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}.
258 The original authors are \i{e\-mail}able as
259 \W{mailto:jules@dsf.org.uk}\c{jules@dsf.org.uk} and
260 \W{mailto:anakin@pobox.com}\c{anakin@pobox.com}.
261 The latter is no longer involved in the development team.
263 \i{New releases} of NASM are uploaded to the official site
264 \W{http://www.web-sites.co.uk/nasm}\c{http://www.web-sites.co.uk/nasm},
266 \W{ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/software/devel/nasm/}\i\c{ftp.kernel.org}
268 \W{ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/devel/lang/assemblers/}\i\c{ibiblio.org}.
269 \# \W{ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/asmutl/}\i\c{ftp.simtel.net}
271 \# \W{ftp://ftp.coast.net/coast/msdos/asmutil/}\i\c{ftp.coast.net}.
273 Announcements are posted to
274 \W{news:comp.lang.asm.x86}\i\c{comp.lang.asm.x86},
275 \W{news:alt.lang.asm}\i\c{alt.lang.asm} and
276 \W{news:comp.os.linux.announce}\i\c{comp.os.linux.announce}
278 \# \W{news:comp.archives.msdos.announce}\i\c{comp.archives.msdos.announce}
279 \# (the last one is done automagically by uploading to
280 \# \W{ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/asmutl/}\c{ftp.simtel.net}).
282 If you want information about NASM beta releases, and the current
283 development status, please subscribe to the \i\c{nasm-devel} email lists
285 \W{http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nasm-devel}\c{http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nasm-devel}
287 \W{http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/nasm-devel}\c{http://www.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/nasm-devel}
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{NASM} 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{NASM} \i{Environment} Variable
767 If you define an environment variable called \c{NASM}, 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{NASM} 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{NASM} 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{NASM} 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.
788 \H{qstart} \i{Quick Start} for \i{MASM} Users
790 If you're used to writing programs with MASM, or with \i{TASM} in
791 MASM-compatible (non-Ideal) mode, or with \i\c{a86}, this section
792 attempts to outline the major differences between MASM's syntax and
793 NASM's. If you're not already used to MASM, it's probably worth
794 skipping this section.
797 \S{qscs} NASM Is \I{case sensitivity}Case-Sensitive
799 One simple difference is that NASM is case-sensitive. It makes a
800 difference whether you call your label \c{foo}, \c{Foo} or \c{FOO}.
801 If you're assembling to \c{DOS} or \c{OS/2} \c{.OBJ} files, you can
802 invoke the \i\c{UPPERCASE} directive (documented in \k{objfmt}) to
803 ensure that all symbols exported to other code modules are forced
804 to be upper case; but even then, \e{within} a single module, NASM
805 will distinguish between labels differing only in case.
808 \S{qsbrackets} NASM Requires \i{Square Brackets} For \i{Memory References}
810 NASM was designed with simplicity of syntax in mind. One of the
811 \i{design goals} of NASM is that it should be possible, as far as is
812 practical, for the user to look at a single line of NASM code
813 and tell what opcode is generated by it. You can't do this in MASM:
814 if you declare, for example,
819 then the two lines of code
824 generate completely different opcodes, despite having
825 identical-looking syntaxes.
827 NASM avoids this undesirable situation by having a much simpler
828 syntax for memory references. The rule is simply that any access to
829 the \e{contents} of a memory location requires square brackets
830 around the address, and any access to the \e{address} of a variable
831 doesn't. So an instruction of the form \c{mov ax,foo} will
832 \e{always} refer to a compile-time constant, whether it's an \c{EQU}
833 or the address of a variable; and to access the \e{contents} of the
834 variable \c{bar}, you must code \c{mov ax,[bar]}.
836 This also means that NASM has no need for MASM's \i\c{OFFSET}
837 keyword, since the MASM code \c{mov ax,offset bar} means exactly the
838 same thing as NASM's \c{mov ax,bar}. If you're trying to get
839 large amounts of MASM code to assemble sensibly under NASM, you
840 can always code \c{%idefine offset} to make the preprocessor treat
841 the \c{OFFSET} keyword as a no-op.
843 This issue is even more confusing in \i\c{a86}, where declaring a
844 label with a trailing colon defines it to be a `label' as opposed to
845 a `variable' and causes \c{a86} to adopt NASM-style semantics; so in
846 \c{a86}, \c{mov ax,var} has different behaviour depending on whether
847 \c{var} was declared as \c{var: dw 0} (a label) or \c{var dw 0} (a
848 word-size variable). NASM is very simple by comparison:
849 \e{everything} is a label.
851 NASM, in the interests of simplicity, also does not support the
852 \i{hybrid syntaxes} supported by MASM and its clones, such as
853 \c{mov ax,table[bx]}, where a memory reference is denoted by one
854 portion outside square brackets and another portion inside. The
855 correct syntax for the above is \c{mov ax,[table+bx]}. Likewise,
856 \c{mov ax,es:[di]} is wrong and \c{mov ax,[es:di]} is right.
859 \S{qstypes} NASM Doesn't Store \i{Variable Types}
861 NASM, by design, chooses not to remember the types of variables you
862 declare. Whereas MASM will remember, on seeing \c{var dw 0}, that
863 you declared \c{var} as a word-size variable, and will then be able
864 to fill in the \i{ambiguity} in the size of the instruction \c{mov
865 var,2}, NASM will deliberately remember nothing about the symbol
866 \c{var} except where it begins, and so you must explicitly code
867 \c{mov word [var],2}.
869 For this reason, NASM doesn't support the \c{LODS}, \c{MOVS},
870 \c{STOS}, \c{SCAS}, \c{CMPS}, \c{INS}, or \c{OUTS} instructions,
871 but only supports the forms such as \c{LODSB}, \c{MOVSW}, and
872 \c{SCASD}, which explicitly specify the size of the components of
873 the strings being manipulated.
876 \S{qsassume} NASM Doesn't \i\c{ASSUME}
878 As part of NASM's drive for simplicity, it also does not support the
879 \c{ASSUME} directive. NASM will not keep track of what values you
880 choose to put in your segment registers, and will never
881 \e{automatically} generate a \i{segment override} prefix.
884 \S{qsmodel} NASM Doesn't Support \i{Memory Models}
886 NASM also does not have any directives to support different 16-bit
887 memory models. The programmer has to keep track of which functions
888 are supposed to be called with a \i{far call} and which with a
889 \i{near call}, and is responsible for putting the correct form of
890 \c{RET} instruction (\c{RETN} or \c{RETF}; NASM accepts \c{RET}
891 itself as an alternate form for \c{RETN}); in addition, the
892 programmer is responsible for coding CALL FAR instructions where
893 necessary when calling \e{external} functions, and must also keep
894 track of which external variable definitions are far and which are
898 \S{qsfpu} \i{Floating-Point} Differences
900 NASM uses different names to refer to floating-point registers from
901 MASM: where MASM would call them \c{ST(0)}, \c{ST(1)} and so on, and
902 \i\c{a86} would call them simply \c{0}, \c{1} and so on, NASM
903 chooses to call them \c{st0}, \c{st1} etc.
905 As of version 0.96, NASM now treats the instructions with
906 \i{`nowait'} forms in the same way as MASM-compatible assemblers.
907 The idiosyncratic treatment employed by 0.95 and earlier was based
908 on a misunderstanding by the authors.
911 \S{qsother} Other Differences
913 For historical reasons, NASM uses the keyword \i\c{TWORD} where MASM
914 and compatible assemblers use \i\c{TBYTE}.
916 NASM does not declare \i{uninitialised storage} in the same way as
917 MASM: where a MASM programmer might use \c{stack db 64 dup (?)},
918 NASM requires \c{stack resb 64}, intended to be read as `reserve 64
919 bytes'. For a limited amount of compatibility, since NASM treats
920 \c{?} as a valid character in symbol names, you can code \c{? equ 0}
921 and then writing \c{dw ?} will at least do something vaguely useful.
922 \I\c{RESB}\i\c{DUP} is still not a supported syntax, however.
924 In addition to all of this, macros and directives work completely
925 differently to MASM. See \k{preproc} and \k{directive} for further
929 \C{lang} The NASM Language
931 \H{syntax} Layout of a NASM Source Line
933 Like most assemblers, each NASM source line contains (unless it
934 is a macro, a preprocessor directive or an assembler directive: see
935 \k{preproc} and \k{directive}) some combination of the four fields
937 \c label: instruction operands ; comment
939 As usual, most of these fields are optional; the presence or absence
940 of any combination of a label, an instruction and a comment is allowed.
941 Of course, the operand field is either required or forbidden by the
942 presence and nature of the instruction field.
944 NASM places no restrictions on white space within a line: labels may
945 have white space before them, or instructions may have no space
946 before them, or anything. The \i{colon} after a label is also
947 optional. (Note that this means that if you intend to code \c{lodsb}
948 alone on a line, and type \c{lodab} by accident, then that's still a
949 valid source line which does nothing but define a label. Running
950 NASM with the command-line option
951 \I{orphan-labels}\c{-w+orphan-labels} will cause it to warn you if
952 you define a label alone on a line without a \i{trailing colon}.)
954 \i{Valid characters} in labels are letters, numbers, \c{_}, \c{$},
955 \c{#}, \c{@}, \c{~}, \c{.}, and \c{?}. The only characters which may
956 be used as the \e{first} character of an identifier are letters,
957 \c{.} (with special meaning: see \k{locallab}), \c{_} and \c{?}.
958 An identifier may also be prefixed with a \I{$prefix}\c{$} to
959 indicate that it is intended to be read as an identifier and not a
960 reserved word; thus, if some other module you are linking with
961 defines a symbol called \c{eax}, you can refer to \c{$eax} in NASM
962 code to distinguish the symbol from the register.
964 The instruction field may contain any machine instruction: Pentium
965 and P6 instructions, FPU instructions, MMX instructions and even
966 undocumented instructions are all supported. The instruction may be
967 prefixed by \c{LOCK}, \c{REP}, \c{REPE}/\c{REPZ} or
968 \c{REPNE}/\c{REPNZ}, in the usual way. Explicit \I{address-size
969 prefixes}address-size and \i{operand-size prefixes} \c{A16},
970 \c{A32}, \c{O16} and \c{O32} are provided - one example of their use
971 is given in \k{mixsize}. You can also use the name of a \I{segment
972 override}segment register as an instruction prefix: coding
973 \c{es mov [bx],ax} is equivalent to coding \c{mov [es:bx],ax}. We
974 recommend the latter syntax, since it is consistent with other
975 syntactic features of the language, but for instructions such as
976 \c{LODSB}, which has no operands and yet can require a segment
977 override, there is no clean syntactic way to proceed apart from
980 An instruction is not required to use a prefix: prefixes such as
981 \c{CS}, \c{A32}, \c{LOCK} or \c{REPE} can appear on a line by
982 themselves, and NASM will just generate the prefix bytes.
984 In addition to actual machine instructions, NASM also supports a
985 number of pseudo-instructions, described in \k{pseudop}.
987 Instruction \i{operands} may take a number of forms: they can be
988 registers, described simply by the register name (e.g. \c{ax},
989 \c{bp}, \c{ebx}, \c{cr0}: NASM does not use the \c{gas}-style
990 syntax in which register names must be prefixed by a \c{%} sign), or
991 they can be \i{effective addresses} (see \k{effaddr}), constants
992 (\k{const}) or expressions (\k{expr}).
994 For \i{floating-point} instructions, NASM accepts a wide range of
995 syntaxes: you can use two-operand forms like MASM supports, or you
996 can use NASM's native single-operand forms in most cases. Details of
997 all forms of each supported instruction are given in
998 \k{iref}. For example, you can code:
1000 \c fadd st1 ; this sets st0 := st0 + st1
1001 \c fadd st0,st1 ; so does this
1003 \c fadd st1,st0 ; this sets st1 := st1 + st0
1004 \c fadd to st1 ; so does this
1006 Almost any floating-point instruction that references memory must
1007 use one of the prefixes \i\c{DWORD}, \i\c{QWORD} or \i\c{TWORD} to
1008 indicate what size of \i{memory operand} it refers to.
1011 \H{pseudop} \i{Pseudo-Instructions}
1013 Pseudo-instructions are things which, though not real x86 machine
1014 instructions, are used in the instruction field anyway because
1015 that's the most convenient place to put them. The current
1016 pseudo-instructions are \i\c{DB}, \i\c{DW}, \i\c{DD}, \i\c{DQ} and
1017 \i\c{DT}, their \i{uninitialised} counterparts \i\c{RESB},
1018 \i\c{RESW}, \i\c{RESD}, \i\c{RESQ} and \i\c{REST}, the \i\c{INCBIN}
1019 command, the \i\c{EQU} command, and the \i\c{TIMES} prefix.
1022 \S{db} \c{DB} and friends: Declaring Initialised Data
1024 \i\c{DB}, \i\c{DW}, \i\c{DD}, \i\c{DQ} and \i\c{DT} are used, much
1025 as in MASM, to declare initialised data in the output file. They can
1026 be invoked in a wide range of ways:
1027 \I{floating-point}\I{character constant}\I{string constant}
1029 \c db 0x55 ; just the byte 0x55
1030 \c db 0x55,0x56,0x57 ; three bytes in succession
1031 \c db 'a',0x55 ; character constants are OK
1032 \c db 'hello',13,10,'$' ; so are string constants
1033 \c dw 0x1234 ; 0x34 0x12
1034 \c dw 'a' ; 0x41 0x00 (it's just a number)
1035 \c dw 'ab' ; 0x41 0x42 (character constant)
1036 \c dw 'abc' ; 0x41 0x42 0x43 0x00 (string)
1037 \c dd 0x12345678 ; 0x78 0x56 0x34 0x12
1038 \c dd 1.234567e20 ; floating-point constant
1039 \c dq 1.234567e20 ; double-precision float
1040 \c dt 1.234567e20 ; extended-precision float
1042 \c{DQ} and \c{DT} do not accept \i{numeric constants} or string
1043 constants as operands.
1046 \S{resb} \c{RESB} and friends: Declaring \i{Uninitialised} Data
1048 \i\c{RESB}, \i\c{RESW}, \i\c{RESD}, \i\c{RESQ} and \i\c{REST} are
1049 designed to be used in the BSS section of a module: they declare
1050 \e{uninitialised} storage space. Each takes a single operand, which
1051 is the number of bytes, words, doublewords or whatever to reserve.
1052 As stated in \k{qsother}, NASM does not support the MASM/TASM syntax
1053 of reserving uninitialised space by writing \I\c{?}\c{DW ?} or
1054 similar things: this is what it does instead. The operand to a
1055 \c{RESB}-type pseudo-instruction is a \i\e{critical expression}: see
1060 \c buffer: resb 64 ; reserve 64 bytes
1061 \c wordvar: resw 1 ; reserve a word
1062 \c realarray resq 10 ; array of ten reals
1065 \S{incbin} \i\c{INCBIN}: Including External \i{Binary Files}
1067 \c{INCBIN} is borrowed from the old Amiga assembler \i{DevPac}: it
1068 includes a binary file verbatim into the output file. This can be
1069 handy for (for example) including \i{graphics} and \i{sound} data
1070 directly into a game executable file. It can be called in one of
1073 \c incbin "file.dat" ; include the whole file
1074 \c incbin "file.dat",1024 ; skip the first 1024 bytes
1075 \c incbin "file.dat",1024,512 ; skip the first 1024, and
1076 \c ; actually include at most 512
1079 \S{equ} \i\c{EQU}: Defining Constants
1081 \c{EQU} defines a symbol to a given constant value: when \c{EQU} is
1082 used, the source line must contain a label. The action of \c{EQU} is
1083 to define the given label name to the value of its (only) operand.
1084 This definition is absolute, and cannot change later. So, for
1087 \c message db 'hello, world'
1088 \c msglen equ $-message
1090 defines \c{msglen} to be the constant 12. \c{msglen} may not then be
1091 redefined later. This is not a \i{preprocessor} definition either:
1092 the value of \c{msglen} is evaluated \e{once}, using the value of
1093 \c{$} (see \k{expr} for an explanation of \c{$}) at the point of
1094 definition, rather than being evaluated wherever it is referenced
1095 and using the value of \c{$} at the point of reference. Note that
1096 the operand to an \c{EQU} is also a \i{critical expression}
1100 \S{times} \i\c{TIMES}: \i{Repeating} Instructions or Data
1102 The \c{TIMES} prefix causes the instruction to be assembled multiple
1103 times. This is partly present as NASM's equivalent of the \i\c{DUP}
1104 syntax supported by \i{MASM}-compatible assemblers, in that you can
1107 \c zerobuf: times 64 db 0
1109 or similar things; but \c{TIMES} is more versatile than that. The
1110 argument to \c{TIMES} is not just a numeric constant, but a numeric
1111 \e{expression}, so you can do things like
1113 \c buffer: db 'hello, world'
1114 \c times 64-$+buffer db ' '
1116 which will store exactly enough spaces to make the total length of
1117 \c{buffer} up to 64. Finally, \c{TIMES} can be applied to ordinary
1118 instructions, so you can code trivial \i{unrolled loops} in it:
1122 Note that there is no effective difference between \c{times 100 resb
1123 1} and \c{resb 100}, except that the latter will be assembled about
1124 100 times faster due to the internal structure of the assembler.
1126 The operand to \c{TIMES}, like that of \c{EQU} and those of \c{RESB}
1127 and friends, is a critical expression (\k{crit}).
1129 Note also that \c{TIMES} can't be applied to \i{macros}: the reason
1130 for this is that \c{TIMES} is processed after the macro phase, which
1131 allows the argument to \c{TIMES} to contain expressions such as
1132 \c{64-$+buffer} as above. To repeat more than one line of code, or a
1133 complex macro, use the preprocessor \i\c{%rep} directive.
1136 \H{effaddr} Effective Addresses
1138 An \i{effective address} is any operand to an instruction which
1139 \I{memory reference}references memory. Effective addresses, in NASM,
1140 have a very simple syntax: they consist of an expression evaluating
1141 to the desired address, enclosed in \i{square brackets}. For
1146 \c mov ax,[wordvar+1]
1147 \c mov ax,[es:wordvar+bx]
1149 Anything not conforming to this simple system is not a valid memory
1150 reference in NASM, for example \c{es:wordvar[bx]}.
1152 More complicated effective addresses, such as those involving more
1153 than one register, work in exactly the same way:
1155 \c mov eax,[ebx*2+ecx+offset]
1158 NASM is capable of doing \i{algebra} on these effective addresses,
1159 so that things which don't necessarily \e{look} legal are perfectly
1162 \c mov eax,[ebx*5] ; assembles as [ebx*4+ebx]
1163 \c mov eax,[label1*2-label2] ; ie [label1+(label1-label2)]
1165 Some forms of effective address have more than one assembled form;
1166 in most such cases NASM will generate the smallest form it can. For
1167 example, there are distinct assembled forms for the 32-bit effective
1168 addresses \c{[eax*2+0]} and \c{[eax+eax]}, and NASM will generally
1169 generate the latter on the grounds that the former requires four
1170 bytes to store a zero offset.
1172 NASM has a hinting mechanism which will cause \c{[eax+ebx]} and
1173 \c{[ebx+eax]} to generate different opcodes; this is occasionally
1174 useful because \c{[esi+ebp]} and \c{[ebp+esi]} have different
1175 default segment registers.
1177 However, you can force NASM to generate an effective address in a
1178 particular form by the use of the keywords \c{BYTE}, \c{WORD},
1179 \c{DWORD} and \c{NOSPLIT}. If you need \c{[eax+3]} to be assembled
1180 using a double-word offset field instead of the one byte NASM will
1181 normally generate, you can code \c{[dword eax+3]}. Similarly, you
1182 can force NASM to use a byte offset for a small value which it
1183 hasn't seen on the first pass (see \k{crit} for an example of such a
1184 code fragment) by using \c{[byte eax+offset]}. As special cases,
1185 \c{[byte eax]} will code \c{[eax+0]} with a byte offset of zero, and
1186 \c{[dword eax]} will code it with a double-word offset of zero. The
1187 normal form, \c{[eax]}, will be coded with no offset field.
1189 Similarly, NASM will split \c{[eax*2]} into \c{[eax+eax]} because
1190 that allows the offset field to be absent and space to be saved; in
1191 fact, it will also split \c{[eax*2+offset]} into
1192 \c{[eax+eax+offset]}. You can combat this behaviour by the use of
1193 the \c{NOSPLIT} keyword: \c{[nosplit eax*2]} will force
1194 \c{[eax*2+0]} to be generated literally.
1197 \H{const} \i{Constants}
1199 NASM understands four different types of constant: numeric,
1200 character, string and floating-point.
1203 \S{numconst} \i{Numeric Constants}
1205 A numeric constant is simply a number. NASM allows you to specify
1206 numbers in a variety of number bases, in a variety of ways: you can
1207 suffix \c{H}, \c{Q} and \c{B} for \i{hex}, \i{octal} and \i{binary},
1208 or you can prefix \c{0x} for hex in the style of C, or you can
1209 prefix \c{$} for hex in the style of Borland Pascal. Note, though,
1210 that the \I{$prefix}\c{$} prefix does double duty as a prefix on
1211 identifiers (see \k{syntax}), so a hex number prefixed with a \c{$}
1212 sign must have a digit after the \c{$} rather than a letter.
1216 \c mov ax,100 ; decimal
1217 \c mov ax,0a2h ; hex
1218 \c mov ax,$0a2 ; hex again: the 0 is required
1219 \c mov ax,0xa2 ; hex yet again
1220 \c mov ax,777q ; octal
1221 \c mov ax,10010011b ; binary
1224 \S{chrconst} \i{Character Constants}
1226 A character constant consists of up to four characters enclosed in
1227 either single or double quotes. The type of quote makes no
1228 difference to NASM, except of course that surrounding the constant
1229 with single quotes allows double quotes to appear within it and vice
1232 A character constant with more than one character will be arranged
1233 with \i{little-endian} order in mind: if you code
1237 then the constant generated is not \c{0x61626364}, but
1238 \c{0x64636261}, so that if you were then to store the value into
1239 memory, it would read \c{abcd} rather than \c{dcba}. This is also
1240 the sense of character constants understood by the Pentium's
1241 \i\c{CPUID} instruction (see \k{insCPUID}).
1244 \S{strconst} String Constants
1246 String constants are only acceptable to some pseudo-instructions,
1247 namely the \I\c{DW}\I\c{DD}\I\c{DQ}\I\c{DT}\i\c{DB} family and
1250 A string constant looks like a character constant, only longer. It
1251 is treated as a concatenation of maximum-size character constants
1252 for the conditions. So the following are equivalent:
1254 \c db 'hello' ; string constant
1255 \c db 'h','e','l','l','o' ; equivalent character constants
1257 And the following are also equivalent:
1259 \c dd 'ninechars' ; doubleword string constant
1260 \c dd 'nine','char','s' ; becomes three doublewords
1261 \c db 'ninechars',0,0,0 ; and really looks like this
1263 Note that when used as an operand to \c{db}, a constant like
1264 \c{'ab'} is treated as a string constant despite being short enough
1265 to be a character constant, because otherwise \c{db 'ab'} would have
1266 the same effect as \c{db 'a'}, which would be silly. Similarly,
1267 three-character or four-character constants are treated as strings
1268 when they are operands to \c{dw}.
1271 \S{fltconst} \I{floating-point, constants}Floating-Point Constants
1273 \i{Floating-point} constants are acceptable only as arguments to
1274 \i\c{DD}, \i\c{DQ} and \i\c{DT}. They are expressed in the
1275 traditional form: digits, then a period, then optionally more
1276 digits, then optionally an \c{E} followed by an exponent. The period
1277 is mandatory, so that NASM can distinguish between \c{dd 1}, which
1278 declares an integer constant, and \c{dd 1.0} which declares a
1279 floating-point constant.
1283 \c dd 1.2 ; an easy one
1284 \c dq 1.e10 ; 10,000,000,000
1285 \c dq 1.e+10 ; synonymous with 1.e10
1286 \c dq 1.e-10 ; 0.000 000 000 1
1287 \c dt 3.141592653589793238462 ; pi
1289 NASM cannot do compile-time arithmetic on floating-point constants.
1290 This is because NASM is designed to be portable - although it always
1291 generates code to run on x86 processors, the assembler itself can
1292 run on any system with an ANSI C compiler. Therefore, the assembler
1293 cannot guarantee the presence of a floating-point unit capable of
1294 handling the \i{Intel number formats}, and so for NASM to be able to
1295 do floating arithmetic it would have to include its own complete set
1296 of floating-point routines, which would significantly increase the
1297 size of the assembler for very little benefit.
1300 \H{expr} \i{Expressions}
1302 Expressions in NASM are similar in syntax to those in C.
1304 NASM does not guarantee the size of the integers used to evaluate
1305 expressions at compile time: since NASM can compile and run on
1306 64-bit systems quite happily, don't assume that expressions are
1307 evaluated in 32-bit registers and so try to make deliberate use of
1308 \i{integer overflow}. It might not always work. The only thing NASM
1309 will guarantee is what's guaranteed by ANSI C: you always have \e{at
1310 least} 32 bits to work in.
1312 NASM supports two special tokens in expressions, allowing
1313 calculations to involve the current assembly position: the
1314 \I{$ here}\c{$} and \i\c{$$} tokens. \c{$} evaluates to the assembly
1315 position at the beginning of the line containing the expression; so
1316 you can code an \i{infinite loop} using \c{JMP $}. \c{$$} evaluates
1317 to the beginning of the current section; so you can tell how far
1318 into the section you are by using \c{($-$$)}.
1320 The arithmetic \i{operators} provided by NASM are listed here, in
1321 increasing order of \i{precedence}.
1324 \S{expor} \i\c{|}: \i{Bitwise OR} Operator
1326 The \c{|} operator gives a bitwise OR, exactly as performed by the
1327 \c{OR} machine instruction. Bitwise OR is the lowest-priority
1328 arithmetic operator supported by NASM.
1331 \S{expxor} \i\c{^}: \i{Bitwise XOR} Operator
1333 \c{^} provides the bitwise XOR operation.
1336 \S{expand} \i\c{&}: \i{Bitwise AND} Operator
1338 \c{&} provides the bitwise AND operation.
1341 \S{expshift} \i\c{<<} and \i\c{>>}: \i{Bit Shift} Operators
1343 \c{<<} gives a bit-shift to the left, just as it does in C. So \c{5<<3}
1344 evaluates to 5 times 8, or 40. \c{>>} gives a bit-shift to the
1345 right; in NASM, such a shift is \e{always} unsigned, so that
1346 the bits shifted in from the left-hand end are filled with zero
1347 rather than a sign-extension of the previous highest bit.
1350 \S{expplmi} \I{+ opaddition}\c{+} and \I{- opsubtraction}\c{-}:
1351 \i{Addition} and \i{Subtraction} Operators
1353 The \c{+} and \c{-} operators do perfectly ordinary addition and
1357 \S{expmul} \i\c{*}, \i\c{/}, \i\c{//}, \i\c{%} and \i\c{%%}:
1358 \i{Multiplication} and \i{Division}
1360 \c{*} is the multiplication operator. \c{/} and \c{//} are both
1361 division operators: \c{/} is \i{unsigned division} and \c{//} is
1362 \i{signed division}. Similarly, \c{%} and \c{%%} provide \I{unsigned
1363 modulo}\I{modulo operators}unsigned and
1364 \i{signed modulo} operators respectively.
1366 NASM, like ANSI C, provides no guarantees about the sensible
1367 operation of the signed modulo operator.
1369 Since the \c{%} character is used extensively by the macro
1370 \i{preprocessor}, you should ensure that both the signed and unsigned
1371 modulo operators are followed by white space wherever they appear.
1374 \S{expmul} \i{Unary Operators}: \I{+ opunary}\c{+}, \I{- opunary}\c{-},
1375 \i\c{~} and \i\c{SEG}
1377 The highest-priority operators in NASM's expression grammar are
1378 those which only apply to one argument. \c{-} negates its operand,
1379 \c{+} does nothing (it's provided for symmetry with \c{-}), \c{~}
1380 computes the \i{one's complement} of its operand, and \c{SEG}
1381 provides the \i{segment address} of its operand (explained in more
1382 detail in \k{segwrt}).
1385 \H{segwrt} \i\c{SEG} and \i\c{WRT}
1387 When writing large 16-bit programs, which must be split into
1388 multiple \i{segments}, it is often necessary to be able to refer to
1389 the \I{segment address}segment part of the address of a symbol. NASM
1390 supports the \c{SEG} operator to perform this function.
1392 The \c{SEG} operator returns the \i\e{preferred} segment base of a
1393 symbol, defined as the segment base relative to which the offset of
1394 the symbol makes sense. So the code
1396 \c mov ax,seg symbol
1400 will load \c{ES:BX} with a valid pointer to the symbol \c{symbol}.
1402 Things can be more complex than this: since 16-bit segments and
1403 \i{groups} may \I{overlapping segments}overlap, you might occasionally
1404 want to refer to some symbol using a different segment base from the
1405 preferred one. NASM lets you do this, by the use of the \c{WRT}
1406 (With Reference To) keyword. So you can do things like
1408 \c mov ax,weird_seg ; weird_seg is a segment base
1410 \c mov bx,symbol wrt weird_seg
1412 to load \c{ES:BX} with a different, but functionally equivalent,
1413 pointer to the symbol \c{symbol}.
1415 NASM supports far (inter-segment) calls and jumps by means of the
1416 syntax \c{call segment:offset}, where \c{segment} and \c{offset}
1417 both represent immediate values. So to call a far procedure, you
1418 could code either of
1420 \c call (seg procedure):procedure
1421 \c call weird_seg:(procedure wrt weird_seg)
1423 (The parentheses are included for clarity, to show the intended
1424 parsing of the above instructions. They are not necessary in
1427 NASM supports the syntax \I\c{CALL FAR}\c{call far procedure} as a
1428 synonym for the first of the above usages. \c{JMP} works identically
1429 to \c{CALL} in these examples.
1431 To declare a \i{far pointer} to a data item in a data segment, you
1434 \c dw symbol, seg symbol
1436 NASM supports no convenient synonym for this, though you can always
1437 invent one using the macro processor.
1440 \H{crit} \i{Critical Expressions}
1442 A limitation of NASM is that it is a \i{two-pass assembler}; unlike
1443 TASM and others, it will always do exactly two \I{passes}\i{assembly
1444 passes}. Therefore it is unable to cope with source files that are
1445 complex enough to require three or more passes.
1447 The first pass is used to determine the size of all the assembled
1448 code and data, so that the second pass, when generating all the
1449 code, knows all the symbol addresses the code refers to. So one
1450 thing NASM can't handle is code whose size depends on the value of a
1451 symbol declared after the code in question. For example,
1453 \c times (label-$) db 0
1454 \c label: db 'Where am I?'
1456 The argument to \i\c{TIMES} in this case could equally legally
1457 evaluate to anything at all; NASM will reject this example because
1458 it cannot tell the size of the \c{TIMES} line when it first sees it.
1459 It will just as firmly reject the slightly \I{paradox}paradoxical
1462 \c times (label-$+1) db 0
1463 \c label: db 'NOW where am I?'
1465 in which \e{any} value for the \c{TIMES} argument is by definition
1468 NASM rejects these examples by means of a concept called a
1469 \e{critical expression}, which is defined to be an expression whose
1470 value is required to be computable in the first pass, and which must
1471 therefore depend only on symbols defined before it. The argument to
1472 the \c{TIMES} prefix is a critical expression; for the same reason,
1473 the arguments to the \i\c{RESB} family of pseudo-instructions are
1474 also critical expressions.
1476 Critical expressions can crop up in other contexts as well: consider
1480 \c symbol1 equ symbol2
1483 On the first pass, NASM cannot determine the value of \c{symbol1},
1484 because \c{symbol1} is defined to be equal to \c{symbol2} which NASM
1485 hasn't seen yet. On the second pass, therefore, when it encounters
1486 the line \c{mov ax,symbol1}, it is unable to generate the code for
1487 it because it still doesn't know the value of \c{symbol1}. On the
1488 next line, it would see the \i\c{EQU} again and be able to determine
1489 the value of \c{symbol1}, but by then it would be too late.
1491 NASM avoids this problem by defining the right-hand side of an
1492 \c{EQU} statement to be a critical expression, so the definition of
1493 \c{symbol1} would be rejected in the first pass.
1495 There is a related issue involving \i{forward references}: consider
1498 \c mov eax,[ebx+offset]
1501 NASM, on pass one, must calculate the size of the instruction \c{mov
1502 eax,[ebx+offset]} without knowing the value of \c{offset}. It has no
1503 way of knowing that \c{offset} is small enough to fit into a
1504 one-byte offset field and that it could therefore get away with
1505 generating a shorter form of the \i{effective-address} encoding; for
1506 all it knows, in pass one, \c{offset} could be a symbol in the code
1507 segment, and it might need the full four-byte form. So it is forced
1508 to compute the size of the instruction to accommodate a four-byte
1509 address part. In pass two, having made this decision, it is now
1510 forced to honour it and keep the instruction large, so the code
1511 generated in this case is not as small as it could have been. This
1512 problem can be solved by defining \c{offset} before using it, or by
1513 forcing byte size in the effective address by coding \c{[byte
1517 \H{locallab} \i{Local Labels}
1519 NASM gives special treatment to symbols beginning with a \i{period}.
1520 A label beginning with a single period is treated as a \e{local}
1521 label, which means that it is associated with the previous non-local
1522 label. So, for example:
1524 \c label1 ; some code
1525 \c .loop ; some more code
1528 \c label2 ; some code
1529 \c .loop ; some more code
1533 In the above code fragment, each \c{JNE} instruction jumps to the
1534 line immediately before it, because the two definitions of \c{.loop}
1535 are kept separate by virtue of each being associated with the
1536 previous non-local label.
1538 This form of local label handling is borrowed from the old Amiga
1539 assembler \i{DevPac}; however, NASM goes one step further, in
1540 allowing access to local labels from other parts of the code. This
1541 is achieved by means of \e{defining} a local label in terms of the
1542 previous non-local label: the first definition of \c{.loop} above is
1543 really defining a symbol called \c{label1.loop}, and the second
1544 defines a symbol called \c{label2.loop}. So, if you really needed
1547 \c label3 ; some more code
1551 Sometimes it is useful - in a macro, for instance - to be able to
1552 define a label which can be referenced from anywhere but which
1553 doesn't interfere with the normal local-label mechanism. Such a
1554 label can't be non-local because it would interfere with subsequent
1555 definitions of, and references to, local labels; and it can't be
1556 local because the macro that defined it wouldn't know the label's
1557 full name. NASM therefore introduces a third type of label, which is
1558 probably only useful in macro definitions: if a label begins with
1559 the \I{label prefix}special prefix \i\c{..@}, then it does nothing
1560 to the local label mechanism. So you could code
1562 \c label1: ; a non-local label
1563 \c .local: ; this is really label1.local
1564 \c ..@foo: ; this is a special symbol
1565 \c label2: ; another non-local label
1566 \c .local: ; this is really label2.local
1567 \c jmp ..@foo ; this will jump three lines up
1569 NASM has the capacity to define other special symbols beginning with
1570 a double period: for example, \c{..start} is used to specify the
1571 entry point in the \c{obj} output format (see \k{dotdotstart}).
1574 \C{preproc} The NASM \i{Preprocessor}
1576 NASM contains a powerful \i{macro processor}, which supports
1577 conditional assembly, multi-level file inclusion, two forms of macro
1578 (single-line and multi-line), and a `context stack' mechanism for
1579 extra macro power. Preprocessor directives all begin with a \c{%}
1583 \H{slmacro} \i{Single-Line Macros}
1585 \S{define} The Normal Way: \I\c{%idefine}\i\c{%define}
1587 Single-line macros are defined using the \c{%define} preprocessor
1588 directive. The definitions work in a similar way to C; so you can do
1591 \c %define ctrl 0x1F &
1592 \c %define param(a,b) ((a)+(a)*(b))
1593 \c mov byte [param(2,ebx)], ctrl 'D'
1595 which will expand to
1597 \c mov byte [(2)+(2)*(ebx)], 0x1F & 'D'
1599 When the expansion of a single-line macro contains tokens which
1600 invoke another macro, the expansion is performed at invocation time,
1601 not at definition time. Thus the code
1603 \c %define a(x) 1+b(x)
1607 will evaluate in the expected way to \c{mov ax,1+2*8}, even though
1608 the macro \c{b} wasn't defined at the time of definition of \c{a}.
1610 Macros defined with \c{%define} are \i{case sensitive}: after
1611 \c{%define foo bar}, only \c{foo} will expand to \c{bar}: \c{Foo} or
1612 \c{FOO} will not. By using \c{%idefine} instead of \c{%define} (the
1613 `i' stands for `insensitive') you can define all the case variants
1614 of a macro at once, so that \c{%idefine foo bar} would cause
1615 \c{foo}, \c{Foo}, \c{FOO}, \c{fOO} and so on all to expand to
1618 There is a mechanism which detects when a macro call has occurred as
1619 a result of a previous expansion of the same macro, to guard against
1620 \i{circular references} and infinite loops. If this happens, the
1621 preprocessor will only expand the first occurrence of the macro.
1624 \c %define a(x) 1+a(x)
1627 the macro \c{a(3)} will expand once, becoming \c{1+a(3)}, and will
1628 then expand no further. This behaviour can be useful: see \k{32c}
1629 for an example of its use.
1631 You can \I{overloading, single-line macros}overload single-line
1632 macros: if you write
1634 \c %define foo(x) 1+x
1635 \c %define foo(x,y) 1+x*y
1637 the preprocessor will be able to handle both types of macro call,
1638 by counting the parameters you pass; so \c{foo(3)} will become
1639 \c{1+3} whereas \c{foo(ebx,2)} will become \c{1+ebx*2}. However, if
1644 then no other definition of \c{foo} will be accepted: a macro with
1645 no parameters prohibits the definition of the same name as a macro
1646 \e{with} parameters, and vice versa.
1648 This doesn't prevent single-line macros being \e{redefined}: you can
1649 perfectly well define a macro with
1653 and then re-define it later in the same source file with
1657 Then everywhere the macro \c{foo} is invoked, it will be expanded
1658 according to the most recent definition. This is particularly useful
1659 when defining single-line macros with \c{%assign} (see \k{assign}).
1661 You can \i{pre-define} single-line macros using the `-d' option on
1662 the NASM command line: see \k{opt-d}.
1665 \S{undef} Undefining macros: \i\c{%undef}
1667 Single-line macros can be removed with the \c{%undef} command. For
1668 example, the following sequence:
1674 will expand to the instruction \c{mov eax, foo}, since after
1675 \c{%undef} the macro \c{foo} is no longer defined.
1677 Macros that would otherwise be pre-defined can be undefined on the
1678 command-line using the `-u' option on the NASM command line: see
1682 \S{assign} \i{Preprocessor Variables}: \i\c{%assign}
1684 An alternative way to define single-line macros is by means of the
1685 \c{%assign} command (and its \i{case sensitive}case-insensitive
1686 counterpart \i\c{%iassign}, which differs from \c{%assign} in
1687 exactly the same way that \c{%idefine} differs from \c{%define}).
1689 \c{%assign} is used to define single-line macros which take no
1690 parameters and have a numeric value. This value can be specified in
1691 the form of an expression, and it will be evaluated once, when the
1692 \c{%assign} directive is processed.
1694 Like \c{%define}, macros defined using \c{%assign} can be re-defined
1695 later, so you can do things like
1699 to increment the numeric value of a macro.
1701 \c{%assign} is useful for controlling the termination of \c{%rep}
1702 preprocessor loops: see \k{rep} for an example of this. Another
1703 use for \c{%assign} is given in \k{16c} and \k{32c}.
1705 The expression passed to \c{%assign} is a \i{critical expression}
1706 (see \k{crit}), and must also evaluate to a pure number (rather than
1707 a relocatable reference such as a code or data address, or anything
1708 involving a register).
1711 \H{strlen} \i{String Handling in Macros}: \i\c{%strlen} and \i\c{%substr}
1713 It's often useful to be able to handle strings in macros. NASM
1714 supports two simple string handling macro operators from which
1715 more complex operations can be constructed.
1718 \S{strlen} \i{String Length}: \i\c{%strlen}
1720 The \c{%strlen} macro is like \c{%assign} macro in that it creates
1721 (or redefines) a numeric value to a macro. The difference is that
1722 with \c{%strlen}, the numeric value is the length of a string. An
1723 example of the use of this would be:
1725 \c %strlen charcnt 'my string'
1727 In this example, \c{charcnt} would receive the value 8, just as
1728 if an \c{%assign} had been used. In this example, \c{'my string'}
1729 was a literal string but it could also have been a single-line
1730 macro that expands to a string, as in the following example:
1732 \c %define sometext 'my string'
1733 \c %strlen charcnt sometext
1735 As in the first case, this would result in \c{charcnt} being
1736 assigned the value of 8.
1739 \S{substr} \i{Sub-strings}: \i\c{%substr}
1741 Individual letters in strings can be extracted using \c{%substr}.
1742 An example of its use is probably more useful than the description:
1744 \c %substr mychar 'xyz' 1 ; equivalent to %define mychar 'x'
1745 \c %substr mychar 'xyz' 2 ; equivalent to %define mychar 'y'
1746 \c %substr mychar 'xyz' 3 ; equivalent to %define mychar 'z'
1748 In this example, mychar gets the value of 'y'. As with \c{%strlen}
1749 (see \k{strlen}), the first parameter is the single-line macro to
1750 be created and the second is the string. The third parameter
1751 specifies which character is to be selected. Note that the first
1752 index is 1, not 0 and the last index is equal to the value that
1753 \c{%strlen} would assign given the same string. Index values out
1754 of range result in an empty string.
1757 \H{mlmacro} \i{Multi-Line Macros}: \I\c{%imacro}\i\c{%macro}
1759 Multi-line macros are much more like the type of macro seen in MASM
1760 and TASM: a multi-line macro definition in NASM looks something like
1763 \c %macro prologue 1
1769 This defines a C-like function prologue as a macro: so you would
1770 invoke the macro with a call such as
1772 \c myfunc: prologue 12
1774 which would expand to the three lines of code
1780 The number \c{1} after the macro name in the \c{%macro} line defines
1781 the number of parameters the macro \c{prologue} expects to receive.
1782 The use of \c{%1} inside the macro definition refers to the first
1783 parameter to the macro call. With a macro taking more than one
1784 parameter, subsequent parameters would be referred to as \c{%2},
1787 Multi-line macros, like single-line macros, are \i{case-sensitive},
1788 unless you define them using the alternative directive \c{%imacro}.
1790 If you need to pass a comma as \e{part} of a parameter to a
1791 multi-line macro, you can do that by enclosing the entire parameter
1792 in \I{braces, around macro parameters}braces. So you could code
1798 \c silly 'a', letter_a ; letter_a: db 'a'
1799 \c silly 'ab', string_ab ; string_ab: db 'ab'
1800 \c silly {13,10}, crlf ; crlf: db 13,10
1803 \S{mlmacover} \i{Overloading Multi-Line Macros}
1805 As with single-line macros, multi-line macros can be overloaded by
1806 defining the same macro name several times with different numbers of
1807 parameters. This time, no exception is made for macros with no
1808 parameters at all. So you could define
1810 \c %macro prologue 0
1815 to define an alternative form of the function prologue which
1816 allocates no local stack space.
1818 Sometimes, however, you might want to `overload' a machine
1819 instruction; for example, you might want to define
1826 so that you could code
1828 \c push ebx ; this line is not a macro call
1829 \c push eax,ecx ; but this one is
1831 Ordinarily, NASM will give a warning for the first of the above two
1832 lines, since \c{push} is now defined to be a macro, and is being
1833 invoked with a number of parameters for which no definition has been
1834 given. The correct code will still be generated, but the assembler
1835 will give a warning. This warning can be disabled by the use of the
1836 \c{-w-macro-params} command-line option (see \k{opt-w}).
1839 \S{maclocal} \i{Macro-Local Labels}
1841 NASM allows you to define labels within a multi-line macro
1842 definition in such a way as to make them local to the macro call: so
1843 calling the same macro multiple times will use a different label
1844 each time. You do this by prefixing \i\c{%%} to the label name. So
1845 you can invent an instruction which executes a \c{RET} if the \c{Z}
1846 flag is set by doing this:
1854 You can call this macro as many times as you want, and every time
1855 you call it NASM will make up a different `real' name to substitute
1856 for the label \c{%%skip}. The names NASM invents are of the form
1857 \c{..@2345.skip}, where the number 2345 changes with every macro
1858 call. The \i\c{..@} prefix prevents macro-local labels from
1859 interfering with the local label mechanism, as described in
1860 \k{locallab}. You should avoid defining your own labels in this form
1861 (the \c{..@} prefix, then a number, then another period) in case
1862 they interfere with macro-local labels.
1865 \S{mlmacgre} \i{Greedy Macro Parameters}
1867 Occasionally it is useful to define a macro which lumps its entire
1868 command line into one parameter definition, possibly after
1869 extracting one or two smaller parameters from the front. An example
1870 might be a macro to write a text string to a file in MS-DOS, where
1871 you might want to be able to write
1873 \c writefile [filehandle],"hello, world",13,10
1875 NASM allows you to define the last parameter of a macro to be
1876 \e{greedy}, meaning that if you invoke the macro with more
1877 parameters than it expects, all the spare parameters get lumped into
1878 the last defined one along with the separating commas. So if you
1881 \c %macro writefile 2+
1884 \c %%endstr: mov dx,%%str
1885 \c mov cx,%%endstr-%%str
1891 then the example call to \c{writefile} above will work as expected:
1892 the text before the first comma, \c{[filehandle]}, is used as the
1893 first macro parameter and expanded when \c{%1} is referred to, and
1894 all the subsequent text is lumped into \c{%2} and placed after the
1897 The greedy nature of the macro is indicated to NASM by the use of
1898 the \I{+ modifier}\c{+} sign after the parameter count on the
1901 If you define a greedy macro, you are effectively telling NASM how
1902 it should expand the macro given \e{any} number of parameters from
1903 the actual number specified up to infinity; in this case, for
1904 example, NASM now knows what to do when it sees a call to
1905 \c{writefile} with 2, 3, 4 or more parameters. NASM will take this
1906 into account when overloading macros, and will not allow you to
1907 define another form of \c{writefile} taking 4 parameters (for
1910 Of course, the above macro could have been implemented as a
1911 non-greedy macro, in which case the call to it would have had to
1914 \c writefile [filehandle], {"hello, world",13,10}
1916 NASM provides both mechanisms for putting \i{commas in macro
1917 parameters}, and you choose which one you prefer for each macro
1920 See \k{sectmac} for a better way to write the above macro.
1923 \S{mlmacdef} \i{Default Macro Parameters}
1925 NASM also allows you to define a multi-line macro with a \e{range}
1926 of allowable parameter counts. If you do this, you can specify
1927 defaults for \i{omitted parameters}. So, for example:
1929 \c %macro die 0-1 "Painful program death has occurred."
1935 This macro (which makes use of the \c{writefile} macro defined in
1936 \k{mlmacgre}) can be called with an explicit error message, which it
1937 will display on the error output stream before exiting, or it can be
1938 called with no parameters, in which case it will use the default
1939 error message supplied in the macro definition.
1941 In general, you supply a minimum and maximum number of parameters
1942 for a macro of this type; the minimum number of parameters are then
1943 required in the macro call, and then you provide defaults for the
1944 optional ones. So if a macro definition began with the line
1946 \c %macro foobar 1-3 eax,[ebx+2]
1948 then it could be called with between one and three parameters, and
1949 \c{%1} would always be taken from the macro call. \c{%2}, if not
1950 specified by the macro call, would default to \c{eax}, and \c{%3} if
1951 not specified would default to \c{[ebx+2]}.
1953 You may omit parameter defaults from the macro definition, in which
1954 case the parameter default is taken to be blank. This can be useful
1955 for macros which can take a variable number of parameters, since the
1956 \i\c{%0} token (see \k{percent0}) allows you to determine how many
1957 parameters were really passed to the macro call.
1959 This defaulting mechanism can be combined with the greedy-parameter
1960 mechanism; so the \c{die} macro above could be made more powerful,
1961 and more useful, by changing the first line of the definition to
1963 \c %macro die 0-1+ "Painful program death has occurred.",13,10
1965 The maximum parameter count can be infinite, denoted by \c{*}. In
1966 this case, of course, it is impossible to provide a \e{full} set of
1967 default parameters. Examples of this usage are shown in \k{rotate}.
1970 \S{percent0} \i\c{%0}: \I{counting macro parameters}Macro Parameter Counter
1972 For a macro which can take a variable number of parameters, the
1973 parameter reference \c{%0} will return a numeric constant giving the
1974 number of parameters passed to the macro. This can be used as an
1975 argument to \c{%rep} (see \k{rep}) in order to iterate through all
1976 the parameters of a macro. Examples are given in \k{rotate}.
1979 \S{rotate} \i\c{%rotate}: \i{Rotating Macro Parameters}
1981 Unix shell programmers will be familiar with the \I{shift
1982 command}\c{shift} shell command, which allows the arguments passed
1983 to a shell script (referenced as \c{$1}, \c{$2} and so on) to be
1984 moved left by one place, so that the argument previously referenced
1985 as \c{$2} becomes available as \c{$1}, and the argument previously
1986 referenced as \c{$1} is no longer available at all.
1988 NASM provides a similar mechanism, in the form of \c{%rotate}. As
1989 its name suggests, it differs from the Unix \c{shift} in that no
1990 parameters are lost: parameters rotated off the left end of the
1991 argument list reappear on the right, and vice versa.
1993 \c{%rotate} is invoked with a single numeric argument (which may be
1994 an expression). The macro parameters are rotated to the left by that
1995 many places. If the argument to \c{%rotate} is negative, the macro
1996 parameters are rotated to the right.
1998 \I{iterating over macro parameters}So a pair of macros to save and
1999 restore a set of registers might work as follows:
2001 \c %macro multipush 1-*
2008 This macro invokes the \c{PUSH} instruction on each of its arguments
2009 in turn, from left to right. It begins by pushing its first
2010 argument, \c{%1}, then invokes \c{%rotate} to move all the arguments
2011 one place to the left, so that the original second argument is now
2012 available as \c{%1}. Repeating this procedure as many times as there
2013 were arguments (achieved by supplying \c{%0} as the argument to
2014 \c{%rep}) causes each argument in turn to be pushed.
2016 Note also the use of \c{*} as the maximum parameter count,
2017 indicating that there is no upper limit on the number of parameters
2018 you may supply to the \i\c{multipush} macro.
2020 It would be convenient, when using this macro, to have a \c{POP}
2021 equivalent, which \e{didn't} require the arguments to be given in
2022 reverse order. Ideally, you would write the \c{multipush} macro
2023 call, then cut-and-paste the line to where the pop needed to be
2024 done, and change the name of the called macro to \c{multipop}, and
2025 the macro would take care of popping the registers in the opposite
2026 order from the one in which they were pushed.
2028 This can be done by the following definition:
2030 \c %macro multipop 1-*
2037 This macro begins by rotating its arguments one place to the
2038 \e{right}, so that the original \e{last} argument appears as \c{%1}.
2039 This is then popped, and the arguments are rotated right again, so
2040 the second-to-last argument becomes \c{%1}. Thus the arguments are
2041 iterated through in reverse order.
2044 \S{concat} \i{Concatenating Macro Parameters}
2046 NASM can concatenate macro parameters on to other text surrounding
2047 them. This allows you to declare a family of symbols, for example,
2048 in a macro definition. If, for example, you wanted to generate a
2049 table of key codes along with offsets into the table, you could code
2052 \c %macro keytab_entry 2
2053 \c keypos%1 equ $-keytab
2057 \c keytab_entry F1,128+1
2058 \c keytab_entry F2,128+2
2059 \c keytab_entry Return,13
2061 which would expand to
2064 \c keyposF1 equ $-keytab
2066 \c keyposF2 equ $-keytab
2068 \c keyposReturn equ $-keytab
2071 You can just as easily concatenate text on to the other end of a
2072 macro parameter, by writing \c{%1foo}.
2074 If you need to append a \e{digit} to a macro parameter, for example
2075 defining labels \c{foo1} and \c{foo2} when passed the parameter
2076 \c{foo}, you can't code \c{%11} because that would be taken as the
2077 eleventh macro parameter. Instead, you must code
2078 \I{braces, after % sign}\c{%\{1\}1}, which will separate the first
2079 \c{1} (giving the number of the macro parameter) from the second
2080 (literal text to be concatenated to the parameter).
2082 This concatenation can also be applied to other preprocessor in-line
2083 objects, such as macro-local labels (\k{maclocal}) and context-local
2084 labels (\k{ctxlocal}). In all cases, ambiguities in syntax can be
2085 resolved by enclosing everything after the \c{%} sign and before the
2086 literal text in braces: so \c{%\{%foo\}bar} concatenates the text
2087 \c{bar} to the end of the real name of the macro-local label
2088 \c{%%foo}. (This is unnecessary, since the form NASM uses for the
2089 real names of macro-local labels means that the two usages
2090 \c{%\{%foo\}bar} and \c{%%foobar} would both expand to the same
2091 thing anyway; nevertheless, the capability is there.)
2094 \S{mlmaccc} \i{Condition Codes as Macro Parameters}
2096 NASM can give special treatment to a macro parameter which contains
2097 a condition code. For a start, you can refer to the macro parameter
2098 \c{%1} by means of the alternative syntax \i\c{%+1}, which informs
2099 NASM that this macro parameter is supposed to contain a condition
2100 code, and will cause the preprocessor to report an error message if
2101 the macro is called with a parameter which is \e{not} a valid
2104 Far more usefully, though, you can refer to the macro parameter by
2105 means of \i\c{%-1}, which NASM will expand as the \e{inverse}
2106 condition code. So the \c{retz} macro defined in \k{maclocal} can be
2107 replaced by a general \i{conditional-return macro} like this:
2115 This macro can now be invoked using calls like \c{retc ne}, which
2116 will cause the conditional-jump instruction in the macro expansion
2117 to come out as \c{JE}, or \c{retc po} which will make the jump a
2120 The \c{%+1} macro-parameter reference is quite happy to interpret
2121 the arguments \c{CXZ} and \c{ECXZ} as valid condition codes;
2122 however, \c{%-1} will report an error if passed either of these,
2123 because no inverse condition code exists.
2126 \S{nolist} \i{Disabling Listing Expansion}\I\c{.nolist}
2128 When NASM is generating a listing file from your program, it will
2129 generally expand multi-line macros by means of writing the macro
2130 call and then listing each line of the expansion. This allows you to
2131 see which instructions in the macro expansion are generating what
2132 code; however, for some macros this clutters the listing up
2135 NASM therefore provides the \c{.nolist} qualifier, which you can
2136 include in a macro definition to inhibit the expansion of the macro
2137 in the listing file. The \c{.nolist} qualifier comes directly after
2138 the number of parameters, like this:
2140 \c %macro foo 1.nolist
2144 \c %macro bar 1-5+.nolist a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h
2146 \H{condasm} \i{Conditional Assembly}\I\c{%if}
2148 Similarly to the C preprocessor, NASM allows sections of a source
2149 file to be assembled only if certain conditions are met. The general
2150 syntax of this feature looks like this:
2153 \c ; some code which only appears if <condition> is met
2154 \c %elif<condition2>
2155 \c ; only appears if <condition> is not met but <condition2> is
2157 \c ; this appears if neither <condition> nor <condition2> was met
2160 The \i\c{%else} clause is optional, as is the \i\c{%elif} clause.
2161 You can have more than one \c{%elif} clause as well.
2164 \S{ifdef} \i\c{%ifdef}: \i{Testing Single-Line Macro Existence}
2166 Beginning a conditional-assembly block with the line \c{%ifdef
2167 MACRO} will assemble the subsequent code if, and only if, a
2168 single-line macro called \c{MACRO} is defined. If not, then the
2169 \c{%elif} and \c{%else} blocks (if any) will be processed instead.
2171 For example, when debugging a program, you might want to write code
2174 \c ; perform some function
2176 \c writefile 2,"Function performed successfully",13,10
2178 \c ; go and do something else
2180 Then you could use the command-line option \c{-dDEBUG} to create a
2181 version of the program which produced debugging messages, and remove
2182 the option to generate the final release version of the program.
2184 You can test for a macro \e{not} being defined by using
2185 \i\c{%ifndef} instead of \c{%ifdef}. You can also test for macro
2186 definitions in \c{%elif} blocks by using \i\c{%elifdef} and
2190 \S{ifctx} \i\c{%ifctx}: \i{Testing the Context Stack}
2192 The conditional-assembly construct \c{%ifctx ctxname} will cause the
2193 subsequent code to be assembled if and only if the top context on
2194 the preprocessor's context stack has the name \c{ctxname}. As with
2195 \c{%ifdef}, the inverse and \c{%elif} forms \i\c{%ifnctx},
2196 \i\c{%elifctx} and \i\c{%elifnctx} are also supported.
2198 For more details of the context stack, see \k{ctxstack}. For a
2199 sample use of \c{%ifctx}, see \k{blockif}.
2202 \S{if} \i\c{%if}: \i{Testing Arbitrary Numeric Expressions}
2204 The conditional-assembly construct \c{%if expr} will cause the
2205 subsequent code to be assembled if and only if the value of the
2206 numeric expression \c{expr} is non-zero. An example of the use of
2207 this feature is in deciding when to break out of a \c{%rep}
2208 preprocessor loop: see \k{rep} for a detailed example.
2210 The expression given to \c{%if}, and its counterpart \i\c{%elif}, is
2211 a critical expression (see \k{crit}).
2213 \c{%if} extends the normal NASM expression syntax, by providing a
2214 set of \i{relational operators} which are not normally available in
2215 expressions. The operators \i\c{=}, \i\c{<}, \i\c{>}, \i\c{<=},
2216 \i\c{>=} and \i\c{<>} test equality, less-than, greater-than,
2217 less-or-equal, greater-or-equal and not-equal respectively. The
2218 C-like forms \i\c{==} and \i\c{!=} are supported as alternative
2219 forms of \c{=} and \c{<>}. In addition, low-priority logical
2220 operators \i\c{&&}, \i\c{^^} and \i\c{||} are provided, supplying
2221 \i{logical AND}, \i{logical XOR} and \i{logical OR}. These work like
2222 the C logical operators (although C has no logical XOR), in that
2223 they always return either 0 or 1, and treat any non-zero input as 1
2224 (so that \c{^^}, for example, returns 1 if exactly one of its inputs
2225 is zero, and 0 otherwise). The relational operators also return 1
2226 for true and 0 for false.
2229 \S{ifidn} \i\c{%ifidn} and \i\c{%ifidni}: \i{Testing Exact Text
2232 The construct \c{%ifidn text1,text2} will cause the subsequent code
2233 to be assembled if and only if \c{text1} and \c{text2}, after
2234 expanding single-line macros, are identical pieces of text.
2235 Differences in white space are not counted.
2237 \c{%ifidni} is similar to \c{%ifidn}, but is \i{case-insensitive}.
2239 For example, the following macro pushes a register or number on the
2240 stack, and allows you to treat \c{IP} as a real register:
2242 \c %macro pushparam 1
2251 Like most other \c{%if} constructs, \c{%ifidn} has a counterpart
2252 \i\c{%elifidn}, and negative forms \i\c{%ifnidn} and \i\c{%elifnidn}.
2253 Similarly, \c{%ifidni} has counterparts \i\c{%elifidni},
2254 \i\c{%ifnidni} and \i\c{%elifnidni}.
2257 \S{iftyp} \i\c{%ifid}, \i\c{%ifnum}, \i\c{%ifstr}: \i{Testing Token
2260 Some macros will want to perform different tasks depending on
2261 whether they are passed a number, a string, or an identifier. For
2262 example, a string output macro might want to be able to cope with
2263 being passed either a string constant or a pointer to an existing
2266 The conditional assembly construct \c{%ifid}, taking one parameter
2267 (which may be blank), assembles the subsequent code if and only if
2268 the first token in the parameter exists and is an identifier.
2269 \c{%ifnum} works similarly, but tests for the token being a numeric
2270 constant; \c{%ifstr} tests for it being a string.
2272 For example, the \c{writefile} macro defined in \k{mlmacgre} can be
2273 extended to take advantage of \c{%ifstr} in the following fashion:
2275 \c %macro writefile 2-3+
2283 \c %%endstr: mov dx,%%str
2284 \c mov cx,%%endstr-%%str
2294 Then the \c{writefile} macro can cope with being called in either of
2295 the following two ways:
2297 \c writefile [file], strpointer, length
2298 \c writefile [file], "hello", 13, 10
2300 In the first, \c{strpointer} is used as the address of an
2301 already-declared string, and \c{length} is used as its length; in
2302 the second, a string is given to the macro, which therefore declares
2303 it itself and works out the address and length for itself.
2305 Note the use of \c{%if} inside the \c{%ifstr}: this is to detect
2306 whether the macro was passed two arguments (so the string would be a
2307 single string constant, and \c{db %2} would be adequate) or more (in
2308 which case, all but the first two would be lumped together into
2309 \c{%3}, and \c{db %2,%3} would be required).
2311 \I\c{%ifnid}\I\c{%elifid}\I\c{%elifnid}\I\c{%ifnnum}\I\c{%elifnum}
2312 \I\c{%elifnnum}\I\c{%ifnstr}\I\c{%elifstr}\I\c{%elifnstr}
2313 The usual \c{%elifXXX}, \c{%ifnXXX} and \c{%elifnXXX} versions exist
2314 for each of \c{%ifid}, \c{%ifnum} and \c{%ifstr}.
2317 \S{pperror} \i\c{%error}: Reporting \i{User-Defined Errors}
2319 The preprocessor directive \c{%error} will cause NASM to report an
2320 error if it occurs in assembled code. So if other users are going to
2321 try to assemble your source files, you can ensure that they define
2322 the right macros by means of code like this:
2324 \c %ifdef SOME_MACRO
2326 \c %elifdef SOME_OTHER_MACRO
2327 \c ; do some different setup
2329 \c %error Neither SOME_MACRO nor SOME_OTHER_MACRO was defined.
2332 Then any user who fails to understand the way your code is supposed
2333 to be assembled will be quickly warned of their mistake, rather than
2334 having to wait until the program crashes on being run and then not
2335 knowing what went wrong.
2338 \H{rep} \i{Preprocessor Loops}\I{repeating code}: \i\c{%rep}
2340 NASM's \c{TIMES} prefix, though useful, cannot be used to invoke a
2341 multi-line macro multiple times, because it is processed by NASM
2342 after macros have already been expanded. Therefore NASM provides
2343 another form of loop, this time at the preprocessor level: \c{%rep}.
2345 The directives \c{%rep} and \i\c{%endrep} (\c{%rep} takes a numeric
2346 argument, which can be an expression; \c{%endrep} takes no
2347 arguments) can be used to enclose a chunk of code, which is then
2348 replicated as many times as specified by the preprocessor:
2352 \c inc word [table+2*i]
2356 This will generate a sequence of 64 \c{INC} instructions,
2357 incrementing every word of memory from \c{[table]} to
2360 For more complex termination conditions, or to break out of a repeat
2361 loop part way along, you can use the \i\c{%exitrep} directive to
2362 terminate the loop, like this:
2376 \c fib_number equ ($-fibonacci)/2
2378 This produces a list of all the Fibonacci numbers that will fit in
2379 16 bits. Note that a maximum repeat count must still be given to
2380 \c{%rep}. This is to prevent the possibility of NASM getting into an
2381 infinite loop in the preprocessor, which (on multitasking or
2382 multi-user systems) would typically cause all the system memory to
2383 be gradually used up and other applications to start crashing.
2386 \H{include} \i{Including Other Files}
2388 Using, once again, a very similar syntax to the C preprocessor,
2389 NASM's preprocessor lets you include other source files into your
2390 code. This is done by the use of the \i\c{%include} directive:
2392 \c %include "macros.mac"
2394 will include the contents of the file \c{macros.mac} into the source
2395 file containing the \c{%include} directive.
2397 Include files are \I{searching for include files}searched for in the
2398 current directory (the directory you're in when you run NASM, as
2399 opposed to the location of the NASM executable or the location of
2400 the source file), plus any directories specified on the NASM command
2401 line using the \c{-i} option.
2403 The standard C idiom for preventing a file being included more than
2404 once is just as applicable in NASM: if the file \c{macros.mac} has
2407 \c %ifndef MACROS_MAC
2408 \c %define MACROS_MAC
2409 \c ; now define some macros
2412 then including the file more than once will not cause errors,
2413 because the second time the file is included nothing will happen
2414 because the macro \c{MACROS_MAC} will already be defined.
2416 You can force a file to be included even if there is no \c{%include}
2417 directive that explicitly includes it, by using the \i\c{-p} option
2418 on the NASM command line (see \k{opt-p}).
2421 \H{ctxstack} The \i{Context Stack}
2423 Having labels that are local to a macro definition is sometimes not
2424 quite powerful enough: sometimes you want to be able to share labels
2425 between several macro calls. An example might be a \c{REPEAT} ...
2426 \c{UNTIL} loop, in which the expansion of the \c{REPEAT} macro
2427 would need to be able to refer to a label which the \c{UNTIL} macro
2428 had defined. However, for such a macro you would also want to be
2429 able to nest these loops.
2431 NASM provides this level of power by means of a \e{context stack}.
2432 The preprocessor maintains a stack of \e{contexts}, each of which is
2433 characterised by a name. You add a new context to the stack using
2434 the \i\c{%push} directive, and remove one using \i\c{%pop}. You can
2435 define labels that are local to a particular context on the stack.
2438 \S{pushpop} \i\c{%push} and \i\c{%pop}: \I{creating
2439 contexts}\I{removing contexts}Creating and Removing Contexts
2441 The \c{%push} directive is used to create a new context and place it
2442 on the top of the context stack. \c{%push} requires one argument,
2443 which is the name of the context. For example:
2447 This pushes a new context called \c{foobar} on the stack. You can
2448 have several contexts on the stack with the same name: they can
2449 still be distinguished.
2451 The directive \c{%pop}, requiring no arguments, removes the top
2452 context from the context stack and destroys it, along with any
2453 labels associated with it.
2456 \S{ctxlocal} \i{Context-Local Labels}
2458 Just as the usage \c{%%foo} defines a label which is local to the
2459 particular macro call in which it is used, the usage \I{%$}\c{%$foo}
2460 is used to define a label which is local to the context on the top
2461 of the context stack. So the \c{REPEAT} and \c{UNTIL} example given
2462 above could be implemented by means of:
2474 and invoked by means of, for example,
2482 which would scan every fourth byte of a string in search of the byte
2485 If you need to define, or access, labels local to the context
2486 \e{below} the top one on the stack, you can use \I{%$$}\c{%$$foo}, or
2487 \c{%$$$foo} for the context below that, and so on.
2490 \S{ctxdefine} \i{Context-Local Single-Line Macros}
2492 NASM also allows you to define single-line macros which are local to
2493 a particular context, in just the same way:
2495 \c %define %$localmac 3
2497 will define the single-line macro \c{%$localmac} to be local to the
2498 top context on the stack. Of course, after a subsequent \c{%push},
2499 it can then still be accessed by the name \c{%$$localmac}.
2502 \S{ctxrepl} \i\c{%repl}: \I{renaming contexts}Renaming a Context
2504 If you need to change the name of the top context on the stack (in
2505 order, for example, to have it respond differently to \c{%ifctx}),
2506 you can execute a \c{%pop} followed by a \c{%push}; but this will
2507 have the side effect of destroying all context-local labels and
2508 macros associated with the context that was just popped.
2510 NASM provides the directive \c{%repl}, which \e{replaces} a context
2511 with a different name, without touching the associated macros and
2512 labels. So you could replace the destructive code
2517 with the non-destructive version \c{%repl newname}.
2520 \S{blockif} Example Use of the \i{Context Stack}: \i{Block IFs}
2522 This example makes use of almost all the context-stack features,
2523 including the conditional-assembly construct \i\c{%ifctx}, to
2524 implement a block IF statement as a set of macros.
2537 \c %error "expected `if' before `else'"
2549 \c %error "expected `if' or `else' before `endif'"
2553 This code is more robust than the \c{REPEAT} and \c{UNTIL} macros
2554 given in \k{ctxlocal}, because it uses conditional assembly to check
2555 that the macros are issued in the right order (for example, not
2556 calling \c{endif} before \c{if}) and issues a \c{%error} if they're
2559 In addition, the \c{endif} macro has to be able to cope with the two
2560 distinct cases of either directly following an \c{if}, or following
2561 an \c{else}. It achieves this, again, by using conditional assembly
2562 to do different things depending on whether the context on top of
2563 the stack is \c{if} or \c{else}.
2565 The \c{else} macro has to preserve the context on the stack, in
2566 order to have the \c{%$ifnot} referred to by the \c{if} macro be the
2567 same as the one defined by the \c{endif} macro, but has to change
2568 the context's name so that \c{endif} will know there was an
2569 intervening \c{else}. It does this by the use of \c{%repl}.
2571 A sample usage of these macros might look like:
2588 The block-\c{IF} macros handle nesting quite happily, by means of
2589 pushing another context, describing the inner \c{if}, on top of the
2590 one describing the outer \c{if}; thus \c{else} and \c{endif} always
2591 refer to the last unmatched \c{if} or \c{else}.
2594 \H{stdmac} \i{Standard Macros}
2596 NASM defines a set of standard macros, which are already defined
2597 when it starts to process any source file. If you really need a
2598 program to be assembled with no pre-defined macros, you can use the
2599 \i\c{%clear} directive to empty the preprocessor of everything.
2601 Most \i{user-level assembler directives} (see \k{directive}) are
2602 implemented as macros which invoke primitive directives; these are
2603 described in \k{directive}. The rest of the standard macro set is
2607 \S{stdmacver} \i\c{__NASM_MAJOR__} and \i\c{__NASM_MINOR__}: \i{NASM
2610 The single-line macros \c{__NASM_MAJOR__} and \c{__NASM_MINOR__}
2611 expand to the major and minor parts of the \i{version number of
2612 NASM} being used. So, under NASM 0.96 for example,
2613 \c{__NASM_MAJOR__} would be defined to be 0 and \c{__NASM_MINOR__}
2614 would be defined as 96.
2617 \S{fileline} \i\c{__FILE__} and \i\c{__LINE__}: File Name and Line Number
2619 Like the C preprocessor, NASM allows the user to find out the file
2620 name and line number containing the current instruction. The macro
2621 \c{__FILE__} expands to a string constant giving the name of the
2622 current input file (which may change through the course of assembly
2623 if \c{%include} directives are used), and \c{__LINE__} expands to a
2624 numeric constant giving the current line number in the input file.
2626 These macros could be used, for example, to communicate debugging
2627 information to a macro, since invoking \c{__LINE__} inside a macro
2628 definition (either single-line or multi-line) will return the line
2629 number of the macro \e{call}, rather than \e{definition}. So to
2630 determine where in a piece of code a crash is occurring, for
2631 example, one could write a routine \c{stillhere}, which is passed a
2632 line number in \c{EAX} and outputs something like `line 155: still
2633 here'. You could then write a macro
2635 \c %macro notdeadyet 0
2642 and then pepper your code with calls to \c{notdeadyet} until you
2643 find the crash point.
2646 \S{struc} \i\c{STRUC} and \i\c{ENDSTRUC}: \i{Declaring Structure} Data Types
2648 The core of NASM contains no intrinsic means of defining data
2649 structures; instead, the preprocessor is sufficiently powerful that
2650 data structures can be implemented as a set of macros. The macros
2651 \c{STRUC} and \c{ENDSTRUC} are used to define a structure data type.
2653 \c{STRUC} takes one parameter, which is the name of the data type.
2654 This name is defined as a symbol with the value zero, and also has
2655 the suffix \c{_size} appended to it and is then defined as an
2656 \c{EQU} giving the size of the structure. Once \c{STRUC} has been
2657 issued, you are defining the structure, and should define fields
2658 using the \c{RESB} family of pseudo-instructions, and then invoke
2659 \c{ENDSTRUC} to finish the definition.
2661 For example, to define a structure called \c{mytype} containing a
2662 longword, a word, a byte and a string of bytes, you might code
2671 The above code defines six symbols: \c{mt_long} as 0 (the offset
2672 from the beginning of a \c{mytype} structure to the longword field),
2673 \c{mt_word} as 4, \c{mt_byte} as 6, \c{mt_str} as 7, \c{mytype_size}
2674 as 39, and \c{mytype} itself as zero.
2676 The reason why the structure type name is defined at zero is a side
2677 effect of allowing structures to work with the local label
2678 mechanism: if your structure members tend to have the same names in
2679 more than one structure, you can define the above structure like this:
2688 This defines the offsets to the structure fields as \c{mytype.long},
2689 \c{mytype.word}, \c{mytype.byte} and \c{mytype.str}.
2691 NASM, since it has no \e{intrinsic} structure support, does not
2692 support any form of period notation to refer to the elements of a
2693 structure once you have one (except the above local-label notation),
2694 so code such as \c{mov ax,[mystruc.mt_word]} is not valid.
2695 \c{mt_word} is a constant just like any other constant, so the
2696 correct syntax is \c{mov ax,[mystruc+mt_word]} or \c{mov
2697 ax,[mystruc+mytype.word]}.
2700 \S{istruc} \i\c{ISTRUC}, \i\c{AT} and \i\c{IEND}: Declaring
2701 \i{Instances of Structures}
2703 Having defined a structure type, the next thing you typically want
2704 to do is to declare instances of that structure in your data
2705 segment. NASM provides an easy way to do this in the \c{ISTRUC}
2706 mechanism. To declare a structure of type \c{mytype} in a program,
2707 you code something like this:
2709 \c mystruc: istruc mytype
2710 \c at mt_long, dd 123456
2711 \c at mt_word, dw 1024
2712 \c at mt_byte, db 'x'
2713 \c at mt_str, db 'hello, world', 13, 10, 0
2716 The function of the \c{AT} macro is to make use of the \c{TIMES}
2717 prefix to advance the assembly position to the correct point for the
2718 specified structure field, and then to declare the specified data.
2719 Therefore the structure fields must be declared in the same order as
2720 they were specified in the structure definition.
2722 If the data to go in a structure field requires more than one source
2723 line to specify, the remaining source lines can easily come after
2724 the \c{AT} line. For example:
2726 \c at mt_str, db 123,134,145,156,167,178,189
2729 Depending on personal taste, you can also omit the code part of the
2730 \c{AT} line completely, and start the structure field on the next
2734 \c db 'hello, world'
2738 \S{align} \i\c{ALIGN} and \i\c{ALIGNB}: Data Alignment
2740 The \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB} macros provides a convenient way to
2741 align code or data on a word, longword, paragraph or other boundary.
2742 (Some assemblers call this directive \i\c{EVEN}.) The syntax of the
2743 \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB} macros is
2745 \c align 4 ; align on 4-byte boundary
2746 \c align 16 ; align on 16-byte boundary
2747 \c align 8,db 0 ; pad with 0s rather than NOPs
2748 \c align 4,resb 1 ; align to 4 in the BSS
2749 \c alignb 4 ; equivalent to previous line
2751 Both macros require their first argument to be a power of two; they
2752 both compute the number of additional bytes required to bring the
2753 length of the current section up to a multiple of that power of two,
2754 and then apply the \c{TIMES} prefix to their second argument to
2755 perform the alignment.
2757 If the second argument is not specified, the default for \c{ALIGN}
2758 is \c{NOP}, and the default for \c{ALIGNB} is \c{RESB 1}. So if the
2759 second argument is specified, the two macros are equivalent.
2760 Normally, you can just use \c{ALIGN} in code and data sections and
2761 \c{ALIGNB} in BSS sections, and never need the second argument
2762 except for special purposes.
2764 \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB}, being simple macros, perform no error
2765 checking: they cannot warn you if their first argument fails to be a
2766 power of two, or if their second argument generates more than one
2767 byte of code. In each of these cases they will silently do the wrong
2770 \c{ALIGNB} (or \c{ALIGN} with a second argument of \c{RESB 1}) can
2771 be used within structure definitions:
2782 This will ensure that the structure members are sensibly aligned
2783 relative to the base of the structure.
2785 A final caveat: \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB} work relative to the
2786 beginning of the \e{section}, not the beginning of the address space
2787 in the final executable. Aligning to a 16-byte boundary when the
2788 section you're in is only guaranteed to be aligned to a 4-byte
2789 boundary, for example, is a waste of effort. Again, NASM does not
2790 check that the section's alignment characteristics are sensible for
2791 the use of \c{ALIGN} or \c{ALIGNB}.
2794 \H{tasmcompat} \i{TASM Compatible Preprocessor Directives}
2796 The following preprocessor directives may only be used when TASM
2797 compatibility is turned on using the \c{-t} command line switch
2798 (This switch is described in \k{opt-t}.)
2800 \b\c{%arg} (see \k{arg})
2802 \b\c{%stacksize} (see \k{stacksize})
2804 \b\c{%local} (see \k{local})
2807 \S{arg} \i\c{%arg} Directive
2809 The \c{%arg} directive is used to simplify the handling of
2810 parameters passed on the stack. Stack based parameter passing
2811 is used by many high level languages, including C, C++ and Pascal.
2813 While NASM comes with macros which attempt to duplicate this
2814 functionality (see \k{16cmacro}), the syntax is not particularly
2815 convenient to use and is not TASM compatible. Here is an example
2816 which shows the use of \c{%arg} without any external macros:
2819 \c %push mycontext ; save the current context
2820 \c %stacksize large ; tell NASM to use bp
2821 \c %arg i:word, j_ptr:word
2826 \c %pop ; restore original context
2828 This is similar to the procedure defined in \k{16cmacro} and adds
2829 the value in i to the value pointed to by j_ptr and returns the
2830 sum in the ax register. See \k{pushpop} for an explanation of
2831 \c{push} and \c{pop} and the use of context stacks.
2834 \S{stacksize} \i\c{%stacksize} Directive
2836 The \c{%stacksize} directive is used in conjunction with the
2837 \c{%arg} (see \k{arg}) and the \c{%local} (see \k{local}) directives.
2838 It tells NASM the default size to use for subsequent \c{%arg} and
2839 \c{%local} directives. The \c{%stacksize} directive takes one
2840 required argument which is one of \c{flat}, \c{large} or \c{small}.
2844 This form causes NASM to use stack-based parameter addressing
2845 relative to \c{ebp} and it assumes that a near form of call was used
2846 to get to this label (i.e. that \c{eip} is on the stack).
2850 This form uses \c{bp} to do stack-based parameter addressing and
2851 assumes that a far form of call was used to get to this address
2852 (i.e. that \c{ip} and \c{cs} are on the stack).
2856 This form also uses \c{bp} to address stack parameters, but it is
2857 different from \c{large} because it also assumes that the old value
2858 of bp is pushed onto the stack (i.e. it expects an \c{ENTER}
2859 instruction). In other words, it expects that \c{bp}, \c{ip} and
2860 \c{cs} are on the top of the stack, underneath any local space which
2861 may have been allocated by \c{ENTER}. This form is probably most
2862 useful when used in combination with the \c{%local} directive
2866 \S{local} \i\c{%local} Directive
2868 The \c{%local} directive is used to simplify the use of local
2869 temporary stack variables allocated in a stack frame. Automatic
2870 local variables in C are an example of this kind of variable. The
2871 \c{%local} directive is most useful when used with the \c{%stacksize}
2872 (see \k{stacksize} and is also compatible with the \c{%arg} directive
2873 (see \k{arg}). It allows simplified reference to variables on the
2874 stack which have been allocated typically by using the \c{ENTER}
2875 instruction (see \k{insENTER} for a description of that instruction).
2876 An example of its use is the following:
2879 \c %push mycontext ; save the current context
2880 \c %stacksize small ; tell NASM to use bp
2881 \c %assign %$localsize 0 ; see text for explanation
2882 \c %local old_ax:word, old_dx:word
2883 \c enter %$localsize,0 ; see text for explanation
2884 \c mov [old_ax],ax ; swap ax & bx
2885 \c mov [old_dx],dx ; and swap dx & cx
2890 \c leave ; restore old bp
2892 \c %pop ; restore original context
2894 The \c{%$localsize} variable is used internally by the
2895 \c{%local} directive and \e{must} be defined within the
2896 current context before the \c{%local} directive may be used.
2897 Failure to do so will result in one expression syntax error for
2898 each \c{%local} variable declared. It then may be used in
2899 the construction of an appropriately sized ENTER instruction
2900 as shown in the example.
2903 \C{directive} \i{Assembler Directives}
2905 NASM, though it attempts to avoid the bureaucracy of assemblers like
2906 MASM and TASM, is nevertheless forced to support a \e{few}
2907 directives. These are described in this chapter.
2909 NASM's directives come in two types: \i{user-level
2910 directives}\e{user-level} directives and \i{primitive
2911 directives}\e{primitive} directives. Typically, each directive has a
2912 user-level form and a primitive form. In almost all cases, we
2913 recommend that users use the user-level forms of the directives,
2914 which are implemented as macros which call the primitive forms.
2916 Primitive directives are enclosed in square brackets; user-level
2919 In addition to the universal directives described in this chapter,
2920 each object file format can optionally supply extra directives in
2921 order to control particular features of that file format. These
2922 \i{format-specific directives}\e{format-specific} directives are
2923 documented along with the formats that implement them, in \k{outfmt}.
2926 \H{bits} \i\c{BITS}: Specifying Target \i{Processor Mode}
2928 The \c{BITS} directive specifies whether NASM should generate code
2929 \I{16-bit mode, versus 32-bit mode}designed to run on a processor
2930 operating in 16-bit mode, or code designed to run on a processor
2931 operating in 32-bit mode. The syntax is \c{BITS 16} or \c{BITS 32}.
2933 In most cases, you should not need to use \c{BITS} explicitly. The
2934 \c{aout}, \c{coff}, \c{elf} and \c{win32} object formats, which are
2935 designed for use in 32-bit operating systems, all cause NASM to
2936 select 32-bit mode by default. The \c{obj} object format allows you
2937 to specify each segment you define as either \c{USE16} or \c{USE32},
2938 and NASM will set its operating mode accordingly, so the use of the
2939 \c{BITS} directive is once again unnecessary.
2941 The most likely reason for using the \c{BITS} directive is to write
2942 32-bit code in a flat binary file; this is because the \c{bin}
2943 output format defaults to 16-bit mode in anticipation of it being
2944 used most frequently to write DOS \c{.COM} programs, DOS \c{.SYS}
2945 device drivers and boot loader software.
2947 You do \e{not} need to specify \c{BITS 32} merely in order to use
2948 32-bit instructions in a 16-bit DOS program; if you do, the
2949 assembler will generate incorrect code because it will be writing
2950 code targeted at a 32-bit platform, to be run on a 16-bit one.
2952 When NASM is in \c{BITS 16} state, instructions which use 32-bit
2953 data are prefixed with an 0x66 byte, and those referring to 32-bit
2954 addresses have an 0x67 prefix. In \c{BITS 32} state, the reverse is
2955 true: 32-bit instructions require no prefixes, whereas instructions
2956 using 16-bit data need an 0x66 and those working in 16-bit addresses
2959 The \c{BITS} directive has an exactly equivalent primitive form,
2960 \c{[BITS 16]} and \c{[BITS 32]}. The user-level form is a macro
2961 which has no function other than to call the primitive form.
2964 \S{USE16 & USE32} \i\c{USE16} & \i\c{USE32}: Aliases for BITS
2966 The `\c{USE16}' and `\c{USE32}' directives can be used in place of
2967 `\c{BIT 16}' and `\c{BITS 32}', for compatibility with other assemblers.
2970 \H{section} \i\c{SECTION} or \i\c{SEGMENT}: Changing and \i{Defining
2973 \I{changing sections}\I{switching between sections}The \c{SECTION}
2974 directive (\c{SEGMENT} is an exactly equivalent synonym) changes
2975 which section of the output file the code you write will be
2976 assembled into. In some object file formats, the number and names of
2977 sections are fixed; in others, the user may make up as many as they
2978 wish. Hence \c{SECTION} may sometimes give an error message, or may
2979 define a new section, if you try to switch to a section that does
2982 The Unix object formats, and the \c{bin} object format, all support
2983 the \i{standardised section names} \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss}
2984 for the code, data and uninitialised-data sections. The \c{obj}
2985 format, by contrast, does not recognise these section names as being
2986 special, and indeed will strip off the leading period of any section
2990 \S{sectmac} The \i\c{__SECT__} Macro
2992 The \c{SECTION} directive is unusual in that its user-level form
2993 functions differently from its primitive form. The primitive form,
2994 \c{[SECTION xyz]}, simply switches the current target section to the
2995 one given. The user-level form, \c{SECTION xyz}, however, first
2996 defines the single-line macro \c{__SECT__} to be the primitive
2997 \c{[SECTION]} directive which it is about to issue, and then issues
2998 it. So the user-level directive
3002 expands to the two lines
3004 \c %define __SECT__ [SECTION .text]
3007 Users may find it useful to make use of this in their own macros.
3008 For example, the \c{writefile} macro defined in \k{mlmacgre} can be
3009 usefully rewritten in the following more sophisticated form:
3011 \c %macro writefile 2+
3017 \c mov cx,%%endstr-%%str
3023 This form of the macro, once passed a string to output, first
3024 switches temporarily to the data section of the file, using the
3025 primitive form of the \c{SECTION} directive so as not to modify
3026 \c{__SECT__}. It then declares its string in the data section, and
3027 then invokes \c{__SECT__} to switch back to \e{whichever} section
3028 the user was previously working in. It thus avoids the need, in the
3029 previous version of the macro, to include a \c{JMP} instruction to
3030 jump over the data, and also does not fail if, in a complicated
3031 \c{OBJ} format module, the user could potentially be assembling the
3032 code in any of several separate code sections.
3035 \H{absolute} \i\c{ABSOLUTE}: Defining Absolute Labels
3037 The \c{ABSOLUTE} directive can be thought of as an alternative form
3038 of \c{SECTION}: it causes the subsequent code to be directed at no
3039 physical section, but at the hypothetical section starting at the
3040 given absolute address. The only instructions you can use in this
3041 mode are the \c{RESB} family.
3043 \c{ABSOLUTE} is used as follows:
3050 This example describes a section of the PC BIOS data area, at
3051 segment address 0x40: the above code defines \c{kbuf_chr} to be
3052 0x1A, \c{kbuf_free} to be 0x1C, and \c{kbuf} to be 0x1E.
3054 The user-level form of \c{ABSOLUTE}, like that of \c{SECTION},
3055 redefines the \i\c{__SECT__} macro when it is invoked.
3057 \i\c{STRUC} and \i\c{ENDSTRUC} are defined as macros which use
3058 \c{ABSOLUTE} (and also \c{__SECT__}).
3060 \c{ABSOLUTE} doesn't have to take an absolute constant as an
3061 argument: it can take an expression (actually, a \i{critical
3062 expression}: see \k{crit}) and it can be a value in a segment. For
3063 example, a TSR can re-use its setup code as run-time BSS like this:
3065 \c org 100h ; it's a .COM program
3066 \c jmp setup ; setup code comes last
3067 \c ; the resident part of the TSR goes here
3068 \c setup: ; now write the code that installs the TSR here
3070 \c runtimevar1 resw 1
3071 \c runtimevar2 resd 20
3074 This defines some variables `on top of' the setup code, so that
3075 after the setup has finished running, the space it took up can be
3076 re-used as data storage for the running TSR. The symbol `tsr_end'
3077 can be used to calculate the total size of the part of the TSR that
3078 needs to be made resident.
3081 \H{extern} \i\c{EXTERN}: \i{Importing Symbols} from Other Modules
3083 \c{EXTERN} is similar to the MASM directive \c{EXTRN} and the C
3084 keyword \c{extern}: it is used to declare a symbol which is not
3085 defined anywhere in the module being assembled, but is assumed to be
3086 defined in some other module and needs to be referred to by this
3087 one. Not every object-file format can support external variables:
3088 the \c{bin} format cannot.
3090 The \c{EXTERN} directive takes as many arguments as you like. Each
3091 argument is the name of a symbol:
3094 \c extern _sscanf,_fscanf
3096 Some object-file formats provide extra features to the \c{EXTERN}
3097 directive. In all cases, the extra features are used by suffixing a
3098 colon to the symbol name followed by object-format specific text.
3099 For example, the \c{obj} format allows you to declare that the
3100 default segment base of an external should be the group \c{dgroup}
3101 by means of the directive
3103 \c extern _variable:wrt dgroup
3105 The primitive form of \c{EXTERN} differs from the user-level form
3106 only in that it can take only one argument at a time: the support
3107 for multiple arguments is implemented at the preprocessor level.
3109 You can declare the same variable as \c{EXTERN} more than once: NASM
3110 will quietly ignore the second and later redeclarations. You can't
3111 declare a variable as \c{EXTERN} as well as something else, though.
3114 \H{global} \i\c{GLOBAL}: \i{Exporting Symbols} to Other Modules
3116 \c{GLOBAL} is the other end of \c{EXTERN}: if one module declares a
3117 symbol as \c{EXTERN} and refers to it, then in order to prevent
3118 linker errors, some other module must actually \e{define} the
3119 symbol and declare it as \c{GLOBAL}. Some assemblers use the name
3120 \i\c{PUBLIC} for this purpose.
3122 The \c{GLOBAL} directive applying to a symbol must appear \e{before}
3123 the definition of the symbol.
3125 \c{GLOBAL} uses the same syntax as \c{EXTERN}, except that it must
3126 refer to symbols which \e{are} defined in the same module as the
3127 \c{GLOBAL} directive. For example:
3130 \c _main: ; some code
3132 \c{GLOBAL}, like \c{EXTERN}, allows object formats to define private
3133 extensions by means of a colon. The \c{elf} object format, for
3134 example, lets you specify whether global data items are functions or
3137 \c global hashlookup:function, hashtable:data
3139 Like \c{EXTERN}, the primitive form of \c{GLOBAL} differs from the
3140 user-level form only in that it can take only one argument at a
3144 \H{common} \i\c{COMMON}: Defining Common Data Areas
3146 The \c{COMMON} directive is used to declare \i\e{common variables}.
3147 A common variable is much like a global variable declared in the
3148 uninitialised data section, so that
3152 is similar in function to
3158 The difference is that if more than one module defines the same
3159 common variable, then at link time those variables will be
3160 \e{merged}, and references to \c{intvar} in all modules will point
3161 at the same piece of memory.
3163 Like \c{GLOBAL} and \c{EXTERN}, \c{COMMON} supports object-format
3164 specific extensions. For example, the \c{obj} format allows common
3165 variables to be NEAR or FAR, and the \c{elf} format allows you to
3166 specify the alignment requirements of a common variable:
3168 \c common commvar 4:near ; works in OBJ
3169 \c common intarray 100:4 ; works in ELF: 4 byte aligned
3171 Once again, like \c{EXTERN} and \c{GLOBAL}, the primitive form of
3172 \c{COMMON} differs from the user-level form only in that it can take
3173 only one argument at a time.
3176 \H{CPU} \i\c{CPU XXX}: Defining CPU Dependencies
3178 The \i\c{CPU} directive restricts assembly to those instructions which
3179 are available on the specified CPU.
3183 \b\c{CPU 8086} Assemble only 8086 instruction set
3185 \b\c{CPU 186} Assemble instructions up to the 80186 instruction set
3187 \b\c{CPU 286} Assemble instructions up to the 286 instruction set
3189 \b\c{CPU 386} Assemble instructions up to the 386 instruction set
3191 \b\c{CPU 486} 486 instruction set
3193 \b\c{CPU 586} Pentium instruction set
3195 \b\c{CPU PENTIUM} Same as 586
3197 \b\c{CPU 686} Pentium Pro instruction set
3199 \b\c{CPU PPRO} Same as 686
3201 \b\c{CPU P2} Pentium II instruction set
3203 \b\c{CPU P3} Pentium III and Katmai instruction sets
3205 \b\c{CPU KATMAI} Same as P3
3207 \b\c{CPU P4} Pentium 4 (Willamette) instruction set
3209 \b\c{CPU WILLAMETTE} Same as P4
3211 All options are case insensitive. All instructions will
3212 be selected only if they apply to the selected cpu or lower.
3215 \C{outfmt} \i{Output Formats}
3217 NASM is a portable assembler, designed to be able to compile on any
3218 ANSI C-supporting platform and produce output to run on a variety of
3219 Intel x86 operating systems. For this reason, it has a large number
3220 of available output formats, selected using the \i\c{-f} option on
3221 the NASM \i{command line}. Each of these formats, along with its
3222 extensions to the base NASM syntax, is detailed in this chapter.
3224 As stated in \k{opt-o}, NASM chooses a \i{default name} for your
3225 output file based on the input file name and the chosen output
3226 format. This will be generated by removing the \i{extension}
3227 (\c{.asm}, \c{.s}, or whatever you like to use) from the input file
3228 name, and substituting an extension defined by the output format.
3229 The extensions are given with each format below.
3232 \H{binfmt} \i\c{bin}: \i{Flat-Form Binary}\I{pure binary} Output
3234 The \c{bin} format does not produce object files: it generates
3235 nothing in the output file except the code you wrote. Such `pure
3236 binary' files are used by \i{MS-DOS}: \i\c{.COM} executables and
3237 \i\c{.SYS} device drivers are pure binary files. Pure binary output
3238 is also useful for \i{operating-system} and \i{boot loader}
3241 \c{bin} supports the three \i{standardised section names} \i\c{.text},
3242 \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss} only. The file NASM outputs will contain the
3243 contents of the \c{.text} section first, followed by the contents of
3244 the \c{.data} section, aligned on a four-byte boundary. The \c{.bss}
3245 section is not stored in the output file at all, but is assumed to
3246 appear directly after the end of the \c{.data} section, again
3247 aligned on a four-byte boundary.
3249 If you specify no explicit \c{SECTION} directive, the code you write
3250 will be directed by default into the \c{.text} section.
3252 Using the \c{bin} format puts NASM by default into 16-bit mode (see
3253 \k{bits}). In order to use \c{bin} to write 32-bit code such as an
3254 OS kernel, you need to explicitly issue the \I\c{BITS}\c{BITS 32}
3257 \c{bin} has no default output file name extension: instead, it
3258 leaves your file name as it is once the original extension has been
3259 removed. Thus, the default is for NASM to assemble \c{binprog.asm}
3260 into a binary file called \c{binprog}.
3263 \S{org} \i\c{ORG}: Binary File \i{Program Origin}
3265 The \c{bin} format provides an additional directive to the list
3266 given in \k{directive}: \c{ORG}. The function of the \c{ORG}
3267 directive is to specify the origin address which NASM will assume
3268 the program begins at when it is loaded into memory.
3270 For example, the following code will generate the longword
3277 Unlike the \c{ORG} directive provided by MASM-compatible assemblers,
3278 which allows you to jump around in the object file and overwrite
3279 code you have already generated, NASM's \c{ORG} does exactly what
3280 the directive says: \e{origin}. Its sole function is to specify one
3281 offset which is added to all internal address references within the
3282 file; it does not permit any of the trickery that MASM's version
3283 does. See \k{proborg} for further comments.
3286 \S{binseg} \c{bin} Extensions to the \c{SECTION}
3287 Directive\I{SECTION, bin extensions to}
3289 The \c{bin} output format extends the \c{SECTION} (or \c{SEGMENT})
3290 directive to allow you to specify the alignment requirements of
3291 segments. This is done by appending the \i\c{ALIGN} qualifier to the
3292 end of the section-definition line. For example,
3294 \c section .data align=16
3296 switches to the section \c{.data} and also specifies that it must be
3297 aligned on a 16-byte boundary.
3299 The parameter to \c{ALIGN} specifies how many low bits of the
3300 section start address must be forced to zero. The alignment value
3301 given may be any power of two.\I{section alignment, in
3302 bin}\I{segment alignment, in bin}\I{alignment, in bin sections}
3305 \H{objfmt} \i\c{obj}: \i{Microsoft OMF}\I{OMF} Object Files
3307 The \c{obj} file format (NASM calls it \c{obj} rather than \c{omf}
3308 for historical reasons) is the one produced by \i{MASM} and
3309 \i{TASM}, which is typically fed to 16-bit DOS linkers to produce
3310 \i\c{.EXE} files. It is also the format used by \i{OS/2}.
3312 \c{obj} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.obj}.
3314 \c{obj} is not exclusively a 16-bit format, though: NASM has full
3315 support for the 32-bit extensions to the format. In particular,
3316 32-bit \c{obj} format files are used by \i{Borland's Win32
3317 compilers}, instead of using Microsoft's newer \i\c{win32} object
3320 The \c{obj} format does not define any special segment names: you
3321 can call your segments anything you like. Typical names for segments
3322 in \c{obj} format files are \c{CODE}, \c{DATA} and \c{BSS}.
3324 If your source file contains code before specifying an explicit
3325 \c{SEGMENT} directive, then NASM will invent its own segment called
3326 \i\c{__NASMDEFSEG} for you.
3328 When you define a segment in an \c{obj} file, NASM defines the
3329 segment name as a symbol as well, so that you can access the segment
3330 address of the segment. So, for example:
3335 \c function: mov ax,data ; get segment address of data
3336 \c mov ds,ax ; and move it into DS
3337 \c inc word [dvar] ; now this reference will work
3340 The \c{obj} format also enables the use of the \i\c{SEG} and
3341 \i\c{WRT} operators, so that you can write code which does things
3345 \c mov ax,seg foo ; get preferred segment of foo
3347 \c mov ax,data ; a different segment
3349 \c mov ax,[ds:foo] ; this accesses `foo'
3350 \c mov [es:foo wrt data],bx ; so does this
3353 \S{objseg} \c{obj} Extensions to the \c{SEGMENT}
3354 Directive\I{SEGMENT, obj extensions to}
3356 The \c{obj} output format extends the \c{SEGMENT} (or \c{SECTION})
3357 directive to allow you to specify various properties of the segment
3358 you are defining. This is done by appending extra qualifiers to the
3359 end of the segment-definition line. For example,
3361 \c segment code private align=16
3363 defines the segment \c{code}, but also declares it to be a private
3364 segment, and requires that the portion of it described in this code
3365 module must be aligned on a 16-byte boundary.
3367 The available qualifiers are:
3369 \b \i\c{PRIVATE}, \i\c{PUBLIC}, \i\c{COMMON} and \i\c{STACK} specify
3370 the combination characteristics of the segment. \c{PRIVATE} segments
3371 do not get combined with any others by the linker; \c{PUBLIC} and
3372 \c{STACK} segments get concatenated together at link time; and
3373 \c{COMMON} segments all get overlaid on top of each other rather
3374 than stuck end-to-end.
3376 \b \i\c{ALIGN} is used, as shown above, to specify how many low bits
3377 of the segment start address must be forced to zero. The alignment
3378 value given may be any power of two from 1 to 4096; in reality, the
3379 only values supported are 1, 2, 4, 16, 256 and 4096, so if 8 is
3380 specified it will be rounded up to 16, and 32, 64 and 128 will all
3381 be rounded up to 256, and so on. Note that alignment to 4096-byte
3382 boundaries is a \i{PharLap} extension to the format and may not be
3383 supported by all linkers.\I{section alignment, in OBJ}\I{segment
3384 alignment, in OBJ}\I{alignment, in OBJ sections}
3386 \b \i\c{CLASS} can be used to specify the segment class; this feature
3387 indicates to the linker that segments of the same class should be
3388 placed near each other in the output file. The class name can be any
3389 word, e.g. \c{CLASS=CODE}.
3391 \b \i\c{OVERLAY}, like \c{CLASS}, is specified with an arbitrary word
3392 as an argument, and provides overlay information to an
3393 overlay-capable linker.
3395 \b Segments can be declared as \i\c{USE16} or \i\c{USE32}, which has
3396 the effect of recording the choice in the object file and also
3397 ensuring that NASM's default assembly mode when assembling in that
3398 segment is 16-bit or 32-bit respectively.
3400 \b When writing \i{OS/2} object files, you should declare 32-bit
3401 segments as \i\c{FLAT}, which causes the default segment base for
3402 anything in the segment to be the special group \c{FLAT}, and also
3403 defines the group if it is not already defined.
3405 \b The \c{obj} file format also allows segments to be declared as
3406 having a pre-defined absolute segment address, although no linkers
3407 are currently known to make sensible use of this feature;
3408 nevertheless, NASM allows you to declare a segment such as
3409 \c{SEGMENT SCREEN ABSOLUTE=0xB800} if you need to. The \i\c{ABSOLUTE}
3410 and \c{ALIGN} keywords are mutually exclusive.
3412 NASM's default segment attributes are \c{PUBLIC}, \c{ALIGN=1}, no
3413 class, no overlay, and \c{USE16}.
3416 \S{group} \i\c{GROUP}: Defining Groups of Segments\I{segments, groups of}
3418 The \c{obj} format also allows segments to be grouped, so that a
3419 single segment register can be used to refer to all the segments in
3420 a group. NASM therefore supplies the \c{GROUP} directive, whereby
3426 \c ; some uninitialised data
3427 \c group dgroup data bss
3429 which will define a group called \c{dgroup} to contain the segments
3430 \c{data} and \c{bss}. Like \c{SEGMENT}, \c{GROUP} causes the group
3431 name to be defined as a symbol, so that you can refer to a variable
3432 \c{var} in the \c{data} segment as \c{var wrt data} or as \c{var wrt
3433 dgroup}, depending on which segment value is currently in your
3436 If you just refer to \c{var}, however, and \c{var} is declared in a
3437 segment which is part of a group, then NASM will default to giving
3438 you the offset of \c{var} from the beginning of the \e{group}, not
3439 the \e{segment}. Therefore \c{SEG var}, also, will return the group
3440 base rather than the segment base.
3442 NASM will allow a segment to be part of more than one group, but
3443 will generate a warning if you do this. Variables declared in a
3444 segment which is part of more than one group will default to being
3445 relative to the first group that was defined to contain the segment.
3447 A group does not have to contain any segments; you can still make
3448 \c{WRT} references to a group which does not contain the variable
3449 you are referring to. OS/2, for example, defines the special group
3450 \c{FLAT} with no segments in it.
3453 \S{uppercase} \i\c{UPPERCASE}: Disabling Case Sensitivity in Output
3455 Although NASM itself is \i{case sensitive}, some OMF linkers are
3456 not; therefore it can be useful for NASM to output single-case
3457 object files. The \c{UPPERCASE} format-specific directive causes all
3458 segment, group and symbol names that are written to the object file
3459 to be forced to upper case just before being written. Within a
3460 source file, NASM is still case-sensitive; but the object file can
3461 be written entirely in upper case if desired.
3463 \c{UPPERCASE} is used alone on a line; it requires no parameters.
3466 \S{import} \i\c{IMPORT}: Importing DLL Symbols\I{DLL symbols,
3467 importing}\I{symbols, importing from DLLs}
3469 The \c{IMPORT} format-specific directive defines a symbol to be
3470 imported from a DLL, for use if you are writing a DLL's \i{import
3471 library} in NASM. You still need to declare the symbol as \c{EXTERN}
3472 as well as using the \c{IMPORT} directive.
3474 The \c{IMPORT} directive takes two required parameters, separated by
3475 white space, which are (respectively) the name of the symbol you
3476 wish to import and the name of the library you wish to import it
3479 \c import WSAStartup wsock32.dll
3481 A third optional parameter gives the name by which the symbol is
3482 known in the library you are importing it from, in case this is not
3483 the same as the name you wish the symbol to be known by to your code
3484 once you have imported it. For example:
3486 \c import asyncsel wsock32.dll WSAAsyncSelect
3489 \S{export} \i\c{EXPORT}: Exporting DLL Symbols\I{DLL symbols,
3490 exporting}\I{symbols, exporting from DLLs}
3492 The \c{EXPORT} format-specific directive defines a global symbol to
3493 be exported as a DLL symbol, for use if you are writing a DLL in
3494 NASM. You still need to declare the symbol as \c{GLOBAL} as well as
3495 using the \c{EXPORT} directive.
3497 \c{EXPORT} takes one required parameter, which is the name of the
3498 symbol you wish to export, as it was defined in your source file. An
3499 optional second parameter (separated by white space from the first)
3500 gives the \e{external} name of the symbol: the name by which you
3501 wish the symbol to be known to programs using the DLL. If this name
3502 is the same as the internal name, you may leave the second parameter
3505 Further parameters can be given to define attributes of the exported
3506 symbol. These parameters, like the second, are separated by white
3507 space. If further parameters are given, the external name must also
3508 be specified, even if it is the same as the internal name. The
3509 available attributes are:
3511 \b \c{resident} indicates that the exported name is to be kept
3512 resident by the system loader. This is an optimisation for
3513 frequently used symbols imported by name.
3515 \b \c{nodata} indicates that the exported symbol is a function which
3516 does not make use of any initialised data.
3518 \b \c{parm=NNN}, where \c{NNN} is an integer, sets the number of
3519 parameter words for the case in which the symbol is a call gate
3520 between 32-bit and 16-bit segments.
3522 \b An attribute which is just a number indicates that the symbol
3523 should be exported with an identifying number (ordinal), and gives
3529 \c export myfunc TheRealMoreFormalLookingFunctionName
3530 \c export myfunc myfunc 1234 ; export by ordinal
3531 \c export myfunc myfunc resident parm=23 nodata
3534 \S{dotdotstart} \i\c{..start}: Defining the \i{Program Entry
3537 \c{OMF} linkers require exactly one of the object files being linked to
3538 define the program entry point, where execution will begin when the
3539 program is run. If the object file that defines the entry point is
3540 assembled using NASM, you specify the entry point by declaring the
3541 special symbol \c{..start} at the point where you wish execution to
3545 \S{objextern} \c{obj} Extensions to the \c{EXTERN}
3546 Directive\I{EXTERN, obj extensions to}
3548 If you declare an external symbol with the directive
3552 then references such as \c{mov ax,foo} will give you the offset of
3553 \c{foo} from its preferred segment base (as specified in whichever
3554 module \c{foo} is actually defined in). So to access the contents of
3555 \c{foo} you will usually need to do something like
3557 \c mov ax,seg foo ; get preferred segment base
3558 \c mov es,ax ; move it into ES
3559 \c mov ax,[es:foo] ; and use offset `foo' from it
3561 This is a little unwieldy, particularly if you know that an external
3562 is going to be accessible from a given segment or group, say
3563 \c{dgroup}. So if \c{DS} already contained \c{dgroup}, you could
3566 \c mov ax,[foo wrt dgroup]
3568 However, having to type this every time you want to access \c{foo}
3569 can be a pain; so NASM allows you to declare \c{foo} in the
3572 \c extern foo:wrt dgroup
3574 This form causes NASM to pretend that the preferred segment base of
3575 \c{foo} is in fact \c{dgroup}; so the expression \c{seg foo} will
3576 now return \c{dgroup}, and the expression \c{foo} is equivalent to
3579 This \I{default-WRT mechanism}default-\c{WRT} mechanism can be used
3580 to make externals appear to be relative to any group or segment in
3581 your program. It can also be applied to common variables: see
3585 \S{objcommon} \c{obj} Extensions to the \c{COMMON}
3586 Directive\I{COMMON, obj extensions to}
3588 The \c{obj} format allows common variables to be either near\I{near
3589 common variables} or far\I{far common variables}; NASM allows you to
3590 specify which your variables should be by the use of the syntax
3592 \c common nearvar 2:near ; `nearvar' is a near common
3593 \c common farvar 10:far ; and `farvar' is far
3595 Far common variables may be greater in size than 64Kb, and so the
3596 OMF specification says that they are declared as a number of
3597 \e{elements} of a given size. So a 10-byte far common variable could
3598 be declared as ten one-byte elements, five two-byte elements, two
3599 five-byte elements or one ten-byte element.
3601 Some \c{OMF} linkers require the \I{element size, in common
3602 variables}\I{common variables, element size}element size, as well as
3603 the variable size, to match when resolving common variables declared
3604 in more than one module. Therefore NASM must allow you to specify
3605 the element size on your far common variables. This is done by the
3608 \c common c_5by2 10:far 5 ; two five-byte elements
3609 \c common c_2by5 10:far 2 ; five two-byte elements
3611 If no element size is specified, the default is 1. Also, the \c{FAR}
3612 keyword is not required when an element size is specified, since
3613 only far commons may have element sizes at all. So the above
3614 declarations could equivalently be
3616 \c common c_5by2 10:5 ; two five-byte elements
3617 \c common c_2by5 10:2 ; five two-byte elements
3619 In addition to these extensions, the \c{COMMON} directive in \c{obj}
3620 also supports default-\c{WRT} specification like \c{EXTERN} does
3621 (explained in \k{objextern}). So you can also declare things like
3623 \c common foo 10:wrt dgroup
3624 \c common bar 16:far 2:wrt data
3625 \c common baz 24:wrt data:6
3628 \H{win32fmt} \i\c{win32}: Microsoft Win32 Object Files
3630 The \c{win32} output format generates Microsoft Win32 object files,
3631 suitable for passing to Microsoft linkers such as \i{Visual C++}.
3632 Note that Borland Win32 compilers do not use this format, but use
3633 \c{obj} instead (see \k{objfmt}).
3635 \c{win32} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.obj}.
3637 Note that although Microsoft say that Win32 object files follow the
3638 \c{COFF} (Common Object File Format) standard, the object files produced
3639 by Microsoft Win32 compilers are not compatible with COFF linkers
3640 such as DJGPP's, and vice versa. This is due to a difference of
3641 opinion over the precise semantics of PC-relative relocations. To
3642 produce COFF files suitable for DJGPP, use NASM's \c{coff} output
3643 format; conversely, the \c{coff} format does not produce object
3644 files that Win32 linkers can generate correct output from.
3647 \S{win32sect} \c{win32} Extensions to the \c{SECTION}
3648 Directive\I{SECTION, win32 extensions to}
3650 Like the \c{obj} format, \c{win32} allows you to specify additional
3651 information on the \c{SECTION} directive line, to control the type
3652 and properties of sections you declare. Section types and properties
3653 are generated automatically by NASM for the \i{standard section names}
3654 \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss}, but may still be overridden by
3657 The available qualifiers are:
3659 \b \c{code}, or equivalently \c{text}, defines the section to be a
3660 code section. This marks the section as readable and executable, but
3661 not writable, and also indicates to the linker that the type of the
3664 \b \c{data} and \c{bss} define the section to be a data section,
3665 analogously to \c{code}. Data sections are marked as readable and
3666 writable, but not executable. \c{data} declares an initialised data
3667 section, whereas \c{bss} declares an uninitialised data section.
3669 \b \c{rdata} declares an initialised data section that is readable
3670 but not writable. Microsoft compilers use this section to place
3673 \b \c{info} defines the section to be an \i{informational section},
3674 which is not included in the executable file by the linker, but may
3675 (for example) pass information \e{to} the linker. For example,
3676 declaring an \c{info}-type section called \i\c{.drectve} causes the
3677 linker to interpret the contents of the section as command-line
3680 \b \c{align=}, used with a trailing number as in \c{obj}, gives the
3681 \I{section alignment, in win32}\I{alignment, in win32
3682 sections}alignment requirements of the section. The maximum you may
3683 specify is 64: the Win32 object file format contains no means to
3684 request a greater section alignment than this. If alignment is not
3685 explicitly specified, the defaults are 16-byte alignment for code
3686 sections, 8-byte alignment for rdata sections and 4-byte alignment
3687 for data (and BSS) sections.
3688 Informational sections get a default alignment of 1 byte (no
3689 alignment), though the value does not matter.
3691 The defaults assumed by NASM if you do not specify the above
3694 \c section .text code align=16
3695 \c section .data data align=4
3696 \c section .rdata rdata align=8
3697 \c section .bss bss align=4
3699 Any other section name is treated by default like \c{.text}.
3702 \H{cofffmt} \i\c{coff}: \i{Common Object File Format}
3704 The \c{coff} output type produces \c{COFF} object files suitable for
3705 linking with the \i{DJGPP} linker.
3707 \c{coff} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
3709 The \c{coff} format supports the same extensions to the \c{SECTION}
3710 directive as \c{win32} does, except that the \c{align} qualifier and
3711 the \c{info} section type are not supported.
3714 \H{elffmt} \i\c{elf}: \i{Linux ELF}\I{Executable and Linkable
3717 The \c{elf} output format generates \c{ELF32} (Executable and Linkable
3718 Format) object files, as used by Linux. \c{elf} provides a default
3719 output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
3722 \S{elfsect} \c{elf} Extensions to the \c{SECTION}
3723 Directive\I{SECTION, elf extensions to}
3725 Like the \c{obj} format, \c{elf} allows you to specify additional
3726 information on the \c{SECTION} directive line, to control the type
3727 and properties of sections you declare. Section types and properties
3728 are generated automatically by NASM for the \i{standard section
3729 names} \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}, but may still be
3730 overridden by these qualifiers.
3732 The available qualifiers are:
3734 \b \i\c{alloc} defines the section to be one which is loaded into
3735 memory when the program is run. \i\c{noalloc} defines it to be one
3736 which is not, such as an informational or comment section.
3738 \b \i\c{exec} defines the section to be one which should have execute
3739 permission when the program is run. \i\c{noexec} defines it as one
3742 \b \i\c{write} defines the section to be one which should be writable
3743 when the program is run. \i\c{nowrite} defines it as one which should
3746 \b \i\c{progbits} defines the section to be one with explicit contents
3747 stored in the object file: an ordinary code or data section, for
3748 example, \i\c{nobits} defines the section to be one with no explicit
3749 contents given, such as a BSS section.
3751 \b \c{align=}, used with a trailing number as in \c{obj}, gives the
3752 \I{section alignment, in elf}\I{alignment, in elf sections}alignment
3753 requirements of the section.
3755 The defaults assumed by NASM if you do not specify the above
3758 \c section .text progbits alloc exec nowrite align=16
3759 \c section .data progbits alloc noexec write align=4
3760 \c section .bss nobits alloc noexec write align=4
3761 \c section other progbits alloc noexec nowrite align=1
3763 (Any section name other than \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss} is
3764 treated by default like \c{other} in the above code.)
3767 \S{elfwrt} \i{Position-Independent Code}\I{PIC}: \c{elf} Special
3768 Symbols and \i\c{WRT}
3770 The \c{ELF} specification contains enough features to allow
3771 position-independent code (PIC) to be written, which makes \i{ELF
3772 shared libraries} very flexible. However, it also means NASM has to
3773 be able to generate a variety of strange relocation types in ELF
3774 object files, if it is to be an assembler which can write PIC.
3776 Since \c{ELF} does not support segment-base references, the \c{WRT}
3777 operator is not used for its normal purpose; therefore NASM's
3778 \c{elf} output format makes use of \c{WRT} for a different purpose,
3779 namely the PIC-specific \I{relocations, PIC-specific}relocation
3782 \c{elf} defines five special symbols which you can use as the
3783 right-hand side of the \c{WRT} operator to obtain PIC relocation
3784 types. They are \i\c{..gotpc}, \i\c{..gotoff}, \i\c{..got},
3785 \i\c{..plt} and \i\c{..sym}. Their functions are summarised here:
3787 \b Referring to the symbol marking the global offset table base
3788 using \c{wrt ..gotpc} will end up giving the distance from the
3789 beginning of the current section to the global offset table.
3790 (\i\c{_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_} is the standard symbol name used to
3791 refer to the \i{GOT}.) So you would then need to add \i\c{$$} to the
3792 result to get the real address of the GOT.
3794 \b Referring to a location in one of your own sections using \c{wrt
3795 ..gotoff} will give the distance from the beginning of the GOT to
3796 the specified location, so that adding on the address of the GOT
3797 would give the real address of the location you wanted.
3799 \b Referring to an external or global symbol using \c{wrt ..got}
3800 causes the linker to build an entry \e{in} the GOT containing the
3801 address of the symbol, and the reference gives the distance from the
3802 beginning of the GOT to the entry; so you can add on the address of
3803 the GOT, load from the resulting address, and end up with the
3804 address of the symbol.
3806 \b Referring to a procedure name using \c{wrt ..plt} causes the
3807 linker to build a \i{procedure linkage table} entry for the symbol,
3808 and the reference gives the address of the \i{PLT} entry. You can
3809 only use this in contexts which would generate a PC-relative
3810 relocation normally (i.e. as the destination for \c{CALL} or
3811 \c{JMP}), since ELF contains no relocation type to refer to PLT
3814 \b Referring to a symbol name using \c{wrt ..sym} causes NASM to
3815 write an ordinary relocation, but instead of making the relocation
3816 relative to the start of the section and then adding on the offset
3817 to the symbol, it will write a relocation record aimed directly at
3818 the symbol in question. The distinction is a necessary one due to a
3819 peculiarity of the dynamic linker.
3821 A fuller explanation of how to use these relocation types to write
3822 shared libraries entirely in NASM is given in \k{picdll}.
3825 \S{elfglob} \c{elf} Extensions to the \c{GLOBAL} Directive\I{GLOBAL,
3826 elf extensions to}\I{GLOBAL, aoutb extensions to}
3828 \c{ELF} object files can contain more information about a global symbol
3829 than just its address: they can contain the \I{symbol sizes,
3830 specifying}\I{size, of symbols}size of the symbol and its \I{symbol
3831 types, specifying}\I{type, of symbols}type as well. These are not
3832 merely debugger conveniences, but are actually necessary when the
3833 program being written is a \i{shared library}. NASM therefore
3834 supports some extensions to the \c{GLOBAL} directive, allowing you
3835 to specify these features.
3837 You can specify whether a global variable is a function or a data
3838 object by suffixing the name with a colon and the word
3839 \i\c{function} or \i\c{data}. (\i\c{object} is a synonym for
3840 \c{data}.) For example:
3842 \c global hashlookup:function, hashtable:data
3844 exports the global symbol \c{hashlookup} as a function and
3845 \c{hashtable} as a data object.
3847 You can also specify the size of the data associated with the
3848 symbol, as a numeric expression (which may involve labels, and even
3849 forward references) after the type specifier. Like this:
3851 \c global hashtable:data (hashtable.end - hashtable)
3853 \c db this,that,theother ; some data here
3856 This makes NASM automatically calculate the length of the table and
3857 place that information into the \c{ELF} symbol table.
3859 Declaring the type and size of global symbols is necessary when
3860 writing shared library code. For more information, see
3864 \S{elfcomm} \c{elf} Extensions to the \c{COMMON} Directive\I{COMMON,
3867 \c{ELF} also allows you to specify alignment requirements \I{common
3868 variables, alignment in elf}\I{alignment, of elf common variables}on
3869 common variables. This is done by putting a number (which must be a
3870 power of two) after the name and size of the common variable,
3871 separated (as usual) by a colon. For example, an array of
3872 doublewords would benefit from 4-byte alignment:
3874 \c common dwordarray 128:4
3876 This declares the total size of the array to be 128 bytes, and
3877 requires that it be aligned on a 4-byte boundary.
3880 \H{aoutfmt} \i\c{aout}: Linux \I{a.out, Linux version}\c{a.out} Object Files
3882 The \c{aout} format generates \c{a.out} object files, in the form
3883 used by early Linux systems. (These differ from other \c{a.out}
3884 object files in that the magic number in the first four bytes of the
3885 file is different. Also, some implementations of \c{a.out}, for
3886 example NetBSD's, support position-independent code, which Linux's
3887 implementation doesn't.)
3889 \c{a.out} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
3891 \c{a.out} is a very simple object format. It supports no special
3892 directives, no special symbols, no use of \c{SEG} or \c{WRT}, and no
3893 extensions to any standard directives. It supports only the three
3894 \i{standard section names} \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}.
3897 \H{aoutfmt} \i\c{aoutb}: \i{NetBSD}/\i{FreeBSD}/\i{OpenBSD}
3898 \I{a.out, BSD version}\c{a.out} Object Files
3900 The \c{aoutb} format generates \c{a.out} object files, in the form
3901 used by the various free \c{BSD Unix} clones, \c{NetBSD}, \c{FreeBSD}
3902 and \c{OpenBSD}. For simple object files, this object format is exactly
3903 the same as \c{aout} except for the magic number in the first four bytes
3904 of the file. However, the \c{aoutb} format supports
3905 \I{PIC}\i{position-independent code} in the same way as the \c{elf}
3906 format, so you can use it to write \c{BSD} \i{shared libraries}.
3908 \c{aoutb} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
3910 \c{aoutb} supports no special directives, no special symbols, and
3911 only the three \i{standard section names} \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data}
3912 and \i\c{.bss}. However, it also supports the same use of \i\c{WRT} as
3913 \c{elf} does, to provide position-independent code relocation types.
3914 See \k{elfwrt} for full documentation of this feature.
3916 \c{aoutb} also supports the same extensions to the \c{GLOBAL}
3917 directive as \c{elf} does: see \k{elfglob} for documentation of
3921 \H{as86fmt} \c{as86}: Linux \i\c{as86} Object Files
3923 The Linux 16-bit assembler \c{as86} has its own non-standard object
3924 file format. Although its companion linker \i\c{ld86} produces
3925 something close to ordinary \c{a.out} binaries as output, the object
3926 file format used to communicate between \c{as86} and \c{ld86} is not
3929 NASM supports this format, just in case it is useful, as \c{as86}.
3930 \c{as86} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
3932 \c{as86} is a very simple object format (from the NASM user's point
3933 of view). It supports no special directives, no special symbols, no
3934 use of \c{SEG} or \c{WRT}, and no extensions to any standard
3935 directives. It supports only the three \i{standard section names}
3936 \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}.
3939 \H{rdffmt} \I{RDOFF}\i\c{rdf}: \i{Relocatable Dynamic Object File
3942 The \c{rdf} output format produces \c{RDOFF} object files. \c{RDOFF}
3943 (Relocatable Dynamic Object File Format) is a home-grown object-file
3944 format, designed alongside NASM itself and reflecting in its file
3945 format the internal structure of the assembler.
3947 \c{RDOFF} is not used by any well-known operating systems. Those
3948 writing their own systems, however, may well wish to use \c{RDOFF}
3949 as their object format, on the grounds that it is designed primarily
3950 for simplicity and contains very little file-header bureaucracy.
3952 The Unix NASM archive, and the DOS archive which includes sources,
3953 both contain an \I{rdoff subdirectory}\c{rdoff} subdirectory holding
3954 a set of RDOFF utilities: an RDF linker, an \c{RDF} static-library
3955 manager, an RDF file dump utility, and a program which will load and
3956 execute an RDF executable under Linux.
3958 \c{rdf} supports only the \i{standard section names} \i\c{.text},
3959 \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}.
3962 \S{rdflib} Requiring a Library: The \i\c{LIBRARY} Directive
3964 \c{RDOFF} contains a mechanism for an object file to demand a given
3965 library to be linked to the module, either at load time or run time.
3966 This is done by the \c{LIBRARY} directive, which takes one argument
3967 which is the name of the module:
3969 \c library mylib.rdl
3972 \S{rdfmod} Specifying a Module Name: The \i\c{MODULE} Directive
3974 Special \c{RDOFF} header record is used to store the name of the module.
3975 It can be used, for example, by run-time loader to perform dynamic
3976 linking. \c{MODULE} directive takes one argument which is the name
3981 Note that when you statically link modules and tell linker to strip
3982 the symbols from output file, all module names will be stripped too.
3983 To avoid it, you should start module names with \I{$prefix}\c{$}, like:
3985 \c module $kernel.core
3988 \S{rdfglob} \c{rdf} Extensions to the \c{GLOBAL} directive\I{GLOBAL,
3991 \c{RDOFF} global symbols can contain additional information needed by
3992 the static linker. You can mark a global symbol as exported, thus
3993 telling the linker do not strip it from target executable or library
3994 file. Like in \c{ELF}, you can also specify whether an exported symbol
3995 is a procedure (function) or data object.
3997 Suffixing the name with a colon and the word \i\c{export} you make the
4000 \c global sys_open:export
4002 To specify that exported symbol is a procedure (function), you add the
4003 word \i\c{proc} or \i\c{function} after declaration:
4005 \c global sys_open:export proc
4007 Similarly, to specify exported data object, add the word \i\c{data}
4008 or \i\c{object} to the directive:
4010 \c global kernel_ticks:export data
4013 \H{dbgfmt} \i\c{dbg}: Debugging Format
4015 The \c{dbg} output format is not built into NASM in the default
4016 configuration. If you are building your own NASM executable from the
4017 sources, you can define \i\c{OF_DBG} in \c{outform.h} or on the
4018 compiler command line, and obtain the \c{dbg} output format.
4020 The \c{dbg} format does not output an object file as such; instead,
4021 it outputs a text file which contains a complete list of all the
4022 transactions between the main body of NASM and the output-format
4023 back end module. It is primarily intended to aid people who want to
4024 write their own output drivers, so that they can get a clearer idea
4025 of the various requests the main program makes of the output driver,
4026 and in what order they happen.
4028 For simple files, one can easily use the \c{dbg} format like this:
4030 \c nasm -f dbg filename.asm
4032 which will generate a diagnostic file called \c{filename.dbg}.
4033 However, this will not work well on files which were designed for a
4034 different object format, because each object format defines its own
4035 macros (usually user-level forms of directives), and those macros
4036 will not be defined in the \c{dbg} format. Therefore it can be
4037 useful to run NASM twice, in order to do the preprocessing with the
4038 native object format selected:
4040 \c nasm -e -f rdf -o rdfprog.i rdfprog.asm
4041 \c nasm -a -f dbg rdfprog.i
4043 This preprocesses \c{rdfprog.asm} into \c{rdfprog.i}, keeping the
4044 \c{rdf} object format selected in order to make sure RDF special
4045 directives are converted into primitive form correctly. Then the
4046 preprocessed source is fed through the \c{dbg} format to generate
4047 the final diagnostic output.
4049 This workaround will still typically not work for programs intended
4050 for \c{obj} format, because the \c{obj} \c{SEGMENT} and \c{GROUP}
4051 directives have side effects of defining the segment and group names
4052 as symbols; \c{dbg} will not do this, so the program will not
4053 assemble. You will have to work around that by defining the symbols
4054 yourself (using \c{EXTERN}, for example) if you really need to get a
4055 \c{dbg} trace of an \c{obj}-specific source file.
4057 \c{dbg} accepts any section name and any directives at all, and logs
4058 them all to its output file.
4061 \C{16bit} Writing 16-bit Code (DOS, Windows 3/3.1)
4063 This chapter attempts to cover some of the common issues encountered
4064 when writing 16-bit code to run under \c{MS-DOS} or \c{Windows 3.x}. It
4065 covers how to link programs to produce \c{.EXE} or \c{.COM} files,
4066 how to write \c{.SYS} device drivers, and how to interface assembly
4067 language code with 16-bit C compilers and with Borland Pascal.
4070 \H{exefiles} Producing \i\c{.EXE} Files
4072 Any large program written under DOS needs to be built as a \c{.EXE}
4073 file: only \c{.EXE} files have the necessary internal structure
4074 required to span more than one 64K segment. \i{Windows} programs,
4075 also, have to be built as \c{.EXE} files, since Windows does not
4076 support the \c{.COM} format.
4078 In general, you generate \c{.EXE} files by using the \c{obj} output
4079 format to produce one or more \i\c{.OBJ} files, and then linking
4080 them together using a linker. However, NASM also supports the direct
4081 generation of simple DOS \c{.EXE} files using the \c{bin} output
4082 format (by using \c{DB} and \c{DW} to construct the \c{.EXE} file
4083 header), and a macro package is supplied to do this. Thanks to
4084 Yann Guidon for contributing the code for this.
4086 NASM may also support \c{.EXE} natively as another output format in
4090 \S{objexe} Using the \c{obj} Format To Generate \c{.EXE} Files
4092 This section describes the usual method of generating \c{.EXE} files
4093 by linking \c{.OBJ} files together.
4095 Most 16-bit programming language packages come with a suitable
4096 linker; if you have none of these, there is a free linker called
4097 \i{VAL}\I{linker, free}, available in \c{LZH} archive format from
4098 \W{ftp://x2ftp.oulu.fi/pub/msdos/programming/lang/}\i\c{x2ftp.oulu.fi}.
4099 An LZH archiver can be found at
4100 \W{ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/arcers}\i\c{ftp.simtel.net}.
4101 There is another `free' linker (though this one doesn't come with
4102 sources) called \i{FREELINK}, available from
4103 \W{http://www.pcorner.com/tpc/old/3-101.html}\i\c{www.pcorner.com}.
4104 A third, \i\c{djlink}, written by DJ Delorie, is available at
4105 \W{http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/16bit/djlink/}\i\c{www.delorie.com}.
4106 A fourth linker, \i\c{ALINK}, written by Anthony A.J. Williams, is
4107 available at \W{http://alink.sourceforge.net}\i\c{alink.sourceforge.net}.
4109 When linking several \c{.OBJ} files into a \c{.EXE} file, you should
4110 ensure that exactly one of them has a start point defined (using the
4111 \I{program entry point}\i\c{..start} special symbol defined by the
4112 \c{obj} format: see \k{dotdotstart}). If no module defines a start
4113 point, the linker will not know what value to give the entry-point
4114 field in the output file header; if more than one defines a start
4115 point, the linker will not know \e{which} value to use.
4117 An example of a NASM source file which can be assembled to a
4118 \c{.OBJ} file and linked on its own to a \c{.EXE} is given here. It
4119 demonstrates the basic principles of defining a stack, initialising
4120 the segment registers, and declaring a start point. This file is
4121 also provided in the \I{test subdirectory}\c{test} subdirectory of
4122 the NASM archives, under the name \c{objexe.asm}.
4126 \c ..start: mov ax,data
4132 This initial piece of code sets up \c{DS} to point to the data
4133 segment, and initialises \c{SS} and \c{SP} to point to the top of
4134 the provided stack. Notice that interrupts are implicitly disabled
4135 for one instruction after a move into \c{SS}, precisely for this
4136 situation, so that there's no chance of an interrupt occurring
4137 between the loads of \c{SS} and \c{SP} and not having a stack to
4140 Note also that the special symbol \c{..start} is defined at the
4141 beginning of this code, which means that will be the entry point
4142 into the resulting executable file.
4148 The above is the main program: load \c{DS:DX} with a pointer to the
4149 greeting message (\c{hello} is implicitly relative to the segment
4150 \c{data}, which was loaded into \c{DS} in the setup code, so the
4151 full pointer is valid), and call the DOS print-string function.
4156 This terminates the program using another DOS system call.
4159 \c hello: db 'hello, world', 13, 10, '$'
4161 The data segment contains the string we want to display.
4163 \c segment stack stack
4167 The above code declares a stack segment containing 64 bytes of
4168 uninitialised stack space, and points \c{stacktop} at the top of it.
4169 The directive \c{segment stack stack} defines a segment \e{called}
4170 \c{stack}, and also of \e{type} \c{STACK}. The latter is not
4171 necessary to the correct running of the program, but linkers are
4172 likely to issue warnings or errors if your program has no segment of
4175 The above file, when assembled into a \c{.OBJ} file, will link on
4176 its own to a valid \c{.EXE} file, which when run will print `hello,
4177 world' and then exit.
4180 \S{binexe} Using the \c{bin} Format To Generate \c{.EXE} Files
4182 The \c{.EXE} file format is simple enough that it's possible to
4183 build a \c{.EXE} file by writing a pure-binary program and sticking
4184 a 32-byte header on the front. This header is simple enough that it
4185 can be generated using \c{DB} and \c{DW} commands by NASM itself, so
4186 that you can use the \c{bin} output format to directly generate
4189 Included in the NASM archives, in the \I{misc subdirectory}\c{misc}
4190 subdirectory, is a file \i\c{exebin.mac} of macros. It defines three
4191 macros: \i\c{EXE_begin}, \i\c{EXE_stack} and \i\c{EXE_end}.
4193 To produce a \c{.EXE} file using this method, you should start by
4194 using \c{%include} to load the \c{exebin.mac} macro package into
4195 your source file. You should then issue the \c{EXE_begin} macro call
4196 (which takes no arguments) to generate the file header data. Then
4197 write code as normal for the \c{bin} format - you can use all three
4198 standard sections \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss}. At the end of
4199 the file you should call the \c{EXE_end} macro (again, no arguments),
4200 which defines some symbols to mark section sizes, and these symbols
4201 are referred to in the header code generated by \c{EXE_begin}.
4203 In this model, the code you end up writing starts at \c{0x100}, just
4204 like a \c{.COM} file - in fact, if you strip off the 32-byte header
4205 from the resulting \c{.EXE} file, you will have a valid \c{.COM}
4206 program. All the segment bases are the same, so you are limited to a
4207 64K program, again just like a \c{.COM} file. Note that an \c{ORG}
4208 directive is issued by the \c{EXE_begin} macro, so you should not
4209 explicitly issue one of your own.
4211 You can't directly refer to your segment base value, unfortunately,
4212 since this would require a relocation in the header, and things
4213 would get a lot more complicated. So you should get your segment
4214 base by copying it out of \c{CS} instead.
4216 On entry to your \c{.EXE} file, \c{SS:SP} are already set up to
4217 point to the top of a 2Kb stack. You can adjust the default stack
4218 size of 2Kb by calling the \c{EXE_stack} macro. For example, to
4219 change the stack size of your program to 64 bytes, you would call
4222 A sample program which generates a \c{.EXE} file in this way is
4223 given in the \c{test} subdirectory of the NASM archive, as
4227 \H{comfiles} Producing \i\c{.COM} Files
4229 While large DOS programs must be written as \c{.EXE} files, small
4230 ones are often better written as \c{.COM} files. \c{.COM} files are
4231 pure binary, and therefore most easily produced using the \c{bin}
4235 \S{combinfmt} Using the \c{bin} Format To Generate \c{.COM} Files
4237 \c{.COM} files expect to be loaded at offset \c{100h} into their
4238 segment (though the segment may change). Execution then begins at
4239 \I\c{ORG}\c{100h}, i.e. right at the start of the program. So to
4240 write a \c{.COM} program, you would create a source file looking
4245 \c start: ; put your code here
4247 \c ; put data items here
4249 \c ; put uninitialised data here
4251 The \c{bin} format puts the \c{.text} section first in the file, so
4252 you can declare data or BSS items before beginning to write code if
4253 you want to and the code will still end up at the front of the file
4256 The BSS (uninitialised data) section does not take up space in the
4257 \c{.COM} file itself: instead, addresses of BSS items are resolved
4258 to point at space beyond the end of the file, on the grounds that
4259 this will be free memory when the program is run. Therefore you
4260 should not rely on your BSS being initialised to all zeros when you
4263 To assemble the above program, you should use a command line like
4265 \c nasm myprog.asm -fbin -o myprog.com
4267 The \c{bin} format would produce a file called \c{myprog} if no
4268 explicit output file name were specified, so you have to override it
4269 and give the desired file name.
4272 \S{comobjfmt} Using the \c{obj} Format To Generate \c{.COM} Files
4274 If you are writing a \c{.COM} program as more than one module, you
4275 may wish to assemble several \c{.OBJ} files and link them together
4276 into a \c{.COM} program. You can do this, provided you have a linker
4277 capable of outputting \c{.COM} files directly (\i{TLINK} does this),
4278 or alternatively a converter program such as \i\c{EXE2BIN} to
4279 transform the \c{.EXE} file output from the linker into a \c{.COM}
4282 If you do this, you need to take care of several things:
4284 \b The first object file containing code should start its code
4285 segment with a line like \c{RESB 100h}. This is to ensure that the
4286 code begins at offset \c{100h} relative to the beginning of the code
4287 segment, so that the linker or converter program does not have to
4288 adjust address references within the file when generating the
4289 \c{.COM} file. Other assemblers use an \i\c{ORG} directive for this
4290 purpose, but \c{ORG} in NASM is a format-specific directive to the
4291 \c{bin} output format, and does not mean the same thing as it does
4292 in MASM-compatible assemblers.
4294 \b You don't need to define a stack segment.
4296 \b All your segments should be in the same group, so that every time
4297 your code or data references a symbol offset, all offsets are
4298 relative to the same segment base. This is because, when a \c{.COM}
4299 file is loaded, all the segment registers contain the same value.
4302 \H{sysfiles} Producing \i\c{.SYS} Files
4304 \i{MS-DOS device drivers} - \c{.SYS} files - are pure binary files,
4305 similar to \c{.COM} files, except that they start at origin zero
4306 rather than \c{100h}. Therefore, if you are writing a device driver
4307 using the \c{bin} format, you do not need the \c{ORG} directive,
4308 since the default origin for \c{bin} is zero. Similarly, if you are
4309 using \c{obj}, you do not need the \c{RESB 100h} at the start of
4312 \c{.SYS} files start with a header structure, containing pointers to
4313 the various routines inside the driver which do the work. This
4314 structure should be defined at the start of the code segment, even
4315 though it is not actually code.
4317 For more information on the format of \c{.SYS} files, and the data
4318 which has to go in the header structure, a list of books is given in
4319 the Frequently Asked Questions list for the newsgroup
4320 \W{news:comp.os.msdos.programmer}\i\c{comp.os.msdos.programmer}.
4323 \H{16c} Interfacing to 16-bit C Programs
4325 This section covers the basics of writing assembly routines that
4326 call, or are called from, C programs. To do this, you would
4327 typically write an assembly module as a \c{.OBJ} file, and link it
4328 with your C modules to produce a \i{mixed-language program}.
4331 \S{16cunder} External Symbol Names
4333 \I{C symbol names}\I{underscore, in C symbols}C compilers have the
4334 convention that the names of all global symbols (functions or data)
4335 they define are formed by prefixing an underscore to the name as it
4336 appears in the C program. So, for example, the function a C
4337 programmer thinks of as \c{printf} appears to an assembly language
4338 programmer as \c{_printf}. This means that in your assembly
4339 programs, you can define symbols without a leading underscore, and
4340 not have to worry about name clashes with C symbols.
4342 If you find the underscores inconvenient, you can define macros to
4343 replace the \c{GLOBAL} and \c{EXTERN} directives as follows:
4355 (These forms of the macros only take one argument at a time; a
4356 \c{%rep} construct could solve this.)
4358 If you then declare an external like this:
4362 then the macro will expand it as
4365 \c %define printf _printf
4367 Thereafter, you can reference \c{printf} as if it was a symbol, and
4368 the preprocessor will put the leading underscore on where necessary.
4370 The \c{cglobal} macro works similarly. You must use \c{cglobal}
4371 before defining the symbol in question, but you would have had to do
4372 that anyway if you used \c{GLOBAL}.
4375 \S{16cmodels} \i{Memory Models}
4377 NASM contains no mechanism to support the various C memory models
4378 directly; you have to keep track yourself of which one you are
4379 writing for. This means you have to keep track of the following
4382 \b In models using a single code segment (tiny, small and compact),
4383 functions are near. This means that function pointers, when stored
4384 in data segments or pushed on the stack as function arguments, are
4385 16 bits long and contain only an offset field (the \c{CS} register
4386 never changes its value, and always gives the segment part of the
4387 full function address), and that functions are called using ordinary
4388 near \c{CALL} instructions and return using \c{RETN} (which, in
4389 NASM, is synonymous with \c{RET} anyway). This means both that you
4390 should write your own routines to return with \c{RETN}, and that you
4391 should call external C routines with near \c{CALL} instructions.
4393 \b In models using more than one code segment (medium, large and
4394 huge), functions are far. This means that function pointers are 32
4395 bits long (consisting of a 16-bit offset followed by a 16-bit
4396 segment), and that functions are called using \c{CALL FAR} (or
4397 \c{CALL seg:offset}) and return using \c{RETF}. Again, you should
4398 therefore write your own routines to return with \c{RETF} and use
4399 \c{CALL FAR} to call external routines.
4401 \b In models using a single data segment (tiny, small and medium),
4402 data pointers are 16 bits long, containing only an offset field (the
4403 \c{DS} register doesn't change its value, and always gives the
4404 segment part of the full data item address).
4406 \b In models using more than one data segment (compact, large and
4407 huge), data pointers are 32 bits long, consisting of a 16-bit offset
4408 followed by a 16-bit segment. You should still be careful not to
4409 modify \c{DS} in your routines without restoring it afterwards, but
4410 \c{ES} is free for you to use to access the contents of 32-bit data
4411 pointers you are passed.
4413 \b The huge memory model allows single data items to exceed 64K in
4414 size. In all other memory models, you can access the whole of a data
4415 item just by doing arithmetic on the offset field of the pointer you
4416 are given, whether a segment field is present or not; in huge model,
4417 you have to be more careful of your pointer arithmetic.
4419 \b In most memory models, there is a \e{default} data segment, whose
4420 segment address is kept in \c{DS} throughout the program. This data
4421 segment is typically the same segment as the stack, kept in \c{SS},
4422 so that functions' local variables (which are stored on the stack)
4423 and global data items can both be accessed easily without changing
4424 \c{DS}. Particularly large data items are typically stored in other
4425 segments. However, some memory models (though not the standard
4426 ones, usually) allow the assumption that \c{SS} and \c{DS} hold the
4427 same value to be removed. Be careful about functions' local
4428 variables in this latter case.
4430 In models with a single code segment, the segment is called
4431 \i\c{_TEXT}, so your code segment must also go by this name in order
4432 to be linked into the same place as the main code segment. In models
4433 with a single data segment, or with a default data segment, it is
4437 \S{16cfunc} Function Definitions and Function Calls
4439 \I{functions, C calling convention}The \i{C calling convention} in
4440 16-bit programs is as follows. In the following description, the
4441 words \e{caller} and \e{callee} are used to denote the function
4442 doing the calling and the function which gets called.
4444 \b The caller pushes the function's parameters on the stack, one
4445 after another, in reverse order (right to left, so that the first
4446 argument specified to the function is pushed last).
4448 \b The caller then executes a \c{CALL} instruction to pass control
4449 to the callee. This \c{CALL} is either near or far depending on the
4452 \b The callee receives control, and typically (although this is not
4453 actually necessary, in functions which do not need to access their
4454 parameters) starts by saving the value of \c{SP} in \c{BP} so as to
4455 be able to use \c{BP} as a base pointer to find its parameters on
4456 the stack. However, the caller was probably doing this too, so part
4457 of the calling convention states that \c{BP} must be preserved by
4458 any C function. Hence the callee, if it is going to set up \c{BP} as
4459 a \i\e{frame pointer}, must push the previous value first.
4461 \b The callee may then access its parameters relative to \c{BP}.
4462 The word at \c{[BP]} holds the previous value of \c{BP} as it was
4463 pushed; the next word, at \c{[BP+2]}, holds the offset part of the
4464 return address, pushed implicitly by \c{CALL}. In a small-model
4465 (near) function, the parameters start after that, at \c{[BP+4]}; in
4466 a large-model (far) function, the segment part of the return address
4467 lives at \c{[BP+4]}, and the parameters begin at \c{[BP+6]}. The
4468 leftmost parameter of the function, since it was pushed last, is
4469 accessible at this offset from \c{BP}; the others follow, at
4470 successively greater offsets. Thus, in a function such as \c{printf}
4471 which takes a variable number of parameters, the pushing of the
4472 parameters in reverse order means that the function knows where to
4473 find its first parameter, which tells it the number and type of the
4476 \b The callee may also wish to decrease \c{SP} further, so as to
4477 allocate space on the stack for local variables, which will then be
4478 accessible at negative offsets from \c{BP}.
4480 \b The callee, if it wishes to return a value to the caller, should
4481 leave the value in \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{DX:AX} depending on the size
4482 of the value. Floating-point results are sometimes (depending on the
4483 compiler) returned in \c{ST0}.
4485 \b Once the callee has finished processing, it restores \c{SP} from
4486 \c{BP} if it had allocated local stack space, then pops the previous
4487 value of \c{BP}, and returns via \c{RETN} or \c{RETF} depending on
4490 \b When the caller regains control from the callee, the function
4491 parameters are still on the stack, so it typically adds an immediate
4492 constant to \c{SP} to remove them (instead of executing a number of
4493 slow \c{POP} instructions). Thus, if a function is accidentally
4494 called with the wrong number of parameters due to a prototype
4495 mismatch, the stack will still be returned to a sensible state since
4496 the caller, which \e{knows} how many parameters it pushed, does the
4499 It is instructive to compare this calling convention with that for
4500 Pascal programs (described in \k{16bpfunc}). Pascal has a simpler
4501 convention, since no functions have variable numbers of parameters.
4502 Therefore the callee knows how many parameters it should have been
4503 passed, and is able to deallocate them from the stack itself by
4504 passing an immediate argument to the \c{RET} or \c{RETF}
4505 instruction, so the caller does not have to do it. Also, the
4506 parameters are pushed in left-to-right order, not right-to-left,
4507 which means that a compiler can give better guarantees about
4508 sequence points without performance suffering.
4510 Thus, you would define a function in C style in the following way.
4511 The following example is for small model:
4516 \c sub sp,0x40 ; 64 bytes of local stack space
4517 \c mov bx,[bp+4] ; first parameter to function
4519 \c mov sp,bp ; undo "sub sp,0x40" above
4523 For a large-model function, you would replace \c{RET} by \c{RETF},
4524 and look for the first parameter at \c{[BP+6]} instead of
4525 \c{[BP+4]}. Of course, if one of the parameters is a pointer, then
4526 the offsets of \e{subsequent} parameters will change depending on
4527 the memory model as well: far pointers take up four bytes on the
4528 stack when passed as a parameter, whereas near pointers take up two.
4530 At the other end of the process, to call a C function from your
4531 assembly code, you would do something like this:
4534 \c ; and then, further down...
4535 \c push word [myint] ; one of my integer variables
4536 \c push word mystring ; pointer into my data segment
4538 \c add sp,byte 4 ; `byte' saves space
4539 \c ; then those data items...
4542 \c mystring db 'This number -> %d <- should be 1234',10,0
4544 This piece of code is the small-model assembly equivalent of the C
4547 \c int myint = 1234;
4548 \c printf("This number -> %d <- should be 1234\n", myint);
4550 In large model, the function-call code might look more like this. In
4551 this example, it is assumed that \c{DS} already holds the segment
4552 base of the segment \c{_DATA}. If not, you would have to initialise
4555 \c push word [myint]
4556 \c push word seg mystring ; Now push the segment, and...
4557 \c push word mystring ; ... offset of "mystring"
4561 The integer value still takes up one word on the stack, since large
4562 model does not affect the size of the \c{int} data type. The first
4563 argument (pushed last) to \c{printf}, however, is a data pointer,
4564 and therefore has to contain a segment and offset part. The segment
4565 should be stored second in memory, and therefore must be pushed
4566 first. (Of course, \c{PUSH DS} would have been a shorter instruction
4567 than \c{PUSH WORD SEG mystring}, if \c{DS} was set up as the above
4568 example assumed.) Then the actual call becomes a far call, since
4569 functions expect far calls in large model; and \c{SP} has to be
4570 increased by 6 rather than 4 afterwards to make up for the extra
4574 \S{16cdata} Accessing Data Items
4576 To get at the contents of C variables, or to declare variables which
4577 C can access, you need only declare the names as \c{GLOBAL} or
4578 \c{EXTERN}. (Again, the names require leading underscores, as stated
4579 in \k{16cunder}.) Thus, a C variable declared as \c{int i} can be
4580 accessed from assembler as
4585 And to declare your own integer variable which C programs can access
4586 as \c{extern int j}, you do this (making sure you are assembling in
4587 the \c{_DATA} segment, if necessary):
4592 To access a C array, you need to know the size of the components of
4593 the array. For example, \c{int} variables are two bytes long, so if
4594 a C program declares an array as \c{int a[10]}, you can access
4595 \c{a[3]} by coding \c{mov ax,[_a+6]}. (The byte offset 6 is obtained
4596 by multiplying the desired array index, 3, by the size of the array
4597 element, 2.) The sizes of the C base types in 16-bit compilers are:
4598 1 for \c{char}, 2 for \c{short} and \c{int}, 4 for \c{long} and
4599 \c{float}, and 8 for \c{double}.
4601 To access a C \i{data structure}, you need to know the offset from
4602 the base of the structure to the field you are interested in. You
4603 can either do this by converting the C structure definition into a
4604 NASM structure definition (using \i\c{STRUC}), or by calculating the
4605 one offset and using just that.
4607 To do either of these, you should read your C compiler's manual to
4608 find out how it organises data structures. NASM gives no special
4609 alignment to structure members in its own \c{STRUC} macro, so you
4610 have to specify alignment yourself if the C compiler generates it.
4611 Typically, you might find that a structure like
4618 might be four bytes long rather than three, since the \c{int} field
4619 would be aligned to a two-byte boundary. However, this sort of
4620 feature tends to be a configurable option in the C compiler, either
4621 using command-line options or \c{#pragma} lines, so you have to find
4622 out how your own compiler does it.
4625 \S{16cmacro} \i\c{c16.mac}: Helper Macros for the 16-bit C Interface
4627 Included in the NASM archives, in the \I{misc subdirectory}\c{misc}
4628 directory, is a file \c{c16.mac} of macros. It defines three macros:
4629 \i\c{proc}, \i\c{arg} and \i\c{endproc}. These are intended to be
4630 used for C-style procedure definitions, and they automate a lot of
4631 the work involved in keeping track of the calling convention.
4633 (An alternative, TASM compatible form of \c{arg} is also now built
4634 into NASM's preprocessor. See \k{tasmcompat} for details.)
4636 An example of an assembly function using the macro set is given
4642 \c mov ax,[bp + %$i]
4643 \c mov bx,[bp + %$j]
4647 This defines \c{_nearproc} to be a procedure taking two arguments,
4648 the first (\c{i}) an integer and the second (\c{j}) a pointer to an
4649 integer. It returns \c{i + *j}.
4651 Note that the \c{arg} macro has an \c{EQU} as the first line of its
4652 expansion, and since the label before the macro call gets prepended
4653 to the first line of the expanded macro, the \c{EQU} works, defining
4654 \c{%$i} to be an offset from \c{BP}. A context-local variable is
4655 used, local to the context pushed by the \c{proc} macro and popped
4656 by the \c{endproc} macro, so that the same argument name can be used
4657 in later procedures. Of course, you don't \e{have} to do that.
4659 The macro set produces code for near functions (tiny, small and
4660 compact-model code) by default. You can have it generate far
4661 functions (medium, large and huge-model code) by means of coding
4662 \I\c{FARCODE}\c{%define FARCODE}. This changes the kind of return
4663 instruction generated by \c{endproc}, and also changes the starting
4664 point for the argument offsets. The macro set contains no intrinsic
4665 dependency on whether data pointers are far or not.
4667 \c{arg} can take an optional parameter, giving the size of the
4668 argument. If no size is given, 2 is assumed, since it is likely that
4669 many function parameters will be of type \c{int}.
4671 The large-model equivalent of the above function would look like this:
4677 \c mov ax,[bp + %$i]
4678 \c mov bx,[bp + %$j]
4679 \c mov es,[bp + %$j + 2]
4683 This makes use of the argument to the \c{arg} macro to define a
4684 parameter of size 4, because \c{j} is now a far pointer. When we
4685 load from \c{j}, we must load a segment and an offset.
4688 \H{16bp} Interfacing to \i{Borland Pascal} Programs
4690 Interfacing to Borland Pascal programs is similar in concept to
4691 interfacing to 16-bit C programs. The differences are:
4693 \b The leading underscore required for interfacing to C programs is
4694 not required for Pascal.
4696 \b The memory model is always large: functions are far, data
4697 pointers are far, and no data item can be more than 64K long.
4698 (Actually, some functions are near, but only those functions that
4699 are local to a Pascal unit and never called from outside it. All
4700 assembly functions that Pascal calls, and all Pascal functions that
4701 assembly routines are able to call, are far.) However, all static
4702 data declared in a Pascal program goes into the default data
4703 segment, which is the one whose segment address will be in \c{DS}
4704 when control is passed to your assembly code. The only things that
4705 do not live in the default data segment are local variables (they
4706 live in the stack segment) and dynamically allocated variables. All
4707 data \e{pointers}, however, are far.
4709 \b The function calling convention is different - described below.
4711 \b Some data types, such as strings, are stored differently.
4713 \b There are restrictions on the segment names you are allowed to
4714 use - Borland Pascal will ignore code or data declared in a segment
4715 it doesn't like the name of. The restrictions are described below.
4718 \S{16bpfunc} The Pascal Calling Convention
4720 \I{functions, Pascal calling convention}\I{Pascal calling
4721 convention}The 16-bit Pascal calling convention is as follows. In
4722 the following description, the words \e{caller} and \e{callee} are
4723 used to denote the function doing the calling and the function which
4726 \b The caller pushes the function's parameters on the stack, one
4727 after another, in normal order (left to right, so that the first
4728 argument specified to the function is pushed first).
4730 \b The caller then executes a far \c{CALL} instruction to pass
4731 control to the callee.
4733 \b The callee receives control, and typically (although this is not
4734 actually necessary, in functions which do not need to access their
4735 parameters) starts by saving the value of \c{SP} in \c{BP} so as to
4736 be able to use \c{BP} as a base pointer to find its parameters on
4737 the stack. However, the caller was probably doing this too, so part
4738 of the calling convention states that \c{BP} must be preserved by
4739 any function. Hence the callee, if it is going to set up \c{BP} as a
4740 \i{frame pointer}, must push the previous value first.
4742 \b The callee may then access its parameters relative to \c{BP}.
4743 The word at \c{[BP]} holds the previous value of \c{BP} as it was
4744 pushed. The next word, at \c{[BP+2]}, holds the offset part of the
4745 return address, and the next one at \c{[BP+4]} the segment part. The
4746 parameters begin at \c{[BP+6]}. The rightmost parameter of the
4747 function, since it was pushed last, is accessible at this offset
4748 from \c{BP}; the others follow, at successively greater offsets.
4750 \b The callee may also wish to decrease \c{SP} further, so as to
4751 allocate space on the stack for local variables, which will then be
4752 accessible at negative offsets from \c{BP}.
4754 \b The callee, if it wishes to return a value to the caller, should
4755 leave the value in \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{DX:AX} depending on the size
4756 of the value. Floating-point results are returned in \c{ST0}.
4757 Results of type \c{Real} (Borland's own custom floating-point data
4758 type, not handled directly by the FPU) are returned in \c{DX:BX:AX}.
4759 To return a result of type \c{String}, the caller pushes a pointer
4760 to a temporary string before pushing the parameters, and the callee
4761 places the returned string value at that location. The pointer is
4762 not a parameter, and should not be removed from the stack by the
4763 \c{RETF} instruction.
4765 \b Once the callee has finished processing, it restores \c{SP} from
4766 \c{BP} if it had allocated local stack space, then pops the previous
4767 value of \c{BP}, and returns via \c{RETF}. It uses the form of
4768 \c{RETF} with an immediate parameter, giving the number of bytes
4769 taken up by the parameters on the stack. This causes the parameters
4770 to be removed from the stack as a side effect of the return
4773 \b When the caller regains control from the callee, the function
4774 parameters have already been removed from the stack, so it needs to
4777 Thus, you would define a function in Pascal style, taking two
4778 \c{Integer}-type parameters, in the following way:
4783 \c sub sp,0x40 ; 64 bytes of local stack space
4784 \c mov bx,[bp+8] ; first parameter to function
4785 \c mov bx,[bp+6] ; second parameter to function
4787 \c mov sp,bp ; undo "sub sp,0x40" above
4789 \c retf 4 ; total size of params is 4
4791 At the other end of the process, to call a Pascal function from your
4792 assembly code, you would do something like this:
4795 \c ; and then, further down...
4796 \c push word seg mystring ; Now push the segment, and...
4797 \c push word mystring ; ... offset of "mystring"
4798 \c push word [myint] ; one of my variables
4799 \c call far SomeFunc
4801 This is equivalent to the Pascal code
4803 \c procedure SomeFunc(String: PChar; Int: Integer);
4804 \c SomeFunc(@mystring, myint);
4807 \S{16bpseg} Borland Pascal \I{segment names, Borland Pascal}Segment
4810 Since Borland Pascal's internal unit file format is completely
4811 different from \c{OBJ}, it only makes a very sketchy job of actually
4812 reading and understanding the various information contained in a
4813 real \c{OBJ} file when it links that in. Therefore an object file
4814 intended to be linked to a Pascal program must obey a number of
4817 \b Procedures and functions must be in a segment whose name is
4818 either \c{CODE}, \c{CSEG}, or something ending in \c{_TEXT}.
4820 \b Initialised data must be in a segment whose name is either
4821 \c{CONST} or something ending in \c{_DATA}.
4823 \b Uninitialised data must be in a segment whose name is either
4824 \c{DATA}, \c{DSEG}, or something ending in \c{_BSS}.
4826 \b Any other segments in the object file are completely ignored.
4827 \c{GROUP} directives and segment attributes are also ignored.
4830 \S{16bpmacro} Using \i\c{c16.mac} With Pascal Programs
4832 The \c{c16.mac} macro package, described in \k{16cmacro}, can also
4833 be used to simplify writing functions to be called from Pascal
4834 programs, if you code \I\c{PASCAL}\c{%define PASCAL}. This
4835 definition ensures that functions are far (it implies
4836 \i\c{FARCODE}), and also causes procedure return instructions to be
4837 generated with an operand.
4839 Defining \c{PASCAL} does not change the code which calculates the
4840 argument offsets; you must declare your function's arguments in
4841 reverse order. For example:
4847 \c mov ax,[bp + %$i]
4848 \c mov bx,[bp + %$j]
4849 \c mov es,[bp + %$j + 2]
4853 This defines the same routine, conceptually, as the example in
4854 \k{16cmacro}: it defines a function taking two arguments, an integer
4855 and a pointer to an integer, which returns the sum of the integer
4856 and the contents of the pointer. The only difference between this
4857 code and the large-model C version is that \c{PASCAL} is defined
4858 instead of \c{FARCODE}, and that the arguments are declared in
4862 \C{32bit} Writing 32-bit Code (Unix, Win32, DJGPP)
4864 This chapter attempts to cover some of the common issues involved
4865 when writing 32-bit code, to run under \i{Win32} or Unix, or to be
4866 linked with C code generated by a Unix-style C compiler such as
4867 \i{DJGPP}. It covers how to write assembly code to interface with
4868 32-bit C routines, and how to write position-independent code for
4871 Almost all 32-bit code, and in particular all code running under
4872 \c{Win32}, \c{DJGPP} or any of the PC Unix variants, runs in \I{flat
4873 memory model}\e{flat} memory model. This means that the segment registers
4874 and paging have already been set up to give you the same 32-bit 4Gb
4875 address space no matter what segment you work relative to, and that
4876 you should ignore all segment registers completely. When writing
4877 flat-model application code, you never need to use a segment
4878 override or modify any segment register, and the code-section
4879 addresses you pass to \c{CALL} and \c{JMP} live in the same address
4880 space as the data-section addresses you access your variables by and
4881 the stack-section addresses you access local variables and procedure
4882 parameters by. Every address is 32 bits long and contains only an
4886 \H{32c} Interfacing to 32-bit C Programs
4888 A lot of the discussion in \k{16c}, about interfacing to 16-bit C
4889 programs, still applies when working in 32 bits. The absence of
4890 memory models or segmentation worries simplifies things a lot.
4893 \S{32cunder} External Symbol Names
4895 Most 32-bit C compilers share the convention used by 16-bit
4896 compilers, that the names of all global symbols (functions or data)
4897 they define are formed by prefixing an underscore to the name as it
4898 appears in the C program. However, not all of them do: the \c{ELF}
4899 specification states that C symbols do \e{not} have a leading
4900 underscore on their assembly-language names.
4902 The older Linux \c{a.out} C compiler, all \c{Win32} compilers,
4903 \c{DJGPP}, and \c{NetBSD} and \c{FreeBSD}, all use the leading
4904 underscore; for these compilers, the macros \c{cextern} and
4905 \c{cglobal}, as given in \k{16cunder}, will still work. For \c{ELF},
4906 though, the leading underscore should not be used.
4909 \S{32cfunc} Function Definitions and Function Calls
4911 \I{functions, C calling convention}The \i{C calling convention}The C
4912 calling convention in 32-bit programs is as follows. In the
4913 following description, the words \e{caller} and \e{callee} are used
4914 to denote the function doing the calling and the function which gets
4917 \b The caller pushes the function's parameters on the stack, one
4918 after another, in reverse order (right to left, so that the first
4919 argument specified to the function is pushed last).
4921 \b The caller then executes a near \c{CALL} instruction to pass
4922 control to the callee.
4924 \b The callee receives control, and typically (although this is not
4925 actually necessary, in functions which do not need to access their
4926 parameters) starts by saving the value of \c{ESP} in \c{EBP} so as
4927 to be able to use \c{EBP} as a base pointer to find its parameters
4928 on the stack. However, the caller was probably doing this too, so
4929 part of the calling convention states that \c{EBP} must be preserved
4930 by any C function. Hence the callee, if it is going to set up
4931 \c{EBP} as a \i{frame pointer}, must push the previous value first.
4933 \b The callee may then access its parameters relative to \c{EBP}.
4934 The doubleword at \c{[EBP]} holds the previous value of \c{EBP} as
4935 it was pushed; the next doubleword, at \c{[EBP+4]}, holds the return
4936 address, pushed implicitly by \c{CALL}. The parameters start after
4937 that, at \c{[EBP+8]}. The leftmost parameter of the function, since
4938 it was pushed last, is accessible at this offset from \c{EBP}; the
4939 others follow, at successively greater offsets. Thus, in a function
4940 such as \c{printf} which takes a variable number of parameters, the
4941 pushing of the parameters in reverse order means that the function
4942 knows where to find its first parameter, which tells it the number
4943 and type of the remaining ones.
4945 \b The callee may also wish to decrease \c{ESP} further, so as to
4946 allocate space on the stack for local variables, which will then be
4947 accessible at negative offsets from \c{EBP}.
4949 \b The callee, if it wishes to return a value to the caller, should
4950 leave the value in \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{EAX} depending on the size
4951 of the value. Floating-point results are typically returned in
4954 \b Once the callee has finished processing, it restores \c{ESP} from
4955 \c{EBP} if it had allocated local stack space, then pops the previous
4956 value of \c{EBP}, and returns via \c{RET} (equivalently, \c{RETN}).
4958 \b When the caller regains control from the callee, the function
4959 parameters are still on the stack, so it typically adds an immediate
4960 constant to \c{ESP} to remove them (instead of executing a number of
4961 slow \c{POP} instructions). Thus, if a function is accidentally
4962 called with the wrong number of parameters due to a prototype
4963 mismatch, the stack will still be returned to a sensible state since
4964 the caller, which \e{knows} how many parameters it pushed, does the
4967 There is an alternative calling convention used by Win32 programs
4968 for Windows API calls, and also for functions called \e{by} the
4969 Windows API such as window procedures: they follow what Microsoft
4970 calls the \c{__stdcall} convention. This is slightly closer to the
4971 Pascal convention, in that the callee clears the stack by passing a
4972 parameter to the \c{RET} instruction. However, the parameters are
4973 still pushed in right-to-left order.
4975 Thus, you would define a function in C style in the following way:
4978 \c _myfunc: push ebp
4980 \c sub esp,0x40 ; 64 bytes of local stack space
4981 \c mov ebx,[ebp+8] ; first parameter to function
4983 \c leave ; mov esp,ebp / pop ebp
4986 At the other end of the process, to call a C function from your
4987 assembly code, you would do something like this:
4990 \c ; and then, further down...
4991 \c push dword [myint] ; one of my integer variables
4992 \c push dword mystring ; pointer into my data segment
4994 \c add esp,byte 8 ; `byte' saves space
4995 \c ; then those data items...
4998 \c mystring db 'This number -> %d <- should be 1234',10,0
5000 This piece of code is the assembly equivalent of the C code
5002 \c int myint = 1234;
5003 \c printf("This number -> %d <- should be 1234\n", myint);
5006 \S{32cdata} Accessing Data Items
5008 To get at the contents of C variables, or to declare variables which
5009 C can access, you need only declare the names as \c{GLOBAL} or
5010 \c{EXTERN}. (Again, the names require leading underscores, as stated
5011 in \k{32cunder}.) Thus, a C variable declared as \c{int i} can be
5012 accessed from assembler as
5017 And to declare your own integer variable which C programs can access
5018 as \c{extern int j}, you do this (making sure you are assembling in
5019 the \c{_DATA} segment, if necessary):
5024 To access a C array, you need to know the size of the components of
5025 the array. For example, \c{int} variables are four bytes long, so if
5026 a C program declares an array as \c{int a[10]}, you can access
5027 \c{a[3]} by coding \c{mov ax,[_a+12]}. (The byte offset 12 is obtained
5028 by multiplying the desired array index, 3, by the size of the array
5029 element, 4.) The sizes of the C base types in 32-bit compilers are:
5030 1 for \c{char}, 2 for \c{short}, 4 for \c{int}, \c{long} and
5031 \c{float}, and 8 for \c{double}. Pointers, being 32-bit addresses,
5032 are also 4 bytes long.
5034 To access a C \i{data structure}, you need to know the offset from
5035 the base of the structure to the field you are interested in. You
5036 can either do this by converting the C structure definition into a
5037 NASM structure definition (using \c{STRUC}), or by calculating the
5038 one offset and using just that.
5040 To do either of these, you should read your C compiler's manual to
5041 find out how it organises data structures. NASM gives no special
5042 alignment to structure members in its own \i\c{STRUC} macro, so you
5043 have to specify alignment yourself if the C compiler generates it.
5044 Typically, you might find that a structure like
5051 might be eight bytes long rather than five, since the \c{int} field
5052 would be aligned to a four-byte boundary. However, this sort of
5053 feature is sometimes a configurable option in the C compiler, either
5054 using command-line options or \c{#pragma} lines, so you have to find
5055 out how your own compiler does it.
5058 \S{32cmacro} \i\c{c32.mac}: Helper Macros for the 32-bit C Interface
5060 Included in the NASM archives, in the \I{misc directory}\c{misc}
5061 directory, is a file \c{c32.mac} of macros. It defines three macros:
5062 \i\c{proc}, \i\c{arg} and \i\c{endproc}. These are intended to be
5063 used for C-style procedure definitions, and they automate a lot of
5064 the work involved in keeping track of the calling convention.
5066 An example of an assembly function using the macro set is given
5072 \c mov eax,[ebp + %$i]
5073 \c mov ebx,[ebp + %$j]
5077 This defines \c{_proc32} to be a procedure taking two arguments, the
5078 first (\c{i}) an integer and the second (\c{j}) a pointer to an
5079 integer. It returns \c{i + *j}.
5081 Note that the \c{arg} macro has an \c{EQU} as the first line of its
5082 expansion, and since the label before the macro call gets prepended
5083 to the first line of the expanded macro, the \c{EQU} works, defining
5084 \c{%$i} to be an offset from \c{BP}. A context-local variable is
5085 used, local to the context pushed by the \c{proc} macro and popped
5086 by the \c{endproc} macro, so that the same argument name can be used
5087 in later procedures. Of course, you don't \e{have} to do that.
5089 \c{arg} can take an optional parameter, giving the size of the
5090 argument. If no size is given, 4 is assumed, since it is likely that
5091 many function parameters will be of type \c{int} or pointers.
5094 \H{picdll} Writing NetBSD/FreeBSD/OpenBSD and Linux/ELF \i{Shared
5097 \c{ELF} replaced the older \c{a.out} object file format under Linux
5098 because it contains support for \i{position-independent code}
5099 (\i{PIC}), which makes writing shared libraries much easier. NASM
5100 supports the \c{ELF} position-independent code features, so you can
5101 write Linux \c{ELF} shared libraries in NASM.
5103 \i{NetBSD}, and its close cousins \i{FreeBSD} and \i{OpenBSD}, take
5104 a different approach by hacking PIC support into the \c{a.out}
5105 format. NASM supports this as the \i\c{aoutb} output format, so you
5106 can write \i{BSD} shared libraries in NASM too.
5108 The operating system loads a PIC shared library by memory-mapping
5109 the library file at an arbitrarily chosen point in the address space
5110 of the running process. The contents of the library's code section
5111 must therefore not depend on where it is loaded in memory.
5113 Therefore, you cannot get at your variables by writing code like
5116 \c mov eax,[myvar] ; WRONG
5118 Instead, the linker provides an area of memory called the
5119 \i\e{global offset table}, or \i{GOT}; the GOT is situated at a
5120 constant distance from your library's code, so if you can find out
5121 where your library is loaded (which is typically done using a
5122 \c{CALL} and \c{POP} combination), you can obtain the address of the
5123 GOT, and you can then load the addresses of your variables out of
5124 linker-generated entries in the GOT.
5126 The \e{data} section of a PIC shared library does not have these
5127 restrictions: since the data section is writable, it has to be
5128 copied into memory anyway rather than just paged in from the library
5129 file, so as long as it's being copied it can be relocated too. So
5130 you can put ordinary types of relocation in the data section without
5131 too much worry (but see \k{picglobal} for a caveat).
5134 \S{picgot} Obtaining the Address of the GOT
5136 Each code module in your shared library should define the GOT as an
5139 \c extern _GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_ ; in ELF
5140 \c extern __GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_ ; in BSD a.out
5142 At the beginning of any function in your shared library which plans
5143 to access your data or BSS sections, you must first calculate the
5144 address of the GOT. This is typically done by writing the function
5151 \c .get_GOT: pop ebx
5152 \c add ebx,_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_+$$-.get_GOT wrt ..gotpc
5153 \c ; the function body comes here
5159 (For BSD, again, the symbol \c{_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE} requires a
5160 second leading underscore.)
5162 The first two lines of this function are simply the standard C
5163 prologue to set up a stack frame, and the last three lines are
5164 standard C function epilogue. The third line, and the fourth to last
5165 line, save and restore the \c{EBX} register, because PIC shared
5166 libraries use this register to store the address of the GOT.
5168 The interesting bit is the \c{CALL} instruction and the following
5169 two lines. The \c{CALL} and \c{POP} combination obtains the address
5170 of the label \c{.get_GOT}, without having to know in advance where
5171 the program was loaded (since the \c{CALL} instruction is encoded
5172 relative to the current position). The \c{ADD} instruction makes use
5173 of one of the special PIC relocation types: \i{GOTPC relocation}.
5174 With the \i\c{WRT ..gotpc} qualifier specified, the symbol
5175 referenced (here \c{_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_}, the special symbol
5176 assigned to the GOT) is given as an offset from the beginning of the
5177 section. (Actually, \c{ELF} encodes it as the offset from the operand
5178 field of the \c{ADD} instruction, but NASM simplifies this
5179 deliberately, so you do things the same way for both \c{ELF} and
5180 \c{BSD}.) So the instruction then \e{adds} the beginning of the section,
5181 to get the real address of the GOT, and subtracts the value of
5182 \c{.get_GOT} which it knows is in \c{EBX}. Therefore, by the time
5183 that instruction has finished, \c{EBX} contains the address of the GOT.
5185 If you didn't follow that, don't worry: it's never necessary to
5186 obtain the address of the GOT by any other means, so you can put
5187 those three instructions into a macro and safely ignore them:
5191 \c %%getgot: pop ebx
5192 \c add ebx,_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_+$$-%%getgot wrt ..gotpc
5195 \S{piclocal} Finding Your Local Data Items
5197 Having got the GOT, you can then use it to obtain the addresses of
5198 your data items. Most variables will reside in the sections you have
5199 declared; they can be accessed using the \I{GOTOFF
5200 relocation}\c{..gotoff} special \I\c{WRT ..gotoff}\c{WRT} type. The
5201 way this works is like this:
5203 \c lea eax,[ebx+myvar wrt ..gotoff]
5205 The expression \c{myvar wrt ..gotoff} is calculated, when the shared
5206 library is linked, to be the offset to the local variable \c{myvar}
5207 from the beginning of the GOT. Therefore, adding it to \c{EBX} as
5208 above will place the real address of \c{myvar} in \c{EAX}.
5210 If you declare variables as \c{GLOBAL} without specifying a size for
5211 them, they are shared between code modules in the library, but do
5212 not get exported from the library to the program that loaded it.
5213 They will still be in your ordinary data and BSS sections, so you
5214 can access them in the same way as local variables, using the above
5215 \c{..gotoff} mechanism.
5217 Note that due to a peculiarity of the way BSD \c{a.out} format
5218 handles this relocation type, there must be at least one non-local
5219 symbol in the same section as the address you're trying to access.
5222 \S{picextern} Finding External and Common Data Items
5224 If your library needs to get at an external variable (external to
5225 the \e{library}, not just to one of the modules within it), you must
5226 use the \I{GOT relocations}\I\c{WRT ..got}\c{..got} type to get at
5227 it. The \c{..got} type, instead of giving you the offset from the
5228 GOT base to the variable, gives you the offset from the GOT base to
5229 a GOT \e{entry} containing the address of the variable. The linker
5230 will set up this GOT entry when it builds the library, and the
5231 dynamic linker will place the correct address in it at load time. So
5232 to obtain the address of an external variable \c{extvar} in \c{EAX},
5235 \c mov eax,[ebx+extvar wrt ..got]
5237 This loads the address of \c{extvar} out of an entry in the GOT. The
5238 linker, when it builds the shared library, collects together every
5239 relocation of type \c{..got}, and builds the GOT so as to ensure it
5240 has every necessary entry present.
5242 Common variables must also be accessed in this way.
5245 \S{picglobal} Exporting Symbols to the Library User
5247 If you want to export symbols to the user of the library, you have
5248 to declare whether they are functions or data, and if they are data,
5249 you have to give the size of the data item. This is because the
5250 dynamic linker has to build \I{PLT}\i{procedure linkage table}
5251 entries for any exported functions, and also moves exported data
5252 items away from the library's data section in which they were
5255 So to export a function to users of the library, you must use
5257 \c global func:function ; declare it as a function
5261 And to export a data item such as an array, you would have to code
5263 \c global array:data array.end-array ; give the size too
5267 Be careful: If you export a variable to the library user, by
5268 declaring it as \c{GLOBAL} and supplying a size, the variable will
5269 end up living in the data section of the main program, rather than
5270 in your library's data section, where you declared it. So you will
5271 have to access your own global variable with the \c{..got} mechanism
5272 rather than \c{..gotoff}, as if it were external (which,
5273 effectively, it has become).
5275 Equally, if you need to store the address of an exported global in
5276 one of your data sections, you can't do it by means of the standard
5279 \c dataptr: dd global_data_item ; WRONG
5281 NASM will interpret this code as an ordinary relocation, in which
5282 \c{global_data_item} is merely an offset from the beginning of the
5283 \c{.data} section (or whatever); so this reference will end up
5284 pointing at your data section instead of at the exported global
5285 which resides elsewhere.
5287 Instead of the above code, then, you must write
5289 \c dataptr: dd global_data_item wrt ..sym
5291 which makes use of the special \c{WRT} type \I\c{WRT ..sym}\c{..sym}
5292 to instruct NASM to search the symbol table for a particular symbol
5293 at that address, rather than just relocating by section base.
5295 Either method will work for functions: referring to one of your
5296 functions by means of
5298 \c funcptr: dd my_function
5300 will give the user the address of the code you wrote, whereas
5302 \c funcptr: dd my_function wrt ..sym
5304 will give the address of the procedure linkage table for the
5305 function, which is where the calling program will \e{believe} the
5306 function lives. Either address is a valid way to call the function.
5309 \S{picproc} Calling Procedures Outside the Library
5311 Calling procedures outside your shared library has to be done by
5312 means of a \i\e{procedure linkage table}, or \i{PLT}. The PLT is
5313 placed at a known offset from where the library is loaded, so the
5314 library code can make calls to the PLT in a position-independent
5315 way. Within the PLT there is code to jump to offsets contained in
5316 the GOT, so function calls to other shared libraries or to routines
5317 in the main program can be transparently passed off to their real
5320 To call an external routine, you must use another special PIC
5321 relocation type, \I{PLT relocations}\i\c{WRT ..plt}. This is much
5322 easier than the GOT-based ones: you simply replace calls such as
5323 \c{CALL printf} with the PLT-relative version \c{CALL printf WRT
5327 \S{link} Generating the Library File
5329 Having written some code modules and assembled them to \c{.o} files,
5330 you then generate your shared library with a command such as
5332 \c ld -shared -o library.so module1.o module2.o # for ELF
5333 \c ld -Bshareable -o library.so module1.o module2.o # for BSD
5335 For ELF, if your shared library is going to reside in system
5336 directories such as \c{/usr/lib} or \c{/lib}, it is usually worth
5337 using the \i\c{-soname} flag to the linker, to store the final
5338 library file name, with a version number, into the library:
5340 \c ld -shared -soname library.so.1 -o library.so.1.2 *.o
5342 You would then copy \c{library.so.1.2} into the library directory,
5343 and create \c{library.so.1} as a symbolic link to it.
5346 \C{mixsize} Mixing 16 and 32 Bit Code
5348 This chapter tries to cover some of the issues, largely related to
5349 unusual forms of addressing and jump instructions, encountered when
5350 writing operating system code such as protected-mode initialisation
5351 routines, which require code that operates in mixed segment sizes,
5352 such as code in a 16-bit segment trying to modify data in a 32-bit
5353 one, or jumps between different-size segments.
5356 \H{mixjump} Mixed-Size Jumps\I{jumps, mixed-size}
5358 \I{operating system, writing}\I{writing operating systems}The most
5359 common form of \i{mixed-size instruction} is the one used when
5360 writing a 32-bit OS: having done your setup in 16-bit mode, such as
5361 loading the kernel, you then have to boot it by switching into
5362 protected mode and jumping to the 32-bit kernel start address. In a
5363 fully 32-bit OS, this tends to be the \e{only} mixed-size
5364 instruction you need, since everything before it can be done in pure
5365 16-bit code, and everything after it can be pure 32-bit.
5367 This jump must specify a 48-bit far address, since the target
5368 segment is a 32-bit one. However, it must be assembled in a 16-bit
5369 segment, so just coding, for example,
5371 \c jmp 0x1234:0x56789ABC ; wrong!
5373 will not work, since the offset part of the address will be
5374 truncated to \c{0x9ABC} and the jump will be an ordinary 16-bit far
5377 The Linux kernel setup code gets round the inability of \c{as86} to
5378 generate the required instruction by coding it manually, using
5379 \c{DB} instructions. NASM can go one better than that, by actually
5380 generating the right instruction itself. Here's how to do it right:
5382 \c jmp dword 0x1234:0x56789ABC ; right
5384 \I\c{JMP DWORD}The \c{DWORD} prefix (strictly speaking, it should
5385 come \e{after} the colon, since it is declaring the \e{offset} field
5386 to be a doubleword; but NASM will accept either form, since both are
5387 unambiguous) forces the offset part to be treated as far, in the
5388 assumption that you are deliberately writing a jump from a 16-bit
5389 segment to a 32-bit one.
5391 You can do the reverse operation, jumping from a 32-bit segment to a
5392 16-bit one, by means of the \c{WORD} prefix:
5394 \c jmp word 0x8765:0x4321 ; 32 to 16 bit
5396 If the \c{WORD} prefix is specified in 16-bit mode, or the \c{DWORD}
5397 prefix in 32-bit mode, they will be ignored, since each is
5398 explicitly forcing NASM into a mode it was in anyway.
5401 \H{mixaddr} Addressing Between Different-Size Segments\I{addressing,
5402 mixed-size}\I{mixed-size addressing}
5404 If your OS is mixed 16 and 32-bit, or if you are writing a DOS
5405 extender, you are likely to have to deal with some 16-bit segments
5406 and some 32-bit ones. At some point, you will probably end up
5407 writing code in a 16-bit segment which has to access data in a
5408 32-bit segment, or vice versa.
5410 If the data you are trying to access in a 32-bit segment lies within
5411 the first 64K of the segment, you may be able to get away with using
5412 an ordinary 16-bit addressing operation for the purpose; but sooner
5413 or later, you will want to do 32-bit addressing from 16-bit mode.
5415 The easiest way to do this is to make sure you use a register for
5416 the address, since any effective address containing a 32-bit
5417 register is forced to be a 32-bit address. So you can do
5419 \c mov eax,offset_into_32_bit_segment_specified_by_fs
5420 \c mov dword [fs:eax],0x11223344
5422 This is fine, but slightly cumbersome (since it wastes an
5423 instruction and a register) if you already know the precise offset
5424 you are aiming at. The x86 architecture does allow 32-bit effective
5425 addresses to specify nothing but a 4-byte offset, so why shouldn't
5426 NASM be able to generate the best instruction for the purpose?
5428 It can. As in \k{mixjump}, you need only prefix the address with the
5429 \c{DWORD} keyword, and it will be forced to be a 32-bit address:
5431 \c mov dword [fs:dword my_offset],0x11223344
5433 Also as in \k{mixjump}, NASM is not fussy about whether the
5434 \c{DWORD} prefix comes before or after the segment override, so
5435 arguably a nicer-looking way to code the above instruction is
5437 \c mov dword [dword fs:my_offset],0x11223344
5439 Don't confuse the \c{DWORD} prefix \e{outside} the square brackets,
5440 which controls the size of the data stored at the address, with the
5441 one \c{inside} the square brackets which controls the length of the
5442 address itself. The two can quite easily be different:
5444 \c mov word [dword 0x12345678],0x9ABC
5446 This moves 16 bits of data to an address specified by a 32-bit
5449 You can also specify \c{WORD} or \c{DWORD} prefixes along with the
5450 \c{FAR} prefix to indirect far jumps or calls. For example:
5452 \c call dword far [fs:word 0x4321]
5454 This instruction contains an address specified by a 16-bit offset;
5455 it loads a 48-bit far pointer from that (16-bit segment and 32-bit
5456 offset), and calls that address.
5459 \H{mixother} Other Mixed-Size Instructions
5461 The other way you might want to access data might be using the
5462 string instructions (\c{LODSx}, \c{STOSx} and so on) or the
5463 \c{XLATB} instruction. These instructions, since they take no
5464 parameters, might seem to have no easy way to make them perform
5465 32-bit addressing when assembled in a 16-bit segment.
5467 This is the purpose of NASM's \i\c{a16} and \i\c{a32} prefixes. If
5468 you are coding \c{LODSB} in a 16-bit segment but it is supposed to
5469 be accessing a string in a 32-bit segment, you should load the
5470 desired address into \c{ESI} and then code
5474 The prefix forces the addressing size to 32 bits, meaning that
5475 \c{LODSB} loads from \c{[DS:ESI]} instead of \c{[DS:SI]}. To access
5476 a string in a 16-bit segment when coding in a 32-bit one, the
5477 corresponding \c{a16} prefix can be used.
5479 The \c{a16} and \c{a32} prefixes can be applied to any instruction
5480 in NASM's instruction table, but most of them can generate all the
5481 useful forms without them. The prefixes are necessary only for
5482 instructions with implicit addressing: \c{CMPSx} (\k{insCMPSB}),
5483 \c{SCASx} (\k{insSCASB}), \c{LODSx} (\k{insLODSB}), \c{STOSx}
5484 (\k{insSTOSB}), \c{MOVSx} (\k{insMOVSB}), \c{INSx} (\k{insINSB}),
5485 \c{OUTSx} (\k{insOUTSB}), and \c{XLATB} (\k{insXLATB}). Also, the
5486 various push and pop instructions (\c{PUSHA} and \c{POPF} as well as
5487 the more usual \c{PUSH} and \c{POP}) can accept \c{a16} or \c{a32}
5488 prefixes to force a particular one of \c{SP} or \c{ESP} to be used
5489 as a stack pointer, in case the stack segment in use is a different
5490 size from the code segment.
5492 \c{PUSH} and \c{POP}, when applied to segment registers in 32-bit
5493 mode, also have the slightly odd behaviour that they push and pop 4
5494 bytes at a time, of which the top two are ignored and the bottom two
5495 give the value of the segment register being manipulated. To force
5496 the 16-bit behaviour of segment-register push and pop instructions,
5497 you can use the operand-size prefix \i\c{o16}:
5502 This code saves a doubleword of stack space by fitting two segment
5503 registers into the space which would normally be consumed by pushing
5506 (You can also use the \i\c{o32} prefix to force the 32-bit behaviour
5507 when in 16-bit mode, but this seems less useful.)
5510 \C{trouble} Troubleshooting
5512 This chapter describes some of the common problems that users have
5513 been known to encounter with NASM, and answers them. It also gives
5514 instructions for reporting bugs in NASM if you find a difficulty
5515 that isn't listed here.
5518 \H{problems} Common Problems
5520 \S{inefficient} NASM Generates \i{Inefficient Code}
5522 I get a lot of `bug' reports about NASM generating inefficient, or
5523 even `wrong', code on instructions such as \c{ADD ESP,8}. This is a
5524 deliberate design feature, connected to predictability of output:
5525 NASM, on seeing \c{ADD ESP,8}, will generate the form of the
5526 instruction which leaves room for a 32-bit offset. You need to code
5527 \I\c{BYTE}\c{ADD ESP,BYTE 8} if you want the space-efficient
5528 form of the instruction. This isn't a bug: at worst it's a
5529 misfeature, and that's a matter of opinion only.
5532 \S{jmprange} My Jumps are Out of Range\I{out of range, jumps}
5534 Similarly, people complain that when they issue \i{conditional
5535 jumps} (which are \c{SHORT} by default) that try to jump too far,
5536 NASM reports `short jump out of range' instead of making the jumps
5539 This, again, is partly a predictability issue, but in fact has a
5540 more practical reason as well. NASM has no means of being told what
5541 type of processor the code it is generating will be run on; so it
5542 cannot decide for itself that it should generate \i\c{Jcc NEAR} type
5543 instructions, because it doesn't know that it's working for a 386 or
5544 above. Alternatively, it could replace the out-of-range short
5545 \c{JNE} instruction with a very short \c{JE} instruction that jumps
5546 over a \c{JMP NEAR}; this is a sensible solution for processors
5547 below a 386, but hardly efficient on processors which have good
5548 branch prediction \e{and} could have used \c{JNE NEAR} instead. So,
5549 once again, it's up to the user, not the assembler, to decide what
5550 instructions should be generated.
5553 \S{proborg} \i\c{ORG} Doesn't Work
5555 People writing \i{boot sector} programs in the \c{bin} format often
5556 complain that \c{ORG} doesn't work the way they'd like: in order to
5557 place the \c{0xAA55} signature word at the end of a 512-byte boot
5558 sector, people who are used to MASM tend to code
5561 \c ; some boot sector code
5565 This is not the intended use of the \c{ORG} directive in NASM, and
5566 will not work. The correct way to solve this problem in NASM is to
5567 use the \i\c{TIMES} directive, like this:
5570 \c ; some boot sector code
5571 \c TIMES 510-($-$$) DB 0
5574 The \c{TIMES} directive will insert exactly enough zero bytes into
5575 the output to move the assembly point up to 510. This method also
5576 has the advantage that if you accidentally fill your boot sector too
5577 full, NASM will catch the problem at assembly time and report it, so
5578 you won't end up with a boot sector that you have to disassemble to
5579 find out what's wrong with it.
5582 \S{probtimes} \i\c{TIMES} Doesn't Work
5584 The other common problem with the above code is people who write the
5589 by reasoning that \c{$} should be a pure number, just like 510, so
5590 the difference between them is also a pure number and can happily be
5593 NASM is a \e{modular} assembler: the various component parts are
5594 designed to be easily separable for re-use, so they don't exchange
5595 information unnecessarily. In consequence, the \c{bin} output
5596 format, even though it has been told by the \c{ORG} directive that
5597 the \c{.text} section should start at 0, does not pass that
5598 information back to the expression evaluator. So from the
5599 evaluator's point of view, \c{$} isn't a pure number: it's an offset
5600 from a section base. Therefore the difference between \c{$} and 510
5601 is also not a pure number, but involves a section base. Values
5602 involving section bases cannot be passed as arguments to \c{TIMES}.
5604 The solution, as in the previous section, is to code the \c{TIMES}
5607 \c TIMES 510-($-$$) DB 0
5609 in which \c{$} and \c{$$} are offsets from the same section base,
5610 and so their difference is a pure number. This will solve the
5611 problem and generate sensible code.
5614 \H{bugs} \i{Bugs}\I{reporting bugs}
5616 We have never yet released a version of NASM with any \e{known}
5617 bugs. That doesn't usually stop there being plenty we didn't know
5618 about, though. Any that you find should be reported firstly via the
5620 \W{http://nasm.2y.net/bugtracker/}\c{http://nasm.2y.net/bugtracker/},
5621 or if that fails then through one of the contacts in \k{contact}
5623 Please read \k{qstart} first, and don't report the bug if it's
5624 listed in there as a deliberate feature. (If you think the feature
5625 is badly thought out, feel free to send us reasons why you think it
5626 should be changed, but don't just send us mail saying `This is a
5627 bug' if the documentation says we did it on purpose.) Then read
5628 \k{problems}, and don't bother reporting the bug if it's listed
5631 If you do report a bug, \e{please} give us all of the following
5634 \b What operating system you're running NASM under. DOS, Linux,
5635 NetBSD, Win16, Win32, VMS (I'd be impressed), whatever.
5637 \b If you're running NASM under DOS or Win32, tell us whether you've
5638 compiled your own executable from the DOS source archive, or whether
5639 you were using the standard distribution binaries out of the
5640 archive. If you were using a locally built executable, try to
5641 reproduce the problem using one of the standard binaries, as this
5642 will make it easier for us to reproduce your problem prior to fixing
5645 \b Which version of NASM you're using, and exactly how you invoked
5646 it. Give us the precise command line, and the contents of the
5647 \c{NASM} environment variable if any.
5649 \b Which versions of any supplementary programs you're using, and
5650 how you invoked them. If the problem only becomes visible at link
5651 time, tell us what linker you're using, what version of it you've
5652 got, and the exact linker command line. If the problem involves
5653 linking against object files generated by a compiler, tell us what
5654 compiler, what version, and what command line or options you used.
5655 (If you're compiling in an IDE, please try to reproduce the problem
5656 with the command-line version of the compiler.)
5658 \b If at all possible, send us a NASM source file which exhibits the
5659 problem. If this causes copyright problems (e.g. you can only
5660 reproduce the bug in restricted-distribution code) then bear in mind
5661 the following two points: firstly, we guarantee that any source code
5662 sent to us for the purposes of debugging NASM will be used \e{only}
5663 for the purposes of debugging NASM, and that we will delete all our
5664 copies of it as soon as we have found and fixed the bug or bugs in
5665 question; and secondly, we would prefer \e{not} to be mailed large
5666 chunks of code anyway. The smaller the file, the better. A
5667 three-line sample file that does nothing useful \e{except}
5668 demonstrate the problem is much easier to work with than a
5669 fully fledged ten-thousand-line program. (Of course, some errors
5670 \e{do} only crop up in large files, so this may not be possible.)
5672 \b A description of what the problem actually \e{is}. `It doesn't
5673 work' is \e{not} a helpful description! Please describe exactly what
5674 is happening that shouldn't be, or what isn't happening that should.
5675 Examples might be: `NASM generates an error message saying Line 3
5676 for an error that's actually on Line 5'; `NASM generates an error
5677 message that I believe it shouldn't be generating at all'; `NASM
5678 fails to generate an error message that I believe it \e{should} be
5679 generating'; `the object file produced from this source code crashes
5680 my linker'; `the ninth byte of the output file is 66 and I think it
5681 should be 77 instead'.
5683 \b If you believe the output file from NASM to be faulty, send it to
5684 us. That allows us to determine whether our own copy of NASM
5685 generates the same file, or whether the problem is related to
5686 portability issues between our development platforms and yours. We
5687 can handle binary files mailed to us as MIME attachments, uuencoded,
5688 and even BinHex. Alternatively, we may be able to provide an FTP
5689 site you can upload the suspect files to; but mailing them is easier
5692 \b Any other information or data files that might be helpful. If,
5693 for example, the problem involves NASM failing to generate an object
5694 file while TASM can generate an equivalent file without trouble,
5695 then send us \e{both} object files, so we can see what TASM is doing
5696 differently from us.
5699 \A{ndisasm} \i{Ndisasm}
5701 The Netwide Disassembler, NDISASM
5703 \H{ndisintro} Introduction
5706 The Netwide Disassembler is a small companion program to the Netwide
5707 Assembler, NASM. It seemed a shame to have an x86 assembler,
5708 complete with a full instruction table, and not make as much use of
5709 it as possible, so here's a disassembler which shares the
5710 instruction table (and some other bits of code) with NASM.
5712 The Netwide Disassembler does nothing except to produce
5713 disassemblies of \e{binary} source files. NDISASM does not have any
5714 understanding of object file formats, like \c{objdump}, and it will
5715 not understand \c{DOS .EXE} files like \c{debug} will. It just
5719 \H{ndisstart} Getting Started: Installation
5721 See \k{install} for installation instructions. NDISASM, like NASM,
5722 has a \c{man page} which you may want to put somewhere useful, if you
5723 are on a Unix system.
5726 \H{ndisrun} Running NDISASM
5728 To disassemble a file, you will typically use a command of the form
5730 \c ndisasm [-b16 | -b32] filename
5732 NDISASM can disassemble 16-bit code or 32-bit code equally easily,
5733 provided of course that you remember to specify which it is to work
5734 with. If no \i\c{-b} switch is present, NDISASM works in 16-bit mode by
5735 default. The \i\c{-u} switch (for USE32) also invokes 32-bit mode.
5737 Two more command line options are \i\c{-r} which reports the version
5738 number of NDISASM you are running, and \i\c{-h} which gives a short
5739 summary of command line options.
5742 \S{ndiscom} COM Files: Specifying an Origin
5744 To disassemble a \c{DOS .COM} file correctly, a disassembler must assume
5745 that the first instruction in the file is loaded at address \c{0x100},
5746 rather than at zero. NDISASM, which assumes by default that any file
5747 you give it is loaded at zero, will therefore need to be informed of
5750 The \i\c{-o} option allows you to declare a different origin for the
5751 file you are disassembling. Its argument may be expressed in any of
5752 the NASM numeric formats: decimal by default, if it begins with `\c{$}'
5753 or `\c{0x}' or ends in `\c{H}' it's \c{hex}, if it ends in `\c{Q}' it's
5754 \c{octal}, and if it ends in `\c{B}' it's \c{binary}.
5756 Hence, to disassemble a \c{.COM} file:
5758 \c ndisasm -o100h filename.com
5763 \S{ndissync} Code Following Data: Synchronisation
5765 Suppose you are disassembling a file which contains some data which
5766 isn't machine code, and \e{then} contains some machine code. NDISASM
5767 will faithfully plough through the data section, producing machine
5768 instructions wherever it can (although most of them will look
5769 bizarre, and some may have unusual prefixes, e.g. `\c{FS OR AX,0x240A}'),
5770 and generating `DB' instructions ever so often if it's totally stumped.
5771 Then it will reach the code section.
5773 Supposing NDISASM has just finished generating a strange machine
5774 instruction from part of the data section, and its file position is
5775 now one byte \e{before} the beginning of the code section. It's
5776 entirely possible that another spurious instruction will get
5777 generated, starting with the final byte of the data section, and
5778 then the correct first instruction in the code section will not be
5779 seen because the starting point skipped over it. This isn't really
5782 To avoid this, you can specify a `\i\c{synchronisation}' point, or indeed
5783 as many synchronisation points as you like (although NDISASM can
5784 only handle 8192 sync points internally). The definition of a sync
5785 point is this: NDISASM guarantees to hit sync points exactly during
5786 disassembly. If it is thinking about generating an instruction which
5787 would cause it to jump over a sync point, it will discard that
5788 instruction and output a `\c{db}' instead. So it \e{will} start
5789 disassembly exactly from the sync point, and so you \e{will} see all
5790 the instructions in your code section.
5792 Sync points are specified using the \i\c{-s} option: they are measured
5793 in terms of the program origin, not the file position. So if you
5794 want to synchronise after 32 bytes of a \c{.COM} file, you would have to
5797 \c ndisasm -o100h -s120h file.com
5801 \c ndisasm -o100h -s20h file.com
5803 As stated above, you can specify multiple sync markers if you need
5804 to, just by repeating the \c{-s} option.
5807 \S{ndisisync} Mixed Code and Data: Automatic (Intelligent) Synchronisation
5810 Suppose you are disassembling the boot sector of a \c{DOS} floppy (maybe
5811 it has a virus, and you need to understand the virus so that you
5812 know what kinds of damage it might have done you). Typically, this
5813 will contain a \c{JMP} instruction, then some data, then the rest of the
5814 code. So there is a very good chance of NDISASM being \e{misaligned}
5815 when the data ends and the code begins. Hence a sync point is
5818 On the other hand, why should you have to specify the sync point
5819 manually? What you'd do in order to find where the sync point would
5820 be, surely, would be to read the \c{JMP} instruction, and then to use
5821 its target address as a sync point. So can NDISASM do that for you?
5823 The answer, of course, is yes: using either of the synonymous
5824 switches \i\c{-a} (for automatic sync) or \i\c{-i} (for intelligent
5825 sync) will enable \c{auto-sync} mode. Auto-sync mode automatically
5826 generates a sync point for any forward-referring PC-relative jump or
5827 call instruction that NDISASM encounters. (Since NDISASM is one-pass,
5828 if it encounters a PC-relative jump whose target has already been
5829 processed, there isn't much it can do about it...)
5831 Only PC-relative jumps are processed, since an absolute jump is
5832 either through a register (in which case NDISASM doesn't know what
5833 the register contains) or involves a segment address (in which case
5834 the target code isn't in the same segment that NDISASM is working
5835 in, and so the sync point can't be placed anywhere useful).
5837 For some kinds of file, this mechanism will automatically put sync
5838 points in all the right places, and save you from having to place
5839 any sync points manually. However, it should be stressed that
5840 auto-sync mode is \e{not} guaranteed to catch all the sync points, and
5841 you may still have to place some manually.
5843 Auto-sync mode doesn't prevent you from declaring manual sync
5844 points: it just adds automatically generated ones to the ones you
5845 provide. It's perfectly feasible to specify \c{-i} \e{and} some \c{-s}
5848 Another caveat with auto-sync mode is that if, by some unpleasant
5849 fluke, something in your data section should disassemble to a
5850 PC-relative call or jump instruction, NDISASM may obediently place a
5851 sync point in a totally random place, for example in the middle of
5852 one of the instructions in your code section. So you may end up with
5853 a wrong disassembly even if you use auto-sync. Again, there isn't
5854 much I can do about this. If you have problems, you'll have to use
5855 manual sync points, or use the \c{-k} option (documented below) to
5856 suppress disassembly of the data area.
5859 \S{ndisother} Other Options
5861 The \i\c{-e} option skips a header on the file, by ignoring the first N
5862 bytes. This means that the header is \e{not} counted towards the
5863 disassembly offset: if you give \c{-e10 -o10}, disassembly will start
5864 at byte 10 in the file, and this will be given offset 10, not 20.
5866 The \i\c{-k} option is provided with two comma-separated numeric
5867 arguments, the first of which is an assembly offset and the second
5868 is a number of bytes to skip. This \e{will} count the skipped bytes
5869 towards the assembly offset: its use is to suppress disassembly of a
5870 data section which wouldn't contain anything you wanted to see
5874 \H{ndisbugs} Bugs and Improvements
5876 There are no known bugs. However, any you find, with patches if
5877 possible, should be sent to \W{mailto:jules@dsf.org.uk}\c{jules@dsf.org.uk}
5878 or \W{mailto:anakin@pobox.com}\c{anakin@pobox.com}, or to the
5879 developer's site \W{http://nasm.2y.net/}\c{http://nasm.2y.net/}
5880 and we'll try to fix them. Feel free to send contributions and
5881 new features as well.
5883 Future plans include awareness of which processors certain
5884 instructions will run on, and marking of instructions that are too
5885 advanced for some processor (or are \c{FPU} instructions, or are
5886 undocumented opcodes, or are privileged protected-mode instructions,
5891 I hope NDISASM is of some use to somebody. Including me. :-)
5893 I don't recommend taking NDISASM apart to see how an efficient
5894 disassembler works, because as far as I know, it isn't an efficient
5895 one anyway. You have been warned.
5898 \A{iref} Intel x86 Instruction Reference
5900 This appendix provides a complete list of the machine instructions
5901 which NASM will assemble, and a short description of the function of
5904 It is not intended to be exhaustive documentation on the fine
5905 details of the instructions' function, such as which exceptions they
5906 can trigger: for such documentation, you should go to Intel's Web
5907 site, \W{http://www.intel.com/}\c{http://www.intel.com/}.
5909 Instead, this appendix is intended primarily to provide
5910 documentation on the way the instructions may be used within NASM.
5911 For example, looking up \c{LOOP} will tell you that NASM allows
5912 \c{CX} or \c{ECX} to be specified as an optional second argument to
5913 the \c{LOOP} instruction, to enforce which of the two possible
5914 counter registers should be used if the default is not the one
5917 The instructions are not quite listed in alphabetical order, since
5918 groups of instructions with similar functions are lumped together in
5919 the same entry. Most of them don't move very far from their
5920 alphabetic position because of this.
5923 \H{iref-opr} Key to Operand Specifications
5925 The instruction descriptions in this appendix specify their operands
5926 using the following notation:
5928 \b Registers: \c{reg8} denotes an 8-bit \i{general purpose
5929 register}, \c{reg16} denotes a 16-bit general purpose register, and
5930 \c{reg32} a 32-bit one. \c{fpureg} denotes one of the eight FPU
5931 stack registers, \c{mmxreg} denotes one of the eight 64-bit MMX
5932 registers, and \c{segreg} denotes a segment register. In addition,
5933 some registers (such as \c{AL}, \c{DX} or
5934 \c{ECX}) may be specified explicitly.
5936 \b Immediate operands: \c{imm} denotes a generic \i{immediate operand}.
5937 \c{imm8}, \c{imm16} and \c{imm32} are used when the operand is
5938 intended to be a specific size. For some of these instructions, NASM
5939 needs an explicit specifier: for example, \c{ADD ESP,16} could be
5940 interpreted as either \c{ADD r/m32,imm32} or \c{ADD r/m32,imm8}.
5941 NASM chooses the former by default, and so you must specify \c{ADD
5942 ESP,BYTE 16} for the latter.
5944 \b Memory references: \c{mem} denotes a generic \i{memory reference};
5945 \c{mem8}, \c{mem16}, \c{mem32}, \c{mem64} and \c{mem80} are used
5946 when the operand needs to be a specific size. Again, a specifier is
5947 needed in some cases: \c{DEC [address]} is ambiguous and will be
5948 rejected by NASM. You must specify \c{DEC BYTE [address]}, \c{DEC
5949 WORD [address]} or \c{DEC DWORD [address]} instead.
5951 \b \i{Restricted memory references}: one form of the \c{MOV}
5952 instruction allows a memory address to be specified \e{without}
5953 allowing the normal range of register combinations and effective
5954 address processing. This is denoted by \c{memoffs8}, \c{memoffs16}
5957 \b Register or memory choices: many instructions can accept either a
5958 register \e{or} a memory reference as an operand. \c{r/m8} is a
5959 shorthand for \c{reg8/mem8}; similarly \c{r/m16} and \c{r/m32}.
5960 \c{r/m64} is MMX-related, and is a shorthand for \c{mmxreg/mem64}.
5963 \H{iref-opc} Key to Opcode Descriptions
5965 This appendix also provides the opcodes which NASM will generate for
5966 each form of each instruction. The opcodes are listed in the
5969 \b A hex number, such as \c{3F}, indicates a fixed byte containing
5972 \b A hex number followed by \c{+r}, such as \c{C8+r}, indicates that
5973 one of the operands to the instruction is a register, and the
5974 `register value' of that register should be added to the hex number
5975 to produce the generated byte. For example, EDX has register value
5976 2, so the code \c{C8+r}, when the register operand is EDX, generates
5977 the hex byte \c{CA}. Register values for specific registers are
5978 given in \k{iref-rv}.
5980 \b A hex number followed by \c{+cc}, such as \c{40+cc}, indicates
5981 that the instruction name has a condition code suffix, and the
5982 numeric representation of the condition code should be added to the
5983 hex number to produce the generated byte. For example, the code
5984 \c{40+cc}, when the instruction contains the \c{NE} condition,
5985 generates the hex byte \c{45}. Condition codes and their numeric
5986 representations are given in \k{iref-cc}.
5988 \b A slash followed by a digit, such as \c{/2}, indicates that one
5989 of the operands to the instruction is a memory address or register
5990 (denoted \c{mem} or \c{r/m}, with an optional size). This is to be
5991 encoded as an effective address, with a \i{ModR/M byte}, an optional
5992 \i{SIB byte}, and an optional displacement, and the spare (register)
5993 field of the ModR/M byte should be the digit given (which will be
5994 from 0 to 7, so it fits in three bits). The encoding of effective
5995 addresses is given in \k{iref-ea}.
5997 \b The code \c{/r} combines the above two: it indicates that one of
5998 the operands is a memory address or \c{r/m}, and another is a
5999 register, and that an effective address should be generated with the
6000 spare (register) field in the ModR/M byte being equal to the
6001 `register value' of the register operand. The encoding of effective
6002 addresses is given in \k{iref-ea}; register values are given in
6005 \b The codes \c{ib}, \c{iw} and \c{id} indicate that one of the
6006 operands to the instruction is an immediate value, and that this is
6007 to be encoded as a byte, little-endian word or little-endian
6008 doubleword respectively.
6010 \b The codes \c{rb}, \c{rw} and \c{rd} indicate that one of the
6011 operands to the instruction is an immediate value, and that the
6012 \e{difference} between this value and the address of the end of the
6013 instruction is to be encoded as a byte, word or doubleword
6014 respectively. Where the form \c{rw/rd} appears, it indicates that
6015 either \c{rw} or \c{rd} should be used according to whether assembly
6016 is being performed in \c{BITS 16} or \c{BITS 32} state respectively.
6018 \b The codes \c{ow} and \c{od} indicate that one of the operands to
6019 the instruction is a reference to the contents of a memory address
6020 specified as an immediate value: this encoding is used in some forms
6021 of the \c{MOV} instruction in place of the standard
6022 effective-address mechanism. The displacement is encoded as a word
6023 or doubleword. Again, \c{ow/od} denotes that \c{ow} or \c{od} should
6024 be chosen according to the \c{BITS} setting.
6026 \b The codes \c{o16} and \c{o32} indicate that the given form of the
6027 instruction should be assembled with operand size 16 or 32 bits. In
6028 other words, \c{o16} indicates a \c{66} prefix in \c{BITS 32} state,
6029 but generates no code in \c{BITS 16} state; and \c{o32} indicates a
6030 \c{66} prefix in \c{BITS 16} state but generates nothing in \c{BITS
6033 \b The codes \c{a16} and \c{a32}, similarly to \c{o16} and \c{o32},
6034 indicate the address size of the given form of the instruction.
6035 Where this does not match the \c{BITS} setting, a \c{67} prefix is
6039 \S{iref-rv} Register Values
6041 Where an instruction requires a register value, it is already
6042 implicit in the encoding of the rest of the instruction what type of
6043 register is intended: an 8-bit general-purpose register, a segment
6044 register, a debug register, an MMX register, or whatever. Therefore
6045 there is no problem with registers of different types sharing an
6048 The encodings for the various classes of register are:
6050 \b 8-bit general registers: \c{AL} is 0, \c{CL} is 1, \c{DL} is 2,
6051 \c{BL} is 3, \c{AH} is 4, \c{CH} is 5, \c{DH} is 6, and \c{BH} is
6054 \b 16-bit general registers: \c{AX} is 0, \c{CX} is 1, \c{DX} is 2,
6055 \c{BX} is 3, \c{SP} is 4, \c{BP} is 5, \c{SI} is 6, and \c{DI} is 7.
6057 \b 32-bit general registers: \c{EAX} is 0, \c{ECX} is 1, \c{EDX} is
6058 2, \c{EBX} is 3, \c{ESP} is 4, \c{EBP} is 5, \c{ESI} is 6, and
6061 \b \i{Segment registers}: \c{ES} is 0, \c{CS} is 1, \c{SS} is 2, \c{DS}
6062 is 3, \c{FS} is 4, and \c{GS} is 5.
6064 \b \I{floating-point, registers}Floating-point registers: \c{ST0}
6065 is 0, \c{ST1} is 1, \c{ST2} is 2, \c{ST3} is 3, \c{ST4} is 4,
6066 \c{ST5} is 5, \c{ST6} is 6, and \c{ST7} is 7.
6068 \b 64-bit \i{MMX registers}: \c{MM0} is 0, \c{MM1} is 1, \c{MM2} is 2,
6069 \c{MM3} is 3, \c{MM4} is 4, \c{MM5} is 5, \c{MM6} is 6, and \c{MM7}
6072 \b \i{Control registers}: \c{CR0} is 0, \c{CR2} is 2, \c{CR3} is 3,
6075 \b \i{Debug registers}: \c{DR0} is 0, \c{DR1} is 1, \c{DR2} is 2,
6076 \c{DR3} is 3, \c{DR6} is 6, and \c{DR7} is 7.
6078 \b \i{Test registers}: \c{TR3} is 3, \c{TR4} is 4, \c{TR5} is 5,
6079 \c{TR6} is 6, and \c{TR7} is 7.
6081 (Note that wherever a register name contains a number, that number
6082 is also the register value for that register.)
6085 \S{iref-cc} \i{Condition Codes}
6087 The available condition codes are given here, along with their
6088 numeric representations as part of opcodes. Many of these condition
6089 codes have synonyms, so several will be listed at a time.
6091 In the following descriptions, the word `either', when applied to two
6092 possible trigger conditions, is used to mean `either or both'. If
6093 `either but not both' is meant, the phrase `exactly one of' is used.
6095 \b \c{O} is 0 (trigger if the overflow flag is set); \c{NO} is 1.
6097 \b \c{B}, \c{C} and \c{NAE} are 2 (trigger if the carry flag is
6098 set); \c{AE}, \c{NB} and \c{NC} are 3.
6100 \b \c{E} and \c{Z} are 4 (trigger if the zero flag is set); \c{NE}
6103 \b \c{BE} and \c{NA} are 6 (trigger if either of the carry or zero
6104 flags is set); \c{A} and \c{NBE} are 7.
6106 \b \c{S} is 8 (trigger if the sign flag is set); \c{NS} is 9.
6108 \b \c{P} and \c{PE} are 10 (trigger if the parity flag is set);
6109 \c{NP} and \c{PO} are 11.
6111 \b \c{L} and \c{NGE} are 12 (trigger if exactly one of the sign and
6112 overflow flags is set); \c{GE} and \c{NL} are 13.
6114 \b \c{LE} and \c{NG} are 14 (trigger if either the zero flag is set,
6115 or exactly one of the sign and overflow flags is set); \c{G} and
6118 Note that in all cases, the sense of a condition code may be
6119 reversed by changing the low bit of the numeric representation.
6121 For details of when an instruction sets each of the status flags,
6122 see the individual instruction, plus the Status Flags reference
6126 \S{iref-SSE-cc} \i{SSE Condition Predicates}
6128 The condition predicates for SSE comparison instructions are the
6129 codes used as part of the opcode, to determine what form of
6130 comparison is being carried out. In each case, the imm8 value is
6131 the final byte of the opcode encoding, and the predicate is the
6132 code used as part of the mnemonic for the instruction (equivalent
6133 to the "cc" in an integer instruction that used a condition code).
6134 The instructions that use this will give details of what the various
6135 mnemonics are, this table is used to help you work out details of what
6138 Predi- imm8 Description Relation where: Emula- Result if QNaN
6139 cate Encod- A Is 1st Operand tion NaN Signals
6140 ing B Is 2nd Operand Operand Invalid
6142 EQ 000B equal A = B False No
6144 LT 001B less-than A < B False Yes
6146 LE 010B less-than- A <= B False Yes
6149 --- ---- greater A > B Swap False Yes
6153 --- ---- greater- A >= B Swap False Yes
6154 than-or-equal Operands,
6157 UNORD 011B unordered A, B = Unordered True No
6159 NEQ 100B not-equal A != B True No
6161 NLT 101B not-less- NOT(A < B) True Yes
6164 NLE 110B not-less- NOT(A <= B) True Yes
6168 --- ---- not-greater NOT(A > B) Swap True Yes
6172 --- ---- not-greater NOT(A >= B) Swap True Yes
6176 ORD 111B ordered A , B = Ordered False No
6178 The unordered relationship is true when at least one of the two
6179 values being compared is a NaN or in an unsupported format.
6181 Note that the comparisons which are listed as not having a predicate
6182 or encoding can only be achieved through software emulation, as
6183 described in the "emulation" column. Note in particular that an
6184 instruction such as \c{greater-than} is not the same as \c{NLE}, as,
6185 unlike with the \c{CMP} instruction, it has to take into account the
6186 possibility of one operand containing a NaN or an unsupported numeric
6190 \S{iref-Flags} \i{Status Flags}
6192 The status flags provide some information about the result of the
6193 arithmetic instructions. This information can be used by conditional
6194 instructions (such a \c{Jcc} and \c{CMOVcc}) as well as by some of
6195 the other instructions (such as \c{ADC} and \c{INTO}).
6197 There are 6 status flags:
6201 Set if an arithmetic operation generates a
6202 carry or a borrow out of the most-significant bit of the result;
6203 cleared otherwise. This flag indicates an overflow condition for
6204 unsigned-integer arithmetic. It is also used in multiple-precision
6207 \c PF - Parity flag.
6209 Set if the least-significant byte of the result contains an even
6210 number of 1 bits; cleared otherwise.
6212 \c AF - Adjust flag.
6214 Set if an arithmetic operation generates a carry or a borrow
6215 out of bit 3 of the result; cleared otherwise. This flag is used
6216 in binary-coded decimal (BCD) arithmetic.
6220 Set if the result is zero; cleared otherwise.
6224 Set equal to the most-significant bit of the result, which is the
6225 sign bit of a signed integer. (0 indicates a positive value and 1
6226 indicates a negative value.)
6228 \c OF - Overflow flag.
6230 Set if the integer result is too large a positive number or too
6231 small a negative number (excluding the sign-bit) to fit in the
6232 destina-tion operand; cleared otherwise. This flag indicates an
6233 overflow condition for signed-integer (two’s complement) arithmetic.
6236 \S{iref-ea} Effective Address Encoding: \i{ModR/M} and \i{SIB}
6238 An \i{effective address} is encoded in up to three parts: a ModR/M
6239 byte, an optional SIB byte, and an optional byte, word or doubleword
6242 The ModR/M byte consists of three fields: the \c{mod} field, ranging
6243 from 0 to 3, in the upper two bits of the byte, the \c{r/m} field,
6244 ranging from 0 to 7, in the lower three bits, and the spare
6245 (register) field in the middle (bit 3 to bit 5). The spare field is
6246 not relevant to the effective address being encoded, and either
6247 contains an extension to the instruction opcode or the register
6248 value of another operand.
6250 The ModR/M system can be used to encode a direct register reference
6251 rather than a memory access. This is always done by setting the
6252 \c{mod} field to 3 and the \c{r/m} field to the register value of
6253 the register in question (it must be a general-purpose register, and
6254 the size of the register must already be implicit in the encoding of
6255 the rest of the instruction). In this case, the SIB byte and
6256 displacement field are both absent.
6258 In 16-bit addressing mode (either \c{BITS 16} with no \c{67} prefix,
6259 or \c{BITS 32} with a \c{67} prefix), the SIB byte is never used.
6260 The general rules for \c{mod} and \c{r/m} (there is an exception,
6263 \b The \c{mod} field gives the length of the displacement field: 0
6264 means no displacement, 1 means one byte, and 2 means two bytes.
6266 \b The \c{r/m} field encodes the combination of registers to be
6267 added to the displacement to give the accessed address: 0 means
6268 \c{BX+SI}, 1 means \c{BX+DI}, 2 means \c{BP+SI}, 3 means \c{BP+DI},
6269 4 means \c{SI} only, 5 means \c{DI} only, 6 means \c{BP} only, and 7
6272 However, there is a special case:
6274 \b If \c{mod} is 0 and \c{r/m} is 6, the effective address encoded
6275 is not \c{[BP]} as the above rules would suggest, but instead
6276 \c{[disp16]}: the displacement field is present and is two bytes
6277 long, and no registers are added to the displacement.
6279 Therefore the effective address \c{[BP]} cannot be encoded as
6280 efficiently as \c{[BX]}; so if you code \c{[BP]} in a program, NASM
6281 adds a notional 8-bit zero displacement, and sets \c{mod} to 1,
6282 \c{r/m} to 6, and the one-byte displacement field to 0.
6284 In 32-bit addressing mode (either \c{BITS 16} with a \c{67} prefix,
6285 or \c{BITS 32} with no \c{67} prefix) the general rules (again,
6286 there are exceptions) for \c{mod} and \c{r/m} are:
6288 \b The \c{mod} field gives the length of the displacement field: 0
6289 means no displacement, 1 means one byte, and 2 means four bytes.
6291 \b If only one register is to be added to the displacement, and it
6292 is not \c{ESP}, the \c{r/m} field gives its register value, and the
6293 SIB byte is absent. If the \c{r/m} field is 4 (which would encode
6294 \c{ESP}), the SIB byte is present and gives the combination and
6295 scaling of registers to be added to the displacement.
6297 If the SIB byte is present, it describes the combination of
6298 registers (an optional base register, and an optional index register
6299 scaled by multiplication by 1, 2, 4 or 8) to be added to the
6300 displacement. The SIB byte is divided into the \c{scale} field, in
6301 the top two bits, the \c{index} field in the next three, and the
6302 \c{base} field in the bottom three. The general rules are:
6304 \b The \c{base} field encodes the register value of the base
6307 \b The \c{index} field encodes the register value of the index
6308 register, unless it is 4, in which case no index register is used
6309 (so \c{ESP} cannot be used as an index register).
6311 \b The \c{scale} field encodes the multiplier by which the index
6312 register is scaled before adding it to the base and displacement: 0
6313 encodes a multiplier of 1, 1 encodes 2, 2 encodes 4 and 3 encodes 8.
6315 The exceptions to the 32-bit encoding rules are:
6317 \b If \c{mod} is 0 and \c{r/m} is 5, the effective address encoded
6318 is not \c{[EBP]} as the above rules would suggest, but instead
6319 \c{[disp32]}: the displacement field is present and is four bytes
6320 long, and no registers are added to the displacement.
6322 \b If \c{mod} is 0, \c{r/m} is 4 (meaning the SIB byte is present)
6323 and \c{base} is 4, the effective address encoded is not
6324 \c{[EBP+index]} as the above rules would suggest, but instead
6325 \c{[disp32+index]}: the displacement field is present and is four
6326 bytes long, and there is no base register (but the index register is
6327 still processed in the normal way).
6330 \H{iref-flg} Key to Instruction Flags
6332 Given along with each instruction in this appendix is a set of
6333 flags, denoting the type of the instruction. The types are as follows:
6335 \b \c{8086}, \c{186}, \c{286}, \c{386}, \c{486}, \c{PENT} and \c{P6}
6336 denote the lowest processor type that supports the instruction. Most
6337 instructions run on all processors above the given type; those that
6338 do not are documented. The Pentium II contains no additional
6339 instructions beyond the P6 (Pentium Pro); from the point of view of
6340 its instruction set, it can be thought of as a P6 with MMX
6343 \b \c{3DNOW} indicates that the instruction is a 3DNow! one, and will
6344 run on the AMD K6-2 and later processors. ATHLON extensions to the
6345 3DNow! instruction set are documented as such.
6347 \b \c{CYRIX} indicates that the instruction is specific to Cyrix
6348 processors, for example the extra MMX instructions in the Cyrix
6349 extended MMX instruction set.
6351 \b \c{FPU} indicates that the instruction is a floating-point one,
6352 and will only run on machines with a coprocessor (automatically
6353 including 486DX, Pentium and above).
6355 \b \c{KATMAI} indicates that the instruction was introduced as part
6356 of the Katmai New Instruction set. These instructions are available
6357 on the Pentium III and later processors. Those which are not
6358 specifically SSE instructions are also available on the AMD Athlon.
6360 \b \c{MMX} indicates that the instruction is an MMX one, and will
6361 run on MMX-capable Pentium processors and the Pentium II.
6363 \b \c{PRIV} indicates that the instruction is a protected-mode
6364 management instruction. Many of these may only be used in protected
6365 mode, or only at privilege level zero.
6367 \b \c{SSE} and \c{SSE2} indicate that the instruction is a Streaming
6368 SIMD Extension instruction. These instructions operate on multiple
6369 values in a single operation. SSE was introduced with the Pentium III
6370 and SSE2 was introduced with the Pentium 4.
6372 \b \c{UNDOC} indicates that the instruction is an undocumented one,
6373 and not part of the official Intel Architecture; it may or may not
6374 be supported on any given machine.
6376 \b \c{WILLAMETTE} indicates that the instruction was introduced as
6377 part of the new instruction set in the Pentium 4 and Intel Xeon
6378 processors. These instructions are also known as SSE2 instructions.
6381 \H{insAAA} \i\c{AAA}, \i\c{AAS}, \i\c{AAM}, \i\c{AAD}: ASCII
6388 \c AAD ; D5 0A [8086]
6389 \c AAD imm ; D5 ib [8086]
6391 \c AAM ; D4 0A [8086]
6392 \c AAM imm ; D4 ib [8086]
6394 These instructions are used in conjunction with the add, subtract,
6395 multiply and divide instructions to perform binary-coded decimal
6396 arithmetic in \e{unpacked} (one BCD digit per byte - easy to
6397 translate to and from \c{ASCII}, hence the instruction names) form.
6398 There are also packed BCD instructions \c{DAA} and \c{DAS}: see
6401 \b \c{AAA} (ASCII Adjust After Addition) should be used after a
6402 one-byte \c{ADD} instruction whose destination was the \c{AL}
6403 register: by means of examining the value in the low nibble of
6404 \c{AL} and also the auxiliary carry flag \c{AF}, it determines
6405 whether the addition has overflowed, and adjusts it (and sets
6406 the carry flag) if so. You can add long BCD strings together
6407 by doing \c{ADD}/\c{AAA} on the low digits, then doing
6408 \c{ADC}/\c{AAA} on each subsequent digit.
6410 \b \c{AAS} (ASCII Adjust AL After Subtraction) works similarly to
6411 \c{AAA}, but is for use after \c{SUB} instructions rather than
6414 \b \c{AAM} (ASCII Adjust AX After Multiply) is for use after you
6415 have multiplied two decimal digits together and left the result
6416 in \c{AL}: it divides \c{AL} by ten and stores the quotient in
6417 \c{AH}, leaving the remainder in \c{AL}. The divisor 10 can be
6418 changed by specifying an operand to the instruction: a particularly
6419 handy use of this is \c{AAM 16}, causing the two nibbles in \c{AL}
6420 to be separated into \c{AH} and \c{AL}.
6422 \b \c{AAD} (ASCII Adjust AX Before Division) performs the inverse
6423 operation to \c{AAM}: it multiplies \c{AH} by ten, adds it to
6424 \c{AL}, and sets \c{AH} to zero. Again, the multiplier 10 can
6428 \H{insADC} \i\c{ADC}: Add with Carry
6430 \c ADC r/m8,reg8 ; 10 /r [8086]
6431 \c ADC r/m16,reg16 ; o16 11 /r [8086]
6432 \c ADC r/m32,reg32 ; o32 11 /r [386]
6434 \c ADC reg8,r/m8 ; 12 /r [8086]
6435 \c ADC reg16,r/m16 ; o16 13 /r [8086]
6436 \c ADC reg32,r/m32 ; o32 13 /r [386]
6438 \c ADC r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /2 ib [8086]
6439 \c ADC r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /2 iw [8086]
6440 \c ADC r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /2 id [386]
6442 \c ADC r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /2 ib [8086]
6443 \c ADC r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /2 ib [386]
6445 \c ADC AL,imm8 ; 14 ib [8086]
6446 \c ADC AX,imm16 ; o16 15 iw [8086]
6447 \c ADC EAX,imm32 ; o32 15 id [386]
6449 \c{ADC} performs integer addition: it adds its two operands
6450 together, plus the value of the carry flag, and leaves the result in
6451 its destination (first) operand. The destination operand can be a
6452 register or a memory location. The source operand can be a register,
6453 a memory location or an immediate value.
6455 The flags are set according to the result of the operation: in
6456 particular, the carry flag is affected and can be used by a
6457 subsequent \c{ADC} instruction.
6459 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
6460 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
6461 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
6462 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
6463 form of the instruction.
6465 To add two numbers without also adding the contents of the carry
6466 flag, use \c{ADD} (\k{insADD}).
6469 \H{insADD} \i\c{ADD}: Add Integers
6471 \c ADD r/m8,reg8 ; 00 /r [8086]
6472 \c ADD r/m16,reg16 ; o16 01 /r [8086]
6473 \c ADD r/m32,reg32 ; o32 01 /r [386]
6475 \c ADD reg8,r/m8 ; 02 /r [8086]
6476 \c ADD reg16,r/m16 ; o16 03 /r [8086]
6477 \c ADD reg32,r/m32 ; o32 03 /r [386]
6479 \c ADD r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /0 ib [8086]
6480 \c ADD r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /0 iw [8086]
6481 \c ADD r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /0 id [386]
6483 \c ADD r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /0 ib [8086]
6484 \c ADD r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /0 ib [386]
6486 \c ADD AL,imm8 ; 04 ib [8086]
6487 \c ADD AX,imm16 ; o16 05 iw [8086]
6488 \c ADD EAX,imm32 ; o32 05 id [386]
6490 \c{ADD} performs integer addition: it adds its two operands
6491 together, and leaves the result in its destination (first) operand.
6492 The destination operand can be a register or a memory location.
6493 The source operand can be a register, a memory location or an
6496 The flags are set according to the result of the operation: in
6497 particular, the carry flag is affected and can be used by a
6498 subsequent \c{ADC} instruction.
6500 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
6501 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
6502 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
6503 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
6504 form of the instruction.
6507 \H{insADDPD} \i\c{ADDPD}: ADD Packed Double-Precision FP Values
6509 \c ADDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 58 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6511 \c{ADDPD} performs addition on each of two packed double-precision
6514 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] + src[0-63],
6515 \c dst[64-127] := dst[64-127] + src[64-127].
6517 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6518 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6521 \H{insADDPS} \i\c{ADDPS}: ADD Packed Single-Precision FP Values
6523 \c ADDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 58 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
6525 \c{ADDPS} performs addition on each of four packed single-precision
6528 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + src[0-31],
6529 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] + src[32-63],
6530 \c dst[64-95] := dst[64-95] + src[64-95],
6531 \c dst[96-127] := dst[96-127] + src[96-127].
6533 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6534 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6537 \H{insADDSD} \i\c{ADDSD}: ADD Scalar Double-Precision FP Values
6539 \c ADDSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F 58 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
6541 \c{ADDSD} adds the low double-precision FP values from the source
6542 and destination operands and stores the double-precision FP result
6543 in the destination operand.
6545 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] + src[0-63],
6546 \c dst[64-127) remains unchanged.
6548 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6549 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location.
6552 \H{insADDSS} \i\c{ADDSS}: ADD Scalar Single-Precision FP Values
6554 \c ADDSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 58 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6556 \c{ADDSD} adds the low single-precision FP values from the source
6557 and destination operands and stores the single-precision FP result
6558 in the destination operand.
6560 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + src[0-31],
6561 \c dst[32-127] remains unchanged.
6563 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6564 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location.
6567 \H{insAND} \i\c{AND}: Bitwise AND
6569 \c AND r/m8,reg8 ; 20 /r [8086]
6570 \c AND r/m16,reg16 ; o16 21 /r [8086]
6571 \c AND r/m32,reg32 ; o32 21 /r [386]
6573 \c AND reg8,r/m8 ; 22 /r [8086]
6574 \c AND reg16,r/m16 ; o16 23 /r [8086]
6575 \c AND reg32,r/m32 ; o32 23 /r [386]
6577 \c AND r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /4 ib [8086]
6578 \c AND r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /4 iw [8086]
6579 \c AND r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /4 id [386]
6581 \c AND r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /4 ib [8086]
6582 \c AND r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /4 ib [386]
6584 \c AND AL,imm8 ; 24 ib [8086]
6585 \c AND AX,imm16 ; o16 25 iw [8086]
6586 \c AND EAX,imm32 ; o32 25 id [386]
6588 \c{AND} performs a bitwise AND operation between its two operands
6589 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if the corresponding
6590 bits of the two inputs were both 1), and stores the result in the
6591 destination (first) operand. The destination operand can be a
6592 register or a memory location. The source operand can be a register,
6593 a memory location or an immediate value.
6595 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
6596 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
6597 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
6598 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
6599 form of the instruction.
6601 The \c{MMX} instruction \c{PAND} (see \k{insPAND}) performs the same
6602 operation on the 64-bit \c{MMX} registers.
6605 \H{insANDNPD} \i\c{ANDNPD}: Bitwise Logical AND NOT of
6606 Packed Double-Precision FP Values
6608 \c ANDNPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 55 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6610 \c{ANDNPD} inverts the bits of the two double-precision
6611 floating-point values in the destination register, and then
6612 performs a logical AND between the two double-precision
6613 floating-point values in the source operand and the temporary
6614 inverted result, storing the result in the destination register.
6616 \c dst[0-63] := src[0-63] AND NOT dst[0-63],
6617 \c dst[64-127] := src[64-127] AND NOT dst[64-127].
6619 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6620 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6623 \H{insANDNPS} \i\c{ANDNPS}: Bitwise Logical AND NOT of
6624 Packed Single-Precision FP Values
6626 \c ANDNPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 55 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
6628 \c{ANDNPS} inverts the bits of the four single-precision
6629 floating-point values in the destination register, and then
6630 performs a logical AND between the four single-precision
6631 floating-point values in the source operand and the temporary
6632 inverted result, storing the result in the destination register.
6634 \c dst[0-31] := src[0-31] AND NOT dst[0-31],
6635 \c dst[32-63] := src[32-63] AND NOT dst[32-63],
6636 \c dst[64-95] := src[64-95] AND NOT dst[64-95],
6637 \c dst[96-127] := src[96-127] AND NOT dst[96-127].
6639 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6640 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6643 \H{insANDPD} \i\c{ANDPD}: Bitwise Logical AND For Single FP
6645 \c ANDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 54 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6647 \c{ANDPD} performs a bitwise logical AND of the two double-precision
6648 floating point values in the source and destination operand, and
6649 stores the result in the destination register.
6651 \c dst[0-63] := src[0-63] AND dst[0-63],
6652 \c dst[64-127] := src[64-127] AND dst[64-127].
6654 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6655 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6658 \H{insANDPS} \i\c{ANDPS}: Bitwise Logical AND For Single FP
6660 \c ANDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 54 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
6662 \c{ANDPS} performs a bitwise logical AND of the four single-precision
6663 floating point values in the source and destination operand, and
6664 stores the result in the destination register.
6666 \c dst[0-31] := src[0-31] AND dst[0-31],
6667 \c dst[32-63] := src[32-63] AND dst[32-63],
6668 \c dst[64-95] := src[64-95] AND dst[64-95],
6669 \c dst[96-127] := src[96-127] AND dst[96-127].
6671 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6672 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6675 \H{insARPL} \i\c{ARPL}: Adjust RPL Field of Selector
6677 \c ARPL r/m16,reg16 ; 63 /r [286,PRIV]
6679 \c{ARPL} expects its two word operands to be segment selectors. It
6680 adjusts the \i\c{RPL} (requested privilege level - stored in the bottom
6681 two bits of the selector) field of the destination (first) operand
6682 to ensure that it is no less (i.e. no more privileged than) the \c{RPL}
6683 field of the source operand. The zero flag is set if and only if a
6684 change had to be made.
6687 \H{insBOUND} \i\c{BOUND}: Check Array Index against Bounds
6689 \c BOUND reg16,mem ; o16 62 /r [186]
6690 \c BOUND reg32,mem ; o32 62 /r [386]
6692 \c{BOUND} expects its second operand to point to an area of memory
6693 containing two signed values of the same size as its first operand
6694 (i.e. two words for the 16-bit form; two doublewords for the 32-bit
6695 form). It performs two signed comparisons: if the value in the
6696 register passed as its first operand is less than the first of the
6697 in-memory values, or is greater than or equal to the second, it
6698 throws a \c{BR} exception. Otherwise, it does nothing.
6701 \H{insBSF} \i\c{BSF}, \i\c{BSR}: Bit Scan
6703 \c BSF reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F BC /r [386]
6704 \c BSF reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F BC /r [386]
6706 \c BSR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F BD /r [386]
6707 \c BSR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F BD /r [386]
6709 \b \c{BSF} searches for the least significant set bit in its source
6710 (second) operand, and if it finds one, stores the index in
6711 its destination (first) operand. If no set bit is found, the
6712 contents of the destination operand are undefined. If the source
6713 operand is zero, the zero flag is set.
6715 \b \c{BSR} performs the same function, but searches from the top
6716 instead, so it finds the most significant set bit.
6718 Bit indices are from 0 (least significant) to 15 or 31 (most
6719 significant). The destination operand can only be a register.
6720 The source operand can be a register or a memory location.
6723 \H{insBSWAP} \i\c{BSWAP}: Byte Swap
6725 \c BSWAP reg32 ; o32 0F C8+r [486]
6727 \c{BSWAP} swaps the order of the four bytes of a 32-bit register:
6728 bits 0-7 exchange places with bits 24-31, and bits 8-15 swap with
6729 bits 16-23. There is no explicit 16-bit equivalent: to byte-swap
6730 \c{AX}, \c{BX}, \c{CX} or \c{DX}, \c{XCHG} can be used. When \c{BSWAP}
6731 is used with a 16-bit register, the result is undefined.
6734 \H{insBT} \i\c{BT}, \i\c{BTC}, \i\c{BTR}, \i\c{BTS}: Bit Test
6736 \c BT r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F A3 /r [386]
6737 \c BT r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F A3 /r [386]
6738 \c BT r/m16,imm8 ; o16 0F BA /4 ib [386]
6739 \c BT r/m32,imm8 ; o32 0F BA /4 ib [386]
6741 \c BTC r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F BB /r [386]
6742 \c BTC r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F BB /r [386]
6743 \c BTC r/m16,imm8 ; o16 0F BA /7 ib [386]
6744 \c BTC r/m32,imm8 ; o32 0F BA /7 ib [386]
6746 \c BTR r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F B3 /r [386]
6747 \c BTR r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F B3 /r [386]
6748 \c BTR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 0F BA /6 ib [386]
6749 \c BTR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 0F BA /6 ib [386]
6751 \c BTS r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F AB /r [386]
6752 \c BTS r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F AB /r [386]
6753 \c BTS r/m16,imm ; o16 0F BA /5 ib [386]
6754 \c BTS r/m32,imm ; o32 0F BA /5 ib [386]
6756 These instructions all test one bit of their first operand, whose
6757 index is given by the second operand, and store the value of that
6758 bit into the carry flag. Bit indices are from 0 (least significant)
6759 to 15 or 31 (most significant).
6761 In addition to storing the original value of the bit into the carry
6762 flag, \c{BTR} also resets (clears) the bit in the operand itself.
6763 \c{BTS} sets the bit, and \c{BTC} complements the bit. \c{BT} does
6764 not modify its operands.
6766 The destination can be a register or a memory location. The source can
6767 be a register or an immediate value.
6769 If the destination operand is a register, the bit offset should be
6770 in the range 0-15 (for 16-bit operands) or 0-31 (for 32-bit operands).
6771 An immediate value outside these ranges will be taken modulo 16/32
6774 If the destination operand is a memory location, then an immediate
6775 bit offset follows the same rules as for a register. If the bit offset
6776 is in a register, then it can be anything within the signed range of
6777 the register used (ie, for a 32-bit operand, it can be (-2^31) to (2^31 - 1)
6780 \H{insCALL} \i\c{CALL}: Call Subroutine
6782 \c CALL imm ; E8 rw/rd [8086]
6783 \c CALL imm:imm16 ; o16 9A iw iw [8086]
6784 \c CALL imm:imm32 ; o32 9A id iw [386]
6785 \c CALL FAR mem16 ; o16 FF /3 [8086]
6786 \c CALL FAR mem32 ; o32 FF /3 [386]
6787 \c CALL r/m16 ; o16 FF /2 [8086]
6788 \c CALL r/m32 ; o32 FF /2 [386]
6790 \c{CALL} calls a subroutine, by means of pushing the current
6791 instruction pointer (\c{IP}) and optionally \c{CS} as well on the
6792 stack, and then jumping to a given address.
6794 \c{CS} is pushed as well as \c{IP} if and only if the call is a far
6795 call, i.e. a destination segment address is specified in the
6796 instruction. The forms involving two colon-separated arguments are
6797 far calls; so are the \c{CALL FAR mem} forms.
6799 The immediate \i{near call} takes one of two forms (\c{call imm16/imm32},
6800 determined by the current segment size limit. For 16-bit operands,
6801 you would use \c{CALL 0x1234}, and for 32-bit operands you would use
6802 \c{CALL 0x12345678}. The value passed as an operand is a relative offset.
6804 You can choose between the two immediate \i{far call} forms
6805 (\c{CALL imm:imm}) by the use of the \c{WORD} and \c{DWORD} keywords:
6806 \c{CALL WORD 0x1234:0x5678}) or \c{CALL DWORD 0x1234:0x56789abc}.
6808 The \c{CALL FAR mem} forms execute a far call by loading the
6809 destination address out of memory. The address loaded consists of 16
6810 or 32 bits of offset (depending on the operand size), and 16 bits of
6811 segment. The operand size may be overridden using \c{CALL WORD FAR
6812 mem} or \c{CALL DWORD FAR mem}.
6814 The \c{CALL r/m} forms execute a \i{near call} (within the same
6815 segment), loading the destination address out of memory or out of a
6816 register. The keyword \c{NEAR} may be specified, for clarity, in
6817 these forms, but is not necessary. Again, operand size can be
6818 overridden using \c{CALL WORD mem} or \c{CALL DWORD mem}.
6820 As a convenience, NASM does not require you to call a far procedure
6821 symbol by coding the cumbersome \c{CALL SEG routine:routine}, but
6822 instead allows the easier synonym \c{CALL FAR routine}.
6824 The \c{CALL r/m} forms given above are near calls; NASM will accept
6825 the \c{NEAR} keyword (e.g. \c{CALL NEAR [address]}), even though it
6826 is not strictly necessary.
6829 \H{insCBW} \i\c{CBW}, \i\c{CWD}, \i\c{CDQ}, \i\c{CWDE}: Sign Extensions
6831 \c CBW ; o16 98 [8086]
6832 \c CWDE ; o32 98 [386]
6834 \c CWD ; o16 99 [8086]
6835 \c CDQ ; o32 99 [386]
6837 All these instructions sign-extend a short value into a longer one,
6838 by replicating the top bit of the original value to fill the
6841 \c{CBW} extends \c{AL} into \c{AX} by repeating the top bit of
6842 \c{AL} in every bit of \c{AH}. \c{CWDE} extends \c{AX} into
6843 \c{EAX}. \c{CWD} extends \c{AX} into \c{DX:AX} by repeating
6844 the top bit of \c{AX} throughout \c{DX}, and \c{CDQ} extends
6845 \c{EAX} into \c{EDX:EAX}.
6848 \H{insCLC} \i\c{CLC}, \i\c{CLD}, \i\c{CLI}, \i\c{CLTS}: Clear Flags
6853 \c CLTS ; 0F 06 [286,PRIV]
6855 These instructions clear various flags. \c{CLC} clears the carry
6856 flag; \c{CLD} clears the direction flag; \c{CLI} clears the
6857 interrupt flag (thus disabling interrupts); and \c{CLTS} clears the
6858 task-switched (\c{TS}) flag in \c{CR0}.
6860 To set the carry, direction, or interrupt flags, use the \c{STC},
6861 \c{STD} and \c{STI} instructions (\k{insSTC}). To invert the carry
6862 flag, use \c{CMC} (\k{insCMC}).
6865 \H{insCLFLUSH} \i\c{CLFLUSH}: Flush Cache Line
6867 \c CLFLUSH mem ; 0F AE /7 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6869 \c{CLFLUSH} invlidates the cache line that contains the linear address
6870 specified by the source operand from all levels of the processor cache
6871 hierarchy (data and instruction). If, at any level of the cache
6872 hierarchy, the line is inconsistent with memory (dirty) it is written
6873 to memory before invalidation. The source operand points to a
6874 byte-sized memory location.
6876 Although \c{CLFLUSH} is flagged \c{SSE2} and above, it may not be
6877 present on all processors which have \c{SSE2} support, and it may be
6878 supported on other processors; the \c{CPUID} instruction (\k{insCPUID})
6879 will return a bit which indicates support for the \c{CLFLUSH} instruction.
6882 \H{insCMC} \i\c{CMC}: Complement Carry Flag
6886 \c{CMC} changes the value of the carry flag: if it was 0, it sets it
6887 to 1, and vice versa.
6890 \H{insCMOVcc} \i\c{CMOVcc}: Conditional Move
6892 \c CMOVcc reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 40+cc /r [P6]
6893 \c CMOVcc reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 40+cc /r [P6]
6895 \c{CMOV} moves its source (second) operand into its destination
6896 (first) operand if the given condition code is satisfied; otherwise
6899 For a list of condition codes, see \k{iref-cc}.
6901 Although the \c{CMOV} instructions are flagged \c{P6} and above, they
6902 may not be supported by all Pentium Pro processors; the \c{CPUID}
6903 instruction (\k{insCPUID}) will return a bit which indicates whether
6904 conditional moves are supported.
6907 \H{insCMP} \i\c{CMP}: Compare Integers
6909 \c CMP r/m8,reg8 ; 38 /r [8086]
6910 \c CMP r/m16,reg16 ; o16 39 /r [8086]
6911 \c CMP r/m32,reg32 ; o32 39 /r [386]
6913 \c CMP reg8,r/m8 ; 3A /r [8086]
6914 \c CMP reg16,r/m16 ; o16 3B /r [8086]
6915 \c CMP reg32,r/m32 ; o32 3B /r [386]
6917 \c CMP r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /0 ib [8086]
6918 \c CMP r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /0 iw [8086]
6919 \c CMP r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /0 id [386]
6921 \c CMP r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /0 ib [8086]
6922 \c CMP r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /0 ib [386]
6924 \c CMP AL,imm8 ; 3C ib [8086]
6925 \c CMP AX,imm16 ; o16 3D iw [8086]
6926 \c CMP EAX,imm32 ; o32 3D id [386]
6928 \c{CMP} performs a `mental' subtraction of its second operand from
6929 its first operand, and affects the flags as if the subtraction had
6930 taken place, but does not store the result of the subtraction
6933 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
6934 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
6935 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
6936 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
6937 form of the instruction.
6939 The destination operand can be a register or a memory location. The
6940 source can be a register, memory location or an immediate value of
6941 the same size as the destination.
6944 \H{insCMPccPD} \i\c{CMPccPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Compare
6945 \I\c{CMPEQPD} \I\c{CMPLTPD} \I\c{CMPLEPD} \I\c{CMPUNORDPD}
6946 \I\c{CMPNEQPD} \I\c{CMPNLTPD} \I\c{CMPNLEPD} \I\c{CMPORDPD}
6948 \c CMPPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128,imm8 ; 66 0F C2 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6950 \c CMPEQPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 00 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6951 \c CMPLTPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 01 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6952 \c CMPLEPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 02 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6953 \c CMPUNORDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 03 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6954 \c CMPNEQPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 04 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6955 \c CMPNLTPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 05 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6956 \c CMPNLEPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 06 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6957 \c CMPORDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 07 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6959 The \c{CMPccPD} instructions compare the two packed double-precision
6960 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
6961 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
6962 each comparison is a quadword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
6963 all 0s (comparison false).
6965 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
6966 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6968 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
6969 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
6970 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
6971 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
6972 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
6976 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
6977 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
6979 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
6980 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
6983 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
6984 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
6987 \H{insCMPccPS} \i\c{CMPccPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Compare
6988 \I\c{CMPEQPS} \I\c{CMPLTPS} \I\c{CMPLEPS} \I\c{CMPUNORDPS}
6989 \I\c{CMPNEQPS} \I\c{CMPNLTPS} \I\c{CMPNLEPS} \I\c{CMPORDPS}
6991 \c CMPPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128,imm8 ; 0F C2 /r ib [KATMAI,SSE]
6993 \c CMPEQPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 00 [KATMAI,SSE]
6994 \c CMPLTPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 01 [KATMAI,SSE]
6995 \c CMPLEPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 02 [KATMAI,SSE]
6996 \c CMPUNORDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 03 [KATMAI,SSE]
6997 \c CMPNEQPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 04 [KATMAI,SSE]
6998 \c CMPNLTPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 05 [KATMAI,SSE]
6999 \c CMPNLEPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 06 [KATMAI,SSE]
7000 \c CMPORDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 07 [KATMAI,SSE]
7002 The \c{CMPccPS} instructions compare the two packed single-precision
7003 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
7004 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
7005 each comparison is a doubleword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
7006 all 0s (comparison false).
7008 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
7009 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7011 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
7012 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
7013 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
7014 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
7015 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
7019 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
7020 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
7022 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
7023 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
7026 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
7027 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7030 \H{insCMPSB} \i\c{CMPSB}, \i\c{CMPSW}, \i\c{CMPSD}: Compare Strings
7032 \c CMPSB ; A6 [8086]
7033 \c CMPSW ; o16 A7 [8086]
7034 \c CMPSD ; o32 A7 [386]
7036 \c{CMPSB} compares the byte at \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} with the
7037 byte at \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]}, and sets the flags accordingly.
7038 It then increments or decrements (depending on the direction flag:
7039 increments if the flag is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{SI} and
7040 \c{DI} (or \c{ESI} and \c{EDI}).
7042 The registers used are \c{SI} and \c{DI} if the address size is 16
7043 bits, and \c{ESI} and \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use
7044 an address size not equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can
7045 use an explicit \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
7047 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
7048 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
7049 example, \c{ES CMPSB}). The use of \c{ES} for the load from \c{[DI]}
7050 or \c{[EDI]} cannot be overridden.
7052 \c{CMPSW} and \c{CMPSD} work in the same way, but they compare a
7053 word or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement
7054 the addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
7056 The \c{REPE} and \c{REPNE} prefixes (equivalently, \c{REPZ} and
7057 \c{REPNZ}) may be used to repeat the instruction up to \c{CX} (or
7058 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times until the
7059 first unequal or equal byte is found.
7062 \H{insCMPccSD} \i\c{CMPccSD}: Scalar Double-Precision FP Compare
7063 \I\c{CMPEQSD} \I\c{CMPLTSD} \I\c{CMPLESD} \I\c{CMPUNORDSD}
7064 \I\c{CMPNEQSD} \I\c{CMPNLTSD} \I\c{CMPNLESD} \I\c{CMPORDSD}
7066 \c CMPSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64,imm8 ; F2 0F C2 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7068 \c CMPEQSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 00 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7069 \c CMPLTSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 01 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7070 \c CMPLESD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 02 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7071 \c CMPUNORDSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 03 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7072 \c CMPNEQSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 04 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7073 \c CMPNLTSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 05 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7074 \c CMPNLESD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 06 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7075 \c CMPORDSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 07 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7077 The \c{CMPccSD} instructions compare the low-order double-precision
7078 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
7079 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
7080 each comparison is a quadword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
7081 all 0s (comparison false).
7083 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
7084 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7086 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
7087 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
7088 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
7089 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
7090 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
7094 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
7095 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
7097 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
7098 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
7101 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
7102 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7105 \H{insCMPccSS} \i\c{CMPccSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Compare
7106 \I\c{CMPEQSS} \I\c{CMPLTSS} \I\c{CMPLESS} \I\c{CMPUNORDSS}
7107 \I\c{CMPNEQSS} \I\c{CMPNLTSS} \I\c{CMPNLESS} \I\c{CMPORDSS}
7109 \c CMPSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32,imm8 ; F3 0F C2 /r ib [KATMAI,SSE]
7111 \c CMPEQSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 00 [KATMAI,SSE]
7112 \c CMPLTSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 01 [KATMAI,SSE]
7113 \c CMPLESS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 02 [KATMAI,SSE]
7114 \c CMPUNORDSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 03 [KATMAI,SSE]
7115 \c CMPNEQSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 04 [KATMAI,SSE]
7116 \c CMPNLTSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 05 [KATMAI,SSE]
7117 \c CMPNLESS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 06 [KATMAI,SSE]
7118 \c CMPORDSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 07 [KATMAI,SSE]
7120 The \c{CMPccSS} instructions compare the low-order single-precision
7121 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
7122 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
7123 each comparison is a doubleword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
7124 all 0s (comparison false).
7126 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
7127 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7129 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
7130 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
7131 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
7132 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
7133 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
7137 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
7138 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
7140 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
7141 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
7144 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
7145 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7148 \H{insCMPXCHG} \i\c{CMPXCHG}, \i\c{CMPXCHG486}: Compare and Exchange
7150 \c CMPXCHG r/m8,reg8 ; 0F B0 /r [PENT]
7151 \c CMPXCHG r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F B1 /r [PENT]
7152 \c CMPXCHG r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F B1 /r [PENT]
7154 \c CMPXCHG486 r/m8,reg8 ; 0F A6 /r [486,UNDOC]
7155 \c CMPXCHG486 r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F A7 /r [486,UNDOC]
7156 \c CMPXCHG486 r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F A7 /r [486,UNDOC]
7158 These two instructions perform exactly the same operation; however,
7159 apparently some (not all) 486 processors support it under a
7160 non-standard opcode, so NASM provides the undocumented
7161 \c{CMPXCHG486} form to generate the non-standard opcode.
7163 \c{CMPXCHG} compares its destination (first) operand to the value in
7164 \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{EAX} (depending on the operand size of the
7165 instruction). If they are equal, it copies its source (second)
7166 operand into the destination and sets the zero flag. Otherwise, it
7167 clears the zero flag and leaves the destination alone.
7169 The destination can be either a register or a memory location. The
7170 source is a register.
7172 \c{CMPXCHG} is intended to be used for atomic operations in
7173 multitasking or multiprocessor environments. To safely update a
7174 value in shared memory, for example, you might load the value into
7175 \c{EAX}, load the updated value into \c{EBX}, and then execute the
7176 instruction \c{LOCK CMPXCHG [value],EBX}. If \c{value} has not
7177 changed since being loaded, it is updated with your desired new
7178 value, and the zero flag is set to let you know it has worked. (The
7179 \c{LOCK} prefix prevents another processor doing anything in the
7180 middle of this operation: it guarantees atomicity.) However, if
7181 another processor has modified the value in between your load and
7182 your attempted store, the store does not happen, and you are
7183 notified of the failure by a cleared zero flag, so you can go round
7187 \H{insCMPXCHG8B} \i\c{CMPXCHG8B}: Compare and Exchange Eight Bytes
7189 \c CMPXCHG8B mem ; 0F C7 /1 [PENT]
7191 This is a larger and more unwieldy version of \c{CMPXCHG}: it
7192 compares the 64-bit (eight-byte) value stored at \c{[mem]} with the
7193 value in \c{EDX:EAX}. If they are equal, it sets the zero flag and
7194 stores \c{ECX:EBX} into the memory area. If they are unequal, it
7195 clears the zero flag and leaves the memory area untouched.
7197 \c{CMPXCHG8B} can be used with the \c{LOCK} prefix, to allow atomic
7198 execution. This is useful in multi-processor and multi-tasking
7202 \H{insCOMISD} \i\c{COMISD}: Scalar Ordered Double-Precision FP Compare and Set EFLAGS
7204 \c COMISD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; 66 0F 2F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7206 \c{COMISD} compares the low-order double-precision FP value in the
7207 two source operands. ZF, PF and CF are set according to the result.
7208 OF, AF and AF are cleared. The unordered result is returned if either
7209 source is a NaN (QNaN or SNaN).
7211 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7212 an \c{XMM} register or a memory location.
7214 The flags are set according to the following rules:
7216 \c Result Flags Values
7218 \c UNORDERED: ZF,PF,CF <-- 111;
7219 \c GREATER_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 000;
7220 \c LESS_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 001;
7221 \c EQUAL: ZF,PF,CF <-- 100;
7224 \H{insCOMISS} \i\c{COMISS}: Scalar Ordered Single-Precision FP Compare and Set EFLAGS
7226 \c COMISS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; 66 0F 2F /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7228 \c{COMISS} compares the low-order single-precision FP value in the
7229 two source operands. ZF, PF and CF are set according to the result.
7230 OF, AF and AF are cleared. The unordered result is returned if either
7231 source is a NaN (QNaN or SNaN).
7233 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7234 an \c{XMM} register or a memory location.
7236 The flags are set according to the following rules:
7238 \c Result Flags Values
7240 \c UNORDERED: ZF,PF,CF <-- 111;
7241 \c GREATER_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 000;
7242 \c LESS_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 001;
7243 \c EQUAL: ZF,PF,CF <-- 100;
7246 \H{insCPUID} \i\c{CPUID}: Get CPU Identification Code
7248 \c CPUID ; 0F A2 [PENT]
7250 \c{CPUID} returns various information about the processor it is
7251 being executed on. It fills the four registers \c{EAX}, \c{EBX},
7252 \c{ECX} and \c{EDX} with information, which varies depending on the
7253 input contents of \c{EAX}.
7255 \c{CPUID} also acts as a barrier to serialise instruction execution:
7256 executing the \c{CPUID} instruction guarantees that all the effects
7257 (memory modification, flag modification, register modification) of
7258 previous instructions have been completed before the next
7259 instruction gets fetched.
7261 The information returned is as follows:
7263 \b If \c{EAX} is zero on input, \c{EAX} on output holds the maximum
7264 acceptable input value of \c{EAX}, and \c{EBX:EDX:ECX} contain the
7265 string \c{"GenuineIntel"} (or not, if you have a clone processor).
7266 That is to say, \c{EBX} contains \c{"Genu"} (in NASM's own sense of
7267 character constants, described in \k{chrconst}), \c{EDX} contains
7268 \c{"ineI"} and \c{ECX} contains \c{"ntel"}.
7270 \b If \c{EAX} is one on input, \c{EAX} on output contains version
7271 information about the processor, and \c{EDX} contains a set of
7272 feature flags, showing the presence and absence of various features.
7273 For example, bit 8 is set if the \c{CMPXCHG8B} instruction
7274 (\k{insCMPXCHG8B}) is supported, bit 15 is set if the conditional
7275 move instructions (\k{insCMOVcc} and \k{insFCMOVB}) are supported,
7276 and bit 23 is set if \c{MMX} instructions are supported.
7278 \b If \c{EAX} is two on input, \c{EAX}, \c{EBX}, \c{ECX} and \c{EDX}
7279 all contain information about caches and TLBs (Translation Lookahead
7282 For more information on the data returned from \c{CPUID}, see the
7283 documentation from Intel and other processor manufacturers.
7286 \H{insCVTDQ2PD} \i\c{CVTDQ2PD}:
7287 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Double-Precision FP Conversion
7289 \c CVTDQ2PD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F3 0F E6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7291 \c{CVTDQ2PD} converts two packed signed doublewords from the source
7292 operand to two packed double-precision FP values in the destination
7295 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7296 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
7297 source is a register, the packed integers are in the low quadword.
7300 \H{insCVTDQ2PS} \i\c{CVTDQ2PS}:
7301 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Single-Precision FP Conversion
7303 \c CVTDQ2PS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 5B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7305 \c{CVTDQ2PS} converts four packed signed doublewords from the source
7306 operand to four packed single-precision FP values in the destination
7309 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7310 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7312 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7315 \H{insCVTPD2DQ} \i\c{CVTPD2DQ}:
7316 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
7318 \c CVTPD2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; F2 0F E6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7320 \c{CVTPD2DQ} converts two packed double-precision FP values from the
7321 source operand to two packed signed doublewords in the low quadword
7322 of the destination operand. The high quadword of the destination is
7325 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7326 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7328 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7331 \H{insCVTPD2PI} \i\c{CVTPD2PI}:
7332 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
7334 \c CVTPD2PI mm,xmm/mem128 ; 66 0F 2D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7336 \c{CVTPD2PI} converts two packed double-precision FP values from the
7337 source operand to two packed signed doublewords in the destination
7340 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
7341 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7343 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7346 \H{insCVTPD2PS} \i\c{CVTPD2PS}:
7347 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Single-Precision FP Conversion
7349 \c CVTPD2PS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 5A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7351 \c{CVTPD2PS} converts two packed double-precision FP values from the
7352 source operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the low
7353 quadword of the destination operand. The high quadword of the
7354 destination is set to all 0s.
7356 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7357 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7359 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7362 \H{insCVTPI2PD} \i\c{CVTPI2PD}:
7363 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Double-Precision FP Conversion
7365 \c CVTPI2PD xmm,mm/mem64 ; 66 0F 2A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7367 \c{CVTPI2PD} converts two packed signed doublewords from the source
7368 operand to two packed double-precision FP values in the destination
7371 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7372 either an \c{MMX} register or a 64-bit memory location.
7374 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7377 \H{insCVTPI2PS} \i\c{CVTPI2PS}:
7378 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Single-FP Conversion
7380 \c CVTPI2PS xmm,mm/mem64 ; 0F 2A /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7382 \c{CVTPI2PS} converts two packed signed doublewords from the source
7383 operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the low quadword
7384 of the destination operand. The high quadword of the destination
7387 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7388 either an \c{MMX} register or a 64-bit memory location.
7390 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7393 \H{insCVTPS2DQ} \i\c{CVTPS2DQ}:
7394 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
7396 \c CVTPS2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 5B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7398 \c{CVTPS2DQ} converts four packed single-precision FP values from the
7399 source operand to four packed signed doublewords in the destination operand.
7401 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7402 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7404 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7407 \H{insCVTPS2PD} \i\c{CVTPS2PD}:
7408 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Double-Precision FP Conversion
7410 \c CVTPS2PD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; 0F 5A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7412 \c{CVTPS2PD} converts two packed single-precision FP values from the
7413 source operand to two packed double-precision FP values in the destination
7416 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7417 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the source
7418 is a register, the input values are in the low quadword.
7420 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7423 \H{insCVTPS2PI} \i\c{CVTPS2PI}:
7424 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
7426 \c CVTPS2PI mm,xmm/mem64 ; 0F 2D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7428 \c{CVTPS2PI} converts two packed single-precision FP values from
7429 the source operand to two packed signed doublewords in the destination
7432 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
7433 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
7434 source is a register, the input values are in the low quadword.
7436 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7439 \H{insCVTSD2SI} \i\c{CVTSD2SI}:
7440 Scalar Double-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion
7442 \c CVTSD2SI reg32,xmm/mem64 ; F2 0F 2D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7444 \c{CVTSD2SI} converts a double-precision FP value from the source
7445 operand to a signed doubleword in the destination operand.
7447 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
7448 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
7449 source is a register, the input value is in the low quadword.
7451 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7454 \H{insCVTSD2SS} \i\c{CVTSD2SS}:
7455 Scalar Double-Precision FP to Scalar Single-Precision FP Conversion
7457 \c CVTSD2SS xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F 5A /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7459 \c{CVTSD2SS} converts a double-precision FP value from the source
7460 operand to a single-precision FP value in the low doubleword of the
7461 destination operand. The upper 3 doublewords are left unchanged.
7463 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7464 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
7465 source is a register, the input value is in the low quadword.
7467 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7470 \H{insCVTSI2SD} \i\c{CVTSI2SD}:
7471 Signed INT32 to Scalar Double-Precision FP Conversion
7473 \c CVTSI2SD xmm,r/m32 ; F2 0F 2A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7475 \c{CVTSI2SD} converts a signed doubleword from the source operand to
7476 a double-precision FP value in the low quadword of the destination
7477 operand. The high quadword is left unchanged.
7479 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7480 a general purpose register or a 32-bit memory location.
7482 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7485 \H{insCVTSI2SS} \i\c{CVTSI2SS}:
7486 Signed INT32 to Scalar Single-Precision FP Conversion
7488 \c CVTSI2SS xmm,r/m32 ; F3 0F 2A /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7490 \c{CVTSI2SS} converts a signed doubleword from the source operand to a
7491 single-precision FP value in the low doubleword of the destination operand.
7492 The upper 3 doublewords are left unchanged.
7494 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7495 a general purpose register or a 32-bit memory location.
7497 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7500 \H{insCVTSS2SD} \i\c{CVTSS2SD}:
7501 Scalar Single-Precision FP to Scalar Double-Precision FP Conversion
7503 \c CVTSS2SD xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 5A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7505 \c{CVTSS2SD} converts a single-precision FP value from the source operand
7506 to a double-precision FP value in the low quadword of the destination
7507 operand. The upper quadword is left unchanged.
7509 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7510 an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location. If the source is a
7511 register, the input value is contained in the low doubleword.
7513 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7516 \H{insCVTSS2SI} \i\c{CVTSS2SI}:
7517 Scalar Single-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion
7519 \c CVTSS2SI reg32,xmm/mem32 ; F3 0F 2D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7521 \c{CVTSS2SI} converts a single-precision FP value from the source
7522 operand to a signed doubleword in the destination operand.
7524 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
7525 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location. If the
7526 source is a register, the input value is in the low doubleword.
7528 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7531 \H{insCVTTPD2DQ} \i\c{CVTTPD2DQ}:
7532 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7534 \c CVTTPD2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F E6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7536 \c{CVTTPD2DQ} converts two packed double-precision FP values in the source
7537 operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the destination operand.
7538 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero). The high
7539 quadword is set to all 0s.
7541 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7542 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7544 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7547 \H{insCVTTPD2PI} \i\c{CVTTPD2PI}:
7548 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7550 \c CVTTPD2PI mm,xmm/mem128 ; 66 0F 2C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7552 \c{CVTTPD2PI} converts two packed double-precision FP values in the source
7553 operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the destination operand.
7554 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
7556 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
7557 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7559 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7562 \H{insCVTTPS2DQ} \i\c{CVTTPS2DQ}:
7563 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7565 \c CVTTPS2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; F3 0F 5B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7567 \c{CVTTPS2DQ} converts four packed single-precision FP values in the source
7568 operand to four packed signed doublewords in the destination operand.
7569 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
7571 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7572 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7574 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7577 \H{insCVTTPS2PI} \i\c{CVTTPS2PI}:
7578 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7580 \c CVTTPS2PI mm,xmm/mem64 ; 0F 2C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7582 \c{CVTTPS2PI} converts two packed single-precision FP values in the source
7583 operand to two packed signed doublewords in the destination operand.
7584 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero). If
7585 the source is a register, the input values are in the low quadword.
7587 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
7588 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the source
7589 is a register, the input value is in the low quadword.
7591 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7594 \H{insCVTTSD2SI} \i\c{CVTTSD2SI}:
7595 Scalar Double-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7597 \c CVTTSD2SI reg32,xmm/mem64 ; F2 0F 2C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7599 \c{CVTTSD2SI} converts a double-precision FP value in the source operand
7600 to a signed doubleword in the destination operand. If the result is
7601 inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
7603 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
7604 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the source is a
7605 register, the input value is in the low quadword.
7607 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7610 \H{insCVTTSS2SI} \i\c{CVTTSS2SI}:
7611 Scalar Single-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7613 \c CVTTSD2SI reg32,xmm/mem32 ; F3 0F 2C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7615 \c{CVTTSS2SI} converts a single-precision FP value in the source operand
7616 to a signed doubleword in the destination operand. If the result is
7617 inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
7619 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
7620 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location. If the source is a
7621 register, the input value is in the low doubleword.
7623 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7626 \H{insDAA} \i\c{DAA}, \i\c{DAS}: Decimal Adjustments
7631 These instructions are used in conjunction with the add and subtract
7632 instructions to perform binary-coded decimal arithmetic in
7633 \e{packed} (one BCD digit per nibble) form. For the unpacked
7634 equivalents, see \k{insAAA}.
7636 \c{DAA} should be used after a one-byte \c{ADD} instruction whose
7637 destination was the \c{AL} register: by means of examining the value
7638 in the \c{AL} and also the auxiliary carry flag \c{AF}, it
7639 determines whether either digit of the addition has overflowed, and
7640 adjusts it (and sets the carry and auxiliary-carry flags) if so. You
7641 can add long BCD strings together by doing \c{ADD}/\c{DAA} on the
7642 low two digits, then doing \c{ADC}/\c{DAA} on each subsequent pair
7645 \c{DAS} works similarly to \c{DAA}, but is for use after \c{SUB}
7646 instructions rather than \c{ADD}.
7649 \H{insDEC} \i\c{DEC}: Decrement Integer
7651 \c DEC reg16 ; o16 48+r [8086]
7652 \c DEC reg32 ; o32 48+r [386]
7653 \c DEC r/m8 ; FE /1 [8086]
7654 \c DEC r/m16 ; o16 FF /1 [8086]
7655 \c DEC r/m32 ; o32 FF /1 [386]
7657 \c{DEC} subtracts 1 from its operand. It does \e{not} affect the
7658 carry flag: to affect the carry flag, use \c{SUB something,1} (see
7659 \k{insSUB}). \c{DEC} affects all the other flags according to the result.
7661 This instruction can be used with a \c{LOCK} prefix to allow atomic
7664 See also \c{INC} (\k{insINC}).
7667 \H{insDIV} \i\c{DIV}: Unsigned Integer Divide
7669 \c DIV r/m8 ; F6 /6 [8086]
7670 \c DIV r/m16 ; o16 F7 /6 [8086]
7671 \c DIV r/m32 ; o32 F7 /6 [386]
7673 \c{DIV} performs unsigned integer division. The explicit operand
7674 provided is the divisor; the dividend and destination operands are
7675 implicit, in the following way:
7677 \b For \c{DIV r/m8}, \c{AX} is divided by the given operand; the
7678 quotient is stored in \c{AL} and the remainder in \c{AH}.
7680 \b For \c{DIV r/m16}, \c{DX:AX} is divided by the given operand; the
7681 quotient is stored in \c{AX} and the remainder in \c{DX}.
7683 \b For \c{DIV r/m32}, \c{EDX:EAX} is divided by the given operand;
7684 the quotient is stored in \c{EAX} and the remainder in \c{EDX}.
7686 Signed integer division is performed by the \c{IDIV} instruction:
7690 \H{insDIVPD} \i\c{DIVPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Divide
7692 \c DIVPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 5E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7694 \c{DIVPD} divides the two packed double-precision FP values in
7695 the destination operand by the two packed double-precision FP
7696 values in the source operand, and stores the packed double-precision
7697 results in the destination register.
7699 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7700 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7702 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] / src[0-63],
7703 \c dst[64-127] := dst[64-127] / src[64-127].
7706 \H{insDIVPS} \i\c{DIVPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Divide
7708 \c DIVPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 5E /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7710 \c{DIVPD} divides the four packed single-precision FP values in
7711 the destination operand by the four packed single-precision FP
7712 values in the source operand, and stores the packed single-precision
7713 results in the destination register.
7715 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7716 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7718 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] / src[0-31],
7719 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] / src[32-63],
7720 \c dst[64-95] := dst[64-95] / src[64-95],
7721 \c dst[96-127] := dst[96-127] / src[96-127].
7724 \H{insDIVSD} \i\c{DIVPD}: Scalar Double-Precision FP Divide
7726 \c DIVSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F 5E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7728 \c{DIVSD} divides the low-order double-precision FP value in the
7729 destination operand by the low-order double-precision FP value in
7730 the source operand, and stores the double-precision result in the
7731 destination register.
7733 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7734 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location.
7736 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] / src[0-63],
7737 \c dst[64-127] remains unchanged.
7740 \H{insDIVSS} \i\c{DIVSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Divide
7742 \c DIVSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 5E /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7744 \c{DIVSS} divides the low-order single-precision FP value in the
7745 destination operand by the low-order single-precision FP value in
7746 the source operand, and stores the single-precision result in the
7747 destination register.
7749 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7750 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location.
7752 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] / src[0-31],
7753 \c dst[32-127] remains unchanged.
7756 \H{insEMMS} \i\c{EMMS}: Empty MMX State
7758 \c EMMS ; 0F 77 [PENT,MMX]
7760 \c{EMMS} sets the FPU tag word (marking which floating-point registers
7761 are available) to all ones, meaning all registers are available for
7762 the FPU to use. It should be used after executing \c{MMX} instructions
7763 and before executing any subsequent floating-point operations.
7766 \H{insENTER} \i\c{ENTER}: Create Stack Frame
7768 \c ENTER imm,imm ; C8 iw ib [186]
7770 \c{ENTER} constructs a \i\c{stack frame} for a high-level language
7771 procedure call. The first operand (the \c{iw} in the opcode
7772 definition above refers to the first operand) gives the amount of
7773 stack space to allocate for local variables; the second (the \c{ib}
7774 above) gives the nesting level of the procedure (for languages like
7775 Pascal, with nested procedures).
7777 The function of \c{ENTER}, with a nesting level of zero, is
7780 \c PUSH EBP ; or PUSH BP in 16 bits
7781 \c MOV EBP,ESP ; or MOV BP,SP in 16 bits
7782 \c SUB ESP,operand1 ; or SUB SP,operand1 in 16 bits
7784 This creates a stack frame with the procedure parameters accessible
7785 upwards from \c{EBP}, and local variables accessible downwards from
7788 With a nesting level of one, the stack frame created is 4 (or 2)
7789 bytes bigger, and the value of the final frame pointer \c{EBP} is
7790 accessible in memory at \c{[EBP-4]}.
7792 This allows \c{ENTER}, when called with a nesting level of two, to
7793 look at the stack frame described by the \e{previous} value of
7794 \c{EBP}, find the frame pointer at offset -4 from that, and push it
7795 along with its new frame pointer, so that when a level-two procedure
7796 is called from within a level-one procedure, \c{[EBP-4]} holds the
7797 frame pointer of the most recent level-one procedure call and
7798 \c{[EBP-8]} holds that of the most recent level-two call. And so on,
7799 for nesting levels up to 31.
7801 Stack frames created by \c{ENTER} can be destroyed by the \c{LEAVE}
7802 instruction: see \k{insLEAVE}.
7805 \H{insF2XM1} \i\c{F2XM1}: Calculate 2**X-1
7807 \c F2XM1 ; D9 F0 [8086,FPU]
7809 \c{F2XM1} raises 2 to the power of \c{ST0}, subtracts one, and
7810 stores the result back into \c{ST0}. The initial contents of \c{ST0}
7811 must be a number in the range -1.0 to +1.0.
7814 \H{insFABS} \i\c{FABS}: Floating-Point Absolute Value
7816 \c FABS ; D9 E1 [8086,FPU]
7818 \c{FABS} computes the absolute value of \c{ST0},by clearing the sign
7819 bit, and stores the result back in \c{ST0}.
7822 \H{insFADD} \i\c{FADD}, \i\c{FADDP}: Floating-Point Addition
7824 \c FADD mem32 ; D8 /0 [8086,FPU]
7825 \c FADD mem64 ; DC /0 [8086,FPU]
7827 \c FADD fpureg ; D8 C0+r [8086,FPU]
7828 \c FADD ST0,fpureg ; D8 C0+r [8086,FPU]
7830 \c FADD TO fpureg ; DC C0+r [8086,FPU]
7831 \c FADD fpureg,ST0 ; DC C0+r [8086,FPU]
7833 \c FADDP fpureg ; DE C0+r [8086,FPU]
7834 \c FADDP fpureg,ST0 ; DE C0+r [8086,FPU]
7836 \b \c{FADD}, given one operand, adds the operand to \c{ST0} and stores
7837 the result back in \c{ST0}. If the operand has the \c{TO} modifier,
7838 the result is stored in the register given rather than in \c{ST0}.
7840 \b \c{FADDP} performs the same function as \c{FADD TO}, but pops the
7841 register stack after storing the result.
7843 The given two-operand forms are synonyms for the one-operand forms.
7845 To add an integer value to \c{ST0}, use the c{FIADD} instruction
7849 \H{insFBLD} \i\c{FBLD}, \i\c{FBSTP}: BCD Floating-Point Load and Store
7851 \c FBLD mem80 ; DF /4 [8086,FPU]
7852 \c FBSTP mem80 ; DF /6 [8086,FPU]
7854 \c{FBLD} loads an 80-bit (ten-byte) packed binary-coded decimal
7855 number from the given memory address, converts it to a real, and
7856 pushes it on the register stack. \c{FBSTP} stores the value of
7857 \c{ST0}, in packed BCD, at the given address and then pops the
7861 \H{insFCHS} \i\c{FCHS}: Floating-Point Change Sign
7863 \c FCHS ; D9 E0 [8086,FPU]
7865 \c{FCHS} negates the number in \c{ST0}, by inverting the sign bit:
7866 negative numbers become positive, and vice versa.
7869 \H{insFCLEX} \i\c{FCLEX}, \c{FNCLEX}: Clear Floating-Point Exceptions
7871 \c FCLEX ; 9B DB E2 [8086,FPU]
7872 \c FNCLEX ; DB E2 [8086,FPU]
7874 \c{FCLEX} clears any floating-point exceptions which may be pending.
7875 \c{FNCLEX} does the same thing but doesn't wait for previous
7876 floating-point operations (including the \e{handling} of pending
7877 exceptions) to finish first.
7880 \H{insFCMOVB} \i\c{FCMOVcc}: Floating-Point Conditional Move
7882 \c FCMOVB fpureg ; DA C0+r [P6,FPU]
7883 \c FCMOVB ST0,fpureg ; DA C0+r [P6,FPU]
7885 \c FCMOVE fpureg ; DA C8+r [P6,FPU]
7886 \c FCMOVE ST0,fpureg ; DA C8+r [P6,FPU]
7888 \c FCMOVBE fpureg ; DA D0+r [P6,FPU]
7889 \c FCMOVBE ST0,fpureg ; DA D0+r [P6,FPU]
7891 \c FCMOVU fpureg ; DA D8+r [P6,FPU]
7892 \c FCMOVU ST0,fpureg ; DA D8+r [P6,FPU]
7894 \c FCMOVNB fpureg ; DB C0+r [P6,FPU]
7895 \c FCMOVNB ST0,fpureg ; DB C0+r [P6,FPU]
7897 \c FCMOVNE fpureg ; DB C8+r [P6,FPU]
7898 \c FCMOVNE ST0,fpureg ; DB C8+r [P6,FPU]
7900 \c FCMOVNBE fpureg ; DB D0+r [P6,FPU]
7901 \c FCMOVNBE ST0,fpureg ; DB D0+r [P6,FPU]
7903 \c FCMOVNU fpureg ; DB D8+r [P6,FPU]
7904 \c FCMOVNU ST0,fpureg ; DB D8+r [P6,FPU]
7906 The \c{FCMOV} instructions perform conditional move operations: each
7907 of them moves the contents of the given register into \c{ST0} if its
7908 condition is satisfied, and does nothing if not.
7910 The conditions are not the same as the standard condition codes used
7911 with conditional jump instructions. The conditions \c{B}, \c{BE},
7912 \c{NB}, \c{NBE}, \c{E} and \c{NE} are exactly as normal, but none of
7913 the other standard ones are supported. Instead, the condition \c{U}
7914 and its counterpart \c{NU} are provided; the \c{U} condition is
7915 satisfied if the last two floating-point numbers compared were
7916 \e{unordered}, i.e. they were not equal but neither one could be
7917 said to be greater than the other, for example if they were NaNs.
7918 (The flag state which signals this is the setting of the parity
7919 flag: so the \c{U} condition is notionally equivalent to \c{PE}, and
7920 \c{NU} is equivalent to \c{PO}.)
7922 The \c{FCMOV} conditions test the main processor's status flags, not
7923 the FPU status flags, so using \c{FCMOV} directly after \c{FCOM}
7924 will not work. Instead, you should either use \c{FCOMI} which writes
7925 directly to the main CPU flags word, or use \c{FSTSW} to extract the
7928 Although the \c{FCMOV} instructions are flagged \c{P6} above, they
7929 may not be supported by all Pentium Pro processors; the \c{CPUID}
7930 instruction (\k{insCPUID}) will return a bit which indicates whether
7931 conditional moves are supported.
7934 \H{insFCOM} \i\c{FCOM}, \i\c{FCOMP}, \i\c{FCOMPP}, \i\c{FCOMI},
7935 \i\c{FCOMIP}: Floating-Point Compare
7937 \c FCOM mem32 ; D8 /2 [8086,FPU]
7938 \c FCOM mem64 ; DC /2 [8086,FPU]
7939 \c FCOM fpureg ; D8 D0+r [8086,FPU]
7940 \c FCOM ST0,fpureg ; D8 D0+r [8086,FPU]
7942 \c FCOMP mem32 ; D8 /3 [8086,FPU]
7943 \c FCOMP mem64 ; DC /3 [8086,FPU]
7944 \c FCOMP fpureg ; D8 D8+r [8086,FPU]
7945 \c FCOMP ST0,fpureg ; D8 D8+r [8086,FPU]
7947 \c FCOMPP ; DE D9 [8086,FPU]
7949 \c FCOMI fpureg ; DB F0+r [P6,FPU]
7950 \c FCOMI ST0,fpureg ; DB F0+r [P6,FPU]
7952 \c FCOMIP fpureg ; DF F0+r [P6,FPU]
7953 \c FCOMIP ST0,fpureg ; DF F0+r [P6,FPU]
7955 \c{FCOM} compares \c{ST0} with the given operand, and sets the FPU
7956 flags accordingly. \c{ST0} is treated as the left-hand side of the
7957 comparison, so that the carry flag is set (for a `less-than' result)
7958 if \c{ST0} is less than the given operand.
7960 \c{FCOMP} does the same as \c{FCOM}, but pops the register stack
7961 afterwards. \c{FCOMPP} compares \c{ST0} with \c{ST1} and then pops
7962 the register stack twice.
7964 \c{FCOMI} and \c{FCOMIP} work like the corresponding forms of
7965 \c{FCOM} and \c{FCOMP}, but write their results directly to the CPU
7966 flags register rather than the FPU status word, so they can be
7967 immediately followed by conditional jump or conditional move
7970 The \c{FCOM} instructions differ from the \c{FUCOM} instructions
7971 (\k{insFUCOM}) only in the way they handle quiet NaNs: \c{FUCOM}
7972 will handle them silently and set the condition code flags to an
7973 `unordered' result, whereas \c{FCOM} will generate an exception.
7976 \H{insFCOS} \i\c{FCOS}: Cosine
7978 \c FCOS ; D9 FF [386,FPU]
7980 \c{FCOS} computes the cosine of \c{ST0} (in radians), and stores the
7981 result in \c{ST0}. The absolute value of \c{ST0} must be less than 2**63.
7983 See also \c{FSINCOS} (\k{insFSIN}).
7986 \H{insFDECSTP} \i\c{FDECSTP}: Decrement Floating-Point Stack Pointer
7988 \c FDECSTP ; D9 F6 [8086,FPU]
7990 \c{FDECSTP} decrements the `top' field in the floating-point status
7991 word. This has the effect of rotating the FPU register stack by one,
7992 as if the contents of \c{ST7} had been pushed on the stack. See also
7993 \c{FINCSTP} (\k{insFINCSTP}).
7996 \H{insFDISI} \i\c{FxDISI}, \i\c{FxENI}: Disable and Enable Floating-Point Interrupts
7998 \c FDISI ; 9B DB E1 [8086,FPU]
7999 \c FNDISI ; DB E1 [8086,FPU]
8001 \c FENI ; 9B DB E0 [8086,FPU]
8002 \c FNENI ; DB E0 [8086,FPU]
8004 \c{FDISI} and \c{FENI} disable and enable floating-point interrupts.
8005 These instructions are only meaningful on original 8087 processors:
8006 the 287 and above treat them as no-operation instructions.
8008 \c{FNDISI} and \c{FNENI} do the same thing as \c{FDISI} and \c{FENI}
8009 respectively, but without waiting for the floating-point processor
8010 to finish what it was doing first.
8013 \H{insFDIV} \i\c{FDIV}, \i\c{FDIVP}, \i\c{FDIVR}, \i\c{FDIVRP}: Floating-Point Division
8015 \c FDIV mem32 ; D8 /6 [8086,FPU]
8016 \c FDIV mem64 ; DC /6 [8086,FPU]
8018 \c FDIV fpureg ; D8 F0+r [8086,FPU]
8019 \c FDIV ST0,fpureg ; D8 F0+r [8086,FPU]
8021 \c FDIV TO fpureg ; DC F8+r [8086,FPU]
8022 \c FDIV fpureg,ST0 ; DC F8+r [8086,FPU]
8024 \c FDIVR mem32 ; D8 /0 [8086,FPU]
8025 \c FDIVR mem64 ; DC /0 [8086,FPU]
8027 \c FDIVR fpureg ; D8 F8+r [8086,FPU]
8028 \c FDIVR ST0,fpureg ; D8 F8+r [8086,FPU]
8030 \c FDIVR TO fpureg ; DC F0+r [8086,FPU]
8031 \c FDIVR fpureg,ST0 ; DC F0+r [8086,FPU]
8033 \c FDIVP fpureg ; DE F8+r [8086,FPU]
8034 \c FDIVP fpureg,ST0 ; DE F8+r [8086,FPU]
8036 \c FDIVRP fpureg ; DE F0+r [8086,FPU]
8037 \c FDIVRP fpureg,ST0 ; DE F0+r [8086,FPU]
8039 \b \c{FDIV} divides \c{ST0} by the given operand and stores the result
8040 back in \c{ST0}, unless the \c{TO} qualifier is given, in which case
8041 it divides the given operand by \c{ST0} and stores the result in the
8044 \b \c{FDIVR} does the same thing, but does the division the other way
8045 up: so if \c{TO} is not given, it divides the given operand by
8046 \c{ST0} and stores the result in \c{ST0}, whereas if \c{TO} is given
8047 it divides \c{ST0} by its operand and stores the result in the
8050 \b \c{FDIVP} operates like \c{FDIV TO}, but pops the register stack
8051 once it has finished.
8053 \b \c{FDIVRP} operates like \c{FDIVR TO}, but pops the register stack
8054 once it has finished.
8056 For FP/Integer divisions, see \c{FIDIV} (\k{insFIDIV}).
8059 \H{insFEMMS} \i\c{FEMMS}: Faster Enter/Exit of the MMX or floating-point state
8061 \c FEMMS ; 0F 0E [PENT,3DNOW]
8063 \c{FEMMS} can be used in place of the \c{EMMS} instruction on
8064 processors which support the 3DNow! instruction set. Following
8065 execution of \c{FEMMS}, the state of the \c{MMX/FP} registers
8066 is undefined, and this allows a faster context switch between
8067 \c{FP} and \c{MMX} instructions. The \c{FEMMS} instruction can
8068 also be used \e{before} executing \c{MMX} instructions
8071 \H{insFFREE} \i\c{FFREE}: Flag Floating-Point Register as Unused
8073 \c FFREE fpureg ; DD C0+r [8086,FPU]
8074 \c FFREEP fpureg ; DF C0+r [286,FPU,UNDOC]
8076 \c{FFREE} marks the given register as being empty.
8078 \c{FFREEP} marks the given register as being empty, and then
8079 pops the register stack.
8082 \H{insFIADD} \i\c{FIADD}: Floating-Point/Integer Addition
8084 \c FIADD mem16 ; DE /0 [8086,FPU]
8085 \c FIADD mem32 ; DA /0 [8086,FPU]
8087 \c{FIADD} adds the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored in the given
8088 memory location to \c{ST0}, storing the result in \c{ST0}.
8091 \H{insFICOM} \i\c{FICOM}, \i\c{FICOMP}: Floating-Point/Integer Compare
8093 \c FICOM mem16 ; DE /2 [8086,FPU]
8094 \c FICOM mem32 ; DA /2 [8086,FPU]
8096 \c FICOMP mem16 ; DE /3 [8086,FPU]
8097 \c FICOMP mem32 ; DA /3 [8086,FPU]
8099 \c{FICOM} compares \c{ST0} with the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored
8100 in the given memory location, and sets the FPU flags accordingly.
8101 \c{FICOMP} does the same, but pops the register stack afterwards.
8104 \H{insFIDIV} \i\c{FIDIV}, \i\c{FIDIVR}: Floating-Point/Integer Division
8106 \c FIDIV mem16 ; DE /6 [8086,FPU]
8107 \c FIDIV mem32 ; DA /6 [8086,FPU]
8109 \c FIDIVR mem16 ; DE /7 [8086,FPU]
8110 \c FIDIVR mem32 ; DA /7 [8086,FPU]
8112 \c{FIDIV} divides \c{ST0} by the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored in
8113 the given memory location, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8114 \c{FIDIVR} does the division the other way up: it divides the
8115 integer by \c{ST0}, but still stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8118 \H{insFILD} \i\c{FILD}, \i\c{FIST}, \i\c{FISTP}: Floating-Point/Integer Conversion
8120 \c FILD mem16 ; DF /0 [8086,FPU]
8121 \c FILD mem32 ; DB /0 [8086,FPU]
8122 \c FILD mem64 ; DF /5 [8086,FPU]
8124 \c FIST mem16 ; DF /2 [8086,FPU]
8125 \c FIST mem32 ; DB /2 [8086,FPU]
8127 \c FISTP mem16 ; DF /3 [8086,FPU]
8128 \c FISTP mem32 ; DB /3 [8086,FPU]
8129 \c FISTP mem64 ; DF /7 [8086,FPU]
8131 \c{FILD} loads an integer out of a memory location, converts it to a
8132 real, and pushes it on the FPU register stack. \c{FIST} converts
8133 \c{ST0} to an integer and stores that in memory; \c{FISTP} does the
8134 same as \c{FIST}, but pops the register stack afterwards.
8137 \H{insFIMUL} \i\c{FIMUL}: Floating-Point/Integer Multiplication
8139 \c FIMUL mem16 ; DE /1 [8086,FPU]
8140 \c FIMUL mem32 ; DA /1 [8086,FPU]
8142 \c{FIMUL} multiplies \c{ST0} by the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored
8143 in the given memory location, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8146 \H{insFINCSTP} \i\c{FINCSTP}: Increment Floating-Point Stack Pointer
8148 \c FINCSTP ; D9 F7 [8086,FPU]
8150 \c{FINCSTP} increments the `top' field in the floating-point status
8151 word. This has the effect of rotating the FPU register stack by one,
8152 as if the register stack had been popped; however, unlike the
8153 popping of the stack performed by many FPU instructions, it does not
8154 flag the new \c{ST7} (previously \c{ST0}) as empty. See also
8155 \c{FDECSTP} (\k{insFDECSTP}).
8158 \H{insFINIT} \i\c{FINIT}, \i\c{FNINIT}: Initialise Floating-Point Unit
8160 \c FINIT ; 9B DB E3 [8086,FPU]
8161 \c FNINIT ; DB E3 [8086,FPU]
8163 \c{FINIT} initialises the FPU to its default state. It flags all
8164 registers as empty, without actually change their values, clears
8165 the top of stack pointer. \c{FNINIT} does the same, without first
8166 waiting for pending exceptions to clear.
8169 \H{insFISUB} \i\c{FISUB}: Floating-Point/Integer Subtraction
8171 \c FISUB mem16 ; DE /4 [8086,FPU]
8172 \c FISUB mem32 ; DA /4 [8086,FPU]
8174 \c FISUBR mem16 ; DE /5 [8086,FPU]
8175 \c FISUBR mem32 ; DA /5 [8086,FPU]
8177 \c{FISUB} subtracts the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored in the given
8178 memory location from \c{ST0}, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8179 \c{FISUBR} does the subtraction the other way round, i.e. it
8180 subtracts \c{ST0} from the given integer, but still stores the
8184 \H{insFLD} \i\c{FLD}: Floating-Point Load
8186 \c FLD mem32 ; D9 /0 [8086,FPU]
8187 \c FLD mem64 ; DD /0 [8086,FPU]
8188 \c FLD mem80 ; DB /5 [8086,FPU]
8189 \c FLD fpureg ; D9 C0+r [8086,FPU]
8191 \c{FLD} loads a floating-point value out of the given register or
8192 memory location, and pushes it on the FPU register stack.
8195 \H{insFLD1} \i\c{FLDxx}: Floating-Point Load Constants
8197 \c FLD1 ; D9 E8 [8086,FPU]
8198 \c FLDL2E ; D9 EA [8086,FPU]
8199 \c FLDL2T ; D9 E9 [8086,FPU]
8200 \c FLDLG2 ; D9 EC [8086,FPU]
8201 \c FLDLN2 ; D9 ED [8086,FPU]
8202 \c FLDPI ; D9 EB [8086,FPU]
8203 \c FLDZ ; D9 EE [8086,FPU]
8205 These instructions push specific standard constants on the FPU
8208 \c Instruction Constant pushed
8211 \c FLDL2E base-2 logarithm of e
8212 \c FLDL2T base-2 log of 10
8213 \c FLDLG2 base-10 log of 2
8214 \c FLDLN2 base-e log of 2
8219 \H{insFLDCW} \i\c{FLDCW}: Load Floating-Point Control Word
8221 \c FLDCW mem16 ; D9 /5 [8086,FPU]
8223 \c{FLDCW} loads a 16-bit value out of memory and stores it into the
8224 FPU control word (governing things like the rounding mode, the
8225 precision, and the exception masks). See also \c{FSTCW}
8226 (\k{insFSTCW}). If exceptions are enabled and you don't want to
8227 generate one, use \c{FCLEX} or \c{FNCLEX} (\k{insFCLEX}) before
8228 loading the new control word.
8231 \H{insFLDENV} \i\c{FLDENV}: Load Floating-Point Environment
8233 \c FLDENV mem ; D9 /4 [8086,FPU]
8235 \c{FLDENV} loads the FPU operating environment (control word, status
8236 word, tag word, instruction pointer, data pointer and last opcode)
8237 from memory. The memory area is 14 or 28 bytes long, depending on
8238 the CPU mode at the time. See also \c{FSTENV} (\k{insFSTENV}).
8241 \H{insFMUL} \i\c{FMUL}, \i\c{FMULP}: Floating-Point Multiply
8243 \c FMUL mem32 ; D8 /1 [8086,FPU]
8244 \c FMUL mem64 ; DC /1 [8086,FPU]
8246 \c FMUL fpureg ; D8 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8247 \c FMUL ST0,fpureg ; D8 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8249 \c FMUL TO fpureg ; DC C8+r [8086,FPU]
8250 \c FMUL fpureg,ST0 ; DC C8+r [8086,FPU]
8252 \c FMULP fpureg ; DE C8+r [8086,FPU]
8253 \c FMULP fpureg,ST0 ; DE C8+r [8086,FPU]
8255 \c{FMUL} multiplies \c{ST0} by the given operand, and stores the
8256 result in \c{ST0}, unless the \c{TO} qualifier is used in which case
8257 it stores the result in the operand. \c{FMULP} performs the same
8258 operation as \c{FMUL TO}, and then pops the register stack.
8261 \H{insFNOP} \i\c{FNOP}: Floating-Point No Operation
8263 \c FNOP ; D9 D0 [8086,FPU]
8265 \c{FNOP} does nothing.
8268 \H{insFPATAN} \i\c{FPATAN}, \i\c{FPTAN}: Arctangent and Tangent
8270 \c FPATAN ; D9 F3 [8086,FPU]
8271 \c FPTAN ; D9 F2 [8086,FPU]
8273 \c{FPATAN} computes the arctangent, in radians, of the result of
8274 dividing \c{ST1} by \c{ST0}, stores the result in \c{ST1}, and pops
8275 the register stack. It works like the C \c{atan2} function, in that
8276 changing the sign of both \c{ST0} and \c{ST1} changes the output
8277 value by pi (so it performs true rectangular-to-polar coordinate
8278 conversion, with \c{ST1} being the Y coordinate and \c{ST0} being
8279 the X coordinate, not merely an arctangent).
8281 \c{FPTAN} computes the tangent of the value in \c{ST0} (in radians),
8282 and stores the result back into \c{ST0}.
8284 The absolute value of \c{ST0} must be less than 2**63.
8287 \H{insFPREM} \i\c{FPREM}, \i\c{FPREM1}: Floating-Point Partial Remainder
8289 \c FPREM ; D9 F8 [8086,FPU]
8290 \c FPREM1 ; D9 F5 [386,FPU]
8292 These instructions both produce the remainder obtained by dividing
8293 \c{ST0} by \c{ST1}. This is calculated, notionally, by dividing
8294 \c{ST0} by \c{ST1}, rounding the result to an integer, multiplying
8295 by \c{ST1} again, and computing the value which would need to be
8296 added back on to the result to get back to the original value in
8299 The two instructions differ in the way the notional round-to-integer
8300 operation is performed. \c{FPREM} does it by rounding towards zero,
8301 so that the remainder it returns always has the same sign as the
8302 original value in \c{ST0}; \c{FPREM1} does it by rounding to the
8303 nearest integer, so that the remainder always has at most half the
8304 magnitude of \c{ST1}.
8306 Both instructions calculate \e{partial} remainders, meaning that
8307 they may not manage to provide the final result, but might leave
8308 intermediate results in \c{ST0} instead. If this happens, they will
8309 set the C2 flag in the FPU status word; therefore, to calculate a
8310 remainder, you should repeatedly execute \c{FPREM} or \c{FPREM1}
8311 until C2 becomes clear.
8314 \H{insFRNDINT} \i\c{FRNDINT}: Floating-Point Round to Integer
8316 \c FRNDINT ; D9 FC [8086,FPU]
8318 \c{FRNDINT} rounds the contents of \c{ST0} to an integer, according
8319 to the current rounding mode set in the FPU control word, and stores
8320 the result back in \c{ST0}.
8323 \H{insFRSTOR} \i\c{FSAVE}, \i\c{FRSTOR}: Save/Restore Floating-Point State
8325 \c FSAVE mem ; 9B DD /6 [8086,FPU]
8326 \c FNSAVE mem ; DD /6 [8086,FPU]
8328 \c FRSTOR mem ; DD /4 [8086,FPU]
8330 \c{FSAVE} saves the entire floating-point unit state, including all
8331 the information saved by \c{FSTENV} (\k{insFSTENV}) plus the
8332 contents of all the registers, to a 94 or 108 byte area of memory
8333 (depending on the CPU mode). \c{FRSTOR} restores the floating-point
8334 state from the same area of memory.
8336 \c{FNSAVE} does the same as \c{FSAVE}, without first waiting for
8337 pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
8340 \H{insFSCALE} \i\c{FSCALE}: Scale Floating-Point Value by Power of Two
8342 \c FSCALE ; D9 FD [8086,FPU]
8344 \c{FSCALE} scales a number by a power of two: it rounds \c{ST1}
8345 towards zero to obtain an integer, then multiplies \c{ST0} by two to
8346 the power of that integer, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8349 \H{insFSETPM} \i\c{FSETPM}: Set Protected Mode
8351 \c FSETPM ; DB E4 [286,FPU]
8353 This instruction initalises protected mode on the 287 floating-point
8354 coprocessor. It is only meaningful on that processor: the 387 and
8355 above treat the instruction as a no-operation.
8358 \H{insFSIN} \i\c{FSIN}, \i\c{FSINCOS}: Sine and Cosine
8360 \c FSIN ; D9 FE [386,FPU]
8361 \c FSINCOS ; D9 FB [386,FPU]
8363 \c{FSIN} calculates the sine of \c{ST0} (in radians) and stores the
8364 result in \c{ST0}. \c{FSINCOS} does the same, but then pushes the
8365 cosine of the same value on the register stack, so that the sine
8366 ends up in \c{ST1} and the cosine in \c{ST0}. \c{FSINCOS} is faster
8367 than executing \c{FSIN} and \c{FCOS} (see \k{insFCOS}) in succession.
8369 The absolute value of \c{ST0} must be less than 2**63.
8372 \H{insFSQRT} \i\c{FSQRT}: Floating-Point Square Root
8374 \c FSQRT ; D9 FA [8086,FPU]
8376 \c{FSQRT} calculates the square root of \c{ST0} and stores the
8380 \H{insFST} \i\c{FST}, \i\c{FSTP}: Floating-Point Store
8382 \c FST mem32 ; D9 /2 [8086,FPU]
8383 \c FST mem64 ; DD /2 [8086,FPU]
8384 \c FST fpureg ; DD D0+r [8086,FPU]
8386 \c FSTP mem32 ; D9 /3 [8086,FPU]
8387 \c FSTP mem64 ; DD /3 [8086,FPU]
8388 \c FSTP mem80 ; DB /7 [8086,FPU]
8389 \c FSTP fpureg ; DD D8+r [8086,FPU]
8391 \c{FST} stores the value in \c{ST0} into the given memory location
8392 or other FPU register. \c{FSTP} does the same, but then pops the
8396 \H{insFSTCW} \i\c{FSTCW}: Store Floating-Point Control Word
8398 \c FSTCW mem16 ; 9B D9 /7 [8086,FPU]
8399 \c FNSTCW mem16 ; D9 /7 [8086,FPU]
8401 \c{FSTCW} stores the \c{FPU} control word (governing things like the
8402 rounding mode, the precision, and the exception masks) into a 2-byte
8403 memory area. See also \c{FLDCW} (\k{insFLDCW}).
8405 \c{FNSTCW} does the same thing as \c{FSTCW}, without first waiting
8406 for pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
8409 \H{insFSTENV} \i\c{FSTENV}: Store Floating-Point Environment
8411 \c FSTENV mem ; 9B D9 /6 [8086,FPU]
8412 \c FNSTENV mem ; D9 /6 [8086,FPU]
8414 \c{FSTENV} stores the \c{FPU} operating environment (control word,
8415 status word, tag word, instruction pointer, data pointer and last
8416 opcode) into memory. The memory area is 14 or 28 bytes long,
8417 depending on the CPU mode at the time. See also \c{FLDENV}
8420 \c{FNSTENV} does the same thing as \c{FSTENV}, without first waiting
8421 for pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
8424 \H{insFSTSW} \i\c{FSTSW}: Store Floating-Point Status Word
8426 \c FSTSW mem16 ; 9B DD /7 [8086,FPU]
8427 \c FSTSW AX ; 9B DF E0 [286,FPU]
8429 \c FNSTSW mem16 ; DD /7 [8086,FPU]
8430 \c FNSTSW AX ; DF E0 [286,FPU]
8432 \c{FSTSW} stores the \c{FPU} status word into \c{AX} or into a 2-byte
8435 \c{FNSTSW} does the same thing as \c{FSTSW}, without first waiting
8436 for pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
8439 \H{insFSUB} \i\c{FSUB}, \i\c{FSUBP}, \i\c{FSUBR}, \i\c{FSUBRP}: Floating-Point Subtract
8441 \c FSUB mem32 ; D8 /4 [8086,FPU]
8442 \c FSUB mem64 ; DC /4 [8086,FPU]
8444 \c FSUB fpureg ; D8 E0+r [8086,FPU]
8445 \c FSUB ST0,fpureg ; D8 E0+r [8086,FPU]
8447 \c FSUB TO fpureg ; DC E8+r [8086,FPU]
8448 \c FSUB fpureg,ST0 ; DC E8+r [8086,FPU]
8450 \c FSUBR mem32 ; D8 /5 [8086,FPU]
8451 \c FSUBR mem64 ; DC /5 [8086,FPU]
8453 \c FSUBR fpureg ; D8 E8+r [8086,FPU]
8454 \c FSUBR ST0,fpureg ; D8 E8+r [8086,FPU]
8456 \c FSUBR TO fpureg ; DC E0+r [8086,FPU]
8457 \c FSUBR fpureg,ST0 ; DC E0+r [8086,FPU]
8459 \c FSUBP fpureg ; DE E8+r [8086,FPU]
8460 \c FSUBP fpureg,ST0 ; DE E8+r [8086,FPU]
8462 \c FSUBRP fpureg ; DE E0+r [8086,FPU]
8463 \c FSUBRP fpureg,ST0 ; DE E0+r [8086,FPU]
8465 \b \c{FSUB} subtracts the given operand from \c{ST0} and stores the
8466 result back in \c{ST0}, unless the \c{TO} qualifier is given, in
8467 which case it subtracts \c{ST0} from the given operand and stores
8468 the result in the operand.
8470 \b \c{FSUBR} does the same thing, but does the subtraction the other
8471 way up: so if \c{TO} is not given, it subtracts \c{ST0} from the given
8472 operand and stores the result in \c{ST0}, whereas if \c{TO} is given
8473 it subtracts its operand from \c{ST0} and stores the result in the
8476 \b \c{FSUBP} operates like \c{FSUB TO}, but pops the register stack
8477 once it has finished.
8479 \b \c{FSUBRP} operates like \c{FSUBR TO}, but pops the register stack
8480 once it has finished.
8483 \H{insFTST} \i\c{FTST}: Test \c{ST0} Against Zero
8485 \c FTST ; D9 E4 [8086,FPU]
8487 \c{FTST} compares \c{ST0} with zero and sets the FPU flags
8488 accordingly. \c{ST0} is treated as the left-hand side of the
8489 comparison, so that a `less-than' result is generated if \c{ST0} is
8493 \H{insFUCOM} \i\c{FUCOMxx}: Floating-Point Unordered Compare
8495 \c FUCOM fpureg ; DD E0+r [386,FPU]
8496 \c FUCOM ST0,fpureg ; DD E0+r [386,FPU]
8498 \c FUCOMP fpureg ; DD E8+r [386,FPU]
8499 \c FUCOMP ST0,fpureg ; DD E8+r [386,FPU]
8501 \c FUCOMPP ; DA E9 [386,FPU]
8503 \c FUCOMI fpureg ; DB E8+r [P6,FPU]
8504 \c FUCOMI ST0,fpureg ; DB E8+r [P6,FPU]
8506 \c FUCOMIP fpureg ; DF E8+r [P6,FPU]
8507 \c FUCOMIP ST0,fpureg ; DF E8+r [P6,FPU]
8509 \b \c{FUCOM} compares \c{ST0} with the given operand, and sets the
8510 FPU flags accordingly. \c{ST0} is treated as the left-hand side of
8511 the comparison, so that the carry flag is set (for a `less-than'
8512 result) if \c{ST0} is less than the given operand.
8514 \b \c{FUCOMP} does the same as \c{FUCOM}, but pops the register stack
8515 afterwards. \c{FUCOMPP} compares \c{ST0} with \c{ST1} and then pops
8516 the register stack twice.
8518 \b \c{FUCOMI} and \c{FUCOMIP} work like the corresponding forms of
8519 \c{FUCOM} and \c{FUCOMP}, but write their results directly to the CPU
8520 flags register rather than the FPU status word, so they can be
8521 immediately followed by conditional jump or conditional move
8524 The \c{FUCOM} instructions differ from the \c{FCOM} instructions
8525 (\k{insFCOM}) only in the way they handle quiet NaNs: \c{FUCOM} will
8526 handle them silently and set the condition code flags to an
8527 `unordered' result, whereas \c{FCOM} will generate an exception.
8530 \H{insFXAM} \i\c{FXAM}: Examine Class of Value in \c{ST0}
8532 \c FXAM ; D9 E5 [8086,FPU]
8534 \c{FXAM} sets the FPU flags \c{C3}, \c{C2} and \c{C0} depending on
8535 the type of value stored in \c{ST0}:
8537 \c Register contents Flags
8539 \c Unsupported format 000
8541 \c Finite number 010
8544 \c Empty register 101
8547 Additionally, the \c{C1} flag is set to the sign of the number.
8550 \H{insFXCH} \i\c{FXCH}: Floating-Point Exchange
8552 \c FXCH ; D9 C9 [8086,FPU]
8553 \c FXCH fpureg ; D9 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8554 \c FXCH fpureg,ST0 ; D9 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8555 \c FXCH ST0,fpureg ; D9 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8557 \c{FXCH} exchanges \c{ST0} with a given FPU register. The no-operand
8558 form exchanges \c{ST0} with \c{ST1}.
8561 \H{insFXRSTOR} \i\c{FXRSTOR}: Restore \c{FP}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE} State
8563 \c FXRSTOR memory ; 0F AE /1 [P6,SSE,FPU]
8565 The \c{FXRSTOR} instruction reloads the \c{FPU}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE}
8566 state (environment and registers), from the 512 byte memory area defined
8567 by the source operand. This data should have been written by a previous
8571 \H{insFXSAVE} \i\c{FXSAVE}: Store \c{FP}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE} State
8573 \c FXSAVE memory ; 0F AE /0 [P6,SSE,FPU]
8575 \c{FXSAVE}The FXSAVE instruction writes the current \c{FPU}, \c{MMX}
8576 and \c{SSE} technology states (environment and registers), to the
8577 512 byte memory area defined by the destination operand. It does this
8578 without checking for pending unmasked floating-point exceptions
8579 (similar to the operation of \c{FNSAVE}).
8581 Unlike the \c{FSAVE/FNSAVE} instructions, the processor retains the
8582 contents of the \c{FPU}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE} state in the processor
8583 after the state has been saved. This instruction has been optimized
8584 to maximize floating-point save performance.
8587 \H{insFXTRACT} \i\c{FXTRACT}: Extract Exponent and Significand
8589 \c FXTRACT ; D9 F4 [8086,FPU]
8591 \c{FXTRACT} separates the number in \c{ST0} into its exponent and
8592 significand (mantissa), stores the exponent back into \c{ST0}, and
8593 then pushes the significand on the register stack (so that the
8594 significand ends up in \c{ST0}, and the exponent in \c{ST1}).
8597 \H{insFYL2X} \i\c{FYL2X}, \i\c{FYL2XP1}: Compute Y times Log2(X) or Log2(X+1)
8599 \c FYL2X ; D9 F1 [8086,FPU]
8600 \c FYL2XP1 ; D9 F9 [8086,FPU]
8602 \c{FYL2X} multiplies \c{ST1} by the base-2 logarithm of \c{ST0},
8603 stores the result in \c{ST1}, and pops the register stack (so that
8604 the result ends up in \c{ST0}). \c{ST0} must be non-zero and
8607 \c{FYL2XP1} works the same way, but replacing the base-2 log of
8608 \c{ST0} with that of \c{ST0} plus one. This time, \c{ST0} must have
8609 magnitude no greater than 1 minus half the square root of two.
8612 \H{insHLT} \i\c{HLT}: Halt Processor
8614 \c HLT ; F4 [8086,PRIV]
8616 \c{HLT} puts the processor into a halted state, where it will
8617 perform no more operations until restarted by an interrupt or a
8620 On the 286 and later processors, this is a privileged instruction.
8623 \H{insIBTS} \i\c{IBTS}: Insert Bit String
8625 \c IBTS r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F A7 /r [386,UNDOC]
8626 \c IBTS r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F A7 /r [386,UNDOC]
8628 The implied operation of this instruction is:
8630 \c IBTS r/m16,AX,CL,reg16
8631 \c IBTS r/m32,EAX,CL,reg32
8633 Writes a bit string from the source operand to the destination.
8634 \c{CL} indicates the number of bits to be copied, from the low bits
8635 of the source. \c{(E)AX} indicates the low order bit offset in the
8636 destination that is written to. For example, if \c{CL} is set to 4
8637 and \c{AX} (for 16-bit code) is set to 5, bits 0-3 of \c{src} will
8638 be copied to bits 5-8 of \c{dst}. This instruction is very poorly
8639 documented, and I have been unable to find any official source of
8640 documentation on it.
8642 \c{IBTS} is supported only on the early Intel 386s, and conflicts
8643 with the opcodes for \c{CMPXCHG486} (on early Intel 486s). NASM
8644 supports it only for completeness. Its counterpart is \c{XBTS}
8648 \H{insIDIV} \i\c{IDIV}: Signed Integer Divide
8650 \c IDIV r/m8 ; F6 /7 [8086]
8651 \c IDIV r/m16 ; o16 F7 /7 [8086]
8652 \c IDIV r/m32 ; o32 F7 /7 [386]
8654 \c{IDIV} performs signed integer division. The explicit operand
8655 provided is the divisor; the dividend and destination operands
8656 are implicit, in the following way:
8658 \b For \c{IDIV r/m8}, \c{AX} is divided by the given operand;
8659 the quotient is stored in \c{AL} and the remainder in \c{AH}.
8661 \b For \c{IDIV r/m16}, \c{DX:AX} is divided by the given operand;
8662 the quotient is stored in \c{AX} and the remainder in \c{DX}.
8664 \b For \c{IDIV r/m32}, \c{EDX:EAX} is divided by the given operand;
8665 the quotient is stored in \c{EAX} and the remainder in \c{EDX}.
8667 Unsigned integer division is performed by the \c{DIV} instruction:
8671 \H{insIMUL} \i\c{IMUL}: Signed Integer Multiply
8673 \c IMUL r/m8 ; F6 /5 [8086]
8674 \c IMUL r/m16 ; o16 F7 /5 [8086]
8675 \c IMUL r/m32 ; o32 F7 /5 [386]
8677 \c IMUL reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F AF /r [386]
8678 \c IMUL reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F AF /r [386]
8680 \c IMUL reg16,imm8 ; o16 6B /r ib [286]
8681 \c IMUL reg16,imm16 ; o16 69 /r iw [286]
8682 \c IMUL reg32,imm8 ; o32 6B /r ib [386]
8683 \c IMUL reg32,imm32 ; o32 69 /r id [386]
8685 \c IMUL reg16,r/m16,imm8 ; o16 6B /r ib [286]
8686 \c IMUL reg16,r/m16,imm16 ; o16 69 /r iw [286]
8687 \c IMUL reg32,r/m32,imm8 ; o32 6B /r ib [386]
8688 \c IMUL reg32,r/m32,imm32 ; o32 69 /r id [386]
8690 \c{IMUL} performs signed integer multiplication. For the
8691 single-operand form, the other operand and destination are
8692 implicit, in the following way:
8694 \b For \c{IMUL r/m8}, \c{AL} is multiplied by the given operand;
8695 the product is stored in \c{AX}.
8697 \b For \c{IMUL r/m16}, \c{AX} is multiplied by the given operand;
8698 the product is stored in \c{DX:AX}.
8700 \b For \c{IMUL r/m32}, \c{EAX} is multiplied by the given operand;
8701 the product is stored in \c{EDX:EAX}.
8703 The two-operand form multiplies its two operands and stores the
8704 result in the destination (first) operand. The three-operand
8705 form multiplies its last two operands and stores the result in
8708 The two-operand form with an immediate second operand is in
8709 fact a shorthand for the three-operand form, as can be seen by
8710 examining the opcode descriptions: in the two-operand form, the
8711 code \c{/r} takes both its register and \c{r/m} parts from the
8712 same operand (the first one).
8714 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate operand and another longer
8715 source operand, the immediate operand is considered to be signed,
8716 and is sign-extended to the length of the other source operand.
8717 In these cases, the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force
8718 NASM to generate this form of the instruction.
8720 Unsigned integer multiplication is performed by the \c{MUL}
8721 instruction: see \k{insMUL}.
8724 \H{insIN} \i\c{IN}: Input from I/O Port
8726 \c IN AL,imm8 ; E4 ib [8086]
8727 \c IN AX,imm8 ; o16 E5 ib [8086]
8728 \c IN EAX,imm8 ; o32 E5 ib [386]
8729 \c IN AL,DX ; EC [8086]
8730 \c IN AX,DX ; o16 ED [8086]
8731 \c IN EAX,DX ; o32 ED [386]
8733 \c{IN} reads a byte, word or doubleword from the specified I/O port,
8734 and stores it in the given destination register. The port number may
8735 be specified as an immediate value if it is between 0 and 255, and
8736 otherwise must be stored in \c{DX}. See also \c{OUT} (\k{insOUT}).
8739 \H{insINC} \i\c{INC}: Increment Integer
8741 \c INC reg16 ; o16 40+r [8086]
8742 \c INC reg32 ; o32 40+r [386]
8743 \c INC r/m8 ; FE /0 [8086]
8744 \c INC r/m16 ; o16 FF /0 [8086]
8745 \c INC r/m32 ; o32 FF /0 [386]
8747 \c{INC} adds 1 to its operand. It does \e{not} affect the carry
8748 flag: to affect the carry flag, use \c{ADD something,1} (see
8749 \k{insADD}). \c{INC} affects all the other flags according to the result.
8751 This instruction can be used with a \c{LOCK} prefix to allow atomic execution.
8753 See also \c{DEC} (\k{insDEC}).
8756 \H{insINSB} \i\c{INSB}, \i\c{INSW}, \i\c{INSD}: Input String from I/O Port
8759 \c INSW ; o16 6D [186]
8760 \c INSD ; o32 6D [386]
8762 \c{INSB} inputs a byte from the I/O port specified in \c{DX} and
8763 stores it at \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]}. It then increments or
8764 decrements (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag
8765 is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{DI} or \c{EDI}.
8767 The register used is \c{DI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
8768 \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
8769 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
8770 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
8772 Segment override prefixes have no effect for this instruction: the
8773 use of \c{ES} for the load from \c{[DI]} or \c{[EDI]} cannot be
8776 \c{INSW} and \c{INSD} work in the same way, but they input a word or
8777 a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement the
8778 addressing register by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
8780 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
8781 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
8783 See also \c{OUTSB}, \c{OUTSW} and \c{OUTSD} (\k{insOUTSB}).
8786 \H{insINT} \i\c{INT}: Software Interrupt
8788 \c INT imm8 ; CD ib [8086]
8790 \c{INT} causes a software interrupt through a specified vector
8791 number from 0 to 255.
8793 The code generated by the \c{INT} instruction is always two bytes
8794 long: although there are short forms for some \c{INT} instructions,
8795 NASM does not generate them when it sees the \c{INT} mnemonic. In
8796 order to generate single-byte breakpoint instructions, use the
8797 \c{INT3} or \c{INT1} instructions (see \k{insINT1}) instead.
8800 \H{insINT1} \i\c{INT3}, \i\c{INT1}, \i\c{ICEBP}, \i\c{INT01}: Breakpoints
8807 \c INT03 ; CC [8086]
8809 \c{INT1} and \c{INT3} are short one-byte forms of the instructions
8810 \c{INT 1} and \c{INT 3} (see \k{insINT}). They perform a similar
8811 function to their longer counterparts, but take up less code space.
8812 They are used as breakpoints by debuggers.
8814 \b \c{INT1}, and its alternative synonyms \c{INT01} and \c{ICEBP}, is
8815 an instruction used by in-circuit emulators (ICEs). It is present,
8816 though not documented, on some processors down to the 286, but is
8817 only documented for the Pentium Pro. \c{INT3} is the instruction
8818 normally used as a breakpoint by debuggers.
8820 \b \c{INT3}, and its synonym \c{INT03}, is not precisely equivalent to
8821 \c{INT 3}: the short form, since it is designed to be used as a
8822 breakpoint, bypasses the normal \c{IOPL} checks in virtual-8086 mode,
8823 and also does not go through interrupt redirection.
8826 \H{insINTO} \i\c{INTO}: Interrupt if Overflow
8830 \c{INTO} performs an \c{INT 4} software interrupt (see \k{insINT})
8831 if and only if the overflow flag is set.
8834 \H{insINVD} \i\c{INVD}: Invalidate Internal Caches
8836 \c INVD ; 0F 08 [486]
8838 \c{INVD} invalidates and empties the processor's internal caches,
8839 and causes the processor to instruct external caches to do the same.
8840 It does not write the contents of the caches back to memory first:
8841 any modified data held in the caches will be lost. To write the data
8842 back first, use \c{WBINVD} (\k{insWBINVD}).
8845 \H{insINVLPG} \i\c{INVLPG}: Invalidate TLB Entry
8847 \c INVLPG mem ; 0F 01 /7 [486]
8849 \c{INVLPG} invalidates the translation lookahead buffer (TLB) entry
8850 associated with the supplied memory address.
8853 \H{insIRET} \i\c{IRET}, \i\c{IRETW}, \i\c{IRETD}: Return from Interrupt
8856 \c IRETW ; o16 CF [8086]
8857 \c IRETD ; o32 CF [386]
8859 \c{IRET} returns from an interrupt (hardware or software) by means
8860 of popping \c{IP} (or \c{EIP}), \c{CS} and the flags off the stack
8861 and then continuing execution from the new \c{CS:IP}.
8863 \c{IRETW} pops \c{IP}, \c{CS} and the flags as 2 bytes each, taking
8864 6 bytes off the stack in total. \c{IRETD} pops \c{EIP} as 4 bytes,
8865 pops a further 4 bytes of which the top two are discarded and the
8866 bottom two go into \c{CS}, and pops the flags as 4 bytes as well,
8867 taking 12 bytes off the stack.
8869 \c{IRET} is a shorthand for either \c{IRETW} or \c{IRETD}, depending
8870 on the default \c{BITS} setting at the time.
8873 \H{insJcc} \i\c{Jcc}: Conditional Branch
8875 \c Jcc imm ; 70+cc rb [8086]
8876 \c Jcc NEAR imm ; 0F 80+cc rw/rd [386]
8878 The \i{conditional jump} instructions execute a near (same segment)
8879 jump if and only if their conditions are satisfied. For example,
8880 \c{JNZ} jumps only if the zero flag is not set.
8882 The ordinary form of the instructions has only a 128-byte range; the
8883 \c{NEAR} form is a 386 extension to the instruction set, and can
8884 span the full size of a segment. NASM will not override your choice
8885 of jump instruction: if you want \c{Jcc NEAR}, you have to use the
8888 The \c{SHORT} keyword is allowed on the first form of the
8889 instruction, for clarity, but is not necessary.
8891 For details of the condition codes, see \k{iref-cc}.
8894 \H{insJCXZ} \i\c{JCXZ}, \i\c{JECXZ}: Jump if CX/ECX Zero
8896 \c JCXZ imm ; a16 E3 rb [8086]
8897 \c JECXZ imm ; a32 E3 rb [386]
8899 \c{JCXZ} performs a short jump (with maximum range 128 bytes) if and
8900 only if the contents of the \c{CX} register is 0. \c{JECXZ} does the
8901 same thing, but with \c{ECX}.
8904 \H{insJMP} \i\c{JMP}: Jump
8906 \c JMP imm ; E9 rw/rd [8086]
8907 \c JMP SHORT imm ; EB rb [8086]
8908 \c JMP imm:imm16 ; o16 EA iw iw [8086]
8909 \c JMP imm:imm32 ; o32 EA id iw [386]
8910 \c JMP FAR mem ; o16 FF /5 [8086]
8911 \c JMP FAR mem ; o32 FF /5 [386]
8912 \c JMP r/m16 ; o16 FF /4 [8086]
8913 \c JMP r/m32 ; o32 FF /4 [386]
8915 \c{JMP} jumps to a given address. The address may be specified as an
8916 absolute segment and offset, or as a relative jump within the
8919 \c{JMP SHORT imm} has a maximum range of 128 bytes, since the
8920 displacement is specified as only 8 bits, but takes up less code
8921 space. NASM does not choose when to generate \c{JMP SHORT} for you:
8922 you must explicitly code \c{SHORT} every time you want a short jump.
8924 You can choose between the two immediate \i{far jump} forms (\c{JMP
8925 imm:imm}) by the use of the \c{WORD} and \c{DWORD} keywords: \c{JMP
8926 WORD 0x1234:0x5678}) or \c{JMP DWORD 0x1234:0x56789abc}.
8928 The \c{JMP FAR mem} forms execute a far jump by loading the
8929 destination address out of memory. The address loaded consists of 16
8930 or 32 bits of offset (depending on the operand size), and 16 bits of
8931 segment. The operand size may be overridden using \c{JMP WORD FAR
8932 mem} or \c{JMP DWORD FAR mem}.
8934 The \c{JMP r/m} forms execute a \i{near jump} (within the same
8935 segment), loading the destination address out of memory or out of a
8936 register. The keyword \c{NEAR} may be specified, for clarity, in
8937 these forms, but is not necessary. Again, operand size can be
8938 overridden using \c{JMP WORD mem} or \c{JMP DWORD mem}.
8940 As a convenience, NASM does not require you to jump to a far symbol
8941 by coding the cumbersome \c{JMP SEG routine:routine}, but instead
8942 allows the easier synonym \c{JMP FAR routine}.
8944 The \c{CALL r/m} forms given above are near calls; NASM will accept
8945 the \c{NEAR} keyword (e.g. \c{CALL NEAR [address]}), even though it
8946 is not strictly necessary.
8949 \H{insLAHF} \i\c{LAHF}: Load AH from Flags
8953 \c{LAHF} sets the \c{AH} register according to the contents of the
8954 low byte of the flags word.
8956 The operation of \c{LAHF} is:
8958 \c AH <-- SF:ZF:0:AF:0:PF:1:CF
8960 See also \c{SAHF} (\k{insSAHF}).
8963 \H{insLAR} \i\c{LAR}: Load Access Rights
8965 \c LAR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 02 /r [286,PRIV]
8966 \c LAR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 02 /r [286,PRIV]
8968 \c{LAR} takes the segment selector specified by its source (second)
8969 operand, finds the corresponding segment descriptor in the GDT or
8970 LDT, and loads the access-rights byte of the descriptor into its
8971 destination (first) operand.
8974 \H{insLDMXCSR} \i\c{LDMXCSR}: Load Streaming SIMD Extension
8977 \c LDMXCSR mem32 ; 0F AE /2 [KATMAI,SSE]
8979 \c{LDMXCSR} loads 32-bits of data from the specified memory location
8980 into the \c{MXCSR} control/status register. \c{MXCSR} is used to
8981 enable masked/unmasked exception handling, to set rounding modes,
8982 to set flush-to-zero mode, and to view exception status flags.
8984 For details of the \c{MXCSR} register, see the Intel processor docs.
8986 See also \c{STMXCSR} (\k{insSTMXCSR}
8989 \H{insLDS} \i\c{LDS}, \i\c{LES}, \i\c{LFS}, \i\c{LGS}, \i\c{LSS}: Load Far Pointer
8991 \c LDS reg16,mem ; o16 C5 /r [8086]
8992 \c LDS reg32,mem ; o32 C5 /r [386]
8994 \c LES reg16,mem ; o16 C4 /r [8086]
8995 \c LES reg32,mem ; o32 C4 /r [386]
8997 \c LFS reg16,mem ; o16 0F B4 /r [386]
8998 \c LFS reg32,mem ; o32 0F B4 /r [386]
9000 \c LGS reg16,mem ; o16 0F B5 /r [386]
9001 \c LGS reg32,mem ; o32 0F B5 /r [386]
9003 \c LSS reg16,mem ; o16 0F B2 /r [386]
9004 \c LSS reg32,mem ; o32 0F B2 /r [386]
9006 These instructions load an entire far pointer (16 or 32 bits of
9007 offset, plus 16 bits of segment) out of memory in one go. \c{LDS},
9008 for example, loads 16 or 32 bits from the given memory address into
9009 the given register (depending on the size of the register), then
9010 loads the \e{next} 16 bits from memory into \c{DS}. \c{LES},
9011 \c{LFS}, \c{LGS} and \c{LSS} work in the same way but use the other
9015 \H{insLEA} \i\c{LEA}: Load Effective Address
9017 \c LEA reg16,mem ; o16 8D /r [8086]
9018 \c LEA reg32,mem ; o32 8D /r [386]
9020 \c{LEA}, despite its syntax, does not access memory. It calculates
9021 the effective address specified by its second operand as if it were
9022 going to load or store data from it, but instead it stores the
9023 calculated address into the register specified by its first operand.
9024 This can be used to perform quite complex calculations (e.g. \c{LEA
9025 EAX,[EBX+ECX*4+100]}) in one instruction.
9027 \c{LEA}, despite being a purely arithmetic instruction which
9028 accesses no memory, still requires square brackets around its second
9029 operand, as if it were a memory reference.
9031 The size of the calculation is the current \e{address} size, and the
9032 size that the result is stored as is the current \e{operand} size.
9033 If the address and operand size are not the same, then if the
9034 addressing mode was 32-bits, the low 16-bits are stored, and if the
9035 address was 16-bits, it is zero-extended to 32-bits before storing.
9038 \H{insLEAVE} \i\c{LEAVE}: Destroy Stack Frame
9042 \c{LEAVE} destroys a stack frame of the form created by the
9043 \c{ENTER} instruction (see \k{insENTER}). It is functionally
9044 equivalent to \c{MOV ESP,EBP} followed by \c{POP EBP} (or \c{MOV
9045 SP,BP} followed by \c{POP BP} in 16-bit mode).
9048 \H{insLFENCE} \i\c{LFENCE}: Load Fence
9050 \c LFENCE ; 0F AE /5 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9052 \c{LFENCE} performs a serialising operation on all loads from memory
9053 that were issued before the \c{LFENCE} instruction. This guarantees that
9054 all memory reads before the \c{LFENCE} instruction are visible before any
9055 reads after the \c{LFENCE} instruction.
9057 \c{LFENCE} is ordered respective to other \c{LFENCE} instruction, \c{MFENCE},
9058 any memory read and any other serialising instruction (such as \c{CPUID}).
9060 Weakly ordered memory types can be used to achieve higher processor
9061 performance through such techniques as out-of-order issue and
9062 speculative reads. The degree to which a consumer of data recognizes
9063 or knows that the data is weakly ordered varies among applications
9064 and may be unknown to the producer of this data. The \c{LFENCE}
9065 instruction provides a performance-efficient way of ensuring load
9066 ordering between routines that produce weakly-ordered results and
9067 routines that consume that data.
9069 \c{LFENCE} uses the following ModRM encoding:
9072 \c Reg/Opcode (5:3) = 101B
9075 All other ModRM encodings are defined to be reserved, and use
9076 of these encodings risks incompatibility with future processors.
9078 See also \c{SFENCE} (\k{insSFENCE}) and \c{MFENCE} (\k{insMFENCE}).
9081 \H{insLGDT} \i\c{LGDT}, \i\c{LIDT}, \i\c{LLDT}: Load Descriptor Tables
9083 \c LGDT mem ; 0F 01 /2 [286,PRIV]
9084 \c LIDT mem ; 0F 01 /3 [286,PRIV]
9085 \c LLDT r/m16 ; 0F 00 /2 [286,PRIV]
9087 \c{LGDT} and \c{LIDT} both take a 6-byte memory area as an operand:
9088 they load a 32-bit linear address and a 16-bit size limit from that
9089 area (in the opposite order) into the \c{GDTR} (global descriptor table
9090 register) or \c{IDTR} (interrupt descriptor table register). These are
9091 the only instructions which directly use \e{linear} addresses, rather
9092 than segment/offset pairs.
9094 \c{LLDT} takes a segment selector as an operand. The processor looks
9095 up that selector in the GDT and stores the limit and base address
9096 given there into the \c{LDTR} (local descriptor table register).
9098 See also \c{SGDT}, \c{SIDT} and \c{SLDT} (\k{insSGDT}).
9101 \H{insLMSW} \i\c{LMSW}: Load/Store Machine Status Word
9103 \c LMSW r/m16 ; 0F 01 /6 [286,PRIV]
9105 \c{LMSW} loads the bottom four bits of the source operand into the
9106 bottom four bits of the \c{CR0} control register (or the Machine
9107 Status Word, on 286 processors). See also \c{SMSW} (\k{insSMSW}).
9110 \H{insLOADALL} \i\c{LOADALL}, \i\c{LOADALL286}: Load Processor State
9112 \c LOADALL ; 0F 07 [386,UNDOC]
9113 \c LOADALL286 ; 0F 05 [286,UNDOC]
9115 This instruction, in its two different-opcode forms, is apparently
9116 supported on most 286 processors, some 386 and possibly some 486.
9117 The opcode differs between the 286 and the 386.
9119 The function of the instruction is to load all information relating
9120 to the state of the processor out of a block of memory: on the 286,
9121 this block is located implicitly at absolute address \c{0x800}, and
9122 on the 386 and 486 it is at \c{[ES:EDI]}.
9125 \H{insLODSB} \i\c{LODSB}, \i\c{LODSW}, \i\c{LODSD}: Load from String
9127 \c LODSB ; AC [8086]
9128 \c LODSW ; o16 AD [8086]
9129 \c LODSD ; o32 AD [386]
9131 \c{LODSB} loads a byte from \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} into \c{AL}.
9132 It then increments or decrements (depending on the direction flag:
9133 increments if the flag is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{SI} or
9136 The register used is \c{SI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
9137 \c{ESI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
9138 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
9139 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
9141 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
9142 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
9143 example, \c{ES LODSB}).
9145 \c{LODSW} and \c{LODSD} work in the same way, but they load a
9146 word or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement
9147 the addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
9150 \H{insLOOP} \i\c{LOOP}, \i\c{LOOPE}, \i\c{LOOPZ}, \i\c{LOOPNE}, \i\c{LOOPNZ}: Loop with Counter
9152 \c LOOP imm ; E2 rb [8086]
9153 \c LOOP imm,CX ; a16 E2 rb [8086]
9154 \c LOOP imm,ECX ; a32 E2 rb [386]
9156 \c LOOPE imm ; E1 rb [8086]
9157 \c LOOPE imm,CX ; a16 E1 rb [8086]
9158 \c LOOPE imm,ECX ; a32 E1 rb [386]
9159 \c LOOPZ imm ; E1 rb [8086]
9160 \c LOOPZ imm,CX ; a16 E1 rb [8086]
9161 \c LOOPZ imm,ECX ; a32 E1 rb [386]
9163 \c LOOPNE imm ; E0 rb [8086]
9164 \c LOOPNE imm,CX ; a16 E0 rb [8086]
9165 \c LOOPNE imm,ECX ; a32 E0 rb [386]
9166 \c LOOPNZ imm ; E0 rb [8086]
9167 \c LOOPNZ imm,CX ; a16 E0 rb [8086]
9168 \c LOOPNZ imm,ECX ; a32 E0 rb [386]
9170 \c{LOOP} decrements its counter register (either \c{CX} or \c{ECX} -
9171 if one is not specified explicitly, the \c{BITS} setting dictates
9172 which is used) by one, and if the counter does not become zero as a
9173 result of this operation, it jumps to the given label. The jump has
9174 a range of 128 bytes.
9176 \c{LOOPE} (or its synonym \c{LOOPZ}) adds the additional condition
9177 that it only jumps if the counter is nonzero \e{and} the zero flag
9178 is set. Similarly, \c{LOOPNE} (and \c{LOOPNZ}) jumps only if the
9179 counter is nonzero and the zero flag is clear.
9182 \H{insLSL} \i\c{LSL}: Load Segment Limit
9184 \c LSL reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 03 /r [286,PRIV]
9185 \c LSL reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 03 /r [286,PRIV]
9187 \c{LSL} is given a segment selector in its source (second) operand;
9188 it computes the segment limit value by loading the segment limit
9189 field from the associated segment descriptor in the \c{GDT} or \c{LDT}.
9190 (This involves shifting left by 12 bits if the segment limit is
9191 page-granular, and not if it is byte-granular; so you end up with a
9192 byte limit in either case.) The segment limit obtained is then
9193 loaded into the destination (first) operand.
9196 \H{insLTR} \i\c{LTR}: Load Task Register
9198 \c LTR r/m16 ; 0F 00 /3 [286,PRIV]
9200 \c{LTR} looks up the segment base and limit in the GDT or LDT
9201 descriptor specified by the segment selector given as its operand,
9202 and loads them into the Task Register.
9205 \H{insMASKMOVDQU} \i\c{MASKMOVDQU}: Byte Mask Write
9207 \c MASKMOVDQU xmm1,xmm2 ; 66 0F F7 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9209 \c{MASKMOVDQU} stores data from xmm1 to the location specified by
9210 \c{ES:(E)DI}. The size of the store depends on the address-size
9211 attribute. The most significant bit in each byte of the mask
9212 register xmm2 is used to selectively write the data (0 = no write,
9213 1 = write) on a per-byte basis.
9216 \H{insMASKMOVQ} \i\c{MASKMOVQ}: Byte Mask Write
9218 \c MASKMOVQ mm1,mm2 ; 0F F7 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
9220 \c{MASKMOVQ} stores data from xmm1 to the location specified by
9221 \c{ES:(E)DI}. The size of the store depends on the address-size
9222 attribute. The most significant bit in each byte of the mask
9223 register xmm2 is used to selectively write the data (0 = no write,
9224 1 = write) on a per-byte basis.
9227 \H{insMAXPD} \i\c{MAXPD}: Return Packed Double-Precision FP Maximum
9229 \c MAXPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 5F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9231 \c{MAXPD} performs a SIMD compare of the packed double-precision
9232 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum values
9233 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
9234 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
9235 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
9236 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
9239 \H{insMAXPS} \i\c{MAXPS}: Return Packed Single-Precision FP Maximum
9241 \c MAXPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 5F /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9243 \c{MAXPS} performs a SIMD compare of the packed single-precision
9244 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum values
9245 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
9246 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
9247 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
9248 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
9251 \H{insMAXSD} \i\c{MAXSD}: Return Scalar Double-Precision FP Maximum
9253 \c MAXSD xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F2 0F 5F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9255 \c{MAXSD} compares the low-order double-precision FP numbers from
9256 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum value in xmm1. If the
9257 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m64) would
9258 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m64) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
9259 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
9260 the SNaN is not returned). The high quadword of the destination
9264 \H{insMAXSS} \i\c{MAXSD}: Return Scalar Single-Precision FP Maximum
9266 \c MAXSS xmm1,xmm2/m32 ; F3 0F 5F /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9268 \c{MAXSS} compares the low-order single-precision FP numbers from
9269 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum value in xmm1. If the
9270 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m32) would
9271 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m32) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
9272 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
9273 the SNaN is not returned). The high three doublewords of the
9274 destination are left unchanged.
9277 \H{insMFENCE} \i\c{MFENCE}: Memory Fence
9279 \c MFENCE ; 0F AE /6 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9281 \c{MFENCE} performs a serialising operation on all loads from memory
9282 and writes to memory that were issued before the \c{MFENCE} instruction.
9283 This guarantees that all memory reads and writes before the \c{MFENCE}
9284 instruction are completed before any reads and writes after the
9285 \c{MFENCE} instruction.
9287 \c{MFENCE} is ordered respective to other \c{MFENCE} instructions,
9288 \c{LFENCE}, \c{SFENCE}, any memory read and any other serialising
9289 instruction (such as \c{CPUID}).
9291 Weakly ordered memory types can be used to achieve higher processor
9292 performance through such techniques as out-of-order issue, speculative
9293 reads, write-combining, and write-collapsing. The degree to which a
9294 consumer of data recognizes or knows that the data is weakly ordered
9295 varies among applications and may be unknown to the producer of this
9296 data. The \c{MFENCE} instruction provides a performance-efficient way
9297 of ensuring load and store ordering between routines that produce
9298 weakly-ordered results and routines that consume that data.
9300 \c{MFENCE} uses the following ModRM encoding:
9303 \c Reg/Opcode (5:3) = 110B
9306 All other ModRM encodings are defined to be reserved, and use
9307 of these encodings risks incompatibility with future processors.
9309 See also \c{LFENCE} (\k{insLFENCE}) and \c{SFENCE} (\k{insSFENCE}).
9312 \H{insMINPD} \i\c{MINPD}: Return Packed Double-Precision FP Minimum
9314 \c MINPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 5D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9316 \c{MINPD} performs a SIMD compare of the packed double-precision
9317 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum values
9318 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
9319 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
9320 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
9321 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
9324 \H{insMINPS} \i\c{MINPS}: Return Packed Single-Precision FP Minimum
9326 \c MINPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 5D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9328 \c{MINPS} performs a SIMD compare of the packed single-precision
9329 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum values
9330 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
9331 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
9332 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
9333 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
9336 \H{insMINSD} \i\c{MINSD}: Return Scalar Double-Precision FP Minimum
9338 \c MINSD xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F2 0F 5D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9340 \c{MINSD} compares the low-order double-precision FP numbers from
9341 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum value in xmm1. If the
9342 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m64) would
9343 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m64) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
9344 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
9345 the SNaN is not returned). The high quadword of the destination
9349 \H{insMINSS} \i\c{MINSD}: Return Scalar Single-Precision FP Minimum
9351 \c MINSS xmm1,xmm2/m32 ; F3 0F 5D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9353 \c{MINSS} compares the low-order single-precision FP numbers from
9354 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum value in xmm1. If the
9355 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m32) would
9356 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m32) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
9357 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
9358 the SNaN is not returned). The high three doublewords of the
9359 destination are left unchanged.
9362 \H{insMOV} \i\c{MOV}: Move Data
9364 \c MOV r/m8,reg8 ; 88 /r [8086]
9365 \c MOV r/m16,reg16 ; o16 89 /r [8086]
9366 \c MOV r/m32,reg32 ; o32 89 /r [386]
9367 \c MOV reg8,r/m8 ; 8A /r [8086]
9368 \c MOV reg16,r/m16 ; o16 8B /r [8086]
9369 \c MOV reg32,r/m32 ; o32 8B /r [386]
9371 \c MOV reg8,imm8 ; B0+r ib [8086]
9372 \c MOV reg16,imm16 ; o16 B8+r iw [8086]
9373 \c MOV reg32,imm32 ; o32 B8+r id [386]
9374 \c MOV r/m8,imm8 ; C6 /0 ib [8086]
9375 \c MOV r/m16,imm16 ; o16 C7 /0 iw [8086]
9376 \c MOV r/m32,imm32 ; o32 C7 /0 id [386]
9378 \c MOV AL,memoffs8 ; A0 ow/od [8086]
9379 \c MOV AX,memoffs16 ; o16 A1 ow/od [8086]
9380 \c MOV EAX,memoffs32 ; o32 A1 ow/od [386]
9381 \c MOV memoffs8,AL ; A2 ow/od [8086]
9382 \c MOV memoffs16,AX ; o16 A3 ow/od [8086]
9383 \c MOV memoffs32,EAX ; o32 A3 ow/od [386]
9385 \c MOV r/m16,segreg ; o16 8C /r [8086]
9386 \c MOV r/m32,segreg ; o32 8C /r [386]
9387 \c MOV segreg,r/m16 ; o16 8E /r [8086]
9388 \c MOV segreg,r/m32 ; o32 8E /r [386]
9390 \c MOV reg32,CR0/2/3/4 ; 0F 20 /r [386]
9391 \c MOV reg32,DR0/1/2/3/6/7 ; 0F 21 /r [386]
9392 \c MOV reg32,TR3/4/5/6/7 ; 0F 24 /r [386]
9393 \c MOV CR0/2/3/4,reg32 ; 0F 22 /r [386]
9394 \c MOV DR0/1/2/3/6/7,reg32 ; 0F 23 /r [386]
9395 \c MOV TR3/4/5/6/7,reg32 ; 0F 26 /r [386]
9397 \c{MOV} copies the contents of its source (second) operand into its
9398 destination (first) operand.
9400 In all forms of the \c{MOV} instruction, the two operands are the
9401 same size, except for moving between a segment register and an
9402 \c{r/m32} operand. These instructions are treated exactly like the
9403 corresponding 16-bit equivalent (so that, for example, \c{MOV
9404 DS,EAX} functions identically to \c{MOV DS,AX} but saves a prefix
9405 when in 32-bit mode), except that when a segment register is moved
9406 into a 32-bit destination, the top two bytes of the result are
9409 \c{MOV} may not use \c{CS} as a destination.
9411 \c{CR4} is only a supported register on the Pentium and above.
9413 Test registers are supported on 386/486 processors and on some
9414 non-Intel Pentium class processors.
9417 \H{insMOVAPD} \i\c{MOVAPD}: Move Aligned Packed Double-Precision FP Values
9419 \c MOVAPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 28 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9420 \c MOVAPD xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 66 0F 29 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9422 \c{MOVAPS} moves a double quadword containing 2 packed double-precision
9423 FP values from the source operand to the destination. When the source
9424 or destination operand is a memory location, it must be aligned on a
9427 To move data in and out of memory locations that are not known to be on
9428 16-byte boundaries, use the \c{MOVUPD} instruction (\k{insMOVUPD}).
9431 \H{insMOVAPS} \i\c{MOVAPS}: Move Aligned Packed Single-Precision FP Values
9433 \c MOVAPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 28 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9434 \c MOVAPS xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 0F 29 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9436 \c{MOVAPS} moves a double quadword containing 4 packed single-precision
9437 FP values from the source operand to the destination. When the source
9438 or destination operand is a memory location, it must be aligned on a
9441 To move data in and out of memory locations that are not known to be on
9442 16-byte boundaries, use the \c{MOVUPS} instruction (\k{insMOVUPS}).
9445 \H{insMOVD} \i\c{MOVD}: Move Doubleword to/from MMX Register
9447 \c MOVD mm,r/m32 ; 0F 6E /r [PENT,MMX]
9448 \c MOVD r/m32,mm ; 0F 7E /r [PENT,MMX]
9449 \c MOVD xmm,r/m32 ; 66 0F 6E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9450 \c MOVD r/m32,xmm ; 66 0F 7E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9452 \c{MOVD} copies 32 bits from its source (second) operand into its
9453 destination (first) operand. When the destination is a 64-bit \c{MMX}
9454 register or a 128-bit \c{XMM} register, the input value is zero-extended
9455 to fill the destination register.
9458 \H{insMOVDQ2Q} \i\c{MOVDQ2Q}: Move Quadword from XMM to MMX register.
9460 \c MOVDQ2Q mm,xmm ; F2 OF D6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9462 \c{MOVDQ2Q} moves the low quadword from the source operand to the
9463 destination operand.
9466 \H{insMOVDQA} \i\c{MOVDQA}: Move Aligned Double Quadword
9468 \c MOVDQA xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 OF 6F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9469 \c MOVDQA xmm1/m128,xmm2 ; 66 OF 7F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9471 \c{MOVDQA} moves a double quadword from the source operand to the
9472 destination operand. When the source or destination operand is a
9473 memory location, it must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
9475 To move a double quadword to or from unaligned memory locations,
9476 use the \c{MOVDQU} instruction (\k{insMOVDQU}).
9479 \H{insMOVDQU} \i\c{MOVDQU}: Move Unaligned Double Quadword
9481 \c MOVDQU xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 OF 6F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9482 \c MOVDQU xmm1/m128,xmm2 ; F3 OF 7F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9484 \c{MOVDQU} moves a double quadword from the source operand to the
9485 destination operand. When the source or destination operand is a
9486 memory location, the memory may be unaligned.
9488 To move a double quadword to or from known aligned memory locations,
9489 use the \c{MOVDQA} instruction (\k{insMOVDQA}).
9492 \H{insMOVHLPS} \i\c{MOVHLPS}: Move Packed Single-Precision FP High to Low
9494 \c MOVHLPS xmm1,xmm2 ; OF 12 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9496 \c{MOVHLPS} moves the two packed single-precision FP values from the
9497 high quadword of the source register xmm2 to the low quadword of the
9498 destination register, xmm2. The upper quadword of xmm1 is left unchanged.
9500 The operation of this instruction is:
9502 \c dst[0-63] := src[64-127],
9503 \c dst[64-127] remains unchanged.
9506 \H{insMOVHPD} \i\c{MOVHPD}: Move High Packed Double-Precision FP
9508 \c MOVHPD xmm,m64 ; 66 OF 16 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9509 \c MOVHPD m64,xmm ; 66 OF 17 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9511 \c{MOVHPD} moves a double-precision FP value between the source and
9512 destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
9513 the other is the high quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
9515 The operation of this instruction is:
9517 \c mem[0-63] := xmm[64-127];
9521 \c xmm[0-63] remains unchanged;
9522 \c xmm[64-127] := mem[0-63].
9525 \H{insMOVHPS} \i\c{MOVHPS}: Move High Packed Single-Precision FP
9527 \c MOVHPS xmm,m64 ; 0F 16 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9528 \c MOVHPS m64,xmm ; 0F 17 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9530 \c{MOVHPS} moves two packed single-precision FP values between the source
9531 and destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
9532 the other is the high quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
9534 The operation of this instruction is:
9536 \c mem[0-63] := xmm[64-127];
9540 \c xmm[0-63] remains unchanged;
9541 \c xmm[64-127] := mem[0-63].
9544 \H{insMOVLHPS} \i\c{MOVLHPS}: Move Packed Single-Precision FP Low to High
9546 \c MOVLHPS xmm1,xmm2 ; OF 16 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9548 \c{MOVLHPS} moves the two packed single-precision FP values from the
9549 low quadword of the source register xmm2 to the high quadword of the
9550 destination register, xmm2. The low quadword of xmm1 is left unchanged.
9552 The operation of this instruction is:
9554 \c dst[0-63] remains unchanged;
9555 \c dst[64-127] := src[0-63].
9557 \H{insMOVLPD} \i\c{MOVLPD}: Move Low Packed Double-Precision FP
9559 \c MOVLPD xmm,m64 ; 66 OF 12 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9560 \c MOVLPD m64,xmm ; 66 OF 13 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9562 \c{MOVLPD} moves a double-precision FP value between the source and
9563 destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
9564 the other is the low quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
9566 The operation of this instruction is:
9568 \c mem(0-63) := xmm(0-63);
9572 \c xmm(0-63) := mem(0-63);
9573 \c xmm(64-127) remains unchanged.
9575 \H{insMOVLPS} \i\c{MOVLPS}: Move Low Packed Single-Precision FP
9577 \c MOVLPS xmm,m64 ; OF 12 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9578 \c MOVLPS m64,xmm ; OF 13 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9580 \c{MOVLPS} moves two packed single-precision FP values between the source
9581 and destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
9582 the other is the low quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
9584 The operation of this instruction is:
9586 \c mem(0-63) := xmm(0-63);
9590 \c xmm(0-63) := mem(0-63);
9591 \c xmm(64-127) remains unchanged.
9594 \H{insMOVMSKPD} \i\c{MOVMSKPD}: Extract Packed Double-Precision FP Sign Mask
9596 \c MOVMSKPD reg32,xmm ; 66 0F 50 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9598 \c{MOVMSKPD} inserts a 2-bit mask in r32, formed of the most significant
9599 bits of each double-precision FP number of the source operand.
9602 \H{insMOVMSKPS} \i\c{MOVMSKPS}: Extract Packed Single-Precision FP Sign Mask
9604 \c MOVMSKPS reg32,xmm ; 0F 50 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9606 \c{MOVMSKPS} inserts a 4-bit mask in r32, formed of the most significant
9607 bits of each single-precision FP number of the source operand.
9610 \H{insMOVNTDQ} \i\c{MOVNTDQ}: Move Double Quadword Non Temporal
9612 \c MOVNTDQ m128,xmm ; 66 0F E7 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9614 \c{MOVNTDQ} moves the double quadword from the \c{XMM} source
9615 register to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9616 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution.
9619 \H{insMOVNTI} \i\c{MOVNTI}: Move Doubleword Non Temporal
9621 \c MOVNTI m32,reg32 ; 0F C3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9623 \c{MOVNTI} moves the doubleword in the source register
9624 to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9625 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution.
9628 \H{insMOVNTPD} \i\c{MOVNTPD}: Move Aligned Four Packed Single-Precision
9629 FP Values Non Temporal
9631 \c MOVNTPD m128,xmm ; 66 0F 2B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9633 \c{MOVNTPD} moves the double quadword from the \c{XMM} source
9634 register to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9635 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution. The memory
9636 location must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
9639 \H{insMOVNTPS} \i\c{MOVNTPS}: Move Aligned Four Packed Single-Precision
9640 FP Values Non Temporal
9642 \c MOVNTPS m128,xmm ; 0F 2B /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9644 \c{MOVNTPS} moves the double quadword from the \c{XMM} source
9645 register to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9646 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution. The memory
9647 location must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
9650 \H{insMOVNTQ} \i\c{MOVNTQ}: Move Quadword Non Temporal
9652 \c MOVNTQ m64,mm ; 0F E7 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
9654 \c{MOVNTQ} moves the quadword in the \c{MMX} source register
9655 to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9656 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution.
9659 \H{insMOVQ} \i\c{MOVQ}: Move Quadword to/from MMX Register
9661 \c MOVQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 6F /r [PENT,MMX]
9662 \c MOVQ mm1/m64,mm2 ; 0F 7F /r [PENT,MMX]
9664 \c MOVQ xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F3 0F 7E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9665 \c MOVQ xmm1/m64,xmm2 ; 66 0F D6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9667 \c{MOVQ} copies 64 bits from its source (second) operand into its
9668 destination (first) operand. When the source is an \c{XMM} register,
9669 the low quadword is moved. When the destination is an \c{XMM} register,
9670 the destination is the low quadword, and the high quadword is cleared.
9673 \H{insMOVQ2DQ} \i\c{MOVQ2DQ}: Move Quadword from MMX to XMM register.
9675 \c MOVQ2DQ xmm,mm ; F3 OF D6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9677 \c{MOVQ2DQ} moves the quadword from the source operand to the low
9678 quadword of the destination operand, and clears the high quadword.
9681 \H{insMOVSB} \i\c{MOVSB}, \i\c{MOVSW}, \i\c{MOVSD}: Move String
9683 \c MOVSB ; A4 [8086]
9684 \c MOVSW ; o16 A5 [8086]
9685 \c MOVSD ; o32 A5 [386]
9687 \c{MOVSB} copies the byte at \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} to
9688 \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]}. It then increments or decrements
9689 (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag is clear,
9690 decrements if it is set) \c{SI} and \c{DI} (or \c{ESI} and \c{EDI}).
9692 The registers used are \c{SI} and \c{DI} if the address size is 16
9693 bits, and \c{ESI} and \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use
9694 an address size not equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can
9695 use an explicit \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
9697 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
9698 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
9699 example, \c{es movsb}). The use of \c{ES} for the store to \c{[DI]}
9700 or \c{[EDI]} cannot be overridden.
9702 \c{MOVSW} and \c{MOVSD} work in the same way, but they copy a word
9703 or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement the
9704 addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
9706 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
9707 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
9710 \H{insMOVSD} \i\c{MOVSD}: Move Scalar Double-Precision FP Value
9712 \c MOVSD xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F2 0F 10 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9713 \c MOVSD xmm1/m64,xmm2 ; F2 0F 11 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9715 \c{MOVDS} moves a double-precision FP value from the source operand
9716 to the destination operand. When the source or destination is a
9717 register, the low-order FP value is read or written.
9720 \H{insMOVSS} \i\c{MOVSS}: Move Scalar Single-Precision FP Value
9722 \c MOVSS xmm1,xmm2/m32 ; F3 0F 10 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9723 \c MOVSS xmm1/m32,xmm2 ; F3 0F 11 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9725 \c{MOVSS} moves a single-precision FP value from the source operand
9726 to the destination operand. When the source or destination is a
9727 register, the low-order FP value is read or written.
9730 \H{insMOVSX} \i\c{MOVSX}, \i\c{MOVZX}: Move Data with Sign or Zero Extend
9732 \c MOVSX reg16,r/m8 ; o16 0F BE /r [386]
9733 \c MOVSX reg32,r/m8 ; o32 0F BE /r [386]
9734 \c MOVSX reg32,r/m16 ; o32 0F BF /r [386]
9736 \c MOVZX reg16,r/m8 ; o16 0F B6 /r [386]
9737 \c MOVZX reg32,r/m8 ; o32 0F B6 /r [386]
9738 \c MOVZX reg32,r/m16 ; o32 0F B7 /r [386]
9740 \c{MOVSX} sign-extends its source (second) operand to the length of
9741 its destination (first) operand, and copies the result into the
9742 destination operand. \c{MOVZX} does the same, but zero-extends
9743 rather than sign-extending.
9746 \H{insMOVUPD} \i\c{MOVUPD}: Move Unaligned Packed Double-Precision FP Values
9748 \c MOVUPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 10 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9749 \c MOVUPD xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 66 0F 11 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9751 \c{MOVUPD} moves a double quadword containing 2 packed double-precision
9752 FP values from the source operand to the destination. This instruction
9753 makes no assumptions about alignment of memory operands.
9755 To move data in and out of memory locations that are known to be on 16-byte
9756 boundaries, use the \c{MOVAPD} instruction (\k{insMOVAPD}).
9759 \H{insMOVUPS} \i\c{MOVUPS}: Move Unaligned Packed Single-Precision FP Values
9761 \c MOVUPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 10 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9762 \c MOVUPS xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 0F 11 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9764 \c{MOVUPS} moves a double quadword containing 4 packed single-precision
9765 FP values from the source operand to the destination. This instruction
9766 makes no assumptions about alignment of memory operands.
9768 To move data in and out of memory locations that are known to be on 16-byte
9769 boundaries, use the \c{MOVAPS} instruction (\k{insMOVAPS}).
9772 \H{insMUL} \i\c{MUL}: Unsigned Integer Multiply
9774 \c MUL r/m8 ; F6 /4 [8086]
9775 \c MUL r/m16 ; o16 F7 /4 [8086]
9776 \c MUL r/m32 ; o32 F7 /4 [386]
9778 \c{MUL} performs unsigned integer multiplication. The other operand
9779 to the multiplication, and the destination operand, are implicit, in
9782 \b For \c{MUL r/m8}, \c{AL} is multiplied by the given operand; the
9783 product is stored in \c{AX}.
9785 \b For \c{MUL r/m16}, \c{AX} is multiplied by the given operand;
9786 the product is stored in \c{DX:AX}.
9788 \b For \c{MUL r/m32}, \c{EAX} is multiplied by the given operand;
9789 the product is stored in \c{EDX:EAX}.
9791 Signed integer multiplication is performed by the \c{IMUL}
9792 instruction: see \k{insIMUL}.
9795 \H{insMULPD} \i\c{MULPD}: Packed Single-FP Multiply
9797 \c MULPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 59 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9799 \c{MULPD} performs a SIMD multiply of the packed double-precision FP
9800 values in both operands, and stores the results in the destination register.
9803 \H{insMULPS} \i\c{MULPS}: Packed Single-FP Multiply
9805 \c MULPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 59 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9807 \c{MULPS} performs a SIMD multiply of the packed single-precision FP
9808 values in both operands, and stores the results in the destination register.
9811 \H{insMULSD} \i\c{MULSD}: Scalar Single-FP Multiply
9813 \c MULSD xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F2 0F 59 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9815 \c{MULSD} multiplies the lowest double-precision FP values of both
9816 operands, and stores the result in the low quadword of xmm1.
9819 \H{insMULSS} \i\c{MULSS}: Scalar Single-FP Multiply
9821 \c MULSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 59 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9823 \c{MULSS} multiplies the lowest single-precision FP values of both
9824 operands, and stores the result in the low doubleword of xmm1.
9827 \H{insNEG} \i\c{NEG}, \i\c{NOT}: Two's and One's Complement
9829 \c NEG r/m8 ; F6 /3 [8086]
9830 \c NEG r/m16 ; o16 F7 /3 [8086]
9831 \c NEG r/m32 ; o32 F7 /3 [386]
9833 \c NOT r/m8 ; F6 /2 [8086]
9834 \c NOT r/m16 ; o16 F7 /2 [8086]
9835 \c NOT r/m32 ; o32 F7 /2 [386]
9837 \c{NEG} replaces the contents of its operand by the two's complement
9838 negation (invert all the bits and then add one) of the original
9839 value. \c{NOT}, similarly, performs one's complement (inverts all
9843 \H{insNOP} \i\c{NOP}: No Operation
9847 \c{NOP} performs no operation. Its opcode is the same as that
9848 generated by \c{XCHG AX,AX} or \c{XCHG EAX,EAX} (depending on the
9849 processor mode; see \k{insXCHG}).
9852 \H{insOR} \i\c{OR}: Bitwise OR
9854 \c OR r/m8,reg8 ; 08 /r [8086]
9855 \c OR r/m16,reg16 ; o16 09 /r [8086]
9856 \c OR r/m32,reg32 ; o32 09 /r [386]
9858 \c OR reg8,r/m8 ; 0A /r [8086]
9859 \c OR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0B /r [8086]
9860 \c OR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0B /r [386]
9862 \c OR r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /1 ib [8086]
9863 \c OR r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /1 iw [8086]
9864 \c OR r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /1 id [386]
9866 \c OR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /1 ib [8086]
9867 \c OR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /1 ib [386]
9869 \c OR AL,imm8 ; 0C ib [8086]
9870 \c OR AX,imm16 ; o16 0D iw [8086]
9871 \c OR EAX,imm32 ; o32 0D id [386]
9873 \c{OR} performs a bitwise OR operation between its two operands
9874 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if at least one of the
9875 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
9876 in the destination (first) operand.
9878 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
9879 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
9880 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
9881 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
9882 form of the instruction.
9884 The MMX instruction \c{POR} (see \k{insPOR}) performs the same
9885 operation on the 64-bit MMX registers.
9888 \H{insORPD} \i\c{ORPD}: Bit-wise Logical OR of Double-Precision FP Data
9890 \c ORPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 56 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9892 \c{ORPD} return a bit-wise logical OR between xmm1 and xmm2/mem,
9893 and stores the result in xmm1. If the source operand is a memory
9894 location, it must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
9897 \H{insORPS} \i\c{ORPS}: Bit-wise Logical OR of Single-Precision FP Data
9899 \c ORPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 56 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9901 \c{ORPS} return a bit-wise logical OR between xmm1 and xmm2/mem,
9902 and stores the result in xmm1. If the source operand is a memory
9903 location, it must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
9906 \H{insOUT} \i\c{OUT}: Output Data to I/O Port
9908 \c OUT imm8,AL ; E6 ib [8086]
9909 \c OUT imm8,AX ; o16 E7 ib [8086]
9910 \c OUT imm8,EAX ; o32 E7 ib [386]
9911 \c OUT DX,AL ; EE [8086]
9912 \c OUT DX,AX ; o16 EF [8086]
9913 \c OUT DX,EAX ; o32 EF [386]
9915 \c{OUT} writes the contents of the given source register to the
9916 specified I/O port. The port number may be specified as an immediate
9917 value if it is between 0 and 255, and otherwise must be stored in
9918 \c{DX}. See also \c{IN} (\k{insIN}).
9921 \H{insOUTSB} \i\c{OUTSB}, \i\c{OUTSW}, \i\c{OUTSD}: Output String to I/O Port
9925 \c OUTSW ; o16 6F [186]
9927 \c OUTSD ; o32 6F [386]
9929 \c{OUTSB} loads a byte from \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} and writes
9930 it to the I/O port specified in \c{DX}. It then increments or
9931 decrements (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag
9932 is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{SI} or \c{ESI}.
9934 The register used is \c{SI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
9935 \c{ESI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
9936 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
9937 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
9939 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
9940 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
9941 example, \c{es outsb}).
9943 \c{OUTSW} and \c{OUTSD} work in the same way, but they output a
9944 word or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement
9945 the addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
9947 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
9948 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
9951 \H{insPACKSSDW} \i\c{PACKSSDW}, \i\c{PACKSSWB}, \i\c{PACKUSWB}: Pack Data
9953 \c PACKSSDW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 6B /r [PENT,MMX]
9954 \c PACKSSWB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 63 /r [PENT,MMX]
9955 \c PACKUSWB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 67 /r [PENT,MMX]
9957 \c PACKSSDW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9958 \c PACKSSWB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 63 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9959 \c PACKUSWB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 67 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9961 All these instructions start by combining the source and destination
9962 operands, and then splitting the result in smaller sections which it
9963 then packs into the destination register. The \c{MMX} versions pack
9964 two 64-bit operands into one 64-bit register, while the \c{SSE}
9965 versions pack two 128-bit operands into one 128-bit register.
9967 \b \c{PACKSSWB} splits the combined value into words, and then reduces
9968 the words to btes, using signed saturation. It then packs the bytes
9969 into the destination register in the same order the words were in.
9971 \b \c{PACKSSDW} performs the same operation as \c{PACKSSWB}, except that
9972 it reduces doublewords to words, then packs them into the destination
9975 \b \c{PACKUSWB} performs the same operation as \c{PACKSSWB}, except that
9976 it uses unsigned saturation when reducing the size of the elements.
9978 To perform signed saturation on a number, it is replaced by the largest
9979 signed number (\c{7FFFh} or \c{7Fh}) that \e{will} fit, and if it is too
9980 small it is replaced by the smallest signed number (\c{8000h} or
9981 \c{80h}) that will fit. To perform unsigned saturation, the input is
9982 treated as unsigned, and the input is replaced by the largest unsigned
9983 number that will fit.
9986 \H{insPADDB} \i\c{PADDB}, \i\c{PADDW}, \i\c{PADDD}: Add Packed Integers
9988 \c PADDB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FC /r [PENT,MMX]
9989 \c PADDW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FD /r [PENT,MMX]
9990 \c PADDD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FE /r [PENT,MMX]
9992 \c PADDB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FC /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9993 \c PADDW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FD /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9994 \c PADDD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FE /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9996 \c{PADDx} performs packed addition of the two operands, storing the
9997 result in the destination (first) operand.
9999 \b \c{PADDB} treats the operands as packed bytes, and adds each byte
10002 \b \c{PADDW} treats the operands as packed words;
10004 \b \c{PADDD} treats its operands as packed doublewords.
10006 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, it
10007 is wrapped around and the low bits are stored, with the carry bit
10011 \H{insPADDQ} \i\c{PADDQ}: Add Packed Quadword Integers
10013 \c PADDQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D4 /r [PENT,MMX]
10015 \c PADDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10017 \c{PADDQ} adds the quadwords in the source and destination operands, and
10018 stores the result in the destination register.
10020 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, it
10021 is wrapped around and the low bits are stored, with the carry bit
10025 \H{insPADDSB} \i\c{PADDSB}, \i\c{PADDSW}: Add Packed Signed Integers With Saturation
10027 \c PADDSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EC /r [PENT,MMX]
10028 \c PADDSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F ED /r [PENT,MMX]
10030 \c PADDSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EC /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10031 \c PADDSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F ED /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10033 \c{PADDSx} performs packed addition of the two operands, storing the
10034 result in the destination (first) operand.
10035 \c{PADDSB} treats the operands as packed bytes, and adds each byte
10036 individually; and \c{PADDSW} treats the operands as packed words.
10038 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, a
10039 saturated value is stored. The resulting value is the value with the
10040 largest magnitude of the same sign as the result which will fit in
10041 the available space.
10044 \H{insPADDSIW} \i\c{PADDSIW}: MMX Packed Addition to Implicit Destination
10046 \c PADDSIW mmxreg,r/m64 ; 0F 51 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10048 \c{PADDSIW}, specific to the Cyrix extensions to the MMX instruction
10049 set, performs the same function as \c{PADDSW}, except that the result
10050 is placed in an implied register.
10052 To work out the implied register, invert the lowest bit in the register
10053 number. So \c{PADDSIW MM0,MM2} would put the result in \c{MM1}, but
10054 \c{PADDSIW MM1,MM2} would put the result in \c{MM0}.
10057 \H{insPADDUSB} \i\c{PADDUSB}, \i\c{PADDUSW}: Add Packed Unsigned Integers With Saturation
10059 \c PADDUSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DC /r [PENT,MMX]
10060 \c PADDUSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DD /r [PENT,MMX]
10062 \c PADDUSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DC /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10063 \c PADDUSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DD /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10065 \c{PADDUSx} performs packed addition of the two operands, storing the
10066 result in the destination (first) operand.
10067 \c{PADDUSB} treats the operands as packed bytes, and adds each byte
10068 individually; and \c{PADDUSW} treats the operands as packed words.
10070 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, a
10071 saturated value is stored. The resulting value is the maximum value
10072 that will fit in the available space.
10075 \H{insPAND} \i\c{PAND}, \i\c{PANDN}: MMX Bitwise AND and AND-NOT
10077 \c PAND mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DB /r [PENT,MMX]
10078 \c PANDN mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DF /r [PENT,MMX]
10080 \c PAND xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10081 \c PANDN xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DF /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10084 \c{PAND} performs a bitwise AND operation between its two operands
10085 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if the corresponding
10086 bits of the two inputs were both 1), and stores the result in the
10087 destination (first) operand.
10089 \c{PANDN} performs the same operation, but performs a one's
10090 complement operation on the destination (first) operand first.
10093 \H{insPAUSE} \i\c{PAUSE}: Spin Loop Hint
10095 \c PAUSE ; F3 90 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10097 \c{PAUSE} provides a hint to the processor that the following code
10098 is a spin loop. This improves processor performance by bypassing
10099 possible memory order violations. On older processors, this instruction
10100 operates as a \c{NOP}.
10103 \H{insPAVEB} \i\c{PAVEB}: MMX Packed Average
10105 \c PAVEB mmxreg,r/m64 ; 0F 50 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10107 \c{PAVEB}, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, treats its two
10108 operands as vectors of eight unsigned bytes, and calculates the
10109 average of the corresponding bytes in the operands. The resulting
10110 vector of eight averages is stored in the first operand.
10112 This opcode maps to \c{MOVMSKPS r32, xmm} on processors that support
10113 the SSE instruction set.
10116 \H{insPAVGB} \i\c{PAVGB} \i\c{PAVGW}: Average Packed Integers
10118 \c PAVGB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E0 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10119 \c PAVGW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E3 /r [KATMAI,MMX,SM]
10121 \c PAVGB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E0 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10122 \c PAVGW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10124 \c{PAVGB} and \c{PAVGW} add the unsigned data elements of the source
10125 operand to the unsigned data elements of the destination register,
10126 then adds 1 to the temporary results. The results of the add are then
10127 each independently right-shifted by one bit position. The high order
10128 bits of each element are filled with the carry bits of the corresponding
10131 \b \c{PAVGB} operates on packed unsigned bytes, and
10133 \b \c{PAVGW} operates on packed unsigned words.
10136 \H{insPAVGUSB} \i\c{PAVGUSB}: Average of unsigned packed 8-bit values
10138 \c PAVGUSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r BF [PENT,3DNOW]
10140 \c{PAVGUSB} adds the unsigned data elements of the source operand to
10141 the unsigned data elements of the destination register, then adds 1
10142 to the temporary results. The results of the add are then each
10143 independently right-shifted by one bit position. The high order bits
10144 of each element are filled with the carry bits of the corresponding
10147 This instruction performs exactly the same operations as the \c{PAVGB}
10148 \c{MMX} instruction (\k{insPAVGB}).
10151 \H{insPCMPEQB} \i\c{PCMPxx}: Compare Packed Integers.
10153 \c PCMPEQB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 74 /r [PENT,MMX]
10154 \c PCMPEQW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 75 /r [PENT,MMX]
10155 \c PCMPEQD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 76 /r [PENT,MMX]
10157 \c PCMPGTB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 64 /r [PENT,MMX]
10158 \c PCMPGTW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 65 /r [PENT,MMX]
10159 \c PCMPGTD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 66 /r [PENT,MMX]
10161 \c PCMPEQB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 74 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10162 \c PCMPEQW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 75 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10163 \c PCMPEQD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 76 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10165 \c PCMPGTB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 64 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10166 \c PCMPGTW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 65 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10167 \c PCMPGTD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 66 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10169 The \c{PCMPxx} instructions all treat their operands as vectors of
10170 bytes, words, or doublewords; corresponding elements of the source
10171 and destination are compared, and the corresponding element of the
10172 destination (first) operand is set to all zeros or all ones
10173 depending on the result of the comparison.
10175 \b \c{PCMPxxB} treats the operands as vectors of bytes;
10177 \b \c{PCMPxxW} treats the operands as vectors of words;
10179 \b \c{PCMPxxD} treats the operands as vectors of doublewords;
10181 \b \c{PCMPEQx} sets the corresponding element of the destination
10182 operand to all ones if the two elements compared are equal;
10184 \b \c{PCMPGTx} sets the destination element to all ones if the element
10185 of the first (destination) operand is greater (treated as a signed
10186 integer) than that of the second (source) operand.
10189 \H{insPDISTIB} \i\c{PDISTIB}: MMX Packed Distance and Accumulate
10190 with Implied Register
10192 \c PDISTIB mm,m64 ; 0F 54 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10194 \c{PDISTIB}, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, treats its two
10195 input operands as vectors of eight unsigned bytes. For each byte
10196 position, it finds the absolute difference between the bytes in that
10197 position in the two input operands, and adds that value to the byte
10198 in the same position in the implied output register. The addition is
10199 saturated to an unsigned byte in the same way as \c{PADDUSB}.
10201 To work out the implied register, invert the lowest bit in the register
10202 number. So \c{PDISTIB MM0,M64} would put the result in \c{MM1}, but
10203 \c{PDISTIB MM1,M64} would put the result in \c{MM0}.
10205 Note that \c{PDISTIB} cannot take a register as its second source
10210 \c dstI[0-7] := dstI[0-7] + ABS(src0[0-7] - src1[0-7]),
10211 \c dstI[8-15] := dstI[8-15] + ABS(src0[8-15] - src1[8-15]),
10214 \c dstI[56-63] := dstI[56-63] + ABS(src0[56-63] - src1[56-63]).
10217 \H{insPEXTRW} \i\c{PEXTRW}: Extract Word
10219 \c PEXTRW reg32,mm,imm8 ; 0F C5 /r ib [KATMAI,MMX]
10220 \c PEXTRW reg32,xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F C5 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10222 \c{PEXTRW} moves the word in the source register (second operand)
10223 that is pointed to by the count operand (third operand), into the
10224 lower half of a 32-bit general purpose register. The upper half of
10225 the register is cleared to all 0s.
10227 When the source operand is an \c{MMX} register, the two least
10228 significant bits of the count specify the source word. When it is
10229 an \c{SSE} register, the three least significant bits specify the
10233 \H{insPF2ID} \i\c{PF2ID}: Packed Single-Precision FP to Integer Convert
10235 \c PF2ID mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 1D [PENT,3DNOW]
10237 \c{PF2ID} converts two single-precision FP values in the source operand
10238 to signed 32-bit integers, using truncation, and stores them in the
10239 destination operand. Source values that are outside the range supported
10240 by the destination are saturated to the largest absolute value of the
10244 \H{insPF2IW} \i\c{PF2IW}: Packed Single-Precision FP to Integer Word Convert
10246 \c PF2IW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 1C [PENT,3DNOW]
10248 \c{PF2IW} converts two single-precision FP values in the source operand
10249 to signed 16-bit integers, using truncation, and stores them in the
10250 destination operand. Source values that are outside the range supported
10251 by the destination are saturated to the largest absolute value of the
10254 \b In the K6-2 and K6-III, the 16-bit value is zero-extended to 32-bits
10257 \b In the K6-2+, K6-III+ and Athlon processors, the value is sign-extended
10258 to 32-bits before storing.
10261 \H{insPFACC} \i\c{PFACC}: Packed Single-Precision FP Accumulate
10263 \c PFACC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r AE [PENT,3DNOW]
10265 \c{PFACC} adds the two single-precision FP values from the destination
10266 operand together, then adds the two single-precision FP values from the
10267 source operand, and places the results in the low and high doublewords
10268 of the destination operand.
10272 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + dst[32-63],
10273 \c dst[32-63] := src[0-31] + src[32-63].
10276 \H{insPFADD} \i\c{PFADD}: Packed Single-Precision FP Addition
10278 \c PFADD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 9E [PENT,3DNOW]
10280 \c{PFADD} performs addition on each of two packed single-precision
10283 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + src[0-31],
10284 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] + src[32-63].
10287 \H{insPFCMP} \i\c{PFCMPxx}: Packed Single-Precision FP Compare
10288 \I\c{PFCMPEQ} \I\c{PFCMPGE} \I\c{PFCMPGT}
10290 \c PFCMPEQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B0 [PENT,3DNOW]
10291 \c PFCMPGE mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 90 [PENT,3DNOW]
10292 \c PFCMPGT mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A0 [PENT,3DNOW]
10294 The \c{PFCMPxx} instructions compare the packed single-point FP values
10295 in the source and destination operands, and set the destination
10296 according to the result. If the condition is true, the destination is
10297 set to all 1s, otherwise it's set to all 0s.
10299 \b \c{PFCMPEQ} tests whether dst == src;
10301 \b \c{PFCMPGE} tests whether dst >= src;
10303 \b \c{PFCMPGT} tests whether dst > src.
10306 \H{insPFMAX} \i\c{PFMAX}: Packed Single-Precision FP Maximum
10308 \c PFMAX mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A4 [PENT,3DNOW]
10310 \c{PFMAX} returns the higher of each pair of single-precision FP values.
10311 If the higher value is zero, it is returned as positive zero.
10314 \H{insPFMIN} \i\c{PFMIN}: Packed Single-Precision FP Minimum
10316 \c PFMIN mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 94 [PENT,3DNOW]
10318 \c{PFMIN} returns the lower of each pair of single-precision FP values.
10319 If the lower value is zero, it is returned as positive zero.
10322 \H{insPFMUL} \i\c{PFMUL}: Packed Single-Precision FP Multiply
10324 \c PFMUL mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B4 [PENT,3DNOW]
10326 \c{PFMUL} returns the product of each pair of single-precision FP values.
10328 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] * src[0-31],
10329 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] * src[32-63].
10332 \H{insPFNACC} \i\c{PFNACC}: Packed Single-Precision FP Negative Accumulate
10334 \c PFNACC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 8A [PENT,3DNOW]
10336 \c{PFACC} performs a negative accumulate of the two single-precision
10337 FP values in the source and destination registers. The result of the
10338 accumulate from the destination register is stored in the low doubleword
10339 of the destination, and the result of the source accumulate is stored in
10340 the high doubleword of the destination register.
10344 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] - dst[32-63],
10345 \c dst[32-63] := src[0-31] - src[32-63].
10348 \H{insPFNACC} \i\c{PFNACC}: Packed Single-Precision FP Mixed Accumulate
10350 \c PFNACC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 8E [PENT,3DNOW]
10352 \c{PFACC} performs a positive accumulate of the two single-precision
10353 FP values in the source register and a negative accumulate of the
10354 destination register. The result of the accumulate from the destination
10355 register is stored in the low doubleword of the destination, and the
10356 result of the source accumulate is stored in the high doubleword of the
10357 destination register.
10361 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] - dst[32-63],
10362 \c dst[32-63] := src[0-31] + src[32-63].
10365 \H{insPFRCP} \i\c{PFRCP}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal Approximation
10367 \c PFRCP mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 96 [PENT,3DNOW]
10369 \c{PFRCP} performs a low precision estimate of the reciprocal of the
10370 low-order single-precision FP value in the source operand, storing the
10371 result in both halves of the destination register. The result is accurate
10374 For higher precision reciprocals, this instruction should be followed by
10375 two more instructions: \c{PFRCPIT1} (\k{insPFRCPIT1}) and \c{PFRCPIT2}
10376 (\k{insPFRCPIT1}). This will result in a 24-bit accuracy. For more details,
10377 see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10380 \H{insPFRCPIT1} \i\c{PFRCPIT1}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal,
10381 First Iteration Step
10383 \c PFRCPIT1 mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A6 [PENT,3DNOW]
10385 \c{PFRCPIT1} performs the first intermediate step in the calculation of
10386 the reciprocal of a single-precision FP value. The first source value
10387 (\c{mm1} is the original value, and the second source value (\c{mm2/m64}
10388 is the result of a \c{PFRCP} instruction.
10390 For the final step in a reciprocal, returning the full 24-bit accuracy
10391 of a single-precision FP value, see \c{PFRCPIT2} (\k{insPFRCPIT2}). For
10392 more details, see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10395 \H{insPFRCPIT2} \i\c{PFRCPIT2}: Packed Single-Precision FP
10396 Reciprocal/ Reciprocal Square Root, Second Iteration Step
10398 \c PFRCPIT2 mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B6 [PENT,3DNOW]
10400 \c{PFRCPIT2} performs the second and final intermediate step in the
10401 calculation of a reciprocal or reciprocal square root, refining the
10402 values returned by the \c{PFRCP} and \c{PFRSQRT} instructions,
10405 The first source value (\c{mm1}) is the output of either a \c{PFRCPIT1}
10406 or a \c{PFRSQIT1} instruction, and the second source is the output of
10407 either the \c{PFRCP} or the \c{PFRSQRT} instruction. For more details,
10408 see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10411 \H{insPFRSQIT1} \i\c{PFRSQIT1}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
10412 Square Root, First Iteration Step
10414 \c PFRSQIT1 mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A7 [PENT,3DNOW]
10416 \c{PFRSQIT1} performs the first intermediate step in the calculation of
10417 the reciprocal square root of a single-precision FP value. The first
10418 source value (\c{mm1} is the square of the result of a \c{PFRSQRT}
10419 instruction, and the second source value (\c{mm2/m64} is the original
10422 For the final step in a calculation, returning the full 24-bit accuracy
10423 of a single-precision FP value, see \c{PFRCPIT2} (\k{insPFRCPIT2}). For
10424 more details, see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10427 \H{insPFRSQRT} \i\c{PFRSQRT}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
10428 Square Root Approximation
10430 \c PFRSQRT mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 97 [PENT,3DNOW]
10432 \c{PFRSQRT} performs a low precision estimate of the reciprocal square
10433 root of the low-order single-precision FP value in the source operand,
10434 storing the result in both halves of the destination register. The result
10435 is accurate to 15 bits.
10437 For higher precision reciprocals, this instruction should be followed by
10438 two more instructions: \c{PFRSQIT1} (\k{insPFRSQIT1}) and \c{PFRCPIT2}
10439 (\k{insPFRCPIT1}). This will result in a 24-bit accuracy. For more details,
10440 see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10443 \H{insPFSUB} \i\c{PFSUB}: Packed Single-Precision FP Subtract
10445 \c PFSUB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 9A [PENT,3DNOW]
10447 \c{PFSUB} subtracts the single-precision FP values in the source from
10448 those in the destination, and stores the result in the destination
10451 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] - src[0-31],
10452 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] - src[32-63].
10455 \H{insPFSUBR} \i\c{PFSUBR}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reverse Subtract
10457 \c PFSUBR mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r AA [PENT,3DNOW]
10459 \c{PFSUBR} subtracts the single-precision FP values in the destination
10460 from those in the source, and stores the result in the destination
10463 \c dst[0-31] := src[0-31] - dst[0-31],
10464 \c dst[32-63] := src[32-63] - dst[32-63].
10467 \H{insPI2FD} \i\c{PI2FD}: Packed Doubleword Integer to Single-Precision FP Convert
10469 \c PI2FD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 0D [PENT,3DNOW]
10471 \c{PF2ID} converts two signed 32-bit integers in the source operand
10472 to single-precision FP values, using truncation of significant digits,
10473 and stores them in the destination operand.
10476 \H{insPF2IW} \i\c{PF2IW}: Packed Word Integer to Single-Precision FP Convert
10478 \c PI2FW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 0C [PENT,3DNOW]
10480 \c{PF2IW} converts two signed 16-bit integers in the source operand
10481 to single-precision FP values, and stores them in the destination
10482 operand. The input values are in the low word of each doubleword.
10485 \H{insPINSRW} \i\c{PINSRW}: Insert Word
10487 \c PINSRW mm,r16/r32/m16,imm8 ;0F C4 /r ib [KATMAI,MMX]
10488 \c PINSRW xmm,r16/r32/m16,imm8 ;66 0F C4 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10490 \c{PINSRW} loads a word from a 16-bit register (or the low half of a
10491 32-bit register), or from memory, and loads it to the word position
10492 in the destination register, pointed at by the count operand (third
10493 operand). If the destination is an \c{MMX} register, the low two bits
10494 of the count byte are used, if it is an \c{XMM} register the low 3
10495 bits are used. The insertion is done in such a way that the other
10496 words from the destination register are left untouched.
10499 \H{insPMACHRIW} \i\c{PMACHRIW}: Packed Multiply and Accumulate with Rounding
10501 \c PMACHRIW mm,m64 ; 0F 5E /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10503 \c{PMACHRIW} takes two packed 16-bit integer inputs, multiplies the
10504 values in the inputs, rounds on bit 15 of each result, then adds bits
10505 15-30 of each result to the corresponding position of the \e{implied}
10506 destination register.
10508 The operation of this instruction is:
10510 \c dstI[0-15] := dstI[0-15] + (mm[0-15] *m64[0-15]
10511 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30],
10512 \c dstI[16-31] := dstI[16-31] + (mm[16-31]*m64[16-31]
10513 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30],
10514 \c dstI[32-47] := dstI[32-47] + (mm[32-47]*m64[32-47]
10515 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30],
10516 \c dstI[48-63] := dstI[48-63] + (mm[48-63]*m64[48-63]
10517 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30].
10519 Note that \c{PMACHRIW} cannot take a register as its second source
10523 \H{insPMADDWD} \i\c{PMADDWD}: MMX Packed Multiply and Add
10525 \c PMADDWD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F5 /r [PENT,MMX]
10526 \c PMADDWD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F5 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10528 \c{PMADDWD} treats its two inputs as vectors of signed words. It
10529 multiplies corresponding elements of the two operands, giving doubleword
10530 results. These are then added together in pairs and stored in the
10531 destination operand.
10533 The operation of this instruction is:
10535 \c dst[0-31] := (dst[0-15] * src[0-15])
10536 \c + (dst[16-31] * src[16-31]);
10537 \c dst[32-63] := (dst[32-47] * src[32-47])
10538 \c + (dst[48-63] * src[48-63]);
10540 The following apply to the \c{SSE} version of the instruction:
10542 \c dst[64-95] := (dst[64-79] * src[64-79])
10543 \c + (dst[80-95] * src[80-95]);
10544 \c dst[96-127] := (dst[96-111] * src[96-111])
10545 \c + (dst[112-127] * src[112-127]).
10548 \H{insPMAGW} \i\c{PMAGW}: MMX Packed Magnitude
10550 \c PMAGW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 52 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10552 \c{PMAGW}, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, treats both its
10553 operands as vectors of four signed words. It compares the absolute
10554 values of the words in corresponding positions, and sets each word
10555 of the destination (first) operand to whichever of the two words in
10556 that position had the larger absolute value.
10559 \H{insPMAXSW} \i\c{PMAXSW}: Packed Signed Integer Word Maximum
10561 \c PMAXSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EE /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10562 \c PMAXSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EE /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10564 \c{PMAXSW} compares each pair of words in the two source operands, and
10565 for each pair it stores the maximum value in the destination register.
10568 \H{insPMAXUB} \i\c{PMAXUB}: Packed Unsigned Integer Byte Maximum
10570 \c PMAXUB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DE /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10571 \c PMAXUB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DE /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10573 \c{PMAXUB} compares each pair of bytes in the two source operands, and
10574 for each pair it stores the maximum value in the destination register.
10577 \H{insPMINSW} \i\c{PMINSW}: Packed Signed Integer Word Minimum
10579 \c PMINSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EA /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10580 \c PMINSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EA /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10582 \c{PMINSW} compares each pair of words in the two source operands, and
10583 for each pair it stores the minimum value in the destination register.
10586 \H{insPMINUB} \i\c{PMINUB}: Packed Unsigned Integer Byte Minimum
10588 \c PMINUB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DA /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10589 \c PMINUB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DA /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10591 \c{PMINUB} compares each pair of bytes in the two source operands, and
10592 for each pair it stores the minimum value in the destination register.
10595 \H{insPMOVMSKB} \i\c{PMOVMSKB}: Move Byte Mask To Integer
10597 \c PMOVMSKB reg32,mm ; 0F D7 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10598 \c PMOVMSKB reg32,xmm ; 66 0F D7 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10600 \c{PMOVMSKB} returns an 8-bit or 16-bit mask formed of the most
10601 significant bits of each byte of source operand (8-bits for an
10602 \c{MMX} register, 16-bits for an \c{XMM} register).
10605 \H{insPMULHRW} \i\c{PMULHRWC}, \i\c{PMULHRIW}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers
10606 With Rounding, and Store High Word
10608 \c PMULHRWC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 59 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10609 \c PMULHRIW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 5D /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10611 These instructions take two packed 16-bit integer inputs, multiply the
10612 values in the inputs, round on bit 15 of each result, then store bits
10613 15-30 of each result to the corresponding position of the destination
10616 \b For \c{PMULHRWC}, the destination is the first source operand.
10618 \b For \c{PMULHRIW}, the destination is an implied register (worked out
10619 as described for \c{PADDSIW} (\k{insPADDSIW})).
10621 The operation of this instruction is:
10623 \c dst[0-15] := (src1[0-15] *src2[0-15] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
10624 \c dst[16-31] := (src1[16-31]*src2[16-31] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
10625 \c dst[32-47] := (src1[32-47]*src2[32-47] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
10626 \c dst[48-63] := (src1[48-63]*src2[48-63] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
10628 See also \c{PMULHRWA} (\k{insPMULHRWA}) for a 3DNow! version of this
10632 \H{insPMULHRWA} \i\c{PMULHRWA}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers
10633 With Rounding, and Store High Word
10635 \c PMULHRWA mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B7 [PENT,3DNOW]
10637 \c{PMULHRWA} takes two packed 16-bit integer inputs, multiplies
10638 the values in the inputs, rounds on bit 16 of each result, then
10639 stores bits 16-31 of each result to the corresponding position
10640 of the destination register.
10642 The operation of this instruction is:
10644 \c dst[0-15] := (src1[0-15] *src2[0-15] + 0x00008000)[16-31];
10645 \c dst[16-31] := (src1[16-31]*src2[16-31] + 0x00008000)[16-31];
10646 \c dst[32-47] := (src1[32-47]*src2[32-47] + 0x00008000)[16-31];
10647 \c dst[48-63] := (src1[48-63]*src2[48-63] + 0x00008000)[16-31].
10649 See also \c{PMULHRWC} (\k{insPMULHRW}) for a Cyrix version of this
10653 \H{insPMULHUW} \i\c{PMULHUW}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers,
10654 and Store High Word
10656 \c PMULHUW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E4 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10657 \c PMULHUW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10659 \c{PMULHUW} takes two packed unsigned 16-bit integer inputs, multiplies
10660 the values in the inputs, then stores bits 16-31 of each result to the
10661 corresponding position of the destination register.
10664 \H{insPMULHW} \i\c{PMULHW}, \i\c{PMULLW}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers,
10667 \c PMULHW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E5 /r [PENT,MMX]
10668 \c PMULLW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D5 /r [PENT,MMX]
10670 \c PMULHW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E5 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10671 \c PMULLW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D5 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10673 \c{PMULxW} takes two packed unsigned 16-bit integer inputs, and
10674 multiplies the values in the inputs, forming doubleword results.
10676 \b \c{PMULHW} then stores the top 16 bits of each doubleword in the
10677 destination (first) operand;
10679 \b \c{PMULLW} stores the bottom 16 bits of each doubleword in the
10680 destination operand.
10683 \H{insPMULUDQ} \i\c{PMULUDQ}: Multiply Packed Unsigned
10684 32-bit Integers, and Store.
10686 \c PMULUDQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10687 \c PMULUDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10689 \c{PMULUDQ} takes two packed unsigned 32-bit integer inputs, and
10690 multiplies the values in the inputs, forming quadword results. The
10691 source is either an unsigned doubleword in the low doubleword of a
10692 64-bit operand, or it's two unsigned doublewords in the first and
10693 third doublewords of a 128-bit operand. This produces either one or
10694 two 64-bit results, which are stored in the respective quadword
10695 locations of the destination register.
10699 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-31] * src[0-31];
10700 \c dst[64-127] := dst[64-95] * src[64-95].
10703 \H{insPMVccZB} \i\c{PMVccZB}: MMX Packed Conditional Move
10705 \c PMVZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 58 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10706 \c PMVNZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 5A /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10707 \c PMVLZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 5B /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10708 \c PMVGEZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 5C /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10710 These instructions, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, perform
10711 parallel conditional moves. The two input operands are treated as
10712 vectors of eight bytes. Each byte of the destination (first) operand
10713 is either written from the corresponding byte of the source (second)
10714 operand, or left alone, depending on the value of the byte in the
10715 \e{implied} operand (specified in the same way as \c{PADDSIW}, in
10718 \b \c{PMVZB} performs each move if the corresponding byte in the
10719 implied operand is zero;
10721 \b \c{PMVNZB} moves if the byte is non-zero;
10723 \b \c{PMVLZB} moves if the byte is less than zero;
10725 \b \c{PMVGEZB} moves if the byte is greater than or equal to zero.
10727 Note that these instructions cannot take a register as their second
10731 \H{insPOP} \i\c{POP}: Pop Data from Stack
10733 \c POP reg16 ; o16 58+r [8086]
10734 \c POP reg32 ; o32 58+r [386]
10736 \c POP r/m16 ; o16 8F /0 [8086]
10737 \c POP r/m32 ; o32 8F /0 [386]
10739 \c POP CS ; 0F [8086,UNDOC]
10740 \c POP DS ; 1F [8086]
10741 \c POP ES ; 07 [8086]
10742 \c POP SS ; 17 [8086]
10743 \c POP FS ; 0F A1 [386]
10744 \c POP GS ; 0F A9 [386]
10746 \c{POP} loads a value from the stack (from \c{[SS:SP]} or
10747 \c{[SS:ESP]}) and then increments the stack pointer.
10749 The address-size attribute of the instruction determines whether
10750 \c{SP} or \c{ESP} is used as the stack pointer: to deliberately
10751 override the default given by the \c{BITS} setting, you can use an
10752 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
10754 The operand-size attribute of the instruction determines whether the
10755 stack pointer is incremented by 2 or 4: this means that segment
10756 register pops in \c{BITS 32} mode will pop 4 bytes off the stack and
10757 discard the upper two of them. If you need to override that, you can
10758 use an \i\c{o16} or \i\c{o32} prefix.
10760 The above opcode listings give two forms for general-purpose
10761 register pop instructions: for example, \c{POP BX} has the two forms
10762 \c{5B} and \c{8F C3}. NASM will always generate the shorter form
10763 when given \c{POP BX}. NDISASM will disassemble both.
10765 \c{POP CS} is not a documented instruction, and is not supported on
10766 any processor above the 8086 (since they use \c{0Fh} as an opcode
10767 prefix for instruction set extensions). However, at least some 8086
10768 processors do support it, and so NASM generates it for completeness.
10771 \H{insPOPA} \i\c{POPAx}: Pop All General-Purpose Registers
10774 \c POPAW ; o16 61 [186]
10775 \c POPAD ; o32 61 [386]
10777 \b \c{POPAW} pops a word from the stack into each of, successively,
10778 \c{DI}, \c{SI}, \c{BP}, nothing (it discards a word from the stack
10779 which was a placeholder for \c{SP}), \c{BX}, \c{DX}, \c{CX} and
10780 \c{AX}. It is intended to reverse the operation of \c{PUSHAW} (see
10781 \k{insPUSHA}), but it ignores the value for \c{SP} that was pushed
10782 on the stack by \c{PUSHAW}.
10784 \b \c{POPAD} pops twice as much data, and places the results in
10785 \c{EDI}, \c{ESI}, \c{EBP}, nothing (placeholder for \c{ESP}),
10786 \c{EBX}, \c{EDX}, \c{ECX} and \c{EAX}. It reverses the operation of
10789 \c{POPA} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{POPAW} or \c{POPAD},
10790 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
10792 Note that the registers are popped in reverse order of their numeric
10793 values in opcodes (see \k{iref-rv}).
10796 \H{insPOPF} \i\c{POPFx}: Pop Flags Register
10799 \c POPFW ; o16 9D [186]
10800 \c POPFD ; o32 9D [386]
10802 \b \c{POPFW} pops a word from the stack and stores it in the bottom 16
10803 bits of the flags register (or the whole flags register, on
10804 processors below a 386).
10806 \b \c{POPFD} pops a doubleword and stores it in the entire flags register.
10808 \c{POPF} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{POPFW} or \c{POPFD},
10809 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
10811 See also \c{PUSHF} (\k{insPUSHF}).
10814 \H{insPOR} \i\c{POR}: MMX Bitwise OR
10816 \c POR mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EB /r [PENT,MMX]
10817 \c POR xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10819 \c{POR} performs a bitwise OR operation between its two operands
10820 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if at least one of the
10821 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
10822 in the destination (first) operand.
10825 \H{insPREFETCH} \i\c{PREFETCH}: Prefetch Data Into Caches
10827 \c PREFETCH mem8 ; 0F 0D /0 [PENT,3DNOW]
10828 \c PREFETCHW mem8 ; 0F 0D /1 [PENT,3DNOW]
10830 \c{PREFETCH} and \c{PREFETCHW} fetch the line of data from memory that
10831 contains the specified byte. \c{PREFETCHW} performs differently on the
10832 Athlon to earlier processors.
10834 For more details, see the 3DNow! Technology Manual.
10837 \H{insPREFETCHh} \i\c{PREFETCHh}: Prefetch Data Into Caches
10838 \I\c{PREFETCHNTA} \I\c{PREFETCHT0} \I\c{PREFETCHT1} \I\c{PREFETCHT2}
10840 \c PREFETCHNTA m8 ; 0F 18 /0 [KATMAI]
10841 \c PREFETCHT0 m8 ; 0F 18 /1 [KATMAI]
10842 \c PREFETCHT1 m8 ; 0F 18 /2 [KATMAI]
10843 \c PREFETCHT2 m8 ; 0F 18 /3 [KATMAI]
10845 The \c{PREFETCHh} instructions fetch the line of data from memory
10846 that contains the specified byte. It is placed in the cache
10847 according to rules specified by locality hints \c{h}:
10851 \b \c{T0} (temporal data) - prefetch data into all levels of the
10854 \b \c{T1} (temporal data with respect to first level cache) -
10855 prefetch data into level 2 cache and higher.
10857 \b \c{T2} (temporal data with respect to second level cache) -
10858 prefetch data into level 2 cache and higher.
10860 \b \c{NTA} (non-temporal data with respect to all cache levels) —
10861 prefetch data into non-temporal cache structure and into a
10862 location close to the processor, minimizing cache pollution.
10864 Note that this group of instructions doesn't provide a guarantee
10865 that the data will be in the cache when it is needed. For more
10866 details, see the Intel IA32 Software Developer Manual, Volume 2.
10869 \H{insPSADBW} \i\c{PSADBW}: Packed Sum of Absolute Differences
10871 \c PSADBW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F6 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10872 \c PSADBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10874 \c{PSADBW} The PSADBW instruction computes the absolute value of the
10875 difference of the packed unsigned bytes in the two source operands.
10876 These differences are then summed to produce a word result in the lower
10877 16-bit field of the destination register; the rest of the register is
10878 cleared. The destination operand is an \c{MMX} or an \c{XMM} register.
10879 The source operand can either be a register or a memory operand.
10882 \H{insPSHUFD} \i\c{PSHUFD}: Shuffle Packed Doublewords
10884 \c PSHUFD xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; 66 0F 70 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10886 \c{PSHUFD} shuffles the doublewords in the source (second) operand
10887 according to the encoding specified by imm8, and stores the result
10888 in the destination (first) operand.
10890 Bits 0 and 1 of imm8 encode the source position of the doubleword to
10891 be copied to position 0 in the destination operand. Bits 2 and 3
10892 encode for position 1, bits 4 and 5 encode for position 2, and bits
10893 6 and 7 encode for position 3. For example, an encoding of 10 in
10894 bits 0 and 1 of imm8 indicates that the doubleword at bits 64-95 of
10895 the source operand will be copied to bits 0-31 of the destination.
10898 \H{insPSHUFHW} \i\c{PSHUFHW}: Shuffle Packed High Words
10900 \c PSHUFHW xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; F3 0F 70 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10902 \c{PSHUFW} shuffles the words in the high quadword of the source
10903 (second) operand according to the encoding specified by imm8, and
10904 stores the result in the high quadword of the destination (first)
10907 The operation of this instruction is similar to the \c{PSHUFW}
10908 instruction, except that the source and destination are the top
10909 quadword of a 128-bit operand, instead of being 64-bit operands.
10910 The low quadword is copied from the source to the destination
10911 without any changes.
10914 \H{insPSHUFLW} \i\c{PSHUFLW}: Shuffle Packed Low Words
10916 \c PSHUFLW xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; F2 0F 70 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10918 \c{PSHUFW} shuffles the words in the low quadword of the source
10919 (second) operand according to the encoding specified by imm8, and
10920 stores the result in the low quadword of the destination (first)
10923 The operation of this instruction is similar to the \c{PSHUFW}
10924 instruction, except that the source and destination are the low
10925 quadword of a 128-bit operand, instead of being 64-bit operands.
10926 The high quadword is copied from the source to the destination
10927 without any changes.
10930 \H{insPSHUFW} \i\c{PSHUFW}: Shuffle Packed Words
10932 \c PSHUFW mm1,mm2/m64,imm8 ; 0F 70 /r ib [KATMAI,MMX]
10934 \c{PSHUFW} shuffles the words in the source (second) operand
10935 according to the encoding specified by imm8, and stores the result
10936 in the destination (first) operand.
10938 Bits 0 and 1 of imm8 encode the source position of the word to be
10939 copied to position 0 in the destination operand. Bits 2 and 3 encode
10940 for position 1, bits 4 and 5 encode for position 2, and bits 6 and 7
10941 encode for position 3. For example, an encoding of 10 in bits 0 and 1
10942 of imm8 indicates that the word at bits 32-47 of the source operand
10943 will be copied to bits 0-15 of the destination.
10946 \H{insPSLLD} \i\c{PSLLx}: Packed Data Bit Shift Left Logical
10948 \c PSLLW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F1 /r [PENT,MMX]
10949 \c PSLLW mm,imm8 ; 0F 71 /6 ib [PENT,MMX]
10951 \c PSLLW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F1 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10952 \c PSLLW xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 71 /6 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10954 \c PSLLD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F2 /r [PENT,MMX]
10955 \c PSLLD mm,imm8 ; 0F 72 /6 ib [PENT,MMX]
10957 \c PSLLD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F2 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10958 \c PSLLD xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 72 /6 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10960 \c PSLLQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F3 /r [PENT,MMX]
10961 \c PSLLQ mm,imm8 ; 0F 73 /6 ib [PENT,MMX]
10963 \c PSLLQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10964 \c PSLLQ xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /6 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10966 \c PSLLDQ xmm1,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /7 ib [PENT,MMX]
10968 \c{PSLLx} performs logical left shifts of the data elements in the
10969 destination (first) operand, moving each bit in the separate elements
10970 left by the number of bits specified in the source (second) operand,
10971 clearing the low-order bits as they are vacated.
10973 \b \c{PSLLW} shifts word sized elements.
10975 \b \c{PSLLD} shifts doubleword sized elements.
10977 \b \c{PSLLQ} shifts quadword sized elements.
10979 \b \c{PSLLDQ} shifts double quadword sized elements.
10982 \H{insPSRAD} \i\c{PSRAx}: Packed Data Bit Shift Right Arithmetic
10984 \c PSRAW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E1 /r [PENT,MMX]
10985 \c PSRAW mm,imm8 ; 0F 71 /4 ib [PENT,MMX]
10987 \c PSRAW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E1 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10988 \c PSRAW xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 71 /4 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10990 \c PSRAD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E2 /r [PENT,MMX]
10991 \c PSRAD mm,imm8 ; 0F 72 /4 ib [PENT,MMX]
10993 \c PSRAD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E2 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10994 \c PSRAD xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 72 /4 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10996 \c{PSRAx} performs arithmetic right shifts of the data elements in the
10997 destination (first) operand, moving each bit in the separate elements
10998 right by the number of bits specified in the source (second) operand,
10999 setting the high-order bits to the value of the original sign bit.
11001 \b \c{PSRAW} shifts word sized elements.
11003 \b \c{PSRAD} shifts doubleword sized elements.
11006 \H{insPSRLD} \i\c{PSRLx}: Packed Data Bit Shift Right Logical
11008 \c PSRLW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D1 /r [PENT,MMX]
11009 \c PSRLW mm,imm8 ; 0F 71 /2 ib [PENT,MMX]
11011 \c PSRLW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D1 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11012 \c PSRLW xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 71 /2 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11014 \c PSRLD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D2 /r [PENT,MMX]
11015 \c PSRLD mm,imm8 ; 0F 72 /2 ib [PENT,MMX]
11017 \c PSRLD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D2 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11018 \c PSRLD xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 72 /2 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11020 \c PSRLQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D3 /r [PENT,MMX]
11021 \c PSRLQ mm,imm8 ; 0F 73 /2 ib [PENT,MMX]
11023 \c PSRLQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11024 \c PSRLQ xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /2 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11026 \c PSRLDQ xmm1,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /3 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11028 \c{PSRLx} performs logical right shifts of the data elements in the
11029 destination (first) operand, moving each bit in the separate elements
11030 right by the number of bits specified in the source (second) operand,
11031 clearing the high-order bits as they are vacated.
11033 \b \c{PSRLW} shifts word sized elements.
11035 \b \c{PSRLD} shifts doubleword sized elements.
11037 \b \c{PSRLQ} shifts quadword sized elements.
11039 \b \c{PSRLDQ} shifts double quadword sized elements.
11042 \H{insPSUBB} \i\c{PSUBx}: Subtract Packed Integers
11044 \c PSUBB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F8 /r [PENT,MMX]
11045 \c PSUBW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F9 /r [PENT,MMX]
11046 \c PSUBD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FA /r [PENT,MMX]
11047 \c PSUBQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11049 \c PSUBB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F8 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11050 \c PSUBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F9 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11051 \c PSUBD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FA /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11052 \c PSUBQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11054 \c{PSUBx} subtracts packed integers in the source operand from those
11055 in the destination operand. It doesn't differentiate between signed
11056 and unsigned integers, and doesn't set any of the flags.
11058 \b \c{PSUBB} operates on byte sized elements.
11060 \b \c{PSUBW} operates on word sized elements.
11062 \b \c{PSUBD} operates on doubleword sized elements.
11064 \b \c{PSUBQ} operates on quadword sized elements.
11067 \H{insPSUBSB} \i\c{PSUBSxx}, \i\c{PSUBUSx}: Subtract Packed Integers With Saturation
11069 \c PSUBSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E8 /r [PENT,MMX]
11070 \c PSUBSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E9 /r [PENT,MMX]
11072 \c PSUBSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E8 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11073 \c PSUBSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E9 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11075 \c PSUBUSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D8 /r [PENT,MMX]
11076 \c PSUBUSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D9 /r [PENT,MMX]
11078 \c PSUBUSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D8 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11079 \c PSUBUSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D9 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11081 \c{PSUBSx} and \c{PSUBUSx} subtracts packed integers in the source
11082 operand from those in the destination operand, and use saturation for
11083 results that are outide the range supported by the destination operand.
11085 \b \c{PSUBSB} operates on signed bytes, and uses signed saturation on the
11088 \b \c{PSUBSW} operates on signed words, and uses signed saturation on the
11091 \b \c{PSUBUSB} operates on unsigned bytes, and uses signed saturation on
11094 \b \c{PSUBUSW} operates on unsigned words, and uses signed saturation on
11098 \H{insPSUBSIW} \i\c{PSUBSIW}: MMX Packed Subtract with Saturation to
11099 Implied Destination
11101 \c PSUBSIW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 55 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
11103 \c{PSUBSIW}, specific to the Cyrix extensions to the MMX instruction
11104 set, performs the same function as \c{PSUBSW}, except that the
11105 result is not placed in the register specified by the first operand,
11106 but instead in the implied destination register, specified as for
11107 \c{PADDSIW} (\k{insPADDSIW}).
11110 \H{insPSWAPD} \i\c{PSWAPD}: Swap Packed Data
11113 \c PSWAPD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r BB [PENT,3DNOW]
11115 \c{PSWAPD} swaps the packed doublewords in the source operand, and
11116 stores the result in the destination operand.
11118 In the \c{K6-2} and \c{K6-III} processors, this opcode uses the
11119 mnemonic \c{PSWAPW}, and it swaps the order of words when copying
11120 from the source to the destination.
11122 The operation in the \c{K6-2} and \c{K6-III} processors is
11124 \c dst[0-15] = src[48-63];
11125 \c dst[16-31] = src[32-47];
11126 \c dst[32-47] = src[16-31];
11127 \c dst[48-63] = src[0-15].
11129 The operation in the \c{K6-x+}, \c{ATHLON} and later processors is:
11131 \c dst[0-31] = src[32-63];
11132 \c dst[32-63] = src[0-31].
11135 \H{insPUNPCKHBW} \i\c{PUNPCKxxx}: Unpack and Interleave Data
11137 \c PUNPCKHBW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 68 /r [PENT,MMX]
11138 \c PUNPCKHWD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 69 /r [PENT,MMX]
11139 \c PUNPCKHDQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 6A /r [PENT,MMX]
11141 \c PUNPCKHBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 68 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11142 \c PUNPCKHWD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 69 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11143 \c PUNPCKHDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11144 \c PUNPCKHQDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11146 \c PUNPCKLBW mm1,mm2/m32 ; 0F 60 /r [PENT,MMX]
11147 \c PUNPCKLWD mm1,mm2/m32 ; 0F 61 /r [PENT,MMX]
11148 \c PUNPCKLDQ mm1,mm2/m32 ; 0F 62 /r [PENT,MMX]
11150 \c PUNPCKLBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 60 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11151 \c PUNPCKLWD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 61 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11152 \c PUNPCKLDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 62 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11153 \c PUNPCKLQDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11155 \c{PUNPCKxx} all treat their operands as vectors, and produce a new
11156 vector generated by interleaving elements from the two inputs. The
11157 \c{PUNPCKHxx} instructions start by throwing away the bottom half of
11158 each input operand, and the \c{PUNPCKLxx} instructions throw away
11161 The remaining elements, are then interleaved into the destination,
11162 alternating elements from the second (source) operand and the first
11163 (destination) operand: so the leftmost part of each element in the
11164 result always comes from the second operand, and the rightmost from
11167 \b \c{PUNPCKxBW} works a byte at a time, producing word sized output
11170 \b \c{PUNPCKxWD} works a word at a time, producing doubleword sized
11173 \b \c{PUNPCKxDQ} works a doubleword at a time, producing quadword sized
11176 \b \c{PUNPCKxQDQ} works a quadword at a time, producing double quadword
11177 sized output elements.
11179 So, for example, for \c{MMX} operands, if the first operand held
11180 \c{0x7A6A5A4A3A2A1A0A} and the second held \c{0x7B6B5B4B3B2B1B0B},
11183 \b \c{PUNPCKHBW} would return \c{0x7B7A6B6A5B5A4B4A}.
11185 \b \c{PUNPCKHWD} would return \c{0x7B6B7A6A5B4B5A4A}.
11187 \b \c{PUNPCKHDQ} would return \c{0x7B6B5B4B7A6A5A4A}.
11189 \b \c{PUNPCKLBW} would return \c{0x3B3A2B2A1B1A0B0A}.
11191 \b \c{PUNPCKLWD} would return \c{0x3B2B3A2A1B0B1A0A}.
11193 \b \c{PUNPCKLDQ} would return \c{0x3B2B1B0B3A2A1A0A}.
11196 \H{insPUSH} \i\c{PUSH}: Push Data on Stack
11198 \c PUSH reg16 ; o16 50+r [8086]
11199 \c PUSH reg32 ; o32 50+r [386]
11201 \c PUSH r/m16 ; o16 FF /6 [8086]
11202 \c PUSH r/m32 ; o32 FF /6 [386]
11204 \c PUSH CS ; 0E [8086]
11205 \c PUSH DS ; 1E [8086]
11206 \c PUSH ES ; 06 [8086]
11207 \c PUSH SS ; 16 [8086]
11208 \c PUSH FS ; 0F A0 [386]
11209 \c PUSH GS ; 0F A8 [386]
11211 \c PUSH imm8 ; 6A ib [286]
11212 \c PUSH imm16 ; o16 68 iw [286]
11213 \c PUSH imm32 ; o32 68 id [386]
11215 \c{PUSH} decrements the stack pointer (\c{SP} or \c{ESP}) by 2 or 4,
11216 and then stores the given value at \c{[SS:SP]} or \c{[SS:ESP]}.
11218 The address-size attribute of the instruction determines whether
11219 \c{SP} or \c{ESP} is used as the stack pointer: to deliberately
11220 override the default given by the \c{BITS} setting, you can use an
11221 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
11223 The operand-size attribute of the instruction determines whether the
11224 stack pointer is decremented by 2 or 4: this means that segment
11225 register pushes in \c{BITS 32} mode will push 4 bytes on the stack,
11226 of which the upper two are undefined. If you need to override that,
11227 you can use an \i\c{o16} or \i\c{o32} prefix.
11229 The above opcode listings give two forms for general-purpose
11230 \i{register push} instructions: for example, \c{PUSH BX} has the two
11231 forms \c{53} and \c{FF F3}. NASM will always generate the shorter
11232 form when given \c{PUSH BX}. NDISASM will disassemble both.
11234 Unlike the undocumented and barely supported \c{POP CS}, \c{PUSH CS}
11235 is a perfectly valid and sensible instruction, supported on all
11238 The instruction \c{PUSH SP} may be used to distinguish an 8086 from
11239 later processors: on an 8086, the value of \c{SP} stored is the
11240 value it has \e{after} the push instruction, whereas on later
11241 processors it is the value \e{before} the push instruction.
11244 \H{insPUSHA} \i\c{PUSHAx}: Push All General-Purpose Registers
11246 \c PUSHA ; 60 [186]
11247 \c PUSHAD ; o32 60 [386]
11248 \c PUSHAW ; o16 60 [186]
11250 \c{PUSHAW} pushes, in succession, \c{AX}, \c{CX}, \c{DX}, \c{BX},
11251 \c{SP}, \c{BP}, \c{SI} and \c{DI} on the stack, decrementing the
11252 stack pointer by a total of 16.
11254 \c{PUSHAD} pushes, in succession, \c{EAX}, \c{ECX}, \c{EDX},
11255 \c{EBX}, \c{ESP}, \c{EBP}, \c{ESI} and \c{EDI} on the stack,
11256 decrementing the stack pointer by a total of 32.
11258 In both cases, the value of \c{SP} or \c{ESP} pushed is its
11259 \e{original} value, as it had before the instruction was executed.
11261 \c{PUSHA} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{PUSHAW} or \c{PUSHAD},
11262 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
11264 Note that the registers are pushed in order of their numeric values
11265 in opcodes (see \k{iref-rv}).
11267 See also \c{POPA} (\k{insPOPA}).
11270 \H{insPUSHF} \i\c{PUSHFx}: Push Flags Register
11272 \c PUSHF ; 9C [186]
11273 \c PUSHFD ; o32 9C [386]
11274 \c PUSHFW ; o16 9C [186]
11276 \b \c{PUSHFW} pops a word from the stack and stores it in the
11277 bottom 16 bits of the flags register (or the whole flags register,
11278 on processors below a 386).
11280 \b \c{PUSHFD} pops a doubleword and stores it in the entire flags
11283 \c{PUSHF} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{PUSHFW} or \c{PUSHFD},
11284 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
11286 See also \c{POPF} (\k{insPOPF}).
11289 \H{insPXOR} \i\c{PXOR}: MMX Bitwise XOR
11291 \c PXOR mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EF /r [PENT,MMX]
11292 \c PXOR xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EF /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11294 \c{PXOR} performs a bitwise XOR operation between its two operands
11295 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if exactly one of the
11296 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
11297 in the destination (first) operand.
11300 \H{insRCL} \i\c{RCL}, \i\c{RCR}: Bitwise Rotate through Carry Bit
11302 \c RCL r/m8,1 ; D0 /2 [8086]
11303 \c RCL r/m8,CL ; D2 /2 [8086]
11304 \c RCL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /2 ib [286]
11305 \c RCL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /2 [8086]
11306 \c RCL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /2 [8086]
11307 \c RCL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /2 ib [286]
11308 \c RCL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /2 [386]
11309 \c RCL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /2 [386]
11310 \c RCL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /2 ib [386]
11312 \c RCR r/m8,1 ; D0 /3 [8086]
11313 \c RCR r/m8,CL ; D2 /3 [8086]
11314 \c RCR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /3 ib [286]
11315 \c RCR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /3 [8086]
11316 \c RCR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /3 [8086]
11317 \c RCR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /3 ib [286]
11318 \c RCR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /3 [386]
11319 \c RCR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /3 [386]
11320 \c RCR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /3 ib [386]
11322 \c{RCL} and \c{RCR} perform a 9-bit, 17-bit or 33-bit bitwise
11323 rotation operation, involving the given source/destination (first)
11324 operand and the carry bit. Thus, for example, in the operation
11325 \c{RCL AL,1}, a 9-bit rotation is performed in which \c{AL} is
11326 shifted left by 1, the top bit of \c{AL} moves into the carry flag,
11327 and the original value of the carry flag is placed in the low bit of
11330 The number of bits to rotate by is given by the second operand. Only
11331 the bottom five bits of the rotation count are considered by
11332 processors above the 8086.
11334 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
11335 byte) form of \c{RCL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{RCL
11336 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{RCR}.
11339 \H{insRCPPS} \i\c{RCPPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
11341 \c RCPPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 53 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11343 \c{RCPPS} returns an approximation of the reciprocal of the packed
11344 single-precision FP values from xmm2/m128. The maximum error for this
11345 approximation is: |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
11348 \H{insRCPSS} \i\c{RCPSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
11350 \c RCPSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 53 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11352 \c{RCPSS} returns an approximation of the reciprocal of the lower
11353 single-precision FP value from xmm2/m32; the upper three fields are
11354 passed through from xmm1. The maximum error for this approximation is:
11355 |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
11358 \H{insRDMSR} \i\c{RDMSR}: Read Model-Specific Registers
11360 \c RDMSR ; 0F 32 [PENT,PRIV]
11362 \c{RDMSR} reads the processor Model-Specific Register (MSR) whose
11363 index is stored in \c{ECX}, and stores the result in \c{EDX:EAX}.
11364 See also \c{WRMSR} (\k{insWRMSR}).
11367 \H{insRDPMC} \i\c{RDPMC}: Read Performance-Monitoring Counters
11369 \c RDPMC ; 0F 33 [P6]
11371 \c{RDPMC} reads the processor performance-monitoring counter whose
11372 index is stored in \c{ECX}, and stores the result in \c{EDX:EAX}.
11374 This instruction is available on P6 and later processors and on MMX
11378 \H{insRDSHR} \i\c{RDSHR}: Read SMM Header Pointer Register
11380 \c RDSHR r/m32 ; 0F 36 /0 [386,CYRIX,SMM]
11382 \c{RDSHR} reads the contents of the SMM header pointer register and
11383 saves it to the destination operand, which can be either a 32 bit
11384 memory location or a 32 bit register.
11386 See also \c{WRSHR} (\k{insWRSHR}).
11389 \H{insRDTSC} \i\c{RDTSC}: Read Time-Stamp Counter
11391 \c RDTSC ; 0F 31 [PENT]
11393 \c{RDTSC} reads the processor's time-stamp counter into \c{EDX:EAX}.
11396 \H{insRET} \i\c{RET}, \i\c{RETF}, \i\c{RETN}: Return from Procedure Call
11399 \c RET imm16 ; C2 iw [8086]
11401 \c RETF ; CB [8086]
11402 \c RETF imm16 ; CA iw [8086]
11404 \c RETN ; C3 [8086]
11405 \c RETN imm16 ; C2 iw [8086]
11407 \b \c{RET}, and its exact synonym \c{RETN}, pop \c{IP} or \c{EIP} from
11408 the stack and transfer control to the new address. Optionally, if a
11409 numeric second operand is provided, they increment the stack pointer
11410 by a further \c{imm16} bytes after popping the return address.
11412 \b \c{RETF} executes a far return: after popping \c{IP}/\c{EIP}, it
11413 then pops \c{CS}, and \e{then} increments the stack pointer by the
11414 optional argument if present.
11417 \H{insROL} \i\c{ROL}, \i\c{ROR}: Bitwise Rotate
11419 \c ROL r/m8,1 ; D0 /0 [8086]
11420 \c ROL r/m8,CL ; D2 /0 [8086]
11421 \c ROL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /0 ib [286]
11422 \c ROL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /0 [8086]
11423 \c ROL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /0 [8086]
11424 \c ROL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /0 ib [286]
11425 \c ROL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /0 [386]
11426 \c ROL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /0 [386]
11427 \c ROL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /0 ib [386]
11429 \c ROR r/m8,1 ; D0 /1 [8086]
11430 \c ROR r/m8,CL ; D2 /1 [8086]
11431 \c ROR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /1 ib [286]
11432 \c ROR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /1 [8086]
11433 \c ROR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /1 [8086]
11434 \c ROR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /1 ib [286]
11435 \c ROR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /1 [386]
11436 \c ROR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /1 [386]
11437 \c ROR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /1 ib [386]
11439 \c{ROL} and \c{ROR} perform a bitwise rotation operation on the given
11440 source/destination (first) operand. Thus, for example, in the
11441 operation \c{ROL AL,1}, an 8-bit rotation is performed in which
11442 \c{AL} is shifted left by 1 and the original top bit of \c{AL} moves
11443 round into the low bit.
11445 The number of bits to rotate by is given by the second operand. Only
11446 the bottom five bits of the rotation count are considered by processors
11449 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
11450 byte) form of \c{ROL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{ROL
11451 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{ROR}.
11454 \H{insRSDC} \i\c{RSDC}: Restore Segment Register and Descriptor
11456 \c RSDC segreg,m80 ; 0F 79 /r [486,CYRIX,SMM]
11458 \c{RSDC} restores a segment register (DS, ES, FS, GS, or SS) from mem80,
11459 and sets up its descriptor.
11462 \H{insRSLDT} \i\c{RSLDT}: Restore Segment Register and Descriptor
11464 \c RSLDT m80 ; 0F 7B /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
11466 \c{RSLDT} restores the Local Descriptor Table (LDTR) from mem80.
11469 \H{insRSM} \i\c{RSM}: Resume from System-Management Mode
11471 \c RSM ; 0F AA [PENT]
11473 \c{RSM} returns the processor to its normal operating mode when it
11474 was in System-Management Mode.
11477 \H{insRSQRTPS} \i\c{RSQRTPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Square Root Reciprocal
11479 \c RSQRTPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 52 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11481 \c{RSQRTPS} computes the approximate reciprocals of the square
11482 roots of the packed single-precision floating-point values in the
11483 source and stores the results in xmm1. The maximum error for this
11484 approximation is: |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
11487 \H{insRSQRTSS} \i\c{RSQRTSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Square Root Reciprocal
11489 \c RSQRTSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 52 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11491 \c{RSQRTSS} returns an approximation of the reciprocal of the
11492 square root of the lowest order single-precision FP value from
11493 the source, and stores it in the low doubleword of the destination
11494 register. The upper three fields of xmm1 are preserved. The maximum
11495 error for this approximation is: |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
11498 \H{insRSTS} \i\c{RSTS}: Restore TSR and Descriptor
11500 \c RSTS m80 ; 0F 7D /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
11502 \c{RSTS} restores Task State Register (TSR) from mem80.
11505 \H{insSAHF} \i\c{SAHF}: Store AH to Flags
11507 \c SAHF ; 9E [8086]
11509 \c{SAHF} sets the low byte of the flags word according to the
11510 contents of the \c{AH} register.
11512 The operation of \c{SAHF} is:
11514 \c AH --> SF:ZF:0:AF:0:PF:1:CF
11516 See also \c{LAHF} (\k{insLAHF}).
11519 \H{insSAL} \i\c{SAL}, \i\c{SAR}: Bitwise Arithmetic Shifts
11521 \c SAL r/m8,1 ; D0 /4 [8086]
11522 \c SAL r/m8,CL ; D2 /4 [8086]
11523 \c SAL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /4 ib [286]
11524 \c SAL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /4 [8086]
11525 \c SAL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /4 [8086]
11526 \c SAL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /4 ib [286]
11527 \c SAL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /4 [386]
11528 \c SAL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /4 [386]
11529 \c SAL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /4 ib [386]
11531 \c SAR r/m8,1 ; D0 /7 [8086]
11532 \c SAR r/m8,CL ; D2 /7 [8086]
11533 \c SAR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /7 ib [286]
11534 \c SAR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /7 [8086]
11535 \c SAR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /7 [8086]
11536 \c SAR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /7 ib [286]
11537 \c SAR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /7 [386]
11538 \c SAR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /7 [386]
11539 \c SAR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /7 ib [386]
11541 \c{SAL} and \c{SAR} perform an arithmetic shift operation on the given
11542 source/destination (first) operand. The vacated bits are filled with
11543 zero for \c{SAL}, and with copies of the original high bit of the
11544 source operand for \c{SAR}.
11546 \c{SAL} is a synonym for \c{SHL} (see \k{insSHL}). NASM will
11547 assemble either one to the same code, but NDISASM will always
11548 disassemble that code as \c{SHL}.
11550 The number of bits to shift by is given by the second operand. Only
11551 the bottom five bits of the shift count are considered by processors
11554 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
11555 byte) form of \c{SAL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{SAL
11556 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{SAR}.
11559 \H{insSALC} \i\c{SALC}: Set AL from Carry Flag
11561 \c SALC ; D6 [8086,UNDOC]
11563 \c{SALC} is an early undocumented instruction similar in concept to
11564 \c{SETcc} (\k{insSETcc}). Its function is to set \c{AL} to zero if
11565 the carry flag is clear, or to \c{0xFF} if it is set.
11568 \H{insSBB} \i\c{SBB}: Subtract with Borrow
11570 \c SBB r/m8,reg8 ; 18 /r [8086]
11571 \c SBB r/m16,reg16 ; o16 19 /r [8086]
11572 \c SBB r/m32,reg32 ; o32 19 /r [386]
11574 \c SBB reg8,r/m8 ; 1A /r [8086]
11575 \c SBB reg16,r/m16 ; o16 1B /r [8086]
11576 \c SBB reg32,r/m32 ; o32 1B /r [386]
11578 \c SBB r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /3 ib [8086]
11579 \c SBB r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /3 iw [8086]
11580 \c SBB r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /3 id [386]
11582 \c SBB r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /3 ib [8086]
11583 \c SBB r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /3 ib [8086]
11585 \c SBB AL,imm8 ; 1C ib [8086]
11586 \c SBB AX,imm16 ; o16 1D iw [8086]
11587 \c SBB EAX,imm32 ; o32 1D id [386]
11589 \c{SBB} performs integer subtraction: it subtracts its second
11590 operand, plus the value of the carry flag, from its first, and
11591 leaves the result in its destination (first) operand. The flags are
11592 set according to the result of the operation: in particular, the
11593 carry flag is affected and can be used by a subsequent \c{SBB}
11596 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
11597 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
11598 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
11599 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
11600 form of the instruction.
11602 To subtract one number from another without also subtracting the
11603 contents of the carry flag, use \c{SUB} (\k{insSUB}).
11606 \H{insSCASB} \i\c{SCASB}, \i\c{SCASW}, \i\c{SCASD}: Scan String
11608 \c SCASB ; AE [8086]
11609 \c SCASW ; o16 AF [8086]
11610 \c SCASD ; o32 AF [386]
11612 \c{SCASB} compares the byte in \c{AL} with the byte at \c{[ES:DI]}
11613 or \c{[ES:EDI]}, and sets the flags accordingly. It then increments
11614 or decrements (depending on the direction flag: increments if the
11615 flag is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{DI} (or \c{EDI}).
11617 The register used is \c{DI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
11618 \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
11619 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
11620 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
11622 Segment override prefixes have no effect for this instruction: the
11623 use of \c{ES} for the load from \c{[DI]} or \c{[EDI]} cannot be
11626 \c{SCASW} and \c{SCASD} work in the same way, but they compare a
11627 word to \c{AX} or a doubleword to \c{EAX} instead of a byte to
11628 \c{AL}, and increment or decrement the addressing registers by 2 or
11631 The \c{REPE} and \c{REPNE} prefixes (equivalently, \c{REPZ} and
11632 \c{REPNZ}) may be used to repeat the instruction up to \c{CX} (or
11633 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times until the
11634 first unequal or equal byte is found.
11637 \H{insSETcc} \i\c{SETcc}: Set Register from Condition
11639 \c SETcc r/m8 ; 0F 90+cc /2 [386]
11641 \c{SETcc} sets the given 8-bit operand to zero if its condition is
11642 not satisfied, and to 1 if it is.
11645 \H{insSFENCE} \i\c{SFENCE}: Store Fence
11647 \c SFENCE ; 0F AE /7 [KATMAI]
11649 \c{SFENCE} performs a serialising operation on all writes to memory
11650 that were issued before the \c{SFENCE} instruction. This guarantees that
11651 all memory writes before the \c{SFENCE} instruction are visible before any
11652 writes after the \c{SFENCE} instruction.
11654 \c{SFENCE} is ordered respective to other \c{SFENCE} instruction, \c{MFENCE},
11655 any memory write and any other serialising instruction (such as \c{CPUID}).
11657 Weakly ordered memory types can be used to achieve higher processor
11658 performance through such techniques as out-of-order issue,
11659 write-combining, and write-collapsing. The degree to which a consumer
11660 of data recognizes or knows that the data is weakly ordered varies
11661 among applications and may be unknown to the producer of this data.
11662 The \c{SFENCE} instruction provides a performance-efficient way of
11663 insuring store ordering between routines that produce weakly-ordered
11664 results and routines that consume this data.
11666 \c{SFENCE} uses the following ModRM encoding:
11669 \c Reg/Opcode (5:3) = 111B
11670 \c R/M (2:0) = 000B
11672 All other ModRM encodings are defined to be reserved, and use
11673 of these encodings risks incompatibility with future processors.
11675 See also \c{LFENCE} (\k{insLFENCE}) and \c{MFENCE} (\k{insMFENCE}).
11678 \H{insSGDT} \i\c{SGDT}, \i\c{SIDT}, \i\c{SLDT}: Store Descriptor Table Pointers
11680 \c SGDT mem ; 0F 01 /0 [286,PRIV]
11681 \c SIDT mem ; 0F 01 /1 [286,PRIV]
11682 \c SLDT r/m16 ; 0F 00 /0 [286,PRIV]
11684 \c{SGDT} and \c{SIDT} both take a 6-byte memory area as an operand:
11685 they store the contents of the GDTR (global descriptor table
11686 register) or IDTR (interrupt descriptor table register) into that
11687 area as a 32-bit linear address and a 16-bit size limit from that
11688 area (in that order). These are the only instructions which directly
11689 use \e{linear} addresses, rather than segment/offset pairs.
11691 \c{SLDT} stores the segment selector corresponding to the LDT (local
11692 descriptor table) into the given operand.
11694 See also \c{LGDT}, \c{LIDT} and \c{LLDT} (\k{insLGDT}).
11697 \H{insSHL} \i\c{SHL}, \i\c{SHR}: Bitwise Logical Shifts
11699 \c SHL r/m8,1 ; D0 /4 [8086]
11700 \c SHL r/m8,CL ; D2 /4 [8086]
11701 \c SHL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /4 ib [286]
11702 \c SHL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /4 [8086]
11703 \c SHL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /4 [8086]
11704 \c SHL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /4 ib [286]
11705 \c SHL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /4 [386]
11706 \c SHL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /4 [386]
11707 \c SHL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /4 ib [386]
11709 \c SHR r/m8,1 ; D0 /5 [8086]
11710 \c SHR r/m8,CL ; D2 /5 [8086]
11711 \c SHR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /5 ib [286]
11712 \c SHR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /5 [8086]
11713 \c SHR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /5 [8086]
11714 \c SHR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /5 ib [286]
11715 \c SHR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /5 [386]
11716 \c SHR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /5 [386]
11717 \c SHR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /5 ib [386]
11719 \c{SHL} and \c{SHR} perform a logical shift operation on the given
11720 source/destination (first) operand. The vacated bits are filled with
11723 A synonym for \c{SHL} is \c{SAL} (see \k{insSAL}). NASM will
11724 assemble either one to the same code, but NDISASM will always
11725 disassemble that code as \c{SHL}.
11727 The number of bits to shift by is given by the second operand. Only
11728 the bottom five bits of the shift count are considered by processors
11731 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
11732 byte) form of \c{SHL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{SHL
11733 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{SHR}.
11736 \H{insSHLD} \i\c{SHLD}, \i\c{SHRD}: Bitwise Double-Precision Shifts
11738 \c SHLD r/m16,reg16,imm8 ; o16 0F A4 /r ib [386]
11739 \c SHLD r/m16,reg32,imm8 ; o32 0F A4 /r ib [386]
11740 \c SHLD r/m16,reg16,CL ; o16 0F A5 /r [386]
11741 \c SHLD r/m16,reg32,CL ; o32 0F A5 /r [386]
11743 \c SHRD r/m16,reg16,imm8 ; o16 0F AC /r ib [386]
11744 \c SHRD r/m32,reg32,imm8 ; o32 0F AC /r ib [386]
11745 \c SHRD r/m16,reg16,CL ; o16 0F AD /r [386]
11746 \c SHRD r/m32,reg32,CL ; o32 0F AD /r [386]
11748 \b \c{SHLD} performs a double-precision left shift. It notionally
11749 places its second operand to the right of its first, then shifts
11750 the entire bit string thus generated to the left by a number of
11751 bits specified in the third operand. It then updates only the
11752 \e{first} operand according to the result of this. The second
11753 operand is not modified.
11755 \b \c{SHRD} performs the corresponding right shift: it notionally
11756 places the second operand to the \e{left} of the first, shifts the
11757 whole bit string right, and updates only the first operand.
11759 For example, if \c{EAX} holds \c{0x01234567} and \c{EBX} holds
11760 \c{0x89ABCDEF}, then the instruction \c{SHLD EAX,EBX,4} would update
11761 \c{EAX} to hold \c{0x12345678}. Under the same conditions, \c{SHRD
11762 EAX,EBX,4} would update \c{EAX} to hold \c{0xF0123456}.
11764 The number of bits to shift by is given by the third operand. Only
11765 the bottom five bits of the shift count are considered.
11768 \H{insSHUFPD} \i\c{SHUFPD}: Shuffle Packed Double-Precision FP Values
11770 \c SHUFPD xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; 66 0F C6 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11772 \c{SHUFPD} moves one of the packed double-precision FP values from
11773 the destination operand into the low quadword of the destination
11774 operand; the upper quadword is generated by moving one of the
11775 double-precision FP values from the source operand into the
11776 destination. The select (third) operand selects which of the values
11777 are moved to the destination register.
11779 The select operand is an 8-bit immediate: bit 0 selects which value
11780 is moved from the destination operand to the result (where 0 selects
11781 the low quadword and 1 selects the high quadword) and bit 1 selects
11782 which value is moved from the source operand to the result.
11783 Bits 2 through 7 of the shuffle operand are reserved.
11786 \H{insSHUFPS} \i\c{SHUFPS}: Shuffle Packed Single-Precision FP Values
11788 \c SHUFPS xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; 0F C6 /r ib [KATMAI,SSE]
11790 \c{SHUFPD} moves two of the packed single-precision FP values from
11791 the destination operand into the low quadword of the destination
11792 operand; the upper quadword is generated by moving two of the
11793 single-precision FP values from the source operand into the
11794 destination. The select (third) operand selects which of the
11795 values are moved to the destination register.
11797 The select operand is an 8-bit immediate: bits 0 and 1 select the
11798 value to be moved from the destination operand the low doubleword of
11799 the result, bits 2 and 3 select the value to be moved from the
11800 destination operand the second doubleword of the result, bits 4 and
11801 5 select the value to be moved from the source operand the third
11802 doubleword of the result, and bits 6 and 7 select the value to be
11803 moved from the source operand to the high doubleword of the result.
11806 \H{insSMI} \i\c{SMI}: System Management Interrupt
11808 \c SMI ; F1 [386,UNDOC]
11810 \c{SMI} puts some AMD processors into SMM mode. It is available on some
11811 386 and 486 processors, and is only available when DR7 bit 12 is set,
11812 otherwise it generates an Int 1.
11815 \H{insSMINT} \i\c{SMINT}, \i\c{SMINTOLD}: Software SMM Entry (CYRIX)
11817 \c SMINT ; 0F 38 [PENT,CYRIX]
11818 \c SMINTOLD ; 0F 7E [486,CYRIX]
11820 \c{SMINT} puts the processor into SMM mode. The CPU state information is
11821 saved in the SMM memory header, and then execution begins at the SMM base
11824 \c{SMINTOLD} is the same as \c{SMINT}, but was the opcode used on the 486.
11826 This pair of opcodes are specific to the Cyrix and compatible range of
11827 processors (Cyrix, IBM, Via).
11830 \H{insSMSW} \i\c{SMSW}: Store Machine Status Word
11832 \c SMSW r/m16 ; 0F 01 /4 [286,PRIV]
11834 \c{SMSW} stores the bottom half of the \c{CR0} control register (or
11835 the Machine Status Word, on 286 processors) into the destination
11836 operand. See also \c{LMSW} (\k{insLMSW}).
11838 For 32-bit code, this would use the low 16-bits of the specified
11839 register (or a 16bit memory location), without needing an operand
11840 size override byte.
11843 \H{insSQRTPD} \i\c{SQRTPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Square Root
11845 \c SQRTPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 51 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11847 \c{SQRTPD} calculates the square root of the packed double-precision
11848 FP value from the source operand, and stores the double-precision
11849 results in the destination register.
11852 \H{insSQRTPS} \i\c{SQRTPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Square Root
11854 \c SQRTPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 51 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11856 \c{SQRTPS} calculates the square root of the packed single-precision
11857 FP value from the source operand, and stores the single-precision
11858 results in the destination register.
11861 \H{insSQRTSD} \i\c{SQRTSD}: Scalar Double-Precision FP Square Root
11863 \c SQRTSD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F2 0F 51 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11865 \c{SQRTSD} calculates the square root of the low-order double-precision
11866 FP value from the source operand, and stores the double-precision
11867 result in the destination register. The high-quadword remains unchanged.
11870 \H{insSQRTSS} \i\c{SQRTSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Square Root
11872 \c SQRTSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 51 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11874 \c{SQRTSS} calculates the square root of the low-order single-precision
11875 FP value from the source operand, and stores the single-precision
11876 result in the destination register. The three high doublewords remain
11880 \H{insSTC} \i\c{STC}, \i\c{STD}, \i\c{STI}: Set Flags
11886 These instructions set various flags. \c{STC} sets the carry flag;
11887 \c{STD} sets the direction flag; and \c{STI} sets the interrupt flag
11888 (thus enabling interrupts).
11890 To clear the carry, direction, or interrupt flags, use the \c{CLC},
11891 \c{CLD} and \c{CLI} instructions (\k{insCLC}). To invert the carry
11892 flag, use \c{CMC} (\k{insCMC}).
11895 \H{insSTMXCSR} \i\c{STMXCSR}: Store Streaming SIMD Extension
11898 \c STMXCSR m32 ; 0F AE /3 [KATMAI,SSE]
11900 \c{STMXCSR} stores the contents of the \c{MXCSR} control/status
11901 register to the specified memory location. \c{MXCSR} is used to
11902 enable masked/unmasked exception handling, to set rounding modes,
11903 to set flush-to-zero mode, and to view exception status flags.
11904 The reserved bits in the \c{MXCSR} register are stored as 0s.
11906 For details of the \c{MXCSR} register, see the Intel processor docs.
11908 See also \c{LDMXCSR} (\k{insLDMXCSR}).
11911 \H{insSTOSB} \i\c{STOSB}, \i\c{STOSW}, \i\c{STOSD}: Store Byte to String
11913 \c STOSB ; AA [8086]
11914 \c STOSW ; o16 AB [8086]
11915 \c STOSD ; o32 AB [386]
11917 \c{STOSB} stores the byte in \c{AL} at \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]},
11918 and sets the flags accordingly. It then increments or decrements
11919 (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag is clear,
11920 decrements if it is set) \c{DI} (or \c{EDI}).
11922 The register used is \c{DI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
11923 \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
11924 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
11925 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
11927 Segment override prefixes have no effect for this instruction: the
11928 use of \c{ES} for the store to \c{[DI]} or \c{[EDI]} cannot be
11931 \c{STOSW} and \c{STOSD} work in the same way, but they store the
11932 word in \c{AX} or the doubleword in \c{EAX} instead of the byte in
11933 \c{AL}, and increment or decrement the addressing registers by 2 or
11936 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
11937 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
11940 \H{insSTR} \i\c{STR}: Store Task Register
11942 \c STR r/m16 ; 0F 00 /1 [286,PRIV]
11944 \c{STR} stores the segment selector corresponding to the contents of
11945 the Task Register into its operand. When the operand size is a 16-bit
11946 register, the upper 16-bits are cleared to 0s. When the destination
11947 operand is a memory location, 16 bits are written regardless of the
11951 \H{insSUB} \i\c{SUB}: Subtract Integers
11953 \c SUB r/m8,reg8 ; 28 /r [8086]
11954 \c SUB r/m16,reg16 ; o16 29 /r [8086]
11955 \c SUB r/m32,reg32 ; o32 29 /r [386]
11957 \c SUB reg8,r/m8 ; 2A /r [8086]
11958 \c SUB reg16,r/m16 ; o16 2B /r [8086]
11959 \c SUB reg32,r/m32 ; o32 2B /r [386]
11961 \c SUB r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /5 ib [8086]
11962 \c SUB r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /5 iw [8086]
11963 \c SUB r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /5 id [386]
11965 \c SUB r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /5 ib [8086]
11966 \c SUB r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /5 ib [386]
11968 \c SUB AL,imm8 ; 2C ib [8086]
11969 \c SUB AX,imm16 ; o16 2D iw [8086]
11970 \c SUB EAX,imm32 ; o32 2D id [386]
11972 \c{SUB} performs integer subtraction: it subtracts its second
11973 operand from its first, and leaves the result in its destination
11974 (first) operand. The flags are set according to the result of the
11975 operation: in particular, the carry flag is affected and can be used
11976 by a subsequent \c{SBB} instruction (\k{insSBB}).
11978 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
11979 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
11980 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
11981 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
11982 form of the instruction.
11985 \H{insSUBPD} \i\c{SUBPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Subtract
11987 \c SUBPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 5C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11989 \c{SUBPD} subtracts the packed double-precision FP values of
11990 the source operand from those of the destination operand, and
11991 stores the result in the destination operation.
11994 \H{insSUBPS} \i\c{SUBPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Subtract
11996 \c SUBPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 5C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11998 \c{SUBPS} subtracts the packed single-precision FP values of
11999 the source operand from those of the destination operand, and
12000 stores the result in the destination operation.
12003 \H{insSUBSD} \i\c{SUBSD}: Scalar Single-FP Subtract
12005 \c SUBSD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F2 0F 5C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12007 \c{SUBSD} subtracts the low-order double-precision FP value of
12008 the source operand from that of the destination operand, and
12009 stores the result in the destination operation. The high
12010 quadword is unchanged.
12013 \H{insSUBSS} \i\c{SUBSS}: Scalar Single-FP Subtract
12015 \c SUBSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 5C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12017 \c{SUBSS} subtracts the low-order single-precision FP value of
12018 the source operand from that of the destination operand, and
12019 stores the result in the destination operation. The three high
12020 doublewords are unchanged.
12023 \H{insSVDC} \i\c{SVDC}: Save Segment Register and Descriptor
12025 \c SVDC m80,segreg ; 0F 78 /r [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12027 \c{SVDC} saves a segment register (DS, ES, FS, GS, or SS) and its
12028 descriptor to mem80.
12031 \H{insSVLDT} \i\c{SVLDT}: Save LDTR and Descriptor
12033 \c SVLDT m80 ; 0F 7A /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12035 \c{SVLDT} saves the Local Descriptor Table (LDTR) to mem80.
12038 \H{insSVTS} \i\c{SVTS}: Save TSR and Descriptor
12040 \c SVTS m80 ; 0F 7C /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12042 \c{SVTS} saves the Task State Register (TSR) to mem80.
12045 \H{insSYSCALL} \i\c{SYSCALL}: Call Operating System
12047 \c SYSCALL ; 0F 05 [P6,AMD]
12049 \c{SYSCALL} provides a fast method of transfering control to a fixed
12050 entry point in an operating system.
12052 \b The \c{EIP} register is copied into the \c{ECX} register.
12054 \b Bits [31–0] of the 64-bit SYSCALL/SYSRET Target Address Register
12055 (\c{STAR}) are copied into the \c{EIP} register.
12057 \b Bits [47–32] of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is
12058 copied into the \c{CS} register.
12060 \b Bits [47–32]+1000b of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that
12061 is copied into the SS register.
12063 The \c{CS} and \c{SS} registers should not be modified by the operating
12064 system between the execution of the \c{SYSCALL} instruction and its
12065 corresponding \c{SYSRET} instruction.
12067 For more information, see the \c{SYSCALL and SYSRET Instruction Specification}
12068 (AMD document number 21086.pdf).
12071 \H{insSYSENTER} \i\c{SYSENTER}: Fast System Call
12073 \c SYSENTER ; 0F 34 [P6]
12075 \c{SYSENTER} executes a fast call to a level 0 system procedure or
12076 routine. Before using this instruction, various MSRs need to be set
12079 \b \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} contains the 32-bit segment selector for the
12080 privilege level 0 code segment. (This value is also used to compute
12081 the segment selector of the privilege level 0 stack segment.)
12083 \b \c{SYSENTER_EIP_MSR} contains the 32-bit offset into the privilege
12084 level 0 code segment to the first instruction of the selected operating
12085 procedure or routine.
12087 \b \c{SYSENTER_ESP_MSR} contains the 32-bit stack pointer for the
12088 privilege level 0 stack.
12090 \c{SYSENTER} performs the following sequence of operations:
12092 \b Loads the segment selector from the \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} into the
12095 \b Loads the instruction pointer from the \c{SYSENTER_EIP_MSR} into
12096 the \c{EIP} register.
12098 \b Adds 8 to the value in \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} and loads it into the
12101 \b Loads the stack pointer from the \c{SYSENTER_ESP_MSR} into the
12104 \b Switches to privilege level 0.
12106 \b Clears the \c{VM} flag in the \c{EFLAGS} register, if the flag
12109 \b Begins executing the selected system procedure.
12111 In particular, note that this instruction des not save the values of
12112 \c{CS} or \c{(E)IP}. If you need to return to the calling code, you
12113 need to write your code to cater for this.
12115 For more information, see the Intel Architecture Software Developer’s
12119 \H{insSYSEXIT} \i\c{SYSEXIT}: Fast Return From System Call
12121 \c SYSEXIT ; 0F 35 [P6,PRIV]
12123 \c{SYSEXIT} executes a fast return to privilege level 3 user code.
12124 This instruction is a companion instruction to the \c{SYSENTER}
12125 instruction, and can only be executed by privelege level 0 code.
12126 Various registers need to be set up before calling this instruction:
12128 \b \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} contains the 32-bit segment selector for the
12129 privilege level 0 code segment in which the processor is currently
12130 executing. (This value is used to compute the segment selectors for
12131 the privilege level 3 code and stack segments.)
12133 \b \c{EDX} contains the 32-bit offset into the privilege level 3 code
12134 segment to the first instruction to be executed in the user code.
12136 \b \c{ECX} contains the 32-bit stack pointer for the privilege level 3
12139 \c{SYSEXIT} performs the following sequence of operations:
12141 \b Adds 16 to the value in \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} and loads the sum into
12142 the \c{CS} selector register.
12144 \b Loads the instruction pointer from the \c{EDX} register into the
12147 \b Adds 24 to the value in \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} and loads the sum
12148 into the \c{SS} selector register.
12150 \b Loads the stack pointer from the \c{ECX} register into the \c{ESP}
12153 \b Switches to privilege level 3.
12155 \b Begins executing the user code at the \c{EIP} address.
12157 For more information on the use of the \c{SYSENTER} and \c{SYSEXIT}
12158 instructions, see the Intel Architecture Software Developer’s
12162 \H{insSYSRET} \i\c{SYSRET}: Return From Operating System
12164 \c SYSRET ; 0F 07 [P6,AMD,PRIV]
12166 \c{SYSRET} is the return instruction used in conjunction with the
12167 \c{SYSCALL} instruction to provide fast entry/exit to an operating system.
12169 \b The \c{ECX} register, which points to the next sequential instruction
12170 after the corresponding \c{SYSCALL} instruction, is copied into the \c{EIP}
12173 \b Bits [63–48] of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is copied
12174 into the \c{CS} register.
12176 \b Bits [63–48]+1000b of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is
12177 copied into the \c{SS} register.
12179 \b Bits [1–0] of the \c{SS} register are set to 11b (RPL of 3) regardless of
12180 the value of bits [49–48] of the \c{STAR} register.
12182 The \c{CS} and \c{SS} registers should not be modified by the operating
12183 system between the execution of the \c{SYSCALL} instruction and its
12184 corresponding \c{SYSRET} instruction.
12186 For more information, see the \c{SYSCALL and SYSRET Instruction Specification}
12187 (AMD document number 21086.pdf).
12190 \H{insTEST} \i\c{TEST}: Test Bits (notional bitwise AND)
12192 \c TEST r/m8,reg8 ; 84 /r [8086]
12193 \c TEST r/m16,reg16 ; o16 85 /r [8086]
12194 \c TEST r/m32,reg32 ; o32 85 /r [386]
12196 \c TEST r/m8,imm8 ; F6 /0 ib [8086]
12197 \c TEST r/m16,imm16 ; o16 F7 /0 iw [8086]
12198 \c TEST r/m32,imm32 ; o32 F7 /0 id [386]
12200 \c TEST AL,imm8 ; A8 ib [8086]
12201 \c TEST AX,imm16 ; o16 A9 iw [8086]
12202 \c TEST EAX,imm32 ; o32 A9 id [386]
12204 \c{TEST} performs a `mental' bitwise AND of its two operands, and
12205 affects the flags as if the operation had taken place, but does not
12206 store the result of the operation anywhere.
12209 \H{insUCOMISD} \i\c{UCOMISD}: Unordered Scalar Double-Precision FP
12210 compare and set EFLAGS
12212 \c UCOMISD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 2E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12214 \c{UCOMISD} compares the low-order double-precision FP numbers in the
12215 two operands, and sets the \c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} bits in the
12216 \c{EFLAGS} register. In addition, the \c{OF}, \c{SF} and \c{AF} bits
12217 in the \c{EFLAGS} register are zeroed out. The unordered predicate
12218 (\c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} all set) is returned if either source
12219 operand is a \c{NaN} (\c{qNaN} or \c{sNaN}).
12222 \H{insUCOMISS} \i\c{UCOMISS}: Unordered Scalar Single-Precision FP
12223 compare and set EFLAGS
12225 \c UCOMISS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 2E /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12227 \c{UCOMISS} compares the low-order single-precision FP numbers in the
12228 two operands, and sets the \c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} bits in the
12229 \c{EFLAGS} register. In addition, the \c{OF}, \c{SF} and \c{AF} bits
12230 in the \c{EFLAGS} register are zeroed out. The unordered predicate
12231 (\c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} all set) is returned if either source
12232 operand is a \c{NaN} (\c{qNaN} or \c{sNaN}).
12235 \H{insUD2} \i\c{UD0}, \i\c{UD1}, \i\c{UD2}: Undefined Instruction
12237 \c UD0 ; 0F FF [186,UNDOC]
12238 \c UD1 ; 0F B9 [186,UNDOC]
12239 \c UD2 ; 0F 0B [186]
12241 \c{UDx} can be used to generate an invalid opcode exception, for testing
12244 \c{UD0} is specifically documented by AMD as being reserved for this
12247 \c{UD1} is specifically documented by Intel as being reserved for this
12250 \c{UD2} is mentioned by Intel as being available, but is not mentioned
12253 All these opcodes can be used to generate invalid opcode exceptions on
12254 all processors that are available at the current time.
12257 \H{insUMOV} \i\c{UMOV}: User Move Data
12259 \c UMOV r/m8,reg8 ; 0F 10 /r [386,UNDOC]
12260 \c UMOV r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F 11 /r [386,UNDOC]
12261 \c UMOV r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F 11 /r [386,UNDOC]
12263 \c UMOV reg8,r/m8 ; 0F 12 /r [386,UNDOC]
12264 \c UMOV reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 13 /r [386,UNDOC]
12265 \c UMOV reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 13 /r [386,UNDOC]
12267 This undocumented instruction is used by in-circuit emulators to
12268 access user memory (as opposed to host memory). It is used just like
12269 an ordinary memory/register or register/register \c{MOV}
12270 instruction, but accesses user space.
12272 This instruction is only available on some AMD and IBM 386 and 486
12276 \H{insUNPCKHPD} \i\c{UNPCKHPD}: Unpack and Interleave High Packed
12277 Double-Precision FP Values
12279 \c UNPCKHPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 15 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12281 \c{UNPCKHPD} performs an interleaved unpack of the high-order data
12282 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
12283 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
12285 The operation of this instruction is:
12287 \c dst[63-0] := dst[127-64];
12288 \c dst[127-64] := src[127-64].
12291 \H{insUNPCKHPS} \i\c{UNPCKHPS}: Unpack and Interleave High Packed
12292 Single-Precision FP Values
12294 \c UNPCKHPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 15 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12296 \c{UNPCKHPS} performs an interleaved unpack of the high-order data
12297 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
12298 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
12300 The operation of this instruction is:
12302 \c dst[31-0] := dst[95-64];
12303 \c dst[63-32] := src[95-64];
12304 \c dst[95-64] := dst[127-96];
12305 \c dst[127-96] := src[127-96].
12308 \H{insUNPCKLPD} \i\c{UNPCKLPD}: Unpack and Interleave Low Packed
12309 Double-Precision FP Data
12311 \c UNPCKLPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 14 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12313 \c{UNPCKLPD} performs an interleaved unpack of the low-order data
12314 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
12315 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
12317 The operation of this instruction is:
12319 \c dst[63-0] := dst[63-0];
12320 \c dst[127-64] := src[63-0].
12323 \H{insUNPCKLPS} \i\c{UNPCKLPS}: Unpack and Interleave Low Packed
12324 Single-Precision FP Data
12326 \c UNPCKLPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 14 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12328 \c{UNPCKLPS} performs an interleaved unpack of the low-order data
12329 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
12330 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
12332 The operation of this instruction is:
12334 \c dst[31-0] := dst[31-0];
12335 \c dst[63-32] := src[31-0];
12336 \c dst[95-64] := dst[63-32];
12337 \c dst[127-96] := src[63-32].
12340 \H{insVERR} \i\c{VERR}, \i\c{VERW}: Verify Segment Readability/Writability
12342 \c VERR r/m16 ; 0F 00 /4 [286,PRIV]
12344 \c VERW r/m16 ; 0F 00 /5 [286,PRIV]
12346 \b \c{VERR} sets the zero flag if the segment specified by the selector
12347 in its operand can be read from at the current privilege level.
12348 Otherwise it is cleared.
12350 \b \c{VERW} sets the zero flag if the segment can be written.
12353 \H{insWAIT} \i\c{WAIT}: Wait for Floating-Point Processor
12355 \c WAIT ; 9B [8086]
12356 \c FWAIT ; 9B [8086]
12358 \c{WAIT}, on 8086 systems with a separate 8087 FPU, waits for the
12359 FPU to have finished any operation it is engaged in before
12360 continuing main processor operations, so that (for example) an FPU
12361 store to main memory can be guaranteed to have completed before the
12362 CPU tries to read the result back out.
12364 On higher processors, \c{WAIT} is unnecessary for this purpose, and
12365 it has the alternative purpose of ensuring that any pending unmasked
12366 FPU exceptions have happened before execution continues.
12369 \H{insWBINVD} \i\c{WBINVD}: Write Back and Invalidate Cache
12371 \c WBINVD ; 0F 09 [486]
12373 \c{WBINVD} invalidates and empties the processor's internal caches,
12374 and causes the processor to instruct external caches to do the same.
12375 It writes the contents of the caches back to memory first, so no
12376 data is lost. To flush the caches quickly without bothering to write
12377 the data back first, use \c{INVD} (\k{insINVD}).
12380 \H{insWRMSR} \i\c{WRMSR}: Write Model-Specific Registers
12382 \c WRMSR ; 0F 30 [PENT]
12384 \c{WRMSR} writes the value in \c{EDX:EAX} to the processor
12385 Model-Specific Register (MSR) whose index is stored in \c{ECX}.
12386 See also \c{RDMSR} (\k{insRDMSR}).
12389 \H{insWRSHR} \i\c{WRSHR}: Write SMM Header Pointer Register
12391 \c WRSHR r/m32 ; 0F 37 /0 [386,CYRIX,SMM]
12393 \c{WRSHR} loads the contents of either a 32-bit memory location or a
12394 32-bit register into the SMM header pointer register.
12396 See also \c{RDSHR} (\k{insRDSHR}).
12399 \H{insXADD} \i\c{XADD}: Exchange and Add
12401 \c XADD r/m8,reg8 ; 0F C0 /r [486]
12402 \c XADD r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F C1 /r [486]
12403 \c XADD r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F C1 /r [486]
12405 \c{XADD} exchanges the values in its two operands, and then adds
12406 them together and writes the result into the destination (first)
12407 operand. This instruction can be used with a \c{LOCK} prefix for
12408 multi-processor synchronisation purposes.
12411 \H{insXBTS} \i\c{XBTS}: Extract Bit String
12413 \c XBTS reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F A6 /r [386,UNDOC]
12414 \c XBTS reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F A6 /r [386,UNDOC]
12416 The implied operation of this instruction is:
12418 \c XBTS r/m16,reg16,AX,CL
12419 \c XBTS r/m32,reg32,EAX,CL
12421 Writes a bit string from the source operand to the destination. \c{CL}
12422 indicates the number of bits to be copied, and \c{(E)AX} indicates the
12423 low order bit offset in the source. The bist are written to the low
12424 order bits of the destination register. For example, if \c{CL} is set
12425 to 4 and \c{AX} (for 16-bit code) is set to 5, bits 5-8 of \c{src} will
12426 be copied to bits 0-3 of \c{dst}. This instruction is very poorly
12427 documented, and I have been unable to find any official source of
12428 documentation on it.
12430 \c{XBTS} is supported only on the early Intel 386s, and conflicts with
12431 the opcodes for \c{CMPXCHG486} (on early Intel 486s). NASM supports it
12432 only for completeness. Its counterpart is \c{IBTS} (see \k{insIBTS}).
12435 \H{insXCHG} \i\c{XCHG}: Exchange
12437 \c XCHG reg8,r/m8 ; 86 /r [8086]
12438 \c XCHG reg16,r/m8 ; o16 87 /r [8086]
12439 \c XCHG reg32,r/m32 ; o32 87 /r [386]
12441 \c XCHG r/m8,reg8 ; 86 /r [8086]
12442 \c XCHG r/m16,reg16 ; o16 87 /r [8086]
12443 \c XCHG r/m32,reg32 ; o32 87 /r [386]
12445 \c XCHG AX,reg16 ; o16 90+r [8086]
12446 \c XCHG EAX,reg32 ; o32 90+r [386]
12447 \c XCHG reg16,AX ; o16 90+r [8086]
12448 \c XCHG reg32,EAX ; o32 90+r [386]
12450 \c{XCHG} exchanges the values in its two operands. It can be used
12451 with a \c{LOCK} prefix for purposes of multi-processor
12454 \c{XCHG AX,AX} or \c{XCHG EAX,EAX} (depending on the \c{BITS}
12455 setting) generates the opcode \c{90h}, and so is a synonym for
12456 \c{NOP} (\k{insNOP}).
12459 \H{insXLATB} \i\c{XLATB}: Translate Byte in Lookup Table
12461 \c XLAT ; D7 [8086]
12462 \c XLATB ; D7 [8086]
12464 \c{XLATB} adds the value in \c{AL}, treated as an unsigned byte, to
12465 \c{BX} or \c{EBX}, and loads the byte from the resulting address (in
12466 the segment specified by \c{DS}) back into \c{AL}.
12468 The base register used is \c{BX} if the address size is 16 bits, and
12469 \c{EBX} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
12470 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
12471 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
12473 The segment register used to load from \c{[BX+AL]} or \c{[EBX+AL]}
12474 can be overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
12475 example, \c{es xlatb}).
12478 \H{insXOR} \i\c{XOR}: Bitwise Exclusive OR
12480 \c XOR r/m8,reg8 ; 30 /r [8086]
12481 \c XOR r/m16,reg16 ; o16 31 /r [8086]
12482 \c XOR r/m32,reg32 ; o32 31 /r [386]
12484 \c XOR reg8,r/m8 ; 32 /r [8086]
12485 \c XOR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 33 /r [8086]
12486 \c XOR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 33 /r [386]
12488 \c XOR r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /6 ib [8086]
12489 \c XOR r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /6 iw [8086]
12490 \c XOR r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /6 id [386]
12492 \c XOR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /6 ib [8086]
12493 \c XOR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /6 ib [386]
12495 \c XOR AL,imm8 ; 34 ib [8086]
12496 \c XOR AX,imm16 ; o16 35 iw [8086]
12497 \c XOR EAX,imm32 ; o32 35 id [386]
12499 \c{XOR} performs a bitwise XOR operation between its two operands
12500 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if exactly one of the
12501 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
12502 in the destination (first) operand.
12504 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
12505 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
12506 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
12507 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
12508 form of the instruction.
12510 The \c{MMX} instruction \c{PXOR} (see \k{insPXOR}) performs the same
12511 operation on the 64-bit \c{MMX} registers.
12514 \H{insXORPD} \i\c{XORPD}: Bitwise Logical XOR of Double-Precision FP Values
12516 \c XORPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 57 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12518 \c{XORPD} returns a bit-wise logical XOR between the source and
12519 destination operands, storing the result in the destination operand.
12522 \H{insXORPS} \i\c{XORPS}: Bitwise Logical XOR of Single-Precision FP Values
12524 \c XORPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 57 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12526 \c{XORPS} returns a bit-wise logical XOR between the source and
12527 destination operands, storing the result in the destination operand.