 16 bits. Note that a maximum repeat count must still be given to
2511 \c{%rep}. This is to prevent the possibility of NASM getting into an
2512 infinite loop in the preprocessor, which (on multitasking or
2513 multi-user systems) would typically cause all the system memory to
2514 be gradually used up and other applications to start crashing.
2517 \H{include} \i{Including Other Files}
2519 Using, once again, a very similar syntax to the C preprocessor,
2520 NASM's preprocessor lets you include other source files into your
2521 code. This is done by the use of the \i\c{%include} directive:
2523 \c %include "macros.mac"
2525 will include the contents of the file \c{macros.mac} into the source
2526 file containing the \c{%include} directive.
2528 Include files are \I{searching for include files}searched for in the
2529 current directory (the directory you're in when you run NASM, as
2530 opposed to the location of the NASM executable or the location of
2531 the source file), plus any directories specified on the NASM command
2532 line using the \c{-i} option.
2534 The standard C idiom for preventing a file being included more than
2535 once is just as applicable in NASM: if the file \c{macros.mac} has
2538 \c %ifndef MACROS_MAC
2539 \c %define MACROS_MAC
2540 \c ; now define some macros
2543 then including the file more than once will not cause errors,
2544 because the second time the file is included nothing will happen
2545 because the macro \c{MACROS_MAC} will already be defined.
2547 You can force a file to be included even if there is no \c{%include}
2548 directive that explicitly includes it, by using the \i\c{-p} option
2549 on the NASM command line (see \k{opt-p}).
2552 \H{ctxstack} The \i{Context Stack}
2554 Having labels that are local to a macro definition is sometimes not
2555 quite powerful enough: sometimes you want to be able to share labels
2556 between several macro calls. An example might be a \c{REPEAT} ...
2557 \c{UNTIL} loop, in which the expansion of the \c{REPEAT} macro
2558 would need to be able to refer to a label which the \c{UNTIL} macro
2559 had defined. However, for such a macro you would also want to be
2560 able to nest these loops.
2562 NASM provides this level of power by means of a \e{context stack}.
2563 The preprocessor maintains a stack of \e{contexts}, each of which is
2564 characterised by a name. You add a new context to the stack using
2565 the \i\c{%push} directive, and remove one using \i\c{%pop}. You can
2566 define labels that are local to a particular context on the stack.
2569 \S{pushpop} \i\c{%push} and \i\c{%pop}: \I{creating
2570 contexts}\I{removing contexts}Creating and Removing Contexts
2572 The \c{%push} directive is used to create a new context and place it
2573 on the top of the context stack. \c{%push} requires one argument,
2574 which is the name of the context. For example:
2578 This pushes a new context called \c{foobar} on the stack. You can
2579 have several contexts on the stack with the same name: they can
2580 still be distinguished.
2582 The directive \c{%pop}, requiring no arguments, removes the top
2583 context from the context stack and destroys it, along with any
2584 labels associated with it.
2587 \S{ctxlocal} \i{Context-Local Labels}
2589 Just as the usage \c{%%foo} defines a label which is local to the
2590 particular macro call in which it is used, the usage \I{%$}\c{%$foo}
2591 is used to define a label which is local to the context on the top
2592 of the context stack. So the \c{REPEAT} and \c{UNTIL} example given
2593 above could be implemented by means of:
2609 and invoked by means of, for example,
2617 which would scan every fourth byte of a string in search of the byte
2620 If you need to define, or access, labels local to the context
2621 \e{below} the top one on the stack, you can use \I{%$$}\c{%$$foo}, or
2622 \c{%$$$foo} for the context below that, and so on.
2625 \S{ctxdefine} \i{Context-Local Single-Line Macros}
2627 NASM also allows you to define single-line macros which are local to
2628 a particular context, in just the same way:
2630 \c %define %$localmac 3
2632 will define the single-line macro \c{%$localmac} to be local to the
2633 top context on the stack. Of course, after a subsequent \c{%push},
2634 it can then still be accessed by the name \c{%$$localmac}.
2637 \S{ctxrepl} \i\c{%repl}: \I{renaming contexts}Renaming a Context
2639 If you need to change the name of the top context on the stack (in
2640 order, for example, to have it respond differently to \c{%ifctx}),
2641 you can execute a \c{%pop} followed by a \c{%push}; but this will
2642 have the side effect of destroying all context-local labels and
2643 macros associated with the context that was just popped.
2645 NASM provides the directive \c{%repl}, which \e{replaces} a context
2646 with a different name, without touching the associated macros and
2647 labels. So you could replace the destructive code
2652 with the non-destructive version \c{%repl newname}.
2655 \S{blockif} Example Use of the \i{Context Stack}: \i{Block IFs}
2657 This example makes use of almost all the context-stack features,
2658 including the conditional-assembly construct \i\c{%ifctx}, to
2659 implement a block IF statement as a set of macros.
2675 \c %error "expected `if' before `else'"
2689 \c %error "expected `if' or `else' before `endif'"
2694 This code is more robust than the \c{REPEAT} and \c{UNTIL} macros
2695 given in \k{ctxlocal}, because it uses conditional assembly to check
2696 that the macros are issued in the right order (for example, not
2697 calling \c{endif} before \c{if}) and issues a \c{%error} if they're
2700 In addition, the \c{endif} macro has to be able to cope with the two
2701 distinct cases of either directly following an \c{if}, or following
2702 an \c{else}. It achieves this, again, by using conditional assembly
2703 to do different things depending on whether the context on top of
2704 the stack is \c{if} or \c{else}.
2706 The \c{else} macro has to preserve the context on the stack, in
2707 order to have the \c{%$ifnot} referred to by the \c{if} macro be the
2708 same as the one defined by the \c{endif} macro, but has to change
2709 the context's name so that \c{endif} will know there was an
2710 intervening \c{else}. It does this by the use of \c{%repl}.
2712 A sample usage of these macros might look like:
2734 The block-\c{IF} macros handle nesting quite happily, by means of
2735 pushing another context, describing the inner \c{if}, on top of the
2736 one describing the outer \c{if}; thus \c{else} and \c{endif} always
2737 refer to the last unmatched \c{if} or \c{else}.
2740 \H{stdmac} \i{Standard Macros}
2742 NASM defines a set of standard macros, which are already defined
2743 when it starts to process any source file. If you really need a
2744 program to be assembled with no pre-defined macros, you can use the
2745 \i\c{%clear} directive to empty the preprocessor of everything.
2747 Most \i{user-level assembler directives} (see \k{directive}) are
2748 implemented as macros which invoke primitive directives; these are
2749 described in \k{directive}. The rest of the standard macro set is
2753 \S{stdmacver} \i\c{__NASM_MAJOR__} and \i\c{__NASM_MINOR__}: \i{NASM
2756 The single-line macros \c{__NASM_MAJOR__} and \c{__NASM_MINOR__}
2757 expand to the major and minor parts of the \i{version number of
2758 NASM} being used. So, under NASM 0.96 for example,
2759 \c{__NASM_MAJOR__} would be defined to be 0 and \c{__NASM_MINOR__}
2760 would be defined as 96.
2763 \S{fileline} \i\c{__FILE__} and \i\c{__LINE__}: File Name and Line Number
2765 Like the C preprocessor, NASM allows the user to find out the file
2766 name and line number containing the current instruction. The macro
2767 \c{__FILE__} expands to a string constant giving the name of the
2768 current input file (which may change through the course of assembly
2769 if \c{%include} directives are used), and \c{__LINE__} expands to a
2770 numeric constant giving the current line number in the input file.
2772 These macros could be used, for example, to communicate debugging
2773 information to a macro, since invoking \c{__LINE__} inside a macro
2774 definition (either single-line or multi-line) will return the line
2775 number of the macro \e{call}, rather than \e{definition}. So to
2776 determine where in a piece of code a crash is occurring, for
2777 example, one could write a routine \c{stillhere}, which is passed a
2778 line number in \c{EAX} and outputs something like `line 155: still
2779 here'. You could then write a macro
2781 \c %macro notdeadyet 0
2790 and then pepper your code with calls to \c{notdeadyet} until you
2791 find the crash point.
2794 \S{struc} \i\c{STRUC} and \i\c{ENDSTRUC}: \i{Declaring Structure} Data Types
2796 The core of NASM contains no intrinsic means of defining data
2797 structures; instead, the preprocessor is sufficiently powerful that
2798 data structures can be implemented as a set of macros. The macros
2799 \c{STRUC} and \c{ENDSTRUC} are used to define a structure data type.
2801 \c{STRUC} takes one parameter, which is the name of the data type.
2802 This name is defined as a symbol with the value zero, and also has
2803 the suffix \c{_size} appended to it and is then defined as an
2804 \c{EQU} giving the size of the structure. Once \c{STRUC} has been
2805 issued, you are defining the structure, and should define fields
2806 using the \c{RESB} family of pseudo-instructions, and then invoke
2807 \c{ENDSTRUC} to finish the definition.
2809 For example, to define a structure called \c{mytype} containing a
2810 longword, a word, a byte and a string of bytes, you might code
2821 The above code defines six symbols: \c{mt_long} as 0 (the offset
2822 from the beginning of a \c{mytype} structure to the longword field),
2823 \c{mt_word} as 4, \c{mt_byte} as 6, \c{mt_str} as 7, \c{mytype_size}
2824 as 39, and \c{mytype} itself as zero.
2826 The reason why the structure type name is defined at zero is a side
2827 effect of allowing structures to work with the local label
2828 mechanism: if your structure members tend to have the same names in
2829 more than one structure, you can define the above structure like this:
2840 This defines the offsets to the structure fields as \c{mytype.long},
2841 \c{mytype.word}, \c{mytype.byte} and \c{mytype.str}.
2843 NASM, since it has no \e{intrinsic} structure support, does not
2844 support any form of period notation to refer to the elements of a
2845 structure once you have one (except the above local-label notation),
2846 so code such as \c{mov ax,[mystruc.mt_word]} is not valid.
2847 \c{mt_word} is a constant just like any other constant, so the
2848 correct syntax is \c{mov ax,[mystruc+mt_word]} or \c{mov
2849 ax,[mystruc+mytype.word]}.
2852 \S{istruc} \i\c{ISTRUC}, \i\c{AT} and \i\c{IEND}: Declaring
2853 \i{Instances of Structures}
2855 Having defined a structure type, the next thing you typically want
2856 to do is to declare instances of that structure in your data
2857 segment. NASM provides an easy way to do this in the \c{ISTRUC}
2858 mechanism. To declare a structure of type \c{mytype} in a program,
2859 you code something like this:
2864 \c at mt_long, dd 123456
2865 \c at mt_word, dw 1024
2866 \c at mt_byte, db 'x'
2867 \c at mt_str, db 'hello, world', 13, 10, 0
2871 The function of the \c{AT} macro is to make use of the \c{TIMES}
2872 prefix to advance the assembly position to the correct point for the
2873 specified structure field, and then to declare the specified data.
2874 Therefore the structure fields must be declared in the same order as
2875 they were specified in the structure definition.
2877 If the data to go in a structure field requires more than one source
2878 line to specify, the remaining source lines can easily come after
2879 the \c{AT} line. For example:
2881 \c at mt_str, db 123,134,145,156,167,178,189
2884 Depending on personal taste, you can also omit the code part of the
2885 \c{AT} line completely, and start the structure field on the next
2889 \c db 'hello, world'
2893 \S{align} \i\c{ALIGN} and \i\c{ALIGNB}: Data Alignment
2895 The \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB} macros provides a convenient way to
2896 align code or data on a word, longword, paragraph or other boundary.
2897 (Some assemblers call this directive \i\c{EVEN}.) The syntax of the
2898 \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB} macros is
2900 \c align 4 ; align on 4-byte boundary
2901 \c align 16 ; align on 16-byte boundary
2902 \c align 8,db 0 ; pad with 0s rather than NOPs
2903 \c align 4,resb 1 ; align to 4 in the BSS
2904 \c alignb 4 ; equivalent to previous line
2906 Both macros require their first argument to be a power of two; they
2907 both compute the number of additional bytes required to bring the
2908 length of the current section up to a multiple of that power of two,
2909 and then apply the \c{TIMES} prefix to their second argument to
2910 perform the alignment.
2912 If the second argument is not specified, the default for \c{ALIGN}
2913 is \c{NOP}, and the default for \c{ALIGNB} is \c{RESB 1}. So if the
2914 second argument is specified, the two macros are equivalent.
2915 Normally, you can just use \c{ALIGN} in code and data sections and
2916 \c{ALIGNB} in BSS sections, and never need the second argument
2917 except for special purposes.
2919 \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB}, being simple macros, perform no error
2920 checking: they cannot warn you if their first argument fails to be a
2921 power of two, or if their second argument generates more than one
2922 byte of code. In each of these cases they will silently do the wrong
2925 \c{ALIGNB} (or \c{ALIGN} with a second argument of \c{RESB 1}) can
2926 be used within structure definitions:
2943 This will ensure that the structure members are sensibly aligned
2944 relative to the base of the structure.
2946 A final caveat: \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB} work relative to the
2947 beginning of the \e{section}, not the beginning of the address space
2948 in the final executable. Aligning to a 16-byte boundary when the
2949 section you're in is only guaranteed to be aligned to a 4-byte
2950 boundary, for example, is a waste of effort. Again, NASM does not
2951 check that the section's alignment characteristics are sensible for
2952 the use of \c{ALIGN} or \c{ALIGNB}.
2955 \H{tasmcompat} \i{TASM Compatible Preprocessor Directives}
2957 The following preprocessor directives may only be used when TASM
2958 compatibility is turned on using the \c{-t} command line switch
2959 (This switch is described in \k{opt-t}.)
2961 \b\c{%arg} (see \k{arg})
2963 \b\c{%stacksize} (see \k{stacksize})
2965 \b\c{%local} (see \k{local})
2968 \S{arg} \i\c{%arg} Directive
2970 The \c{%arg} directive is used to simplify the handling of
2971 parameters passed on the stack. Stack based parameter passing
2972 is used by many high level languages, including C, C++ and Pascal.
2974 While NASM comes with macros which attempt to duplicate this
2975 functionality (see \k{16cmacro}), the syntax is not particularly
2976 convenient to use and is not TASM compatible. Here is an example
2977 which shows the use of \c{%arg} without any external macros:
2981 \c %push mycontext ; save the current context
2982 \c %stacksize large ; tell NASM to use bp
2983 \c %arg i:word, j_ptr:word
2990 \c %pop ; restore original context
2992 This is similar to the procedure defined in \k{16cmacro} and adds
2993 the value in i to the value pointed to by j_ptr and returns the
2994 sum in the ax register. See \k{pushpop} for an explanation of
2995 \c{push} and \c{pop} and the use of context stacks.
2998 \S{stacksize} \i\c{%stacksize} Directive
3000 The \c{%stacksize} directive is used in conjunction with the
3001 \c{%arg} (see \k{arg}) and the \c{%local} (see \k{local}) directives.
3002 It tells NASM the default size to use for subsequent \c{%arg} and
3003 \c{%local} directives. The \c{%stacksize} directive takes one
3004 required argument which is one of \c{flat}, \c{large} or \c{small}.
3008 This form causes NASM to use stack-based parameter addressing
3009 relative to \c{ebp} and it assumes that a near form of call was used
3010 to get to this label (i.e. that \c{eip} is on the stack).
3014 This form uses \c{bp} to do stack-based parameter addressing and
3015 assumes that a far form of call was used to get to this address
3016 (i.e. that \c{ip} and \c{cs} are on the stack).
3020 This form also uses \c{bp} to address stack parameters, but it is
3021 different from \c{large} because it also assumes that the old value
3022 of bp is pushed onto the stack (i.e. it expects an \c{ENTER}
3023 instruction). In other words, it expects that \c{bp}, \c{ip} and
3024 \c{cs} are on the top of the stack, underneath any local space which
3025 may have been allocated by \c{ENTER}. This form is probably most
3026 useful when used in combination with the \c{%local} directive
3030 \S{local} \i\c{%local} Directive
3032 The \c{%local} directive is used to simplify the use of local
3033 temporary stack variables allocated in a stack frame. Automatic
3034 local variables in C are an example of this kind of variable. The
3035 \c{%local} directive is most useful when used with the \c{%stacksize}
3036 (see \k{stacksize} and is also compatible with the \c{%arg} directive
3037 (see \k{arg}). It allows simplified reference to variables on the
3038 stack which have been allocated typically by using the \c{ENTER}
3039 instruction (see \k{insENTER} for a description of that instruction).
3040 An example of its use is the following:
3044 \c %push mycontext ; save the current context
3045 \c %stacksize small ; tell NASM to use bp
3046 \c %assign %$localsize 0 ; see text for explanation
3047 \c %local old_ax:word, old_dx:word
3049 \c enter %$localsize,0 ; see text for explanation
3050 \c mov [old_ax],ax ; swap ax & bx
3051 \c mov [old_dx],dx ; and swap dx & cx
3056 \c leave ; restore old bp
3059 \c %pop ; restore original context
3061 The \c{%$localsize} variable is used internally by the
3062 \c{%local} directive and \e{must} be defined within the
3063 current context before the \c{%local} directive may be used.
3064 Failure to do so will result in one expression syntax error for
3065 each \c{%local} variable declared. It then may be used in
3066 the construction of an appropriately sized ENTER instruction
3067 as shown in the example.
3070 \C{directive} \i{Assembler Directives}
3072 NASM, though it attempts to avoid the bureaucracy of assemblers like
3073 MASM and TASM, is nevertheless forced to support a \e{few}
3074 directives. These are described in this chapter.
3076 NASM's directives come in two types: \i{user-level
3077 directives}\e{user-level} directives and \i{primitive
3078 directives}\e{primitive} directives. Typically, each directive has a
3079 user-level form and a primitive form. In almost all cases, we
3080 recommend that users use the user-level forms of the directives,
3081 which are implemented as macros which call the primitive forms.
3083 Primitive directives are enclosed in square brackets; user-level
3086 In addition to the universal directives described in this chapter,
3087 each object file format can optionally supply extra directives in
3088 order to control particular features of that file format. These
3089 \i{format-specific directives}\e{format-specific} directives are
3090 documented along with the formats that implement them, in \k{outfmt}.
3093 \H{bits} \i\c{BITS}: Specifying Target \i{Processor Mode}
3095 The \c{BITS} directive specifies whether NASM should generate code
3096 \I{16-bit mode, versus 32-bit mode}designed to run on a processor
3097 operating in 16-bit mode, or code designed to run on a processor
3098 operating in 32-bit mode. The syntax is \c{BITS 16} or \c{BITS 32}.
3100 In most cases, you should not need to use \c{BITS} explicitly. The
3101 \c{aout}, \c{coff}, \c{elf} and \c{win32} object formats, which are
3102 designed for use in 32-bit operating systems, all cause NASM to
3103 select 32-bit mode by default. The \c{obj} object format allows you
3104 to specify each segment you define as either \c{USE16} or \c{USE32},
3105 and NASM will set its operating mode accordingly, so the use of the
3106 \c{BITS} directive is once again unnecessary.
3108 The most likely reason for using the \c{BITS} directive is to write
3109 32-bit code in a flat binary file; this is because the \c{bin}
3110 output format defaults to 16-bit mode in anticipation of it being
3111 used most frequently to write DOS \c{.COM} programs, DOS \c{.SYS}
3112 device drivers and boot loader software.
3114 You do \e{not} need to specify \c{BITS 32} merely in order to use
3115 32-bit instructions in a 16-bit DOS program; if you do, the
3116 assembler will generate incorrect code because it will be writing
3117 code targeted at a 32-bit platform, to be run on a 16-bit one.
3119 When NASM is in \c{BITS 16} state, instructions which use 32-bit
3120 data are prefixed with an 0x66 byte, and those referring to 32-bit
3121 addresses have an 0x67 prefix. In \c{BITS 32} state, the reverse is
3122 true: 32-bit instructions require no prefixes, whereas instructions
3123 using 16-bit data need an 0x66 and those working in 16-bit addresses
3126 The \c{BITS} directive has an exactly equivalent primitive form,
3127 \c{[BITS 16]} and \c{[BITS 32]}. The user-level form is a macro
3128 which has no function other than to call the primitive form.
3131 \S{USE16 & USE32} \i\c{USE16} & \i\c{USE32}: Aliases for BITS
3133 The `\c{USE16}' and `\c{USE32}' directives can be used in place of
3134 `\c{BIT 16}' and `\c{BITS 32}', for compatibility with other assemblers.
3137 \H{section} \i\c{SECTION} or \i\c{SEGMENT}: Changing and \i{Defining
3140 \I{changing sections}\I{switching between sections}The \c{SECTION}
3141 directive (\c{SEGMENT} is an exactly equivalent synonym) changes
3142 which section of the output file the code you write will be
3143 assembled into. In some object file formats, the number and names of
3144 sections are fixed; in others, the user may make up as many as they
3145 wish. Hence \c{SECTION} may sometimes give an error message, or may
3146 define a new section, if you try to switch to a section that does
3149 The Unix object formats, and the \c{bin} object format, all support
3150 the \i{standardised section names} \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss}
3151 for the code, data and uninitialised-data sections. The \c{obj}
3152 format, by contrast, does not recognise these section names as being
3153 special, and indeed will strip off the leading period of any section
3157 \S{sectmac} The \i\c{__SECT__} Macro
3159 The \c{SECTION} directive is unusual in that its user-level form
3160 functions differently from its primitive form. The primitive form,
3161 \c{[SECTION xyz]}, simply switches the current target section to the
3162 one given. The user-level form, \c{SECTION xyz}, however, first
3163 defines the single-line macro \c{__SECT__} to be the primitive
3164 \c{[SECTION]} directive which it is about to issue, and then issues
3165 it. So the user-level directive
3169 expands to the two lines
3171 \c %define __SECT__ [SECTION .text]
3174 Users may find it useful to make use of this in their own macros.
3175 For example, the \c{writefile} macro defined in \k{mlmacgre} can be
3176 usefully rewritten in the following more sophisticated form:
3178 \c %macro writefile 2+
3188 \c mov cx,%%endstr-%%str
3195 This form of the macro, once passed a string to output, first
3196 switches temporarily to the data section of the file, using the
3197 primitive form of the \c{SECTION} directive so as not to modify
3198 \c{__SECT__}. It then declares its string in the data section, and
3199 then invokes \c{__SECT__} to switch back to \e{whichever} section
3200 the user was previously working in. It thus avoids the need, in the
3201 previous version of the macro, to include a \c{JMP} instruction to
3202 jump over the data, and also does not fail if, in a complicated
3203 \c{OBJ} format module, the user could potentially be assembling the
3204 code in any of several separate code sections.
3207 \H{absolute} \i\c{ABSOLUTE}: Defining Absolute Labels
3209 The \c{ABSOLUTE} directive can be thought of as an alternative form
3210 of \c{SECTION}: it causes the subsequent code to be directed at no
3211 physical section, but at the hypothetical section starting at the
3212 given absolute address. The only instructions you can use in this
3213 mode are the \c{RESB} family.
3215 \c{ABSOLUTE} is used as follows:
3223 This example describes a section of the PC BIOS data area, at
3224 segment address 0x40: the above code defines \c{kbuf_chr} to be
3225 0x1A, \c{kbuf_free} to be 0x1C, and \c{kbuf} to be 0x1E.
3227 The user-level form of \c{ABSOLUTE}, like that of \c{SECTION},
3228 redefines the \i\c{__SECT__} macro when it is invoked.
3230 \i\c{STRUC} and \i\c{ENDSTRUC} are defined as macros which use
3231 \c{ABSOLUTE} (and also \c{__SECT__}).
3233 \c{ABSOLUTE} doesn't have to take an absolute constant as an
3234 argument: it can take an expression (actually, a \i{critical
3235 expression}: see \k{crit}) and it can be a value in a segment. For
3236 example, a TSR can re-use its setup code as run-time BSS like this:
3238 \c org 100h ; it's a .COM program
3240 \c jmp setup ; setup code comes last
3242 \c ; the resident part of the TSR goes here
3244 \c ; now write the code that installs the TSR here
3248 \c runtimevar1 resw 1
3249 \c runtimevar2 resd 20
3253 This defines some variables `on top of' the setup code, so that
3254 after the setup has finished running, the space it took up can be
3255 re-used as data storage for the running TSR. The symbol `tsr_end'
3256 can be used to calculate the total size of the part of the TSR that
3257 needs to be made resident.
3260 \H{extern} \i\c{EXTERN}: \i{Importing Symbols} from Other Modules
3262 \c{EXTERN} is similar to the MASM directive \c{EXTRN} and the C
3263 keyword \c{extern}: it is used to declare a symbol which is not
3264 defined anywhere in the module being assembled, but is assumed to be
3265 defined in some other module and needs to be referred to by this
3266 one. Not every object-file format can support external variables:
3267 the \c{bin} format cannot.
3269 The \c{EXTERN} directive takes as many arguments as you like. Each
3270 argument is the name of a symbol:
3273 \c extern _sscanf,_fscanf
3275 Some object-file formats provide extra features to the \c{EXTERN}
3276 directive. In all cases, the extra features are used by suffixing a
3277 colon to the symbol name followed by object-format specific text.
3278 For example, the \c{obj} format allows you to declare that the
3279 default segment base of an external should be the group \c{dgroup}
3280 by means of the directive
3282 \c extern _variable:wrt dgroup
3284 The primitive form of \c{EXTERN} differs from the user-level form
3285 only in that it can take only one argument at a time: the support
3286 for multiple arguments is implemented at the preprocessor level.
3288 You can declare the same variable as \c{EXTERN} more than once: NASM
3289 will quietly ignore the second and later redeclarations. You can't
3290 declare a variable as \c{EXTERN} as well as something else, though.
3293 \H{global} \i\c{GLOBAL}: \i{Exporting Symbols} to Other Modules
3295 \c{GLOBAL} is the other end of \c{EXTERN}: if one module declares a
3296 symbol as \c{EXTERN} and refers to it, then in order to prevent
3297 linker errors, some other module must actually \e{define} the
3298 symbol and declare it as \c{GLOBAL}. Some assemblers use the name
3299 \i\c{PUBLIC} for this purpose.
3301 The \c{GLOBAL} directive applying to a symbol must appear \e{before}
3302 the definition of the symbol.
3304 \c{GLOBAL} uses the same syntax as \c{EXTERN}, except that it must
3305 refer to symbols which \e{are} defined in the same module as the
3306 \c{GLOBAL} directive. For example:
3312 \c{GLOBAL}, like \c{EXTERN}, allows object formats to define private
3313 extensions by means of a colon. The \c{elf} object format, for
3314 example, lets you specify whether global data items are functions or
3317 \c global hashlookup:function, hashtable:data
3319 Like \c{EXTERN}, the primitive form of \c{GLOBAL} differs from the
3320 user-level form only in that it can take only one argument at a
3324 \H{common} \i\c{COMMON}: Defining Common Data Areas
3326 The \c{COMMON} directive is used to declare \i\e{common variables}.
3327 A common variable is much like a global variable declared in the
3328 uninitialised data section, so that
3332 is similar in function to
3339 The difference is that if more than one module defines the same
3340 common variable, then at link time those variables will be
3341 \e{merged}, and references to \c{intvar} in all modules will point
3342 at the same piece of memory.
3344 Like \c{GLOBAL} and \c{EXTERN}, \c{COMMON} supports object-format
3345 specific extensions. For example, the \c{obj} format allows common
3346 variables to be NEAR or FAR, and the \c{elf} format allows you to
3347 specify the alignment requirements of a common variable:
3349 \c common commvar 4:near ; works in OBJ
3350 \c common intarray 100:4 ; works in ELF: 4 byte aligned
3352 Once again, like \c{EXTERN} and \c{GLOBAL}, the primitive form of
3353 \c{COMMON} differs from the user-level form only in that it can take
3354 only one argument at a time.
3357 \H{CPU} \i\c{CPU XXX}: Defining CPU Dependencies
3359 The \i\c{CPU} directive restricts assembly to those instructions which
3360 are available on the specified CPU.
3364 \b\c{CPU 8086} Assemble only 8086 instruction set
3366 \b\c{CPU 186} Assemble instructions up to the 80186 instruction set
3368 \b\c{CPU 286} Assemble instructions up to the 286 instruction set
3370 \b\c{CPU 386} Assemble instructions up to the 386 instruction set
3372 \b\c{CPU 486} 486 instruction set
3374 \b\c{CPU 586} Pentium instruction set
3376 \b\c{CPU PENTIUM} Same as 586
3378 \b\c{CPU 686} P6 instruction set
3380 \b\c{CPU PPRO} Same as 686
3382 \b\c{CPU P2} Same as 686
3384 \b\c{CPU P3} Pentium III and Katmai instruction sets
3386 \b\c{CPU KATMAI} Same as P3
3388 \b\c{CPU P4} Pentium 4 (Willamette) instruction set
3390 \b\c{CPU WILLAMETTE} Same as P4
3392 All options are case insensitive. All instructions will
3393 be selected only if they apply to the selected cpu or lower.
3396 \C{outfmt} \i{Output Formats}
3398 NASM is a portable assembler, designed to be able to compile on any
3399 ANSI C-supporting platform and produce output to run on a variety of
3400 Intel x86 operating systems. For this reason, it has a large number
3401 of available output formats, selected using the \i\c{-f} option on
3402 the NASM \i{command line}. Each of these formats, along with its
3403 extensions to the base NASM syntax, is detailed in this chapter.
3405 As stated in \k{opt-o}, NASM chooses a \i{default name} for your
3406 output file based on the input file name and the chosen output
3407 format. This will be generated by removing the \i{extension}
3408 (\c{.asm}, \c{.s}, or whatever you like to use) from the input file
3409 name, and substituting an extension defined by the output format.
3410 The extensions are given with each format below.
3413 \H{binfmt} \i\c{bin}: \i{Flat-Form Binary}\I{pure binary} Output
3415 The \c{bin} format does not produce object files: it generates
3416 nothing in the output file except the code you wrote. Such `pure
3417 binary' files are used by \i{MS-DOS}: \i\c{.COM} executables and
3418 \i\c{.SYS} device drivers are pure binary files. Pure binary output
3419 is also useful for \i{operating-system} and \i{boot loader}
3422 \c{bin} supports the three \i{standardised section names} \i\c{.text},
3423 \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss} only. The file NASM outputs will contain the
3424 contents of the \c{.text} section first, followed by the contents of
3425 the \c{.data} section, aligned on a four-byte boundary. The \c{.bss}
3426 section is not stored in the output file at all, but is assumed to
3427 appear directly after the end of the \c{.data} section, again
3428 aligned on a four-byte boundary.
3430 If you specify no explicit \c{SECTION} directive, the code you write
3431 will be directed by default into the \c{.text} section.
3433 Using the \c{bin} format puts NASM by default into 16-bit mode (see
3434 \k{bits}). In order to use \c{bin} to write 32-bit code such as an
3435 OS kernel, you need to explicitly issue the \I\c{BITS}\c{BITS 32}
3438 \c{bin} has no default output file name extension: instead, it
3439 leaves your file name as it is once the original extension has been
3440 removed. Thus, the default is for NASM to assemble \c{binprog.asm}
3441 into a binary file called \c{binprog}.
3444 \S{org} \i\c{ORG}: Binary File \i{Program Origin}
3446 The \c{bin} format provides an additional directive to the list
3447 given in \k{directive}: \c{ORG}. The function of the \c{ORG}
3448 directive is to specify the origin address which NASM will assume
3449 the program begins at when it is loaded into memory.
3451 For example, the following code will generate the longword
3458 Unlike the \c{ORG} directive provided by MASM-compatible assemblers,
3459 which allows you to jump around in the object file and overwrite
3460 code you have already generated, NASM's \c{ORG} does exactly what
3461 the directive says: \e{origin}. Its sole function is to specify one
3462 offset which is added to all internal address references within the
3463 file; it does not permit any of the trickery that MASM's version
3464 does. See \k{proborg} for further comments.
3467 \S{binseg} \c{bin} Extensions to the \c{SECTION}
3468 Directive\I{SECTION, bin extensions to}
3470 The \c{bin} output format extends the \c{SECTION} (or \c{SEGMENT})
3471 directive to allow you to specify the alignment requirements of
3472 segments. This is done by appending the \i\c{ALIGN} qualifier to the
3473 end of the section-definition line. For example,
3475 \c section .data align=16
3477 switches to the section \c{.data} and also specifies that it must be
3478 aligned on a 16-byte boundary.
3480 The parameter to \c{ALIGN} specifies how many low bits of the
3481 section start address must be forced to zero. The alignment value
3482 given may be any power of two.\I{section alignment, in
3483 bin}\I{segment alignment, in bin}\I{alignment, in bin sections}
3486 \H{objfmt} \i\c{obj}: \i{Microsoft OMF}\I{OMF} Object Files
3488 The \c{obj} file format (NASM calls it \c{obj} rather than \c{omf}
3489 for historical reasons) is the one produced by \i{MASM} and
3490 \i{TASM}, which is typically fed to 16-bit DOS linkers to produce
3491 \i\c{.EXE} files. It is also the format used by \i{OS/2}.
3493 \c{obj} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.obj}.
3495 \c{obj} is not exclusively a 16-bit format, though: NASM has full
3496 support for the 32-bit extensions to the format. In particular,
3497 32-bit \c{obj} format files are used by \i{Borland's Win32
3498 compilers}, instead of using Microsoft's newer \i\c{win32} object
3501 The \c{obj} format does not define any special segment names: you
3502 can call your segments anything you like. Typical names for segments
3503 in \c{obj} format files are \c{CODE}, \c{DATA} and \c{BSS}.
3505 If your source file contains code before specifying an explicit
3506 \c{SEGMENT} directive, then NASM will invent its own segment called
3507 \i\c{__NASMDEFSEG} for you.
3509 When you define a segment in an \c{obj} file, NASM defines the
3510 segment name as a symbol as well, so that you can access the segment
3511 address of the segment. So, for example:
3520 \c mov ax,data ; get segment address of data
3521 \c mov ds,ax ; and move it into DS
3522 \c inc word [dvar] ; now this reference will work
3525 The \c{obj} format also enables the use of the \i\c{SEG} and
3526 \i\c{WRT} operators, so that you can write code which does things
3531 \c mov ax,seg foo ; get preferred segment of foo
3533 \c mov ax,data ; a different segment
3535 \c mov ax,[ds:foo] ; this accesses `foo'
3536 \c mov [es:foo wrt data],bx ; so does this
3539 \S{objseg} \c{obj} Extensions to the \c{SEGMENT}
3540 Directive\I{SEGMENT, obj extensions to}
3542 The \c{obj} output format extends the \c{SEGMENT} (or \c{SECTION})
3543 directive to allow you to specify various properties of the segment
3544 you are defining. This is done by appending extra qualifiers to the
3545 end of the segment-definition line. For example,
3547 \c segment code private align=16
3549 defines the segment \c{code}, but also declares it to be a private
3550 segment, and requires that the portion of it described in this code
3551 module must be aligned on a 16-byte boundary.
3553 The available qualifiers are:
3555 \b \i\c{PRIVATE}, \i\c{PUBLIC}, \i\c{COMMON} and \i\c{STACK} specify
3556 the combination characteristics of the segment. \c{PRIVATE} segments
3557 do not get combined with any others by the linker; \c{PUBLIC} and
3558 \c{STACK} segments get concatenated together at link time; and
3559 \c{COMMON} segments all get overlaid on top of each other rather
3560 than stuck end-to-end.
3562 \b \i\c{ALIGN} is used, as shown above, to specify how many low bits
3563 of the segment start address must be forced to zero. The alignment
3564 value given may be any power of two from 1 to 4096; in reality, the
3565 only values supported are 1, 2, 4, 16, 256 and 4096, so if 8 is
3566 specified it will be rounded up to 16, and 32, 64 and 128 will all
3567 be rounded up to 256, and so on. Note that alignment to 4096-byte
3568 boundaries is a \i{PharLap} extension to the format and may not be
3569 supported by all linkers.\I{section alignment, in OBJ}\I{segment
3570 alignment, in OBJ}\I{alignment, in OBJ sections}
3572 \b \i\c{CLASS} can be used to specify the segment class; this feature
3573 indicates to the linker that segments of the same class should be
3574 placed near each other in the output file. The class name can be any
3575 word, e.g. \c{CLASS=CODE}.
3577 \b \i\c{OVERLAY}, like \c{CLASS}, is specified with an arbitrary word
3578 as an argument, and provides overlay information to an
3579 overlay-capable linker.
3581 \b Segments can be declared as \i\c{USE16} or \i\c{USE32}, which has
3582 the effect of recording the choice in the object file and also
3583 ensuring that NASM's default assembly mode when assembling in that
3584 segment is 16-bit or 32-bit respectively.
3586 \b When writing \i{OS/2} object files, you should declare 32-bit
3587 segments as \i\c{FLAT}, which causes the default segment base for
3588 anything in the segment to be the special group \c{FLAT}, and also
3589 defines the group if it is not already defined.
3591 \b The \c{obj} file format also allows segments to be declared as
3592 having a pre-defined absolute segment address, although no linkers
3593 are currently known to make sensible use of this feature;
3594 nevertheless, NASM allows you to declare a segment such as
3595 \c{SEGMENT SCREEN ABSOLUTE=0xB800} if you need to. The \i\c{ABSOLUTE}
3596 and \c{ALIGN} keywords are mutually exclusive.
3598 NASM's default segment attributes are \c{PUBLIC}, \c{ALIGN=1}, no
3599 class, no overlay, and \c{USE16}.
3602 \S{group} \i\c{GROUP}: Defining Groups of Segments\I{segments, groups of}
3604 The \c{obj} format also allows segments to be grouped, so that a
3605 single segment register can be used to refer to all the segments in
3606 a group. NASM therefore supplies the \c{GROUP} directive, whereby
3615 \c ; some uninitialised data
3617 \c group dgroup data bss
3619 which will define a group called \c{dgroup} to contain the segments
3620 \c{data} and \c{bss}. Like \c{SEGMENT}, \c{GROUP} causes the group
3621 name to be defined as a symbol, so that you can refer to a variable
3622 \c{var} in the \c{data} segment as \c{var wrt data} or as \c{var wrt
3623 dgroup}, depending on which segment value is currently in your
3626 If you just refer to \c{var}, however, and \c{var} is declared in a
3627 segment which is part of a group, then NASM will default to giving
3628 you the offset of \c{var} from the beginning of the \e{group}, not
3629 the \e{segment}. Therefore \c{SEG var}, also, will return the group
3630 base rather than the segment base.
3632 NASM will allow a segment to be part of more than one group, but
3633 will generate a warning if you do this. Variables declared in a
3634 segment which is part of more than one group will default to being
3635 relative to the first group that was defined to contain the segment.
3637 A group does not have to contain any segments; you can still make
3638 \c{WRT} references to a group which does not contain the variable
3639 you are referring to. OS/2, for example, defines the special group
3640 \c{FLAT} with no segments in it.
3643 \S{uppercase} \i\c{UPPERCASE}: Disabling Case Sensitivity in Output
3645 Although NASM itself is \i{case sensitive}, some OMF linkers are
3646 not; therefore it can be useful for NASM to output single-case
3647 object files. The \c{UPPERCASE} format-specific directive causes all
3648 segment, group and symbol names that are written to the object file
3649 to be forced to upper case just before being written. Within a
3650 source file, NASM is still case-sensitive; but the object file can
3651 be written entirely in upper case if desired.
3653 \c{UPPERCASE} is used alone on a line; it requires no parameters.
3656 \S{import} \i\c{IMPORT}: Importing DLL Symbols\I{DLL symbols,
3657 importing}\I{symbols, importing from DLLs}
3659 The \c{IMPORT} format-specific directive defines a symbol to be
3660 imported from a DLL, for use if you are writing a DLL's \i{import
3661 library} in NASM. You still need to declare the symbol as \c{EXTERN}
3662 as well as using the \c{IMPORT} directive.
3664 The \c{IMPORT} directive takes two required parameters, separated by
3665 white space, which are (respectively) the name of the symbol you
3666 wish to import and the name of the library you wish to import it
3669 \c import WSAStartup wsock32.dll
3671 A third optional parameter gives the name by which the symbol is
3672 known in the library you are importing it from, in case this is not
3673 the same as the name you wish the symbol to be known by to your code
3674 once you have imported it. For example:
3676 \c import asyncsel wsock32.dll WSAAsyncSelect
3679 \S{export} \i\c{EXPORT}: Exporting DLL Symbols\I{DLL symbols,
3680 exporting}\I{symbols, exporting from DLLs}
3682 The \c{EXPORT} format-specific directive defines a global symbol to
3683 be exported as a DLL symbol, for use if you are writing a DLL in
3684 NASM. You still need to declare the symbol as \c{GLOBAL} as well as
3685 using the \c{EXPORT} directive.
3687 \c{EXPORT} takes one required parameter, which is the name of the
3688 symbol you wish to export, as it was defined in your source file. An
3689 optional second parameter (separated by white space from the first)
3690 gives the \e{external} name of the symbol: the name by which you
3691 wish the symbol to be known to programs using the DLL. If this name
3692 is the same as the internal name, you may leave the second parameter
3695 Further parameters can be given to define attributes of the exported
3696 symbol. These parameters, like the second, are separated by white
3697 space. If further parameters are given, the external name must also
3698 be specified, even if it is the same as the internal name. The
3699 available attributes are:
3701 \b \c{resident} indicates that the exported name is to be kept
3702 resident by the system loader. This is an optimisation for
3703 frequently used symbols imported by name.
3705 \b \c{nodata} indicates that the exported symbol is a function which
3706 does not make use of any initialised data.
3708 \b \c{parm=NNN}, where \c{NNN} is an integer, sets the number of
3709 parameter words for the case in which the symbol is a call gate
3710 between 32-bit and 16-bit segments.
3712 \b An attribute which is just a number indicates that the symbol
3713 should be exported with an identifying number (ordinal), and gives
3719 \c export myfunc TheRealMoreFormalLookingFunctionName
3720 \c export myfunc myfunc 1234 ; export by ordinal
3721 \c export myfunc myfunc resident parm=23 nodata
3724 \S{dotdotstart} \i\c{..start}: Defining the \i{Program Entry
3727 \c{OMF} linkers require exactly one of the object files being linked to
3728 define the program entry point, where execution will begin when the
3729 program is run. If the object file that defines the entry point is
3730 assembled using NASM, you specify the entry point by declaring the
3731 special symbol \c{..start} at the point where you wish execution to
3735 \S{objextern} \c{obj} Extensions to the \c{EXTERN}
3736 Directive\I{EXTERN, obj extensions to}
3738 If you declare an external symbol with the directive
3742 then references such as \c{mov ax,foo} will give you the offset of
3743 \c{foo} from its preferred segment base (as specified in whichever
3744 module \c{foo} is actually defined in). So to access the contents of
3745 \c{foo} you will usually need to do something like
3747 \c mov ax,seg foo ; get preferred segment base
3748 \c mov es,ax ; move it into ES
3749 \c mov ax,[es:foo] ; and use offset `foo' from it
3751 This is a little unwieldy, particularly if you know that an external
3752 is going to be accessible from a given segment or group, say
3753 \c{dgroup}. So if \c{DS} already contained \c{dgroup}, you could
3756 \c mov ax,[foo wrt dgroup]
3758 However, having to type this every time you want to access \c{foo}
3759 can be a pain; so NASM allows you to declare \c{foo} in the
3762 \c extern foo:wrt dgroup
3764 This form causes NASM to pretend that the preferred segment base of
3765 \c{foo} is in fact \c{dgroup}; so the expression \c{seg foo} will
3766 now return \c{dgroup}, and the expression \c{foo} is equivalent to
3769 This \I{default-WRT mechanism}default-\c{WRT} mechanism can be used
3770 to make externals appear to be relative to any group or segment in
3771 your program. It can also be applied to common variables: see
3775 \S{objcommon} \c{obj} Extensions to the \c{COMMON}
3776 Directive\I{COMMON, obj extensions to}
3778 The \c{obj} format allows common variables to be either near\I{near
3779 common variables} or far\I{far common variables}; NASM allows you to
3780 specify which your variables should be by the use of the syntax
3782 \c common nearvar 2:near ; `nearvar' is a near common
3783 \c common farvar 10:far ; and `farvar' is far
3785 Far common variables may be greater in size than 64Kb, and so the
3786 OMF specification says that they are declared as a number of
3787 \e{elements} of a given size. So a 10-byte far common variable could
3788 be declared as ten one-byte elements, five two-byte elements, two
3789 five-byte elements or one ten-byte element.
3791 Some \c{OMF} linkers require the \I{element size, in common
3792 variables}\I{common variables, element size}element size, as well as
3793 the variable size, to match when resolving common variables declared
3794 in more than one module. Therefore NASM must allow you to specify
3795 the element size on your far common variables. This is done by the
3798 \c common c_5by2 10:far 5 ; two five-byte elements
3799 \c common c_2by5 10:far 2 ; five two-byte elements
3801 If no element size is specified, the default is 1. Also, the \c{FAR}
3802 keyword is not required when an element size is specified, since
3803 only far commons may have element sizes at all. So the above
3804 declarations could equivalently be
3806 \c common c_5by2 10:5 ; two five-byte elements
3807 \c common c_2by5 10:2 ; five two-byte elements
3809 In addition to these extensions, the \c{COMMON} directive in \c{obj}
3810 also supports default-\c{WRT} specification like \c{EXTERN} does
3811 (explained in \k{objextern}). So you can also declare things like
3813 \c common foo 10:wrt dgroup
3814 \c common bar 16:far 2:wrt data
3815 \c common baz 24:wrt data:6
3818 \H{win32fmt} \i\c{win32}: Microsoft Win32 Object Files
3820 The \c{win32} output format generates Microsoft Win32 object files,
3821 suitable for passing to Microsoft linkers such as \i{Visual C++}.
3822 Note that Borland Win32 compilers do not use this format, but use
3823 \c{obj} instead (see \k{objfmt}).
3825 \c{win32} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.obj}.
3827 Note that although Microsoft say that Win32 object files follow the
3828 \c{COFF} (Common Object File Format) standard, the object files produced
3829 by Microsoft Win32 compilers are not compatible with COFF linkers
3830 such as DJGPP's, and vice versa. This is due to a difference of
3831 opinion over the precise semantics of PC-relative relocations. To
3832 produce COFF files suitable for DJGPP, use NASM's \c{coff} output
3833 format; conversely, the \c{coff} format does not produce object
3834 files that Win32 linkers can generate correct output from.
3837 \S{win32sect} \c{win32} Extensions to the \c{SECTION}
3838 Directive\I{SECTION, win32 extensions to}
3840 Like the \c{obj} format, \c{win32} allows you to specify additional
3841 information on the \c{SECTION} directive line, to control the type
3842 and properties of sections you declare. Section types and properties
3843 are generated automatically by NASM for the \i{standard section names}
3844 \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss}, but may still be overridden by
3847 The available qualifiers are:
3849 \b \c{code}, or equivalently \c{text}, defines the section to be a
3850 code section. This marks the section as readable and executable, but
3851 not writable, and also indicates to the linker that the type of the
3854 \b \c{data} and \c{bss} define the section to be a data section,
3855 analogously to \c{code}. Data sections are marked as readable and
3856 writable, but not executable. \c{data} declares an initialised data
3857 section, whereas \c{bss} declares an uninitialised data section.
3859 \b \c{rdata} declares an initialised data section that is readable
3860 but not writable. Microsoft compilers use this section to place
3863 \b \c{info} defines the section to be an \i{informational section},
3864 which is not included in the executable file by the linker, but may
3865 (for example) pass information \e{to} the linker. For example,
3866 declaring an \c{info}-type section called \i\c{.drectve} causes the
3867 linker to interpret the contents of the section as command-line
3870 \b \c{align=}, used with a trailing number as in \c{obj}, gives the
3871 \I{section alignment, in win32}\I{alignment, in win32
3872 sections}alignment requirements of the section. The maximum you may
3873 specify is 64: the Win32 object file format contains no means to
3874 request a greater section alignment than this. If alignment is not
3875 explicitly specified, the defaults are 16-byte alignment for code
3876 sections, 8-byte alignment for rdata sections and 4-byte alignment
3877 for data (and BSS) sections.
3878 Informational sections get a default alignment of 1 byte (no
3879 alignment), though the value does not matter.
3881 The defaults assumed by NASM if you do not specify the above
3884 \c section .text code align=16
3885 \c section .data data align=4
3886 \c section .rdata rdata align=8
3887 \c section .bss bss align=4
3889 Any other section name is treated by default like \c{.text}.
3892 \H{cofffmt} \i\c{coff}: \i{Common Object File Format}
3894 The \c{coff} output type produces \c{COFF} object files suitable for
3895 linking with the \i{DJGPP} linker.
3897 \c{coff} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
3899 The \c{coff} format supports the same extensions to the \c{SECTION}
3900 directive as \c{win32} does, except that the \c{align} qualifier and
3901 the \c{info} section type are not supported.
3904 \H{elffmt} \i\c{elf}: \i{Linux ELF}\I{Executable and Linkable
3907 The \c{elf} output format generates \c{ELF32} (Executable and Linkable
3908 Format) object files, as used by Linux. \c{elf} provides a default
3909 output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
3912 \S{elfsect} \c{elf} Extensions to the \c{SECTION}
3913 Directive\I{SECTION, elf extensions to}
3915 Like the \c{obj} format, \c{elf} allows you to specify additional
3916 information on the \c{SECTION} directive line, to control the type
3917 and properties of sections you declare. Section types and properties
3918 are generated automatically by NASM for the \i{standard section
3919 names} \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}, but may still be
3920 overridden by these qualifiers.
3922 The available qualifiers are:
3924 \b \i\c{alloc} defines the section to be one which is loaded into
3925 memory when the program is run. \i\c{noalloc} defines it to be one
3926 which is not, such as an informational or comment section.
3928 \b \i\c{exec} defines the section to be one which should have execute
3929 permission when the program is run. \i\c{noexec} defines it as one
3932 \b \i\c{write} defines the section to be one which should be writable
3933 when the program is run. \i\c{nowrite} defines it as one which should
3936 \b \i\c{progbits} defines the section to be one with explicit contents
3937 stored in the object file: an ordinary code or data section, for
3938 example, \i\c{nobits} defines the section to be one with no explicit
3939 contents given, such as a BSS section.
3941 \b \c{align=}, used with a trailing number as in \c{obj}, gives the
3942 \I{section alignment, in elf}\I{alignment, in elf sections}alignment
3943 requirements of the section.
3945 The defaults assumed by NASM if you do not specify the above
3948 \c section .text progbits alloc exec nowrite align=16
3949 \c section .data progbits alloc noexec write align=4
3950 \c section .bss nobits alloc noexec write align=4
3951 \c section other progbits alloc noexec nowrite align=1
3953 (Any section name other than \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss} is
3954 treated by default like \c{other} in the above code.)
3957 \S{elfwrt} \i{Position-Independent Code}\I{PIC}: \c{elf} Special
3958 Symbols and \i\c{WRT}
3960 The \c{ELF} specification contains enough features to allow
3961 position-independent code (PIC) to be written, which makes \i{ELF
3962 shared libraries} very flexible. However, it also means NASM has to
3963 be able to generate a variety of strange relocation types in ELF
3964 object files, if it is to be an assembler which can write PIC.
3966 Since \c{ELF} does not support segment-base references, the \c{WRT}
3967 operator is not used for its normal purpose; therefore NASM's
3968 \c{elf} output format makes use of \c{WRT} for a different purpose,
3969 namely the PIC-specific \I{relocations, PIC-specific}relocation
3972 \c{elf} defines five special symbols which you can use as the
3973 right-hand side of the \c{WRT} operator to obtain PIC relocation
3974 types. They are \i\c{..gotpc}, \i\c{..gotoff}, \i\c{..got},
3975 \i\c{..plt} and \i\c{..sym}. Their functions are summarised here:
3977 \b Referring to the symbol marking the global offset table base
3978 using \c{wrt ..gotpc} will end up giving the distance from the
3979 beginning of the current section to the global offset table.
3980 (\i\c{_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_} is the standard symbol name used to
3981 refer to the \i{GOT}.) So you would then need to add \i\c{$$} to the
3982 result to get the real address of the GOT.
3984 \b Referring to a location in one of your own sections using \c{wrt
3985 ..gotoff} will give the distance from the beginning of the GOT to
3986 the specified location, so that adding on the address of the GOT
3987 would give the real address of the location you wanted.
3989 \b Referring to an external or global symbol using \c{wrt ..got}
3990 causes the linker to build an entry \e{in} the GOT containing the
3991 address of the symbol, and the reference gives the distance from the
3992 beginning of the GOT to the entry; so you can add on the address of
3993 the GOT, load from the resulting address, and end up with the
3994 address of the symbol.
3996 \b Referring to a procedure name using \c{wrt ..plt} causes the
3997 linker to build a \i{procedure linkage table} entry for the symbol,
3998 and the reference gives the address of the \i{PLT} entry. You can
3999 only use this in contexts which would generate a PC-relative
4000 relocation normally (i.e. as the destination for \c{CALL} or
4001 \c{JMP}), since ELF contains no relocation type to refer to PLT
4004 \b Referring to a symbol name using \c{wrt ..sym} causes NASM to
4005 write an ordinary relocation, but instead of making the relocation
4006 relative to the start of the section and then adding on the offset
4007 to the symbol, it will write a relocation record aimed directly at
4008 the symbol in question. The distinction is a necessary one due to a
4009 peculiarity of the dynamic linker.
4011 A fuller explanation of how to use these relocation types to write
4012 shared libraries entirely in NASM is given in \k{picdll}.
4015 \S{elfglob} \c{elf} Extensions to the \c{GLOBAL} Directive\I{GLOBAL,
4016 elf extensions to}\I{GLOBAL, aoutb extensions to}
4018 \c{ELF} object files can contain more information about a global symbol
4019 than just its address: they can contain the \I{symbol sizes,
4020 specifying}\I{size, of symbols}size of the symbol and its \I{symbol
4021 types, specifying}\I{type, of symbols}type as well. These are not
4022 merely debugger conveniences, but are actually necessary when the
4023 program being written is a \i{shared library}. NASM therefore
4024 supports some extensions to the \c{GLOBAL} directive, allowing you
4025 to specify these features.
4027 You can specify whether a global variable is a function or a data
4028 object by suffixing the name with a colon and the word
4029 \i\c{function} or \i\c{data}. (\i\c{object} is a synonym for
4030 \c{data}.) For example:
4032 \c global hashlookup:function, hashtable:data
4034 exports the global symbol \c{hashlookup} as a function and
4035 \c{hashtable} as a data object.
4037 You can also specify the size of the data associated with the
4038 symbol, as a numeric expression (which may involve labels, and even
4039 forward references) after the type specifier. Like this:
4041 \c global hashtable:data (hashtable.end - hashtable)
4044 \c db this,that,theother ; some data here
4047 This makes NASM automatically calculate the length of the table and
4048 place that information into the \c{ELF} symbol table.
4050 Declaring the type and size of global symbols is necessary when
4051 writing shared library code. For more information, see
4055 \S{elfcomm} \c{elf} Extensions to the \c{COMMON} Directive
4056 \I{COMMON, elf extensions to}
4058 \c{ELF} also allows you to specify alignment requirements \I{common
4059 variables, alignment in elf}\I{alignment, of elf common variables}on
4060 common variables. This is done by putting a number (which must be a
4061 power of two) after the name and size of the common variable,
4062 separated (as usual) by a colon. For example, an array of
4063 doublewords would benefit from 4-byte alignment:
4065 \c common dwordarray 128:4
4067 This declares the total size of the array to be 128 bytes, and
4068 requires that it be aligned on a 4-byte boundary.
4071 \H{aoutfmt} \i\c{aout}: Linux \I{a.out, Linux version}\c{a.out} Object Files
4073 The \c{aout} format generates \c{a.out} object files, in the form
4074 used by early Linux systems. (These differ from other \c{a.out}
4075 object files in that the magic number in the first four bytes of the
4076 file is different. Also, some implementations of \c{a.out}, for
4077 example NetBSD's, support position-independent code, which Linux's
4078 implementation doesn't.)
4080 \c{a.out} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
4082 \c{a.out} is a very simple object format. It supports no special
4083 directives, no special symbols, no use of \c{SEG} or \c{WRT}, and no
4084 extensions to any standard directives. It supports only the three
4085 \i{standard section names} \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}.
4088 \H{aoutfmt} \i\c{aoutb}: \i{NetBSD}/\i{FreeBSD}/\i{OpenBSD}
4089 \I{a.out, BSD version}\c{a.out} Object Files
4091 The \c{aoutb} format generates \c{a.out} object files, in the form
4092 used by the various free \c{BSD Unix} clones, \c{NetBSD}, \c{FreeBSD}
4093 and \c{OpenBSD}. For simple object files, this object format is exactly
4094 the same as \c{aout} except for the magic number in the first four bytes
4095 of the file. However, the \c{aoutb} format supports
4096 \I{PIC}\i{position-independent code} in the same way as the \c{elf}
4097 format, so you can use it to write \c{BSD} \i{shared libraries}.
4099 \c{aoutb} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
4101 \c{aoutb} supports no special directives, no special symbols, and
4102 only the three \i{standard section names} \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data}
4103 and \i\c{.bss}. However, it also supports the same use of \i\c{WRT} as
4104 \c{elf} does, to provide position-independent code relocation types.
4105 See \k{elfwrt} for full documentation of this feature.
4107 \c{aoutb} also supports the same extensions to the \c{GLOBAL}
4108 directive as \c{elf} does: see \k{elfglob} for documentation of
4112 \H{as86fmt} \c{as86}: Linux \i\c{as86} Object Files
4114 The Linux 16-bit assembler \c{as86} has its own non-standard object
4115 file format. Although its companion linker \i\c{ld86} produces
4116 something close to ordinary \c{a.out} binaries as output, the object
4117 file format used to communicate between \c{as86} and \c{ld86} is not
4120 NASM supports this format, just in case it is useful, as \c{as86}.
4121 \c{as86} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
4123 \c{as86} is a very simple object format (from the NASM user's point
4124 of view). It supports no special directives, no special symbols, no
4125 use of \c{SEG} or \c{WRT}, and no extensions to any standard
4126 directives. It supports only the three \i{standard section names}
4127 \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}.
4130 \H{rdffmt} \I{RDOFF}\i\c{rdf}: \i{Relocatable Dynamic Object File
4133 The \c{rdf} output format produces \c{RDOFF} object files. \c{RDOFF}
4134 (Relocatable Dynamic Object File Format) is a home-grown object-file
4135 format, designed alongside NASM itself and reflecting in its file
4136 format the internal structure of the assembler.
4138 \c{RDOFF} is not used by any well-known operating systems. Those
4139 writing their own systems, however, may well wish to use \c{RDOFF}
4140 as their object format, on the grounds that it is designed primarily
4141 for simplicity and contains very little file-header bureaucracy.
4143 The Unix NASM archive, and the DOS archive which includes sources,
4144 both contain an \I{rdoff subdirectory}\c{rdoff} subdirectory holding
4145 a set of RDOFF utilities: an RDF linker, an \c{RDF} static-library
4146 manager, an RDF file dump utility, and a program which will load and
4147 execute an RDF executable under Linux.
4149 \c{rdf} supports only the \i{standard section names} \i\c{.text},
4150 \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}.
4153 \S{rdflib} Requiring a Library: The \i\c{LIBRARY} Directive
4155 \c{RDOFF} contains a mechanism for an object file to demand a given
4156 library to be linked to the module, either at load time or run time.
4157 This is done by the \c{LIBRARY} directive, which takes one argument
4158 which is the name of the module:
4160 \c library mylib.rdl
4163 \S{rdfmod} Specifying a Module Name: The \i\c{MODULE} Directive
4165 Special \c{RDOFF} header record is used to store the name of the module.
4166 It can be used, for example, by run-time loader to perform dynamic
4167 linking. \c{MODULE} directive takes one argument which is the name
4172 Note that when you statically link modules and tell linker to strip
4173 the symbols from output file, all module names will be stripped too.
4174 To avoid it, you should start module names with \I{$prefix}\c{$}, like:
4176 \c module $kernel.core
4179 \S{rdfglob} \c{rdf} Extensions to the \c{GLOBAL} directive\I{GLOBAL,
4182 \c{RDOFF} global symbols can contain additional information needed by
4183 the static linker. You can mark a global symbol as exported, thus
4184 telling the linker do not strip it from target executable or library
4185 file. Like in \c{ELF}, you can also specify whether an exported symbol
4186 is a procedure (function) or data object.
4188 Suffixing the name with a colon and the word \i\c{export} you make the
4191 \c global sys_open:export
4193 To specify that exported symbol is a procedure (function), you add the
4194 word \i\c{proc} or \i\c{function} after declaration:
4196 \c global sys_open:export proc
4198 Similarly, to specify exported data object, add the word \i\c{data}
4199 or \i\c{object} to the directive:
4201 \c global kernel_ticks:export data
4204 \H{dbgfmt} \i\c{dbg}: Debugging Format
4206 The \c{dbg} output format is not built into NASM in the default
4207 configuration. If you are building your own NASM executable from the
4208 sources, you can define \i\c{OF_DBG} in \c{outform.h} or on the
4209 compiler command line, and obtain the \c{dbg} output format.
4211 The \c{dbg} format does not output an object file as such; instead,
4212 it outputs a text file which contains a complete list of all the
4213 transactions between the main body of NASM and the output-format
4214 back end module. It is primarily intended to aid people who want to
4215 write their own output drivers, so that they can get a clearer idea
4216 of the various requests the main program makes of the output driver,
4217 and in what order they happen.
4219 For simple files, one can easily use the \c{dbg} format like this:
4221 \c nasm -f dbg filename.asm
4223 which will generate a diagnostic file called \c{filename.dbg}.
4224 However, this will not work well on files which were designed for a
4225 different object format, because each object format defines its own
4226 macros (usually user-level forms of directives), and those macros
4227 will not be defined in the \c{dbg} format. Therefore it can be
4228 useful to run NASM twice, in order to do the preprocessing with the
4229 native object format selected:
4231 \c nasm -e -f rdf -o rdfprog.i rdfprog.asm
4232 \c nasm -a -f dbg rdfprog.i
4234 This preprocesses \c{rdfprog.asm} into \c{rdfprog.i}, keeping the
4235 \c{rdf} object format selected in order to make sure RDF special
4236 directives are converted into primitive form correctly. Then the
4237 preprocessed source is fed through the \c{dbg} format to generate
4238 the final diagnostic output.
4240 This workaround will still typically not work for programs intended
4241 for \c{obj} format, because the \c{obj} \c{SEGMENT} and \c{GROUP}
4242 directives have side effects of defining the segment and group names
4243 as symbols; \c{dbg} will not do this, so the program will not
4244 assemble. You will have to work around that by defining the symbols
4245 yourself (using \c{EXTERN}, for example) if you really need to get a
4246 \c{dbg} trace of an \c{obj}-specific source file.
4248 \c{dbg} accepts any section name and any directives at all, and logs
4249 them all to its output file.
4252 \C{16bit} Writing 16-bit Code (DOS, Windows 3/3.1)
4254 This chapter attempts to cover some of the common issues encountered
4255 when writing 16-bit code to run under \c{MS-DOS} or \c{Windows 3.x}. It
4256 covers how to link programs to produce \c{.EXE} or \c{.COM} files,
4257 how to write \c{.SYS} device drivers, and how to interface assembly
4258 language code with 16-bit C compilers and with Borland Pascal.
4261 \H{exefiles} Producing \i\c{.EXE} Files
4263 Any large program written under DOS needs to be built as a \c{.EXE}
4264 file: only \c{.EXE} files have the necessary internal structure
4265 required to span more than one 64K segment. \i{Windows} programs,
4266 also, have to be built as \c{.EXE} files, since Windows does not
4267 support the \c{.COM} format.
4269 In general, you generate \c{.EXE} files by using the \c{obj} output
4270 format to produce one or more \i\c{.OBJ} files, and then linking
4271 them together using a linker. However, NASM also supports the direct
4272 generation of simple DOS \c{.EXE} files using the \c{bin} output
4273 format (by using \c{DB} and \c{DW} to construct the \c{.EXE} file
4274 header), and a macro package is supplied to do this. Thanks to
4275 Yann Guidon for contributing the code for this.
4277 NASM may also support \c{.EXE} natively as another output format in
4281 \S{objexe} Using the \c{obj} Format To Generate \c{.EXE} Files
4283 This section describes the usual method of generating \c{.EXE} files
4284 by linking \c{.OBJ} files together.
4286 Most 16-bit programming language packages come with a suitable
4287 linker; if you have none of these, there is a free linker called
4288 \i{VAL}\I{linker, free}, available in \c{LZH} archive format from
4289 \W{ftp://x2ftp.oulu.fi/pub/msdos/programming/lang/}\i\c{x2ftp.oulu.fi}.
4290 An LZH archiver can be found at
4291 \W{ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/arcers}\i\c{ftp.simtel.net}.
4292 There is another `free' linker (though this one doesn't come with
4293 sources) called \i{FREELINK}, available from
4294 \W{http://www.pcorner.com/tpc/old/3-101.html}\i\c{www.pcorner.com}.
4295 A third, \i\c{djlink}, written by DJ Delorie, is available at
4296 \W{http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/16bit/djlink/}\i\c{www.delorie.com}.
4297 A fourth linker, \i\c{ALINK}, written by Anthony A.J. Williams, is
4298 available at \W{http://alink.sourceforge.net}\i\c{alink.sourceforge.net}.
4300 When linking several \c{.OBJ} files into a \c{.EXE} file, you should
4301 ensure that exactly one of them has a start point defined (using the
4302 \I{program entry point}\i\c{..start} special symbol defined by the
4303 \c{obj} format: see \k{dotdotstart}). If no module defines a start
4304 point, the linker will not know what value to give the entry-point
4305 field in the output file header; if more than one defines a start
4306 point, the linker will not know \e{which} value to use.
4308 An example of a NASM source file which can be assembled to a
4309 \c{.OBJ} file and linked on its own to a \c{.EXE} is given here. It
4310 demonstrates the basic principles of defining a stack, initialising
4311 the segment registers, and declaring a start point. This file is
4312 also provided in the \I{test subdirectory}\c{test} subdirectory of
4313 the NASM archives, under the name \c{objexe.asm}.
4324 This initial piece of code sets up \c{DS} to point to the data
4325 segment, and initialises \c{SS} and \c{SP} to point to the top of
4326 the provided stack. Notice that interrupts are implicitly disabled
4327 for one instruction after a move into \c{SS}, precisely for this
4328 situation, so that there's no chance of an interrupt occurring
4329 between the loads of \c{SS} and \c{SP} and not having a stack to
4332 Note also that the special symbol \c{..start} is defined at the
4333 beginning of this code, which means that will be the entry point
4334 into the resulting executable file.
4340 The above is the main program: load \c{DS:DX} with a pointer to the
4341 greeting message (\c{hello} is implicitly relative to the segment
4342 \c{data}, which was loaded into \c{DS} in the setup code, so the
4343 full pointer is valid), and call the DOS print-string function.
4348 This terminates the program using another DOS system call.
4352 \c hello: db 'hello, world', 13, 10, '$'
4354 The data segment contains the string we want to display.
4356 \c segment stack stack
4360 The above code declares a stack segment containing 64 bytes of
4361 uninitialised stack space, and points \c{stacktop} at the top of it.
4362 The directive \c{segment stack stack} defines a segment \e{called}
4363 \c{stack}, and also of \e{type} \c{STACK}. The latter is not
4364 necessary to the correct running of the program, but linkers are
4365 likely to issue warnings or errors if your program has no segment of
4368 The above file, when assembled into a \c{.OBJ} file, will link on
4369 its own to a valid \c{.EXE} file, which when run will print `hello,
4370 world' and then exit.
4373 \S{binexe} Using the \c{bin} Format To Generate \c{.EXE} Files
4375 The \c{.EXE} file format is simple enough that it's possible to
4376 build a \c{.EXE} file by writing a pure-binary program and sticking
4377 a 32-byte header on the front. This header is simple enough that it
4378 can be generated using \c{DB} and \c{DW} commands by NASM itself, so
4379 that you can use the \c{bin} output format to directly generate
4382 Included in the NASM archives, in the \I{misc subdirectory}\c{misc}
4383 subdirectory, is a file \i\c{exebin.mac} of macros. It defines three
4384 macros: \i\c{EXE_begin}, \i\c{EXE_stack} and \i\c{EXE_end}.
4386 To produce a \c{.EXE} file using this method, you should start by
4387 using \c{%include} to load the \c{exebin.mac} macro package into
4388 your source file. You should then issue the \c{EXE_begin} macro call
4389 (which takes no arguments) to generate the file header data. Then
4390 write code as normal for the \c{bin} format - you can use all three
4391 standard sections \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss}. At the end of
4392 the file you should call the \c{EXE_end} macro (again, no arguments),
4393 which defines some symbols to mark section sizes, and these symbols
4394 are referred to in the header code generated by \c{EXE_begin}.
4396 In this model, the code you end up writing starts at \c{0x100}, just
4397 like a \c{.COM} file - in fact, if you strip off the 32-byte header
4398 from the resulting \c{.EXE} file, you will have a valid \c{.COM}
4399 program. All the segment bases are the same, so you are limited to a
4400 64K program, again just like a \c{.COM} file. Note that an \c{ORG}
4401 directive is issued by the \c{EXE_begin} macro, so you should not
4402 explicitly issue one of your own.
4404 You can't directly refer to your segment base value, unfortunately,
4405 since this would require a relocation in the header, and things
4406 would get a lot more complicated. So you should get your segment
4407 base by copying it out of \c{CS} instead.
4409 On entry to your \c{.EXE} file, \c{SS:SP} are already set up to
4410 point to the top of a 2Kb stack. You can adjust the default stack
4411 size of 2Kb by calling the \c{EXE_stack} macro. For example, to
4412 change the stack size of your program to 64 bytes, you would call
4415 A sample program which generates a \c{.EXE} file in this way is
4416 given in the \c{test} subdirectory of the NASM archive, as
4420 \H{comfiles} Producing \i\c{.COM} Files
4422 While large DOS programs must be written as \c{.EXE} files, small
4423 ones are often better written as \c{.COM} files. \c{.COM} files are
4424 pure binary, and therefore most easily produced using the \c{bin}
4428 \S{combinfmt} Using the \c{bin} Format To Generate \c{.COM} Files
4430 \c{.COM} files expect to be loaded at offset \c{100h} into their
4431 segment (though the segment may change). Execution then begins at
4432 \I\c{ORG}\c{100h}, i.e. right at the start of the program. So to
4433 write a \c{.COM} program, you would create a source file looking
4441 \c ; put your code here
4445 \c ; put data items here
4449 \c ; put uninitialised data here
4451 The \c{bin} format puts the \c{.text} section first in the file, so
4452 you can declare data or BSS items before beginning to write code if
4453 you want to and the code will still end up at the front of the file
4456 The BSS (uninitialised data) section does not take up space in the
4457 \c{.COM} file itself: instead, addresses of BSS items are resolved
4458 to point at space beyond the end of the file, on the grounds that
4459 this will be free memory when the program is run. Therefore you
4460 should not rely on your BSS being initialised to all zeros when you
4463 To assemble the above program, you should use a command line like
4465 \c nasm myprog.asm -fbin -o myprog.com
4467 The \c{bin} format would produce a file called \c{myprog} if no
4468 explicit output file name were specified, so you have to override it
4469 and give the desired file name.
4472 \S{comobjfmt} Using the \c{obj} Format To Generate \c{.COM} Files
4474 If you are writing a \c{.COM} program as more than one module, you
4475 may wish to assemble several \c{.OBJ} files and link them together
4476 into a \c{.COM} program. You can do this, provided you have a linker
4477 capable of outputting \c{.COM} files directly (\i{TLINK} does this),
4478 or alternatively a converter program such as \i\c{EXE2BIN} to
4479 transform the \c{.EXE} file output from the linker into a \c{.COM}
4482 If you do this, you need to take care of several things:
4484 \b The first object file containing code should start its code
4485 segment with a line like \c{RESB 100h}. This is to ensure that the
4486 code begins at offset \c{100h} relative to the beginning of the code
4487 segment, so that the linker or converter program does not have to
4488 adjust address references within the file when generating the
4489 \c{.COM} file. Other assemblers use an \i\c{ORG} directive for this
4490 purpose, but \c{ORG} in NASM is a format-specific directive to the
4491 \c{bin} output format, and does not mean the same thing as it does
4492 in MASM-compatible assemblers.
4494 \b You don't need to define a stack segment.
4496 \b All your segments should be in the same group, so that every time
4497 your code or data references a symbol offset, all offsets are
4498 relative to the same segment base. This is because, when a \c{.COM}
4499 file is loaded, all the segment registers contain the same value.
4502 \H{sysfiles} Producing \i\c{.SYS} Files
4504 \i{MS-DOS device drivers} - \c{.SYS} files - are pure binary files,
4505 similar to \c{.COM} files, except that they start at origin zero
4506 rather than \c{100h}. Therefore, if you are writing a device driver
4507 using the \c{bin} format, you do not need the \c{ORG} directive,
4508 since the default origin for \c{bin} is zero. Similarly, if you are
4509 using \c{obj}, you do not need the \c{RESB 100h} at the start of
4512 \c{.SYS} files start with a header structure, containing pointers to
4513 the various routines inside the driver which do the work. This
4514 structure should be defined at the start of the code segment, even
4515 though it is not actually code.
4517 For more information on the format of \c{.SYS} files, and the data
4518 which has to go in the header structure, a list of books is given in
4519 the Frequently Asked Questions list for the newsgroup
4520 \W{news:comp.os.msdos.programmer}\i\c{comp.os.msdos.programmer}.
4523 \H{16c} Interfacing to 16-bit C Programs
4525 This section covers the basics of writing assembly routines that
4526 call, or are called from, C programs. To do this, you would
4527 typically write an assembly module as a \c{.OBJ} file, and link it
4528 with your C modules to produce a \i{mixed-language program}.
4531 \S{16cunder} External Symbol Names
4533 \I{C symbol names}\I{underscore, in C symbols}C compilers have the
4534 convention that the names of all global symbols (functions or data)
4535 they define are formed by prefixing an underscore to the name as it
4536 appears in the C program. So, for example, the function a C
4537 programmer thinks of as \c{printf} appears to an assembly language
4538 programmer as \c{_printf}. This means that in your assembly
4539 programs, you can define symbols without a leading underscore, and
4540 not have to worry about name clashes with C symbols.
4542 If you find the underscores inconvenient, you can define macros to
4543 replace the \c{GLOBAL} and \c{EXTERN} directives as follows:
4559 (These forms of the macros only take one argument at a time; a
4560 \c{%rep} construct could solve this.)
4562 If you then declare an external like this:
4566 then the macro will expand it as
4569 \c %define printf _printf
4571 Thereafter, you can reference \c{printf} as if it was a symbol, and
4572 the preprocessor will put the leading underscore on where necessary.
4574 The \c{cglobal} macro works similarly. You must use \c{cglobal}
4575 before defining the symbol in question, but you would have had to do
4576 that anyway if you used \c{GLOBAL}.
4579 \S{16cmodels} \i{Memory Models}
4581 NASM contains no mechanism to support the various C memory models
4582 directly; you have to keep track yourself of which one you are
4583 writing for. This means you have to keep track of the following
4586 \b In models using a single code segment (tiny, small and compact),
4587 functions are near. This means that function pointers, when stored
4588 in data segments or pushed on the stack as function arguments, are
4589 16 bits long and contain only an offset field (the \c{CS} register
4590 never changes its value, and always gives the segment part of the
4591 full function address), and that functions are called using ordinary
4592 near \c{CALL} instructions and return using \c{RETN} (which, in
4593 NASM, is synonymous with \c{RET} anyway). This means both that you
4594 should write your own routines to return with \c{RETN}, and that you
4595 should call external C routines with near \c{CALL} instructions.
4597 \b In models using more than one code segment (medium, large and
4598 huge), functions are far. This means that function pointers are 32
4599 bits long (consisting of a 16-bit offset followed by a 16-bit
4600 segment), and that functions are called using \c{CALL FAR} (or
4601 \c{CALL seg:offset}) and return using \c{RETF}. Again, you should
4602 therefore write your own routines to return with \c{RETF} and use
4603 \c{CALL FAR} to call external routines.
4605 \b In models using a single data segment (tiny, small and medium),
4606 data pointers are 16 bits long, containing only an offset field (the
4607 \c{DS} register doesn't change its value, and always gives the
4608 segment part of the full data item address).
4610 \b In models using more than one data segment (compact, large and
4611 huge), data pointers are 32 bits long, consisting of a 16-bit offset
4612 followed by a 16-bit segment. You should still be careful not to
4613 modify \c{DS} in your routines without restoring it afterwards, but
4614 \c{ES} is free for you to use to access the contents of 32-bit data
4615 pointers you are passed.
4617 \b The huge memory model allows single data items to exceed 64K in
4618 size. In all other memory models, you can access the whole of a data
4619 item just by doing arithmetic on the offset field of the pointer you
4620 are given, whether a segment field is present or not; in huge model,
4621 you have to be more careful of your pointer arithmetic.
4623 \b In most memory models, there is a \e{default} data segment, whose
4624 segment address is kept in \c{DS} throughout the program. This data
4625 segment is typically the same segment as the stack, kept in \c{SS},
4626 so that functions' local variables (which are stored on the stack)
4627 and global data items can both be accessed easily without changing
4628 \c{DS}. Particularly large data items are typically stored in other
4629 segments. However, some memory models (though not the standard
4630 ones, usually) allow the assumption that \c{SS} and \c{DS} hold the
4631 same value to be removed. Be careful about functions' local
4632 variables in this latter case.
4634 In models with a single code segment, the segment is called
4635 \i\c{_TEXT}, so your code segment must also go by this name in order
4636 to be linked into the same place as the main code segment. In models
4637 with a single data segment, or with a default data segment, it is
4641 \S{16cfunc} Function Definitions and Function Calls
4643 \I{functions, C calling convention}The \i{C calling convention} in
4644 16-bit programs is as follows. In the following description, the
4645 words \e{caller} and \e{callee} are used to denote the function
4646 doing the calling and the function which gets called.
4648 \b The caller pushes the function's parameters on the stack, one
4649 after another, in reverse order (right to left, so that the first
4650 argument specified to the function is pushed last).
4652 \b The caller then executes a \c{CALL} instruction to pass control
4653 to the callee. This \c{CALL} is either near or far depending on the
4656 \b The callee receives control, and typically (although this is not
4657 actually necessary, in functions which do not need to access their
4658 parameters) starts by saving the value of \c{SP} in \c{BP} so as to
4659 be able to use \c{BP} as a base pointer to find its parameters on
4660 the stack. However, the caller was probably doing this too, so part
4661 of the calling convention states that \c{BP} must be preserved by
4662 any C function. Hence the callee, if it is going to set up \c{BP} as
4663 a \i\e{frame pointer}, must push the previous value first.
4665 \b The callee may then access its parameters relative to \c{BP}.
4666 The word at \c{[BP]} holds the previous value of \c{BP} as it was
4667 pushed; the next word, at \c{[BP+2]}, holds the offset part of the
4668 return address, pushed implicitly by \c{CALL}. In a small-model
4669 (near) function, the parameters start after that, at \c{[BP+4]}; in
4670 a large-model (far) function, the segment part of the return address
4671 lives at \c{[BP+4]}, and the parameters begin at \c{[BP+6]}. The
4672 leftmost parameter of the function, since it was pushed last, is
4673 accessible at this offset from \c{BP}; the others follow, at
4674 successively greater offsets. Thus, in a function such as \c{printf}
4675 which takes a variable number of parameters, the pushing of the
4676 parameters in reverse order means that the function knows where to
4677 find its first parameter, which tells it the number and type of the
4680 \b The callee may also wish to decrease \c{SP} further, so as to
4681 allocate space on the stack for local variables, which will then be
4682 accessible at negative offsets from \c{BP}.
4684 \b The callee, if it wishes to return a value to the caller, should
4685 leave the value in \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{DX:AX} depending on the size
4686 of the value. Floating-point results are sometimes (depending on the
4687 compiler) returned in \c{ST0}.
4689 \b Once the callee has finished processing, it restores \c{SP} from
4690 \c{BP} if it had allocated local stack space, then pops the previous
4691 value of \c{BP}, and returns via \c{RETN} or \c{RETF} depending on
4694 \b When the caller regains control from the callee, the function
4695 parameters are still on the stack, so it typically adds an immediate
4696 constant to \c{SP} to remove them (instead of executing a number of
4697 slow \c{POP} instructions). Thus, if a function is accidentally
4698 called with the wrong number of parameters due to a prototype
4699 mismatch, the stack will still be returned to a sensible state since
4700 the caller, which \e{knows} how many parameters it pushed, does the
4703 It is instructive to compare this calling convention with that for
4704 Pascal programs (described in \k{16bpfunc}). Pascal has a simpler
4705 convention, since no functions have variable numbers of parameters.
4706 Therefore the callee knows how many parameters it should have been
4707 passed, and is able to deallocate them from the stack itself by
4708 passing an immediate argument to the \c{RET} or \c{RETF}
4709 instruction, so the caller does not have to do it. Also, the
4710 parameters are pushed in left-to-right order, not right-to-left,
4711 which means that a compiler can give better guarantees about
4712 sequence points without performance suffering.
4714 Thus, you would define a function in C style in the following way.
4715 The following example is for small model:
4722 \c sub sp,0x40 ; 64 bytes of local stack space
4723 \c mov bx,[bp+4] ; first parameter to function
4727 \c mov sp,bp ; undo "sub sp,0x40" above
4731 For a large-model function, you would replace \c{RET} by \c{RETF},
4732 and look for the first parameter at \c{[BP+6]} instead of
4733 \c{[BP+4]}. Of course, if one of the parameters is a pointer, then
4734 the offsets of \e{subsequent} parameters will change depending on
4735 the memory model as well: far pointers take up four bytes on the
4736 stack when passed as a parameter, whereas near pointers take up two.
4738 At the other end of the process, to call a C function from your
4739 assembly code, you would do something like this:
4743 \c ; and then, further down...
4745 \c push word [myint] ; one of my integer variables
4746 \c push word mystring ; pointer into my data segment
4748 \c add sp,byte 4 ; `byte' saves space
4750 \c ; then those data items...
4755 \c mystring db 'This number -> %d <- should be 1234',10,0
4757 This piece of code is the small-model assembly equivalent of the C
4760 \c int myint = 1234;
4761 \c printf("This number -> %d <- should be 1234\n", myint);
4763 In large model, the function-call code might look more like this. In
4764 this example, it is assumed that \c{DS} already holds the segment
4765 base of the segment \c{_DATA}. If not, you would have to initialise
4768 \c push word [myint]
4769 \c push word seg mystring ; Now push the segment, and...
4770 \c push word mystring ; ... offset of "mystring"
4774 The integer value still takes up one word on the stack, since large
4775 model does not affect the size of the \c{int} data type. The first
4776 argument (pushed last) to \c{printf}, however, is a data pointer,
4777 and therefore has to contain a segment and offset part. The segment
4778 should be stored second in memory, and therefore must be pushed
4779 first. (Of course, \c{PUSH DS} would have been a shorter instruction
4780 than \c{PUSH WORD SEG mystring}, if \c{DS} was set up as the above
4781 example assumed.) Then the actual call becomes a far call, since
4782 functions expect far calls in large model; and \c{SP} has to be
4783 increased by 6 rather than 4 afterwards to make up for the extra
4787 \S{16cdata} Accessing Data Items
4789 To get at the contents of C variables, or to declare variables which
4790 C can access, you need only declare the names as \c{GLOBAL} or
4791 \c{EXTERN}. (Again, the names require leading underscores, as stated
4792 in \k{16cunder}.) Thus, a C variable declared as \c{int i} can be
4793 accessed from assembler as
4799 And to declare your own integer variable which C programs can access
4800 as \c{extern int j}, you do this (making sure you are assembling in
4801 the \c{_DATA} segment, if necessary):
4807 To access a C array, you need to know the size of the components of
4808 the array. For example, \c{int} variables are two bytes long, so if
4809 a C program declares an array as \c{int a[10]}, you can access
4810 \c{a[3]} by coding \c{mov ax,[_a+6]}. (The byte offset 6 is obtained
4811 by multiplying the desired array index, 3, by the size of the array
4812 element, 2.) The sizes of the C base types in 16-bit compilers are:
4813 1 for \c{char}, 2 for \c{short} and \c{int}, 4 for \c{long} and
4814 \c{float}, and 8 for \c{double}.
4816 To access a C \i{data structure}, you need to know the offset from
4817 the base of the structure to the field you are interested in. You
4818 can either do this by converting the C structure definition into a
4819 NASM structure definition (using \i\c{STRUC}), or by calculating the
4820 one offset and using just that.
4822 To do either of these, you should read your C compiler's manual to
4823 find out how it organises data structures. NASM gives no special
4824 alignment to structure members in its own \c{STRUC} macro, so you
4825 have to specify alignment yourself if the C compiler generates it.
4826 Typically, you might find that a structure like
4833 might be four bytes long rather than three, since the \c{int} field
4834 would be aligned to a two-byte boundary. However, this sort of
4835 feature tends to be a configurable option in the C compiler, either
4836 using command-line options or \c{#pragma} lines, so you have to find
4837 out how your own compiler does it.
4840 \S{16cmacro} \i\c{c16.mac}: Helper Macros for the 16-bit C Interface
4842 Included in the NASM archives, in the \I{misc subdirectory}\c{misc}
4843 directory, is a file \c{c16.mac} of macros. It defines three macros:
4844 \i\c{proc}, \i\c{arg} and \i\c{endproc}. These are intended to be
4845 used for C-style procedure definitions, and they automate a lot of
4846 the work involved in keeping track of the calling convention.
4848 (An alternative, TASM compatible form of \c{arg} is also now built
4849 into NASM's preprocessor. See \k{tasmcompat} for details.)
4851 An example of an assembly function using the macro set is given
4858 \c mov ax,[bp + %$i]
4859 \c mov bx,[bp + %$j]
4864 This defines \c{_nearproc} to be a procedure taking two arguments,
4865 the first (\c{i}) an integer and the second (\c{j}) a pointer to an
4866 integer. It returns \c{i + *j}.
4868 Note that the \c{arg} macro has an \c{EQU} as the first line of its
4869 expansion, and since the label before the macro call gets prepended
4870 to the first line of the expanded macro, the \c{EQU} works, defining
4871 \c{%$i} to be an offset from \c{BP}. A context-local variable is
4872 used, local to the context pushed by the \c{proc} macro and popped
4873 by the \c{endproc} macro, so that the same argument name can be used
4874 in later procedures. Of course, you don't \e{have} to do that.
4876 The macro set produces code for near functions (tiny, small and
4877 compact-model code) by default. You can have it generate far
4878 functions (medium, large and huge-model code) by means of coding
4879 \I\c{FARCODE}\c{%define FARCODE}. This changes the kind of return
4880 instruction generated by \c{endproc}, and also changes the starting
4881 point for the argument offsets. The macro set contains no intrinsic
4882 dependency on whether data pointers are far or not.
4884 \c{arg} can take an optional parameter, giving the size of the
4885 argument. If no size is given, 2 is assumed, since it is likely that
4886 many function parameters will be of type \c{int}.
4888 The large-model equivalent of the above function would look like this:
4896 \c mov ax,[bp + %$i]
4897 \c mov bx,[bp + %$j]
4898 \c mov es,[bp + %$j + 2]
4903 This makes use of the argument to the \c{arg} macro to define a
4904 parameter of size 4, because \c{j} is now a far pointer. When we
4905 load from \c{j}, we must load a segment and an offset.
4908 \H{16bp} Interfacing to \i{Borland Pascal} Programs
4910 Interfacing to Borland Pascal programs is similar in concept to
4911 interfacing to 16-bit C programs. The differences are:
4913 \b The leading underscore required for interfacing to C programs is
4914 not required for Pascal.
4916 \b The memory model is always large: functions are far, data
4917 pointers are far, and no data item can be more than 64K long.
4918 (Actually, some functions are near, but only those functions that
4919 are local to a Pascal unit and never called from outside it. All
4920 assembly functions that Pascal calls, and all Pascal functions that
4921 assembly routines are able to call, are far.) However, all static
4922 data declared in a Pascal program goes into the default data
4923 segment, which is the one whose segment address will be in \c{DS}
4924 when control is passed to your assembly code. The only things that
4925 do not live in the default data segment are local variables (they
4926 live in the stack segment) and dynamically allocated variables. All
4927 data \e{pointers}, however, are far.
4929 \b The function calling convention is different - described below.
4931 \b Some data types, such as strings, are stored differently.
4933 \b There are restrictions on the segment names you are allowed to
4934 use - Borland Pascal will ignore code or data declared in a segment
4935 it doesn't like the name of. The restrictions are described below.
4938 \S{16bpfunc} The Pascal Calling Convention
4940 \I{functions, Pascal calling convention}\I{Pascal calling
4941 convention}The 16-bit Pascal calling convention is as follows. In
4942 the following description, the words \e{caller} and \e{callee} are
4943 used to denote the function doing the calling and the function which
4946 \b The caller pushes the function's parameters on the stack, one
4947 after another, in normal order (left to right, so that the first
4948 argument specified to the function is pushed first).
4950 \b The caller then executes a far \c{CALL} instruction to pass
4951 control to the callee.
4953 \b The callee receives control, and typically (although this is not
4954 actually necessary, in functions which do not need to access their
4955 parameters) starts by saving the value of \c{SP} in \c{BP} so as to
4956 be able to use \c{BP} as a base pointer to find its parameters on
4957 the stack. However, the caller was probably doing this too, so part
4958 of the calling convention states that \c{BP} must be preserved by
4959 any function. Hence the callee, if it is going to set up \c{BP} as a
4960 \i{frame pointer}, must push the previous value first.
4962 \b The callee may then access its parameters relative to \c{BP}.
4963 The word at \c{[BP]} holds the previous value of \c{BP} as it was
4964 pushed. The next word, at \c{[BP+2]}, holds the offset part of the
4965 return address, and the next one at \c{[BP+4]} the segment part. The
4966 parameters begin at \c{[BP+6]}. The rightmost parameter of the
4967 function, since it was pushed last, is accessible at this offset
4968 from \c{BP}; the others follow, at successively greater offsets.
4970 \b The callee may also wish to decrease \c{SP} further, so as to
4971 allocate space on the stack for local variables, which will then be
4972 accessible at negative offsets from \c{BP}.
4974 \b The callee, if it wishes to return a value to the caller, should
4975 leave the value in \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{DX:AX} depending on the size
4976 of the value. Floating-point results are returned in \c{ST0}.
4977 Results of type \c{Real} (Borland's own custom floating-point data
4978 type, not handled directly by the FPU) are returned in \c{DX:BX:AX}.
4979 To return a result of type \c{String}, the caller pushes a pointer
4980 to a temporary string before pushing the parameters, and the callee
4981 places the returned string value at that location. The pointer is
4982 not a parameter, and should not be removed from the stack by the
4983 \c{RETF} instruction.
4985 \b Once the callee has finished processing, it restores \c{SP} from
4986 \c{BP} if it had allocated local stack space, then pops the previous
4987 value of \c{BP}, and returns via \c{RETF}. It uses the form of
4988 \c{RETF} with an immediate parameter, giving the number of bytes
4989 taken up by the parameters on the stack. This causes the parameters
4990 to be removed from the stack as a side effect of the return
4993 \b When the caller regains control from the callee, the function
4994 parameters have already been removed from the stack, so it needs to
4997 Thus, you would define a function in Pascal style, taking two
4998 \c{Integer}-type parameters, in the following way:
5004 \c sub sp,0x40 ; 64 bytes of local stack space
5005 \c mov bx,[bp+8] ; first parameter to function
5006 \c mov bx,[bp+6] ; second parameter to function
5010 \c mov sp,bp ; undo "sub sp,0x40" above
5012 \c retf 4 ; total size of params is 4
5014 At the other end of the process, to call a Pascal function from your
5015 assembly code, you would do something like this:
5019 \c ; and then, further down...
5021 \c push word seg mystring ; Now push the segment, and...
5022 \c push word mystring ; ... offset of "mystring"
5023 \c push word [myint] ; one of my variables
5024 \c call far SomeFunc
5026 This is equivalent to the Pascal code
5028 \c procedure SomeFunc(String: PChar; Int: Integer);
5029 \c SomeFunc(@mystring, myint);
5032 \S{16bpseg} Borland Pascal \I{segment names, Borland Pascal}Segment
5035 Since Borland Pascal's internal unit file format is completely
5036 different from \c{OBJ}, it only makes a very sketchy job of actually
5037 reading and understanding the various information contained in a
5038 real \c{OBJ} file when it links that in. Therefore an object file
5039 intended to be linked to a Pascal program must obey a number of
5042 \b Procedures and functions must be in a segment whose name is
5043 either \c{CODE}, \c{CSEG}, or something ending in \c{_TEXT}.
5045 \b Initialised data must be in a segment whose name is either
5046 \c{CONST} or something ending in \c{_DATA}.
5048 \b Uninitialised data must be in a segment whose name is either
5049 \c{DATA}, \c{DSEG}, or something ending in \c{_BSS}.
5051 \b Any other segments in the object file are completely ignored.
5052 \c{GROUP} directives and segment attributes are also ignored.
5055 \S{16bpmacro} Using \i\c{c16.mac} With Pascal Programs
5057 The \c{c16.mac} macro package, described in \k{16cmacro}, can also
5058 be used to simplify writing functions to be called from Pascal
5059 programs, if you code \I\c{PASCAL}\c{%define PASCAL}. This
5060 definition ensures that functions are far (it implies
5061 \i\c{FARCODE}), and also causes procedure return instructions to be
5062 generated with an operand.
5064 Defining \c{PASCAL} does not change the code which calculates the
5065 argument offsets; you must declare your function's arguments in
5066 reverse order. For example:
5074 \c mov ax,[bp + %$i]
5075 \c mov bx,[bp + %$j]
5076 \c mov es,[bp + %$j + 2]
5081 This defines the same routine, conceptually, as the example in
5082 \k{16cmacro}: it defines a function taking two arguments, an integer
5083 and a pointer to an integer, which returns the sum of the integer
5084 and the contents of the pointer. The only difference between this
5085 code and the large-model C version is that \c{PASCAL} is defined
5086 instead of \c{FARCODE}, and that the arguments are declared in
5090 \C{32bit} Writing 32-bit Code (Unix, Win32, DJGPP)
5092 This chapter attempts to cover some of the common issues involved
5093 when writing 32-bit code, to run under \i{Win32} or Unix, or to be
5094 linked with C code generated by a Unix-style C compiler such as
5095 \i{DJGPP}. It covers how to write assembly code to interface with
5096 32-bit C routines, and how to write position-independent code for
5099 Almost all 32-bit code, and in particular all code running under
5100 \c{Win32}, \c{DJGPP} or any of the PC Unix variants, runs in \I{flat
5101 memory model}\e{flat} memory model. This means that the segment registers
5102 and paging have already been set up to give you the same 32-bit 4Gb
5103 address space no matter what segment you work relative to, and that
5104 you should ignore all segment registers completely. When writing
5105 flat-model application code, you never need to use a segment
5106 override or modify any segment register, and the code-section
5107 addresses you pass to \c{CALL} and \c{JMP} live in the same address
5108 space as the data-section addresses you access your variables by and
5109 the stack-section addresses you access local variables and procedure
5110 parameters by. Every address is 32 bits long and contains only an
5114 \H{32c} Interfacing to 32-bit C Programs
5116 A lot of the discussion in \k{16c}, about interfacing to 16-bit C
5117 programs, still applies when working in 32 bits. The absence of
5118 memory models or segmentation worries simplifies things a lot.
5121 \S{32cunder} External Symbol Names
5123 Most 32-bit C compilers share the convention used by 16-bit
5124 compilers, that the names of all global symbols (functions or data)
5125 they define are formed by prefixing an underscore to the name as it
5126 appears in the C program. However, not all of them do: the \c{ELF}
5127 specification states that C symbols do \e{not} have a leading
5128 underscore on their assembly-language names.
5130 The older Linux \c{a.out} C compiler, all \c{Win32} compilers,
5131 \c{DJGPP}, and \c{NetBSD} and \c{FreeBSD}, all use the leading
5132 underscore; for these compilers, the macros \c{cextern} and
5133 \c{cglobal}, as given in \k{16cunder}, will still work. For \c{ELF},
5134 though, the leading underscore should not be used.
5137 \S{32cfunc} Function Definitions and Function Calls
5139 \I{functions, C calling convention}The \i{C calling convention}The C
5140 calling convention in 32-bit programs is as follows. In the
5141 following description, the words \e{caller} and \e{callee} are used
5142 to denote the function doing the calling and the function which gets
5145 \b The caller pushes the function's parameters on the stack, one
5146 after another, in reverse order (right to left, so that the first
5147 argument specified to the function is pushed last).
5149 \b The caller then executes a near \c{CALL} instruction to pass
5150 control to the callee.
5152 \b The callee receives control, and typically (although this is not
5153 actually necessary, in functions which do not need to access their
5154 parameters) starts by saving the value of \c{ESP} in \c{EBP} so as
5155 to be able to use \c{EBP} as a base pointer to find its parameters
5156 on the stack. However, the caller was probably doing this too, so
5157 part of the calling convention states that \c{EBP} must be preserved
5158 by any C function. Hence the callee, if it is going to set up
5159 \c{EBP} as a \i{frame pointer}, must push the previous value first.
5161 \b The callee may then access its parameters relative to \c{EBP}.
5162 The doubleword at \c{[EBP]} holds the previous value of \c{EBP} as
5163 it was pushed; the next doubleword, at \c{[EBP+4]}, holds the return
5164 address, pushed implicitly by \c{CALL}. The parameters start after
5165 that, at \c{[EBP+8]}. The leftmost parameter of the function, since
5166 it was pushed last, is accessible at this offset from \c{EBP}; the
5167 others follow, at successively greater offsets. Thus, in a function
5168 such as \c{printf} which takes a variable number of parameters, the
5169 pushing of the parameters in reverse order means that the function
5170 knows where to find its first parameter, which tells it the number
5171 and type of the remaining ones.
5173 \b The callee may also wish to decrease \c{ESP} further, so as to
5174 allocate space on the stack for local variables, which will then be
5175 accessible at negative offsets from \c{EBP}.
5177 \b The callee, if it wishes to return a value to the caller, should
5178 leave the value in \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{EAX} depending on the size
5179 of the value. Floating-point results are typically returned in
5182 \b Once the callee has finished processing, it restores \c{ESP} from
5183 \c{EBP} if it had allocated local stack space, then pops the previous
5184 value of \c{EBP}, and returns via \c{RET} (equivalently, \c{RETN}).
5186 \b When the caller regains control from the callee, the function
5187 parameters are still on the stack, so it typically adds an immediate
5188 constant to \c{ESP} to remove them (instead of executing a number of
5189 slow \c{POP} instructions). Thus, if a function is accidentally
5190 called with the wrong number of parameters due to a prototype
5191 mismatch, the stack will still be returned to a sensible state since
5192 the caller, which \e{knows} how many parameters it pushed, does the
5195 There is an alternative calling convention used by Win32 programs
5196 for Windows API calls, and also for functions called \e{by} the
5197 Windows API such as window procedures: they follow what Microsoft
5198 calls the \c{__stdcall} convention. This is slightly closer to the
5199 Pascal convention, in that the callee clears the stack by passing a
5200 parameter to the \c{RET} instruction. However, the parameters are
5201 still pushed in right-to-left order.
5203 Thus, you would define a function in C style in the following way:
5210 \c sub esp,0x40 ; 64 bytes of local stack space
5211 \c mov ebx,[ebp+8] ; first parameter to function
5215 \c leave ; mov esp,ebp / pop ebp
5218 At the other end of the process, to call a C function from your
5219 assembly code, you would do something like this:
5223 \c ; and then, further down...
5225 \c push dword [myint] ; one of my integer variables
5226 \c push dword mystring ; pointer into my data segment
5228 \c add esp,byte 8 ; `byte' saves space
5230 \c ; then those data items...
5235 \c mystring db 'This number -> %d <- should be 1234',10,0
5237 This piece of code is the assembly equivalent of the C code
5239 \c int myint = 1234;
5240 \c printf("This number -> %d <- should be 1234\n", myint);
5243 \S{32cdata} Accessing Data Items
5245 To get at the contents of C variables, or to declare variables which
5246 C can access, you need only declare the names as \c{GLOBAL} or
5247 \c{EXTERN}. (Again, the names require leading underscores, as stated
5248 in \k{32cunder}.) Thus, a C variable declared as \c{int i} can be
5249 accessed from assembler as
5254 And to declare your own integer variable which C programs can access
5255 as \c{extern int j}, you do this (making sure you are assembling in
5256 the \c{_DATA} segment, if necessary):
5261 To access a C array, you need to know the size of the components of
5262 the array. For example, \c{int} variables are four bytes long, so if
5263 a C program declares an array as \c{int a[10]}, you can access
5264 \c{a[3]} by coding \c{mov ax,[_a+12]}. (The byte offset 12 is obtained
5265 by multiplying the desired array index, 3, by the size of the array
5266 element, 4.) The sizes of the C base types in 32-bit compilers are:
5267 1 for \c{char}, 2 for \c{short}, 4 for \c{int}, \c{long} and
5268 \c{float}, and 8 for \c{double}. Pointers, being 32-bit addresses,
5269 are also 4 bytes long.
5271 To access a C \i{data structure}, you need to know the offset from
5272 the base of the structure to the field you are interested in. You
5273 can either do this by converting the C structure definition into a
5274 NASM structure definition (using \c{STRUC}), or by calculating the
5275 one offset and using just that.
5277 To do either of these, you should read your C compiler's manual to
5278 find out how it organises data structures. NASM gives no special
5279 alignment to structure members in its own \i\c{STRUC} macro, so you
5280 have to specify alignment yourself if the C compiler generates it.
5281 Typically, you might find that a structure like
5288 might be eight bytes long rather than five, since the \c{int} field
5289 would be aligned to a four-byte boundary. However, this sort of
5290 feature is sometimes a configurable option in the C compiler, either
5291 using command-line options or \c{#pragma} lines, so you have to find
5292 out how your own compiler does it.
5295 \S{32cmacro} \i\c{c32.mac}: Helper Macros for the 32-bit C Interface
5297 Included in the NASM archives, in the \I{misc directory}\c{misc}
5298 directory, is a file \c{c32.mac} of macros. It defines three macros:
5299 \i\c{proc}, \i\c{arg} and \i\c{endproc}. These are intended to be
5300 used for C-style procedure definitions, and they automate a lot of
5301 the work involved in keeping track of the calling convention.
5303 An example of an assembly function using the macro set is given
5310 \c mov eax,[ebp + %$i]
5311 \c mov ebx,[ebp + %$j]
5316 This defines \c{_proc32} to be a procedure taking two arguments, the
5317 first (\c{i}) an integer and the second (\c{j}) a pointer to an
5318 integer. It returns \c{i + *j}.
5320 Note that the \c{arg} macro has an \c{EQU} as the first line of its
5321 expansion, and since the label before the macro call gets prepended
5322 to the first line of the expanded macro, the \c{EQU} works, defining
5323 \c{%$i} to be an offset from \c{BP}. A context-local variable is
5324 used, local to the context pushed by the \c{proc} macro and popped
5325 by the \c{endproc} macro, so that the same argument name can be used
5326 in later procedures. Of course, you don't \e{have} to do that.
5328 \c{arg} can take an optional parameter, giving the size of the
5329 argument. If no size is given, 4 is assumed, since it is likely that
5330 many function parameters will be of type \c{int} or pointers.
5333 \H{picdll} Writing NetBSD/FreeBSD/OpenBSD and Linux/ELF \i{Shared
5336 \c{ELF} replaced the older \c{a.out} object file format under Linux
5337 because it contains support for \i{position-independent code}
5338 (\i{PIC}), which makes writing shared libraries much easier. NASM
5339 supports the \c{ELF} position-independent code features, so you can
5340 write Linux \c{ELF} shared libraries in NASM.
5342 \i{NetBSD}, and its close cousins \i{FreeBSD} and \i{OpenBSD}, take
5343 a different approach by hacking PIC support into the \c{a.out}
5344 format. NASM supports this as the \i\c{aoutb} output format, so you
5345 can write \i{BSD} shared libraries in NASM too.
5347 The operating system loads a PIC shared library by memory-mapping
5348 the library file at an arbitrarily chosen point in the address space
5349 of the running process. The contents of the library's code section
5350 must therefore not depend on where it is loaded in memory.
5352 Therefore, you cannot get at your variables by writing code like
5355 \c mov eax,[myvar] ; WRONG
5357 Instead, the linker provides an area of memory called the
5358 \i\e{global offset table}, or \i{GOT}; the GOT is situated at a
5359 constant distance from your library's code, so if you can find out
5360 where your library is loaded (which is typically done using a
5361 \c{CALL} and \c{POP} combination), you can obtain the address of the
5362 GOT, and you can then load the addresses of your variables out of
5363 linker-generated entries in the GOT.
5365 The \e{data} section of a PIC shared library does not have these
5366 restrictions: since the data section is writable, it has to be
5367 copied into memory anyway rather than just paged in from the library
5368 file, so as long as it's being copied it can be relocated too. So
5369 you can put ordinary types of relocation in the data section without
5370 too much worry (but see \k{picglobal} for a caveat).
5373 \S{picgot} Obtaining the Address of the GOT
5375 Each code module in your shared library should define the GOT as an
5378 \c extern _GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_ ; in ELF
5379 \c extern __GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_ ; in BSD a.out
5381 At the beginning of any function in your shared library which plans
5382 to access your data or BSS sections, you must first calculate the
5383 address of the GOT. This is typically done by writing the function
5392 \c add ebx,_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_+$$-.get_GOT wrt ..gotpc
5394 \c ; the function body comes here
5401 (For BSD, again, the symbol \c{_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE} requires a
5402 second leading underscore.)
5404 The first two lines of this function are simply the standard C
5405 prologue to set up a stack frame, and the last three lines are
5406 standard C function epilogue. The third line, and the fourth to last
5407 line, save and restore the \c{EBX} register, because PIC shared
5408 libraries use this register to store the address of the GOT.
5410 The interesting bit is the \c{CALL} instruction and the following
5411 two lines. The \c{CALL} and \c{POP} combination obtains the address
5412 of the label \c{.get_GOT}, without having to know in advance where
5413 the program was loaded (since the \c{CALL} instruction is encoded
5414 relative to the current position). The \c{ADD} instruction makes use
5415 of one of the special PIC relocation types: \i{GOTPC relocation}.
5416 With the \i\c{WRT ..gotpc} qualifier specified, the symbol
5417 referenced (here \c{_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_}, the special symbol
5418 assigned to the GOT) is given as an offset from the beginning of the
5419 section. (Actually, \c{ELF} encodes it as the offset from the operand
5420 field of the \c{ADD} instruction, but NASM simplifies this
5421 deliberately, so you do things the same way for both \c{ELF} and
5422 \c{BSD}.) So the instruction then \e{adds} the beginning of the section,
5423 to get the real address of the GOT, and subtracts the value of
5424 \c{.get_GOT} which it knows is in \c{EBX}. Therefore, by the time
5425 that instruction has finished, \c{EBX} contains the address of the GOT.
5427 If you didn't follow that, don't worry: it's never necessary to
5428 obtain the address of the GOT by any other means, so you can put
5429 those three instructions into a macro and safely ignore them:
5436 \c add ebx,_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_+$$-%%getgot wrt ..gotpc
5440 \S{piclocal} Finding Your Local Data Items
5442 Having got the GOT, you can then use it to obtain the addresses of
5443 your data items. Most variables will reside in the sections you have
5444 declared; they can be accessed using the \I{GOTOFF
5445 relocation}\c{..gotoff} special \I\c{WRT ..gotoff}\c{WRT} type. The
5446 way this works is like this:
5448 \c lea eax,[ebx+myvar wrt ..gotoff]
5450 The expression \c{myvar wrt ..gotoff} is calculated, when the shared
5451 library is linked, to be the offset to the local variable \c{myvar}
5452 from the beginning of the GOT. Therefore, adding it to \c{EBX} as
5453 above will place the real address of \c{myvar} in \c{EAX}.
5455 If you declare variables as \c{GLOBAL} without specifying a size for
5456 them, they are shared between code modules in the library, but do
5457 not get exported from the library to the program that loaded it.
5458 They will still be in your ordinary data and BSS sections, so you
5459 can access them in the same way as local variables, using the above
5460 \c{..gotoff} mechanism.
5462 Note that due to a peculiarity of the way BSD \c{a.out} format
5463 handles this relocation type, there must be at least one non-local
5464 symbol in the same section as the address you're trying to access.
5467 \S{picextern} Finding External and Common Data Items
5469 If your library needs to get at an external variable (external to
5470 the \e{library}, not just to one of the modules within it), you must
5471 use the \I{GOT relocations}\I\c{WRT ..got}\c{..got} type to get at
5472 it. The \c{..got} type, instead of giving you the offset from the
5473 GOT base to the variable, gives you the offset from the GOT base to
5474 a GOT \e{entry} containing the address of the variable. The linker
5475 will set up this GOT entry when it builds the library, and the
5476 dynamic linker will place the correct address in it at load time. So
5477 to obtain the address of an external variable \c{extvar} in \c{EAX},
5480 \c mov eax,[ebx+extvar wrt ..got]
5482 This loads the address of \c{extvar} out of an entry in the GOT. The
5483 linker, when it builds the shared library, collects together every
5484 relocation of type \c{..got}, and builds the GOT so as to ensure it
5485 has every necessary entry present.
5487 Common variables must also be accessed in this way.
5490 \S{picglobal} Exporting Symbols to the Library User
5492 If you want to export symbols to the user of the library, you have
5493 to declare whether they are functions or data, and if they are data,
5494 you have to give the size of the data item. This is because the
5495 dynamic linker has to build \I{PLT}\i{procedure linkage table}
5496 entries for any exported functions, and also moves exported data
5497 items away from the library's data section in which they were
5500 So to export a function to users of the library, you must use
5502 \c global func:function ; declare it as a function
5508 And to export a data item such as an array, you would have to code
5510 \c global array:data array.end-array ; give the size too
5515 Be careful: If you export a variable to the library user, by
5516 declaring it as \c{GLOBAL} and supplying a size, the variable will
5517 end up living in the data section of the main program, rather than
5518 in your library's data section, where you declared it. So you will
5519 have to access your own global variable with the \c{..got} mechanism
5520 rather than \c{..gotoff}, as if it were external (which,
5521 effectively, it has become).
5523 Equally, if you need to store the address of an exported global in
5524 one of your data sections, you can't do it by means of the standard
5527 \c dataptr: dd global_data_item ; WRONG
5529 NASM will interpret this code as an ordinary relocation, in which
5530 \c{global_data_item} is merely an offset from the beginning of the
5531 \c{.data} section (or whatever); so this reference will end up
5532 pointing at your data section instead of at the exported global
5533 which resides elsewhere.
5535 Instead of the above code, then, you must write
5537 \c dataptr: dd global_data_item wrt ..sym
5539 which makes use of the special \c{WRT} type \I\c{WRT ..sym}\c{..sym}
5540 to instruct NASM to search the symbol table for a particular symbol
5541 at that address, rather than just relocating by section base.
5543 Either method will work for functions: referring to one of your
5544 functions by means of
5546 \c funcptr: dd my_function
5548 will give the user the address of the code you wrote, whereas
5550 \c funcptr: dd my_function wrt ..sym
5552 will give the address of the procedure linkage table for the
5553 function, which is where the calling program will \e{believe} the
5554 function lives. Either address is a valid way to call the function.
5557 \S{picproc} Calling Procedures Outside the Library
5559 Calling procedures outside your shared library has to be done by
5560 means of a \i\e{procedure linkage table}, or \i{PLT}. The PLT is
5561 placed at a known offset from where the library is loaded, so the
5562 library code can make calls to the PLT in a position-independent
5563 way. Within the PLT there is code to jump to offsets contained in
5564 the GOT, so function calls to other shared libraries or to routines
5565 in the main program can be transparently passed off to their real
5568 To call an external routine, you must use another special PIC
5569 relocation type, \I{PLT relocations}\i\c{WRT ..plt}. This is much
5570 easier than the GOT-based ones: you simply replace calls such as
5571 \c{CALL printf} with the PLT-relative version \c{CALL printf WRT
5575 \S{link} Generating the Library File
5577 Having written some code modules and assembled them to \c{.o} files,
5578 you then generate your shared library with a command such as
5580 \c ld -shared -o library.so module1.o module2.o # for ELF
5581 \c ld -Bshareable -o library.so module1.o module2.o # for BSD
5583 For ELF, if your shared library is going to reside in system
5584 directories such as \c{/usr/lib} or \c{/lib}, it is usually worth
5585 using the \i\c{-soname} flag to the linker, to store the final
5586 library file name, with a version number, into the library:
5588 \c ld -shared -soname library.so.1 -o library.so.1.2 *.o
5590 You would then copy \c{library.so.1.2} into the library directory,
5591 and create \c{library.so.1} as a symbolic link to it.
5594 \C{mixsize} Mixing 16 and 32 Bit Code
5596 This chapter tries to cover some of the issues, largely related to
5597 unusual forms of addressing and jump instructions, encountered when
5598 writing operating system code such as protected-mode initialisation
5599 routines, which require code that operates in mixed segment sizes,
5600 such as code in a 16-bit segment trying to modify data in a 32-bit
5601 one, or jumps between different-size segments.
5604 \H{mixjump} Mixed-Size Jumps\I{jumps, mixed-size}
5606 \I{operating system, writing}\I{writing operating systems}The most
5607 common form of \i{mixed-size instruction} is the one used when
5608 writing a 32-bit OS: having done your setup in 16-bit mode, such as
5609 loading the kernel, you then have to boot it by switching into
5610 protected mode and jumping to the 32-bit kernel start address. In a
5611 fully 32-bit OS, this tends to be the \e{only} mixed-size
5612 instruction you need, since everything before it can be done in pure
5613 16-bit code, and everything after it can be pure 32-bit.
5615 This jump must specify a 48-bit far address, since the target
5616 segment is a 32-bit one. However, it must be assembled in a 16-bit
5617 segment, so just coding, for example,
5619 \c jmp 0x1234:0x56789ABC ; wrong!
5621 will not work, since the offset part of the address will be
5622 truncated to \c{0x9ABC} and the jump will be an ordinary 16-bit far
5625 The Linux kernel setup code gets round the inability of \c{as86} to
5626 generate the required instruction by coding it manually, using
5627 \c{DB} instructions. NASM can go one better than that, by actually
5628 generating the right instruction itself. Here's how to do it right:
5630 \c jmp dword 0x1234:0x56789ABC ; right
5632 \I\c{JMP DWORD}The \c{DWORD} prefix (strictly speaking, it should
5633 come \e{after} the colon, since it is declaring the \e{offset} field
5634 to be a doubleword; but NASM will accept either form, since both are
5635 unambiguous) forces the offset part to be treated as far, in the
5636 assumption that you are deliberately writing a jump from a 16-bit
5637 segment to a 32-bit one.
5639 You can do the reverse operation, jumping from a 32-bit segment to a
5640 16-bit one, by means of the \c{WORD} prefix:
5642 \c jmp word 0x8765:0x4321 ; 32 to 16 bit
5644 If the \c{WORD} prefix is specified in 16-bit mode, or the \c{DWORD}
5645 prefix in 32-bit mode, they will be ignored, since each is
5646 explicitly forcing NASM into a mode it was in anyway.
5649 \H{mixaddr} Addressing Between Different-Size Segments\I{addressing,
5650 mixed-size}\I{mixed-size addressing}
5652 If your OS is mixed 16 and 32-bit, or if you are writing a DOS
5653 extender, you are likely to have to deal with some 16-bit segments
5654 and some 32-bit ones. At some point, you will probably end up
5655 writing code in a 16-bit segment which has to access data in a
5656 32-bit segment, or vice versa.
5658 If the data you are trying to access in a 32-bit segment lies within
5659 the first 64K of the segment, you may be able to get away with using
5660 an ordinary 16-bit addressing operation for the purpose; but sooner
5661 or later, you will want to do 32-bit addressing from 16-bit mode.
5663 The easiest way to do this is to make sure you use a register for
5664 the address, since any effective address containing a 32-bit
5665 register is forced to be a 32-bit address. So you can do
5667 \c mov eax,offset_into_32_bit_segment_specified_by_fs
5668 \c mov dword [fs:eax],0x11223344
5670 This is fine, but slightly cumbersome (since it wastes an
5671 instruction and a register) if you already know the precise offset
5672 you are aiming at. The x86 architecture does allow 32-bit effective
5673 addresses to specify nothing but a 4-byte offset, so why shouldn't
5674 NASM be able to generate the best instruction for the purpose?
5676 It can. As in \k{mixjump}, you need only prefix the address with the
5677 \c{DWORD} keyword, and it will be forced to be a 32-bit address:
5679 \c mov dword [fs:dword my_offset],0x11223344
5681 Also as in \k{mixjump}, NASM is not fussy about whether the
5682 \c{DWORD} prefix comes before or after the segment override, so
5683 arguably a nicer-looking way to code the above instruction is
5685 \c mov dword [dword fs:my_offset],0x11223344
5687 Don't confuse the \c{DWORD} prefix \e{outside} the square brackets,
5688 which controls the size of the data stored at the address, with the
5689 one \c{inside} the square brackets which controls the length of the
5690 address itself. The two can quite easily be different:
5692 \c mov word [dword 0x12345678],0x9ABC
5694 This moves 16 bits of data to an address specified by a 32-bit
5697 You can also specify \c{WORD} or \c{DWORD} prefixes along with the
5698 \c{FAR} prefix to indirect far jumps or calls. For example:
5700 \c call dword far [fs:word 0x4321]
5702 This instruction contains an address specified by a 16-bit offset;
5703 it loads a 48-bit far pointer from that (16-bit segment and 32-bit
5704 offset), and calls that address.
5707 \H{mixother} Other Mixed-Size Instructions
5709 The other way you might want to access data might be using the
5710 string instructions (\c{LODSx}, \c{STOSx} and so on) or the
5711 \c{XLATB} instruction. These instructions, since they take no
5712 parameters, might seem to have no easy way to make them perform
5713 32-bit addressing when assembled in a 16-bit segment.
5715 This is the purpose of NASM's \i\c{a16} and \i\c{a32} prefixes. If
5716 you are coding \c{LODSB} in a 16-bit segment but it is supposed to
5717 be accessing a string in a 32-bit segment, you should load the
5718 desired address into \c{ESI} and then code
5722 The prefix forces the addressing size to 32 bits, meaning that
5723 \c{LODSB} loads from \c{[DS:ESI]} instead of \c{[DS:SI]}. To access
5724 a string in a 16-bit segment when coding in a 32-bit one, the
5725 corresponding \c{a16} prefix can be used.
5727 The \c{a16} and \c{a32} prefixes can be applied to any instruction
5728 in NASM's instruction table, but most of them can generate all the
5729 useful forms without them. The prefixes are necessary only for
5730 instructions with implicit addressing: \c{CMPSx} (\k{insCMPSB}),
5731 \c{SCASx} (\k{insSCASB}), \c{LODSx} (\k{insLODSB}), \c{STOSx}
5732 (\k{insSTOSB}), \c{MOVSx} (\k{insMOVSB}), \c{INSx} (\k{insINSB}),
5733 \c{OUTSx} (\k{insOUTSB}), and \c{XLATB} (\k{insXLATB}). Also, the
5734 various push and pop instructions (\c{PUSHA} and \c{POPF} as well as
5735 the more usual \c{PUSH} and \c{POP}) can accept \c{a16} or \c{a32}
5736 prefixes to force a particular one of \c{SP} or \c{ESP} to be used
5737 as a stack pointer, in case the stack segment in use is a different
5738 size from the code segment.
5740 \c{PUSH} and \c{POP}, when applied to segment registers in 32-bit
5741 mode, also have the slightly odd behaviour that they push and pop 4
5742 bytes at a time, of which the top two are ignored and the bottom two
5743 give the value of the segment register being manipulated. To force
5744 the 16-bit behaviour of segment-register push and pop instructions,
5745 you can use the operand-size prefix \i\c{o16}:
5750 This code saves a doubleword of stack space by fitting two segment
5751 registers into the space which would normally be consumed by pushing
5754 (You can also use the \i\c{o32} prefix to force the 32-bit behaviour
5755 when in 16-bit mode, but this seems less useful.)
5758 \C{trouble} Troubleshooting
5760 This chapter describes some of the common problems that users have
5761 been known to encounter with NASM, and answers them. It also gives
5762 instructions for reporting bugs in NASM if you find a difficulty
5763 that isn't listed here.
5766 \H{problems} Common Problems
5768 \S{inefficient} NASM Generates \i{Inefficient Code}
5770 I get a lot of `bug' reports about NASM generating inefficient, or
5771 even `wrong', code on instructions such as \c{ADD ESP,8}. This is a
5772 deliberate design feature, connected to predictability of output:
5773 NASM, on seeing \c{ADD ESP,8}, will generate the form of the
5774 instruction which leaves room for a 32-bit offset. You need to code
5775 \I\c{BYTE}\c{ADD ESP,BYTE 8} if you want the space-efficient
5776 form of the instruction. This isn't a bug: at worst it's a
5777 misfeature, and that's a matter of opinion only.
5780 \S{jmprange} My Jumps are Out of Range\I{out of range, jumps}
5782 Similarly, people complain that when they issue \i{conditional
5783 jumps} (which are \c{SHORT} by default) that try to jump too far,
5784 NASM reports `short jump out of range' instead of making the jumps
5787 This, again, is partly a predictability issue, but in fact has a
5788 more practical reason as well. NASM has no means of being told what
5789 type of processor the code it is generating will be run on; so it
5790 cannot decide for itself that it should generate \i\c{Jcc NEAR} type
5791 instructions, because it doesn't know that it's working for a 386 or
5792 above. Alternatively, it could replace the out-of-range short
5793 \c{JNE} instruction with a very short \c{JE} instruction that jumps
5794 over a \c{JMP NEAR}; this is a sensible solution for processors
5795 below a 386, but hardly efficient on processors which have good
5796 branch prediction \e{and} could have used \c{JNE NEAR} instead. So,
5797 once again, it's up to the user, not the assembler, to decide what
5798 instructions should be generated.
5801 \S{proborg} \i\c{ORG} Doesn't Work
5803 People writing \i{boot sector} programs in the \c{bin} format often
5804 complain that \c{ORG} doesn't work the way they'd like: in order to
5805 place the \c{0xAA55} signature word at the end of a 512-byte boot
5806 sector, people who are used to MASM tend to code
5810 \c ; some boot sector code
5815 This is not the intended use of the \c{ORG} directive in NASM, and
5816 will not work. The correct way to solve this problem in NASM is to
5817 use the \i\c{TIMES} directive, like this:
5821 \c ; some boot sector code
5823 \c TIMES 510-($-$$) DB 0
5826 The \c{TIMES} directive will insert exactly enough zero bytes into
5827 the output to move the assembly point up to 510. This method also
5828 has the advantage that if you accidentally fill your boot sector too
5829 full, NASM will catch the problem at assembly time and report it, so
5830 you won't end up with a boot sector that you have to disassemble to
5831 find out what's wrong with it.
5834 \S{probtimes} \i\c{TIMES} Doesn't Work
5836 The other common problem with the above code is people who write the
5841 by reasoning that \c{$} should be a pure number, just like 510, so
5842 the difference between them is also a pure number and can happily be
5845 NASM is a \e{modular} assembler: the various component parts are
5846 designed to be easily separable for re-use, so they don't exchange
5847 information unnecessarily. In consequence, the \c{bin} output
5848 format, even though it has been told by the \c{ORG} directive that
5849 the \c{.text} section should start at 0, does not pass that
5850 information back to the expression evaluator. So from the
5851 evaluator's point of view, \c{$} isn't a pure number: it's an offset
5852 from a section base. Therefore the difference between \c{$} and 510
5853 is also not a pure number, but involves a section base. Values
5854 involving section bases cannot be passed as arguments to \c{TIMES}.
5856 The solution, as in the previous section, is to code the \c{TIMES}
5859 \c TIMES 510-($-$$) DB 0
5861 in which \c{$} and \c{$$} are offsets from the same section base,
5862 and so their difference is a pure number. This will solve the
5863 problem and generate sensible code.
5866 \H{bugs} \i{Bugs}\I{reporting bugs}
5868 We have never yet released a version of NASM with any \e{known}
5869 bugs. That doesn't usually stop there being plenty we didn't know
5870 about, though. Any that you find should be reported firstly via the
5872 \W{https://sourceforge.net/projects/nasm/}\c{https://sourceforge.net/projects/nasm/}
5873 (click on "Bugs"), or if that fails then through one of the
5874 contacts in \k{contact}.
5876 Please read \k{qstart} first, and don't report the bug if it's
5877 listed in there as a deliberate feature. (If you think the feature
5878 is badly thought out, feel free to send us reasons why you think it
5879 should be changed, but don't just send us mail saying `This is a
5880 bug' if the documentation says we did it on purpose.) Then read
5881 \k{problems}, and don't bother reporting the bug if it's listed
5884 If you do report a bug, \e{please} give us all of the following
5887 \b What operating system you're running NASM under. DOS, Linux,
5888 NetBSD, Win16, Win32, VMS (I'd be impressed), whatever.
5890 \b If you're running NASM under DOS or Win32, tell us whether you've
5891 compiled your own executable from the DOS source archive, or whether
5892 you were using the standard distribution binaries out of the
5893 archive. If you were using a locally built executable, try to
5894 reproduce the problem using one of the standard binaries, as this
5895 will make it easier for us to reproduce your problem prior to fixing
5898 \b Which version of NASM you're using, and exactly how you invoked
5899 it. Give us the precise command line, and the contents of the
5900 \c{NASMENV} environment variable if any.
5902 \b Which versions of any supplementary programs you're using, and
5903 how you invoked them. If the problem only becomes visible at link
5904 time, tell us what linker you're using, what version of it you've
5905 got, and the exact linker command line. If the problem involves
5906 linking against object files generated by a compiler, tell us what
5907 compiler, what version, and what command line or options you used.
5908 (If you're compiling in an IDE, please try to reproduce the problem
5909 with the command-line version of the compiler.)
5911 \b If at all possible, send us a NASM source file which exhibits the
5912 problem. If this causes copyright problems (e.g. you can only
5913 reproduce the bug in restricted-distribution code) then bear in mind
5914 the following two points: firstly, we guarantee that any source code
5915 sent to us for the purposes of debugging NASM will be used \e{only}
5916 for the purposes of debugging NASM, and that we will delete all our
5917 copies of it as soon as we have found and fixed the bug or bugs in
5918 question; and secondly, we would prefer \e{not} to be mailed large
5919 chunks of code anyway. The smaller the file, the better. A
5920 three-line sample file that does nothing useful \e{except}
5921 demonstrate the problem is much easier to work with than a
5922 fully fledged ten-thousand-line program. (Of course, some errors
5923 \e{do} only crop up in large files, so this may not be possible.)
5925 \b A description of what the problem actually \e{is}. `It doesn't
5926 work' is \e{not} a helpful description! Please describe exactly what
5927 is happening that shouldn't be, or what isn't happening that should.
5928 Examples might be: `NASM generates an error message saying Line 3
5929 for an error that's actually on Line 5'; `NASM generates an error
5930 message that I believe it shouldn't be generating at all'; `NASM
5931 fails to generate an error message that I believe it \e{should} be
5932 generating'; `the object file produced from this source code crashes
5933 my linker'; `the ninth byte of the output file is 66 and I think it
5934 should be 77 instead'.
5936 \b If you believe the output file from NASM to be faulty, send it to
5937 us. That allows us to determine whether our own copy of NASM
5938 generates the same file, or whether the problem is related to
5939 portability issues between our development platforms and yours. We
5940 can handle binary files mailed to us as MIME attachments, uuencoded,
5941 and even BinHex. Alternatively, we may be able to provide an FTP
5942 site you can upload the suspect files to; but mailing them is easier
5945 \b Any other information or data files that might be helpful. If,
5946 for example, the problem involves NASM failing to generate an object
5947 file while TASM can generate an equivalent file without trouble,
5948 then send us \e{both} object files, so we can see what TASM is doing
5949 differently from us.
5952 \A{ndisasm} \i{Ndisasm}
5954 The Netwide Disassembler, NDISASM
5956 \H{ndisintro} Introduction
5959 The Netwide Disassembler is a small companion program to the Netwide
5960 Assembler, NASM. It seemed a shame to have an x86 assembler,
5961 complete with a full instruction table, and not make as much use of
5962 it as possible, so here's a disassembler which shares the
5963 instruction table (and some other bits of code) with NASM.
5965 The Netwide Disassembler does nothing except to produce
5966 disassemblies of \e{binary} source files. NDISASM does not have any
5967 understanding of object file formats, like \c{objdump}, and it will
5968 not understand \c{DOS .EXE} files like \c{debug} will. It just
5972 \H{ndisstart} Getting Started: Installation
5974 See \k{install} for installation instructions. NDISASM, like NASM,
5975 has a \c{man page} which you may want to put somewhere useful, if you
5976 are on a Unix system.
5979 \H{ndisrun} Running NDISASM
5981 To disassemble a file, you will typically use a command of the form
5983 \c ndisasm [-b16 | -b32] filename
5985 NDISASM can disassemble 16-bit code or 32-bit code equally easily,
5986 provided of course that you remember to specify which it is to work
5987 with. If no \i\c{-b} switch is present, NDISASM works in 16-bit mode by
5988 default. The \i\c{-u} switch (for USE32) also invokes 32-bit mode.
5990 Two more command line options are \i\c{-r} which reports the version
5991 number of NDISASM you are running, and \i\c{-h} which gives a short
5992 summary of command line options.
5995 \S{ndiscom} COM Files: Specifying an Origin
5997 To disassemble a \c{DOS .COM} file correctly, a disassembler must assume
5998 that the first instruction in the file is loaded at address \c{0x100},
5999 rather than at zero. NDISASM, which assumes by default that any file
6000 you give it is loaded at zero, will therefore need to be informed of
6003 The \i\c{-o} option allows you to declare a different origin for the
6004 file you are disassembling. Its argument may be expressed in any of
6005 the NASM numeric formats: decimal by default, if it begins with `\c{$}'
6006 or `\c{0x}' or ends in `\c{H}' it's \c{hex}, if it ends in `\c{Q}' it's
6007 \c{octal}, and if it ends in `\c{B}' it's \c{binary}.
6009 Hence, to disassemble a \c{.COM} file:
6011 \c ndisasm -o100h filename.com
6016 \S{ndissync} Code Following Data: Synchronisation
6018 Suppose you are disassembling a file which contains some data which
6019 isn't machine code, and \e{then} contains some machine code. NDISASM
6020 will faithfully plough through the data section, producing machine
6021 instructions wherever it can (although most of them will look
6022 bizarre, and some may have unusual prefixes, e.g. `\c{FS OR AX,0x240A}'),
6023 and generating `DB' instructions ever so often if it's totally stumped.
6024 Then it will reach the code section.
6026 Supposing NDISASM has just finished generating a strange machine
6027 instruction from part of the data section, and its file position is
6028 now one byte \e{before} the beginning of the code section. It's
6029 entirely possible that another spurious instruction will get
6030 generated, starting with the final byte of the data section, and
6031 then the correct first instruction in the code section will not be
6032 seen because the starting point skipped over it. This isn't really
6035 To avoid this, you can specify a `\i\c{synchronisation}' point, or indeed
6036 as many synchronisation points as you like (although NDISASM can
6037 only handle 8192 sync points internally). The definition of a sync
6038 point is this: NDISASM guarantees to hit sync points exactly during
6039 disassembly. If it is thinking about generating an instruction which
6040 would cause it to jump over a sync point, it will discard that
6041 instruction and output a `\c{db}' instead. So it \e{will} start
6042 disassembly exactly from the sync point, and so you \e{will} see all
6043 the instructions in your code section.
6045 Sync points are specified using the \i\c{-s} option: they are measured
6046 in terms of the program origin, not the file position. So if you
6047 want to synchronise after 32 bytes of a \c{.COM} file, you would have to
6050 \c ndisasm -o100h -s120h file.com
6054 \c ndisasm -o100h -s20h file.com
6056 As stated above, you can specify multiple sync markers if you need
6057 to, just by repeating the \c{-s} option.
6060 \S{ndisisync} Mixed Code and Data: Automatic (Intelligent) Synchronisation
6063 Suppose you are disassembling the boot sector of a \c{DOS} floppy (maybe
6064 it has a virus, and you need to understand the virus so that you
6065 know what kinds of damage it might have done you). Typically, this
6066 will contain a \c{JMP} instruction, then some data, then the rest of the
6067 code. So there is a very good chance of NDISASM being \e{misaligned}
6068 when the data ends and the code begins. Hence a sync point is
6071 On the other hand, why should you have to specify the sync point
6072 manually? What you'd do in order to find where the sync point would
6073 be, surely, would be to read the \c{JMP} instruction, and then to use
6074 its target address as a sync point. So can NDISASM do that for you?
6076 The answer, of course, is yes: using either of the synonymous
6077 switches \i\c{-a} (for automatic sync) or \i\c{-i} (for intelligent
6078 sync) will enable \c{auto-sync} mode. Auto-sync mode automatically
6079 generates a sync point for any forward-referring PC-relative jump or
6080 call instruction that NDISASM encounters. (Since NDISASM is one-pass,
6081 if it encounters a PC-relative jump whose target has already been
6082 processed, there isn't much it can do about it...)
6084 Only PC-relative jumps are processed, since an absolute jump is
6085 either through a register (in which case NDISASM doesn't know what
6086 the register contains) or involves a segment address (in which case
6087 the target code isn't in the same segment that NDISASM is working
6088 in, and so the sync point can't be placed anywhere useful).
6090 For some kinds of file, this mechanism will automatically put sync
6091 points in all the right places, and save you from having to place
6092 any sync points manually. However, it should be stressed that
6093 auto-sync mode is \e{not} guaranteed to catch all the sync points, and
6094 you may still have to place some manually.
6096 Auto-sync mode doesn't prevent you from declaring manual sync
6097 points: it just adds automatically generated ones to the ones you
6098 provide. It's perfectly feasible to specify \c{-i} \e{and} some \c{-s}
6101 Another caveat with auto-sync mode is that if, by some unpleasant
6102 fluke, something in your data section should disassemble to a
6103 PC-relative call or jump instruction, NDISASM may obediently place a
6104 sync point in a totally random place, for example in the middle of
6105 one of the instructions in your code section. So you may end up with
6106 a wrong disassembly even if you use auto-sync. Again, there isn't
6107 much I can do about this. If you have problems, you'll have to use
6108 manual sync points, or use the \c{-k} option (documented below) to
6109 suppress disassembly of the data area.
6112 \S{ndisother} Other Options
6114 The \i\c{-e} option skips a header on the file, by ignoring the first N
6115 bytes. This means that the header is \e{not} counted towards the
6116 disassembly offset: if you give \c{-e10 -o10}, disassembly will start
6117 at byte 10 in the file, and this will be given offset 10, not 20.
6119 The \i\c{-k} option is provided with two comma-separated numeric
6120 arguments, the first of which is an assembly offset and the second
6121 is a number of bytes to skip. This \e{will} count the skipped bytes
6122 towards the assembly offset: its use is to suppress disassembly of a
6123 data section which wouldn't contain anything you wanted to see
6127 \H{ndisbugs} Bugs and Improvements
6129 There are no known bugs. However, any you find, with patches if
6130 possible, should be sent to \W{mailto:jules@dsf.org.uk}\c{jules@dsf.org.uk}
6131 or \W{mailto:anakin@pobox.com}\c{anakin@pobox.com}, or to the
6132 developer's site \W{http://nasm.2y.net/}\c{http://nasm.2y.net/}
6133 and we'll try to fix them. Feel free to send contributions and
6134 new features as well.
6136 Future plans include awareness of which processors certain
6137 instructions will run on, and marking of instructions that are too
6138 advanced for some processor (or are \c{FPU} instructions, or are
6139 undocumented opcodes, or are privileged protected-mode instructions,
6144 I hope NDISASM is of some use to somebody. Including me. :-)
6146 I don't recommend taking NDISASM apart to see how an efficient
6147 disassembler works, because as far as I know, it isn't an efficient
6148 one anyway. You have been warned.
6151 \A{iref} x86 Instruction Reference
6153 This appendix provides a complete list of the machine instructions
6154 which NASM will assemble, and a short description of the function of
6157 It is not intended to be exhaustive documentation on the fine
6158 details of the instructions' function, such as which exceptions they
6159 can trigger: for such documentation, you should go to Intel's Web
6160 site, \W{http://developer.intel.com/design/Pentium4/manuals/}\c{http://developer.intel.com/design/Pentium4/manuals/}.
6162 Instead, this appendix is intended primarily to provide
6163 documentation on the way the instructions may be used within NASM.
6164 For example, looking up \c{LOOP} will tell you that NASM allows
6165 \c{CX} or \c{ECX} to be specified as an optional second argument to
6166 the \c{LOOP} instruction, to enforce which of the two possible
6167 counter registers should be used if the default is not the one
6170 The instructions are not quite listed in alphabetical order, since
6171 groups of instructions with similar functions are lumped together in
6172 the same entry. Most of them don't move very far from their
6173 alphabetic position because of this.
6176 \H{iref-opr} Key to Operand Specifications
6178 The instruction descriptions in this appendix specify their operands
6179 using the following notation:
6181 \b Registers: \c{reg8} denotes an 8-bit \i{general purpose
6182 register}, \c{reg16} denotes a 16-bit general purpose register, and
6183 \c{reg32} a 32-bit one. \c{fpureg} denotes one of the eight FPU
6184 stack registers, \c{mmxreg} denotes one of the eight 64-bit MMX
6185 registers, and \c{segreg} denotes a segment register. In addition,
6186 some registers (such as \c{AL}, \c{DX} or
6187 \c{ECX}) may be specified explicitly.
6189 \b Immediate operands: \c{imm} denotes a generic \i{immediate operand}.
6190 \c{imm8}, \c{imm16} and \c{imm32} are used when the operand is
6191 intended to be a specific size. For some of these instructions, NASM
6192 needs an explicit specifier: for example, \c{ADD ESP,16} could be
6193 interpreted as either \c{ADD r/m32,imm32} or \c{ADD r/m32,imm8}.
6194 NASM chooses the former by default, and so you must specify \c{ADD
6195 ESP,BYTE 16} for the latter.
6197 \b Memory references: \c{mem} denotes a generic \i{memory reference};
6198 \c{mem8}, \c{mem16}, \c{mem32}, \c{mem64} and \c{mem80} are used
6199 when the operand needs to be a specific size. Again, a specifier is
6200 needed in some cases: \c{DEC [address]} is ambiguous and will be
6201 rejected by NASM. You must specify \c{DEC BYTE [address]}, \c{DEC
6202 WORD [address]} or \c{DEC DWORD [address]} instead.
6204 \b \i{Restricted memory references}: one form of the \c{MOV}
6205 instruction allows a memory address to be specified \e{without}
6206 allowing the normal range of register combinations and effective
6207 address processing. This is denoted by \c{memoffs8}, \c{memoffs16}
6210 \b Register or memory choices: many instructions can accept either a
6211 register \e{or} a memory reference as an operand. \c{r/m8} is a
6212 shorthand for \c{reg8/mem8}; similarly \c{r/m16} and \c{r/m32}.
6213 \c{r/m64} is MMX-related, and is a shorthand for \c{mmxreg/mem64}.
6216 \H{iref-opc} Key to Opcode Descriptions
6218 This appendix also provides the opcodes which NASM will generate for
6219 each form of each instruction. The opcodes are listed in the
6222 \b A hex number, such as \c{3F}, indicates a fixed byte containing
6225 \b A hex number followed by \c{+r}, such as \c{C8+r}, indicates that
6226 one of the operands to the instruction is a register, and the
6227 `register value' of that register should be added to the hex number
6228 to produce the generated byte. For example, EDX has register value
6229 2, so the code \c{C8+r}, when the register operand is EDX, generates
6230 the hex byte \c{CA}. Register values for specific registers are
6231 given in \k{iref-rv}.
6233 \b A hex number followed by \c{+cc}, such as \c{40+cc}, indicates
6234 that the instruction name has a condition code suffix, and the
6235 numeric representation of the condition code should be added to the
6236 hex number to produce the generated byte. For example, the code
6237 \c{40+cc}, when the instruction contains the \c{NE} condition,
6238 generates the hex byte \c{45}. Condition codes and their numeric
6239 representations are given in \k{iref-cc}.
6241 \b A slash followed by a digit, such as \c{/2}, indicates that one
6242 of the operands to the instruction is a memory address or register
6243 (denoted \c{mem} or \c{r/m}, with an optional size). This is to be
6244 encoded as an effective address, with a \i{ModR/M byte}, an optional
6245 \i{SIB byte}, and an optional displacement, and the spare (register)
6246 field of the ModR/M byte should be the digit given (which will be
6247 from 0 to 7, so it fits in three bits). The encoding of effective
6248 addresses is given in \k{iref-ea}.
6250 \b The code \c{/r} combines the above two: it indicates that one of
6251 the operands is a memory address or \c{r/m}, and another is a
6252 register, and that an effective address should be generated with the
6253 spare (register) field in the ModR/M byte being equal to the
6254 `register value' of the register operand. The encoding of effective
6255 addresses is given in \k{iref-ea}; register values are given in
6258 \b The codes \c{ib}, \c{iw} and \c{id} indicate that one of the
6259 operands to the instruction is an immediate value, and that this is
6260 to be encoded as a byte, little-endian word or little-endian
6261 doubleword respectively.
6263 \b The codes \c{rb}, \c{rw} and \c{rd} indicate that one of the
6264 operands to the instruction is an immediate value, and that the
6265 \e{difference} between this value and the address of the end of the
6266 instruction is to be encoded as a byte, word or doubleword
6267 respectively. Where the form \c{rw/rd} appears, it indicates that
6268 either \c{rw} or \c{rd} should be used according to whether assembly
6269 is being performed in \c{BITS 16} or \c{BITS 32} state respectively.
6271 \b The codes \c{ow} and \c{od} indicate that one of the operands to
6272 the instruction is a reference to the contents of a memory address
6273 specified as an immediate value: this encoding is used in some forms
6274 of the \c{MOV} instruction in place of the standard
6275 effective-address mechanism. The displacement is encoded as a word
6276 or doubleword. Again, \c{ow/od} denotes that \c{ow} or \c{od} should
6277 be chosen according to the \c{BITS} setting.
6279 \b The codes \c{o16} and \c{o32} indicate that the given form of the
6280 instruction should be assembled with operand size 16 or 32 bits. In
6281 other words, \c{o16} indicates a \c{66} prefix in \c{BITS 32} state,
6282 but generates no code in \c{BITS 16} state; and \c{o32} indicates a
6283 \c{66} prefix in \c{BITS 16} state but generates nothing in \c{BITS
6286 \b The codes \c{a16} and \c{a32}, similarly to \c{o16} and \c{o32},
6287 indicate the address size of the given form of the instruction.
6288 Where this does not match the \c{BITS} setting, a \c{67} prefix is
6292 \S{iref-rv} Register Values
6294 Where an instruction requires a register value, it is already
6295 implicit in the encoding of the rest of the instruction what type of
6296 register is intended: an 8-bit general-purpose register, a segment
6297 register, a debug register, an MMX register, or whatever. Therefore
6298 there is no problem with registers of different types sharing an
6301 The encodings for the various classes of register are:
6303 \b 8-bit general registers: \c{AL} is 0, \c{CL} is 1, \c{DL} is 2,
6304 \c{BL} is 3, \c{AH} is 4, \c{CH} is 5, \c{DH} is 6, and \c{BH} is
6307 \b 16-bit general registers: \c{AX} is 0, \c{CX} is 1, \c{DX} is 2,
6308 \c{BX} is 3, \c{SP} is 4, \c{BP} is 5, \c{SI} is 6, and \c{DI} is 7.
6310 \b 32-bit general registers: \c{EAX} is 0, \c{ECX} is 1, \c{EDX} is
6311 2, \c{EBX} is 3, \c{ESP} is 4, \c{EBP} is 5, \c{ESI} is 6, and
6314 \b \i{Segment registers}: \c{ES} is 0, \c{CS} is 1, \c{SS} is 2, \c{DS}
6315 is 3, \c{FS} is 4, and \c{GS} is 5.
6317 \b \I{floating-point, registers}Floating-point registers: \c{ST0}
6318 is 0, \c{ST1} is 1, \c{ST2} is 2, \c{ST3} is 3, \c{ST4} is 4,
6319 \c{ST5} is 5, \c{ST6} is 6, and \c{ST7} is 7.
6321 \b 64-bit \i{MMX registers}: \c{MM0} is 0, \c{MM1} is 1, \c{MM2} is 2,
6322 \c{MM3} is 3, \c{MM4} is 4, \c{MM5} is 5, \c{MM6} is 6, and \c{MM7}
6325 \b \i{Control registers}: \c{CR0} is 0, \c{CR2} is 2, \c{CR3} is 3,
6328 \b \i{Debug registers}: \c{DR0} is 0, \c{DR1} is 1, \c{DR2} is 2,
6329 \c{DR3} is 3, \c{DR6} is 6, and \c{DR7} is 7.
6331 \b \i{Test registers}: \c{TR3} is 3, \c{TR4} is 4, \c{TR5} is 5,
6332 \c{TR6} is 6, and \c{TR7} is 7.
6334 (Note that wherever a register name contains a number, that number
6335 is also the register value for that register.)
6338 \S{iref-cc} \i{Condition Codes}
6340 The available condition codes are given here, along with their
6341 numeric representations as part of opcodes. Many of these condition
6342 codes have synonyms, so several will be listed at a time.
6344 In the following descriptions, the word `either', when applied to two
6345 possible trigger conditions, is used to mean `either or both'. If
6346 `either but not both' is meant, the phrase `exactly one of' is used.
6348 \b \c{O} is 0 (trigger if the overflow flag is set); \c{NO} is 1.
6350 \b \c{B}, \c{C} and \c{NAE} are 2 (trigger if the carry flag is
6351 set); \c{AE}, \c{NB} and \c{NC} are 3.
6353 \b \c{E} and \c{Z} are 4 (trigger if the zero flag is set); \c{NE}
6356 \b \c{BE} and \c{NA} are 6 (trigger if either of the carry or zero
6357 flags is set); \c{A} and \c{NBE} are 7.
6359 \b \c{S} is 8 (trigger if the sign flag is set); \c{NS} is 9.
6361 \b \c{P} and \c{PE} are 10 (trigger if the parity flag is set);
6362 \c{NP} and \c{PO} are 11.
6364 \b \c{L} and \c{NGE} are 12 (trigger if exactly one of the sign and
6365 overflow flags is set); \c{GE} and \c{NL} are 13.
6367 \b \c{LE} and \c{NG} are 14 (trigger if either the zero flag is set,
6368 or exactly one of the sign and overflow flags is set); \c{G} and
6371 Note that in all cases, the sense of a condition code may be
6372 reversed by changing the low bit of the numeric representation.
6374 For details of when an instruction sets each of the status flags,
6375 see the individual instruction, plus the Status Flags reference
6379 \S{iref-SSE-cc} \i{SSE Condition Predicates}
6381 The condition predicates for SSE comparison instructions are the
6382 codes used as part of the opcode, to determine what form of
6383 comparison is being carried out. In each case, the imm8 value is
6384 the final byte of the opcode encoding, and the predicate is the
6385 code used as part of the mnemonic for the instruction (equivalent
6386 to the "cc" in an integer instruction that used a condition code).
6387 The instructions that use this will give details of what the various
6388 mnemonics are, this table is used to help you work out details of what
6391 \c Predi- imm8 Description Relation where: Emula- Result QNaN
6392 \c cate Encod- A Is 1st Operand tion if NaN Signal
6393 \c ing B Is 2nd Operand Operand Invalid
6395 \c EQ 000B equal A = B False No
6397 \c LT 001B less-than A < B False Yes
6399 \c LE 010B less-than- A <= B False Yes
6402 \c --- ---- greater A > B Swap False Yes
6406 \c --- ---- greater- A >= B Swap False Yes
6407 \c than-or-equal Operands,
6410 \c UNORD 011B unordered A, B = Unordered True No
6412 \c NEQ 100B not-equal A != B True No
6414 \c NLT 101B not-less- NOT(A < B) True Yes
6417 \c NLE 110B not-less- NOT(A <= B) True Yes
6421 \c --- ---- not-greater NOT(A > B) Swap True Yes
6425 \c --- ---- not-greater NOT(A >= B) Swap True Yes
6429 \c ORD 111B ordered A , B = Ordered False No
6431 The unordered relationship is true when at least one of the two
6432 values being compared is a NaN or in an unsupported format.
6434 Note that the comparisons which are listed as not having a predicate
6435 or encoding can only be achieved through software emulation, as
6436 described in the "emulation" column. Note in particular that an
6437 instruction such as \c{greater-than} is not the same as \c{NLE}, as,
6438 unlike with the \c{CMP} instruction, it has to take into account the
6439 possibility of one operand containing a NaN or an unsupported numeric
6443 \S{iref-Flags} \i{Status Flags}
6445 The status flags provide some information about the result of the
6446 arithmetic instructions. This information can be used by conditional
6447 instructions (such a \c{Jcc} and \c{CMOVcc}) as well as by some of
6448 the other instructions (such as \c{ADC} and \c{INTO}).
6450 There are 6 status flags:
6454 Set if an arithmetic operation generates a
6455 carry or a borrow out of the most-significant bit of the result;
6456 cleared otherwise. This flag indicates an overflow condition for
6457 unsigned-integer arithmetic. It is also used in multiple-precision
6460 \c PF - Parity flag.
6462 Set if the least-significant byte of the result contains an even
6463 number of 1 bits; cleared otherwise.
6465 \c AF - Adjust flag.
6467 Set if an arithmetic operation generates a carry or a borrow
6468 out of bit 3 of the result; cleared otherwise. This flag is used
6469 in binary-coded decimal (BCD) arithmetic.
6473 Set if the result is zero; cleared otherwise.
6477 Set equal to the most-significant bit of the result, which is the
6478 sign bit of a signed integer. (0 indicates a positive value and 1
6479 indicates a negative value.)
6481 \c OF - Overflow flag.
6483 Set if the integer result is too large a positive number or too
6484 small a negative number (excluding the sign-bit) to fit in the
6485 destina-tion operand; cleared otherwise. This flag indicates an
6486 overflow condition for signed-integer (two’s complement) arithmetic.
6489 \S{iref-ea} Effective Address Encoding: \i{ModR/M} and \i{SIB}
6491 An \i{effective address} is encoded in up to three parts: a ModR/M
6492 byte, an optional SIB byte, and an optional byte, word or doubleword
6495 The ModR/M byte consists of three fields: the \c{mod} field, ranging
6496 from 0 to 3, in the upper two bits of the byte, the \c{r/m} field,
6497 ranging from 0 to 7, in the lower three bits, and the spare
6498 (register) field in the middle (bit 3 to bit 5). The spare field is
6499 not relevant to the effective address being encoded, and either
6500 contains an extension to the instruction opcode or the register
6501 value of another operand.
6503 The ModR/M system can be used to encode a direct register reference
6504 rather than a memory access. This is always done by setting the
6505 \c{mod} field to 3 and the \c{r/m} field to the register value of
6506 the register in question (it must be a general-purpose register, and
6507 the size of the register must already be implicit in the encoding of
6508 the rest of the instruction). In this case, the SIB byte and
6509 displacement field are both absent.
6511 In 16-bit addressing mode (either \c{BITS 16} with no \c{67} prefix,
6512 or \c{BITS 32} with a \c{67} prefix), the SIB byte is never used.
6513 The general rules for \c{mod} and \c{r/m} (there is an exception,
6516 \b The \c{mod} field gives the length of the displacement field: 0
6517 means no displacement, 1 means one byte, and 2 means two bytes.
6519 \b The \c{r/m} field encodes the combination of registers to be
6520 added to the displacement to give the accessed address: 0 means
6521 \c{BX+SI}, 1 means \c{BX+DI}, 2 means \c{BP+SI}, 3 means \c{BP+DI},
6522 4 means \c{SI} only, 5 means \c{DI} only, 6 means \c{BP} only, and 7
6525 However, there is a special case:
6527 \b If \c{mod} is 0 and \c{r/m} is 6, the effective address encoded
6528 is not \c{[BP]} as the above rules would suggest, but instead
6529 \c{[disp16]}: the displacement field is present and is two bytes
6530 long, and no registers are added to the displacement.
6532 Therefore the effective address \c{[BP]} cannot be encoded as
6533 efficiently as \c{[BX]}; so if you code \c{[BP]} in a program, NASM
6534 adds a notional 8-bit zero displacement, and sets \c{mod} to 1,
6535 \c{r/m} to 6, and the one-byte displacement field to 0.
6537 In 32-bit addressing mode (either \c{BITS 16} with a \c{67} prefix,
6538 or \c{BITS 32} with no \c{67} prefix) the general rules (again,
6539 there are exceptions) for \c{mod} and \c{r/m} are:
6541 \b The \c{mod} field gives the length of the displacement field: 0
6542 means no displacement, 1 means one byte, and 2 means four bytes.
6544 \b If only one register is to be added to the displacement, and it
6545 is not \c{ESP}, the \c{r/m} field gives its register value, and the
6546 SIB byte is absent. If the \c{r/m} field is 4 (which would encode
6547 \c{ESP}), the SIB byte is present and gives the combination and
6548 scaling of registers to be added to the displacement.
6550 If the SIB byte is present, it describes the combination of
6551 registers (an optional base register, and an optional index register
6552 scaled by multiplication by 1, 2, 4 or 8) to be added to the
6553 displacement. The SIB byte is divided into the \c{scale} field, in
6554 the top two bits, the \c{index} field in the next three, and the
6555 \c{base} field in the bottom three. The general rules are:
6557 \b The \c{base} field encodes the register value of the base
6560 \b The \c{index} field encodes the register value of the index
6561 register, unless it is 4, in which case no index register is used
6562 (so \c{ESP} cannot be used as an index register).
6564 \b The \c{scale} field encodes the multiplier by which the index
6565 register is scaled before adding it to the base and displacement: 0
6566 encodes a multiplier of 1, 1 encodes 2, 2 encodes 4 and 3 encodes 8.
6568 The exceptions to the 32-bit encoding rules are:
6570 \b If \c{mod} is 0 and \c{r/m} is 5, the effective address encoded
6571 is not \c{[EBP]} as the above rules would suggest, but instead
6572 \c{[disp32]}: the displacement field is present and is four bytes
6573 long, and no registers are added to the displacement.
6575 \b If \c{mod} is 0, \c{r/m} is 4 (meaning the SIB byte is present)
6576 and \c{base} is 4, the effective address encoded is not
6577 \c{[EBP+index]} as the above rules would suggest, but instead
6578 \c{[disp32+index]}: the displacement field is present and is four
6579 bytes long, and there is no base register (but the index register is
6580 still processed in the normal way).
6583 \H{iref-flg} Key to Instruction Flags
6585 Given along with each instruction in this appendix is a set of
6586 flags, denoting the type of the instruction. The types are as follows:
6588 \b \c{8086}, \c{186}, \c{286}, \c{386}, \c{486}, \c{PENT} and \c{P6}
6589 denote the lowest processor type that supports the instruction. Most
6590 instructions run on all processors above the given type; those that
6591 do not are documented. The Pentium II contains no additional
6592 instructions beyond the P6 (Pentium Pro); from the point of view of
6593 its instruction set, it can be thought of as a P6 with MMX
6596 \b \c{3DNOW} indicates that the instruction is a 3DNow! one, and will
6597 run on the AMD K6-2 and later processors. ATHLON extensions to the
6598 3DNow! instruction set are documented as such.
6600 \b \c{CYRIX} indicates that the instruction is specific to Cyrix
6601 processors, for example the extra MMX instructions in the Cyrix
6602 extended MMX instruction set.
6604 \b \c{FPU} indicates that the instruction is a floating-point one,
6605 and will only run on machines with a coprocessor (automatically
6606 including 486DX, Pentium and above).
6608 \b \c{KATMAI} indicates that the instruction was introduced as part
6609 of the Katmai New Instruction set. These instructions are available
6610 on the Pentium III and later processors. Those which are not
6611 specifically SSE instructions are also available on the AMD Athlon.
6613 \b \c{MMX} indicates that the instruction is an MMX one, and will
6614 run on MMX-capable Pentium processors and the Pentium II.
6616 \b \c{PRIV} indicates that the instruction is a protected-mode
6617 management instruction. Many of these may only be used in protected
6618 mode, or only at privilege level zero.
6620 \b \c{SSE} and \c{SSE2} indicate that the instruction is a Streaming
6621 SIMD Extension instruction. These instructions operate on multiple
6622 values in a single operation. SSE was introduced with the Pentium III
6623 and SSE2 was introduced with the Pentium 4.
6625 \b \c{UNDOC} indicates that the instruction is an undocumented one,
6626 and not part of the official Intel Architecture; it may or may not
6627 be supported on any given machine.
6629 \b \c{WILLAMETTE} indicates that the instruction was introduced as
6630 part of the new instruction set in the Pentium 4 and Intel Xeon
6631 processors. These instructions are also known as SSE2 instructions.
6634 \H{insAAA} \i\c{AAA}, \i\c{AAS}, \i\c{AAM}, \i\c{AAD}: ASCII
6641 \c AAD ; D5 0A [8086]
6642 \c AAD imm ; D5 ib [8086]
6644 \c AAM ; D4 0A [8086]
6645 \c AAM imm ; D4 ib [8086]
6647 These instructions are used in conjunction with the add, subtract,
6648 multiply and divide instructions to perform binary-coded decimal
6649 arithmetic in \e{unpacked} (one BCD digit per byte - easy to
6650 translate to and from \c{ASCII}, hence the instruction names) form.
6651 There are also packed BCD instructions \c{DAA} and \c{DAS}: see
6654 \b \c{AAA} (ASCII Adjust After Addition) should be used after a
6655 one-byte \c{ADD} instruction whose destination was the \c{AL}
6656 register: by means of examining the value in the low nibble of
6657 \c{AL} and also the auxiliary carry flag \c{AF}, it determines
6658 whether the addition has overflowed, and adjusts it (and sets
6659 the carry flag) if so. You can add long BCD strings together
6660 by doing \c{ADD}/\c{AAA} on the low digits, then doing
6661 \c{ADC}/\c{AAA} on each subsequent digit.
6663 \b \c{AAS} (ASCII Adjust AL After Subtraction) works similarly to
6664 \c{AAA}, but is for use after \c{SUB} instructions rather than
6667 \b \c{AAM} (ASCII Adjust AX After Multiply) is for use after you
6668 have multiplied two decimal digits together and left the result
6669 in \c{AL}: it divides \c{AL} by ten and stores the quotient in
6670 \c{AH}, leaving the remainder in \c{AL}. The divisor 10 can be
6671 changed by specifying an operand to the instruction: a particularly
6672 handy use of this is \c{AAM 16}, causing the two nibbles in \c{AL}
6673 to be separated into \c{AH} and \c{AL}.
6675 \b \c{AAD} (ASCII Adjust AX Before Division) performs the inverse
6676 operation to \c{AAM}: it multiplies \c{AH} by ten, adds it to
6677 \c{AL}, and sets \c{AH} to zero. Again, the multiplier 10 can
6681 \H{insADC} \i\c{ADC}: Add with Carry
6683 \c ADC r/m8,reg8 ; 10 /r [8086]
6684 \c ADC r/m16,reg16 ; o16 11 /r [8086]
6685 \c ADC r/m32,reg32 ; o32 11 /r [386]
6687 \c ADC reg8,r/m8 ; 12 /r [8086]
6688 \c ADC reg16,r/m16 ; o16 13 /r [8086]
6689 \c ADC reg32,r/m32 ; o32 13 /r [386]
6691 \c ADC r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /2 ib [8086]
6692 \c ADC r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /2 iw [8086]
6693 \c ADC r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /2 id [386]
6695 \c ADC r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /2 ib [8086]
6696 \c ADC r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /2 ib [386]
6698 \c ADC AL,imm8 ; 14 ib [8086]
6699 \c ADC AX,imm16 ; o16 15 iw [8086]
6700 \c ADC EAX,imm32 ; o32 15 id [386]
6702 \c{ADC} performs integer addition: it adds its two operands
6703 together, plus the value of the carry flag, and leaves the result in
6704 its destination (first) operand. The destination operand can be a
6705 register or a memory location. The source operand can be a register,
6706 a memory location or an immediate value.
6708 The flags are set according to the result of the operation: in
6709 particular, the carry flag is affected and can be used by a
6710 subsequent \c{ADC} instruction.
6712 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
6713 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
6714 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
6715 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
6716 form of the instruction.
6718 To add two numbers without also adding the contents of the carry
6719 flag, use \c{ADD} (\k{insADD}).
6722 \H{insADD} \i\c{ADD}: Add Integers
6724 \c ADD r/m8,reg8 ; 00 /r [8086]
6725 \c ADD r/m16,reg16 ; o16 01 /r [8086]
6726 \c ADD r/m32,reg32 ; o32 01 /r [386]
6728 \c ADD reg8,r/m8 ; 02 /r [8086]
6729 \c ADD reg16,r/m16 ; o16 03 /r [8086]
6730 \c ADD reg32,r/m32 ; o32 03 /r [386]
6732 \c ADD r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /0 ib [8086]
6733 \c ADD r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /0 iw [8086]
6734 \c ADD r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /0 id [386]
6736 \c ADD r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /0 ib [8086]
6737 \c ADD r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /0 ib [386]
6739 \c ADD AL,imm8 ; 04 ib [8086]
6740 \c ADD AX,imm16 ; o16 05 iw [8086]
6741 \c ADD EAX,imm32 ; o32 05 id [386]
6743 \c{ADD} performs integer addition: it adds its two operands
6744 together, and leaves the result in its destination (first) operand.
6745 The destination operand can be a register or a memory location.
6746 The source operand can be a register, a memory location or an
6749 The flags are set according to the result of the operation: in
6750 particular, the carry flag is affected and can be used by a
6751 subsequent \c{ADC} instruction.
6753 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
6754 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
6755 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
6756 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
6757 form of the instruction.
6760 \H{insADDPD} \i\c{ADDPD}: ADD Packed Double-Precision FP Values
6762 \c ADDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 58 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6764 \c{ADDPD} performs addition on each of two packed double-precision
6767 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] + src[0-63],
6768 \c dst[64-127] := dst[64-127] + src[64-127].
6770 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6771 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6774 \H{insADDPS} \i\c{ADDPS}: ADD Packed Single-Precision FP Values
6776 \c ADDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 58 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
6778 \c{ADDPS} performs addition on each of four packed single-precision
6781 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + src[0-31],
6782 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] + src[32-63],
6783 \c dst[64-95] := dst[64-95] + src[64-95],
6784 \c dst[96-127] := dst[96-127] + src[96-127].
6786 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6787 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6790 \H{insADDSD} \i\c{ADDSD}: ADD Scalar Double-Precision FP Values
6792 \c ADDSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F 58 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
6794 \c{ADDSD} adds the low double-precision FP values from the source
6795 and destination operands and stores the double-precision FP result
6796 in the destination operand.
6798 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] + src[0-63],
6799 \c dst[64-127) remains unchanged.
6801 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6802 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location.
6805 \H{insADDSS} \i\c{ADDSS}: ADD Scalar Single-Precision FP Values
6807 \c ADDSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 58 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6809 \c{ADDSD} adds the low single-precision FP values from the source
6810 and destination operands and stores the single-precision FP result
6811 in the destination operand.
6813 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + src[0-31],
6814 \c dst[32-127] remains unchanged.
6816 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6817 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location.
6820 \H{insAND} \i\c{AND}: Bitwise AND
6822 \c AND r/m8,reg8 ; 20 /r [8086]
6823 \c AND r/m16,reg16 ; o16 21 /r [8086]
6824 \c AND r/m32,reg32 ; o32 21 /r [386]
6826 \c AND reg8,r/m8 ; 22 /r [8086]
6827 \c AND reg16,r/m16 ; o16 23 /r [8086]
6828 \c AND reg32,r/m32 ; o32 23 /r [386]
6830 \c AND r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /4 ib [8086]
6831 \c AND r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /4 iw [8086]
6832 \c AND r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /4 id [386]
6834 \c AND r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /4 ib [8086]
6835 \c AND r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /4 ib [386]
6837 \c AND AL,imm8 ; 24 ib [8086]
6838 \c AND AX,imm16 ; o16 25 iw [8086]
6839 \c AND EAX,imm32 ; o32 25 id [386]
6841 \c{AND} performs a bitwise AND operation between its two operands
6842 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if the corresponding
6843 bits of the two inputs were both 1), and stores the result in the
6844 destination (first) operand. The destination operand can be a
6845 register or a memory location. The source operand can be a register,
6846 a memory location or an immediate value.
6848 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
6849 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
6850 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
6851 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
6852 form of the instruction.
6854 The \c{MMX} instruction \c{PAND} (see \k{insPAND}) performs the same
6855 operation on the 64-bit \c{MMX} registers.
6858 \H{insANDNPD} \i\c{ANDNPD}: Bitwise Logical AND NOT of
6859 Packed Double-Precision FP Values
6861 \c ANDNPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 55 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6863 \c{ANDNPD} inverts the bits of the two double-precision
6864 floating-point values in the destination register, and then
6865 performs a logical AND between the two double-precision
6866 floating-point values in the source operand and the temporary
6867 inverted result, storing the result in the destination register.
6869 \c dst[0-63] := src[0-63] AND NOT dst[0-63],
6870 \c dst[64-127] := src[64-127] AND NOT dst[64-127].
6872 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6873 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6876 \H{insANDNPS} \i\c{ANDNPS}: Bitwise Logical AND NOT of
6877 Packed Single-Precision FP Values
6879 \c ANDNPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 55 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
6881 \c{ANDNPS} inverts the bits of the four single-precision
6882 floating-point values in the destination register, and then
6883 performs a logical AND between the four single-precision
6884 floating-point values in the source operand and the temporary
6885 inverted result, storing the result in the destination register.
6887 \c dst[0-31] := src[0-31] AND NOT dst[0-31],
6888 \c dst[32-63] := src[32-63] AND NOT dst[32-63],
6889 \c dst[64-95] := src[64-95] AND NOT dst[64-95],
6890 \c dst[96-127] := src[96-127] AND NOT dst[96-127].
6892 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6893 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6896 \H{insANDPD} \i\c{ANDPD}: Bitwise Logical AND For Single FP
6898 \c ANDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 54 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6900 \c{ANDPD} performs a bitwise logical AND of the two double-precision
6901 floating point values in the source and destination operand, and
6902 stores the result in the destination register.
6904 \c dst[0-63] := src[0-63] AND dst[0-63],
6905 \c dst[64-127] := src[64-127] AND dst[64-127].
6907 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6908 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6911 \H{insANDPS} \i\c{ANDPS}: Bitwise Logical AND For Single FP
6913 \c ANDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 54 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
6915 \c{ANDPS} performs a bitwise logical AND of the four single-precision
6916 floating point values in the source and destination operand, and
6917 stores the result in the destination register.
6919 \c dst[0-31] := src[0-31] AND dst[0-31],
6920 \c dst[32-63] := src[32-63] AND dst[32-63],
6921 \c dst[64-95] := src[64-95] AND dst[64-95],
6922 \c dst[96-127] := src[96-127] AND dst[96-127].
6924 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6925 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6928 \H{insARPL} \i\c{ARPL}: Adjust RPL Field of Selector
6930 \c ARPL r/m16,reg16 ; 63 /r [286,PRIV]
6932 \c{ARPL} expects its two word operands to be segment selectors. It
6933 adjusts the \i\c{RPL} (requested privilege level - stored in the bottom
6934 two bits of the selector) field of the destination (first) operand
6935 to ensure that it is no less (i.e. no more privileged than) the \c{RPL}
6936 field of the source operand. The zero flag is set if and only if a
6937 change had to be made.
6940 \H{insBOUND} \i\c{BOUND}: Check Array Index against Bounds
6942 \c BOUND reg16,mem ; o16 62 /r [186]
6943 \c BOUND reg32,mem ; o32 62 /r [386]
6945 \c{BOUND} expects its second operand to point to an area of memory
6946 containing two signed values of the same size as its first operand
6947 (i.e. two words for the 16-bit form; two doublewords for the 32-bit
6948 form). It performs two signed comparisons: if the value in the
6949 register passed as its first operand is less than the first of the
6950 in-memory values, or is greater than or equal to the second, it
6951 throws a \c{BR} exception. Otherwise, it does nothing.
6954 \H{insBSF} \i\c{BSF}, \i\c{BSR}: Bit Scan
6956 \c BSF reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F BC /r [386]
6957 \c BSF reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F BC /r [386]
6959 \c BSR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F BD /r [386]
6960 \c BSR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F BD /r [386]
6962 \b \c{BSF} searches for the least significant set bit in its source
6963 (second) operand, and if it finds one, stores the index in
6964 its destination (first) operand. If no set bit is found, the
6965 contents of the destination operand are undefined. If the source
6966 operand is zero, the zero flag is set.
6968 \b \c{BSR} performs the same function, but searches from the top
6969 instead, so it finds the most significant set bit.
6971 Bit indices are from 0 (least significant) to 15 or 31 (most
6972 significant). The destination operand can only be a register.
6973 The source operand can be a register or a memory location.
6976 \H{insBSWAP} \i\c{BSWAP}: Byte Swap
6978 \c BSWAP reg32 ; o32 0F C8+r [486]
6980 \c{BSWAP} swaps the order of the four bytes of a 32-bit register:
6981 bits 0-7 exchange places with bits 24-31, and bits 8-15 swap with
6982 bits 16-23. There is no explicit 16-bit equivalent: to byte-swap
6983 \c{AX}, \c{BX}, \c{CX} or \c{DX}, \c{XCHG} can be used. When \c{BSWAP}
6984 is used with a 16-bit register, the result is undefined.
6987 \H{insBT} \i\c{BT}, \i\c{BTC}, \i\c{BTR}, \i\c{BTS}: Bit Test
6989 \c BT r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F A3 /r [386]
6990 \c BT r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F A3 /r [386]
6991 \c BT r/m16,imm8 ; o16 0F BA /4 ib [386]
6992 \c BT r/m32,imm8 ; o32 0F BA /4 ib [386]
6994 \c BTC r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F BB /r [386]
6995 \c BTC r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F BB /r [386]
6996 \c BTC r/m16,imm8 ; o16 0F BA /7 ib [386]
6997 \c BTC r/m32,imm8 ; o32 0F BA /7 ib [386]
6999 \c BTR r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F B3 /r [386]
7000 \c BTR r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F B3 /r [386]
7001 \c BTR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 0F BA /6 ib [386]
7002 \c BTR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 0F BA /6 ib [386]
7004 \c BTS r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F AB /r [386]
7005 \c BTS r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F AB /r [386]
7006 \c BTS r/m16,imm ; o16 0F BA /5 ib [386]
7007 \c BTS r/m32,imm ; o32 0F BA /5 ib [386]
7009 These instructions all test one bit of their first operand, whose
7010 index is given by the second operand, and store the value of that
7011 bit into the carry flag. Bit indices are from 0 (least significant)
7012 to 15 or 31 (most significant).
7014 In addition to storing the original value of the bit into the carry
7015 flag, \c{BTR} also resets (clears) the bit in the operand itself.
7016 \c{BTS} sets the bit, and \c{BTC} complements the bit. \c{BT} does
7017 not modify its operands.
7019 The destination can be a register or a memory location. The source can
7020 be a register or an immediate value.
7022 If the destination operand is a register, the bit offset should be
7023 in the range 0-15 (for 16-bit operands) or 0-31 (for 32-bit operands).
7024 An immediate value outside these ranges will be taken modulo 16/32
7027 If the destination operand is a memory location, then an immediate
7028 bit offset follows the same rules as for a register. If the bit offset
7029 is in a register, then it can be anything within the signed range of
7030 the register used (ie, for a 32-bit operand, it can be (-2^31) to (2^31 - 1)
7033 \H{insCALL} \i\c{CALL}: Call Subroutine
7035 \c CALL imm ; E8 rw/rd [8086]
7036 \c CALL imm:imm16 ; o16 9A iw iw [8086]
7037 \c CALL imm:imm32 ; o32 9A id iw [386]
7038 \c CALL FAR mem16 ; o16 FF /3 [8086]
7039 \c CALL FAR mem32 ; o32 FF /3 [386]
7040 \c CALL r/m16 ; o16 FF /2 [8086]
7041 \c CALL r/m32 ; o32 FF /2 [386]
7043 \c{CALL} calls a subroutine, by means of pushing the current
7044 instruction pointer (\c{IP}) and optionally \c{CS} as well on the
7045 stack, and then jumping to a given address.
7047 \c{CS} is pushed as well as \c{IP} if and only if the call is a far
7048 call, i.e. a destination segment address is specified in the
7049 instruction. The forms involving two colon-separated arguments are
7050 far calls; so are the \c{CALL FAR mem} forms.
7052 The immediate \i{near call} takes one of two forms (\c{call imm16/imm32},
7053 determined by the current segment size limit. For 16-bit operands,
7054 you would use \c{CALL 0x1234}, and for 32-bit operands you would use
7055 \c{CALL 0x12345678}. The value passed as an operand is a relative offset.
7057 You can choose between the two immediate \i{far call} forms
7058 (\c{CALL imm:imm}) by the use of the \c{WORD} and \c{DWORD} keywords:
7059 \c{CALL WORD 0x1234:0x5678}) or \c{CALL DWORD 0x1234:0x56789abc}.
7061 The \c{CALL FAR mem} forms execute a far call by loading the
7062 destination address out of memory. The address loaded consists of 16
7063 or 32 bits of offset (depending on the operand size), and 16 bits of
7064 segment. The operand size may be overridden using \c{CALL WORD FAR
7065 mem} or \c{CALL DWORD FAR mem}.
7067 The \c{CALL r/m} forms execute a \i{near call} (within the same
7068 segment), loading the destination address out of memory or out of a
7069 register. The keyword \c{NEAR} may be specified, for clarity, in
7070 these forms, but is not necessary. Again, operand size can be
7071 overridden using \c{CALL WORD mem} or \c{CALL DWORD mem}.
7073 As a convenience, NASM does not require you to call a far procedure
7074 symbol by coding the cumbersome \c{CALL SEG routine:routine}, but
7075 instead allows the easier synonym \c{CALL FAR routine}.
7077 The \c{CALL r/m} forms given above are near calls; NASM will accept
7078 the \c{NEAR} keyword (e.g. \c{CALL NEAR [address]}), even though it
7079 is not strictly necessary.
7082 \H{insCBW} \i\c{CBW}, \i\c{CWD}, \i\c{CDQ}, \i\c{CWDE}: Sign Extensions
7084 \c CBW ; o16 98 [8086]
7085 \c CWDE ; o32 98 [386]
7087 \c CWD ; o16 99 [8086]
7088 \c CDQ ; o32 99 [386]
7090 All these instructions sign-extend a short value into a longer one,
7091 by replicating the top bit of the original value to fill the
7094 \c{CBW} extends \c{AL} into \c{AX} by repeating the top bit of
7095 \c{AL} in every bit of \c{AH}. \c{CWDE} extends \c{AX} into
7096 \c{EAX}. \c{CWD} extends \c{AX} into \c{DX:AX} by repeating
7097 the top bit of \c{AX} throughout \c{DX}, and \c{CDQ} extends
7098 \c{EAX} into \c{EDX:EAX}.
7101 \H{insCLC} \i\c{CLC}, \i\c{CLD}, \i\c{CLI}, \i\c{CLTS}: Clear Flags
7106 \c CLTS ; 0F 06 [286,PRIV]
7108 These instructions clear various flags. \c{CLC} clears the carry
7109 flag; \c{CLD} clears the direction flag; \c{CLI} clears the
7110 interrupt flag (thus disabling interrupts); and \c{CLTS} clears the
7111 task-switched (\c{TS}) flag in \c{CR0}.
7113 To set the carry, direction, or interrupt flags, use the \c{STC},
7114 \c{STD} and \c{STI} instructions (\k{insSTC}). To invert the carry
7115 flag, use \c{CMC} (\k{insCMC}).
7118 \H{insCLFLUSH} \i\c{CLFLUSH}: Flush Cache Line
7120 \c CLFLUSH mem ; 0F AE /7 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7122 \c{CLFLUSH} invlidates the cache line that contains the linear address
7123 specified by the source operand from all levels of the processor cache
7124 hierarchy (data and instruction). If, at any level of the cache
7125 hierarchy, the line is inconsistent with memory (dirty) it is written
7126 to memory before invalidation. The source operand points to a
7127 byte-sized memory location.
7129 Although \c{CLFLUSH} is flagged \c{SSE2} and above, it may not be
7130 present on all processors which have \c{SSE2} support, and it may be
7131 supported on other processors; the \c{CPUID} instruction (\k{insCPUID})
7132 will return a bit which indicates support for the \c{CLFLUSH} instruction.
7135 \H{insCMC} \i\c{CMC}: Complement Carry Flag
7139 \c{CMC} changes the value of the carry flag: if it was 0, it sets it
7140 to 1, and vice versa.
7143 \H{insCMOVcc} \i\c{CMOVcc}: Conditional Move
7145 \c CMOVcc reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 40+cc /r [P6]
7146 \c CMOVcc reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 40+cc /r [P6]
7148 \c{CMOV} moves its source (second) operand into its destination
7149 (first) operand if the given condition code is satisfied; otherwise
7152 For a list of condition codes, see \k{iref-cc}.
7154 Although the \c{CMOV} instructions are flagged \c{P6} and above, they
7155 may not be supported by all Pentium Pro processors; the \c{CPUID}
7156 instruction (\k{insCPUID}) will return a bit which indicates whether
7157 conditional moves are supported.
7160 \H{insCMP} \i\c{CMP}: Compare Integers
7162 \c CMP r/m8,reg8 ; 38 /r [8086]
7163 \c CMP r/m16,reg16 ; o16 39 /r [8086]
7164 \c CMP r/m32,reg32 ; o32 39 /r [386]
7166 \c CMP reg8,r/m8 ; 3A /r [8086]
7167 \c CMP reg16,r/m16 ; o16 3B /r [8086]
7168 \c CMP reg32,r/m32 ; o32 3B /r [386]
7170 \c CMP r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /0 ib [8086]
7171 \c CMP r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /0 iw [8086]
7172 \c CMP r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /0 id [386]
7174 \c CMP r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /0 ib [8086]
7175 \c CMP r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /0 ib [386]
7177 \c CMP AL,imm8 ; 3C ib [8086]
7178 \c CMP AX,imm16 ; o16 3D iw [8086]
7179 \c CMP EAX,imm32 ; o32 3D id [386]
7181 \c{CMP} performs a `mental' subtraction of its second operand from
7182 its first operand, and affects the flags as if the subtraction had
7183 taken place, but does not store the result of the subtraction
7186 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
7187 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
7188 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
7189 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
7190 form of the instruction.
7192 The destination operand can be a register or a memory location. The
7193 source can be a register, memory location or an immediate value of
7194 the same size as the destination.
7197 \H{insCMPccPD} \i\c{CMPccPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Compare
7198 \I\c{CMPEQPD} \I\c{CMPLTPD} \I\c{CMPLEPD} \I\c{CMPUNORDPD}
7199 \I\c{CMPNEQPD} \I\c{CMPNLTPD} \I\c{CMPNLEPD} \I\c{CMPORDPD}
7201 \c CMPPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128,imm8 ; 66 0F C2 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7203 \c CMPEQPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 00 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7204 \c CMPLTPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 01 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7205 \c CMPLEPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 02 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7206 \c CMPUNORDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 03 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7207 \c CMPNEQPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 04 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7208 \c CMPNLTPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 05 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7209 \c CMPNLEPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 06 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7210 \c CMPORDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 07 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7212 The \c{CMPccPD} instructions compare the two packed double-precision
7213 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
7214 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
7215 each comparison is a quadword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
7216 all 0s (comparison false).
7218 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
7219 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7221 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
7222 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
7223 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
7224 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
7225 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
7229 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
7230 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
7232 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
7233 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
7236 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
7237 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7240 \H{insCMPccPS} \i\c{CMPccPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Compare
7241 \I\c{CMPEQPS} \I\c{CMPLTPS} \I\c{CMPLEPS} \I\c{CMPUNORDPS}
7242 \I\c{CMPNEQPS} \I\c{CMPNLTPS} \I\c{CMPNLEPS} \I\c{CMPORDPS}
7244 \c CMPPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128,imm8 ; 0F C2 /r ib [KATMAI,SSE]
7246 \c CMPEQPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 00 [KATMAI,SSE]
7247 \c CMPLTPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 01 [KATMAI,SSE]
7248 \c CMPLEPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 02 [KATMAI,SSE]
7249 \c CMPUNORDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 03 [KATMAI,SSE]
7250 \c CMPNEQPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 04 [KATMAI,SSE]
7251 \c CMPNLTPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 05 [KATMAI,SSE]
7252 \c CMPNLEPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 06 [KATMAI,SSE]
7253 \c CMPORDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 07 [KATMAI,SSE]
7255 The \c{CMPccPS} instructions compare the two packed single-precision
7256 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
7257 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
7258 each comparison is a doubleword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
7259 all 0s (comparison false).
7261 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
7262 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7264 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
7265 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
7266 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
7267 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
7268 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
7272 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
7273 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
7275 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
7276 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
7279 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
7280 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7283 \H{insCMPSB} \i\c{CMPSB}, \i\c{CMPSW}, \i\c{CMPSD}: Compare Strings
7285 \c CMPSB ; A6 [8086]
7286 \c CMPSW ; o16 A7 [8086]
7287 \c CMPSD ; o32 A7 [386]
7289 \c{CMPSB} compares the byte at \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} with the
7290 byte at \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]}, and sets the flags accordingly.
7291 It then increments or decrements (depending on the direction flag:
7292 increments if the flag is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{SI} and
7293 \c{DI} (or \c{ESI} and \c{EDI}).
7295 The registers used are \c{SI} and \c{DI} if the address size is 16
7296 bits, and \c{ESI} and \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use
7297 an address size not equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can
7298 use an explicit \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
7300 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
7301 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
7302 example, \c{ES CMPSB}). The use of \c{ES} for the load from \c{[DI]}
7303 or \c{[EDI]} cannot be overridden.
7305 \c{CMPSW} and \c{CMPSD} work in the same way, but they compare a
7306 word or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement
7307 the addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
7309 The \c{REPE} and \c{REPNE} prefixes (equivalently, \c{REPZ} and
7310 \c{REPNZ}) may be used to repeat the instruction up to \c{CX} (or
7311 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times until the
7312 first unequal or equal byte is found.
7315 \H{insCMPccSD} \i\c{CMPccSD}: Scalar Double-Precision FP Compare
7316 \I\c{CMPEQSD} \I\c{CMPLTSD} \I\c{CMPLESD} \I\c{CMPUNORDSD}
7317 \I\c{CMPNEQSD} \I\c{CMPNLTSD} \I\c{CMPNLESD} \I\c{CMPORDSD}
7319 \c CMPSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64,imm8 ; F2 0F C2 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7321 \c CMPEQSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 00 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7322 \c CMPLTSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 01 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7323 \c CMPLESD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 02 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7324 \c CMPUNORDSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 03 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7325 \c CMPNEQSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 04 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7326 \c CMPNLTSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 05 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7327 \c CMPNLESD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 06 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7328 \c CMPORDSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 07 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7330 The \c{CMPccSD} instructions compare the low-order double-precision
7331 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
7332 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
7333 each comparison is a quadword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
7334 all 0s (comparison false).
7336 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
7337 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7339 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
7340 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
7341 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
7342 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
7343 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
7347 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
7348 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
7350 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
7351 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
7354 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
7355 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7358 \H{insCMPccSS} \i\c{CMPccSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Compare
7359 \I\c{CMPEQSS} \I\c{CMPLTSS} \I\c{CMPLESS} \I\c{CMPUNORDSS}
7360 \I\c{CMPNEQSS} \I\c{CMPNLTSS} \I\c{CMPNLESS} \I\c{CMPORDSS}
7362 \c CMPSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32,imm8 ; F3 0F C2 /r ib [KATMAI,SSE]
7364 \c CMPEQSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 00 [KATMAI,SSE]
7365 \c CMPLTSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 01 [KATMAI,SSE]
7366 \c CMPLESS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 02 [KATMAI,SSE]
7367 \c CMPUNORDSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 03 [KATMAI,SSE]
7368 \c CMPNEQSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 04 [KATMAI,SSE]
7369 \c CMPNLTSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 05 [KATMAI,SSE]
7370 \c CMPNLESS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 06 [KATMAI,SSE]
7371 \c CMPORDSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 07 [KATMAI,SSE]
7373 The \c{CMPccSS} instructions compare the low-order single-precision
7374 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
7375 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
7376 each comparison is a doubleword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
7377 all 0s (comparison false).
7379 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
7380 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7382 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
7383 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
7384 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
7385 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
7386 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
7390 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
7391 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
7393 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
7394 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
7397 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
7398 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7401 \H{insCMPXCHG} \i\c{CMPXCHG}, \i\c{CMPXCHG486}: Compare and Exchange
7403 \c CMPXCHG r/m8,reg8 ; 0F B0 /r [PENT]
7404 \c CMPXCHG r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F B1 /r [PENT]
7405 \c CMPXCHG r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F B1 /r [PENT]
7407 \c CMPXCHG486 r/m8,reg8 ; 0F A6 /r [486,UNDOC]
7408 \c CMPXCHG486 r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F A7 /r [486,UNDOC]
7409 \c CMPXCHG486 r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F A7 /r [486,UNDOC]
7411 These two instructions perform exactly the same operation; however,
7412 apparently some (not all) 486 processors support it under a
7413 non-standard opcode, so NASM provides the undocumented
7414 \c{CMPXCHG486} form to generate the non-standard opcode.
7416 \c{CMPXCHG} compares its destination (first) operand to the value in
7417 \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{EAX} (depending on the operand size of the
7418 instruction). If they are equal, it copies its source (second)
7419 operand into the destination and sets the zero flag. Otherwise, it
7420 clears the zero flag and leaves the destination alone.
7422 The destination can be either a register or a memory location. The
7423 source is a register.
7425 \c{CMPXCHG} is intended to be used for atomic operations in
7426 multitasking or multiprocessor environments. To safely update a
7427 value in shared memory, for example, you might load the value into
7428 \c{EAX}, load the updated value into \c{EBX}, and then execute the
7429 instruction \c{LOCK CMPXCHG [value],EBX}. If \c{value} has not
7430 changed since being loaded, it is updated with your desired new
7431 value, and the zero flag is set to let you know it has worked. (The
7432 \c{LOCK} prefix prevents another processor doing anything in the
7433 middle of this operation: it guarantees atomicity.) However, if
7434 another processor has modified the value in between your load and
7435 your attempted store, the store does not happen, and you are
7436 notified of the failure by a cleared zero flag, so you can go round
7440 \H{insCMPXCHG8B} \i\c{CMPXCHG8B}: Compare and Exchange Eight Bytes
7442 \c CMPXCHG8B mem ; 0F C7 /1 [PENT]
7444 This is a larger and more unwieldy version of \c{CMPXCHG}: it
7445 compares the 64-bit (eight-byte) value stored at \c{[mem]} with the
7446 value in \c{EDX:EAX}. If they are equal, it sets the zero flag and
7447 stores \c{ECX:EBX} into the memory area. If they are unequal, it
7448 clears the zero flag and stores the memory contents into \c{EDX:EAX}.
7450 \c{CMPXCHG8B} can be used with the \c{LOCK} prefix, to allow atomic
7451 execution. This is useful in multi-processor and multi-tasking
7455 \H{insCOMISD} \i\c{COMISD}: Scalar Ordered Double-Precision FP Compare and Set EFLAGS
7457 \c COMISD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; 66 0F 2F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7459 \c{COMISD} compares the low-order double-precision FP value in the
7460 two source operands. ZF, PF and CF are set according to the result.
7461 OF, AF and AF are cleared. The unordered result is returned if either
7462 source is a NaN (QNaN or SNaN).
7464 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7465 an \c{XMM} register or a memory location.
7467 The flags are set according to the following rules:
7469 \c Result Flags Values
7471 \c UNORDERED: ZF,PF,CF <-- 111;
7472 \c GREATER_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 000;
7473 \c LESS_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 001;
7474 \c EQUAL: ZF,PF,CF <-- 100;
7477 \H{insCOMISS} \i\c{COMISS}: Scalar Ordered Single-Precision FP Compare and Set EFLAGS
7479 \c COMISS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; 66 0F 2F /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7481 \c{COMISS} compares the low-order single-precision FP value in the
7482 two source operands. ZF, PF and CF are set according to the result.
7483 OF, AF and AF are cleared. The unordered result is returned if either
7484 source is a NaN (QNaN or SNaN).
7486 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7487 an \c{XMM} register or a memory location.
7489 The flags are set according to the following rules:
7491 \c Result Flags Values
7493 \c UNORDERED: ZF,PF,CF <-- 111;
7494 \c GREATER_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 000;
7495 \c LESS_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 001;
7496 \c EQUAL: ZF,PF,CF <-- 100;
7499 \H{insCPUID} \i\c{CPUID}: Get CPU Identification Code
7501 \c CPUID ; 0F A2 [PENT]
7503 \c{CPUID} returns various information about the processor it is
7504 being executed on. It fills the four registers \c{EAX}, \c{EBX},
7505 \c{ECX} and \c{EDX} with information, which varies depending on the
7506 input contents of \c{EAX}.
7508 \c{CPUID} also acts as a barrier to serialise instruction execution:
7509 executing the \c{CPUID} instruction guarantees that all the effects
7510 (memory modification, flag modification, register modification) of
7511 previous instructions have been completed before the next
7512 instruction gets fetched.
7514 The information returned is as follows:
7516 \b If \c{EAX} is zero on input, \c{EAX} on output holds the maximum
7517 acceptable input value of \c{EAX}, and \c{EBX:EDX:ECX} contain the
7518 string \c{"GenuineIntel"} (or not, if you have a clone processor).
7519 That is to say, \c{EBX} contains \c{"Genu"} (in NASM's own sense of
7520 character constants, described in \k{chrconst}), \c{EDX} contains
7521 \c{"ineI"} and \c{ECX} contains \c{"ntel"}.
7523 \b If \c{EAX} is one on input, \c{EAX} on output contains version
7524 information about the processor, and \c{EDX} contains a set of
7525 feature flags, showing the presence and absence of various features.
7526 For example, bit 8 is set if the \c{CMPXCHG8B} instruction
7527 (\k{insCMPXCHG8B}) is supported, bit 15 is set if the conditional
7528 move instructions (\k{insCMOVcc} and \k{insFCMOVB}) are supported,
7529 and bit 23 is set if \c{MMX} instructions are supported.
7531 \b If \c{EAX} is two on input, \c{EAX}, \c{EBX}, \c{ECX} and \c{EDX}
7532 all contain information about caches and TLBs (Translation Lookahead
7535 For more information on the data returned from \c{CPUID}, see the
7536 documentation from Intel and other processor manufacturers.
7539 \H{insCVTDQ2PD} \i\c{CVTDQ2PD}:
7540 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Double-Precision FP Conversion
7542 \c CVTDQ2PD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F3 0F E6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7544 \c{CVTDQ2PD} converts two packed signed doublewords from the source
7545 operand to two packed double-precision FP values in the destination
7548 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7549 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
7550 source is a register, the packed integers are in the low quadword.
7553 \H{insCVTDQ2PS} \i\c{CVTDQ2PS}:
7554 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Single-Precision FP Conversion
7556 \c CVTDQ2PS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 5B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7558 \c{CVTDQ2PS} converts four packed signed doublewords from the source
7559 operand to four packed single-precision FP values in the destination
7562 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7563 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7565 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7568 \H{insCVTPD2DQ} \i\c{CVTPD2DQ}:
7569 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
7571 \c CVTPD2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; F2 0F E6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7573 \c{CVTPD2DQ} converts two packed double-precision FP values from the
7574 source operand to two packed signed doublewords in the low quadword
7575 of the destination operand. The high quadword of the destination is
7578 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7579 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7581 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7584 \H{insCVTPD2PI} \i\c{CVTPD2PI}:
7585 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
7587 \c CVTPD2PI mm,xmm/mem128 ; 66 0F 2D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7589 \c{CVTPD2PI} converts two packed double-precision FP values from the
7590 source operand to two packed signed doublewords in the destination
7593 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
7594 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7596 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7599 \H{insCVTPD2PS} \i\c{CVTPD2PS}:
7600 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Single-Precision FP Conversion
7602 \c CVTPD2PS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 5A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7604 \c{CVTPD2PS} converts two packed double-precision FP values from the
7605 source operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the low
7606 quadword of the destination operand. The high quadword of the
7607 destination is set to all 0s.
7609 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7610 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7612 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7615 \H{insCVTPI2PD} \i\c{CVTPI2PD}:
7616 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Double-Precision FP Conversion
7618 \c CVTPI2PD xmm,mm/mem64 ; 66 0F 2A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7620 \c{CVTPI2PD} converts two packed signed doublewords from the source
7621 operand to two packed double-precision FP values in the destination
7624 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7625 either an \c{MMX} register or a 64-bit memory location.
7627 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7630 \H{insCVTPI2PS} \i\c{CVTPI2PS}:
7631 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Single-FP Conversion
7633 \c CVTPI2PS xmm,mm/mem64 ; 0F 2A /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7635 \c{CVTPI2PS} converts two packed signed doublewords from the source
7636 operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the low quadword
7637 of the destination operand. The high quadword of the destination
7640 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7641 either an \c{MMX} register or a 64-bit memory location.
7643 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7646 \H{insCVTPS2DQ} \i\c{CVTPS2DQ}:
7647 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
7649 \c CVTPS2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 5B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7651 \c{CVTPS2DQ} converts four packed single-precision FP values from the
7652 source operand to four packed signed doublewords in the destination operand.
7654 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7655 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7657 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7660 \H{insCVTPS2PD} \i\c{CVTPS2PD}:
7661 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Double-Precision FP Conversion
7663 \c CVTPS2PD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; 0F 5A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7665 \c{CVTPS2PD} converts two packed single-precision FP values from the
7666 source operand to two packed double-precision FP values in the destination
7669 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7670 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the source
7671 is a register, the input values are in the low quadword.
7673 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7676 \H{insCVTPS2PI} \i\c{CVTPS2PI}:
7677 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
7679 \c CVTPS2PI mm,xmm/mem64 ; 0F 2D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7681 \c{CVTPS2PI} converts two packed single-precision FP values from
7682 the source operand to two packed signed doublewords in the destination
7685 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
7686 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
7687 source is a register, the input values are in the low quadword.
7689 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7692 \H{insCVTSD2SI} \i\c{CVTSD2SI}:
7693 Scalar Double-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion
7695 \c CVTSD2SI reg32,xmm/mem64 ; F2 0F 2D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7697 \c{CVTSD2SI} converts a double-precision FP value from the source
7698 operand to a signed doubleword in the destination operand.
7700 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
7701 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
7702 source is a register, the input value is in the low quadword.
7704 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7707 \H{insCVTSD2SS} \i\c{CVTSD2SS}:
7708 Scalar Double-Precision FP to Scalar Single-Precision FP Conversion
7710 \c CVTSD2SS xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F 5A /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7712 \c{CVTSD2SS} converts a double-precision FP value from the source
7713 operand to a single-precision FP value in the low doubleword of the
7714 destination operand. The upper 3 doublewords are left unchanged.
7716 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7717 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
7718 source is a register, the input value is in the low quadword.
7720 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7723 \H{insCVTSI2SD} \i\c{CVTSI2SD}:
7724 Signed INT32 to Scalar Double-Precision FP Conversion
7726 \c CVTSI2SD xmm,r/m32 ; F2 0F 2A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7728 \c{CVTSI2SD} converts a signed doubleword from the source operand to
7729 a double-precision FP value in the low quadword of the destination
7730 operand. The high quadword is left unchanged.
7732 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7733 a general purpose register or a 32-bit memory location.
7735 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7738 \H{insCVTSI2SS} \i\c{CVTSI2SS}:
7739 Signed INT32 to Scalar Single-Precision FP Conversion
7741 \c CVTSI2SS xmm,r/m32 ; F3 0F 2A /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7743 \c{CVTSI2SS} converts a signed doubleword from the source operand to a
7744 single-precision FP value in the low doubleword of the destination operand.
7745 The upper 3 doublewords are left unchanged.
7747 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7748 a general purpose register or a 32-bit memory location.
7750 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7753 \H{insCVTSS2SD} \i\c{CVTSS2SD}:
7754 Scalar Single-Precision FP to Scalar Double-Precision FP Conversion
7756 \c CVTSS2SD xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 5A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7758 \c{CVTSS2SD} converts a single-precision FP value from the source operand
7759 to a double-precision FP value in the low quadword of the destination
7760 operand. The upper quadword is left unchanged.
7762 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7763 an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location. If the source is a
7764 register, the input value is contained in the low doubleword.
7766 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7769 \H{insCVTSS2SI} \i\c{CVTSS2SI}:
7770 Scalar Single-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion
7772 \c CVTSS2SI reg32,xmm/mem32 ; F3 0F 2D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7774 \c{CVTSS2SI} converts a single-precision FP value from the source
7775 operand to a signed doubleword in the destination operand.
7777 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
7778 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location. If the
7779 source is a register, the input value is in the low doubleword.
7781 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7784 \H{insCVTTPD2DQ} \i\c{CVTTPD2DQ}:
7785 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7787 \c CVTTPD2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F E6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7789 \c{CVTTPD2DQ} converts two packed double-precision FP values in the source
7790 operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the destination operand.
7791 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero). The high
7792 quadword is set to all 0s.
7794 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7795 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7797 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7800 \H{insCVTTPD2PI} \i\c{CVTTPD2PI}:
7801 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7803 \c CVTTPD2PI mm,xmm/mem128 ; 66 0F 2C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7805 \c{CVTTPD2PI} converts two packed double-precision FP values in the source
7806 operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the destination operand.
7807 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
7809 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
7810 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7812 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7815 \H{insCVTTPS2DQ} \i\c{CVTTPS2DQ}:
7816 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7818 \c CVTTPS2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; F3 0F 5B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7820 \c{CVTTPS2DQ} converts four packed single-precision FP values in the source
7821 operand to four packed signed doublewords in the destination operand.
7822 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
7824 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7825 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7827 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7830 \H{insCVTTPS2PI} \i\c{CVTTPS2PI}:
7831 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7833 \c CVTTPS2PI mm,xmm/mem64 ; 0F 2C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7835 \c{CVTTPS2PI} converts two packed single-precision FP values in the source
7836 operand to two packed signed doublewords in the destination operand.
7837 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero). If
7838 the source is a register, the input values are in the low quadword.
7840 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
7841 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the source
7842 is a register, the input value is in the low quadword.
7844 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7847 \H{insCVTTSD2SI} \i\c{CVTTSD2SI}:
7848 Scalar Double-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7850 \c CVTTSD2SI reg32,xmm/mem64 ; F2 0F 2C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7852 \c{CVTTSD2SI} converts a double-precision FP value in the source operand
7853 to a signed doubleword in the destination operand. If the result is
7854 inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
7856 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
7857 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the source is a
7858 register, the input value is in the low quadword.
7860 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7863 \H{insCVTTSS2SI} \i\c{CVTTSS2SI}:
7864 Scalar Single-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7866 \c CVTTSD2SI reg32,xmm/mem32 ; F3 0F 2C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7868 \c{CVTTSS2SI} converts a single-precision FP value in the source operand
7869 to a signed doubleword in the destination operand. If the result is
7870 inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
7872 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
7873 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location. If the source is a
7874 register, the input value is in the low doubleword.
7876 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7879 \H{insDAA} \i\c{DAA}, \i\c{DAS}: Decimal Adjustments
7884 These instructions are used in conjunction with the add and subtract
7885 instructions to perform binary-coded decimal arithmetic in
7886 \e{packed} (one BCD digit per nibble) form. For the unpacked
7887 equivalents, see \k{insAAA}.
7889 \c{DAA} should be used after a one-byte \c{ADD} instruction whose
7890 destination was the \c{AL} register: by means of examining the value
7891 in the \c{AL} and also the auxiliary carry flag \c{AF}, it
7892 determines whether either digit of the addition has overflowed, and
7893 adjusts it (and sets the carry and auxiliary-carry flags) if so. You
7894 can add long BCD strings together by doing \c{ADD}/\c{DAA} on the
7895 low two digits, then doing \c{ADC}/\c{DAA} on each subsequent pair
7898 \c{DAS} works similarly to \c{DAA}, but is for use after \c{SUB}
7899 instructions rather than \c{ADD}.
7902 \H{insDEC} \i\c{DEC}: Decrement Integer
7904 \c DEC reg16 ; o16 48+r [8086]
7905 \c DEC reg32 ; o32 48+r [386]
7906 \c DEC r/m8 ; FE /1 [8086]
7907 \c DEC r/m16 ; o16 FF /1 [8086]
7908 \c DEC r/m32 ; o32 FF /1 [386]
7910 \c{DEC} subtracts 1 from its operand. It does \e{not} affect the
7911 carry flag: to affect the carry flag, use \c{SUB something,1} (see
7912 \k{insSUB}). \c{DEC} affects all the other flags according to the result.
7914 This instruction can be used with a \c{LOCK} prefix to allow atomic
7917 See also \c{INC} (\k{insINC}).
7920 \H{insDIV} \i\c{DIV}: Unsigned Integer Divide
7922 \c DIV r/m8 ; F6 /6 [8086]
7923 \c DIV r/m16 ; o16 F7 /6 [8086]
7924 \c DIV r/m32 ; o32 F7 /6 [386]
7926 \c{DIV} performs unsigned integer division. The explicit operand
7927 provided is the divisor; the dividend and destination operands are
7928 implicit, in the following way:
7930 \b For \c{DIV r/m8}, \c{AX} is divided by the given operand; the
7931 quotient is stored in \c{AL} and the remainder in \c{AH}.
7933 \b For \c{DIV r/m16}, \c{DX:AX} is divided by the given operand; the
7934 quotient is stored in \c{AX} and the remainder in \c{DX}.
7936 \b For \c{DIV r/m32}, \c{EDX:EAX} is divided by the given operand;
7937 the quotient is stored in \c{EAX} and the remainder in \c{EDX}.
7939 Signed integer division is performed by the \c{IDIV} instruction:
7943 \H{insDIVPD} \i\c{DIVPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Divide
7945 \c DIVPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 5E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7947 \c{DIVPD} divides the two packed double-precision FP values in
7948 the destination operand by the two packed double-precision FP
7949 values in the source operand, and stores the packed double-precision
7950 results in the destination register.
7952 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7953 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7955 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] / src[0-63],
7956 \c dst[64-127] := dst[64-127] / src[64-127].
7959 \H{insDIVPS} \i\c{DIVPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Divide
7961 \c DIVPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 5E /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7963 \c{DIVPD} divides the four packed single-precision FP values in
7964 the destination operand by the four packed single-precision FP
7965 values in the source operand, and stores the packed single-precision
7966 results in the destination register.
7968 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7969 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7971 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] / src[0-31],
7972 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] / src[32-63],
7973 \c dst[64-95] := dst[64-95] / src[64-95],
7974 \c dst[96-127] := dst[96-127] / src[96-127].
7977 \H{insDIVSD} \i\c{DIVPD}: Scalar Double-Precision FP Divide
7979 \c DIVSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F 5E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7981 \c{DIVSD} divides the low-order double-precision FP value in the
7982 destination operand by the low-order double-precision FP value in
7983 the source operand, and stores the double-precision result in the
7984 destination register.
7986 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7987 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location.
7989 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] / src[0-63],
7990 \c dst[64-127] remains unchanged.
7993 \H{insDIVSS} \i\c{DIVSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Divide
7995 \c DIVSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 5E /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7997 \c{DIVSS} divides the low-order single-precision FP value in the
7998 destination operand by the low-order single-precision FP value in
7999 the source operand, and stores the single-precision result in the
8000 destination register.
8002 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
8003 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location.
8005 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] / src[0-31],
8006 \c dst[32-127] remains unchanged.
8009 \H{insEMMS} \i\c{EMMS}: Empty MMX State
8011 \c EMMS ; 0F 77 [PENT,MMX]
8013 \c{EMMS} sets the FPU tag word (marking which floating-point registers
8014 are available) to all ones, meaning all registers are available for
8015 the FPU to use. It should be used after executing \c{MMX} instructions
8016 and before executing any subsequent floating-point operations.
8019 \H{insENTER} \i\c{ENTER}: Create Stack Frame
8021 \c ENTER imm,imm ; C8 iw ib [186]
8023 \c{ENTER} constructs a \i\c{stack frame} for a high-level language
8024 procedure call. The first operand (the \c{iw} in the opcode
8025 definition above refers to the first operand) gives the amount of
8026 stack space to allocate for local variables; the second (the \c{ib}
8027 above) gives the nesting level of the procedure (for languages like
8028 Pascal, with nested procedures).
8030 The function of \c{ENTER}, with a nesting level of zero, is
8033 \c PUSH EBP ; or PUSH BP in 16 bits
8034 \c MOV EBP,ESP ; or MOV BP,SP in 16 bits
8035 \c SUB ESP,operand1 ; or SUB SP,operand1 in 16 bits
8037 This creates a stack frame with the procedure parameters accessible
8038 upwards from \c{EBP}, and local variables accessible downwards from
8041 With a nesting level of one, the stack frame created is 4 (or 2)
8042 bytes bigger, and the value of the final frame pointer \c{EBP} is
8043 accessible in memory at \c{[EBP-4]}.
8045 This allows \c{ENTER}, when called with a nesting level of two, to
8046 look at the stack frame described by the \e{previous} value of
8047 \c{EBP}, find the frame pointer at offset -4 from that, and push it
8048 along with its new frame pointer, so that when a level-two procedure
8049 is called from within a level-one procedure, \c{[EBP-4]} holds the
8050 frame pointer of the most recent level-one procedure call and
8051 \c{[EBP-8]} holds that of the most recent level-two call. And so on,
8052 for nesting levels up to 31.
8054 Stack frames created by \c{ENTER} can be destroyed by the \c{LEAVE}
8055 instruction: see \k{insLEAVE}.
8058 \H{insF2XM1} \i\c{F2XM1}: Calculate 2**X-1
8060 \c F2XM1 ; D9 F0 [8086,FPU]
8062 \c{F2XM1} raises 2 to the power of \c{ST0}, subtracts one, and
8063 stores the result back into \c{ST0}. The initial contents of \c{ST0}
8064 must be a number in the range -1.0 to +1.0.
8067 \H{insFABS} \i\c{FABS}: Floating-Point Absolute Value
8069 \c FABS ; D9 E1 [8086,FPU]
8071 \c{FABS} computes the absolute value of \c{ST0},by clearing the sign
8072 bit, and stores the result back in \c{ST0}.
8075 \H{insFADD} \i\c{FADD}, \i\c{FADDP}: Floating-Point Addition
8077 \c FADD mem32 ; D8 /0 [8086,FPU]
8078 \c FADD mem64 ; DC /0 [8086,FPU]
8080 \c FADD fpureg ; D8 C0+r [8086,FPU]
8081 \c FADD ST0,fpureg ; D8 C0+r [8086,FPU]
8083 \c FADD TO fpureg ; DC C0+r [8086,FPU]
8084 \c FADD fpureg,ST0 ; DC C0+r [8086,FPU]
8086 \c FADDP fpureg ; DE C0+r [8086,FPU]
8087 \c FADDP fpureg,ST0 ; DE C0+r [8086,FPU]
8089 \b \c{FADD}, given one operand, adds the operand to \c{ST0} and stores
8090 the result back in \c{ST0}. If the operand has the \c{TO} modifier,
8091 the result is stored in the register given rather than in \c{ST0}.
8093 \b \c{FADDP} performs the same function as \c{FADD TO}, but pops the
8094 register stack after storing the result.
8096 The given two-operand forms are synonyms for the one-operand forms.
8098 To add an integer value to \c{ST0}, use the c{FIADD} instruction
8102 \H{insFBLD} \i\c{FBLD}, \i\c{FBSTP}: BCD Floating-Point Load and Store
8104 \c FBLD mem80 ; DF /4 [8086,FPU]
8105 \c FBSTP mem80 ; DF /6 [8086,FPU]
8107 \c{FBLD} loads an 80-bit (ten-byte) packed binary-coded decimal
8108 number from the given memory address, converts it to a real, and
8109 pushes it on the register stack. \c{FBSTP} stores the value of
8110 \c{ST0}, in packed BCD, at the given address and then pops the
8114 \H{insFCHS} \i\c{FCHS}: Floating-Point Change Sign
8116 \c FCHS ; D9 E0 [8086,FPU]
8118 \c{FCHS} negates the number in \c{ST0}, by inverting the sign bit:
8119 negative numbers become positive, and vice versa.
8122 \H{insFCLEX} \i\c{FCLEX}, \c{FNCLEX}: Clear Floating-Point Exceptions
8124 \c FCLEX ; 9B DB E2 [8086,FPU]
8125 \c FNCLEX ; DB E2 [8086,FPU]
8127 \c{FCLEX} clears any floating-point exceptions which may be pending.
8128 \c{FNCLEX} does the same thing but doesn't wait for previous
8129 floating-point operations (including the \e{handling} of pending
8130 exceptions) to finish first.
8133 \H{insFCMOVB} \i\c{FCMOVcc}: Floating-Point Conditional Move
8135 \c FCMOVB fpureg ; DA C0+r [P6,FPU]
8136 \c FCMOVB ST0,fpureg ; DA C0+r [P6,FPU]
8138 \c FCMOVE fpureg ; DA C8+r [P6,FPU]
8139 \c FCMOVE ST0,fpureg ; DA C8+r [P6,FPU]
8141 \c FCMOVBE fpureg ; DA D0+r [P6,FPU]
8142 \c FCMOVBE ST0,fpureg ; DA D0+r [P6,FPU]
8144 \c FCMOVU fpureg ; DA D8+r [P6,FPU]
8145 \c FCMOVU ST0,fpureg ; DA D8+r [P6,FPU]
8147 \c FCMOVNB fpureg ; DB C0+r [P6,FPU]
8148 \c FCMOVNB ST0,fpureg ; DB C0+r [P6,FPU]
8150 \c FCMOVNE fpureg ; DB C8+r [P6,FPU]
8151 \c FCMOVNE ST0,fpureg ; DB C8+r [P6,FPU]
8153 \c FCMOVNBE fpureg ; DB D0+r [P6,FPU]
8154 \c FCMOVNBE ST0,fpureg ; DB D0+r [P6,FPU]
8156 \c FCMOVNU fpureg ; DB D8+r [P6,FPU]
8157 \c FCMOVNU ST0,fpureg ; DB D8+r [P6,FPU]
8159 The \c{FCMOV} instructions perform conditional move operations: each
8160 of them moves the contents of the given register into \c{ST0} if its
8161 condition is satisfied, and does nothing if not.
8163 The conditions are not the same as the standard condition codes used
8164 with conditional jump instructions. The conditions \c{B}, \c{BE},
8165 \c{NB}, \c{NBE}, \c{E} and \c{NE} are exactly as normal, but none of
8166 the other standard ones are supported. Instead, the condition \c{U}
8167 and its counterpart \c{NU} are provided; the \c{U} condition is
8168 satisfied if the last two floating-point numbers compared were
8169 \e{unordered}, i.e. they were not equal but neither one could be
8170 said to be greater than the other, for example if they were NaNs.
8171 (The flag state which signals this is the setting of the parity
8172 flag: so the \c{U} condition is notionally equivalent to \c{PE}, and
8173 \c{NU} is equivalent to \c{PO}.)
8175 The \c{FCMOV} conditions test the main processor's status flags, not
8176 the FPU status flags, so using \c{FCMOV} directly after \c{FCOM}
8177 will not work. Instead, you should either use \c{FCOMI} which writes
8178 directly to the main CPU flags word, or use \c{FSTSW} to extract the
8181 Although the \c{FCMOV} instructions are flagged \c{P6} above, they
8182 may not be supported by all Pentium Pro processors; the \c{CPUID}
8183 instruction (\k{insCPUID}) will return a bit which indicates whether
8184 conditional moves are supported.
8187 \H{insFCOM} \i\c{FCOM}, \i\c{FCOMP}, \i\c{FCOMPP}, \i\c{FCOMI},
8188 \i\c{FCOMIP}: Floating-Point Compare
8190 \c FCOM mem32 ; D8 /2 [8086,FPU]
8191 \c FCOM mem64 ; DC /2 [8086,FPU]
8192 \c FCOM fpureg ; D8 D0+r [8086,FPU]
8193 \c FCOM ST0,fpureg ; D8 D0+r [8086,FPU]
8195 \c FCOMP mem32 ; D8 /3 [8086,FPU]
8196 \c FCOMP mem64 ; DC /3 [8086,FPU]
8197 \c FCOMP fpureg ; D8 D8+r [8086,FPU]
8198 \c FCOMP ST0,fpureg ; D8 D8+r [8086,FPU]
8200 \c FCOMPP ; DE D9 [8086,FPU]
8202 \c FCOMI fpureg ; DB F0+r [P6,FPU]
8203 \c FCOMI ST0,fpureg ; DB F0+r [P6,FPU]
8205 \c FCOMIP fpureg ; DF F0+r [P6,FPU]
8206 \c FCOMIP ST0,fpureg ; DF F0+r [P6,FPU]
8208 \c{FCOM} compares \c{ST0} with the given operand, and sets the FPU
8209 flags accordingly. \c{ST0} is treated as the left-hand side of the
8210 comparison, so that the carry flag is set (for a `less-than' result)
8211 if \c{ST0} is less than the given operand.
8213 \c{FCOMP} does the same as \c{FCOM}, but pops the register stack
8214 afterwards. \c{FCOMPP} compares \c{ST0} with \c{ST1} and then pops
8215 the register stack twice.
8217 \c{FCOMI} and \c{FCOMIP} work like the corresponding forms of
8218 \c{FCOM} and \c{FCOMP}, but write their results directly to the CPU
8219 flags register rather than the FPU status word, so they can be
8220 immediately followed by conditional jump or conditional move
8223 The \c{FCOM} instructions differ from the \c{FUCOM} instructions
8224 (\k{insFUCOM}) only in the way they handle quiet NaNs: \c{FUCOM}
8225 will handle them silently and set the condition code flags to an
8226 `unordered' result, whereas \c{FCOM} will generate an exception.
8229 \H{insFCOS} \i\c{FCOS}: Cosine
8231 \c FCOS ; D9 FF [386,FPU]
8233 \c{FCOS} computes the cosine of \c{ST0} (in radians), and stores the
8234 result in \c{ST0}. The absolute value of \c{ST0} must be less than 2**63.
8236 See also \c{FSINCOS} (\k{insFSIN}).
8239 \H{insFDECSTP} \i\c{FDECSTP}: Decrement Floating-Point Stack Pointer
8241 \c FDECSTP ; D9 F6 [8086,FPU]
8243 \c{FDECSTP} decrements the `top' field in the floating-point status
8244 word. This has the effect of rotating the FPU register stack by one,
8245 as if the contents of \c{ST7} had been pushed on the stack. See also
8246 \c{FINCSTP} (\k{insFINCSTP}).
8249 \H{insFDISI} \i\c{FxDISI}, \i\c{FxENI}: Disable and Enable Floating-Point Interrupts
8251 \c FDISI ; 9B DB E1 [8086,FPU]
8252 \c FNDISI ; DB E1 [8086,FPU]
8254 \c FENI ; 9B DB E0 [8086,FPU]
8255 \c FNENI ; DB E0 [8086,FPU]
8257 \c{FDISI} and \c{FENI} disable and enable floating-point interrupts.
8258 These instructions are only meaningful on original 8087 processors:
8259 the 287 and above treat them as no-operation instructions.
8261 \c{FNDISI} and \c{FNENI} do the same thing as \c{FDISI} and \c{FENI}
8262 respectively, but without waiting for the floating-point processor
8263 to finish what it was doing first.
8266 \H{insFDIV} \i\c{FDIV}, \i\c{FDIVP}, \i\c{FDIVR}, \i\c{FDIVRP}: Floating-Point Division
8268 \c FDIV mem32 ; D8 /6 [8086,FPU]
8269 \c FDIV mem64 ; DC /6 [8086,FPU]
8271 \c FDIV fpureg ; D8 F0+r [8086,FPU]
8272 \c FDIV ST0,fpureg ; D8 F0+r [8086,FPU]
8274 \c FDIV TO fpureg ; DC F8+r [8086,FPU]
8275 \c FDIV fpureg,ST0 ; DC F8+r [8086,FPU]
8277 \c FDIVR mem32 ; D8 /0 [8086,FPU]
8278 \c FDIVR mem64 ; DC /0 [8086,FPU]
8280 \c FDIVR fpureg ; D8 F8+r [8086,FPU]
8281 \c FDIVR ST0,fpureg ; D8 F8+r [8086,FPU]
8283 \c FDIVR TO fpureg ; DC F0+r [8086,FPU]
8284 \c FDIVR fpureg,ST0 ; DC F0+r [8086,FPU]
8286 \c FDIVP fpureg ; DE F8+r [8086,FPU]
8287 \c FDIVP fpureg,ST0 ; DE F8+r [8086,FPU]
8289 \c FDIVRP fpureg ; DE F0+r [8086,FPU]
8290 \c FDIVRP fpureg,ST0 ; DE F0+r [8086,FPU]
8292 \b \c{FDIV} divides \c{ST0} by the given operand and stores the result
8293 back in \c{ST0}, unless the \c{TO} qualifier is given, in which case
8294 it divides the given operand by \c{ST0} and stores the result in the
8297 \b \c{FDIVR} does the same thing, but does the division the other way
8298 up: so if \c{TO} is not given, it divides the given operand by
8299 \c{ST0} and stores the result in \c{ST0}, whereas if \c{TO} is given
8300 it divides \c{ST0} by its operand and stores the result in the
8303 \b \c{FDIVP} operates like \c{FDIV TO}, but pops the register stack
8304 once it has finished.
8306 \b \c{FDIVRP} operates like \c{FDIVR TO}, but pops the register stack
8307 once it has finished.
8309 For FP/Integer divisions, see \c{FIDIV} (\k{insFIDIV}).
8312 \H{insFEMMS} \i\c{FEMMS}: Faster Enter/Exit of the MMX or floating-point state
8314 \c FEMMS ; 0F 0E [PENT,3DNOW]
8316 \c{FEMMS} can be used in place of the \c{EMMS} instruction on
8317 processors which support the 3DNow! instruction set. Following
8318 execution of \c{FEMMS}, the state of the \c{MMX/FP} registers
8319 is undefined, and this allows a faster context switch between
8320 \c{FP} and \c{MMX} instructions. The \c{FEMMS} instruction can
8321 also be used \e{before} executing \c{MMX} instructions
8324 \H{insFFREE} \i\c{FFREE}: Flag Floating-Point Register as Unused
8326 \c FFREE fpureg ; DD C0+r [8086,FPU]
8327 \c FFREEP fpureg ; DF C0+r [286,FPU,UNDOC]
8329 \c{FFREE} marks the given register as being empty.
8331 \c{FFREEP} marks the given register as being empty, and then
8332 pops the register stack.
8335 \H{insFIADD} \i\c{FIADD}: Floating-Point/Integer Addition
8337 \c FIADD mem16 ; DE /0 [8086,FPU]
8338 \c FIADD mem32 ; DA /0 [8086,FPU]
8340 \c{FIADD} adds the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored in the given
8341 memory location to \c{ST0}, storing the result in \c{ST0}.
8344 \H{insFICOM} \i\c{FICOM}, \i\c{FICOMP}: Floating-Point/Integer Compare
8346 \c FICOM mem16 ; DE /2 [8086,FPU]
8347 \c FICOM mem32 ; DA /2 [8086,FPU]
8349 \c FICOMP mem16 ; DE /3 [8086,FPU]
8350 \c FICOMP mem32 ; DA /3 [8086,FPU]
8352 \c{FICOM} compares \c{ST0} with the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored
8353 in the given memory location, and sets the FPU flags accordingly.
8354 \c{FICOMP} does the same, but pops the register stack afterwards.
8357 \H{insFIDIV} \i\c{FIDIV}, \i\c{FIDIVR}: Floating-Point/Integer Division
8359 \c FIDIV mem16 ; DE /6 [8086,FPU]
8360 \c FIDIV mem32 ; DA /6 [8086,FPU]
8362 \c FIDIVR mem16 ; DE /7 [8086,FPU]
8363 \c FIDIVR mem32 ; DA /7 [8086,FPU]
8365 \c{FIDIV} divides \c{ST0} by the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored in
8366 the given memory location, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8367 \c{FIDIVR} does the division the other way up: it divides the
8368 integer by \c{ST0}, but still stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8371 \H{insFILD} \i\c{FILD}, \i\c{FIST}, \i\c{FISTP}: Floating-Point/Integer Conversion
8373 \c FILD mem16 ; DF /0 [8086,FPU]
8374 \c FILD mem32 ; DB /0 [8086,FPU]
8375 \c FILD mem64 ; DF /5 [8086,FPU]
8377 \c FIST mem16 ; DF /2 [8086,FPU]
8378 \c FIST mem32 ; DB /2 [8086,FPU]
8380 \c FISTP mem16 ; DF /3 [8086,FPU]
8381 \c FISTP mem32 ; DB /3 [8086,FPU]
8382 \c FISTP mem64 ; DF /7 [8086,FPU]
8384 \c{FILD} loads an integer out of a memory location, converts it to a
8385 real, and pushes it on the FPU register stack. \c{FIST} converts
8386 \c{ST0} to an integer and stores that in memory; \c{FISTP} does the
8387 same as \c{FIST}, but pops the register stack afterwards.
8390 \H{insFIMUL} \i\c{FIMUL}: Floating-Point/Integer Multiplication
8392 \c FIMUL mem16 ; DE /1 [8086,FPU]
8393 \c FIMUL mem32 ; DA /1 [8086,FPU]
8395 \c{FIMUL} multiplies \c{ST0} by the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored
8396 in the given memory location, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8399 \H{insFINCSTP} \i\c{FINCSTP}: Increment Floating-Point Stack Pointer
8401 \c FINCSTP ; D9 F7 [8086,FPU]
8403 \c{FINCSTP} increments the `top' field in the floating-point status
8404 word. This has the effect of rotating the FPU register stack by one,
8405 as if the register stack had been popped; however, unlike the
8406 popping of the stack performed by many FPU instructions, it does not
8407 flag the new \c{ST7} (previously \c{ST0}) as empty. See also
8408 \c{FDECSTP} (\k{insFDECSTP}).
8411 \H{insFINIT} \i\c{FINIT}, \i\c{FNINIT}: Initialise Floating-Point Unit
8413 \c FINIT ; 9B DB E3 [8086,FPU]
8414 \c FNINIT ; DB E3 [8086,FPU]
8416 \c{FINIT} initialises the FPU to its default state. It flags all
8417 registers as empty, without actually change their values, clears
8418 the top of stack pointer. \c{FNINIT} does the same, without first
8419 waiting for pending exceptions to clear.
8422 \H{insFISUB} \i\c{FISUB}: Floating-Point/Integer Subtraction
8424 \c FISUB mem16 ; DE /4 [8086,FPU]
8425 \c FISUB mem32 ; DA /4 [8086,FPU]
8427 \c FISUBR mem16 ; DE /5 [8086,FPU]
8428 \c FISUBR mem32 ; DA /5 [8086,FPU]
8430 \c{FISUB} subtracts the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored in the given
8431 memory location from \c{ST0}, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8432 \c{FISUBR} does the subtraction the other way round, i.e. it
8433 subtracts \c{ST0} from the given integer, but still stores the
8437 \H{insFLD} \i\c{FLD}: Floating-Point Load
8439 \c FLD mem32 ; D9 /0 [8086,FPU]
8440 \c FLD mem64 ; DD /0 [8086,FPU]
8441 \c FLD mem80 ; DB /5 [8086,FPU]
8442 \c FLD fpureg ; D9 C0+r [8086,FPU]
8444 \c{FLD} loads a floating-point value out of the given register or
8445 memory location, and pushes it on the FPU register stack.
8448 \H{insFLD1} \i\c{FLDxx}: Floating-Point Load Constants
8450 \c FLD1 ; D9 E8 [8086,FPU]
8451 \c FLDL2E ; D9 EA [8086,FPU]
8452 \c FLDL2T ; D9 E9 [8086,FPU]
8453 \c FLDLG2 ; D9 EC [8086,FPU]
8454 \c FLDLN2 ; D9 ED [8086,FPU]
8455 \c FLDPI ; D9 EB [8086,FPU]
8456 \c FLDZ ; D9 EE [8086,FPU]
8458 These instructions push specific standard constants on the FPU
8461 \c Instruction Constant pushed
8464 \c FLDL2E base-2 logarithm of e
8465 \c FLDL2T base-2 log of 10
8466 \c FLDLG2 base-10 log of 2
8467 \c FLDLN2 base-e log of 2
8472 \H{insFLDCW} \i\c{FLDCW}: Load Floating-Point Control Word
8474 \c FLDCW mem16 ; D9 /5 [8086,FPU]
8476 \c{FLDCW} loads a 16-bit value out of memory and stores it into the
8477 FPU control word (governing things like the rounding mode, the
8478 precision, and the exception masks). See also \c{FSTCW}
8479 (\k{insFSTCW}). If exceptions are enabled and you don't want to
8480 generate one, use \c{FCLEX} or \c{FNCLEX} (\k{insFCLEX}) before
8481 loading the new control word.
8484 \H{insFLDENV} \i\c{FLDENV}: Load Floating-Point Environment
8486 \c FLDENV mem ; D9 /4 [8086,FPU]
8488 \c{FLDENV} loads the FPU operating environment (control word, status
8489 word, tag word, instruction pointer, data pointer and last opcode)
8490 from memory. The memory area is 14 or 28 bytes long, depending on
8491 the CPU mode at the time. See also \c{FSTENV} (\k{insFSTENV}).
8494 \H{insFMUL} \i\c{FMUL}, \i\c{FMULP}: Floating-Point Multiply
8496 \c FMUL mem32 ; D8 /1 [8086,FPU]
8497 \c FMUL mem64 ; DC /1 [8086,FPU]
8499 \c FMUL fpureg ; D8 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8500 \c FMUL ST0,fpureg ; D8 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8502 \c FMUL TO fpureg ; DC C8+r [8086,FPU]
8503 \c FMUL fpureg,ST0 ; DC C8+r [8086,FPU]
8505 \c FMULP fpureg ; DE C8+r [8086,FPU]
8506 \c FMULP fpureg,ST0 ; DE C8+r [8086,FPU]
8508 \c{FMUL} multiplies \c{ST0} by the given operand, and stores the
8509 result in \c{ST0}, unless the \c{TO} qualifier is used in which case
8510 it stores the result in the operand. \c{FMULP} performs the same
8511 operation as \c{FMUL TO}, and then pops the register stack.
8514 \H{insFNOP} \i\c{FNOP}: Floating-Point No Operation
8516 \c FNOP ; D9 D0 [8086,FPU]
8518 \c{FNOP} does nothing.
8521 \H{insFPATAN} \i\c{FPATAN}, \i\c{FPTAN}: Arctangent and Tangent
8523 \c FPATAN ; D9 F3 [8086,FPU]
8524 \c FPTAN ; D9 F2 [8086,FPU]
8526 \c{FPATAN} computes the arctangent, in radians, of the result of
8527 dividing \c{ST1} by \c{ST0}, stores the result in \c{ST1}, and pops
8528 the register stack. It works like the C \c{atan2} function, in that
8529 changing the sign of both \c{ST0} and \c{ST1} changes the output
8530 value by pi (so it performs true rectangular-to-polar coordinate
8531 conversion, with \c{ST1} being the Y coordinate and \c{ST0} being
8532 the X coordinate, not merely an arctangent).
8534 \c{FPTAN} computes the tangent of the value in \c{ST0} (in radians),
8535 and stores the result back into \c{ST0}.
8537 The absolute value of \c{ST0} must be less than 2**63.
8540 \H{insFPREM} \i\c{FPREM}, \i\c{FPREM1}: Floating-Point Partial Remainder
8542 \c FPREM ; D9 F8 [8086,FPU]
8543 \c FPREM1 ; D9 F5 [386,FPU]
8545 These instructions both produce the remainder obtained by dividing
8546 \c{ST0} by \c{ST1}. This is calculated, notionally, by dividing
8547 \c{ST0} by \c{ST1}, rounding the result to an integer, multiplying
8548 by \c{ST1} again, and computing the value which would need to be
8549 added back on to the result to get back to the original value in
8552 The two instructions differ in the way the notional round-to-integer
8553 operation is performed. \c{FPREM} does it by rounding towards zero,
8554 so that the remainder it returns always has the same sign as the
8555 original value in \c{ST0}; \c{FPREM1} does it by rounding to the
8556 nearest integer, so that the remainder always has at most half the
8557 magnitude of \c{ST1}.
8559 Both instructions calculate \e{partial} remainders, meaning that
8560 they may not manage to provide the final result, but might leave
8561 intermediate results in \c{ST0} instead. If this happens, they will
8562 set the C2 flag in the FPU status word; therefore, to calculate a
8563 remainder, you should repeatedly execute \c{FPREM} or \c{FPREM1}
8564 until C2 becomes clear.
8567 \H{insFRNDINT} \i\c{FRNDINT}: Floating-Point Round to Integer
8569 \c FRNDINT ; D9 FC [8086,FPU]
8571 \c{FRNDINT} rounds the contents of \c{ST0} to an integer, according
8572 to the current rounding mode set in the FPU control word, and stores
8573 the result back in \c{ST0}.
8576 \H{insFRSTOR} \i\c{FSAVE}, \i\c{FRSTOR}: Save/Restore Floating-Point State
8578 \c FSAVE mem ; 9B DD /6 [8086,FPU]
8579 \c FNSAVE mem ; DD /6 [8086,FPU]
8581 \c FRSTOR mem ; DD /4 [8086,FPU]
8583 \c{FSAVE} saves the entire floating-point unit state, including all
8584 the information saved by \c{FSTENV} (\k{insFSTENV}) plus the
8585 contents of all the registers, to a 94 or 108 byte area of memory
8586 (depending on the CPU mode). \c{FRSTOR} restores the floating-point
8587 state from the same area of memory.
8589 \c{FNSAVE} does the same as \c{FSAVE}, without first waiting for
8590 pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
8593 \H{insFSCALE} \i\c{FSCALE}: Scale Floating-Point Value by Power of Two
8595 \c FSCALE ; D9 FD [8086,FPU]
8597 \c{FSCALE} scales a number by a power of two: it rounds \c{ST1}
8598 towards zero to obtain an integer, then multiplies \c{ST0} by two to
8599 the power of that integer, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8602 \H{insFSETPM} \i\c{FSETPM}: Set Protected Mode
8604 \c FSETPM ; DB E4 [286,FPU]
8606 This instruction initalises protected mode on the 287 floating-point
8607 coprocessor. It is only meaningful on that processor: the 387 and
8608 above treat the instruction as a no-operation.
8611 \H{insFSIN} \i\c{FSIN}, \i\c{FSINCOS}: Sine and Cosine
8613 \c FSIN ; D9 FE [386,FPU]
8614 \c FSINCOS ; D9 FB [386,FPU]
8616 \c{FSIN} calculates the sine of \c{ST0} (in radians) and stores the
8617 result in \c{ST0}. \c{FSINCOS} does the same, but then pushes the
8618 cosine of the same value on the register stack, so that the sine
8619 ends up in \c{ST1} and the cosine in \c{ST0}. \c{FSINCOS} is faster
8620 than executing \c{FSIN} and \c{FCOS} (see \k{insFCOS}) in succession.
8622 The absolute value of \c{ST0} must be less than 2**63.
8625 \H{insFSQRT} \i\c{FSQRT}: Floating-Point Square Root
8627 \c FSQRT ; D9 FA [8086,FPU]
8629 \c{FSQRT} calculates the square root of \c{ST0} and stores the
8633 \H{insFST} \i\c{FST}, \i\c{FSTP}: Floating-Point Store
8635 \c FST mem32 ; D9 /2 [8086,FPU]
8636 \c FST mem64 ; DD /2 [8086,FPU]
8637 \c FST fpureg ; DD D0+r [8086,FPU]
8639 \c FSTP mem32 ; D9 /3 [8086,FPU]
8640 \c FSTP mem64 ; DD /3 [8086,FPU]
8641 \c FSTP mem80 ; DB /7 [8086,FPU]
8642 \c FSTP fpureg ; DD D8+r [8086,FPU]
8644 \c{FST} stores the value in \c{ST0} into the given memory location
8645 or other FPU register. \c{FSTP} does the same, but then pops the
8649 \H{insFSTCW} \i\c{FSTCW}: Store Floating-Point Control Word
8651 \c FSTCW mem16 ; 9B D9 /7 [8086,FPU]
8652 \c FNSTCW mem16 ; D9 /7 [8086,FPU]
8654 \c{FSTCW} stores the \c{FPU} control word (governing things like the
8655 rounding mode, the precision, and the exception masks) into a 2-byte
8656 memory area. See also \c{FLDCW} (\k{insFLDCW}).
8658 \c{FNSTCW} does the same thing as \c{FSTCW}, without first waiting
8659 for pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
8662 \H{insFSTENV} \i\c{FSTENV}: Store Floating-Point Environment
8664 \c FSTENV mem ; 9B D9 /6 [8086,FPU]
8665 \c FNSTENV mem ; D9 /6 [8086,FPU]
8667 \c{FSTENV} stores the \c{FPU} operating environment (control word,
8668 status word, tag word, instruction pointer, data pointer and last
8669 opcode) into memory. The memory area is 14 or 28 bytes long,
8670 depending on the CPU mode at the time. See also \c{FLDENV}
8673 \c{FNSTENV} does the same thing as \c{FSTENV}, without first waiting
8674 for pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
8677 \H{insFSTSW} \i\c{FSTSW}: Store Floating-Point Status Word
8679 \c FSTSW mem16 ; 9B DD /7 [8086,FPU]
8680 \c FSTSW AX ; 9B DF E0 [286,FPU]
8682 \c FNSTSW mem16 ; DD /7 [8086,FPU]
8683 \c FNSTSW AX ; DF E0 [286,FPU]
8685 \c{FSTSW} stores the \c{FPU} status word into \c{AX} or into a 2-byte
8688 \c{FNSTSW} does the same thing as \c{FSTSW}, without first waiting
8689 for pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
8692 \H{insFSUB} \i\c{FSUB}, \i\c{FSUBP}, \i\c{FSUBR}, \i\c{FSUBRP}: Floating-Point Subtract
8694 \c FSUB mem32 ; D8 /4 [8086,FPU]
8695 \c FSUB mem64 ; DC /4 [8086,FPU]
8697 \c FSUB fpureg ; D8 E0+r [8086,FPU]
8698 \c FSUB ST0,fpureg ; D8 E0+r [8086,FPU]
8700 \c FSUB TO fpureg ; DC E8+r [8086,FPU]
8701 \c FSUB fpureg,ST0 ; DC E8+r [8086,FPU]
8703 \c FSUBR mem32 ; D8 /5 [8086,FPU]
8704 \c FSUBR mem64 ; DC /5 [8086,FPU]
8706 \c FSUBR fpureg ; D8 E8+r [8086,FPU]
8707 \c FSUBR ST0,fpureg ; D8 E8+r [8086,FPU]
8709 \c FSUBR TO fpureg ; DC E0+r [8086,FPU]
8710 \c FSUBR fpureg,ST0 ; DC E0+r [8086,FPU]
8712 \c FSUBP fpureg ; DE E8+r [8086,FPU]
8713 \c FSUBP fpureg,ST0 ; DE E8+r [8086,FPU]
8715 \c FSUBRP fpureg ; DE E0+r [8086,FPU]
8716 \c FSUBRP fpureg,ST0 ; DE E0+r [8086,FPU]
8718 \b \c{FSUB} subtracts the given operand from \c{ST0} and stores the
8719 result back in \c{ST0}, unless the \c{TO} qualifier is given, in
8720 which case it subtracts \c{ST0} from the given operand and stores
8721 the result in the operand.
8723 \b \c{FSUBR} does the same thing, but does the subtraction the other
8724 way up: so if \c{TO} is not given, it subtracts \c{ST0} from the given
8725 operand and stores the result in \c{ST0}, whereas if \c{TO} is given
8726 it subtracts its operand from \c{ST0} and stores the result in the
8729 \b \c{FSUBP} operates like \c{FSUB TO}, but pops the register stack
8730 once it has finished.
8732 \b \c{FSUBRP} operates like \c{FSUBR TO}, but pops the register stack
8733 once it has finished.
8736 \H{insFTST} \i\c{FTST}: Test \c{ST0} Against Zero
8738 \c FTST ; D9 E4 [8086,FPU]
8740 \c{FTST} compares \c{ST0} with zero and sets the FPU flags
8741 accordingly. \c{ST0} is treated as the left-hand side of the
8742 comparison, so that a `less-than' result is generated if \c{ST0} is
8746 \H{insFUCOM} \i\c{FUCOMxx}: Floating-Point Unordered Compare
8748 \c FUCOM fpureg ; DD E0+r [386,FPU]
8749 \c FUCOM ST0,fpureg ; DD E0+r [386,FPU]
8751 \c FUCOMP fpureg ; DD E8+r [386,FPU]
8752 \c FUCOMP ST0,fpureg ; DD E8+r [386,FPU]
8754 \c FUCOMPP ; DA E9 [386,FPU]
8756 \c FUCOMI fpureg ; DB E8+r [P6,FPU]
8757 \c FUCOMI ST0,fpureg ; DB E8+r [P6,FPU]
8759 \c FUCOMIP fpureg ; DF E8+r [P6,FPU]
8760 \c FUCOMIP ST0,fpureg ; DF E8+r [P6,FPU]
8762 \b \c{FUCOM} compares \c{ST0} with the given operand, and sets the
8763 FPU flags accordingly. \c{ST0} is treated as the left-hand side of
8764 the comparison, so that the carry flag is set (for a `less-than'
8765 result) if \c{ST0} is less than the given operand.
8767 \b \c{FUCOMP} does the same as \c{FUCOM}, but pops the register stack
8768 afterwards. \c{FUCOMPP} compares \c{ST0} with \c{ST1} and then pops
8769 the register stack twice.
8771 \b \c{FUCOMI} and \c{FUCOMIP} work like the corresponding forms of
8772 \c{FUCOM} and \c{FUCOMP}, but write their results directly to the CPU
8773 flags register rather than the FPU status word, so they can be
8774 immediately followed by conditional jump or conditional move
8777 The \c{FUCOM} instructions differ from the \c{FCOM} instructions
8778 (\k{insFCOM}) only in the way they handle quiet NaNs: \c{FUCOM} will
8779 handle them silently and set the condition code flags to an
8780 `unordered' result, whereas \c{FCOM} will generate an exception.
8783 \H{insFXAM} \i\c{FXAM}: Examine Class of Value in \c{ST0}
8785 \c FXAM ; D9 E5 [8086,FPU]
8787 \c{FXAM} sets the FPU flags \c{C3}, \c{C2} and \c{C0} depending on
8788 the type of value stored in \c{ST0}:
8790 \c Register contents Flags
8792 \c Unsupported format 000
8794 \c Finite number 010
8797 \c Empty register 101
8800 Additionally, the \c{C1} flag is set to the sign of the number.
8803 \H{insFXCH} \i\c{FXCH}: Floating-Point Exchange
8805 \c FXCH ; D9 C9 [8086,FPU]
8806 \c FXCH fpureg ; D9 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8807 \c FXCH fpureg,ST0 ; D9 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8808 \c FXCH ST0,fpureg ; D9 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8810 \c{FXCH} exchanges \c{ST0} with a given FPU register. The no-operand
8811 form exchanges \c{ST0} with \c{ST1}.
8814 \H{insFXRSTOR} \i\c{FXRSTOR}: Restore \c{FP}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE} State
8816 \c FXRSTOR memory ; 0F AE /1 [P6,SSE,FPU]
8818 The \c{FXRSTOR} instruction reloads the \c{FPU}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE}
8819 state (environment and registers), from the 512 byte memory area defined
8820 by the source operand. This data should have been written by a previous
8824 \H{insFXSAVE} \i\c{FXSAVE}: Store \c{FP}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE} State
8826 \c FXSAVE memory ; 0F AE /0 [P6,SSE,FPU]
8828 \c{FXSAVE}The FXSAVE instruction writes the current \c{FPU}, \c{MMX}
8829 and \c{SSE} technology states (environment and registers), to the
8830 512 byte memory area defined by the destination operand. It does this
8831 without checking for pending unmasked floating-point exceptions
8832 (similar to the operation of \c{FNSAVE}).
8834 Unlike the \c{FSAVE/FNSAVE} instructions, the processor retains the
8835 contents of the \c{FPU}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE} state in the processor
8836 after the state has been saved. This instruction has been optimized
8837 to maximize floating-point save performance.
8840 \H{insFXTRACT} \i\c{FXTRACT}: Extract Exponent and Significand
8842 \c FXTRACT ; D9 F4 [8086,FPU]
8844 \c{FXTRACT} separates the number in \c{ST0} into its exponent and
8845 significand (mantissa), stores the exponent back into \c{ST0}, and
8846 then pushes the significand on the register stack (so that the
8847 significand ends up in \c{ST0}, and the exponent in \c{ST1}).
8850 \H{insFYL2X} \i\c{FYL2X}, \i\c{FYL2XP1}: Compute Y times Log2(X) or Log2(X+1)
8852 \c FYL2X ; D9 F1 [8086,FPU]
8853 \c FYL2XP1 ; D9 F9 [8086,FPU]
8855 \c{FYL2X} multiplies \c{ST1} by the base-2 logarithm of \c{ST0},
8856 stores the result in \c{ST1}, and pops the register stack (so that
8857 the result ends up in \c{ST0}). \c{ST0} must be non-zero and
8860 \c{FYL2XP1} works the same way, but replacing the base-2 log of
8861 \c{ST0} with that of \c{ST0} plus one. This time, \c{ST0} must have
8862 magnitude no greater than 1 minus half the square root of two.
8865 \H{insHLT} \i\c{HLT}: Halt Processor
8867 \c HLT ; F4 [8086,PRIV]
8869 \c{HLT} puts the processor into a halted state, where it will
8870 perform no more operations until restarted by an interrupt or a
8873 On the 286 and later processors, this is a privileged instruction.
8876 \H{insIBTS} \i\c{IBTS}: Insert Bit String
8878 \c IBTS r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F A7 /r [386,UNDOC]
8879 \c IBTS r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F A7 /r [386,UNDOC]
8881 The implied operation of this instruction is:
8883 \c IBTS r/m16,AX,CL,reg16
8884 \c IBTS r/m32,EAX,CL,reg32
8886 Writes a bit string from the source operand to the destination.
8887 \c{CL} indicates the number of bits to be copied, from the low bits
8888 of the source. \c{(E)AX} indicates the low order bit offset in the
8889 destination that is written to. For example, if \c{CL} is set to 4
8890 and \c{AX} (for 16-bit code) is set to 5, bits 0-3 of \c{src} will
8891 be copied to bits 5-8 of \c{dst}. This instruction is very poorly
8892 documented, and I have been unable to find any official source of
8893 documentation on it.
8895 \c{IBTS} is supported only on the early Intel 386s, and conflicts
8896 with the opcodes for \c{CMPXCHG486} (on early Intel 486s). NASM
8897 supports it only for completeness. Its counterpart is \c{XBTS}
8901 \H{insIDIV} \i\c{IDIV}: Signed Integer Divide
8903 \c IDIV r/m8 ; F6 /7 [8086]
8904 \c IDIV r/m16 ; o16 F7 /7 [8086]
8905 \c IDIV r/m32 ; o32 F7 /7 [386]
8907 \c{IDIV} performs signed integer division. The explicit operand
8908 provided is the divisor; the dividend and destination operands
8909 are implicit, in the following way:
8911 \b For \c{IDIV r/m8}, \c{AX} is divided by the given operand;
8912 the quotient is stored in \c{AL} and the remainder in \c{AH}.
8914 \b For \c{IDIV r/m16}, \c{DX:AX} is divided by the given operand;
8915 the quotient is stored in \c{AX} and the remainder in \c{DX}.
8917 \b For \c{IDIV r/m32}, \c{EDX:EAX} is divided by the given operand;
8918 the quotient is stored in \c{EAX} and the remainder in \c{EDX}.
8920 Unsigned integer division is performed by the \c{DIV} instruction:
8924 \H{insIMUL} \i\c{IMUL}: Signed Integer Multiply
8926 \c IMUL r/m8 ; F6 /5 [8086]
8927 \c IMUL r/m16 ; o16 F7 /5 [8086]
8928 \c IMUL r/m32 ; o32 F7 /5 [386]
8930 \c IMUL reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F AF /r [386]
8931 \c IMUL reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F AF /r [386]
8933 \c IMUL reg16,imm8 ; o16 6B /r ib [286]
8934 \c IMUL reg16,imm16 ; o16 69 /r iw [286]
8935 \c IMUL reg32,imm8 ; o32 6B /r ib [386]
8936 \c IMUL reg32,imm32 ; o32 69 /r id [386]
8938 \c IMUL reg16,r/m16,imm8 ; o16 6B /r ib [286]
8939 \c IMUL reg16,r/m16,imm16 ; o16 69 /r iw [286]
8940 \c IMUL reg32,r/m32,imm8 ; o32 6B /r ib [386]
8941 \c IMUL reg32,r/m32,imm32 ; o32 69 /r id [386]
8943 \c{IMUL} performs signed integer multiplication. For the
8944 single-operand form, the other operand and destination are
8945 implicit, in the following way:
8947 \b For \c{IMUL r/m8}, \c{AL} is multiplied by the given operand;
8948 the product is stored in \c{AX}.
8950 \b For \c{IMUL r/m16}, \c{AX} is multiplied by the given operand;
8951 the product is stored in \c{DX:AX}.
8953 \b For \c{IMUL r/m32}, \c{EAX} is multiplied by the given operand;
8954 the product is stored in \c{EDX:EAX}.
8956 The two-operand form multiplies its two operands and stores the
8957 result in the destination (first) operand. The three-operand
8958 form multiplies its last two operands and stores the result in
8961 The two-operand form with an immediate second operand is in
8962 fact a shorthand for the three-operand form, as can be seen by
8963 examining the opcode descriptions: in the two-operand form, the
8964 code \c{/r} takes both its register and \c{r/m} parts from the
8965 same operand (the first one).
8967 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate operand and another longer
8968 source operand, the immediate operand is considered to be signed,
8969 and is sign-extended to the length of the other source operand.
8970 In these cases, the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force
8971 NASM to generate this form of the instruction.
8973 Unsigned integer multiplication is performed by the \c{MUL}
8974 instruction: see \k{insMUL}.
8977 \H{insIN} \i\c{IN}: Input from I/O Port
8979 \c IN AL,imm8 ; E4 ib [8086]
8980 \c IN AX,imm8 ; o16 E5 ib [8086]
8981 \c IN EAX,imm8 ; o32 E5 ib [386]
8982 \c IN AL,DX ; EC [8086]
8983 \c IN AX,DX ; o16 ED [8086]
8984 \c IN EAX,DX ; o32 ED [386]
8986 \c{IN} reads a byte, word or doubleword from the specified I/O port,
8987 and stores it in the given destination register. The port number may
8988 be specified as an immediate value if it is between 0 and 255, and
8989 otherwise must be stored in \c{DX}. See also \c{OUT} (\k{insOUT}).
8992 \H{insINC} \i\c{INC}: Increment Integer
8994 \c INC reg16 ; o16 40+r [8086]
8995 \c INC reg32 ; o32 40+r [386]
8996 \c INC r/m8 ; FE /0 [8086]
8997 \c INC r/m16 ; o16 FF /0 [8086]
8998 \c INC r/m32 ; o32 FF /0 [386]
9000 \c{INC} adds 1 to its operand. It does \e{not} affect the carry
9001 flag: to affect the carry flag, use \c{ADD something,1} (see
9002 \k{insADD}). \c{INC} affects all the other flags according to the result.
9004 This instruction can be used with a \c{LOCK} prefix to allow atomic execution.
9006 See also \c{DEC} (\k{insDEC}).
9009 \H{insINSB} \i\c{INSB}, \i\c{INSW}, \i\c{INSD}: Input String from I/O Port
9012 \c INSW ; o16 6D [186]
9013 \c INSD ; o32 6D [386]
9015 \c{INSB} inputs a byte from the I/O port specified in \c{DX} and
9016 stores it at \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]}. It then increments or
9017 decrements (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag
9018 is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{DI} or \c{EDI}.
9020 The register used is \c{DI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
9021 \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
9022 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
9023 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
9025 Segment override prefixes have no effect for this instruction: the
9026 use of \c{ES} for the load from \c{[DI]} or \c{[EDI]} cannot be
9029 \c{INSW} and \c{INSD} work in the same way, but they input a word or
9030 a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement the
9031 addressing register by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
9033 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
9034 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
9036 See also \c{OUTSB}, \c{OUTSW} and \c{OUTSD} (\k{insOUTSB}).
9039 \H{insINT} \i\c{INT}: Software Interrupt
9041 \c INT imm8 ; CD ib [8086]
9043 \c{INT} causes a software interrupt through a specified vector
9044 number from 0 to 255.
9046 The code generated by the \c{INT} instruction is always two bytes
9047 long: although there are short forms for some \c{INT} instructions,
9048 NASM does not generate them when it sees the \c{INT} mnemonic. In
9049 order to generate single-byte breakpoint instructions, use the
9050 \c{INT3} or \c{INT1} instructions (see \k{insINT1}) instead.
9053 \H{insINT1} \i\c{INT3}, \i\c{INT1}, \i\c{ICEBP}, \i\c{INT01}: Breakpoints
9060 \c INT03 ; CC [8086]
9062 \c{INT1} and \c{INT3} are short one-byte forms of the instructions
9063 \c{INT 1} and \c{INT 3} (see \k{insINT}). They perform a similar
9064 function to their longer counterparts, but take up less code space.
9065 They are used as breakpoints by debuggers.
9067 \b \c{INT1}, and its alternative synonyms \c{INT01} and \c{ICEBP}, is
9068 an instruction used by in-circuit emulators (ICEs). It is present,
9069 though not documented, on some processors down to the 286, but is
9070 only documented for the Pentium Pro. \c{INT3} is the instruction
9071 normally used as a breakpoint by debuggers.
9073 \b \c{INT3}, and its synonym \c{INT03}, is not precisely equivalent to
9074 \c{INT 3}: the short form, since it is designed to be used as a
9075 breakpoint, bypasses the normal \c{IOPL} checks in virtual-8086 mode,
9076 and also does not go through interrupt redirection.
9079 \H{insINTO} \i\c{INTO}: Interrupt if Overflow
9083 \c{INTO} performs an \c{INT 4} software interrupt (see \k{insINT})
9084 if and only if the overflow flag is set.
9087 \H{insINVD} \i\c{INVD}: Invalidate Internal Caches
9089 \c INVD ; 0F 08 [486]
9091 \c{INVD} invalidates and empties the processor's internal caches,
9092 and causes the processor to instruct external caches to do the same.
9093 It does not write the contents of the caches back to memory first:
9094 any modified data held in the caches will be lost. To write the data
9095 back first, use \c{WBINVD} (\k{insWBINVD}).
9098 \H{insINVLPG} \i\c{INVLPG}: Invalidate TLB Entry
9100 \c INVLPG mem ; 0F 01 /7 [486]
9102 \c{INVLPG} invalidates the translation lookahead buffer (TLB) entry
9103 associated with the supplied memory address.
9106 \H{insIRET} \i\c{IRET}, \i\c{IRETW}, \i\c{IRETD}: Return from Interrupt
9109 \c IRETW ; o16 CF [8086]
9110 \c IRETD ; o32 CF [386]
9112 \c{IRET} returns from an interrupt (hardware or software) by means
9113 of popping \c{IP} (or \c{EIP}), \c{CS} and the flags off the stack
9114 and then continuing execution from the new \c{CS:IP}.
9116 \c{IRETW} pops \c{IP}, \c{CS} and the flags as 2 bytes each, taking
9117 6 bytes off the stack in total. \c{IRETD} pops \c{EIP} as 4 bytes,
9118 pops a further 4 bytes of which the top two are discarded and the
9119 bottom two go into \c{CS}, and pops the flags as 4 bytes as well,
9120 taking 12 bytes off the stack.
9122 \c{IRET} is a shorthand for either \c{IRETW} or \c{IRETD}, depending
9123 on the default \c{BITS} setting at the time.
9126 \H{insJcc} \i\c{Jcc}: Conditional Branch
9128 \c Jcc imm ; 70+cc rb [8086]
9129 \c Jcc NEAR imm ; 0F 80+cc rw/rd [386]
9131 The \i{conditional jump} instructions execute a near (same segment)
9132 jump if and only if their conditions are satisfied. For example,
9133 \c{JNZ} jumps only if the zero flag is not set.
9135 The ordinary form of the instructions has only a 128-byte range; the
9136 \c{NEAR} form is a 386 extension to the instruction set, and can
9137 span the full size of a segment. NASM will not override your choice
9138 of jump instruction: if you want \c{Jcc NEAR}, you have to use the
9141 The \c{SHORT} keyword is allowed on the first form of the
9142 instruction, for clarity, but is not necessary.
9144 For details of the condition codes, see \k{iref-cc}.
9147 \H{insJCXZ} \i\c{JCXZ}, \i\c{JECXZ}: Jump if CX/ECX Zero
9149 \c JCXZ imm ; a16 E3 rb [8086]
9150 \c JECXZ imm ; a32 E3 rb [386]
9152 \c{JCXZ} performs a short jump (with maximum range 128 bytes) if and
9153 only if the contents of the \c{CX} register is 0. \c{JECXZ} does the
9154 same thing, but with \c{ECX}.
9157 \H{insJMP} \i\c{JMP}: Jump
9159 \c JMP imm ; E9 rw/rd [8086]
9160 \c JMP SHORT imm ; EB rb [8086]
9161 \c JMP imm:imm16 ; o16 EA iw iw [8086]
9162 \c JMP imm:imm32 ; o32 EA id iw [386]
9163 \c JMP FAR mem ; o16 FF /5 [8086]
9164 \c JMP FAR mem ; o32 FF /5 [386]
9165 \c JMP r/m16 ; o16 FF /4 [8086]
9166 \c JMP r/m32 ; o32 FF /4 [386]
9168 \c{JMP} jumps to a given address. The address may be specified as an
9169 absolute segment and offset, or as a relative jump within the
9172 \c{JMP SHORT imm} has a maximum range of 128 bytes, since the
9173 displacement is specified as only 8 bits, but takes up less code
9174 space. NASM does not choose when to generate \c{JMP SHORT} for you:
9175 you must explicitly code \c{SHORT} every time you want a short jump.
9177 You can choose between the two immediate \i{far jump} forms (\c{JMP
9178 imm:imm}) by the use of the \c{WORD} and \c{DWORD} keywords: \c{JMP
9179 WORD 0x1234:0x5678}) or \c{JMP DWORD 0x1234:0x56789abc}.
9181 The \c{JMP FAR mem} forms execute a far jump by loading the
9182 destination address out of memory. The address loaded consists of 16
9183 or 32 bits of offset (depending on the operand size), and 16 bits of
9184 segment. The operand size may be overridden using \c{JMP WORD FAR
9185 mem} or \c{JMP DWORD FAR mem}.
9187 The \c{JMP r/m} forms execute a \i{near jump} (within the same
9188 segment), loading the destination address out of memory or out of a
9189 register. The keyword \c{NEAR} may be specified, for clarity, in
9190 these forms, but is not necessary. Again, operand size can be
9191 overridden using \c{JMP WORD mem} or \c{JMP DWORD mem}.
9193 As a convenience, NASM does not require you to jump to a far symbol
9194 by coding the cumbersome \c{JMP SEG routine:routine}, but instead
9195 allows the easier synonym \c{JMP FAR routine}.
9197 The \c{CALL r/m} forms given above are near calls; NASM will accept
9198 the \c{NEAR} keyword (e.g. \c{CALL NEAR [address]}), even though it
9199 is not strictly necessary.
9202 \H{insLAHF} \i\c{LAHF}: Load AH from Flags
9206 \c{LAHF} sets the \c{AH} register according to the contents of the
9207 low byte of the flags word.
9209 The operation of \c{LAHF} is:
9211 \c AH <-- SF:ZF:0:AF:0:PF:1:CF
9213 See also \c{SAHF} (\k{insSAHF}).
9216 \H{insLAR} \i\c{LAR}: Load Access Rights
9218 \c LAR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 02 /r [286,PRIV]
9219 \c LAR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 02 /r [286,PRIV]
9221 \c{LAR} takes the segment selector specified by its source (second)
9222 operand, finds the corresponding segment descriptor in the GDT or
9223 LDT, and loads the access-rights byte of the descriptor into its
9224 destination (first) operand.
9227 \H{insLDMXCSR} \i\c{LDMXCSR}: Load Streaming SIMD Extension
9230 \c LDMXCSR mem32 ; 0F AE /2 [KATMAI,SSE]
9232 \c{LDMXCSR} loads 32-bits of data from the specified memory location
9233 into the \c{MXCSR} control/status register. \c{MXCSR} is used to
9234 enable masked/unmasked exception handling, to set rounding modes,
9235 to set flush-to-zero mode, and to view exception status flags.
9237 For details of the \c{MXCSR} register, see the Intel processor docs.
9239 See also \c{STMXCSR} (\k{insSTMXCSR}
9242 \H{insLDS} \i\c{LDS}, \i\c{LES}, \i\c{LFS}, \i\c{LGS}, \i\c{LSS}: Load Far Pointer
9244 \c LDS reg16,mem ; o16 C5 /r [8086]
9245 \c LDS reg32,mem ; o32 C5 /r [386]
9247 \c LES reg16,mem ; o16 C4 /r [8086]
9248 \c LES reg32,mem ; o32 C4 /r [386]
9250 \c LFS reg16,mem ; o16 0F B4 /r [386]
9251 \c LFS reg32,mem ; o32 0F B4 /r [386]
9253 \c LGS reg16,mem ; o16 0F B5 /r [386]
9254 \c LGS reg32,mem ; o32 0F B5 /r [386]
9256 \c LSS reg16,mem ; o16 0F B2 /r [386]
9257 \c LSS reg32,mem ; o32 0F B2 /r [386]
9259 These instructions load an entire far pointer (16 or 32 bits of
9260 offset, plus 16 bits of segment) out of memory in one go. \c{LDS},
9261 for example, loads 16 or 32 bits from the given memory address into
9262 the given register (depending on the size of the register), then
9263 loads the \e{next} 16 bits from memory into \c{DS}. \c{LES},
9264 \c{LFS}, \c{LGS} and \c{LSS} work in the same way but use the other
9268 \H{insLEA} \i\c{LEA}: Load Effective Address
9270 \c LEA reg16,mem ; o16 8D /r [8086]
9271 \c LEA reg32,mem ; o32 8D /r [386]
9273 \c{LEA}, despite its syntax, does not access memory. It calculates
9274 the effective address specified by its second operand as if it were
9275 going to load or store data from it, but instead it stores the
9276 calculated address into the register specified by its first operand.
9277 This can be used to perform quite complex calculations (e.g. \c{LEA
9278 EAX,[EBX+ECX*4+100]}) in one instruction.
9280 \c{LEA}, despite being a purely arithmetic instruction which
9281 accesses no memory, still requires square brackets around its second
9282 operand, as if it were a memory reference.
9284 The size of the calculation is the current \e{address} size, and the
9285 size that the result is stored as is the current \e{operand} size.
9286 If the address and operand size are not the same, then if the
9287 addressing mode was 32-bits, the low 16-bits are stored, and if the
9288 address was 16-bits, it is zero-extended to 32-bits before storing.
9291 \H{insLEAVE} \i\c{LEAVE}: Destroy Stack Frame
9295 \c{LEAVE} destroys a stack frame of the form created by the
9296 \c{ENTER} instruction (see \k{insENTER}). It is functionally
9297 equivalent to \c{MOV ESP,EBP} followed by \c{POP EBP} (or \c{MOV
9298 SP,BP} followed by \c{POP BP} in 16-bit mode).
9301 \H{insLFENCE} \i\c{LFENCE}: Load Fence
9303 \c LFENCE ; 0F AE /5 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9305 \c{LFENCE} performs a serialising operation on all loads from memory
9306 that were issued before the \c{LFENCE} instruction. This guarantees that
9307 all memory reads before the \c{LFENCE} instruction are visible before any
9308 reads after the \c{LFENCE} instruction.
9310 \c{LFENCE} is ordered respective to other \c{LFENCE} instruction, \c{MFENCE},
9311 any memory read and any other serialising instruction (such as \c{CPUID}).
9313 Weakly ordered memory types can be used to achieve higher processor
9314 performance through such techniques as out-of-order issue and
9315 speculative reads. The degree to which a consumer of data recognizes
9316 or knows that the data is weakly ordered varies among applications
9317 and may be unknown to the producer of this data. The \c{LFENCE}
9318 instruction provides a performance-efficient way of ensuring load
9319 ordering between routines that produce weakly-ordered results and
9320 routines that consume that data.
9322 \c{LFENCE} uses the following ModRM encoding:
9325 \c Reg/Opcode (5:3) = 101B
9328 All other ModRM encodings are defined to be reserved, and use
9329 of these encodings risks incompatibility with future processors.
9331 See also \c{SFENCE} (\k{insSFENCE}) and \c{MFENCE} (\k{insMFENCE}).
9334 \H{insLGDT} \i\c{LGDT}, \i\c{LIDT}, \i\c{LLDT}: Load Descriptor Tables
9336 \c LGDT mem ; 0F 01 /2 [286,PRIV]
9337 \c LIDT mem ; 0F 01 /3 [286,PRIV]
9338 \c LLDT r/m16 ; 0F 00 /2 [286,PRIV]
9340 \c{LGDT} and \c{LIDT} both take a 6-byte memory area as an operand:
9341 they load a 32-bit linear address and a 16-bit size limit from that
9342 area (in the opposite order) into the \c{GDTR} (global descriptor table
9343 register) or \c{IDTR} (interrupt descriptor table register). These are
9344 the only instructions which directly use \e{linear} addresses, rather
9345 than segment/offset pairs.
9347 \c{LLDT} takes a segment selector as an operand. The processor looks
9348 up that selector in the GDT and stores the limit and base address
9349 given there into the \c{LDTR} (local descriptor table register).
9351 See also \c{SGDT}, \c{SIDT} and \c{SLDT} (\k{insSGDT}).
9354 \H{insLMSW} \i\c{LMSW}: Load/Store Machine Status Word
9356 \c LMSW r/m16 ; 0F 01 /6 [286,PRIV]
9358 \c{LMSW} loads the bottom four bits of the source operand into the
9359 bottom four bits of the \c{CR0} control register (or the Machine
9360 Status Word, on 286 processors). See also \c{SMSW} (\k{insSMSW}).
9363 \H{insLOADALL} \i\c{LOADALL}, \i\c{LOADALL286}: Load Processor State
9365 \c LOADALL ; 0F 07 [386,UNDOC]
9366 \c LOADALL286 ; 0F 05 [286,UNDOC]
9368 This instruction, in its two different-opcode forms, is apparently
9369 supported on most 286 processors, some 386 and possibly some 486.
9370 The opcode differs between the 286 and the 386.
9372 The function of the instruction is to load all information relating
9373 to the state of the processor out of a block of memory: on the 286,
9374 this block is located implicitly at absolute address \c{0x800}, and
9375 on the 386 and 486 it is at \c{[ES:EDI]}.
9378 \H{insLODSB} \i\c{LODSB}, \i\c{LODSW}, \i\c{LODSD}: Load from String
9380 \c LODSB ; AC [8086]
9381 \c LODSW ; o16 AD [8086]
9382 \c LODSD ; o32 AD [386]
9384 \c{LODSB} loads a byte from \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} into \c{AL}.
9385 It then increments or decrements (depending on the direction flag:
9386 increments if the flag is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{SI} or
9389 The register used is \c{SI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
9390 \c{ESI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
9391 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
9392 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
9394 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
9395 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
9396 example, \c{ES LODSB}).
9398 \c{LODSW} and \c{LODSD} work in the same way, but they load a
9399 word or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement
9400 the addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
9403 \H{insLOOP} \i\c{LOOP}, \i\c{LOOPE}, \i\c{LOOPZ}, \i\c{LOOPNE}, \i\c{LOOPNZ}: Loop with Counter
9405 \c LOOP imm ; E2 rb [8086]
9406 \c LOOP imm,CX ; a16 E2 rb [8086]
9407 \c LOOP imm,ECX ; a32 E2 rb [386]
9409 \c LOOPE imm ; E1 rb [8086]
9410 \c LOOPE imm,CX ; a16 E1 rb [8086]
9411 \c LOOPE imm,ECX ; a32 E1 rb [386]
9412 \c LOOPZ imm ; E1 rb [8086]
9413 \c LOOPZ imm,CX ; a16 E1 rb [8086]
9414 \c LOOPZ imm,ECX ; a32 E1 rb [386]
9416 \c LOOPNE imm ; E0 rb [8086]
9417 \c LOOPNE imm,CX ; a16 E0 rb [8086]
9418 \c LOOPNE imm,ECX ; a32 E0 rb [386]
9419 \c LOOPNZ imm ; E0 rb [8086]
9420 \c LOOPNZ imm,CX ; a16 E0 rb [8086]
9421 \c LOOPNZ imm,ECX ; a32 E0 rb [386]
9423 \c{LOOP} decrements its counter register (either \c{CX} or \c{ECX} -
9424 if one is not specified explicitly, the \c{BITS} setting dictates
9425 which is used) by one, and if the counter does not become zero as a
9426 result of this operation, it jumps to the given label. The jump has
9427 a range of 128 bytes.
9429 \c{LOOPE} (or its synonym \c{LOOPZ}) adds the additional condition
9430 that it only jumps if the counter is nonzero \e{and} the zero flag
9431 is set. Similarly, \c{LOOPNE} (and \c{LOOPNZ}) jumps only if the
9432 counter is nonzero and the zero flag is clear.
9435 \H{insLSL} \i\c{LSL}: Load Segment Limit
9437 \c LSL reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 03 /r [286,PRIV]
9438 \c LSL reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 03 /r [286,PRIV]
9440 \c{LSL} is given a segment selector in its source (second) operand;
9441 it computes the segment limit value by loading the segment limit
9442 field from the associated segment descriptor in the \c{GDT} or \c{LDT}.
9443 (This involves shifting left by 12 bits if the segment limit is
9444 page-granular, and not if it is byte-granular; so you end up with a
9445 byte limit in either case.) The segment limit obtained is then
9446 loaded into the destination (first) operand.
9449 \H{insLTR} \i\c{LTR}: Load Task Register
9451 \c LTR r/m16 ; 0F 00 /3 [286,PRIV]
9453 \c{LTR} looks up the segment base and limit in the GDT or LDT
9454 descriptor specified by the segment selector given as its operand,
9455 and loads them into the Task Register.
9458 \H{insMASKMOVDQU} \i\c{MASKMOVDQU}: Byte Mask Write
9460 \c MASKMOVDQU xmm1,xmm2 ; 66 0F F7 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9462 \c{MASKMOVDQU} stores data from xmm1 to the location specified by
9463 \c{ES:(E)DI}. The size of the store depends on the address-size
9464 attribute. The most significant bit in each byte of the mask
9465 register xmm2 is used to selectively write the data (0 = no write,
9466 1 = write) on a per-byte basis.
9469 \H{insMASKMOVQ} \i\c{MASKMOVQ}: Byte Mask Write
9471 \c MASKMOVQ mm1,mm2 ; 0F F7 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
9473 \c{MASKMOVQ} stores data from xmm1 to the location specified by
9474 \c{ES:(E)DI}. The size of the store depends on the address-size
9475 attribute. The most significant bit in each byte of the mask
9476 register xmm2 is used to selectively write the data (0 = no write,
9477 1 = write) on a per-byte basis.
9480 \H{insMAXPD} \i\c{MAXPD}: Return Packed Double-Precision FP Maximum
9482 \c MAXPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 5F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9484 \c{MAXPD} performs a SIMD compare of the packed double-precision
9485 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum values
9486 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
9487 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
9488 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
9489 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
9492 \H{insMAXPS} \i\c{MAXPS}: Return Packed Single-Precision FP Maximum
9494 \c MAXPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 5F /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9496 \c{MAXPS} performs a SIMD compare of the packed single-precision
9497 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum values
9498 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
9499 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
9500 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
9501 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
9504 \H{insMAXSD} \i\c{MAXSD}: Return Scalar Double-Precision FP Maximum
9506 \c MAXSD xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F2 0F 5F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9508 \c{MAXSD} compares the low-order double-precision FP numbers from
9509 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum value in xmm1. If the
9510 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m64) would
9511 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m64) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
9512 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
9513 the SNaN is not returned). The high quadword of the destination
9517 \H{insMAXSS} \i\c{MAXSD}: Return Scalar Single-Precision FP Maximum
9519 \c MAXSS xmm1,xmm2/m32 ; F3 0F 5F /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9521 \c{MAXSS} compares the low-order single-precision FP numbers from
9522 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum value in xmm1. If the
9523 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m32) would
9524 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m32) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
9525 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
9526 the SNaN is not returned). The high three doublewords of the
9527 destination are left unchanged.
9530 \H{insMFENCE} \i\c{MFENCE}: Memory Fence
9532 \c MFENCE ; 0F AE /6 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9534 \c{MFENCE} performs a serialising operation on all loads from memory
9535 and writes to memory that were issued before the \c{MFENCE} instruction.
9536 This guarantees that all memory reads and writes before the \c{MFENCE}
9537 instruction are completed before any reads and writes after the
9538 \c{MFENCE} instruction.
9540 \c{MFENCE} is ordered respective to other \c{MFENCE} instructions,
9541 \c{LFENCE}, \c{SFENCE}, any memory read and any other serialising
9542 instruction (such as \c{CPUID}).
9544 Weakly ordered memory types can be used to achieve higher processor
9545 performance through such techniques as out-of-order issue, speculative
9546 reads, write-combining, and write-collapsing. The degree to which a
9547 consumer of data recognizes or knows that the data is weakly ordered
9548 varies among applications and may be unknown to the producer of this
9549 data. The \c{MFENCE} instruction provides a performance-efficient way
9550 of ensuring load and store ordering between routines that produce
9551 weakly-ordered results and routines that consume that data.
9553 \c{MFENCE} uses the following ModRM encoding:
9556 \c Reg/Opcode (5:3) = 110B
9559 All other ModRM encodings are defined to be reserved, and use
9560 of these encodings risks incompatibility with future processors.
9562 See also \c{LFENCE} (\k{insLFENCE}) and \c{SFENCE} (\k{insSFENCE}).
9565 \H{insMINPD} \i\c{MINPD}: Return Packed Double-Precision FP Minimum
9567 \c MINPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 5D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9569 \c{MINPD} performs a SIMD compare of the packed double-precision
9570 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum values
9571 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
9572 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
9573 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
9574 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
9577 \H{insMINPS} \i\c{MINPS}: Return Packed Single-Precision FP Minimum
9579 \c MINPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 5D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9581 \c{MINPS} performs a SIMD compare of the packed single-precision
9582 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum values
9583 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
9584 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
9585 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
9586 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
9589 \H{insMINSD} \i\c{MINSD}: Return Scalar Double-Precision FP Minimum
9591 \c MINSD xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F2 0F 5D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9593 \c{MINSD} compares the low-order double-precision FP numbers from
9594 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum value in xmm1. If the
9595 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m64) would
9596 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m64) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
9597 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
9598 the SNaN is not returned). The high quadword of the destination
9602 \H{insMINSS} \i\c{MINSD}: Return Scalar Single-Precision FP Minimum
9604 \c MINSS xmm1,xmm2/m32 ; F3 0F 5D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9606 \c{MINSS} compares the low-order single-precision FP numbers from
9607 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum value in xmm1. If the
9608 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m32) would
9609 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m32) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
9610 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
9611 the SNaN is not returned). The high three doublewords of the
9612 destination are left unchanged.
9615 \H{insMOV} \i\c{MOV}: Move Data
9617 \c MOV r/m8,reg8 ; 88 /r [8086]
9618 \c MOV r/m16,reg16 ; o16 89 /r [8086]
9619 \c MOV r/m32,reg32 ; o32 89 /r [386]
9620 \c MOV reg8,r/m8 ; 8A /r [8086]
9621 \c MOV reg16,r/m16 ; o16 8B /r [8086]
9622 \c MOV reg32,r/m32 ; o32 8B /r [386]
9624 \c MOV reg8,imm8 ; B0+r ib [8086]
9625 \c MOV reg16,imm16 ; o16 B8+r iw [8086]
9626 \c MOV reg32,imm32 ; o32 B8+r id [386]
9627 \c MOV r/m8,imm8 ; C6 /0 ib [8086]
9628 \c MOV r/m16,imm16 ; o16 C7 /0 iw [8086]
9629 \c MOV r/m32,imm32 ; o32 C7 /0 id [386]
9631 \c MOV AL,memoffs8 ; A0 ow/od [8086]
9632 \c MOV AX,memoffs16 ; o16 A1 ow/od [8086]
9633 \c MOV EAX,memoffs32 ; o32 A1 ow/od [386]
9634 \c MOV memoffs8,AL ; A2 ow/od [8086]
9635 \c MOV memoffs16,AX ; o16 A3 ow/od [8086]
9636 \c MOV memoffs32,EAX ; o32 A3 ow/od [386]
9638 \c MOV r/m16,segreg ; o16 8C /r [8086]
9639 \c MOV r/m32,segreg ; o32 8C /r [386]
9640 \c MOV segreg,r/m16 ; o16 8E /r [8086]
9641 \c MOV segreg,r/m32 ; o32 8E /r [386]
9643 \c MOV reg32,CR0/2/3/4 ; 0F 20 /r [386]
9644 \c MOV reg32,DR0/1/2/3/6/7 ; 0F 21 /r [386]
9645 \c MOV reg32,TR3/4/5/6/7 ; 0F 24 /r [386]
9646 \c MOV CR0/2/3/4,reg32 ; 0F 22 /r [386]
9647 \c MOV DR0/1/2/3/6/7,reg32 ; 0F 23 /r [386]
9648 \c MOV TR3/4/5/6/7,reg32 ; 0F 26 /r [386]
9650 \c{MOV} copies the contents of its source (second) operand into its
9651 destination (first) operand.
9653 In all forms of the \c{MOV} instruction, the two operands are the
9654 same size, except for moving between a segment register and an
9655 \c{r/m32} operand. These instructions are treated exactly like the
9656 corresponding 16-bit equivalent (so that, for example, \c{MOV
9657 DS,EAX} functions identically to \c{MOV DS,AX} but saves a prefix
9658 when in 32-bit mode), except that when a segment register is moved
9659 into a 32-bit destination, the top two bytes of the result are
9662 \c{MOV} may not use \c{CS} as a destination.
9664 \c{CR4} is only a supported register on the Pentium and above.
9666 Test registers are supported on 386/486 processors and on some
9667 non-Intel Pentium class processors.
9670 \H{insMOVAPD} \i\c{MOVAPD}: Move Aligned Packed Double-Precision FP Values
9672 \c MOVAPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 28 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9673 \c MOVAPD xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 66 0F 29 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9675 \c{MOVAPS} moves a double quadword containing 2 packed double-precision
9676 FP values from the source operand to the destination. When the source
9677 or destination operand is a memory location, it must be aligned on a
9680 To move data in and out of memory locations that are not known to be on
9681 16-byte boundaries, use the \c{MOVUPD} instruction (\k{insMOVUPD}).
9684 \H{insMOVAPS} \i\c{MOVAPS}: Move Aligned Packed Single-Precision FP Values
9686 \c MOVAPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 28 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9687 \c MOVAPS xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 0F 29 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9689 \c{MOVAPS} moves a double quadword containing 4 packed single-precision
9690 FP values from the source operand to the destination. When the source
9691 or destination operand is a memory location, it must be aligned on a
9694 To move data in and out of memory locations that are not known to be on
9695 16-byte boundaries, use the \c{MOVUPS} instruction (\k{insMOVUPS}).
9698 \H{insMOVD} \i\c{MOVD}: Move Doubleword to/from MMX Register
9700 \c MOVD mm,r/m32 ; 0F 6E /r [PENT,MMX]
9701 \c MOVD r/m32,mm ; 0F 7E /r [PENT,MMX]
9702 \c MOVD xmm,r/m32 ; 66 0F 6E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9703 \c MOVD r/m32,xmm ; 66 0F 7E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9705 \c{MOVD} copies 32 bits from its source (second) operand into its
9706 destination (first) operand. When the destination is a 64-bit \c{MMX}
9707 register or a 128-bit \c{XMM} register, the input value is zero-extended
9708 to fill the destination register.
9711 \H{insMOVDQ2Q} \i\c{MOVDQ2Q}: Move Quadword from XMM to MMX register.
9713 \c MOVDQ2Q mm,xmm ; F2 OF D6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9715 \c{MOVDQ2Q} moves the low quadword from the source operand to the
9716 destination operand.
9719 \H{insMOVDQA} \i\c{MOVDQA}: Move Aligned Double Quadword
9721 \c MOVDQA xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 OF 6F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9722 \c MOVDQA xmm1/m128,xmm2 ; 66 OF 7F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9724 \c{MOVDQA} moves a double quadword from the source operand to the
9725 destination operand. When the source or destination operand is a
9726 memory location, it must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
9728 To move a double quadword to or from unaligned memory locations,
9729 use the \c{MOVDQU} instruction (\k{insMOVDQU}).
9732 \H{insMOVDQU} \i\c{MOVDQU}: Move Unaligned Double Quadword
9734 \c MOVDQU xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 OF 6F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9735 \c MOVDQU xmm1/m128,xmm2 ; F3 OF 7F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9737 \c{MOVDQU} moves a double quadword from the source operand to the
9738 destination operand. When the source or destination operand is a
9739 memory location, the memory may be unaligned.
9741 To move a double quadword to or from known aligned memory locations,
9742 use the \c{MOVDQA} instruction (\k{insMOVDQA}).
9745 \H{insMOVHLPS} \i\c{MOVHLPS}: Move Packed Single-Precision FP High to Low
9747 \c MOVHLPS xmm1,xmm2 ; OF 12 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9749 \c{MOVHLPS} moves the two packed single-precision FP values from the
9750 high quadword of the source register xmm2 to the low quadword of the
9751 destination register, xmm2. The upper quadword of xmm1 is left unchanged.
9753 The operation of this instruction is:
9755 \c dst[0-63] := src[64-127],
9756 \c dst[64-127] remains unchanged.
9759 \H{insMOVHPD} \i\c{MOVHPD}: Move High Packed Double-Precision FP
9761 \c MOVHPD xmm,m64 ; 66 OF 16 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9762 \c MOVHPD m64,xmm ; 66 OF 17 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9764 \c{MOVHPD} moves a double-precision FP value between the source and
9765 destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
9766 the other is the high quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
9768 The operation of this instruction is:
9770 \c mem[0-63] := xmm[64-127];
9774 \c xmm[0-63] remains unchanged;
9775 \c xmm[64-127] := mem[0-63].
9778 \H{insMOVHPS} \i\c{MOVHPS}: Move High Packed Single-Precision FP
9780 \c MOVHPS xmm,m64 ; 0F 16 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9781 \c MOVHPS m64,xmm ; 0F 17 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9783 \c{MOVHPS} moves two packed single-precision FP values between the source
9784 and destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
9785 the other is the high quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
9787 The operation of this instruction is:
9789 \c mem[0-63] := xmm[64-127];
9793 \c xmm[0-63] remains unchanged;
9794 \c xmm[64-127] := mem[0-63].
9797 \H{insMOVLHPS} \i\c{MOVLHPS}: Move Packed Single-Precision FP Low to High
9799 \c MOVLHPS xmm1,xmm2 ; OF 16 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9801 \c{MOVLHPS} moves the two packed single-precision FP values from the
9802 low quadword of the source register xmm2 to the high quadword of the
9803 destination register, xmm2. The low quadword of xmm1 is left unchanged.
9805 The operation of this instruction is:
9807 \c dst[0-63] remains unchanged;
9808 \c dst[64-127] := src[0-63].
9810 \H{insMOVLPD} \i\c{MOVLPD}: Move Low Packed Double-Precision FP
9812 \c MOVLPD xmm,m64 ; 66 OF 12 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9813 \c MOVLPD m64,xmm ; 66 OF 13 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9815 \c{MOVLPD} moves a double-precision FP value between the source and
9816 destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
9817 the other is the low quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
9819 The operation of this instruction is:
9821 \c mem(0-63) := xmm(0-63);
9825 \c xmm(0-63) := mem(0-63);
9826 \c xmm(64-127) remains unchanged.
9828 \H{insMOVLPS} \i\c{MOVLPS}: Move Low Packed Single-Precision FP
9830 \c MOVLPS xmm,m64 ; OF 12 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9831 \c MOVLPS m64,xmm ; OF 13 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9833 \c{MOVLPS} moves two packed single-precision FP values between the source
9834 and destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
9835 the other is the low quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
9837 The operation of this instruction is:
9839 \c mem(0-63) := xmm(0-63);
9843 \c xmm(0-63) := mem(0-63);
9844 \c xmm(64-127) remains unchanged.
9847 \H{insMOVMSKPD} \i\c{MOVMSKPD}: Extract Packed Double-Precision FP Sign Mask
9849 \c MOVMSKPD reg32,xmm ; 66 0F 50 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9851 \c{MOVMSKPD} inserts a 2-bit mask in r32, formed of the most significant
9852 bits of each double-precision FP number of the source operand.
9855 \H{insMOVMSKPS} \i\c{MOVMSKPS}: Extract Packed Single-Precision FP Sign Mask
9857 \c MOVMSKPS reg32,xmm ; 0F 50 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9859 \c{MOVMSKPS} inserts a 4-bit mask in r32, formed of the most significant
9860 bits of each single-precision FP number of the source operand.
9863 \H{insMOVNTDQ} \i\c{MOVNTDQ}: Move Double Quadword Non Temporal
9865 \c MOVNTDQ m128,xmm ; 66 0F E7 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9867 \c{MOVNTDQ} moves the double quadword from the \c{XMM} source
9868 register to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9869 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution.
9872 \H{insMOVNTI} \i\c{MOVNTI}: Move Doubleword Non Temporal
9874 \c MOVNTI m32,reg32 ; 0F C3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9876 \c{MOVNTI} moves the doubleword in the source register
9877 to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9878 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution.
9881 \H{insMOVNTPD} \i\c{MOVNTPD}: Move Aligned Four Packed Single-Precision
9882 FP Values Non Temporal
9884 \c MOVNTPD m128,xmm ; 66 0F 2B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9886 \c{MOVNTPD} moves the double quadword from the \c{XMM} source
9887 register to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9888 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution. The memory
9889 location must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
9892 \H{insMOVNTPS} \i\c{MOVNTPS}: Move Aligned Four Packed Single-Precision
9893 FP Values Non Temporal
9895 \c MOVNTPS m128,xmm ; 0F 2B /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9897 \c{MOVNTPS} moves the double quadword from the \c{XMM} source
9898 register to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9899 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution. The memory
9900 location must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
9903 \H{insMOVNTQ} \i\c{MOVNTQ}: Move Quadword Non Temporal
9905 \c MOVNTQ m64,mm ; 0F E7 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
9907 \c{MOVNTQ} moves the quadword in the \c{MMX} source register
9908 to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9909 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution.
9912 \H{insMOVQ} \i\c{MOVQ}: Move Quadword to/from MMX Register
9914 \c MOVQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 6F /r [PENT,MMX]
9915 \c MOVQ mm1/m64,mm2 ; 0F 7F /r [PENT,MMX]
9917 \c MOVQ xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F3 0F 7E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9918 \c MOVQ xmm1/m64,xmm2 ; 66 0F D6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9920 \c{MOVQ} copies 64 bits from its source (second) operand into its
9921 destination (first) operand. When the source is an \c{XMM} register,
9922 the low quadword is moved. When the destination is an \c{XMM} register,
9923 the destination is the low quadword, and the high quadword is cleared.
9926 \H{insMOVQ2DQ} \i\c{MOVQ2DQ}: Move Quadword from MMX to XMM register.
9928 \c MOVQ2DQ xmm,mm ; F3 OF D6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9930 \c{MOVQ2DQ} moves the quadword from the source operand to the low
9931 quadword of the destination operand, and clears the high quadword.
9934 \H{insMOVSB} \i\c{MOVSB}, \i\c{MOVSW}, \i\c{MOVSD}: Move String
9936 \c MOVSB ; A4 [8086]
9937 \c MOVSW ; o16 A5 [8086]
9938 \c MOVSD ; o32 A5 [386]
9940 \c{MOVSB} copies the byte at \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} to
9941 \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]}. It then increments or decrements
9942 (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag is clear,
9943 decrements if it is set) \c{SI} and \c{DI} (or \c{ESI} and \c{EDI}).
9945 The registers used are \c{SI} and \c{DI} if the address size is 16
9946 bits, and \c{ESI} and \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use
9947 an address size not equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can
9948 use an explicit \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
9950 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
9951 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
9952 example, \c{es movsb}). The use of \c{ES} for the store to \c{[DI]}
9953 or \c{[EDI]} cannot be overridden.
9955 \c{MOVSW} and \c{MOVSD} work in the same way, but they copy a word
9956 or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement the
9957 addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
9959 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
9960 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
9963 \H{insMOVSD} \i\c{MOVSD}: Move Scalar Double-Precision FP Value
9965 \c MOVSD xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F2 0F 10 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9966 \c MOVSD xmm1/m64,xmm2 ; F2 0F 11 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9968 \c{MOVDS} moves a double-precision FP value from the source operand
9969 to the destination operand. When the source or destination is a
9970 register, the low-order FP value is read or written.
9973 \H{insMOVSS} \i\c{MOVSS}: Move Scalar Single-Precision FP Value
9975 \c MOVSS xmm1,xmm2/m32 ; F3 0F 10 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9976 \c MOVSS xmm1/m32,xmm2 ; F3 0F 11 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9978 \c{MOVSS} moves a single-precision FP value from the source operand
9979 to the destination operand. When the source or destination is a
9980 register, the low-order FP value is read or written.
9983 \H{insMOVSX} \i\c{MOVSX}, \i\c{MOVZX}: Move Data with Sign or Zero Extend
9985 \c MOVSX reg16,r/m8 ; o16 0F BE /r [386]
9986 \c MOVSX reg32,r/m8 ; o32 0F BE /r [386]
9987 \c MOVSX reg32,r/m16 ; o32 0F BF /r [386]
9989 \c MOVZX reg16,r/m8 ; o16 0F B6 /r [386]
9990 \c MOVZX reg32,r/m8 ; o32 0F B6 /r [386]
9991 \c MOVZX reg32,r/m16 ; o32 0F B7 /r [386]
9993 \c{MOVSX} sign-extends its source (second) operand to the length of
9994 its destination (first) operand, and copies the result into the
9995 destination operand. \c{MOVZX} does the same, but zero-extends
9996 rather than sign-extending.
9999 \H{insMOVUPD} \i\c{MOVUPD}: Move Unaligned Packed Double-Precision FP Values
10001 \c MOVUPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 10 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10002 \c MOVUPD xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 66 0F 11 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10004 \c{MOVUPD} moves a double quadword containing 2 packed double-precision
10005 FP values from the source operand to the destination. This instruction
10006 makes no assumptions about alignment of memory operands.
10008 To move data in and out of memory locations that are known to be on 16-byte
10009 boundaries, use the \c{MOVAPD} instruction (\k{insMOVAPD}).
10012 \H{insMOVUPS} \i\c{MOVUPS}: Move Unaligned Packed Single-Precision FP Values
10014 \c MOVUPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 10 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10015 \c MOVUPS xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 0F 11 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10017 \c{MOVUPS} moves a double quadword containing 4 packed single-precision
10018 FP values from the source operand to the destination. This instruction
10019 makes no assumptions about alignment of memory operands.
10021 To move data in and out of memory locations that are known to be on 16-byte
10022 boundaries, use the \c{MOVAPS} instruction (\k{insMOVAPS}).
10025 \H{insMUL} \i\c{MUL}: Unsigned Integer Multiply
10027 \c MUL r/m8 ; F6 /4 [8086]
10028 \c MUL r/m16 ; o16 F7 /4 [8086]
10029 \c MUL r/m32 ; o32 F7 /4 [386]
10031 \c{MUL} performs unsigned integer multiplication. The other operand
10032 to the multiplication, and the destination operand, are implicit, in
10035 \b For \c{MUL r/m8}, \c{AL} is multiplied by the given operand; the
10036 product is stored in \c{AX}.
10038 \b For \c{MUL r/m16}, \c{AX} is multiplied by the given operand;
10039 the product is stored in \c{DX:AX}.
10041 \b For \c{MUL r/m32}, \c{EAX} is multiplied by the given operand;
10042 the product is stored in \c{EDX:EAX}.
10044 Signed integer multiplication is performed by the \c{IMUL}
10045 instruction: see \k{insIMUL}.
10048 \H{insMULPD} \i\c{MULPD}: Packed Single-FP Multiply
10050 \c MULPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 59 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10052 \c{MULPD} performs a SIMD multiply of the packed double-precision FP
10053 values in both operands, and stores the results in the destination register.
10056 \H{insMULPS} \i\c{MULPS}: Packed Single-FP Multiply
10058 \c MULPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 59 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10060 \c{MULPS} performs a SIMD multiply of the packed single-precision FP
10061 values in both operands, and stores the results in the destination register.
10064 \H{insMULSD} \i\c{MULSD}: Scalar Single-FP Multiply
10066 \c MULSD xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F2 0F 59 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10068 \c{MULSD} multiplies the lowest double-precision FP values of both
10069 operands, and stores the result in the low quadword of xmm1.
10072 \H{insMULSS} \i\c{MULSS}: Scalar Single-FP Multiply
10074 \c MULSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 59 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10076 \c{MULSS} multiplies the lowest single-precision FP values of both
10077 operands, and stores the result in the low doubleword of xmm1.
10080 \H{insNEG} \i\c{NEG}, \i\c{NOT}: Two's and One's Complement
10082 \c NEG r/m8 ; F6 /3 [8086]
10083 \c NEG r/m16 ; o16 F7 /3 [8086]
10084 \c NEG r/m32 ; o32 F7 /3 [386]
10086 \c NOT r/m8 ; F6 /2 [8086]
10087 \c NOT r/m16 ; o16 F7 /2 [8086]
10088 \c NOT r/m32 ; o32 F7 /2 [386]
10090 \c{NEG} replaces the contents of its operand by the two's complement
10091 negation (invert all the bits and then add one) of the original
10092 value. \c{NOT}, similarly, performs one's complement (inverts all
10096 \H{insNOP} \i\c{NOP}: No Operation
10100 \c{NOP} performs no operation. Its opcode is the same as that
10101 generated by \c{XCHG AX,AX} or \c{XCHG EAX,EAX} (depending on the
10102 processor mode; see \k{insXCHG}).
10105 \H{insOR} \i\c{OR}: Bitwise OR
10107 \c OR r/m8,reg8 ; 08 /r [8086]
10108 \c OR r/m16,reg16 ; o16 09 /r [8086]
10109 \c OR r/m32,reg32 ; o32 09 /r [386]
10111 \c OR reg8,r/m8 ; 0A /r [8086]
10112 \c OR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0B /r [8086]
10113 \c OR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0B /r [386]
10115 \c OR r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /1 ib [8086]
10116 \c OR r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /1 iw [8086]
10117 \c OR r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /1 id [386]
10119 \c OR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /1 ib [8086]
10120 \c OR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /1 ib [386]
10122 \c OR AL,imm8 ; 0C ib [8086]
10123 \c OR AX,imm16 ; o16 0D iw [8086]
10124 \c OR EAX,imm32 ; o32 0D id [386]
10126 \c{OR} performs a bitwise OR operation between its two operands
10127 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if at least one of the
10128 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
10129 in the destination (first) operand.
10131 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
10132 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
10133 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
10134 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
10135 form of the instruction.
10137 The MMX instruction \c{POR} (see \k{insPOR}) performs the same
10138 operation on the 64-bit MMX registers.
10141 \H{insORPD} \i\c{ORPD}: Bit-wise Logical OR of Double-Precision FP Data
10143 \c ORPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 56 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10145 \c{ORPD} return a bit-wise logical OR between xmm1 and xmm2/mem,
10146 and stores the result in xmm1. If the source operand is a memory
10147 location, it must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
10150 \H{insORPS} \i\c{ORPS}: Bit-wise Logical OR of Single-Precision FP Data
10152 \c ORPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 56 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10154 \c{ORPS} return a bit-wise logical OR between xmm1 and xmm2/mem,
10155 and stores the result in xmm1. If the source operand is a memory
10156 location, it must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
10159 \H{insOUT} \i\c{OUT}: Output Data to I/O Port
10161 \c OUT imm8,AL ; E6 ib [8086]
10162 \c OUT imm8,AX ; o16 E7 ib [8086]
10163 \c OUT imm8,EAX ; o32 E7 ib [386]
10164 \c OUT DX,AL ; EE [8086]
10165 \c OUT DX,AX ; o16 EF [8086]
10166 \c OUT DX,EAX ; o32 EF [386]
10168 \c{OUT} writes the contents of the given source register to the
10169 specified I/O port. The port number may be specified as an immediate
10170 value if it is between 0 and 255, and otherwise must be stored in
10171 \c{DX}. See also \c{IN} (\k{insIN}).
10174 \H{insOUTSB} \i\c{OUTSB}, \i\c{OUTSW}, \i\c{OUTSD}: Output String to I/O Port
10176 \c OUTSB ; 6E [186]
10178 \c OUTSW ; o16 6F [186]
10180 \c OUTSD ; o32 6F [386]
10182 \c{OUTSB} loads a byte from \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} and writes
10183 it to the I/O port specified in \c{DX}. It then increments or
10184 decrements (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag
10185 is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{SI} or \c{ESI}.
10187 The register used is \c{SI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
10188 \c{ESI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
10189 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
10190 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
10192 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
10193 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
10194 example, \c{es outsb}).
10196 \c{OUTSW} and \c{OUTSD} work in the same way, but they output a
10197 word or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement
10198 the addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
10200 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
10201 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
10204 \H{insPACKSSDW} \i\c{PACKSSDW}, \i\c{PACKSSWB}, \i\c{PACKUSWB}: Pack Data
10206 \c PACKSSDW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 6B /r [PENT,MMX]
10207 \c PACKSSWB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 63 /r [PENT,MMX]
10208 \c PACKUSWB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 67 /r [PENT,MMX]
10210 \c PACKSSDW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10211 \c PACKSSWB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 63 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10212 \c PACKUSWB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 67 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10214 All these instructions start by combining the source and destination
10215 operands, and then splitting the result in smaller sections which it
10216 then packs into the destination register. The \c{MMX} versions pack
10217 two 64-bit operands into one 64-bit register, while the \c{SSE}
10218 versions pack two 128-bit operands into one 128-bit register.
10220 \b \c{PACKSSWB} splits the combined value into words, and then reduces
10221 the words to btes, using signed saturation. It then packs the bytes
10222 into the destination register in the same order the words were in.
10224 \b \c{PACKSSDW} performs the same operation as \c{PACKSSWB}, except that
10225 it reduces doublewords to words, then packs them into the destination
10228 \b \c{PACKUSWB} performs the same operation as \c{PACKSSWB}, except that
10229 it uses unsigned saturation when reducing the size of the elements.
10231 To perform signed saturation on a number, it is replaced by the largest
10232 signed number (\c{7FFFh} or \c{7Fh}) that \e{will} fit, and if it is too
10233 small it is replaced by the smallest signed number (\c{8000h} or
10234 \c{80h}) that will fit. To perform unsigned saturation, the input is
10235 treated as unsigned, and the input is replaced by the largest unsigned
10236 number that will fit.
10239 \H{insPADDB} \i\c{PADDB}, \i\c{PADDW}, \i\c{PADDD}: Add Packed Integers
10241 \c PADDB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FC /r [PENT,MMX]
10242 \c PADDW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FD /r [PENT,MMX]
10243 \c PADDD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FE /r [PENT,MMX]
10245 \c PADDB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FC /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10246 \c PADDW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FD /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10247 \c PADDD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FE /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10249 \c{PADDx} performs packed addition of the two operands, storing the
10250 result in the destination (first) operand.
10252 \b \c{PADDB} treats the operands as packed bytes, and adds each byte
10255 \b \c{PADDW} treats the operands as packed words;
10257 \b \c{PADDD} treats its operands as packed doublewords.
10259 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, it
10260 is wrapped around and the low bits are stored, with the carry bit
10264 \H{insPADDQ} \i\c{PADDQ}: Add Packed Quadword Integers
10266 \c PADDQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D4 /r [PENT,MMX]
10268 \c PADDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10270 \c{PADDQ} adds the quadwords in the source and destination operands, and
10271 stores the result in the destination register.
10273 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, it
10274 is wrapped around and the low bits are stored, with the carry bit
10278 \H{insPADDSB} \i\c{PADDSB}, \i\c{PADDSW}: Add Packed Signed Integers With Saturation
10280 \c PADDSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EC /r [PENT,MMX]
10281 \c PADDSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F ED /r [PENT,MMX]
10283 \c PADDSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EC /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10284 \c PADDSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F ED /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10286 \c{PADDSx} performs packed addition of the two operands, storing the
10287 result in the destination (first) operand.
10288 \c{PADDSB} treats the operands as packed bytes, and adds each byte
10289 individually; and \c{PADDSW} treats the operands as packed words.
10291 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, a
10292 saturated value is stored. The resulting value is the value with the
10293 largest magnitude of the same sign as the result which will fit in
10294 the available space.
10297 \H{insPADDSIW} \i\c{PADDSIW}: MMX Packed Addition to Implicit Destination
10299 \c PADDSIW mmxreg,r/m64 ; 0F 51 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10301 \c{PADDSIW}, specific to the Cyrix extensions to the MMX instruction
10302 set, performs the same function as \c{PADDSW}, except that the result
10303 is placed in an implied register.
10305 To work out the implied register, invert the lowest bit in the register
10306 number. So \c{PADDSIW MM0,MM2} would put the result in \c{MM1}, but
10307 \c{PADDSIW MM1,MM2} would put the result in \c{MM0}.
10310 \H{insPADDUSB} \i\c{PADDUSB}, \i\c{PADDUSW}: Add Packed Unsigned Integers With Saturation
10312 \c PADDUSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DC /r [PENT,MMX]
10313 \c PADDUSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DD /r [PENT,MMX]
10315 \c PADDUSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DC /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10316 \c PADDUSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DD /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10318 \c{PADDUSx} performs packed addition of the two operands, storing the
10319 result in the destination (first) operand.
10320 \c{PADDUSB} treats the operands as packed bytes, and adds each byte
10321 individually; and \c{PADDUSW} treats the operands as packed words.
10323 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, a
10324 saturated value is stored. The resulting value is the maximum value
10325 that will fit in the available space.
10328 \H{insPAND} \i\c{PAND}, \i\c{PANDN}: MMX Bitwise AND and AND-NOT
10330 \c PAND mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DB /r [PENT,MMX]
10331 \c PANDN mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DF /r [PENT,MMX]
10333 \c PAND xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10334 \c PANDN xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DF /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10337 \c{PAND} performs a bitwise AND operation between its two operands
10338 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if the corresponding
10339 bits of the two inputs were both 1), and stores the result in the
10340 destination (first) operand.
10342 \c{PANDN} performs the same operation, but performs a one's
10343 complement operation on the destination (first) operand first.
10346 \H{insPAUSE} \i\c{PAUSE}: Spin Loop Hint
10348 \c PAUSE ; F3 90 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10350 \c{PAUSE} provides a hint to the processor that the following code
10351 is a spin loop. This improves processor performance by bypassing
10352 possible memory order violations. On older processors, this instruction
10353 operates as a \c{NOP}.
10356 \H{insPAVEB} \i\c{PAVEB}: MMX Packed Average
10358 \c PAVEB mmxreg,r/m64 ; 0F 50 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10360 \c{PAVEB}, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, treats its two
10361 operands as vectors of eight unsigned bytes, and calculates the
10362 average of the corresponding bytes in the operands. The resulting
10363 vector of eight averages is stored in the first operand.
10365 This opcode maps to \c{MOVMSKPS r32, xmm} on processors that support
10366 the SSE instruction set.
10369 \H{insPAVGB} \i\c{PAVGB} \i\c{PAVGW}: Average Packed Integers
10371 \c PAVGB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E0 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10372 \c PAVGW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E3 /r [KATMAI,MMX,SM]
10374 \c PAVGB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E0 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10375 \c PAVGW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10377 \c{PAVGB} and \c{PAVGW} add the unsigned data elements of the source
10378 operand to the unsigned data elements of the destination register,
10379 then adds 1 to the temporary results. The results of the add are then
10380 each independently right-shifted by one bit position. The high order
10381 bits of each element are filled with the carry bits of the corresponding
10384 \b \c{PAVGB} operates on packed unsigned bytes, and
10386 \b \c{PAVGW} operates on packed unsigned words.
10389 \H{insPAVGUSB} \i\c{PAVGUSB}: Average of unsigned packed 8-bit values
10391 \c PAVGUSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r BF [PENT,3DNOW]
10393 \c{PAVGUSB} adds the unsigned data elements of the source operand to
10394 the unsigned data elements of the destination register, then adds 1
10395 to the temporary results. The results of the add are then each
10396 independently right-shifted by one bit position. The high order bits
10397 of each element are filled with the carry bits of the corresponding
10400 This instruction performs exactly the same operations as the \c{PAVGB}
10401 \c{MMX} instruction (\k{insPAVGB}).
10404 \H{insPCMPEQB} \i\c{PCMPxx}: Compare Packed Integers.
10406 \c PCMPEQB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 74 /r [PENT,MMX]
10407 \c PCMPEQW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 75 /r [PENT,MMX]
10408 \c PCMPEQD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 76 /r [PENT,MMX]
10410 \c PCMPGTB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 64 /r [PENT,MMX]
10411 \c PCMPGTW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 65 /r [PENT,MMX]
10412 \c PCMPGTD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 66 /r [PENT,MMX]
10414 \c PCMPEQB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 74 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10415 \c PCMPEQW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 75 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10416 \c PCMPEQD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 76 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10418 \c PCMPGTB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 64 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10419 \c PCMPGTW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 65 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10420 \c PCMPGTD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 66 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10422 The \c{PCMPxx} instructions all treat their operands as vectors of
10423 bytes, words, or doublewords; corresponding elements of the source
10424 and destination are compared, and the corresponding element of the
10425 destination (first) operand is set to all zeros or all ones
10426 depending on the result of the comparison.
10428 \b \c{PCMPxxB} treats the operands as vectors of bytes;
10430 \b \c{PCMPxxW} treats the operands as vectors of words;
10432 \b \c{PCMPxxD} treats the operands as vectors of doublewords;
10434 \b \c{PCMPEQx} sets the corresponding element of the destination
10435 operand to all ones if the two elements compared are equal;
10437 \b \c{PCMPGTx} sets the destination element to all ones if the element
10438 of the first (destination) operand is greater (treated as a signed
10439 integer) than that of the second (source) operand.
10442 \H{insPDISTIB} \i\c{PDISTIB}: MMX Packed Distance and Accumulate
10443 with Implied Register
10445 \c PDISTIB mm,m64 ; 0F 54 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10447 \c{PDISTIB}, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, treats its two
10448 input operands as vectors of eight unsigned bytes. For each byte
10449 position, it finds the absolute difference between the bytes in that
10450 position in the two input operands, and adds that value to the byte
10451 in the same position in the implied output register. The addition is
10452 saturated to an unsigned byte in the same way as \c{PADDUSB}.
10454 To work out the implied register, invert the lowest bit in the register
10455 number. So \c{PDISTIB MM0,M64} would put the result in \c{MM1}, but
10456 \c{PDISTIB MM1,M64} would put the result in \c{MM0}.
10458 Note that \c{PDISTIB} cannot take a register as its second source
10463 \c dstI[0-7] := dstI[0-7] + ABS(src0[0-7] - src1[0-7]),
10464 \c dstI[8-15] := dstI[8-15] + ABS(src0[8-15] - src1[8-15]),
10467 \c dstI[56-63] := dstI[56-63] + ABS(src0[56-63] - src1[56-63]).
10470 \H{insPEXTRW} \i\c{PEXTRW}: Extract Word
10472 \c PEXTRW reg32,mm,imm8 ; 0F C5 /r ib [KATMAI,MMX]
10473 \c PEXTRW reg32,xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F C5 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10475 \c{PEXTRW} moves the word in the source register (second operand)
10476 that is pointed to by the count operand (third operand), into the
10477 lower half of a 32-bit general purpose register. The upper half of
10478 the register is cleared to all 0s.
10480 When the source operand is an \c{MMX} register, the two least
10481 significant bits of the count specify the source word. When it is
10482 an \c{SSE} register, the three least significant bits specify the
10486 \H{insPF2ID} \i\c{PF2ID}: Packed Single-Precision FP to Integer Convert
10488 \c PF2ID mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 1D [PENT,3DNOW]
10490 \c{PF2ID} converts two single-precision FP values in the source operand
10491 to signed 32-bit integers, using truncation, and stores them in the
10492 destination operand. Source values that are outside the range supported
10493 by the destination are saturated to the largest absolute value of the
10497 \H{insPF2IW} \i\c{PF2IW}: Packed Single-Precision FP to Integer Word Convert
10499 \c PF2IW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 1C [PENT,3DNOW]
10501 \c{PF2IW} converts two single-precision FP values in the source operand
10502 to signed 16-bit integers, using truncation, and stores them in the
10503 destination operand. Source values that are outside the range supported
10504 by the destination are saturated to the largest absolute value of the
10507 \b In the K6-2 and K6-III, the 16-bit value is zero-extended to 32-bits
10510 \b In the K6-2+, K6-III+ and Athlon processors, the value is sign-extended
10511 to 32-bits before storing.
10514 \H{insPFACC} \i\c{PFACC}: Packed Single-Precision FP Accumulate
10516 \c PFACC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r AE [PENT,3DNOW]
10518 \c{PFACC} adds the two single-precision FP values from the destination
10519 operand together, then adds the two single-precision FP values from the
10520 source operand, and places the results in the low and high doublewords
10521 of the destination operand.
10525 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + dst[32-63],
10526 \c dst[32-63] := src[0-31] + src[32-63].
10529 \H{insPFADD} \i\c{PFADD}: Packed Single-Precision FP Addition
10531 \c PFADD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 9E [PENT,3DNOW]
10533 \c{PFADD} performs addition on each of two packed single-precision
10536 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + src[0-31],
10537 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] + src[32-63].
10540 \H{insPFCMP} \i\c{PFCMPxx}: Packed Single-Precision FP Compare
10541 \I\c{PFCMPEQ} \I\c{PFCMPGE} \I\c{PFCMPGT}
10543 \c PFCMPEQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B0 [PENT,3DNOW]
10544 \c PFCMPGE mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 90 [PENT,3DNOW]
10545 \c PFCMPGT mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A0 [PENT,3DNOW]
10547 The \c{PFCMPxx} instructions compare the packed single-point FP values
10548 in the source and destination operands, and set the destination
10549 according to the result. If the condition is true, the destination is
10550 set to all 1s, otherwise it's set to all 0s.
10552 \b \c{PFCMPEQ} tests whether dst == src;
10554 \b \c{PFCMPGE} tests whether dst >= src;
10556 \b \c{PFCMPGT} tests whether dst > src.
10559 \H{insPFMAX} \i\c{PFMAX}: Packed Single-Precision FP Maximum
10561 \c PFMAX mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A4 [PENT,3DNOW]
10563 \c{PFMAX} returns the higher of each pair of single-precision FP values.
10564 If the higher value is zero, it is returned as positive zero.
10567 \H{insPFMIN} \i\c{PFMIN}: Packed Single-Precision FP Minimum
10569 \c PFMIN mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 94 [PENT,3DNOW]
10571 \c{PFMIN} returns the lower of each pair of single-precision FP values.
10572 If the lower value is zero, it is returned as positive zero.
10575 \H{insPFMUL} \i\c{PFMUL}: Packed Single-Precision FP Multiply
10577 \c PFMUL mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B4 [PENT,3DNOW]
10579 \c{PFMUL} returns the product of each pair of single-precision FP values.
10581 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] * src[0-31],
10582 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] * src[32-63].
10585 \H{insPFNACC} \i\c{PFNACC}: Packed Single-Precision FP Negative Accumulate
10587 \c PFNACC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 8A [PENT,3DNOW]
10589 \c{PFACC} performs a negative accumulate of the two single-precision
10590 FP values in the source and destination registers. The result of the
10591 accumulate from the destination register is stored in the low doubleword
10592 of the destination, and the result of the source accumulate is stored in
10593 the high doubleword of the destination register.
10597 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] - dst[32-63],
10598 \c dst[32-63] := src[0-31] - src[32-63].
10601 \H{insPFNACC} \i\c{PFNACC}: Packed Single-Precision FP Mixed Accumulate
10603 \c PFNACC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 8E [PENT,3DNOW]
10605 \c{PFACC} performs a positive accumulate of the two single-precision
10606 FP values in the source register and a negative accumulate of the
10607 destination register. The result of the accumulate from the destination
10608 register is stored in the low doubleword of the destination, and the
10609 result of the source accumulate is stored in the high doubleword of the
10610 destination register.
10614 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] - dst[32-63],
10615 \c dst[32-63] := src[0-31] + src[32-63].
10618 \H{insPFRCP} \i\c{PFRCP}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal Approximation
10620 \c PFRCP mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 96 [PENT,3DNOW]
10622 \c{PFRCP} performs a low precision estimate of the reciprocal of the
10623 low-order single-precision FP value in the source operand, storing the
10624 result in both halves of the destination register. The result is accurate
10627 For higher precision reciprocals, this instruction should be followed by
10628 two more instructions: \c{PFRCPIT1} (\k{insPFRCPIT1}) and \c{PFRCPIT2}
10629 (\k{insPFRCPIT1}). This will result in a 24-bit accuracy. For more details,
10630 see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10633 \H{insPFRCPIT1} \i\c{PFRCPIT1}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal,
10634 First Iteration Step
10636 \c PFRCPIT1 mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A6 [PENT,3DNOW]
10638 \c{PFRCPIT1} performs the first intermediate step in the calculation of
10639 the reciprocal of a single-precision FP value. The first source value
10640 (\c{mm1} is the original value, and the second source value (\c{mm2/m64}
10641 is the result of a \c{PFRCP} instruction.
10643 For the final step in a reciprocal, returning the full 24-bit accuracy
10644 of a single-precision FP value, see \c{PFRCPIT2} (\k{insPFRCPIT2}). For
10645 more details, see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10648 \H{insPFRCPIT2} \i\c{PFRCPIT2}: Packed Single-Precision FP
10649 Reciprocal/ Reciprocal Square Root, Second Iteration Step
10651 \c PFRCPIT2 mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B6 [PENT,3DNOW]
10653 \c{PFRCPIT2} performs the second and final intermediate step in the
10654 calculation of a reciprocal or reciprocal square root, refining the
10655 values returned by the \c{PFRCP} and \c{PFRSQRT} instructions,
10658 The first source value (\c{mm1}) is the output of either a \c{PFRCPIT1}
10659 or a \c{PFRSQIT1} instruction, and the second source is the output of
10660 either the \c{PFRCP} or the \c{PFRSQRT} instruction. For more details,
10661 see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10664 \H{insPFRSQIT1} \i\c{PFRSQIT1}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
10665 Square Root, First Iteration Step
10667 \c PFRSQIT1 mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A7 [PENT,3DNOW]
10669 \c{PFRSQIT1} performs the first intermediate step in the calculation of
10670 the reciprocal square root of a single-precision FP value. The first
10671 source value (\c{mm1} is the square of the result of a \c{PFRSQRT}
10672 instruction, and the second source value (\c{mm2/m64} is the original
10675 For the final step in a calculation, returning the full 24-bit accuracy
10676 of a single-precision FP value, see \c{PFRCPIT2} (\k{insPFRCPIT2}). For
10677 more details, see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10680 \H{insPFRSQRT} \i\c{PFRSQRT}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
10681 Square Root Approximation
10683 \c PFRSQRT mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 97 [PENT,3DNOW]
10685 \c{PFRSQRT} performs a low precision estimate of the reciprocal square
10686 root of the low-order single-precision FP value in the source operand,
10687 storing the result in both halves of the destination register. The result
10688 is accurate to 15 bits.
10690 For higher precision reciprocals, this instruction should be followed by
10691 two more instructions: \c{PFRSQIT1} (\k{insPFRSQIT1}) and \c{PFRCPIT2}
10692 (\k{insPFRCPIT1}). This will result in a 24-bit accuracy. For more details,
10693 see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10696 \H{insPFSUB} \i\c{PFSUB}: Packed Single-Precision FP Subtract
10698 \c PFSUB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 9A [PENT,3DNOW]
10700 \c{PFSUB} subtracts the single-precision FP values in the source from
10701 those in the destination, and stores the result in the destination
10704 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] - src[0-31],
10705 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] - src[32-63].
10708 \H{insPFSUBR} \i\c{PFSUBR}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reverse Subtract
10710 \c PFSUBR mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r AA [PENT,3DNOW]
10712 \c{PFSUBR} subtracts the single-precision FP values in the destination
10713 from those in the source, and stores the result in the destination
10716 \c dst[0-31] := src[0-31] - dst[0-31],
10717 \c dst[32-63] := src[32-63] - dst[32-63].
10720 \H{insPI2FD} \i\c{PI2FD}: Packed Doubleword Integer to Single-Precision FP Convert
10722 \c PI2FD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 0D [PENT,3DNOW]
10724 \c{PF2ID} converts two signed 32-bit integers in the source operand
10725 to single-precision FP values, using truncation of significant digits,
10726 and stores them in the destination operand.
10729 \H{insPF2IW} \i\c{PF2IW}: Packed Word Integer to Single-Precision FP Convert
10731 \c PI2FW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 0C [PENT,3DNOW]
10733 \c{PF2IW} converts two signed 16-bit integers in the source operand
10734 to single-precision FP values, and stores them in the destination
10735 operand. The input values are in the low word of each doubleword.
10738 \H{insPINSRW} \i\c{PINSRW}: Insert Word
10740 \c PINSRW mm,r16/r32/m16,imm8 ;0F C4 /r ib [KATMAI,MMX]
10741 \c PINSRW xmm,r16/r32/m16,imm8 ;66 0F C4 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10743 \c{PINSRW} loads a word from a 16-bit register (or the low half of a
10744 32-bit register), or from memory, and loads it to the word position
10745 in the destination register, pointed at by the count operand (third
10746 operand). If the destination is an \c{MMX} register, the low two bits
10747 of the count byte are used, if it is an \c{XMM} register the low 3
10748 bits are used. The insertion is done in such a way that the other
10749 words from the destination register are left untouched.
10752 \H{insPMACHRIW} \i\c{PMACHRIW}: Packed Multiply and Accumulate with Rounding
10754 \c PMACHRIW mm,m64 ; 0F 5E /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10756 \c{PMACHRIW} takes two packed 16-bit integer inputs, multiplies the
10757 values in the inputs, rounds on bit 15 of each result, then adds bits
10758 15-30 of each result to the corresponding position of the \e{implied}
10759 destination register.
10761 The operation of this instruction is:
10763 \c dstI[0-15] := dstI[0-15] + (mm[0-15] *m64[0-15]
10764 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30],
10765 \c dstI[16-31] := dstI[16-31] + (mm[16-31]*m64[16-31]
10766 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30],
10767 \c dstI[32-47] := dstI[32-47] + (mm[32-47]*m64[32-47]
10768 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30],
10769 \c dstI[48-63] := dstI[48-63] + (mm[48-63]*m64[48-63]
10770 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30].
10772 Note that \c{PMACHRIW} cannot take a register as its second source
10776 \H{insPMADDWD} \i\c{PMADDWD}: MMX Packed Multiply and Add
10778 \c PMADDWD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F5 /r [PENT,MMX]
10779 \c PMADDWD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F5 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10781 \c{PMADDWD} treats its two inputs as vectors of signed words. It
10782 multiplies corresponding elements of the two operands, giving doubleword
10783 results. These are then added together in pairs and stored in the
10784 destination operand.
10786 The operation of this instruction is:
10788 \c dst[0-31] := (dst[0-15] * src[0-15])
10789 \c + (dst[16-31] * src[16-31]);
10790 \c dst[32-63] := (dst[32-47] * src[32-47])
10791 \c + (dst[48-63] * src[48-63]);
10793 The following apply to the \c{SSE} version of the instruction:
10795 \c dst[64-95] := (dst[64-79] * src[64-79])
10796 \c + (dst[80-95] * src[80-95]);
10797 \c dst[96-127] := (dst[96-111] * src[96-111])
10798 \c + (dst[112-127] * src[112-127]).
10801 \H{insPMAGW} \i\c{PMAGW}: MMX Packed Magnitude
10803 \c PMAGW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 52 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10805 \c{PMAGW}, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, treats both its
10806 operands as vectors of four signed words. It compares the absolute
10807 values of the words in corresponding positions, and sets each word
10808 of the destination (first) operand to whichever of the two words in
10809 that position had the larger absolute value.
10812 \H{insPMAXSW} \i\c{PMAXSW}: Packed Signed Integer Word Maximum
10814 \c PMAXSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EE /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10815 \c PMAXSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EE /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10817 \c{PMAXSW} compares each pair of words in the two source operands, and
10818 for each pair it stores the maximum value in the destination register.
10821 \H{insPMAXUB} \i\c{PMAXUB}: Packed Unsigned Integer Byte Maximum
10823 \c PMAXUB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DE /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10824 \c PMAXUB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DE /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10826 \c{PMAXUB} compares each pair of bytes in the two source operands, and
10827 for each pair it stores the maximum value in the destination register.
10830 \H{insPMINSW} \i\c{PMINSW}: Packed Signed Integer Word Minimum
10832 \c PMINSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EA /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10833 \c PMINSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EA /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10835 \c{PMINSW} compares each pair of words in the two source operands, and
10836 for each pair it stores the minimum value in the destination register.
10839 \H{insPMINUB} \i\c{PMINUB}: Packed Unsigned Integer Byte Minimum
10841 \c PMINUB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DA /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10842 \c PMINUB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DA /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10844 \c{PMINUB} compares each pair of bytes in the two source operands, and
10845 for each pair it stores the minimum value in the destination register.
10848 \H{insPMOVMSKB} \i\c{PMOVMSKB}: Move Byte Mask To Integer
10850 \c PMOVMSKB reg32,mm ; 0F D7 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10851 \c PMOVMSKB reg32,xmm ; 66 0F D7 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10853 \c{PMOVMSKB} returns an 8-bit or 16-bit mask formed of the most
10854 significant bits of each byte of source operand (8-bits for an
10855 \c{MMX} register, 16-bits for an \c{XMM} register).
10858 \H{insPMULHRW} \i\c{PMULHRWC}, \i\c{PMULHRIW}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers
10859 With Rounding, and Store High Word
10861 \c PMULHRWC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 59 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10862 \c PMULHRIW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 5D /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10864 These instructions take two packed 16-bit integer inputs, multiply the
10865 values in the inputs, round on bit 15 of each result, then store bits
10866 15-30 of each result to the corresponding position of the destination
10869 \b For \c{PMULHRWC}, the destination is the first source operand.
10871 \b For \c{PMULHRIW}, the destination is an implied register (worked out
10872 as described for \c{PADDSIW} (\k{insPADDSIW})).
10874 The operation of this instruction is:
10876 \c dst[0-15] := (src1[0-15] *src2[0-15] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
10877 \c dst[16-31] := (src1[16-31]*src2[16-31] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
10878 \c dst[32-47] := (src1[32-47]*src2[32-47] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
10879 \c dst[48-63] := (src1[48-63]*src2[48-63] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
10881 See also \c{PMULHRWA} (\k{insPMULHRWA}) for a 3DNow! version of this
10885 \H{insPMULHRWA} \i\c{PMULHRWA}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers
10886 With Rounding, and Store High Word
10888 \c PMULHRWA mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B7 [PENT,3DNOW]
10890 \c{PMULHRWA} takes two packed 16-bit integer inputs, multiplies
10891 the values in the inputs, rounds on bit 16 of each result, then
10892 stores bits 16-31 of each result to the corresponding position
10893 of the destination register.
10895 The operation of this instruction is:
10897 \c dst[0-15] := (src1[0-15] *src2[0-15] + 0x00008000)[16-31];
10898 \c dst[16-31] := (src1[16-31]*src2[16-31] + 0x00008000)[16-31];
10899 \c dst[32-47] := (src1[32-47]*src2[32-47] + 0x00008000)[16-31];
10900 \c dst[48-63] := (src1[48-63]*src2[48-63] + 0x00008000)[16-31].
10902 See also \c{PMULHRWC} (\k{insPMULHRW}) for a Cyrix version of this
10906 \H{insPMULHUW} \i\c{PMULHUW}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers,
10907 and Store High Word
10909 \c PMULHUW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E4 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10910 \c PMULHUW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10912 \c{PMULHUW} takes two packed unsigned 16-bit integer inputs, multiplies
10913 the values in the inputs, then stores bits 16-31 of each result to the
10914 corresponding position of the destination register.
10917 \H{insPMULHW} \i\c{PMULHW}, \i\c{PMULLW}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers,
10920 \c PMULHW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E5 /r [PENT,MMX]
10921 \c PMULLW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D5 /r [PENT,MMX]
10923 \c PMULHW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E5 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10924 \c PMULLW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D5 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10926 \c{PMULxW} takes two packed unsigned 16-bit integer inputs, and
10927 multiplies the values in the inputs, forming doubleword results.
10929 \b \c{PMULHW} then stores the top 16 bits of each doubleword in the
10930 destination (first) operand;
10932 \b \c{PMULLW} stores the bottom 16 bits of each doubleword in the
10933 destination operand.
10936 \H{insPMULUDQ} \i\c{PMULUDQ}: Multiply Packed Unsigned
10937 32-bit Integers, and Store.
10939 \c PMULUDQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10940 \c PMULUDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10942 \c{PMULUDQ} takes two packed unsigned 32-bit integer inputs, and
10943 multiplies the values in the inputs, forming quadword results. The
10944 source is either an unsigned doubleword in the low doubleword of a
10945 64-bit operand, or it's two unsigned doublewords in the first and
10946 third doublewords of a 128-bit operand. This produces either one or
10947 two 64-bit results, which are stored in the respective quadword
10948 locations of the destination register.
10952 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-31] * src[0-31];
10953 \c dst[64-127] := dst[64-95] * src[64-95].
10956 \H{insPMVccZB} \i\c{PMVccZB}: MMX Packed Conditional Move
10958 \c PMVZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 58 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10959 \c PMVNZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 5A /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10960 \c PMVLZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 5B /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10961 \c PMVGEZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 5C /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10963 These instructions, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, perform
10964 parallel conditional moves. The two input operands are treated as
10965 vectors of eight bytes. Each byte of the destination (first) operand
10966 is either written from the corresponding byte of the source (second)
10967 operand, or left alone, depending on the value of the byte in the
10968 \e{implied} operand (specified in the same way as \c{PADDSIW}, in
10971 \b \c{PMVZB} performs each move if the corresponding byte in the
10972 implied operand is zero;
10974 \b \c{PMVNZB} moves if the byte is non-zero;
10976 \b \c{PMVLZB} moves if the byte is less than zero;
10978 \b \c{PMVGEZB} moves if the byte is greater than or equal to zero.
10980 Note that these instructions cannot take a register as their second
10984 \H{insPOP} \i\c{POP}: Pop Data from Stack
10986 \c POP reg16 ; o16 58+r [8086]
10987 \c POP reg32 ; o32 58+r [386]
10989 \c POP r/m16 ; o16 8F /0 [8086]
10990 \c POP r/m32 ; o32 8F /0 [386]
10992 \c POP CS ; 0F [8086,UNDOC]
10993 \c POP DS ; 1F [8086]
10994 \c POP ES ; 07 [8086]
10995 \c POP SS ; 17 [8086]
10996 \c POP FS ; 0F A1 [386]
10997 \c POP GS ; 0F A9 [386]
10999 \c{POP} loads a value from the stack (from \c{[SS:SP]} or
11000 \c{[SS:ESP]}) and then increments the stack pointer.
11002 The address-size attribute of the instruction determines whether
11003 \c{SP} or \c{ESP} is used as the stack pointer: to deliberately
11004 override the default given by the \c{BITS} setting, you can use an
11005 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
11007 The operand-size attribute of the instruction determines whether the
11008 stack pointer is incremented by 2 or 4: this means that segment
11009 register pops in \c{BITS 32} mode will pop 4 bytes off the stack and
11010 discard the upper two of them. If you need to override that, you can
11011 use an \i\c{o16} or \i\c{o32} prefix.
11013 The above opcode listings give two forms for general-purpose
11014 register pop instructions: for example, \c{POP BX} has the two forms
11015 \c{5B} and \c{8F C3}. NASM will always generate the shorter form
11016 when given \c{POP BX}. NDISASM will disassemble both.
11018 \c{POP CS} is not a documented instruction, and is not supported on
11019 any processor above the 8086 (since they use \c{0Fh} as an opcode
11020 prefix for instruction set extensions). However, at least some 8086
11021 processors do support it, and so NASM generates it for completeness.
11024 \H{insPOPA} \i\c{POPAx}: Pop All General-Purpose Registers
11027 \c POPAW ; o16 61 [186]
11028 \c POPAD ; o32 61 [386]
11030 \b \c{POPAW} pops a word from the stack into each of, successively,
11031 \c{DI}, \c{SI}, \c{BP}, nothing (it discards a word from the stack
11032 which was a placeholder for \c{SP}), \c{BX}, \c{DX}, \c{CX} and
11033 \c{AX}. It is intended to reverse the operation of \c{PUSHAW} (see
11034 \k{insPUSHA}), but it ignores the value for \c{SP} that was pushed
11035 on the stack by \c{PUSHAW}.
11037 \b \c{POPAD} pops twice as much data, and places the results in
11038 \c{EDI}, \c{ESI}, \c{EBP}, nothing (placeholder for \c{ESP}),
11039 \c{EBX}, \c{EDX}, \c{ECX} and \c{EAX}. It reverses the operation of
11042 \c{POPA} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{POPAW} or \c{POPAD},
11043 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
11045 Note that the registers are popped in reverse order of their numeric
11046 values in opcodes (see \k{iref-rv}).
11049 \H{insPOPF} \i\c{POPFx}: Pop Flags Register
11052 \c POPFW ; o16 9D [186]
11053 \c POPFD ; o32 9D [386]
11055 \b \c{POPFW} pops a word from the stack and stores it in the bottom 16
11056 bits of the flags register (or the whole flags register, on
11057 processors below a 386).
11059 \b \c{POPFD} pops a doubleword and stores it in the entire flags register.
11061 \c{POPF} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{POPFW} or \c{POPFD},
11062 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
11064 See also \c{PUSHF} (\k{insPUSHF}).
11067 \H{insPOR} \i\c{POR}: MMX Bitwise OR
11069 \c POR mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EB /r [PENT,MMX]
11070 \c POR xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11072 \c{POR} performs a bitwise OR operation between its two operands
11073 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if at least one of the
11074 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
11075 in the destination (first) operand.
11078 \H{insPREFETCH} \i\c{PREFETCH}: Prefetch Data Into Caches
11080 \c PREFETCH mem8 ; 0F 0D /0 [PENT,3DNOW]
11081 \c PREFETCHW mem8 ; 0F 0D /1 [PENT,3DNOW]
11083 \c{PREFETCH} and \c{PREFETCHW} fetch the line of data from memory that
11084 contains the specified byte. \c{PREFETCHW} performs differently on the
11085 Athlon to earlier processors.
11087 For more details, see the 3DNow! Technology Manual.
11090 \H{insPREFETCHh} \i\c{PREFETCHh}: Prefetch Data Into Caches
11091 \I\c{PREFETCHNTA} \I\c{PREFETCHT0} \I\c{PREFETCHT1} \I\c{PREFETCHT2}
11093 \c PREFETCHNTA m8 ; 0F 18 /0 [KATMAI]
11094 \c PREFETCHT0 m8 ; 0F 18 /1 [KATMAI]
11095 \c PREFETCHT1 m8 ; 0F 18 /2 [KATMAI]
11096 \c PREFETCHT2 m8 ; 0F 18 /3 [KATMAI]
11098 The \c{PREFETCHh} instructions fetch the line of data from memory
11099 that contains the specified byte. It is placed in the cache
11100 according to rules specified by locality hints \c{h}:
11104 \b \c{T0} (temporal data) - prefetch data into all levels of the
11107 \b \c{T1} (temporal data with respect to first level cache) -
11108 prefetch data into level 2 cache and higher.
11110 \b \c{T2} (temporal data with respect to second level cache) -
11111 prefetch data into level 2 cache and higher.
11113 \b \c{NTA} (non-temporal data with respect to all cache levels) —
11114 prefetch data into non-temporal cache structure and into a
11115 location close to the processor, minimizing cache pollution.
11117 Note that this group of instructions doesn't provide a guarantee
11118 that the data will be in the cache when it is needed. For more
11119 details, see the Intel IA32 Software Developer Manual, Volume 2.
11122 \H{insPSADBW} \i\c{PSADBW}: Packed Sum of Absolute Differences
11124 \c PSADBW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F6 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
11125 \c PSADBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11127 \c{PSADBW} The PSADBW instruction computes the absolute value of the
11128 difference of the packed unsigned bytes in the two source operands.
11129 These differences are then summed to produce a word result in the lower
11130 16-bit field of the destination register; the rest of the register is
11131 cleared. The destination operand is an \c{MMX} or an \c{XMM} register.
11132 The source operand can either be a register or a memory operand.
11135 \H{insPSHUFD} \i\c{PSHUFD}: Shuffle Packed Doublewords
11137 \c PSHUFD xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; 66 0F 70 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11139 \c{PSHUFD} shuffles the doublewords in the source (second) operand
11140 according to the encoding specified by imm8, and stores the result
11141 in the destination (first) operand.
11143 Bits 0 and 1 of imm8 encode the source position of the doubleword to
11144 be copied to position 0 in the destination operand. Bits 2 and 3
11145 encode for position 1, bits 4 and 5 encode for position 2, and bits
11146 6 and 7 encode for position 3. For example, an encoding of 10 in
11147 bits 0 and 1 of imm8 indicates that the doubleword at bits 64-95 of
11148 the source operand will be copied to bits 0-31 of the destination.
11151 \H{insPSHUFHW} \i\c{PSHUFHW}: Shuffle Packed High Words
11153 \c PSHUFHW xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; F3 0F 70 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11155 \c{PSHUFW} shuffles the words in the high quadword of the source
11156 (second) operand according to the encoding specified by imm8, and
11157 stores the result in the high quadword of the destination (first)
11160 The operation of this instruction is similar to the \c{PSHUFW}
11161 instruction, except that the source and destination are the top
11162 quadword of a 128-bit operand, instead of being 64-bit operands.
11163 The low quadword is copied from the source to the destination
11164 without any changes.
11167 \H{insPSHUFLW} \i\c{PSHUFLW}: Shuffle Packed Low Words
11169 \c PSHUFLW xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; F2 0F 70 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11171 \c{PSHUFW} shuffles the words in the low quadword of the source
11172 (second) operand according to the encoding specified by imm8, and
11173 stores the result in the low quadword of the destination (first)
11176 The operation of this instruction is similar to the \c{PSHUFW}
11177 instruction, except that the source and destination are the low
11178 quadword of a 128-bit operand, instead of being 64-bit operands.
11179 The high quadword is copied from the source to the destination
11180 without any changes.
11183 \H{insPSHUFW} \i\c{PSHUFW}: Shuffle Packed Words
11185 \c PSHUFW mm1,mm2/m64,imm8 ; 0F 70 /r ib [KATMAI,MMX]
11187 \c{PSHUFW} shuffles the words in the source (second) operand
11188 according to the encoding specified by imm8, and stores the result
11189 in the destination (first) operand.
11191 Bits 0 and 1 of imm8 encode the source position of the word to be
11192 copied to position 0 in the destination operand. Bits 2 and 3 encode
11193 for position 1, bits 4 and 5 encode for position 2, and bits 6 and 7
11194 encode for position 3. For example, an encoding of 10 in bits 0 and 1
11195 of imm8 indicates that the word at bits 32-47 of the source operand
11196 will be copied to bits 0-15 of the destination.
11199 \H{insPSLLD} \i\c{PSLLx}: Packed Data Bit Shift Left Logical
11201 \c PSLLW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F1 /r [PENT,MMX]
11202 \c PSLLW mm,imm8 ; 0F 71 /6 ib [PENT,MMX]
11204 \c PSLLW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F1 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11205 \c PSLLW xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 71 /6 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11207 \c PSLLD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F2 /r [PENT,MMX]
11208 \c PSLLD mm,imm8 ; 0F 72 /6 ib [PENT,MMX]
11210 \c PSLLD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F2 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11211 \c PSLLD xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 72 /6 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11213 \c PSLLQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F3 /r [PENT,MMX]
11214 \c PSLLQ mm,imm8 ; 0F 73 /6 ib [PENT,MMX]
11216 \c PSLLQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11217 \c PSLLQ xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /6 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11219 \c PSLLDQ xmm1,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /7 ib [PENT,MMX]
11221 \c{PSLLx} performs logical left shifts of the data elements in the
11222 destination (first) operand, moving each bit in the separate elements
11223 left by the number of bits specified in the source (second) operand,
11224 clearing the low-order bits as they are vacated.
11226 \b \c{PSLLW} shifts word sized elements.
11228 \b \c{PSLLD} shifts doubleword sized elements.
11230 \b \c{PSLLQ} shifts quadword sized elements.
11232 \b \c{PSLLDQ} shifts double quadword sized elements.
11235 \H{insPSRAD} \i\c{PSRAx}: Packed Data Bit Shift Right Arithmetic
11237 \c PSRAW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E1 /r [PENT,MMX]
11238 \c PSRAW mm,imm8 ; 0F 71 /4 ib [PENT,MMX]
11240 \c PSRAW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E1 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11241 \c PSRAW xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 71 /4 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11243 \c PSRAD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E2 /r [PENT,MMX]
11244 \c PSRAD mm,imm8 ; 0F 72 /4 ib [PENT,MMX]
11246 \c PSRAD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E2 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11247 \c PSRAD xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 72 /4 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11249 \c{PSRAx} performs arithmetic right shifts of the data elements in the
11250 destination (first) operand, moving each bit in the separate elements
11251 right by the number of bits specified in the source (second) operand,
11252 setting the high-order bits to the value of the original sign bit.
11254 \b \c{PSRAW} shifts word sized elements.
11256 \b \c{PSRAD} shifts doubleword sized elements.
11259 \H{insPSRLD} \i\c{PSRLx}: Packed Data Bit Shift Right Logical
11261 \c PSRLW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D1 /r [PENT,MMX]
11262 \c PSRLW mm,imm8 ; 0F 71 /2 ib [PENT,MMX]
11264 \c PSRLW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D1 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11265 \c PSRLW xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 71 /2 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11267 \c PSRLD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D2 /r [PENT,MMX]
11268 \c PSRLD mm,imm8 ; 0F 72 /2 ib [PENT,MMX]
11270 \c PSRLD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D2 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11271 \c PSRLD xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 72 /2 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11273 \c PSRLQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D3 /r [PENT,MMX]
11274 \c PSRLQ mm,imm8 ; 0F 73 /2 ib [PENT,MMX]
11276 \c PSRLQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11277 \c PSRLQ xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /2 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11279 \c PSRLDQ xmm1,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /3 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11281 \c{PSRLx} performs logical right shifts of the data elements in the
11282 destination (first) operand, moving each bit in the separate elements
11283 right by the number of bits specified in the source (second) operand,
11284 clearing the high-order bits as they are vacated.
11286 \b \c{PSRLW} shifts word sized elements.
11288 \b \c{PSRLD} shifts doubleword sized elements.
11290 \b \c{PSRLQ} shifts quadword sized elements.
11292 \b \c{PSRLDQ} shifts double quadword sized elements.
11295 \H{insPSUBB} \i\c{PSUBx}: Subtract Packed Integers
11297 \c PSUBB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F8 /r [PENT,MMX]
11298 \c PSUBW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F9 /r [PENT,MMX]
11299 \c PSUBD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FA /r [PENT,MMX]
11300 \c PSUBQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11302 \c PSUBB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F8 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11303 \c PSUBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F9 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11304 \c PSUBD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FA /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11305 \c PSUBQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11307 \c{PSUBx} subtracts packed integers in the source operand from those
11308 in the destination operand. It doesn't differentiate between signed
11309 and unsigned integers, and doesn't set any of the flags.
11311 \b \c{PSUBB} operates on byte sized elements.
11313 \b \c{PSUBW} operates on word sized elements.
11315 \b \c{PSUBD} operates on doubleword sized elements.
11317 \b \c{PSUBQ} operates on quadword sized elements.
11320 \H{insPSUBSB} \i\c{PSUBSxx}, \i\c{PSUBUSx}: Subtract Packed Integers With Saturation
11322 \c PSUBSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E8 /r [PENT,MMX]
11323 \c PSUBSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E9 /r [PENT,MMX]
11325 \c PSUBSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E8 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11326 \c PSUBSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E9 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11328 \c PSUBUSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D8 /r [PENT,MMX]
11329 \c PSUBUSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D9 /r [PENT,MMX]
11331 \c PSUBUSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D8 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11332 \c PSUBUSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D9 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11334 \c{PSUBSx} and \c{PSUBUSx} subtracts packed integers in the source
11335 operand from those in the destination operand, and use saturation for
11336 results that are outide the range supported by the destination operand.
11338 \b \c{PSUBSB} operates on signed bytes, and uses signed saturation on the
11341 \b \c{PSUBSW} operates on signed words, and uses signed saturation on the
11344 \b \c{PSUBUSB} operates on unsigned bytes, and uses signed saturation on
11347 \b \c{PSUBUSW} operates on unsigned words, and uses signed saturation on
11351 \H{insPSUBSIW} \i\c{PSUBSIW}: MMX Packed Subtract with Saturation to
11352 Implied Destination
11354 \c PSUBSIW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 55 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
11356 \c{PSUBSIW}, specific to the Cyrix extensions to the MMX instruction
11357 set, performs the same function as \c{PSUBSW}, except that the
11358 result is not placed in the register specified by the first operand,
11359 but instead in the implied destination register, specified as for
11360 \c{PADDSIW} (\k{insPADDSIW}).
11363 \H{insPSWAPD} \i\c{PSWAPD}: Swap Packed Data
11366 \c PSWAPD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r BB [PENT,3DNOW]
11368 \c{PSWAPD} swaps the packed doublewords in the source operand, and
11369 stores the result in the destination operand.
11371 In the \c{K6-2} and \c{K6-III} processors, this opcode uses the
11372 mnemonic \c{PSWAPW}, and it swaps the order of words when copying
11373 from the source to the destination.
11375 The operation in the \c{K6-2} and \c{K6-III} processors is
11377 \c dst[0-15] = src[48-63];
11378 \c dst[16-31] = src[32-47];
11379 \c dst[32-47] = src[16-31];
11380 \c dst[48-63] = src[0-15].
11382 The operation in the \c{K6-x+}, \c{ATHLON} and later processors is:
11384 \c dst[0-31] = src[32-63];
11385 \c dst[32-63] = src[0-31].
11388 \H{insPUNPCKHBW} \i\c{PUNPCKxxx}: Unpack and Interleave Data
11390 \c PUNPCKHBW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 68 /r [PENT,MMX]
11391 \c PUNPCKHWD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 69 /r [PENT,MMX]
11392 \c PUNPCKHDQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 6A /r [PENT,MMX]
11394 \c PUNPCKHBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 68 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11395 \c PUNPCKHWD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 69 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11396 \c PUNPCKHDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11397 \c PUNPCKHQDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11399 \c PUNPCKLBW mm1,mm2/m32 ; 0F 60 /r [PENT,MMX]
11400 \c PUNPCKLWD mm1,mm2/m32 ; 0F 61 /r [PENT,MMX]
11401 \c PUNPCKLDQ mm1,mm2/m32 ; 0F 62 /r [PENT,MMX]
11403 \c PUNPCKLBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 60 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11404 \c PUNPCKLWD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 61 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11405 \c PUNPCKLDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 62 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11406 \c PUNPCKLQDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11408 \c{PUNPCKxx} all treat their operands as vectors, and produce a new
11409 vector generated by interleaving elements from the two inputs. The
11410 \c{PUNPCKHxx} instructions start by throwing away the bottom half of
11411 each input operand, and the \c{PUNPCKLxx} instructions throw away
11414 The remaining elements, are then interleaved into the destination,
11415 alternating elements from the second (source) operand and the first
11416 (destination) operand: so the leftmost part of each element in the
11417 result always comes from the second operand, and the rightmost from
11420 \b \c{PUNPCKxBW} works a byte at a time, producing word sized output
11423 \b \c{PUNPCKxWD} works a word at a time, producing doubleword sized
11426 \b \c{PUNPCKxDQ} works a doubleword at a time, producing quadword sized
11429 \b \c{PUNPCKxQDQ} works a quadword at a time, producing double quadword
11430 sized output elements.
11432 So, for example, for \c{MMX} operands, if the first operand held
11433 \c{0x7A6A5A4A3A2A1A0A} and the second held \c{0x7B6B5B4B3B2B1B0B},
11436 \b \c{PUNPCKHBW} would return \c{0x7B7A6B6A5B5A4B4A}.
11438 \b \c{PUNPCKHWD} would return \c{0x7B6B7A6A5B4B5A4A}.
11440 \b \c{PUNPCKHDQ} would return \c{0x7B6B5B4B7A6A5A4A}.
11442 \b \c{PUNPCKLBW} would return \c{0x3B3A2B2A1B1A0B0A}.
11444 \b \c{PUNPCKLWD} would return \c{0x3B2B3A2A1B0B1A0A}.
11446 \b \c{PUNPCKLDQ} would return \c{0x3B2B1B0B3A2A1A0A}.
11449 \H{insPUSH} \i\c{PUSH}: Push Data on Stack
11451 \c PUSH reg16 ; o16 50+r [8086]
11452 \c PUSH reg32 ; o32 50+r [386]
11454 \c PUSH r/m16 ; o16 FF /6 [8086]
11455 \c PUSH r/m32 ; o32 FF /6 [386]
11457 \c PUSH CS ; 0E [8086]
11458 \c PUSH DS ; 1E [8086]
11459 \c PUSH ES ; 06 [8086]
11460 \c PUSH SS ; 16 [8086]
11461 \c PUSH FS ; 0F A0 [386]
11462 \c PUSH GS ; 0F A8 [386]
11464 \c PUSH imm8 ; 6A ib [286]
11465 \c PUSH imm16 ; o16 68 iw [286]
11466 \c PUSH imm32 ; o32 68 id [386]
11468 \c{PUSH} decrements the stack pointer (\c{SP} or \c{ESP}) by 2 or 4,
11469 and then stores the given value at \c{[SS:SP]} or \c{[SS:ESP]}.
11471 The address-size attribute of the instruction determines whether
11472 \c{SP} or \c{ESP} is used as the stack pointer: to deliberately
11473 override the default given by the \c{BITS} setting, you can use an
11474 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
11476 The operand-size attribute of the instruction determines whether the
11477 stack pointer is decremented by 2 or 4: this means that segment
11478 register pushes in \c{BITS 32} mode will push 4 bytes on the stack,
11479 of which the upper two are undefined. If you need to override that,
11480 you can use an \i\c{o16} or \i\c{o32} prefix.
11482 The above opcode listings give two forms for general-purpose
11483 \i{register push} instructions: for example, \c{PUSH BX} has the two
11484 forms \c{53} and \c{FF F3}. NASM will always generate the shorter
11485 form when given \c{PUSH BX}. NDISASM will disassemble both.
11487 Unlike the undocumented and barely supported \c{POP CS}, \c{PUSH CS}
11488 is a perfectly valid and sensible instruction, supported on all
11491 The instruction \c{PUSH SP} may be used to distinguish an 8086 from
11492 later processors: on an 8086, the value of \c{SP} stored is the
11493 value it has \e{after} the push instruction, whereas on later
11494 processors it is the value \e{before} the push instruction.
11497 \H{insPUSHA} \i\c{PUSHAx}: Push All General-Purpose Registers
11499 \c PUSHA ; 60 [186]
11500 \c PUSHAD ; o32 60 [386]
11501 \c PUSHAW ; o16 60 [186]
11503 \c{PUSHAW} pushes, in succession, \c{AX}, \c{CX}, \c{DX}, \c{BX},
11504 \c{SP}, \c{BP}, \c{SI} and \c{DI} on the stack, decrementing the
11505 stack pointer by a total of 16.
11507 \c{PUSHAD} pushes, in succession, \c{EAX}, \c{ECX}, \c{EDX},
11508 \c{EBX}, \c{ESP}, \c{EBP}, \c{ESI} and \c{EDI} on the stack,
11509 decrementing the stack pointer by a total of 32.
11511 In both cases, the value of \c{SP} or \c{ESP} pushed is its
11512 \e{original} value, as it had before the instruction was executed.
11514 \c{PUSHA} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{PUSHAW} or \c{PUSHAD},
11515 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
11517 Note that the registers are pushed in order of their numeric values
11518 in opcodes (see \k{iref-rv}).
11520 See also \c{POPA} (\k{insPOPA}).
11523 \H{insPUSHF} \i\c{PUSHFx}: Push Flags Register
11525 \c PUSHF ; 9C [186]
11526 \c PUSHFD ; o32 9C [386]
11527 \c PUSHFW ; o16 9C [186]
11529 \b \c{PUSHFW} pops a word from the stack and stores it in the
11530 bottom 16 bits of the flags register (or the whole flags register,
11531 on processors below a 386).
11533 \b \c{PUSHFD} pops a doubleword and stores it in the entire flags
11536 \c{PUSHF} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{PUSHFW} or \c{PUSHFD},
11537 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
11539 See also \c{POPF} (\k{insPOPF}).
11542 \H{insPXOR} \i\c{PXOR}: MMX Bitwise XOR
11544 \c PXOR mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EF /r [PENT,MMX]
11545 \c PXOR xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EF /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11547 \c{PXOR} performs a bitwise XOR operation between its two operands
11548 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if exactly one of the
11549 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
11550 in the destination (first) operand.
11553 \H{insRCL} \i\c{RCL}, \i\c{RCR}: Bitwise Rotate through Carry Bit
11555 \c RCL r/m8,1 ; D0 /2 [8086]
11556 \c RCL r/m8,CL ; D2 /2 [8086]
11557 \c RCL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /2 ib [286]
11558 \c RCL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /2 [8086]
11559 \c RCL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /2 [8086]
11560 \c RCL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /2 ib [286]
11561 \c RCL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /2 [386]
11562 \c RCL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /2 [386]
11563 \c RCL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /2 ib [386]
11565 \c RCR r/m8,1 ; D0 /3 [8086]
11566 \c RCR r/m8,CL ; D2 /3 [8086]
11567 \c RCR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /3 ib [286]
11568 \c RCR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /3 [8086]
11569 \c RCR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /3 [8086]
11570 \c RCR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /3 ib [286]
11571 \c RCR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /3 [386]
11572 \c RCR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /3 [386]
11573 \c RCR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /3 ib [386]
11575 \c{RCL} and \c{RCR} perform a 9-bit, 17-bit or 33-bit bitwise
11576 rotation operation, involving the given source/destination (first)
11577 operand and the carry bit. Thus, for example, in the operation
11578 \c{RCL AL,1}, a 9-bit rotation is performed in which \c{AL} is
11579 shifted left by 1, the top bit of \c{AL} moves into the carry flag,
11580 and the original value of the carry flag is placed in the low bit of
11583 The number of bits to rotate by is given by the second operand. Only
11584 the bottom five bits of the rotation count are considered by
11585 processors above the 8086.
11587 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
11588 byte) form of \c{RCL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{RCL
11589 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{RCR}.
11592 \H{insRCPPS} \i\c{RCPPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
11594 \c RCPPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 53 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11596 \c{RCPPS} returns an approximation of the reciprocal of the packed
11597 single-precision FP values from xmm2/m128. The maximum error for this
11598 approximation is: |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
11601 \H{insRCPSS} \i\c{RCPSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
11603 \c RCPSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 53 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11605 \c{RCPSS} returns an approximation of the reciprocal of the lower
11606 single-precision FP value from xmm2/m32; the upper three fields are
11607 passed through from xmm1. The maximum error for this approximation is:
11608 |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
11611 \H{insRDMSR} \i\c{RDMSR}: Read Model-Specific Registers
11613 \c RDMSR ; 0F 32 [PENT,PRIV]
11615 \c{RDMSR} reads the processor Model-Specific Register (MSR) whose
11616 index is stored in \c{ECX}, and stores the result in \c{EDX:EAX}.
11617 See also \c{WRMSR} (\k{insWRMSR}).
11620 \H{insRDPMC} \i\c{RDPMC}: Read Performance-Monitoring Counters
11622 \c RDPMC ; 0F 33 [P6]
11624 \c{RDPMC} reads the processor performance-monitoring counter whose
11625 index is stored in \c{ECX}, and stores the result in \c{EDX:EAX}.
11627 This instruction is available on P6 and later processors and on MMX
11631 \H{insRDSHR} \i\c{RDSHR}: Read SMM Header Pointer Register
11633 \c RDSHR r/m32 ; 0F 36 /0 [386,CYRIX,SMM]
11635 \c{RDSHR} reads the contents of the SMM header pointer register and
11636 saves it to the destination operand, which can be either a 32 bit
11637 memory location or a 32 bit register.
11639 See also \c{WRSHR} (\k{insWRSHR}).
11642 \H{insRDTSC} \i\c{RDTSC}: Read Time-Stamp Counter
11644 \c RDTSC ; 0F 31 [PENT]
11646 \c{RDTSC} reads the processor's time-stamp counter into \c{EDX:EAX}.
11649 \H{insRET} \i\c{RET}, \i\c{RETF}, \i\c{RETN}: Return from Procedure Call
11652 \c RET imm16 ; C2 iw [8086]
11654 \c RETF ; CB [8086]
11655 \c RETF imm16 ; CA iw [8086]
11657 \c RETN ; C3 [8086]
11658 \c RETN imm16 ; C2 iw [8086]
11660 \b \c{RET}, and its exact synonym \c{RETN}, pop \c{IP} or \c{EIP} from
11661 the stack and transfer control to the new address. Optionally, if a
11662 numeric second operand is provided, they increment the stack pointer
11663 by a further \c{imm16} bytes after popping the return address.
11665 \b \c{RETF} executes a far return: after popping \c{IP}/\c{EIP}, it
11666 then pops \c{CS}, and \e{then} increments the stack pointer by the
11667 optional argument if present.
11670 \H{insROL} \i\c{ROL}, \i\c{ROR}: Bitwise Rotate
11672 \c ROL r/m8,1 ; D0 /0 [8086]
11673 \c ROL r/m8,CL ; D2 /0 [8086]
11674 \c ROL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /0 ib [286]
11675 \c ROL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /0 [8086]
11676 \c ROL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /0 [8086]
11677 \c ROL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /0 ib [286]
11678 \c ROL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /0 [386]
11679 \c ROL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /0 [386]
11680 \c ROL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /0 ib [386]
11682 \c ROR r/m8,1 ; D0 /1 [8086]
11683 \c ROR r/m8,CL ; D2 /1 [8086]
11684 \c ROR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /1 ib [286]
11685 \c ROR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /1 [8086]
11686 \c ROR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /1 [8086]
11687 \c ROR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /1 ib [286]
11688 \c ROR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /1 [386]
11689 \c ROR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /1 [386]
11690 \c ROR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /1 ib [386]
11692 \c{ROL} and \c{ROR} perform a bitwise rotation operation on the given
11693 source/destination (first) operand. Thus, for example, in the
11694 operation \c{ROL AL,1}, an 8-bit rotation is performed in which
11695 \c{AL} is shifted left by 1 and the original top bit of \c{AL} moves
11696 round into the low bit.
11698 The number of bits to rotate by is given by the second operand. Only
11699 the bottom five bits of the rotation count are considered by processors
11702 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
11703 byte) form of \c{ROL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{ROL
11704 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{ROR}.
11707 \H{insRSDC} \i\c{RSDC}: Restore Segment Register and Descriptor
11709 \c RSDC segreg,m80 ; 0F 79 /r [486,CYRIX,SMM]
11711 \c{RSDC} restores a segment register (DS, ES, FS, GS, or SS) from mem80,
11712 and sets up its descriptor.
11715 \H{insRSLDT} \i\c{RSLDT}: Restore Segment Register and Descriptor
11717 \c RSLDT m80 ; 0F 7B /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
11719 \c{RSLDT} restores the Local Descriptor Table (LDTR) from mem80.
11722 \H{insRSM} \i\c{RSM}: Resume from System-Management Mode
11724 \c RSM ; 0F AA [PENT]
11726 \c{RSM} returns the processor to its normal operating mode when it
11727 was in System-Management Mode.
11730 \H{insRSQRTPS} \i\c{RSQRTPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Square Root Reciprocal
11732 \c RSQRTPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 52 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11734 \c{RSQRTPS} computes the approximate reciprocals of the square
11735 roots of the packed single-precision floating-point values in the
11736 source and stores the results in xmm1. The maximum error for this
11737 approximation is: |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
11740 \H{insRSQRTSS} \i\c{RSQRTSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Square Root Reciprocal
11742 \c RSQRTSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 52 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11744 \c{RSQRTSS} returns an approximation of the reciprocal of the
11745 square root of the lowest order single-precision FP value from
11746 the source, and stores it in the low doubleword of the destination
11747 register. The upper three fields of xmm1 are preserved. The maximum
11748 error for this approximation is: |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
11751 \H{insRSTS} \i\c{RSTS}: Restore TSR and Descriptor
11753 \c RSTS m80 ; 0F 7D /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
11755 \c{RSTS} restores Task State Register (TSR) from mem80.
11758 \H{insSAHF} \i\c{SAHF}: Store AH to Flags
11760 \c SAHF ; 9E [8086]
11762 \c{SAHF} sets the low byte of the flags word according to the
11763 contents of the \c{AH} register.
11765 The operation of \c{SAHF} is:
11767 \c AH --> SF:ZF:0:AF:0:PF:1:CF
11769 See also \c{LAHF} (\k{insLAHF}).
11772 \H{insSAL} \i\c{SAL}, \i\c{SAR}: Bitwise Arithmetic Shifts
11774 \c SAL r/m8,1 ; D0 /4 [8086]
11775 \c SAL r/m8,CL ; D2 /4 [8086]
11776 \c SAL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /4 ib [286]
11777 \c SAL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /4 [8086]
11778 \c SAL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /4 [8086]
11779 \c SAL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /4 ib [286]
11780 \c SAL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /4 [386]
11781 \c SAL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /4 [386]
11782 \c SAL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /4 ib [386]
11784 \c SAR r/m8,1 ; D0 /7 [8086]
11785 \c SAR r/m8,CL ; D2 /7 [8086]
11786 \c SAR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /7 ib [286]
11787 \c SAR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /7 [8086]
11788 \c SAR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /7 [8086]
11789 \c SAR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /7 ib [286]
11790 \c SAR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /7 [386]
11791 \c SAR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /7 [386]
11792 \c SAR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /7 ib [386]
11794 \c{SAL} and \c{SAR} perform an arithmetic shift operation on the given
11795 source/destination (first) operand. The vacated bits are filled with
11796 zero for \c{SAL}, and with copies of the original high bit of the
11797 source operand for \c{SAR}.
11799 \c{SAL} is a synonym for \c{SHL} (see \k{insSHL}). NASM will
11800 assemble either one to the same code, but NDISASM will always
11801 disassemble that code as \c{SHL}.
11803 The number of bits to shift by is given by the second operand. Only
11804 the bottom five bits of the shift count are considered by processors
11807 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
11808 byte) form of \c{SAL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{SAL
11809 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{SAR}.
11812 \H{insSALC} \i\c{SALC}: Set AL from Carry Flag
11814 \c SALC ; D6 [8086,UNDOC]
11816 \c{SALC} is an early undocumented instruction similar in concept to
11817 \c{SETcc} (\k{insSETcc}). Its function is to set \c{AL} to zero if
11818 the carry flag is clear, or to \c{0xFF} if it is set.
11821 \H{insSBB} \i\c{SBB}: Subtract with Borrow
11823 \c SBB r/m8,reg8 ; 18 /r [8086]
11824 \c SBB r/m16,reg16 ; o16 19 /r [8086]
11825 \c SBB r/m32,reg32 ; o32 19 /r [386]
11827 \c SBB reg8,r/m8 ; 1A /r [8086]
11828 \c SBB reg16,r/m16 ; o16 1B /r [8086]
11829 \c SBB reg32,r/m32 ; o32 1B /r [386]
11831 \c SBB r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /3 ib [8086]
11832 \c SBB r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /3 iw [8086]
11833 \c SBB r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /3 id [386]
11835 \c SBB r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /3 ib [8086]
11836 \c SBB r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /3 ib [8086]
11838 \c SBB AL,imm8 ; 1C ib [8086]
11839 \c SBB AX,imm16 ; o16 1D iw [8086]
11840 \c SBB EAX,imm32 ; o32 1D id [386]
11842 \c{SBB} performs integer subtraction: it subtracts its second
11843 operand, plus the value of the carry flag, from its first, and
11844 leaves the result in its destination (first) operand. The flags are
11845 set according to the result of the operation: in particular, the
11846 carry flag is affected and can be used by a subsequent \c{SBB}
11849 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
11850 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
11851 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
11852 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
11853 form of the instruction.
11855 To subtract one number from another without also subtracting the
11856 contents of the carry flag, use \c{SUB} (\k{insSUB}).
11859 \H{insSCASB} \i\c{SCASB}, \i\c{SCASW}, \i\c{SCASD}: Scan String
11861 \c SCASB ; AE [8086]
11862 \c SCASW ; o16 AF [8086]
11863 \c SCASD ; o32 AF [386]
11865 \c{SCASB} compares the byte in \c{AL} with the byte at \c{[ES:DI]}
11866 or \c{[ES:EDI]}, and sets the flags accordingly. It then increments
11867 or decrements (depending on the direction flag: increments if the
11868 flag is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{DI} (or \c{EDI}).
11870 The register used is \c{DI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
11871 \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
11872 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
11873 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
11875 Segment override prefixes have no effect for this instruction: the
11876 use of \c{ES} for the load from \c{[DI]} or \c{[EDI]} cannot be
11879 \c{SCASW} and \c{SCASD} work in the same way, but they compare a
11880 word to \c{AX} or a doubleword to \c{EAX} instead of a byte to
11881 \c{AL}, and increment or decrement the addressing registers by 2 or
11884 The \c{REPE} and \c{REPNE} prefixes (equivalently, \c{REPZ} and
11885 \c{REPNZ}) may be used to repeat the instruction up to \c{CX} (or
11886 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times until the
11887 first unequal or equal byte is found.
11890 \H{insSETcc} \i\c{SETcc}: Set Register from Condition
11892 \c SETcc r/m8 ; 0F 90+cc /2 [386]
11894 \c{SETcc} sets the given 8-bit operand to zero if its condition is
11895 not satisfied, and to 1 if it is.
11898 \H{insSFENCE} \i\c{SFENCE}: Store Fence
11900 \c SFENCE ; 0F AE /7 [KATMAI]
11902 \c{SFENCE} performs a serialising operation on all writes to memory
11903 that were issued before the \c{SFENCE} instruction. This guarantees that
11904 all memory writes before the \c{SFENCE} instruction are visible before any
11905 writes after the \c{SFENCE} instruction.
11907 \c{SFENCE} is ordered respective to other \c{SFENCE} instruction, \c{MFENCE},
11908 any memory write and any other serialising instruction (such as \c{CPUID}).
11910 Weakly ordered memory types can be used to achieve higher processor
11911 performance through such techniques as out-of-order issue,
11912 write-combining, and write-collapsing. The degree to which a consumer
11913 of data recognizes or knows that the data is weakly ordered varies
11914 among applications and may be unknown to the producer of this data.
11915 The \c{SFENCE} instruction provides a performance-efficient way of
11916 insuring store ordering between routines that produce weakly-ordered
11917 results and routines that consume this data.
11919 \c{SFENCE} uses the following ModRM encoding:
11922 \c Reg/Opcode (5:3) = 111B
11923 \c R/M (2:0) = 000B
11925 All other ModRM encodings are defined to be reserved, and use
11926 of these encodings risks incompatibility with future processors.
11928 See also \c{LFENCE} (\k{insLFENCE}) and \c{MFENCE} (\k{insMFENCE}).
11931 \H{insSGDT} \i\c{SGDT}, \i\c{SIDT}, \i\c{SLDT}: Store Descriptor Table Pointers
11933 \c SGDT mem ; 0F 01 /0 [286,PRIV]
11934 \c SIDT mem ; 0F 01 /1 [286,PRIV]
11935 \c SLDT r/m16 ; 0F 00 /0 [286,PRIV]
11937 \c{SGDT} and \c{SIDT} both take a 6-byte memory area as an operand:
11938 they store the contents of the GDTR (global descriptor table
11939 register) or IDTR (interrupt descriptor table register) into that
11940 area as a 32-bit linear address and a 16-bit size limit from that
11941 area (in that order). These are the only instructions which directly
11942 use \e{linear} addresses, rather than segment/offset pairs.
11944 \c{SLDT} stores the segment selector corresponding to the LDT (local
11945 descriptor table) into the given operand.
11947 See also \c{LGDT}, \c{LIDT} and \c{LLDT} (\k{insLGDT}).
11950 \H{insSHL} \i\c{SHL}, \i\c{SHR}: Bitwise Logical Shifts
11952 \c SHL r/m8,1 ; D0 /4 [8086]
11953 \c SHL r/m8,CL ; D2 /4 [8086]
11954 \c SHL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /4 ib [286]
11955 \c SHL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /4 [8086]
11956 \c SHL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /4 [8086]
11957 \c SHL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /4 ib [286]
11958 \c SHL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /4 [386]
11959 \c SHL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /4 [386]
11960 \c SHL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /4 ib [386]
11962 \c SHR r/m8,1 ; D0 /5 [8086]
11963 \c SHR r/m8,CL ; D2 /5 [8086]
11964 \c SHR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /5 ib [286]
11965 \c SHR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /5 [8086]
11966 \c SHR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /5 [8086]
11967 \c SHR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /5 ib [286]
11968 \c SHR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /5 [386]
11969 \c SHR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /5 [386]
11970 \c SHR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /5 ib [386]
11972 \c{SHL} and \c{SHR} perform a logical shift operation on the given
11973 source/destination (first) operand. The vacated bits are filled with
11976 A synonym for \c{SHL} is \c{SAL} (see \k{insSAL}). NASM will
11977 assemble either one to the same code, but NDISASM will always
11978 disassemble that code as \c{SHL}.
11980 The number of bits to shift by is given by the second operand. Only
11981 the bottom five bits of the shift count are considered by processors
11984 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
11985 byte) form of \c{SHL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{SHL
11986 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{SHR}.
11989 \H{insSHLD} \i\c{SHLD}, \i\c{SHRD}: Bitwise Double-Precision Shifts
11991 \c SHLD r/m16,reg16,imm8 ; o16 0F A4 /r ib [386]
11992 \c SHLD r/m16,reg32,imm8 ; o32 0F A4 /r ib [386]
11993 \c SHLD r/m16,reg16,CL ; o16 0F A5 /r [386]
11994 \c SHLD r/m16,reg32,CL ; o32 0F A5 /r [386]
11996 \c SHRD r/m16,reg16,imm8 ; o16 0F AC /r ib [386]
11997 \c SHRD r/m32,reg32,imm8 ; o32 0F AC /r ib [386]
11998 \c SHRD r/m16,reg16,CL ; o16 0F AD /r [386]
11999 \c SHRD r/m32,reg32,CL ; o32 0F AD /r [386]
12001 \b \c{SHLD} performs a double-precision left shift. It notionally
12002 places its second operand to the right of its first, then shifts
12003 the entire bit string thus generated to the left by a number of
12004 bits specified in the third operand. It then updates only the
12005 \e{first} operand according to the result of this. The second
12006 operand is not modified.
12008 \b \c{SHRD} performs the corresponding right shift: it notionally
12009 places the second operand to the \e{left} of the first, shifts the
12010 whole bit string right, and updates only the first operand.
12012 For example, if \c{EAX} holds \c{0x01234567} and \c{EBX} holds
12013 \c{0x89ABCDEF}, then the instruction \c{SHLD EAX,EBX,4} would update
12014 \c{EAX} to hold \c{0x12345678}. Under the same conditions, \c{SHRD
12015 EAX,EBX,4} would update \c{EAX} to hold \c{0xF0123456}.
12017 The number of bits to shift by is given by the third operand. Only
12018 the bottom five bits of the shift count are considered.
12021 \H{insSHUFPD} \i\c{SHUFPD}: Shuffle Packed Double-Precision FP Values
12023 \c SHUFPD xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; 66 0F C6 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12025 \c{SHUFPD} moves one of the packed double-precision FP values from
12026 the destination operand into the low quadword of the destination
12027 operand; the upper quadword is generated by moving one of the
12028 double-precision FP values from the source operand into the
12029 destination. The select (third) operand selects which of the values
12030 are moved to the destination register.
12032 The select operand is an 8-bit immediate: bit 0 selects which value
12033 is moved from the destination operand to the result (where 0 selects
12034 the low quadword and 1 selects the high quadword) and bit 1 selects
12035 which value is moved from the source operand to the result.
12036 Bits 2 through 7 of the shuffle operand are reserved.
12039 \H{insSHUFPS} \i\c{SHUFPS}: Shuffle Packed Single-Precision FP Values
12041 \c SHUFPS xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; 0F C6 /r ib [KATMAI,SSE]
12043 \c{SHUFPD} moves two of the packed single-precision FP values from
12044 the destination operand into the low quadword of the destination
12045 operand; the upper quadword is generated by moving two of the
12046 single-precision FP values from the source operand into the
12047 destination. The select (third) operand selects which of the
12048 values are moved to the destination register.
12050 The select operand is an 8-bit immediate: bits 0 and 1 select the
12051 value to be moved from the destination operand the low doubleword of
12052 the result, bits 2 and 3 select the value to be moved from the
12053 destination operand the second doubleword of the result, bits 4 and
12054 5 select the value to be moved from the source operand the third
12055 doubleword of the result, and bits 6 and 7 select the value to be
12056 moved from the source operand to the high doubleword of the result.
12059 \H{insSMI} \i\c{SMI}: System Management Interrupt
12061 \c SMI ; F1 [386,UNDOC]
12063 \c{SMI} puts some AMD processors into SMM mode. It is available on some
12064 386 and 486 processors, and is only available when DR7 bit 12 is set,
12065 otherwise it generates an Int 1.
12068 \H{insSMINT} \i\c{SMINT}, \i\c{SMINTOLD}: Software SMM Entry (CYRIX)
12070 \c SMINT ; 0F 38 [PENT,CYRIX]
12071 \c SMINTOLD ; 0F 7E [486,CYRIX]
12073 \c{SMINT} puts the processor into SMM mode. The CPU state information is
12074 saved in the SMM memory header, and then execution begins at the SMM base
12077 \c{SMINTOLD} is the same as \c{SMINT}, but was the opcode used on the 486.
12079 This pair of opcodes are specific to the Cyrix and compatible range of
12080 processors (Cyrix, IBM, Via).
12083 \H{insSMSW} \i\c{SMSW}: Store Machine Status Word
12085 \c SMSW r/m16 ; 0F 01 /4 [286,PRIV]
12087 \c{SMSW} stores the bottom half of the \c{CR0} control register (or
12088 the Machine Status Word, on 286 processors) into the destination
12089 operand. See also \c{LMSW} (\k{insLMSW}).
12091 For 32-bit code, this would use the low 16-bits of the specified
12092 register (or a 16bit memory location), without needing an operand
12093 size override byte.
12096 \H{insSQRTPD} \i\c{SQRTPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Square Root
12098 \c SQRTPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 51 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12100 \c{SQRTPD} calculates the square root of the packed double-precision
12101 FP value from the source operand, and stores the double-precision
12102 results in the destination register.
12105 \H{insSQRTPS} \i\c{SQRTPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Square Root
12107 \c SQRTPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 51 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12109 \c{SQRTPS} calculates the square root of the packed single-precision
12110 FP value from the source operand, and stores the single-precision
12111 results in the destination register.
12114 \H{insSQRTSD} \i\c{SQRTSD}: Scalar Double-Precision FP Square Root
12116 \c SQRTSD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F2 0F 51 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12118 \c{SQRTSD} calculates the square root of the low-order double-precision
12119 FP value from the source operand, and stores the double-precision
12120 result in the destination register. The high-quadword remains unchanged.
12123 \H{insSQRTSS} \i\c{SQRTSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Square Root
12125 \c SQRTSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 51 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12127 \c{SQRTSS} calculates the square root of the low-order single-precision
12128 FP value from the source operand, and stores the single-precision
12129 result in the destination register. The three high doublewords remain
12133 \H{insSTC} \i\c{STC}, \i\c{STD}, \i\c{STI}: Set Flags
12139 These instructions set various flags. \c{STC} sets the carry flag;
12140 \c{STD} sets the direction flag; and \c{STI} sets the interrupt flag
12141 (thus enabling interrupts).
12143 To clear the carry, direction, or interrupt flags, use the \c{CLC},
12144 \c{CLD} and \c{CLI} instructions (\k{insCLC}). To invert the carry
12145 flag, use \c{CMC} (\k{insCMC}).
12148 \H{insSTMXCSR} \i\c{STMXCSR}: Store Streaming SIMD Extension
12151 \c STMXCSR m32 ; 0F AE /3 [KATMAI,SSE]
12153 \c{STMXCSR} stores the contents of the \c{MXCSR} control/status
12154 register to the specified memory location. \c{MXCSR} is used to
12155 enable masked/unmasked exception handling, to set rounding modes,
12156 to set flush-to-zero mode, and to view exception status flags.
12157 The reserved bits in the \c{MXCSR} register are stored as 0s.
12159 For details of the \c{MXCSR} register, see the Intel processor docs.
12161 See also \c{LDMXCSR} (\k{insLDMXCSR}).
12164 \H{insSTOSB} \i\c{STOSB}, \i\c{STOSW}, \i\c{STOSD}: Store Byte to String
12166 \c STOSB ; AA [8086]
12167 \c STOSW ; o16 AB [8086]
12168 \c STOSD ; o32 AB [386]
12170 \c{STOSB} stores the byte in \c{AL} at \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]},
12171 and sets the flags accordingly. It then increments or decrements
12172 (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag is clear,
12173 decrements if it is set) \c{DI} (or \c{EDI}).
12175 The register used is \c{DI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
12176 \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
12177 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
12178 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
12180 Segment override prefixes have no effect for this instruction: the
12181 use of \c{ES} for the store to \c{[DI]} or \c{[EDI]} cannot be
12184 \c{STOSW} and \c{STOSD} work in the same way, but they store the
12185 word in \c{AX} or the doubleword in \c{EAX} instead of the byte in
12186 \c{AL}, and increment or decrement the addressing registers by 2 or
12189 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
12190 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
12193 \H{insSTR} \i\c{STR}: Store Task Register
12195 \c STR r/m16 ; 0F 00 /1 [286,PRIV]
12197 \c{STR} stores the segment selector corresponding to the contents of
12198 the Task Register into its operand. When the operand size is a 16-bit
12199 register, the upper 16-bits are cleared to 0s. When the destination
12200 operand is a memory location, 16 bits are written regardless of the
12204 \H{insSUB} \i\c{SUB}: Subtract Integers
12206 \c SUB r/m8,reg8 ; 28 /r [8086]
12207 \c SUB r/m16,reg16 ; o16 29 /r [8086]
12208 \c SUB r/m32,reg32 ; o32 29 /r [386]
12210 \c SUB reg8,r/m8 ; 2A /r [8086]
12211 \c SUB reg16,r/m16 ; o16 2B /r [8086]
12212 \c SUB reg32,r/m32 ; o32 2B /r [386]
12214 \c SUB r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /5 ib [8086]
12215 \c SUB r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /5 iw [8086]
12216 \c SUB r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /5 id [386]
12218 \c SUB r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /5 ib [8086]
12219 \c SUB r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /5 ib [386]
12221 \c SUB AL,imm8 ; 2C ib [8086]
12222 \c SUB AX,imm16 ; o16 2D iw [8086]
12223 \c SUB EAX,imm32 ; o32 2D id [386]
12225 \c{SUB} performs integer subtraction: it subtracts its second
12226 operand from its first, and leaves the result in its destination
12227 (first) operand. The flags are set according to the result of the
12228 operation: in particular, the carry flag is affected and can be used
12229 by a subsequent \c{SBB} instruction (\k{insSBB}).
12231 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
12232 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
12233 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
12234 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
12235 form of the instruction.
12238 \H{insSUBPD} \i\c{SUBPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Subtract
12240 \c SUBPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 5C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12242 \c{SUBPD} subtracts the packed double-precision FP values of
12243 the source operand from those of the destination operand, and
12244 stores the result in the destination operation.
12247 \H{insSUBPS} \i\c{SUBPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Subtract
12249 \c SUBPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 5C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12251 \c{SUBPS} subtracts the packed single-precision FP values of
12252 the source operand from those of the destination operand, and
12253 stores the result in the destination operation.
12256 \H{insSUBSD} \i\c{SUBSD}: Scalar Single-FP Subtract
12258 \c SUBSD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F2 0F 5C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12260 \c{SUBSD} subtracts the low-order double-precision FP value of
12261 the source operand from that of the destination operand, and
12262 stores the result in the destination operation. The high
12263 quadword is unchanged.
12266 \H{insSUBSS} \i\c{SUBSS}: Scalar Single-FP Subtract
12268 \c SUBSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 5C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12270 \c{SUBSS} subtracts the low-order single-precision FP value of
12271 the source operand from that of the destination operand, and
12272 stores the result in the destination operation. The three high
12273 doublewords are unchanged.
12276 \H{insSVDC} \i\c{SVDC}: Save Segment Register and Descriptor
12278 \c SVDC m80,segreg ; 0F 78 /r [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12280 \c{SVDC} saves a segment register (DS, ES, FS, GS, or SS) and its
12281 descriptor to mem80.
12284 \H{insSVLDT} \i\c{SVLDT}: Save LDTR and Descriptor
12286 \c SVLDT m80 ; 0F 7A /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12288 \c{SVLDT} saves the Local Descriptor Table (LDTR) to mem80.
12291 \H{insSVTS} \i\c{SVTS}: Save TSR and Descriptor
12293 \c SVTS m80 ; 0F 7C /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12295 \c{SVTS} saves the Task State Register (TSR) to mem80.
12298 \H{insSYSCALL} \i\c{SYSCALL}: Call Operating System
12300 \c SYSCALL ; 0F 05 [P6,AMD]
12302 \c{SYSCALL} provides a fast method of transfering control to a fixed
12303 entry point in an operating system.
12305 \b The \c{EIP} register is copied into the \c{ECX} register.
12307 \b Bits [31-0] of the 64-bit SYSCALL/SYSRET Target Address Register
12308 (\c{STAR}) are copied into the \c{EIP} register.
12310 \b Bits [47-32] of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is
12311 copied into the \c{CS} register.
12313 \b Bits [47-32]+1000b of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that
12314 is copied into the SS register.
12316 The \c{CS} and \c{SS} registers should not be modified by the operating
12317 system between the execution of the \c{SYSCALL} instruction and its
12318 corresponding \c{SYSRET} instruction.
12320 For more information, see the \c{SYSCALL and SYSRET Instruction Specification}
12321 (AMD document number 21086.pdf).
12324 \H{insSYSENTER} \i\c{SYSENTER}: Fast System Call
12326 \c SYSENTER ; 0F 34 [P6]
12328 \c{SYSENTER} executes a fast call to a level 0 system procedure or
12329 routine. Before using this instruction, various MSRs need to be set
12332 \b \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} contains the 32-bit segment selector for the
12333 privilege level 0 code segment. (This value is also used to compute
12334 the segment selector of the privilege level 0 stack segment.)
12336 \b \c{SYSENTER_EIP_MSR} contains the 32-bit offset into the privilege
12337 level 0 code segment to the first instruction of the selected operating
12338 procedure or routine.
12340 \b \c{SYSENTER_ESP_MSR} contains the 32-bit stack pointer for the
12341 privilege level 0 stack.
12343 \c{SYSENTER} performs the following sequence of operations:
12345 \b Loads the segment selector from the \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} into the
12348 \b Loads the instruction pointer from the \c{SYSENTER_EIP_MSR} into
12349 the \c{EIP} register.
12351 \b Adds 8 to the value in \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} and loads it into the
12354 \b Loads the stack pointer from the \c{SYSENTER_ESP_MSR} into the
12357 \b Switches to privilege level 0.
12359 \b Clears the \c{VM} flag in the \c{EFLAGS} register, if the flag
12362 \b Begins executing the selected system procedure.
12364 In particular, note that this instruction des not save the values of
12365 \c{CS} or \c{(E)IP}. If you need to return to the calling code, you
12366 need to write your code to cater for this.
12368 For more information, see the Intel Architecture Software Developer's
12372 \H{insSYSEXIT} \i\c{SYSEXIT}: Fast Return From System Call
12374 \c SYSEXIT ; 0F 35 [P6,PRIV]
12376 \c{SYSEXIT} executes a fast return to privilege level 3 user code.
12377 This instruction is a companion instruction to the \c{SYSENTER}
12378 instruction, and can only be executed by privelege level 0 code.
12379 Various registers need to be set up before calling this instruction:
12381 \b \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} contains the 32-bit segment selector for the
12382 privilege level 0 code segment in which the processor is currently
12383 executing. (This value is used to compute the segment selectors for
12384 the privilege level 3 code and stack segments.)
12386 \b \c{EDX} contains the 32-bit offset into the privilege level 3 code
12387 segment to the first instruction to be executed in the user code.
12389 \b \c{ECX} contains the 32-bit stack pointer for the privilege level 3
12392 \c{SYSEXIT} performs the following sequence of operations:
12394 \b Adds 16 to the value in \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} and loads the sum into
12395 the \c{CS} selector register.
12397 \b Loads the instruction pointer from the \c{EDX} register into the
12400 \b Adds 24 to the value in \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} and loads the sum
12401 into the \c{SS} selector register.
12403 \b Loads the stack pointer from the \c{ECX} register into the \c{ESP}
12406 \b Switches to privilege level 3.
12408 \b Begins executing the user code at the \c{EIP} address.
12410 For more information on the use of the \c{SYSENTER} and \c{SYSEXIT}
12411 instructions, see the Intel Architecture Software Developer’s
12415 \H{insSYSRET} \i\c{SYSRET}: Return From Operating System
12417 \c SYSRET ; 0F 07 [P6,AMD,PRIV]
12419 \c{SYSRET} is the return instruction used in conjunction with the
12420 \c{SYSCALL} instruction to provide fast entry/exit to an operating system.
12422 \b The \c{ECX} register, which points to the next sequential instruction
12423 after the corresponding \c{SYSCALL} instruction, is copied into the \c{EIP}
12426 \b Bits [63-48] of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is copied
12427 into the \c{CS} register.
12429 \b Bits [63-48]+1000b of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is
12430 copied into the \c{SS} register.
12432 \b Bits [1-0] of the \c{SS} register are set to 11b (RPL of 3) regardless of
12433 the value of bits [49-48] of the \c{STAR} register.
12435 The \c{CS} and \c{SS} registers should not be modified by the operating
12436 system between the execution of the \c{SYSCALL} instruction and its
12437 corresponding \c{SYSRET} instruction.
12439 For more information, see the \c{SYSCALL and SYSRET Instruction Specification}
12440 (AMD document number 21086.pdf).
12443 \H{insTEST} \i\c{TEST}: Test Bits (notional bitwise AND)
12445 \c TEST r/m8,reg8 ; 84 /r [8086]
12446 \c TEST r/m16,reg16 ; o16 85 /r [8086]
12447 \c TEST r/m32,reg32 ; o32 85 /r [386]
12449 \c TEST r/m8,imm8 ; F6 /0 ib [8086]
12450 \c TEST r/m16,imm16 ; o16 F7 /0 iw [8086]
12451 \c TEST r/m32,imm32 ; o32 F7 /0 id [386]
12453 \c TEST AL,imm8 ; A8 ib [8086]
12454 \c TEST AX,imm16 ; o16 A9 iw [8086]
12455 \c TEST EAX,imm32 ; o32 A9 id [386]
12457 \c{TEST} performs a `mental' bitwise AND of its two operands, and
12458 affects the flags as if the operation had taken place, but does not
12459 store the result of the operation anywhere.
12462 \H{insUCOMISD} \i\c{UCOMISD}: Unordered Scalar Double-Precision FP
12463 compare and set EFLAGS
12465 \c UCOMISD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 2E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12467 \c{UCOMISD} compares the low-order double-precision FP numbers in the
12468 two operands, and sets the \c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} bits in the
12469 \c{EFLAGS} register. In addition, the \c{OF}, \c{SF} and \c{AF} bits
12470 in the \c{EFLAGS} register are zeroed out. The unordered predicate
12471 (\c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} all set) is returned if either source
12472 operand is a \c{NaN} (\c{qNaN} or \c{sNaN}).
12475 \H{insUCOMISS} \i\c{UCOMISS}: Unordered Scalar Single-Precision FP
12476 compare and set EFLAGS
12478 \c UCOMISS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 2E /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12480 \c{UCOMISS} compares the low-order single-precision FP numbers in the
12481 two operands, and sets the \c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} bits in the
12482 \c{EFLAGS} register. In addition, the \c{OF}, \c{SF} and \c{AF} bits
12483 in the \c{EFLAGS} register are zeroed out. The unordered predicate
12484 (\c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} all set) is returned if either source
12485 operand is a \c{NaN} (\c{qNaN} or \c{sNaN}).
12488 \H{insUD2} \i\c{UD0}, \i\c{UD1}, \i\c{UD2}: Undefined Instruction
12490 \c UD0 ; 0F FF [186,UNDOC]
12491 \c UD1 ; 0F B9 [186,UNDOC]
12492 \c UD2 ; 0F 0B [186]
12494 \c{UDx} can be used to generate an invalid opcode exception, for testing
12497 \c{UD0} is specifically documented by AMD as being reserved for this
12500 \c{UD1} is specifically documented by Intel as being reserved for this
12503 \c{UD2} is mentioned by Intel as being available, but is not mentioned
12506 All these opcodes can be used to generate invalid opcode exceptions on
12507 all processors that are available at the current time.
12510 \H{insUMOV} \i\c{UMOV}: User Move Data
12512 \c UMOV r/m8,reg8 ; 0F 10 /r [386,UNDOC]
12513 \c UMOV r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F 11 /r [386,UNDOC]
12514 \c UMOV r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F 11 /r [386,UNDOC]
12516 \c UMOV reg8,r/m8 ; 0F 12 /r [386,UNDOC]
12517 \c UMOV reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 13 /r [386,UNDOC]
12518 \c UMOV reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 13 /r [386,UNDOC]
12520 This undocumented instruction is used by in-circuit emulators to
12521 access user memory (as opposed to host memory). It is used just like
12522 an ordinary memory/register or register/register \c{MOV}
12523 instruction, but accesses user space.
12525 This instruction is only available on some AMD and IBM 386 and 486
12529 \H{insUNPCKHPD} \i\c{UNPCKHPD}: Unpack and Interleave High Packed
12530 Double-Precision FP Values
12532 \c UNPCKHPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 15 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12534 \c{UNPCKHPD} performs an interleaved unpack of the high-order data
12535 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
12536 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
12538 The operation of this instruction is:
12540 \c dst[63-0] := dst[127-64];
12541 \c dst[127-64] := src[127-64].
12544 \H{insUNPCKHPS} \i\c{UNPCKHPS}: Unpack and Interleave High Packed
12545 Single-Precision FP Values
12547 \c UNPCKHPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 15 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12549 \c{UNPCKHPS} performs an interleaved unpack of the high-order data
12550 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
12551 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
12553 The operation of this instruction is:
12555 \c dst[31-0] := dst[95-64];
12556 \c dst[63-32] := src[95-64];
12557 \c dst[95-64] := dst[127-96];
12558 \c dst[127-96] := src[127-96].
12561 \H{insUNPCKLPD} \i\c{UNPCKLPD}: Unpack and Interleave Low Packed
12562 Double-Precision FP Data
12564 \c UNPCKLPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 14 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12566 \c{UNPCKLPD} performs an interleaved unpack of the low-order data
12567 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
12568 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
12570 The operation of this instruction is:
12572 \c dst[63-0] := dst[63-0];
12573 \c dst[127-64] := src[63-0].
12576 \H{insUNPCKLPS} \i\c{UNPCKLPS}: Unpack and Interleave Low Packed
12577 Single-Precision FP Data
12579 \c UNPCKLPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 14 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12581 \c{UNPCKLPS} performs an interleaved unpack of the low-order data
12582 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
12583 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
12585 The operation of this instruction is:
12587 \c dst[31-0] := dst[31-0];
12588 \c dst[63-32] := src[31-0];
12589 \c dst[95-64] := dst[63-32];
12590 \c dst[127-96] := src[63-32].
12593 \H{insVERR} \i\c{VERR}, \i\c{VERW}: Verify Segment Readability/Writability
12595 \c VERR r/m16 ; 0F 00 /4 [286,PRIV]
12597 \c VERW r/m16 ; 0F 00 /5 [286,PRIV]
12599 \b \c{VERR} sets the zero flag if the segment specified by the selector
12600 in its operand can be read from at the current privilege level.
12601 Otherwise it is cleared.
12603 \b \c{VERW} sets the zero flag if the segment can be written.
12606 \H{insWAIT} \i\c{WAIT}: Wait for Floating-Point Processor
12608 \c WAIT ; 9B [8086]
12609 \c FWAIT ; 9B [8086]
12611 \c{WAIT}, on 8086 systems with a separate 8087 FPU, waits for the
12612 FPU to have finished any operation it is engaged in before
12613 continuing main processor operations, so that (for example) an FPU
12614 store to main memory can be guaranteed to have completed before the
12615 CPU tries to read the result back out.
12617 On higher processors, \c{WAIT} is unnecessary for this purpose, and
12618 it has the alternative purpose of ensuring that any pending unmasked
12619 FPU exceptions have happened before execution continues.
12622 \H{insWBINVD} \i\c{WBINVD}: Write Back and Invalidate Cache
12624 \c WBINVD ; 0F 09 [486]
12626 \c{WBINVD} invalidates and empties the processor's internal caches,
12627 and causes the processor to instruct external caches to do the same.
12628 It writes the contents of the caches back to memory first, so no
12629 data is lost. To flush the caches quickly without bothering to write
12630 the data back first, use \c{INVD} (\k{insINVD}).
12633 \H{insWRMSR} \i\c{WRMSR}: Write Model-Specific Registers
12635 \c WRMSR ; 0F 30 [PENT]
12637 \c{WRMSR} writes the value in \c{EDX:EAX} to the processor
12638 Model-Specific Register (MSR) whose index is stored in \c{ECX}.
12639 See also \c{RDMSR} (\k{insRDMSR}).
12642 \H{insWRSHR} \i\c{WRSHR}: Write SMM Header Pointer Register
12644 \c WRSHR r/m32 ; 0F 37 /0 [386,CYRIX,SMM]
12646 \c{WRSHR} loads the contents of either a 32-bit memory location or a
12647 32-bit register into the SMM header pointer register.
12649 See also \c{RDSHR} (\k{insRDSHR}).
12652 \H{insXADD} \i\c{XADD}: Exchange and Add
12654 \c XADD r/m8,reg8 ; 0F C0 /r [486]
12655 \c XADD r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F C1 /r [486]
12656 \c XADD r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F C1 /r [486]
12658 \c{XADD} exchanges the values in its two operands, and then adds
12659 them together and writes the result into the destination (first)
12660 operand. This instruction can be used with a \c{LOCK} prefix for
12661 multi-processor synchronisation purposes.
12664 \H{insXBTS} \i\c{XBTS}: Extract Bit String
12666 \c XBTS reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F A6 /r [386,UNDOC]
12667 \c XBTS reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F A6 /r [386,UNDOC]
12669 The implied operation of this instruction is:
12671 \c XBTS r/m16,reg16,AX,CL
12672 \c XBTS r/m32,reg32,EAX,CL
12674 Writes a bit string from the source operand to the destination. \c{CL}
12675 indicates the number of bits to be copied, and \c{(E)AX} indicates the
12676 low order bit offset in the source. The bist are written to the low
12677 order bits of the destination register. For example, if \c{CL} is set
12678 to 4 and \c{AX} (for 16-bit code) is set to 5, bits 5-8 of \c{src} will
12679 be copied to bits 0-3 of \c{dst}. This instruction is very poorly
12680 documented, and I have been unable to find any official source of
12681 documentation on it.
12683 \c{XBTS} is supported only on the early Intel 386s, and conflicts with
12684 the opcodes for \c{CMPXCHG486} (on early Intel 486s). NASM supports it
12685 only for completeness. Its counterpart is \c{IBTS} (see \k{insIBTS}).
12688 \H{insXCHG} \i\c{XCHG}: Exchange
12690 \c XCHG reg8,r/m8 ; 86 /r [8086]
12691 \c XCHG reg16,r/m8 ; o16 87 /r [8086]
12692 \c XCHG reg32,r/m32 ; o32 87 /r [386]
12694 \c XCHG r/m8,reg8 ; 86 /r [8086]
12695 \c XCHG r/m16,reg16 ; o16 87 /r [8086]
12696 \c XCHG r/m32,reg32 ; o32 87 /r [386]
12698 \c XCHG AX,reg16 ; o16 90+r [8086]
12699 \c XCHG EAX,reg32 ; o32 90+r [386]
12700 \c XCHG reg16,AX ; o16 90+r [8086]
12701 \c XCHG reg32,EAX ; o32 90+r [386]
12703 \c{XCHG} exchanges the values in its two operands. It can be used
12704 with a \c{LOCK} prefix for purposes of multi-processor
12707 \c{XCHG AX,AX} or \c{XCHG EAX,EAX} (depending on the \c{BITS}
12708 setting) generates the opcode \c{90h}, and so is a synonym for
12709 \c{NOP} (\k{insNOP}).
12712 \H{insXLATB} \i\c{XLATB}: Translate Byte in Lookup Table
12714 \c XLAT ; D7 [8086]
12715 \c XLATB ; D7 [8086]
12717 \c{XLATB} adds the value in \c{AL}, treated as an unsigned byte, to
12718 \c{BX} or \c{EBX}, and loads the byte from the resulting address (in
12719 the segment specified by \c{DS}) back into \c{AL}.
12721 The base register used is \c{BX} if the address size is 16 bits, and
12722 \c{EBX} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
12723 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
12724 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
12726 The segment register used to load from \c{[BX+AL]} or \c{[EBX+AL]}
12727 can be overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
12728 example, \c{es xlatb}).
12731 \H{insXOR} \i\c{XOR}: Bitwise Exclusive OR
12733 \c XOR r/m8,reg8 ; 30 /r [8086]
12734 \c XOR r/m16,reg16 ; o16 31 /r [8086]
12735 \c XOR r/m32,reg32 ; o32 31 /r [386]
12737 \c XOR reg8,r/m8 ; 32 /r [8086]
12738 \c XOR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 33 /r [8086]
12739 \c XOR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 33 /r [386]
12741 \c XOR r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /6 ib [8086]
12742 \c XOR r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /6 iw [8086]
12743 \c XOR r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /6 id [386]
12745 \c XOR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /6 ib [8086]
12746 \c XOR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /6 ib [386]
12748 \c XOR AL,imm8 ; 34 ib [8086]
12749 \c XOR AX,imm16 ; o16 35 iw [8086]
12750 \c XOR EAX,imm32 ; o32 35 id [386]
12752 \c{XOR} performs a bitwise XOR operation between its two operands
12753 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if exactly one of the
12754 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
12755 in the destination (first) operand.
12757 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
12758 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
12759 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
12760 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
12761 form of the instruction.
12763 The \c{MMX} instruction \c{PXOR} (see \k{insPXOR}) performs the same
12764 operation on the 64-bit \c{MMX} registers.
12767 \H{insXORPD} \i\c{XORPD}: Bitwise Logical XOR of Double-Precision FP Values
12769 \c XORPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 57 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12771 \c{XORPD} returns a bit-wise logical XOR between the source and
12772 destination operands, storing the result in the destination operand.
12775 \H{insXORPS} \i\c{XORPS}: Bitwise Logical XOR of Single-Precision FP Values
12777 \c XORPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 57 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12779 \c{XORPS} returns a bit-wise logical XOR between the source and
12780 destination operands, storing the result in the destination operand.