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 uses backslash (\\) as the line continuation character; if a line
945 ends with backslash, the next line is considered to be a part of the
946 backslash-ended line.
948 NASM places no restrictions on white space within a line: labels may
949 have white space before them, or instructions may have no space
950 before them, or anything. The \i{colon} after a label is also
951 optional. (Note that this means that if you intend to code \c{lodsb}
952 alone on a line, and type \c{lodab} by accident, then that's still a
953 valid source line which does nothing but define a label. Running
954 NASM with the command-line option
955 \I{orphan-labels}\c{-w+orphan-labels} will cause it to warn you if
956 you define a label alone on a line without a \i{trailing colon}.)
958 \i{Valid characters} in labels are letters, numbers, \c{_}, \c{$},
959 \c{#}, \c{@}, \c{~}, \c{.}, and \c{?}. The only characters which may
960 be used as the \e{first} character of an identifier are letters,
961 \c{.} (with special meaning: see \k{locallab}), \c{_} and \c{?}.
962 An identifier may also be prefixed with a \I{$prefix}\c{$} to
963 indicate that it is intended to be read as an identifier and not a
964 reserved word; thus, if some other module you are linking with
965 defines a symbol called \c{eax}, you can refer to \c{$eax} in NASM
966 code to distinguish the symbol from the register.
968 The instruction field may contain any machine instruction: Pentium
969 and P6 instructions, FPU instructions, MMX instructions and even
970 undocumented instructions are all supported. The instruction may be
971 prefixed by \c{LOCK}, \c{REP}, \c{REPE}/\c{REPZ} or
972 \c{REPNE}/\c{REPNZ}, in the usual way. Explicit \I{address-size
973 prefixes}address-size and \i{operand-size prefixes} \c{A16},
974 \c{A32}, \c{O16} and \c{O32} are provided - one example of their use
975 is given in \k{mixsize}. You can also use the name of a \I{segment
976 override}segment register as an instruction prefix: coding
977 \c{es mov [bx],ax} is equivalent to coding \c{mov [es:bx],ax}. We
978 recommend the latter syntax, since it is consistent with other
979 syntactic features of the language, but for instructions such as
980 \c{LODSB}, which has no operands and yet can require a segment
981 override, there is no clean syntactic way to proceed apart from
984 An instruction is not required to use a prefix: prefixes such as
985 \c{CS}, \c{A32}, \c{LOCK} or \c{REPE} can appear on a line by
986 themselves, and NASM will just generate the prefix bytes.
988 In addition to actual machine instructions, NASM also supports a
989 number of pseudo-instructions, described in \k{pseudop}.
991 Instruction \i{operands} may take a number of forms: they can be
992 registers, described simply by the register name (e.g. \c{ax},
993 \c{bp}, \c{ebx}, \c{cr0}: NASM does not use the \c{gas}-style
994 syntax in which register names must be prefixed by a \c{%} sign), or
995 they can be \i{effective addresses} (see \k{effaddr}), constants
996 (\k{const}) or expressions (\k{expr}).
998 For \i{floating-point} instructions, NASM accepts a wide range of
999 syntaxes: you can use two-operand forms like MASM supports, or you
1000 can use NASM's native single-operand forms in most cases. Details of
1001 all forms of each supported instruction are given in
1002 \k{iref}. For example, you can code:
1004 \c fadd st1 ; this sets st0 := st0 + st1
1005 \c fadd st0,st1 ; so does this
1007 \c fadd st1,st0 ; this sets st1 := st1 + st0
1008 \c fadd to st1 ; so does this
1010 Almost any floating-point instruction that references memory must
1011 use one of the prefixes \i\c{DWORD}, \i\c{QWORD} or \i\c{TWORD} to
1012 indicate what size of \i{memory operand} it refers to.
1015 \H{pseudop} \i{Pseudo-Instructions}
1017 Pseudo-instructions are things which, though not real x86 machine
1018 instructions, are used in the instruction field anyway because
1019 that's the most convenient place to put them. The current
1020 pseudo-instructions are \i\c{DB}, \i\c{DW}, \i\c{DD}, \i\c{DQ} and
1021 \i\c{DT}, their \i{uninitialised} counterparts \i\c{RESB},
1022 \i\c{RESW}, \i\c{RESD}, \i\c{RESQ} and \i\c{REST}, the \i\c{INCBIN}
1023 command, the \i\c{EQU} command, and the \i\c{TIMES} prefix.
1026 \S{db} \c{DB} and friends: Declaring Initialised Data
1028 \i\c{DB}, \i\c{DW}, \i\c{DD}, \i\c{DQ} and \i\c{DT} are used, much
1029 as in MASM, to declare initialised data in the output file. They can
1030 be invoked in a wide range of ways:
1031 \I{floating-point}\I{character constant}\I{string constant}
1033 \c db 0x55 ; just the byte 0x55
1034 \c db 0x55,0x56,0x57 ; three bytes in succession
1035 \c db 'a',0x55 ; character constants are OK
1036 \c db 'hello',13,10,'$' ; so are string constants
1037 \c dw 0x1234 ; 0x34 0x12
1038 \c dw 'a' ; 0x41 0x00 (it's just a number)
1039 \c dw 'ab' ; 0x41 0x42 (character constant)
1040 \c dw 'abc' ; 0x41 0x42 0x43 0x00 (string)
1041 \c dd 0x12345678 ; 0x78 0x56 0x34 0x12
1042 \c dd 1.234567e20 ; floating-point constant
1043 \c dq 1.234567e20 ; double-precision float
1044 \c dt 1.234567e20 ; extended-precision float
1046 \c{DQ} and \c{DT} do not accept \i{numeric constants} or string
1047 constants as operands.
1050 \S{resb} \c{RESB} and friends: Declaring \i{Uninitialised} Data
1052 \i\c{RESB}, \i\c{RESW}, \i\c{RESD}, \i\c{RESQ} and \i\c{REST} are
1053 designed to be used in the BSS section of a module: they declare
1054 \e{uninitialised} storage space. Each takes a single operand, which
1055 is the number of bytes, words, doublewords or whatever to reserve.
1056 As stated in \k{qsother}, NASM does not support the MASM/TASM syntax
1057 of reserving uninitialised space by writing \I\c{?}\c{DW ?} or
1058 similar things: this is what it does instead. The operand to a
1059 \c{RESB}-type pseudo-instruction is a \i\e{critical expression}: see
1064 \c buffer: resb 64 ; reserve 64 bytes
1065 \c wordvar: resw 1 ; reserve a word
1066 \c realarray resq 10 ; array of ten reals
1069 \S{incbin} \i\c{INCBIN}: Including External \i{Binary Files}
1071 \c{INCBIN} is borrowed from the old Amiga assembler \i{DevPac}: it
1072 includes a binary file verbatim into the output file. This can be
1073 handy for (for example) including \i{graphics} and \i{sound} data
1074 directly into a game executable file. It can be called in one of
1077 \c incbin "file.dat" ; include the whole file
1078 \c incbin "file.dat",1024 ; skip the first 1024 bytes
1079 \c incbin "file.dat",1024,512 ; skip the first 1024, and
1080 \c ; actually include at most 512
1083 \S{equ} \i\c{EQU}: Defining Constants
1085 \c{EQU} defines a symbol to a given constant value: when \c{EQU} is
1086 used, the source line must contain a label. The action of \c{EQU} is
1087 to define the given label name to the value of its (only) operand.
1088 This definition is absolute, and cannot change later. So, for
1091 \c message db 'hello, world'
1092 \c msglen equ $-message
1094 defines \c{msglen} to be the constant 12. \c{msglen} may not then be
1095 redefined later. This is not a \i{preprocessor} definition either:
1096 the value of \c{msglen} is evaluated \e{once}, using the value of
1097 \c{$} (see \k{expr} for an explanation of \c{$}) at the point of
1098 definition, rather than being evaluated wherever it is referenced
1099 and using the value of \c{$} at the point of reference. Note that
1100 the operand to an \c{EQU} is also a \i{critical expression}
1104 \S{times} \i\c{TIMES}: \i{Repeating} Instructions or Data
1106 The \c{TIMES} prefix causes the instruction to be assembled multiple
1107 times. This is partly present as NASM's equivalent of the \i\c{DUP}
1108 syntax supported by \i{MASM}-compatible assemblers, in that you can
1111 \c zerobuf: times 64 db 0
1113 or similar things; but \c{TIMES} is more versatile than that. The
1114 argument to \c{TIMES} is not just a numeric constant, but a numeric
1115 \e{expression}, so you can do things like
1117 \c buffer: db 'hello, world'
1118 \c times 64-$+buffer db ' '
1120 which will store exactly enough spaces to make the total length of
1121 \c{buffer} up to 64. Finally, \c{TIMES} can be applied to ordinary
1122 instructions, so you can code trivial \i{unrolled loops} in it:
1126 Note that there is no effective difference between \c{times 100 resb
1127 1} and \c{resb 100}, except that the latter will be assembled about
1128 100 times faster due to the internal structure of the assembler.
1130 The operand to \c{TIMES}, like that of \c{EQU} and those of \c{RESB}
1131 and friends, is a critical expression (\k{crit}).
1133 Note also that \c{TIMES} can't be applied to \i{macros}: the reason
1134 for this is that \c{TIMES} is processed after the macro phase, which
1135 allows the argument to \c{TIMES} to contain expressions such as
1136 \c{64-$+buffer} as above. To repeat more than one line of code, or a
1137 complex macro, use the preprocessor \i\c{%rep} directive.
1140 \H{effaddr} Effective Addresses
1142 An \i{effective address} is any operand to an instruction which
1143 \I{memory reference}references memory. Effective addresses, in NASM,
1144 have a very simple syntax: they consist of an expression evaluating
1145 to the desired address, enclosed in \i{square brackets}. For
1150 \c mov ax,[wordvar+1]
1151 \c mov ax,[es:wordvar+bx]
1153 Anything not conforming to this simple system is not a valid memory
1154 reference in NASM, for example \c{es:wordvar[bx]}.
1156 More complicated effective addresses, such as those involving more
1157 than one register, work in exactly the same way:
1159 \c mov eax,[ebx*2+ecx+offset]
1162 NASM is capable of doing \i{algebra} on these effective addresses,
1163 so that things which don't necessarily \e{look} legal are perfectly
1166 \c mov eax,[ebx*5] ; assembles as [ebx*4+ebx]
1167 \c mov eax,[label1*2-label2] ; ie [label1+(label1-label2)]
1169 Some forms of effective address have more than one assembled form;
1170 in most such cases NASM will generate the smallest form it can. For
1171 example, there are distinct assembled forms for the 32-bit effective
1172 addresses \c{[eax*2+0]} and \c{[eax+eax]}, and NASM will generally
1173 generate the latter on the grounds that the former requires four
1174 bytes to store a zero offset.
1176 NASM has a hinting mechanism which will cause \c{[eax+ebx]} and
1177 \c{[ebx+eax]} to generate different opcodes; this is occasionally
1178 useful because \c{[esi+ebp]} and \c{[ebp+esi]} have different
1179 default segment registers.
1181 However, you can force NASM to generate an effective address in a
1182 particular form by the use of the keywords \c{BYTE}, \c{WORD},
1183 \c{DWORD} and \c{NOSPLIT}. If you need \c{[eax+3]} to be assembled
1184 using a double-word offset field instead of the one byte NASM will
1185 normally generate, you can code \c{[dword eax+3]}. Similarly, you
1186 can force NASM to use a byte offset for a small value which it
1187 hasn't seen on the first pass (see \k{crit} for an example of such a
1188 code fragment) by using \c{[byte eax+offset]}. As special cases,
1189 \c{[byte eax]} will code \c{[eax+0]} with a byte offset of zero, and
1190 \c{[dword eax]} will code it with a double-word offset of zero. The
1191 normal form, \c{[eax]}, will be coded with no offset field.
1193 Similarly, NASM will split \c{[eax*2]} into \c{[eax+eax]} because
1194 that allows the offset field to be absent and space to be saved; in
1195 fact, it will also split \c{[eax*2+offset]} into
1196 \c{[eax+eax+offset]}. You can combat this behaviour by the use of
1197 the \c{NOSPLIT} keyword: \c{[nosplit eax*2]} will force
1198 \c{[eax*2+0]} to be generated literally.
1201 \H{const} \i{Constants}
1203 NASM understands four different types of constant: numeric,
1204 character, string and floating-point.
1207 \S{numconst} \i{Numeric Constants}
1209 A numeric constant is simply a number. NASM allows you to specify
1210 numbers in a variety of number bases, in a variety of ways: you can
1211 suffix \c{H}, \c{Q} and \c{B} for \i{hex}, \i{octal} and \i{binary},
1212 or you can prefix \c{0x} for hex in the style of C, or you can
1213 prefix \c{$} for hex in the style of Borland Pascal. Note, though,
1214 that the \I{$prefix}\c{$} prefix does double duty as a prefix on
1215 identifiers (see \k{syntax}), so a hex number prefixed with a \c{$}
1216 sign must have a digit after the \c{$} rather than a letter.
1220 \c mov ax,100 ; decimal
1221 \c mov ax,0a2h ; hex
1222 \c mov ax,$0a2 ; hex again: the 0 is required
1223 \c mov ax,0xa2 ; hex yet again
1224 \c mov ax,777q ; octal
1225 \c mov ax,10010011b ; binary
1228 \S{chrconst} \i{Character Constants}
1230 A character constant consists of up to four characters enclosed in
1231 either single or double quotes. The type of quote makes no
1232 difference to NASM, except of course that surrounding the constant
1233 with single quotes allows double quotes to appear within it and vice
1236 A character constant with more than one character will be arranged
1237 with \i{little-endian} order in mind: if you code
1241 then the constant generated is not \c{0x61626364}, but
1242 \c{0x64636261}, so that if you were then to store the value into
1243 memory, it would read \c{abcd} rather than \c{dcba}. This is also
1244 the sense of character constants understood by the Pentium's
1245 \i\c{CPUID} instruction (see \k{insCPUID}).
1248 \S{strconst} String Constants
1250 String constants are only acceptable to some pseudo-instructions,
1251 namely the \I\c{DW}\I\c{DD}\I\c{DQ}\I\c{DT}\i\c{DB} family and
1254 A string constant looks like a character constant, only longer. It
1255 is treated as a concatenation of maximum-size character constants
1256 for the conditions. So the following are equivalent:
1258 \c db 'hello' ; string constant
1259 \c db 'h','e','l','l','o' ; equivalent character constants
1261 And the following are also equivalent:
1263 \c dd 'ninechars' ; doubleword string constant
1264 \c dd 'nine','char','s' ; becomes three doublewords
1265 \c db 'ninechars',0,0,0 ; and really looks like this
1267 Note that when used as an operand to \c{db}, a constant like
1268 \c{'ab'} is treated as a string constant despite being short enough
1269 to be a character constant, because otherwise \c{db 'ab'} would have
1270 the same effect as \c{db 'a'}, which would be silly. Similarly,
1271 three-character or four-character constants are treated as strings
1272 when they are operands to \c{dw}.
1275 \S{fltconst} \I{floating-point, constants}Floating-Point Constants
1277 \i{Floating-point} constants are acceptable only as arguments to
1278 \i\c{DD}, \i\c{DQ} and \i\c{DT}. They are expressed in the
1279 traditional form: digits, then a period, then optionally more
1280 digits, then optionally an \c{E} followed by an exponent. The period
1281 is mandatory, so that NASM can distinguish between \c{dd 1}, which
1282 declares an integer constant, and \c{dd 1.0} which declares a
1283 floating-point constant.
1287 \c dd 1.2 ; an easy one
1288 \c dq 1.e10 ; 10,000,000,000
1289 \c dq 1.e+10 ; synonymous with 1.e10
1290 \c dq 1.e-10 ; 0.000 000 000 1
1291 \c dt 3.141592653589793238462 ; pi
1293 NASM cannot do compile-time arithmetic on floating-point constants.
1294 This is because NASM is designed to be portable - although it always
1295 generates code to run on x86 processors, the assembler itself can
1296 run on any system with an ANSI C compiler. Therefore, the assembler
1297 cannot guarantee the presence of a floating-point unit capable of
1298 handling the \i{Intel number formats}, and so for NASM to be able to
1299 do floating arithmetic it would have to include its own complete set
1300 of floating-point routines, which would significantly increase the
1301 size of the assembler for very little benefit.
1304 \H{expr} \i{Expressions}
1306 Expressions in NASM are similar in syntax to those in C.
1308 NASM does not guarantee the size of the integers used to evaluate
1309 expressions at compile time: since NASM can compile and run on
1310 64-bit systems quite happily, don't assume that expressions are
1311 evaluated in 32-bit registers and so try to make deliberate use of
1312 \i{integer overflow}. It might not always work. The only thing NASM
1313 will guarantee is what's guaranteed by ANSI C: you always have \e{at
1314 least} 32 bits to work in.
1316 NASM supports two special tokens in expressions, allowing
1317 calculations to involve the current assembly position: the
1318 \I{$ here}\c{$} and \i\c{$$} tokens. \c{$} evaluates to the assembly
1319 position at the beginning of the line containing the expression; so
1320 you can code an \i{infinite loop} using \c{JMP $}. \c{$$} evaluates
1321 to the beginning of the current section; so you can tell how far
1322 into the section you are by using \c{($-$$)}.
1324 The arithmetic \i{operators} provided by NASM are listed here, in
1325 increasing order of \i{precedence}.
1328 \S{expor} \i\c{|}: \i{Bitwise OR} Operator
1330 The \c{|} operator gives a bitwise OR, exactly as performed by the
1331 \c{OR} machine instruction. Bitwise OR is the lowest-priority
1332 arithmetic operator supported by NASM.
1335 \S{expxor} \i\c{^}: \i{Bitwise XOR} Operator
1337 \c{^} provides the bitwise XOR operation.
1340 \S{expand} \i\c{&}: \i{Bitwise AND} Operator
1342 \c{&} provides the bitwise AND operation.
1345 \S{expshift} \i\c{<<} and \i\c{>>}: \i{Bit Shift} Operators
1347 \c{<<} gives a bit-shift to the left, just as it does in C. So \c{5<<3}
1348 evaluates to 5 times 8, or 40. \c{>>} gives a bit-shift to the
1349 right; in NASM, such a shift is \e{always} unsigned, so that
1350 the bits shifted in from the left-hand end are filled with zero
1351 rather than a sign-extension of the previous highest bit.
1354 \S{expplmi} \I{+ opaddition}\c{+} and \I{- opsubtraction}\c{-}:
1355 \i{Addition} and \i{Subtraction} Operators
1357 The \c{+} and \c{-} operators do perfectly ordinary addition and
1361 \S{expmul} \i\c{*}, \i\c{/}, \i\c{//}, \i\c{%} and \i\c{%%}:
1362 \i{Multiplication} and \i{Division}
1364 \c{*} is the multiplication operator. \c{/} and \c{//} are both
1365 division operators: \c{/} is \i{unsigned division} and \c{//} is
1366 \i{signed division}. Similarly, \c{%} and \c{%%} provide \I{unsigned
1367 modulo}\I{modulo operators}unsigned and
1368 \i{signed modulo} operators respectively.
1370 NASM, like ANSI C, provides no guarantees about the sensible
1371 operation of the signed modulo operator.
1373 Since the \c{%} character is used extensively by the macro
1374 \i{preprocessor}, you should ensure that both the signed and unsigned
1375 modulo operators are followed by white space wherever they appear.
1378 \S{expmul} \i{Unary Operators}: \I{+ opunary}\c{+}, \I{- opunary}\c{-},
1379 \i\c{~} and \i\c{SEG}
1381 The highest-priority operators in NASM's expression grammar are
1382 those which only apply to one argument. \c{-} negates its operand,
1383 \c{+} does nothing (it's provided for symmetry with \c{-}), \c{~}
1384 computes the \i{one's complement} of its operand, and \c{SEG}
1385 provides the \i{segment address} of its operand (explained in more
1386 detail in \k{segwrt}).
1389 \H{segwrt} \i\c{SEG} and \i\c{WRT}
1391 When writing large 16-bit programs, which must be split into
1392 multiple \i{segments}, it is often necessary to be able to refer to
1393 the \I{segment address}segment part of the address of a symbol. NASM
1394 supports the \c{SEG} operator to perform this function.
1396 The \c{SEG} operator returns the \i\e{preferred} segment base of a
1397 symbol, defined as the segment base relative to which the offset of
1398 the symbol makes sense. So the code
1400 \c mov ax,seg symbol
1404 will load \c{ES:BX} with a valid pointer to the symbol \c{symbol}.
1406 Things can be more complex than this: since 16-bit segments and
1407 \i{groups} may \I{overlapping segments}overlap, you might occasionally
1408 want to refer to some symbol using a different segment base from the
1409 preferred one. NASM lets you do this, by the use of the \c{WRT}
1410 (With Reference To) keyword. So you can do things like
1412 \c mov ax,weird_seg ; weird_seg is a segment base
1414 \c mov bx,symbol wrt weird_seg
1416 to load \c{ES:BX} with a different, but functionally equivalent,
1417 pointer to the symbol \c{symbol}.
1419 NASM supports far (inter-segment) calls and jumps by means of the
1420 syntax \c{call segment:offset}, where \c{segment} and \c{offset}
1421 both represent immediate values. So to call a far procedure, you
1422 could code either of
1424 \c call (seg procedure):procedure
1425 \c call weird_seg:(procedure wrt weird_seg)
1427 (The parentheses are included for clarity, to show the intended
1428 parsing of the above instructions. They are not necessary in
1431 NASM supports the syntax \I\c{CALL FAR}\c{call far procedure} as a
1432 synonym for the first of the above usages. \c{JMP} works identically
1433 to \c{CALL} in these examples.
1435 To declare a \i{far pointer} to a data item in a data segment, you
1438 \c dw symbol, seg symbol
1440 NASM supports no convenient synonym for this, though you can always
1441 invent one using the macro processor.
1444 \H{crit} \i{Critical Expressions}
1446 A limitation of NASM is that it is a \i{two-pass assembler}; unlike
1447 TASM and others, it will always do exactly two \I{passes}\i{assembly
1448 passes}. Therefore it is unable to cope with source files that are
1449 complex enough to require three or more passes.
1451 The first pass is used to determine the size of all the assembled
1452 code and data, so that the second pass, when generating all the
1453 code, knows all the symbol addresses the code refers to. So one
1454 thing NASM can't handle is code whose size depends on the value of a
1455 symbol declared after the code in question. For example,
1457 \c times (label-$) db 0
1458 \c label: db 'Where am I?'
1460 The argument to \i\c{TIMES} in this case could equally legally
1461 evaluate to anything at all; NASM will reject this example because
1462 it cannot tell the size of the \c{TIMES} line when it first sees it.
1463 It will just as firmly reject the slightly \I{paradox}paradoxical
1466 \c times (label-$+1) db 0
1467 \c label: db 'NOW where am I?'
1469 in which \e{any} value for the \c{TIMES} argument is by definition
1472 NASM rejects these examples by means of a concept called a
1473 \e{critical expression}, which is defined to be an expression whose
1474 value is required to be computable in the first pass, and which must
1475 therefore depend only on symbols defined before it. The argument to
1476 the \c{TIMES} prefix is a critical expression; for the same reason,
1477 the arguments to the \i\c{RESB} family of pseudo-instructions are
1478 also critical expressions.
1480 Critical expressions can crop up in other contexts as well: consider
1484 \c symbol1 equ symbol2
1487 On the first pass, NASM cannot determine the value of \c{symbol1},
1488 because \c{symbol1} is defined to be equal to \c{symbol2} which NASM
1489 hasn't seen yet. On the second pass, therefore, when it encounters
1490 the line \c{mov ax,symbol1}, it is unable to generate the code for
1491 it because it still doesn't know the value of \c{symbol1}. On the
1492 next line, it would see the \i\c{EQU} again and be able to determine
1493 the value of \c{symbol1}, but by then it would be too late.
1495 NASM avoids this problem by defining the right-hand side of an
1496 \c{EQU} statement to be a critical expression, so the definition of
1497 \c{symbol1} would be rejected in the first pass.
1499 There is a related issue involving \i{forward references}: consider
1502 \c mov eax,[ebx+offset]
1505 NASM, on pass one, must calculate the size of the instruction \c{mov
1506 eax,[ebx+offset]} without knowing the value of \c{offset}. It has no
1507 way of knowing that \c{offset} is small enough to fit into a
1508 one-byte offset field and that it could therefore get away with
1509 generating a shorter form of the \i{effective-address} encoding; for
1510 all it knows, in pass one, \c{offset} could be a symbol in the code
1511 segment, and it might need the full four-byte form. So it is forced
1512 to compute the size of the instruction to accommodate a four-byte
1513 address part. In pass two, having made this decision, it is now
1514 forced to honour it and keep the instruction large, so the code
1515 generated in this case is not as small as it could have been. This
1516 problem can be solved by defining \c{offset} before using it, or by
1517 forcing byte size in the effective address by coding \c{[byte
1521 \H{locallab} \i{Local Labels}
1523 NASM gives special treatment to symbols beginning with a \i{period}.
1524 A label beginning with a single period is treated as a \e{local}
1525 label, which means that it is associated with the previous non-local
1526 label. So, for example:
1528 \c label1 ; some code
1529 \c .loop ; some more code
1532 \c label2 ; some code
1533 \c .loop ; some more code
1537 In the above code fragment, each \c{JNE} instruction jumps to the
1538 line immediately before it, because the two definitions of \c{.loop}
1539 are kept separate by virtue of each being associated with the
1540 previous non-local label.
1542 This form of local label handling is borrowed from the old Amiga
1543 assembler \i{DevPac}; however, NASM goes one step further, in
1544 allowing access to local labels from other parts of the code. This
1545 is achieved by means of \e{defining} a local label in terms of the
1546 previous non-local label: the first definition of \c{.loop} above is
1547 really defining a symbol called \c{label1.loop}, and the second
1548 defines a symbol called \c{label2.loop}. So, if you really needed
1551 \c label3 ; some more code
1555 Sometimes it is useful - in a macro, for instance - to be able to
1556 define a label which can be referenced from anywhere but which
1557 doesn't interfere with the normal local-label mechanism. Such a
1558 label can't be non-local because it would interfere with subsequent
1559 definitions of, and references to, local labels; and it can't be
1560 local because the macro that defined it wouldn't know the label's
1561 full name. NASM therefore introduces a third type of label, which is
1562 probably only useful in macro definitions: if a label begins with
1563 the \I{label prefix}special prefix \i\c{..@}, then it does nothing
1564 to the local label mechanism. So you could code
1566 \c label1: ; a non-local label
1567 \c .local: ; this is really label1.local
1568 \c ..@foo: ; this is a special symbol
1569 \c label2: ; another non-local label
1570 \c .local: ; this is really label2.local
1571 \c jmp ..@foo ; this will jump three lines up
1573 NASM has the capacity to define other special symbols beginning with
1574 a double period: for example, \c{..start} is used to specify the
1575 entry point in the \c{obj} output format (see \k{dotdotstart}).
1578 \C{preproc} The NASM \i{Preprocessor}
1580 NASM contains a powerful \i{macro processor}, which supports
1581 conditional assembly, multi-level file inclusion, two forms of macro
1582 (single-line and multi-line), and a `context stack' mechanism for
1583 extra macro power. Preprocessor directives all begin with a \c{%}
1586 The preprocessor collapses all lines which end with a backslash (\\)
1587 character into a single line. Thus:
1589 \c %define THIS_VERY_LONG_MACRO_NAME_IS_DEFINED_TO \\
1592 will work as expected.
1594 \H{slmacro} \i{Single-Line Macros}
1596 \S{define} The Normal Way: \I\c{%idefine}\i\c{%define}
1598 Single-line macros are defined using the \c{%define} preprocessor
1599 directive. The definitions work in a similar way to C; so you can do
1602 \c %define ctrl 0x1F &
1603 \c %define param(a,b) ((a)+(a)*(b))
1604 \c mov byte [param(2,ebx)], ctrl 'D'
1606 which will expand to
1608 \c mov byte [(2)+(2)*(ebx)], 0x1F & 'D'
1610 When the expansion of a single-line macro contains tokens which
1611 invoke another macro, the expansion is performed at invocation time,
1612 not at definition time. Thus the code
1614 \c %define a(x) 1+b(x)
1618 will evaluate in the expected way to \c{mov ax,1+2*8}, even though
1619 the macro \c{b} wasn't defined at the time of definition of \c{a}.
1621 Macros defined with \c{%define} are \i{case sensitive}: after
1622 \c{%define foo bar}, only \c{foo} will expand to \c{bar}: \c{Foo} or
1623 \c{FOO} will not. By using \c{%idefine} instead of \c{%define} (the
1624 `i' stands for `insensitive') you can define all the case variants
1625 of a macro at once, so that \c{%idefine foo bar} would cause
1626 \c{foo}, \c{Foo}, \c{FOO}, \c{fOO} and so on all to expand to
1629 There is a mechanism which detects when a macro call has occurred as
1630 a result of a previous expansion of the same macro, to guard against
1631 \i{circular references} and infinite loops. If this happens, the
1632 preprocessor will only expand the first occurrence of the macro.
1635 \c %define a(x) 1+a(x)
1638 the macro \c{a(3)} will expand once, becoming \c{1+a(3)}, and will
1639 then expand no further. This behaviour can be useful: see \k{32c}
1640 for an example of its use.
1642 You can \I{overloading, single-line macros}overload single-line
1643 macros: if you write
1645 \c %define foo(x) 1+x
1646 \c %define foo(x,y) 1+x*y
1648 the preprocessor will be able to handle both types of macro call,
1649 by counting the parameters you pass; so \c{foo(3)} will become
1650 \c{1+3} whereas \c{foo(ebx,2)} will become \c{1+ebx*2}. However, if
1655 then no other definition of \c{foo} will be accepted: a macro with
1656 no parameters prohibits the definition of the same name as a macro
1657 \e{with} parameters, and vice versa.
1659 This doesn't prevent single-line macros being \e{redefined}: you can
1660 perfectly well define a macro with
1664 and then re-define it later in the same source file with
1668 Then everywhere the macro \c{foo} is invoked, it will be expanded
1669 according to the most recent definition. This is particularly useful
1670 when defining single-line macros with \c{%assign} (see \k{assign}).
1672 You can \i{pre-define} single-line macros using the `-d' option on
1673 the NASM command line: see \k{opt-d}.
1676 \S{undef} Undefining macros: \i\c{%undef}
1678 Single-line macros can be removed with the \c{%undef} command. For
1679 example, the following sequence:
1685 will expand to the instruction \c{mov eax, foo}, since after
1686 \c{%undef} the macro \c{foo} is no longer defined.
1688 Macros that would otherwise be pre-defined can be undefined on the
1689 command-line using the `-u' option on the NASM command line: see
1693 \S{assign} \i{Preprocessor Variables}: \i\c{%assign}
1695 An alternative way to define single-line macros is by means of the
1696 \c{%assign} command (and its \i{case sensitive}case-insensitive
1697 counterpart \i\c{%iassign}, which differs from \c{%assign} in
1698 exactly the same way that \c{%idefine} differs from \c{%define}).
1700 \c{%assign} is used to define single-line macros which take no
1701 parameters and have a numeric value. This value can be specified in
1702 the form of an expression, and it will be evaluated once, when the
1703 \c{%assign} directive is processed.
1705 Like \c{%define}, macros defined using \c{%assign} can be re-defined
1706 later, so you can do things like
1710 to increment the numeric value of a macro.
1712 \c{%assign} is useful for controlling the termination of \c{%rep}
1713 preprocessor loops: see \k{rep} for an example of this. Another
1714 use for \c{%assign} is given in \k{16c} and \k{32c}.
1716 The expression passed to \c{%assign} is a \i{critical expression}
1717 (see \k{crit}), and must also evaluate to a pure number (rather than
1718 a relocatable reference such as a code or data address, or anything
1719 involving a register).
1722 \H{strlen} \i{String Handling in Macros}: \i\c{%strlen} and \i\c{%substr}
1724 It's often useful to be able to handle strings in macros. NASM
1725 supports two simple string handling macro operators from which
1726 more complex operations can be constructed.
1729 \S{strlen} \i{String Length}: \i\c{%strlen}
1731 The \c{%strlen} macro is like \c{%assign} macro in that it creates
1732 (or redefines) a numeric value to a macro. The difference is that
1733 with \c{%strlen}, the numeric value is the length of a string. An
1734 example of the use of this would be:
1736 \c %strlen charcnt 'my string'
1738 In this example, \c{charcnt} would receive the value 8, just as
1739 if an \c{%assign} had been used. In this example, \c{'my string'}
1740 was a literal string but it could also have been a single-line
1741 macro that expands to a string, as in the following example:
1743 \c %define sometext 'my string'
1744 \c %strlen charcnt sometext
1746 As in the first case, this would result in \c{charcnt} being
1747 assigned the value of 8.
1750 \S{substr} \i{Sub-strings}: \i\c{%substr}
1752 Individual letters in strings can be extracted using \c{%substr}.
1753 An example of its use is probably more useful than the description:
1755 \c %substr mychar 'xyz' 1 ; equivalent to %define mychar 'x'
1756 \c %substr mychar 'xyz' 2 ; equivalent to %define mychar 'y'
1757 \c %substr mychar 'xyz' 3 ; equivalent to %define mychar 'z'
1759 In this example, mychar gets the value of 'y'. As with \c{%strlen}
1760 (see \k{strlen}), the first parameter is the single-line macro to
1761 be created and the second is the string. The third parameter
1762 specifies which character is to be selected. Note that the first
1763 index is 1, not 0 and the last index is equal to the value that
1764 \c{%strlen} would assign given the same string. Index values out
1765 of range result in an empty string.
1768 \H{mlmacro} \i{Multi-Line Macros}: \I\c{%imacro}\i\c{%macro}
1770 Multi-line macros are much more like the type of macro seen in MASM
1771 and TASM: a multi-line macro definition in NASM looks something like
1774 \c %macro prologue 1
1780 This defines a C-like function prologue as a macro: so you would
1781 invoke the macro with a call such as
1783 \c myfunc: prologue 12
1785 which would expand to the three lines of code
1791 The number \c{1} after the macro name in the \c{%macro} line defines
1792 the number of parameters the macro \c{prologue} expects to receive.
1793 The use of \c{%1} inside the macro definition refers to the first
1794 parameter to the macro call. With a macro taking more than one
1795 parameter, subsequent parameters would be referred to as \c{%2},
1798 Multi-line macros, like single-line macros, are \i{case-sensitive},
1799 unless you define them using the alternative directive \c{%imacro}.
1801 If you need to pass a comma as \e{part} of a parameter to a
1802 multi-line macro, you can do that by enclosing the entire parameter
1803 in \I{braces, around macro parameters}braces. So you could code
1809 \c silly 'a', letter_a ; letter_a: db 'a'
1810 \c silly 'ab', string_ab ; string_ab: db 'ab'
1811 \c silly {13,10}, crlf ; crlf: db 13,10
1814 \S{mlmacover} \i{Overloading Multi-Line Macros}
1816 As with single-line macros, multi-line macros can be overloaded by
1817 defining the same macro name several times with different numbers of
1818 parameters. This time, no exception is made for macros with no
1819 parameters at all. So you could define
1821 \c %macro prologue 0
1826 to define an alternative form of the function prologue which
1827 allocates no local stack space.
1829 Sometimes, however, you might want to `overload' a machine
1830 instruction; for example, you might want to define
1837 so that you could code
1839 \c push ebx ; this line is not a macro call
1840 \c push eax,ecx ; but this one is
1842 Ordinarily, NASM will give a warning for the first of the above two
1843 lines, since \c{push} is now defined to be a macro, and is being
1844 invoked with a number of parameters for which no definition has been
1845 given. The correct code will still be generated, but the assembler
1846 will give a warning. This warning can be disabled by the use of the
1847 \c{-w-macro-params} command-line option (see \k{opt-w}).
1850 \S{maclocal} \i{Macro-Local Labels}
1852 NASM allows you to define labels within a multi-line macro
1853 definition in such a way as to make them local to the macro call: so
1854 calling the same macro multiple times will use a different label
1855 each time. You do this by prefixing \i\c{%%} to the label name. So
1856 you can invent an instruction which executes a \c{RET} if the \c{Z}
1857 flag is set by doing this:
1865 You can call this macro as many times as you want, and every time
1866 you call it NASM will make up a different `real' name to substitute
1867 for the label \c{%%skip}. The names NASM invents are of the form
1868 \c{..@2345.skip}, where the number 2345 changes with every macro
1869 call. The \i\c{..@} prefix prevents macro-local labels from
1870 interfering with the local label mechanism, as described in
1871 \k{locallab}. You should avoid defining your own labels in this form
1872 (the \c{..@} prefix, then a number, then another period) in case
1873 they interfere with macro-local labels.
1876 \S{mlmacgre} \i{Greedy Macro Parameters}
1878 Occasionally it is useful to define a macro which lumps its entire
1879 command line into one parameter definition, possibly after
1880 extracting one or two smaller parameters from the front. An example
1881 might be a macro to write a text string to a file in MS-DOS, where
1882 you might want to be able to write
1884 \c writefile [filehandle],"hello, world",13,10
1886 NASM allows you to define the last parameter of a macro to be
1887 \e{greedy}, meaning that if you invoke the macro with more
1888 parameters than it expects, all the spare parameters get lumped into
1889 the last defined one along with the separating commas. So if you
1892 \c %macro writefile 2+
1895 \c %%endstr: mov dx,%%str
1896 \c mov cx,%%endstr-%%str
1902 then the example call to \c{writefile} above will work as expected:
1903 the text before the first comma, \c{[filehandle]}, is used as the
1904 first macro parameter and expanded when \c{%1} is referred to, and
1905 all the subsequent text is lumped into \c{%2} and placed after the
1908 The greedy nature of the macro is indicated to NASM by the use of
1909 the \I{+ modifier}\c{+} sign after the parameter count on the
1912 If you define a greedy macro, you are effectively telling NASM how
1913 it should expand the macro given \e{any} number of parameters from
1914 the actual number specified up to infinity; in this case, for
1915 example, NASM now knows what to do when it sees a call to
1916 \c{writefile} with 2, 3, 4 or more parameters. NASM will take this
1917 into account when overloading macros, and will not allow you to
1918 define another form of \c{writefile} taking 4 parameters (for
1921 Of course, the above macro could have been implemented as a
1922 non-greedy macro, in which case the call to it would have had to
1925 \c writefile [filehandle], {"hello, world",13,10}
1927 NASM provides both mechanisms for putting \i{commas in macro
1928 parameters}, and you choose which one you prefer for each macro
1931 See \k{sectmac} for a better way to write the above macro.
1934 \S{mlmacdef} \i{Default Macro Parameters}
1936 NASM also allows you to define a multi-line macro with a \e{range}
1937 of allowable parameter counts. If you do this, you can specify
1938 defaults for \i{omitted parameters}. So, for example:
1940 \c %macro die 0-1 "Painful program death has occurred."
1946 This macro (which makes use of the \c{writefile} macro defined in
1947 \k{mlmacgre}) can be called with an explicit error message, which it
1948 will display on the error output stream before exiting, or it can be
1949 called with no parameters, in which case it will use the default
1950 error message supplied in the macro definition.
1952 In general, you supply a minimum and maximum number of parameters
1953 for a macro of this type; the minimum number of parameters are then
1954 required in the macro call, and then you provide defaults for the
1955 optional ones. So if a macro definition began with the line
1957 \c %macro foobar 1-3 eax,[ebx+2]
1959 then it could be called with between one and three parameters, and
1960 \c{%1} would always be taken from the macro call. \c{%2}, if not
1961 specified by the macro call, would default to \c{eax}, and \c{%3} if
1962 not specified would default to \c{[ebx+2]}.
1964 You may omit parameter defaults from the macro definition, in which
1965 case the parameter default is taken to be blank. This can be useful
1966 for macros which can take a variable number of parameters, since the
1967 \i\c{%0} token (see \k{percent0}) allows you to determine how many
1968 parameters were really passed to the macro call.
1970 This defaulting mechanism can be combined with the greedy-parameter
1971 mechanism; so the \c{die} macro above could be made more powerful,
1972 and more useful, by changing the first line of the definition to
1974 \c %macro die 0-1+ "Painful program death has occurred.",13,10
1976 The maximum parameter count can be infinite, denoted by \c{*}. In
1977 this case, of course, it is impossible to provide a \e{full} set of
1978 default parameters. Examples of this usage are shown in \k{rotate}.
1981 \S{percent0} \i\c{%0}: \I{counting macro parameters}Macro Parameter Counter
1983 For a macro which can take a variable number of parameters, the
1984 parameter reference \c{%0} will return a numeric constant giving the
1985 number of parameters passed to the macro. This can be used as an
1986 argument to \c{%rep} (see \k{rep}) in order to iterate through all
1987 the parameters of a macro. Examples are given in \k{rotate}.
1990 \S{rotate} \i\c{%rotate}: \i{Rotating Macro Parameters}
1992 Unix shell programmers will be familiar with the \I{shift
1993 command}\c{shift} shell command, which allows the arguments passed
1994 to a shell script (referenced as \c{$1}, \c{$2} and so on) to be
1995 moved left by one place, so that the argument previously referenced
1996 as \c{$2} becomes available as \c{$1}, and the argument previously
1997 referenced as \c{$1} is no longer available at all.
1999 NASM provides a similar mechanism, in the form of \c{%rotate}. As
2000 its name suggests, it differs from the Unix \c{shift} in that no
2001 parameters are lost: parameters rotated off the left end of the
2002 argument list reappear on the right, and vice versa.
2004 \c{%rotate} is invoked with a single numeric argument (which may be
2005 an expression). The macro parameters are rotated to the left by that
2006 many places. If the argument to \c{%rotate} is negative, the macro
2007 parameters are rotated to the right.
2009 \I{iterating over macro parameters}So a pair of macros to save and
2010 restore a set of registers might work as follows:
2012 \c %macro multipush 1-*
2019 This macro invokes the \c{PUSH} instruction on each of its arguments
2020 in turn, from left to right. It begins by pushing its first
2021 argument, \c{%1}, then invokes \c{%rotate} to move all the arguments
2022 one place to the left, so that the original second argument is now
2023 available as \c{%1}. Repeating this procedure as many times as there
2024 were arguments (achieved by supplying \c{%0} as the argument to
2025 \c{%rep}) causes each argument in turn to be pushed.
2027 Note also the use of \c{*} as the maximum parameter count,
2028 indicating that there is no upper limit on the number of parameters
2029 you may supply to the \i\c{multipush} macro.
2031 It would be convenient, when using this macro, to have a \c{POP}
2032 equivalent, which \e{didn't} require the arguments to be given in
2033 reverse order. Ideally, you would write the \c{multipush} macro
2034 call, then cut-and-paste the line to where the pop needed to be
2035 done, and change the name of the called macro to \c{multipop}, and
2036 the macro would take care of popping the registers in the opposite
2037 order from the one in which they were pushed.
2039 This can be done by the following definition:
2041 \c %macro multipop 1-*
2048 This macro begins by rotating its arguments one place to the
2049 \e{right}, so that the original \e{last} argument appears as \c{%1}.
2050 This is then popped, and the arguments are rotated right again, so
2051 the second-to-last argument becomes \c{%1}. Thus the arguments are
2052 iterated through in reverse order.
2055 \S{concat} \i{Concatenating Macro Parameters}
2057 NASM can concatenate macro parameters on to other text surrounding
2058 them. This allows you to declare a family of symbols, for example,
2059 in a macro definition. If, for example, you wanted to generate a
2060 table of key codes along with offsets into the table, you could code
2063 \c %macro keytab_entry 2
2064 \c keypos%1 equ $-keytab
2068 \c keytab_entry F1,128+1
2069 \c keytab_entry F2,128+2
2070 \c keytab_entry Return,13
2072 which would expand to
2075 \c keyposF1 equ $-keytab
2077 \c keyposF2 equ $-keytab
2079 \c keyposReturn equ $-keytab
2082 You can just as easily concatenate text on to the other end of a
2083 macro parameter, by writing \c{%1foo}.
2085 If you need to append a \e{digit} to a macro parameter, for example
2086 defining labels \c{foo1} and \c{foo2} when passed the parameter
2087 \c{foo}, you can't code \c{%11} because that would be taken as the
2088 eleventh macro parameter. Instead, you must code
2089 \I{braces, after % sign}\c{%\{1\}1}, which will separate the first
2090 \c{1} (giving the number of the macro parameter) from the second
2091 (literal text to be concatenated to the parameter).
2093 This concatenation can also be applied to other preprocessor in-line
2094 objects, such as macro-local labels (\k{maclocal}) and context-local
2095 labels (\k{ctxlocal}). In all cases, ambiguities in syntax can be
2096 resolved by enclosing everything after the \c{%} sign and before the
2097 literal text in braces: so \c{%\{%foo\}bar} concatenates the text
2098 \c{bar} to the end of the real name of the macro-local label
2099 \c{%%foo}. (This is unnecessary, since the form NASM uses for the
2100 real names of macro-local labels means that the two usages
2101 \c{%\{%foo\}bar} and \c{%%foobar} would both expand to the same
2102 thing anyway; nevertheless, the capability is there.)
2105 \S{mlmaccc} \i{Condition Codes as Macro Parameters}
2107 NASM can give special treatment to a macro parameter which contains
2108 a condition code. For a start, you can refer to the macro parameter
2109 \c{%1} by means of the alternative syntax \i\c{%+1}, which informs
2110 NASM that this macro parameter is supposed to contain a condition
2111 code, and will cause the preprocessor to report an error message if
2112 the macro is called with a parameter which is \e{not} a valid
2115 Far more usefully, though, you can refer to the macro parameter by
2116 means of \i\c{%-1}, which NASM will expand as the \e{inverse}
2117 condition code. So the \c{retz} macro defined in \k{maclocal} can be
2118 replaced by a general \i{conditional-return macro} like this:
2126 This macro can now be invoked using calls like \c{retc ne}, which
2127 will cause the conditional-jump instruction in the macro expansion
2128 to come out as \c{JE}, or \c{retc po} which will make the jump a
2131 The \c{%+1} macro-parameter reference is quite happy to interpret
2132 the arguments \c{CXZ} and \c{ECXZ} as valid condition codes;
2133 however, \c{%-1} will report an error if passed either of these,
2134 because no inverse condition code exists.
2137 \S{nolist} \i{Disabling Listing Expansion}\I\c{.nolist}
2139 When NASM is generating a listing file from your program, it will
2140 generally expand multi-line macros by means of writing the macro
2141 call and then listing each line of the expansion. This allows you to
2142 see which instructions in the macro expansion are generating what
2143 code; however, for some macros this clutters the listing up
2146 NASM therefore provides the \c{.nolist} qualifier, which you can
2147 include in a macro definition to inhibit the expansion of the macro
2148 in the listing file. The \c{.nolist} qualifier comes directly after
2149 the number of parameters, like this:
2151 \c %macro foo 1.nolist
2155 \c %macro bar 1-5+.nolist a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h
2157 \H{condasm} \i{Conditional Assembly}\I\c{%if}
2159 Similarly to the C preprocessor, NASM allows sections of a source
2160 file to be assembled only if certain conditions are met. The general
2161 syntax of this feature looks like this:
2164 \c ; some code which only appears if <condition> is met
2165 \c %elif<condition2>
2166 \c ; only appears if <condition> is not met but <condition2> is
2168 \c ; this appears if neither <condition> nor <condition2> was met
2171 The \i\c{%else} clause is optional, as is the \i\c{%elif} clause.
2172 You can have more than one \c{%elif} clause as well.
2175 \S{ifdef} \i\c{%ifdef}: \i{Testing Single-Line Macro Existence}
2177 Beginning a conditional-assembly block with the line \c{%ifdef
2178 MACRO} will assemble the subsequent code if, and only if, a
2179 single-line macro called \c{MACRO} is defined. If not, then the
2180 \c{%elif} and \c{%else} blocks (if any) will be processed instead.
2182 For example, when debugging a program, you might want to write code
2185 \c ; perform some function
2187 \c writefile 2,"Function performed successfully",13,10
2189 \c ; go and do something else
2191 Then you could use the command-line option \c{-dDEBUG} to create a
2192 version of the program which produced debugging messages, and remove
2193 the option to generate the final release version of the program.
2195 You can test for a macro \e{not} being defined by using
2196 \i\c{%ifndef} instead of \c{%ifdef}. You can also test for macro
2197 definitions in \c{%elif} blocks by using \i\c{%elifdef} and
2201 \S{ifctx} \i\c{%ifctx}: \i{Testing the Context Stack}
2203 The conditional-assembly construct \c{%ifctx ctxname} will cause the
2204 subsequent code to be assembled if and only if the top context on
2205 the preprocessor's context stack has the name \c{ctxname}. As with
2206 \c{%ifdef}, the inverse and \c{%elif} forms \i\c{%ifnctx},
2207 \i\c{%elifctx} and \i\c{%elifnctx} are also supported.
2209 For more details of the context stack, see \k{ctxstack}. For a
2210 sample use of \c{%ifctx}, see \k{blockif}.
2213 \S{if} \i\c{%if}: \i{Testing Arbitrary Numeric Expressions}
2215 The conditional-assembly construct \c{%if expr} will cause the
2216 subsequent code to be assembled if and only if the value of the
2217 numeric expression \c{expr} is non-zero. An example of the use of
2218 this feature is in deciding when to break out of a \c{%rep}
2219 preprocessor loop: see \k{rep} for a detailed example.
2221 The expression given to \c{%if}, and its counterpart \i\c{%elif}, is
2222 a critical expression (see \k{crit}).
2224 \c{%if} extends the normal NASM expression syntax, by providing a
2225 set of \i{relational operators} which are not normally available in
2226 expressions. The operators \i\c{=}, \i\c{<}, \i\c{>}, \i\c{<=},
2227 \i\c{>=} and \i\c{<>} test equality, less-than, greater-than,
2228 less-or-equal, greater-or-equal and not-equal respectively. The
2229 C-like forms \i\c{==} and \i\c{!=} are supported as alternative
2230 forms of \c{=} and \c{<>}. In addition, low-priority logical
2231 operators \i\c{&&}, \i\c{^^} and \i\c{||} are provided, supplying
2232 \i{logical AND}, \i{logical XOR} and \i{logical OR}. These work like
2233 the C logical operators (although C has no logical XOR), in that
2234 they always return either 0 or 1, and treat any non-zero input as 1
2235 (so that \c{^^}, for example, returns 1 if exactly one of its inputs
2236 is zero, and 0 otherwise). The relational operators also return 1
2237 for true and 0 for false.
2240 \S{ifidn} \i\c{%ifidn} and \i\c{%ifidni}: \i{Testing Exact Text
2243 The construct \c{%ifidn text1,text2} will cause the subsequent code
2244 to be assembled if and only if \c{text1} and \c{text2}, after
2245 expanding single-line macros, are identical pieces of text.
2246 Differences in white space are not counted.
2248 \c{%ifidni} is similar to \c{%ifidn}, but is \i{case-insensitive}.
2250 For example, the following macro pushes a register or number on the
2251 stack, and allows you to treat \c{IP} as a real register:
2253 \c %macro pushparam 1
2262 Like most other \c{%if} constructs, \c{%ifidn} has a counterpart
2263 \i\c{%elifidn}, and negative forms \i\c{%ifnidn} and \i\c{%elifnidn}.
2264 Similarly, \c{%ifidni} has counterparts \i\c{%elifidni},
2265 \i\c{%ifnidni} and \i\c{%elifnidni}.
2268 \S{iftyp} \i\c{%ifid}, \i\c{%ifnum}, \i\c{%ifstr}: \i{Testing Token
2271 Some macros will want to perform different tasks depending on
2272 whether they are passed a number, a string, or an identifier. For
2273 example, a string output macro might want to be able to cope with
2274 being passed either a string constant or a pointer to an existing
2277 The conditional assembly construct \c{%ifid}, taking one parameter
2278 (which may be blank), assembles the subsequent code if and only if
2279 the first token in the parameter exists and is an identifier.
2280 \c{%ifnum} works similarly, but tests for the token being a numeric
2281 constant; \c{%ifstr} tests for it being a string.
2283 For example, the \c{writefile} macro defined in \k{mlmacgre} can be
2284 extended to take advantage of \c{%ifstr} in the following fashion:
2286 \c %macro writefile 2-3+
2294 \c %%endstr: mov dx,%%str
2295 \c mov cx,%%endstr-%%str
2305 Then the \c{writefile} macro can cope with being called in either of
2306 the following two ways:
2308 \c writefile [file], strpointer, length
2309 \c writefile [file], "hello", 13, 10
2311 In the first, \c{strpointer} is used as the address of an
2312 already-declared string, and \c{length} is used as its length; in
2313 the second, a string is given to the macro, which therefore declares
2314 it itself and works out the address and length for itself.
2316 Note the use of \c{%if} inside the \c{%ifstr}: this is to detect
2317 whether the macro was passed two arguments (so the string would be a
2318 single string constant, and \c{db %2} would be adequate) or more (in
2319 which case, all but the first two would be lumped together into
2320 \c{%3}, and \c{db %2,%3} would be required).
2322 \I\c{%ifnid}\I\c{%elifid}\I\c{%elifnid}\I\c{%ifnnum}\I\c{%elifnum}
2323 \I\c{%elifnnum}\I\c{%ifnstr}\I\c{%elifstr}\I\c{%elifnstr}
2324 The usual \c{%elifXXX}, \c{%ifnXXX} and \c{%elifnXXX} versions exist
2325 for each of \c{%ifid}, \c{%ifnum} and \c{%ifstr}.
2328 \S{pperror} \i\c{%error}: Reporting \i{User-Defined Errors}
2330 The preprocessor directive \c{%error} will cause NASM to report an
2331 error if it occurs in assembled code. So if other users are going to
2332 try to assemble your source files, you can ensure that they define
2333 the right macros by means of code like this:
2335 \c %ifdef SOME_MACRO
2337 \c %elifdef SOME_OTHER_MACRO
2338 \c ; do some different setup
2340 \c %error Neither SOME_MACRO nor SOME_OTHER_MACRO was defined.
2343 Then any user who fails to understand the way your code is supposed
2344 to be assembled will be quickly warned of their mistake, rather than
2345 having to wait until the program crashes on being run and then not
2346 knowing what went wrong.
2349 \H{rep} \i{Preprocessor Loops}\I{repeating code}: \i\c{%rep}
2351 NASM's \c{TIMES} prefix, though useful, cannot be used to invoke a
2352 multi-line macro multiple times, because it is processed by NASM
2353 after macros have already been expanded. Therefore NASM provides
2354 another form of loop, this time at the preprocessor level: \c{%rep}.
2356 The directives \c{%rep} and \i\c{%endrep} (\c{%rep} takes a numeric
2357 argument, which can be an expression; \c{%endrep} takes no
2358 arguments) can be used to enclose a chunk of code, which is then
2359 replicated as many times as specified by the preprocessor:
2363 \c inc word [table+2*i]
2367 This will generate a sequence of 64 \c{INC} instructions,
2368 incrementing every word of memory from \c{[table]} to
2371 For more complex termination conditions, or to break out of a repeat
2372 loop part way along, you can use the \i\c{%exitrep} directive to
2373 terminate the loop, like this:
2387 \c fib_number equ ($-fibonacci)/2
2389 This produces a list of all the Fibonacci numbers that will fit in
2390 16 bits. Note that a maximum repeat count must still be given to
2391 \c{%rep}. This is to prevent the possibility of NASM getting into an
2392 infinite loop in the preprocessor, which (on multitasking or
2393 multi-user systems) would typically cause all the system memory to
2394 be gradually used up and other applications to start crashing.
2397 \H{include} \i{Including Other Files}
2399 Using, once again, a very similar syntax to the C preprocessor,
2400 NASM's preprocessor lets you include other source files into your
2401 code. This is done by the use of the \i\c{%include} directive:
2403 \c %include "macros.mac"
2405 will include the contents of the file \c{macros.mac} into the source
2406 file containing the \c{%include} directive.
2408 Include files are \I{searching for include files}searched for in the
2409 current directory (the directory you're in when you run NASM, as
2410 opposed to the location of the NASM executable or the location of
2411 the source file), plus any directories specified on the NASM command
2412 line using the \c{-i} option.
2414 The standard C idiom for preventing a file being included more than
2415 once is just as applicable in NASM: if the file \c{macros.mac} has
2418 \c %ifndef MACROS_MAC
2419 \c %define MACROS_MAC
2420 \c ; now define some macros
2423 then including the file more than once will not cause errors,
2424 because the second time the file is included nothing will happen
2425 because the macro \c{MACROS_MAC} will already be defined.
2427 You can force a file to be included even if there is no \c{%include}
2428 directive that explicitly includes it, by using the \i\c{-p} option
2429 on the NASM command line (see \k{opt-p}).
2432 \H{ctxstack} The \i{Context Stack}
2434 Having labels that are local to a macro definition is sometimes not
2435 quite powerful enough: sometimes you want to be able to share labels
2436 between several macro calls. An example might be a \c{REPEAT} ...
2437 \c{UNTIL} loop, in which the expansion of the \c{REPEAT} macro
2438 would need to be able to refer to a label which the \c{UNTIL} macro
2439 had defined. However, for such a macro you would also want to be
2440 able to nest these loops.
2442 NASM provides this level of power by means of a \e{context stack}.
2443 The preprocessor maintains a stack of \e{contexts}, each of which is
2444 characterised by a name. You add a new context to the stack using
2445 the \i\c{%push} directive, and remove one using \i\c{%pop}. You can
2446 define labels that are local to a particular context on the stack.
2449 \S{pushpop} \i\c{%push} and \i\c{%pop}: \I{creating
2450 contexts}\I{removing contexts}Creating and Removing Contexts
2452 The \c{%push} directive is used to create a new context and place it
2453 on the top of the context stack. \c{%push} requires one argument,
2454 which is the name of the context. For example:
2458 This pushes a new context called \c{foobar} on the stack. You can
2459 have several contexts on the stack with the same name: they can
2460 still be distinguished.
2462 The directive \c{%pop}, requiring no arguments, removes the top
2463 context from the context stack and destroys it, along with any
2464 labels associated with it.
2467 \S{ctxlocal} \i{Context-Local Labels}
2469 Just as the usage \c{%%foo} defines a label which is local to the
2470 particular macro call in which it is used, the usage \I{%$}\c{%$foo}
2471 is used to define a label which is local to the context on the top
2472 of the context stack. So the \c{REPEAT} and \c{UNTIL} example given
2473 above could be implemented by means of:
2485 and invoked by means of, for example,
2493 which would scan every fourth byte of a string in search of the byte
2496 If you need to define, or access, labels local to the context
2497 \e{below} the top one on the stack, you can use \I{%$$}\c{%$$foo}, or
2498 \c{%$$$foo} for the context below that, and so on.
2501 \S{ctxdefine} \i{Context-Local Single-Line Macros}
2503 NASM also allows you to define single-line macros which are local to
2504 a particular context, in just the same way:
2506 \c %define %$localmac 3
2508 will define the single-line macro \c{%$localmac} to be local to the
2509 top context on the stack. Of course, after a subsequent \c{%push},
2510 it can then still be accessed by the name \c{%$$localmac}.
2513 \S{ctxrepl} \i\c{%repl}: \I{renaming contexts}Renaming a Context
2515 If you need to change the name of the top context on the stack (in
2516 order, for example, to have it respond differently to \c{%ifctx}),
2517 you can execute a \c{%pop} followed by a \c{%push}; but this will
2518 have the side effect of destroying all context-local labels and
2519 macros associated with the context that was just popped.
2521 NASM provides the directive \c{%repl}, which \e{replaces} a context
2522 with a different name, without touching the associated macros and
2523 labels. So you could replace the destructive code
2528 with the non-destructive version \c{%repl newname}.
2531 \S{blockif} Example Use of the \i{Context Stack}: \i{Block IFs}
2533 This example makes use of almost all the context-stack features,
2534 including the conditional-assembly construct \i\c{%ifctx}, to
2535 implement a block IF statement as a set of macros.
2548 \c %error "expected `if' before `else'"
2560 \c %error "expected `if' or `else' before `endif'"
2564 This code is more robust than the \c{REPEAT} and \c{UNTIL} macros
2565 given in \k{ctxlocal}, because it uses conditional assembly to check
2566 that the macros are issued in the right order (for example, not
2567 calling \c{endif} before \c{if}) and issues a \c{%error} if they're
2570 In addition, the \c{endif} macro has to be able to cope with the two
2571 distinct cases of either directly following an \c{if}, or following
2572 an \c{else}. It achieves this, again, by using conditional assembly
2573 to do different things depending on whether the context on top of
2574 the stack is \c{if} or \c{else}.
2576 The \c{else} macro has to preserve the context on the stack, in
2577 order to have the \c{%$ifnot} referred to by the \c{if} macro be the
2578 same as the one defined by the \c{endif} macro, but has to change
2579 the context's name so that \c{endif} will know there was an
2580 intervening \c{else}. It does this by the use of \c{%repl}.
2582 A sample usage of these macros might look like:
2599 The block-\c{IF} macros handle nesting quite happily, by means of
2600 pushing another context, describing the inner \c{if}, on top of the
2601 one describing the outer \c{if}; thus \c{else} and \c{endif} always
2602 refer to the last unmatched \c{if} or \c{else}.
2605 \H{stdmac} \i{Standard Macros}
2607 NASM defines a set of standard macros, which are already defined
2608 when it starts to process any source file. If you really need a
2609 program to be assembled with no pre-defined macros, you can use the
2610 \i\c{%clear} directive to empty the preprocessor of everything.
2612 Most \i{user-level assembler directives} (see \k{directive}) are
2613 implemented as macros which invoke primitive directives; these are
2614 described in \k{directive}. The rest of the standard macro set is
2618 \S{stdmacver} \i\c{__NASM_MAJOR__} and \i\c{__NASM_MINOR__}: \i{NASM
2621 The single-line macros \c{__NASM_MAJOR__} and \c{__NASM_MINOR__}
2622 expand to the major and minor parts of the \i{version number of
2623 NASM} being used. So, under NASM 0.96 for example,
2624 \c{__NASM_MAJOR__} would be defined to be 0 and \c{__NASM_MINOR__}
2625 would be defined as 96.
2628 \S{fileline} \i\c{__FILE__} and \i\c{__LINE__}: File Name and Line Number
2630 Like the C preprocessor, NASM allows the user to find out the file
2631 name and line number containing the current instruction. The macro
2632 \c{__FILE__} expands to a string constant giving the name of the
2633 current input file (which may change through the course of assembly
2634 if \c{%include} directives are used), and \c{__LINE__} expands to a
2635 numeric constant giving the current line number in the input file.
2637 These macros could be used, for example, to communicate debugging
2638 information to a macro, since invoking \c{__LINE__} inside a macro
2639 definition (either single-line or multi-line) will return the line
2640 number of the macro \e{call}, rather than \e{definition}. So to
2641 determine where in a piece of code a crash is occurring, for
2642 example, one could write a routine \c{stillhere}, which is passed a
2643 line number in \c{EAX} and outputs something like `line 155: still
2644 here'. You could then write a macro
2646 \c %macro notdeadyet 0
2653 and then pepper your code with calls to \c{notdeadyet} until you
2654 find the crash point.
2657 \S{struc} \i\c{STRUC} and \i\c{ENDSTRUC}: \i{Declaring Structure} Data Types
2659 The core of NASM contains no intrinsic means of defining data
2660 structures; instead, the preprocessor is sufficiently powerful that
2661 data structures can be implemented as a set of macros. The macros
2662 \c{STRUC} and \c{ENDSTRUC} are used to define a structure data type.
2664 \c{STRUC} takes one parameter, which is the name of the data type.
2665 This name is defined as a symbol with the value zero, and also has
2666 the suffix \c{_size} appended to it and is then defined as an
2667 \c{EQU} giving the size of the structure. Once \c{STRUC} has been
2668 issued, you are defining the structure, and should define fields
2669 using the \c{RESB} family of pseudo-instructions, and then invoke
2670 \c{ENDSTRUC} to finish the definition.
2672 For example, to define a structure called \c{mytype} containing a
2673 longword, a word, a byte and a string of bytes, you might code
2682 The above code defines six symbols: \c{mt_long} as 0 (the offset
2683 from the beginning of a \c{mytype} structure to the longword field),
2684 \c{mt_word} as 4, \c{mt_byte} as 6, \c{mt_str} as 7, \c{mytype_size}
2685 as 39, and \c{mytype} itself as zero.
2687 The reason why the structure type name is defined at zero is a side
2688 effect of allowing structures to work with the local label
2689 mechanism: if your structure members tend to have the same names in
2690 more than one structure, you can define the above structure like this:
2699 This defines the offsets to the structure fields as \c{mytype.long},
2700 \c{mytype.word}, \c{mytype.byte} and \c{mytype.str}.
2702 NASM, since it has no \e{intrinsic} structure support, does not
2703 support any form of period notation to refer to the elements of a
2704 structure once you have one (except the above local-label notation),
2705 so code such as \c{mov ax,[mystruc.mt_word]} is not valid.
2706 \c{mt_word} is a constant just like any other constant, so the
2707 correct syntax is \c{mov ax,[mystruc+mt_word]} or \c{mov
2708 ax,[mystruc+mytype.word]}.
2711 \S{istruc} \i\c{ISTRUC}, \i\c{AT} and \i\c{IEND}: Declaring
2712 \i{Instances of Structures}
2714 Having defined a structure type, the next thing you typically want
2715 to do is to declare instances of that structure in your data
2716 segment. NASM provides an easy way to do this in the \c{ISTRUC}
2717 mechanism. To declare a structure of type \c{mytype} in a program,
2718 you code something like this:
2720 \c mystruc: istruc mytype
2721 \c at mt_long, dd 123456
2722 \c at mt_word, dw 1024
2723 \c at mt_byte, db 'x'
2724 \c at mt_str, db 'hello, world', 13, 10, 0
2727 The function of the \c{AT} macro is to make use of the \c{TIMES}
2728 prefix to advance the assembly position to the correct point for the
2729 specified structure field, and then to declare the specified data.
2730 Therefore the structure fields must be declared in the same order as
2731 they were specified in the structure definition.
2733 If the data to go in a structure field requires more than one source
2734 line to specify, the remaining source lines can easily come after
2735 the \c{AT} line. For example:
2737 \c at mt_str, db 123,134,145,156,167,178,189
2740 Depending on personal taste, you can also omit the code part of the
2741 \c{AT} line completely, and start the structure field on the next
2745 \c db 'hello, world'
2749 \S{align} \i\c{ALIGN} and \i\c{ALIGNB}: Data Alignment
2751 The \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB} macros provides a convenient way to
2752 align code or data on a word, longword, paragraph or other boundary.
2753 (Some assemblers call this directive \i\c{EVEN}.) The syntax of the
2754 \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB} macros is
2756 \c align 4 ; align on 4-byte boundary
2757 \c align 16 ; align on 16-byte boundary
2758 \c align 8,db 0 ; pad with 0s rather than NOPs
2759 \c align 4,resb 1 ; align to 4 in the BSS
2760 \c alignb 4 ; equivalent to previous line
2762 Both macros require their first argument to be a power of two; they
2763 both compute the number of additional bytes required to bring the
2764 length of the current section up to a multiple of that power of two,
2765 and then apply the \c{TIMES} prefix to their second argument to
2766 perform the alignment.
2768 If the second argument is not specified, the default for \c{ALIGN}
2769 is \c{NOP}, and the default for \c{ALIGNB} is \c{RESB 1}. So if the
2770 second argument is specified, the two macros are equivalent.
2771 Normally, you can just use \c{ALIGN} in code and data sections and
2772 \c{ALIGNB} in BSS sections, and never need the second argument
2773 except for special purposes.
2775 \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB}, being simple macros, perform no error
2776 checking: they cannot warn you if their first argument fails to be a
2777 power of two, or if their second argument generates more than one
2778 byte of code. In each of these cases they will silently do the wrong
2781 \c{ALIGNB} (or \c{ALIGN} with a second argument of \c{RESB 1}) can
2782 be used within structure definitions:
2793 This will ensure that the structure members are sensibly aligned
2794 relative to the base of the structure.
2796 A final caveat: \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB} work relative to the
2797 beginning of the \e{section}, not the beginning of the address space
2798 in the final executable. Aligning to a 16-byte boundary when the
2799 section you're in is only guaranteed to be aligned to a 4-byte
2800 boundary, for example, is a waste of effort. Again, NASM does not
2801 check that the section's alignment characteristics are sensible for
2802 the use of \c{ALIGN} or \c{ALIGNB}.
2805 \H{tasmcompat} \i{TASM Compatible Preprocessor Directives}
2807 The following preprocessor directives may only be used when TASM
2808 compatibility is turned on using the \c{-t} command line switch
2809 (This switch is described in \k{opt-t}.)
2811 \b\c{%arg} (see \k{arg})
2813 \b\c{%stacksize} (see \k{stacksize})
2815 \b\c{%local} (see \k{local})
2818 \S{arg} \i\c{%arg} Directive
2820 The \c{%arg} directive is used to simplify the handling of
2821 parameters passed on the stack. Stack based parameter passing
2822 is used by many high level languages, including C, C++ and Pascal.
2824 While NASM comes with macros which attempt to duplicate this
2825 functionality (see \k{16cmacro}), the syntax is not particularly
2826 convenient to use and is not TASM compatible. Here is an example
2827 which shows the use of \c{%arg} without any external macros:
2830 \c %push mycontext ; save the current context
2831 \c %stacksize large ; tell NASM to use bp
2832 \c %arg i:word, j_ptr:word
2837 \c %pop ; restore original context
2839 This is similar to the procedure defined in \k{16cmacro} and adds
2840 the value in i to the value pointed to by j_ptr and returns the
2841 sum in the ax register. See \k{pushpop} for an explanation of
2842 \c{push} and \c{pop} and the use of context stacks.
2845 \S{stacksize} \i\c{%stacksize} Directive
2847 The \c{%stacksize} directive is used in conjunction with the
2848 \c{%arg} (see \k{arg}) and the \c{%local} (see \k{local}) directives.
2849 It tells NASM the default size to use for subsequent \c{%arg} and
2850 \c{%local} directives. The \c{%stacksize} directive takes one
2851 required argument which is one of \c{flat}, \c{large} or \c{small}.
2855 This form causes NASM to use stack-based parameter addressing
2856 relative to \c{ebp} and it assumes that a near form of call was used
2857 to get to this label (i.e. that \c{eip} is on the stack).
2861 This form uses \c{bp} to do stack-based parameter addressing and
2862 assumes that a far form of call was used to get to this address
2863 (i.e. that \c{ip} and \c{cs} are on the stack).
2867 This form also uses \c{bp} to address stack parameters, but it is
2868 different from \c{large} because it also assumes that the old value
2869 of bp is pushed onto the stack (i.e. it expects an \c{ENTER}
2870 instruction). In other words, it expects that \c{bp}, \c{ip} and
2871 \c{cs} are on the top of the stack, underneath any local space which
2872 may have been allocated by \c{ENTER}. This form is probably most
2873 useful when used in combination with the \c{%local} directive
2877 \S{local} \i\c{%local} Directive
2879 The \c{%local} directive is used to simplify the use of local
2880 temporary stack variables allocated in a stack frame. Automatic
2881 local variables in C are an example of this kind of variable. The
2882 \c{%local} directive is most useful when used with the \c{%stacksize}
2883 (see \k{stacksize} and is also compatible with the \c{%arg} directive
2884 (see \k{arg}). It allows simplified reference to variables on the
2885 stack which have been allocated typically by using the \c{ENTER}
2886 instruction (see \k{insENTER} for a description of that instruction).
2887 An example of its use is the following:
2890 \c %push mycontext ; save the current context
2891 \c %stacksize small ; tell NASM to use bp
2892 \c %assign %$localsize 0 ; see text for explanation
2893 \c %local old_ax:word, old_dx:word
2894 \c enter %$localsize,0 ; see text for explanation
2895 \c mov [old_ax],ax ; swap ax & bx
2896 \c mov [old_dx],dx ; and swap dx & cx
2901 \c leave ; restore old bp
2903 \c %pop ; restore original context
2905 The \c{%$localsize} variable is used internally by the
2906 \c{%local} directive and \e{must} be defined within the
2907 current context before the \c{%local} directive may be used.
2908 Failure to do so will result in one expression syntax error for
2909 each \c{%local} variable declared. It then may be used in
2910 the construction of an appropriately sized ENTER instruction
2911 as shown in the example.
2914 \C{directive} \i{Assembler Directives}
2916 NASM, though it attempts to avoid the bureaucracy of assemblers like
2917 MASM and TASM, is nevertheless forced to support a \e{few}
2918 directives. These are described in this chapter.
2920 NASM's directives come in two types: \i{user-level
2921 directives}\e{user-level} directives and \i{primitive
2922 directives}\e{primitive} directives. Typically, each directive has a
2923 user-level form and a primitive form. In almost all cases, we
2924 recommend that users use the user-level forms of the directives,
2925 which are implemented as macros which call the primitive forms.
2927 Primitive directives are enclosed in square brackets; user-level
2930 In addition to the universal directives described in this chapter,
2931 each object file format can optionally supply extra directives in
2932 order to control particular features of that file format. These
2933 \i{format-specific directives}\e{format-specific} directives are
2934 documented along with the formats that implement them, in \k{outfmt}.
2937 \H{bits} \i\c{BITS}: Specifying Target \i{Processor Mode}
2939 The \c{BITS} directive specifies whether NASM should generate code
2940 \I{16-bit mode, versus 32-bit mode}designed to run on a processor
2941 operating in 16-bit mode, or code designed to run on a processor
2942 operating in 32-bit mode. The syntax is \c{BITS 16} or \c{BITS 32}.
2944 In most cases, you should not need to use \c{BITS} explicitly. The
2945 \c{aout}, \c{coff}, \c{elf} and \c{win32} object formats, which are
2946 designed for use in 32-bit operating systems, all cause NASM to
2947 select 32-bit mode by default. The \c{obj} object format allows you
2948 to specify each segment you define as either \c{USE16} or \c{USE32},
2949 and NASM will set its operating mode accordingly, so the use of the
2950 \c{BITS} directive is once again unnecessary.
2952 The most likely reason for using the \c{BITS} directive is to write
2953 32-bit code in a flat binary file; this is because the \c{bin}
2954 output format defaults to 16-bit mode in anticipation of it being
2955 used most frequently to write DOS \c{.COM} programs, DOS \c{.SYS}
2956 device drivers and boot loader software.
2958 You do \e{not} need to specify \c{BITS 32} merely in order to use
2959 32-bit instructions in a 16-bit DOS program; if you do, the
2960 assembler will generate incorrect code because it will be writing
2961 code targeted at a 32-bit platform, to be run on a 16-bit one.
2963 When NASM is in \c{BITS 16} state, instructions which use 32-bit
2964 data are prefixed with an 0x66 byte, and those referring to 32-bit
2965 addresses have an 0x67 prefix. In \c{BITS 32} state, the reverse is
2966 true: 32-bit instructions require no prefixes, whereas instructions
2967 using 16-bit data need an 0x66 and those working in 16-bit addresses
2970 The \c{BITS} directive has an exactly equivalent primitive form,
2971 \c{[BITS 16]} and \c{[BITS 32]}. The user-level form is a macro
2972 which has no function other than to call the primitive form.
2975 \S{USE16 & USE32} \i\c{USE16} & \i\c{USE32}: Aliases for BITS
2977 The `\c{USE16}' and `\c{USE32}' directives can be used in place of
2978 `\c{BIT 16}' and `\c{BITS 32}', for compatibility with other assemblers.
2981 \H{section} \i\c{SECTION} or \i\c{SEGMENT}: Changing and \i{Defining
2984 \I{changing sections}\I{switching between sections}The \c{SECTION}
2985 directive (\c{SEGMENT} is an exactly equivalent synonym) changes
2986 which section of the output file the code you write will be
2987 assembled into. In some object file formats, the number and names of
2988 sections are fixed; in others, the user may make up as many as they
2989 wish. Hence \c{SECTION} may sometimes give an error message, or may
2990 define a new section, if you try to switch to a section that does
2993 The Unix object formats, and the \c{bin} object format, all support
2994 the \i{standardised section names} \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss}
2995 for the code, data and uninitialised-data sections. The \c{obj}
2996 format, by contrast, does not recognise these section names as being
2997 special, and indeed will strip off the leading period of any section
3001 \S{sectmac} The \i\c{__SECT__} Macro
3003 The \c{SECTION} directive is unusual in that its user-level form
3004 functions differently from its primitive form. The primitive form,
3005 \c{[SECTION xyz]}, simply switches the current target section to the
3006 one given. The user-level form, \c{SECTION xyz}, however, first
3007 defines the single-line macro \c{__SECT__} to be the primitive
3008 \c{[SECTION]} directive which it is about to issue, and then issues
3009 it. So the user-level directive
3013 expands to the two lines
3015 \c %define __SECT__ [SECTION .text]
3018 Users may find it useful to make use of this in their own macros.
3019 For example, the \c{writefile} macro defined in \k{mlmacgre} can be
3020 usefully rewritten in the following more sophisticated form:
3022 \c %macro writefile 2+
3028 \c mov cx,%%endstr-%%str
3034 This form of the macro, once passed a string to output, first
3035 switches temporarily to the data section of the file, using the
3036 primitive form of the \c{SECTION} directive so as not to modify
3037 \c{__SECT__}. It then declares its string in the data section, and
3038 then invokes \c{__SECT__} to switch back to \e{whichever} section
3039 the user was previously working in. It thus avoids the need, in the
3040 previous version of the macro, to include a \c{JMP} instruction to
3041 jump over the data, and also does not fail if, in a complicated
3042 \c{OBJ} format module, the user could potentially be assembling the
3043 code in any of several separate code sections.
3046 \H{absolute} \i\c{ABSOLUTE}: Defining Absolute Labels
3048 The \c{ABSOLUTE} directive can be thought of as an alternative form
3049 of \c{SECTION}: it causes the subsequent code to be directed at no
3050 physical section, but at the hypothetical section starting at the
3051 given absolute address. The only instructions you can use in this
3052 mode are the \c{RESB} family.
3054 \c{ABSOLUTE} is used as follows:
3061 This example describes a section of the PC BIOS data area, at
3062 segment address 0x40: the above code defines \c{kbuf_chr} to be
3063 0x1A, \c{kbuf_free} to be 0x1C, and \c{kbuf} to be 0x1E.
3065 The user-level form of \c{ABSOLUTE}, like that of \c{SECTION},
3066 redefines the \i\c{__SECT__} macro when it is invoked.
3068 \i\c{STRUC} and \i\c{ENDSTRUC} are defined as macros which use
3069 \c{ABSOLUTE} (and also \c{__SECT__}).
3071 \c{ABSOLUTE} doesn't have to take an absolute constant as an
3072 argument: it can take an expression (actually, a \i{critical
3073 expression}: see \k{crit}) and it can be a value in a segment. For
3074 example, a TSR can re-use its setup code as run-time BSS like this:
3076 \c org 100h ; it's a .COM program
3077 \c jmp setup ; setup code comes last
3078 \c ; the resident part of the TSR goes here
3079 \c setup: ; now write the code that installs the TSR here
3081 \c runtimevar1 resw 1
3082 \c runtimevar2 resd 20
3085 This defines some variables `on top of' the setup code, so that
3086 after the setup has finished running, the space it took up can be
3087 re-used as data storage for the running TSR. The symbol `tsr_end'
3088 can be used to calculate the total size of the part of the TSR that
3089 needs to be made resident.
3092 \H{extern} \i\c{EXTERN}: \i{Importing Symbols} from Other Modules
3094 \c{EXTERN} is similar to the MASM directive \c{EXTRN} and the C
3095 keyword \c{extern}: it is used to declare a symbol which is not
3096 defined anywhere in the module being assembled, but is assumed to be
3097 defined in some other module and needs to be referred to by this
3098 one. Not every object-file format can support external variables:
3099 the \c{bin} format cannot.
3101 The \c{EXTERN} directive takes as many arguments as you like. Each
3102 argument is the name of a symbol:
3105 \c extern _sscanf,_fscanf
3107 Some object-file formats provide extra features to the \c{EXTERN}
3108 directive. In all cases, the extra features are used by suffixing a
3109 colon to the symbol name followed by object-format specific text.
3110 For example, the \c{obj} format allows you to declare that the
3111 default segment base of an external should be the group \c{dgroup}
3112 by means of the directive
3114 \c extern _variable:wrt dgroup
3116 The primitive form of \c{EXTERN} differs from the user-level form
3117 only in that it can take only one argument at a time: the support
3118 for multiple arguments is implemented at the preprocessor level.
3120 You can declare the same variable as \c{EXTERN} more than once: NASM
3121 will quietly ignore the second and later redeclarations. You can't
3122 declare a variable as \c{EXTERN} as well as something else, though.
3125 \H{global} \i\c{GLOBAL}: \i{Exporting Symbols} to Other Modules
3127 \c{GLOBAL} is the other end of \c{EXTERN}: if one module declares a
3128 symbol as \c{EXTERN} and refers to it, then in order to prevent
3129 linker errors, some other module must actually \e{define} the
3130 symbol and declare it as \c{GLOBAL}. Some assemblers use the name
3131 \i\c{PUBLIC} for this purpose.
3133 The \c{GLOBAL} directive applying to a symbol must appear \e{before}
3134 the definition of the symbol.
3136 \c{GLOBAL} uses the same syntax as \c{EXTERN}, except that it must
3137 refer to symbols which \e{are} defined in the same module as the
3138 \c{GLOBAL} directive. For example:
3141 \c _main: ; some code
3143 \c{GLOBAL}, like \c{EXTERN}, allows object formats to define private
3144 extensions by means of a colon. The \c{elf} object format, for
3145 example, lets you specify whether global data items are functions or
3148 \c global hashlookup:function, hashtable:data
3150 Like \c{EXTERN}, the primitive form of \c{GLOBAL} differs from the
3151 user-level form only in that it can take only one argument at a
3155 \H{common} \i\c{COMMON}: Defining Common Data Areas
3157 The \c{COMMON} directive is used to declare \i\e{common variables}.
3158 A common variable is much like a global variable declared in the
3159 uninitialised data section, so that
3163 is similar in function to
3169 The difference is that if more than one module defines the same
3170 common variable, then at link time those variables will be
3171 \e{merged}, and references to \c{intvar} in all modules will point
3172 at the same piece of memory.
3174 Like \c{GLOBAL} and \c{EXTERN}, \c{COMMON} supports object-format
3175 specific extensions. For example, the \c{obj} format allows common
3176 variables to be NEAR or FAR, and the \c{elf} format allows you to
3177 specify the alignment requirements of a common variable:
3179 \c common commvar 4:near ; works in OBJ
3180 \c common intarray 100:4 ; works in ELF: 4 byte aligned
3182 Once again, like \c{EXTERN} and \c{GLOBAL}, the primitive form of
3183 \c{COMMON} differs from the user-level form only in that it can take
3184 only one argument at a time.
3187 \H{CPU} \i\c{CPU XXX}: Defining CPU Dependencies
3189 The \i\c{CPU} directive restricts assembly to those instructions which
3190 are available on the specified CPU.
3194 \b\c{CPU 8086} Assemble only 8086 instruction set
3196 \b\c{CPU 186} Assemble instructions up to the 80186 instruction set
3198 \b\c{CPU 286} Assemble instructions up to the 286 instruction set
3200 \b\c{CPU 386} Assemble instructions up to the 386 instruction set
3202 \b\c{CPU 486} 486 instruction set
3204 \b\c{CPU 586} Pentium instruction set
3206 \b\c{CPU PENTIUM} Same as 586
3208 \b\c{CPU 686} Pentium Pro instruction set
3210 \b\c{CPU PPRO} Same as 686
3212 \b\c{CPU P2} Pentium II instruction set
3214 \b\c{CPU P3} Pentium III and Katmai instruction sets
3216 \b\c{CPU KATMAI} Same as P3
3218 \b\c{CPU P4} Pentium 4 (Willamette) instruction set
3220 \b\c{CPU WILLAMETTE} Same as P4
3222 All options are case insensitive. All instructions will
3223 be selected only if they apply to the selected cpu or lower.
3226 \C{outfmt} \i{Output Formats}
3228 NASM is a portable assembler, designed to be able to compile on any
3229 ANSI C-supporting platform and produce output to run on a variety of
3230 Intel x86 operating systems. For this reason, it has a large number
3231 of available output formats, selected using the \i\c{-f} option on
3232 the NASM \i{command line}. Each of these formats, along with its
3233 extensions to the base NASM syntax, is detailed in this chapter.
3235 As stated in \k{opt-o}, NASM chooses a \i{default name} for your
3236 output file based on the input file name and the chosen output
3237 format. This will be generated by removing the \i{extension}
3238 (\c{.asm}, \c{.s}, or whatever you like to use) from the input file
3239 name, and substituting an extension defined by the output format.
3240 The extensions are given with each format below.
3243 \H{binfmt} \i\c{bin}: \i{Flat-Form Binary}\I{pure binary} Output
3245 The \c{bin} format does not produce object files: it generates
3246 nothing in the output file except the code you wrote. Such `pure
3247 binary' files are used by \i{MS-DOS}: \i\c{.COM} executables and
3248 \i\c{.SYS} device drivers are pure binary files. Pure binary output
3249 is also useful for \i{operating-system} and \i{boot loader}
3252 \c{bin} supports the three \i{standardised section names} \i\c{.text},
3253 \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss} only. The file NASM outputs will contain the
3254 contents of the \c{.text} section first, followed by the contents of
3255 the \c{.data} section, aligned on a four-byte boundary. The \c{.bss}
3256 section is not stored in the output file at all, but is assumed to
3257 appear directly after the end of the \c{.data} section, again
3258 aligned on a four-byte boundary.
3260 If you specify no explicit \c{SECTION} directive, the code you write
3261 will be directed by default into the \c{.text} section.
3263 Using the \c{bin} format puts NASM by default into 16-bit mode (see
3264 \k{bits}). In order to use \c{bin} to write 32-bit code such as an
3265 OS kernel, you need to explicitly issue the \I\c{BITS}\c{BITS 32}
3268 \c{bin} has no default output file name extension: instead, it
3269 leaves your file name as it is once the original extension has been
3270 removed. Thus, the default is for NASM to assemble \c{binprog.asm}
3271 into a binary file called \c{binprog}.
3274 \S{org} \i\c{ORG}: Binary File \i{Program Origin}
3276 The \c{bin} format provides an additional directive to the list
3277 given in \k{directive}: \c{ORG}. The function of the \c{ORG}
3278 directive is to specify the origin address which NASM will assume
3279 the program begins at when it is loaded into memory.
3281 For example, the following code will generate the longword
3288 Unlike the \c{ORG} directive provided by MASM-compatible assemblers,
3289 which allows you to jump around in the object file and overwrite
3290 code you have already generated, NASM's \c{ORG} does exactly what
3291 the directive says: \e{origin}. Its sole function is to specify one
3292 offset which is added to all internal address references within the
3293 file; it does not permit any of the trickery that MASM's version
3294 does. See \k{proborg} for further comments.
3297 \S{binseg} \c{bin} Extensions to the \c{SECTION}
3298 Directive\I{SECTION, bin extensions to}
3300 The \c{bin} output format extends the \c{SECTION} (or \c{SEGMENT})
3301 directive to allow you to specify the alignment requirements of
3302 segments. This is done by appending the \i\c{ALIGN} qualifier to the
3303 end of the section-definition line. For example,
3305 \c section .data align=16
3307 switches to the section \c{.data} and also specifies that it must be
3308 aligned on a 16-byte boundary.
3310 The parameter to \c{ALIGN} specifies how many low bits of the
3311 section start address must be forced to zero. The alignment value
3312 given may be any power of two.\I{section alignment, in
3313 bin}\I{segment alignment, in bin}\I{alignment, in bin sections}
3316 \H{objfmt} \i\c{obj}: \i{Microsoft OMF}\I{OMF} Object Files
3318 The \c{obj} file format (NASM calls it \c{obj} rather than \c{omf}
3319 for historical reasons) is the one produced by \i{MASM} and
3320 \i{TASM}, which is typically fed to 16-bit DOS linkers to produce
3321 \i\c{.EXE} files. It is also the format used by \i{OS/2}.
3323 \c{obj} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.obj}.
3325 \c{obj} is not exclusively a 16-bit format, though: NASM has full
3326 support for the 32-bit extensions to the format. In particular,
3327 32-bit \c{obj} format files are used by \i{Borland's Win32
3328 compilers}, instead of using Microsoft's newer \i\c{win32} object
3331 The \c{obj} format does not define any special segment names: you
3332 can call your segments anything you like. Typical names for segments
3333 in \c{obj} format files are \c{CODE}, \c{DATA} and \c{BSS}.
3335 If your source file contains code before specifying an explicit
3336 \c{SEGMENT} directive, then NASM will invent its own segment called
3337 \i\c{__NASMDEFSEG} for you.
3339 When you define a segment in an \c{obj} file, NASM defines the
3340 segment name as a symbol as well, so that you can access the segment
3341 address of the segment. So, for example:
3346 \c function: mov ax,data ; get segment address of data
3347 \c mov ds,ax ; and move it into DS
3348 \c inc word [dvar] ; now this reference will work
3351 The \c{obj} format also enables the use of the \i\c{SEG} and
3352 \i\c{WRT} operators, so that you can write code which does things
3356 \c mov ax,seg foo ; get preferred segment of foo
3358 \c mov ax,data ; a different segment
3360 \c mov ax,[ds:foo] ; this accesses `foo'
3361 \c mov [es:foo wrt data],bx ; so does this
3364 \S{objseg} \c{obj} Extensions to the \c{SEGMENT}
3365 Directive\I{SEGMENT, obj extensions to}
3367 The \c{obj} output format extends the \c{SEGMENT} (or \c{SECTION})
3368 directive to allow you to specify various properties of the segment
3369 you are defining. This is done by appending extra qualifiers to the
3370 end of the segment-definition line. For example,
3372 \c segment code private align=16
3374 defines the segment \c{code}, but also declares it to be a private
3375 segment, and requires that the portion of it described in this code
3376 module must be aligned on a 16-byte boundary.
3378 The available qualifiers are:
3380 \b \i\c{PRIVATE}, \i\c{PUBLIC}, \i\c{COMMON} and \i\c{STACK} specify
3381 the combination characteristics of the segment. \c{PRIVATE} segments
3382 do not get combined with any others by the linker; \c{PUBLIC} and
3383 \c{STACK} segments get concatenated together at link time; and
3384 \c{COMMON} segments all get overlaid on top of each other rather
3385 than stuck end-to-end.
3387 \b \i\c{ALIGN} is used, as shown above, to specify how many low bits
3388 of the segment start address must be forced to zero. The alignment
3389 value given may be any power of two from 1 to 4096; in reality, the
3390 only values supported are 1, 2, 4, 16, 256 and 4096, so if 8 is
3391 specified it will be rounded up to 16, and 32, 64 and 128 will all
3392 be rounded up to 256, and so on. Note that alignment to 4096-byte
3393 boundaries is a \i{PharLap} extension to the format and may not be
3394 supported by all linkers.\I{section alignment, in OBJ}\I{segment
3395 alignment, in OBJ}\I{alignment, in OBJ sections}
3397 \b \i\c{CLASS} can be used to specify the segment class; this feature
3398 indicates to the linker that segments of the same class should be
3399 placed near each other in the output file. The class name can be any
3400 word, e.g. \c{CLASS=CODE}.
3402 \b \i\c{OVERLAY}, like \c{CLASS}, is specified with an arbitrary word
3403 as an argument, and provides overlay information to an
3404 overlay-capable linker.
3406 \b Segments can be declared as \i\c{USE16} or \i\c{USE32}, which has
3407 the effect of recording the choice in the object file and also
3408 ensuring that NASM's default assembly mode when assembling in that
3409 segment is 16-bit or 32-bit respectively.
3411 \b When writing \i{OS/2} object files, you should declare 32-bit
3412 segments as \i\c{FLAT}, which causes the default segment base for
3413 anything in the segment to be the special group \c{FLAT}, and also
3414 defines the group if it is not already defined.
3416 \b The \c{obj} file format also allows segments to be declared as
3417 having a pre-defined absolute segment address, although no linkers
3418 are currently known to make sensible use of this feature;
3419 nevertheless, NASM allows you to declare a segment such as
3420 \c{SEGMENT SCREEN ABSOLUTE=0xB800} if you need to. The \i\c{ABSOLUTE}
3421 and \c{ALIGN} keywords are mutually exclusive.
3423 NASM's default segment attributes are \c{PUBLIC}, \c{ALIGN=1}, no
3424 class, no overlay, and \c{USE16}.
3427 \S{group} \i\c{GROUP}: Defining Groups of Segments\I{segments, groups of}
3429 The \c{obj} format also allows segments to be grouped, so that a
3430 single segment register can be used to refer to all the segments in
3431 a group. NASM therefore supplies the \c{GROUP} directive, whereby
3437 \c ; some uninitialised data
3438 \c group dgroup data bss
3440 which will define a group called \c{dgroup} to contain the segments
3441 \c{data} and \c{bss}. Like \c{SEGMENT}, \c{GROUP} causes the group
3442 name to be defined as a symbol, so that you can refer to a variable
3443 \c{var} in the \c{data} segment as \c{var wrt data} or as \c{var wrt
3444 dgroup}, depending on which segment value is currently in your
3447 If you just refer to \c{var}, however, and \c{var} is declared in a
3448 segment which is part of a group, then NASM will default to giving
3449 you the offset of \c{var} from the beginning of the \e{group}, not
3450 the \e{segment}. Therefore \c{SEG var}, also, will return the group
3451 base rather than the segment base.
3453 NASM will allow a segment to be part of more than one group, but
3454 will generate a warning if you do this. Variables declared in a
3455 segment which is part of more than one group will default to being
3456 relative to the first group that was defined to contain the segment.
3458 A group does not have to contain any segments; you can still make
3459 \c{WRT} references to a group which does not contain the variable
3460 you are referring to. OS/2, for example, defines the special group
3461 \c{FLAT} with no segments in it.
3464 \S{uppercase} \i\c{UPPERCASE}: Disabling Case Sensitivity in Output
3466 Although NASM itself is \i{case sensitive}, some OMF linkers are
3467 not; therefore it can be useful for NASM to output single-case
3468 object files. The \c{UPPERCASE} format-specific directive causes all
3469 segment, group and symbol names that are written to the object file
3470 to be forced to upper case just before being written. Within a
3471 source file, NASM is still case-sensitive; but the object file can
3472 be written entirely in upper case if desired.
3474 \c{UPPERCASE} is used alone on a line; it requires no parameters.
3477 \S{import} \i\c{IMPORT}: Importing DLL Symbols\I{DLL symbols,
3478 importing}\I{symbols, importing from DLLs}
3480 The \c{IMPORT} format-specific directive defines a symbol to be
3481 imported from a DLL, for use if you are writing a DLL's \i{import
3482 library} in NASM. You still need to declare the symbol as \c{EXTERN}
3483 as well as using the \c{IMPORT} directive.
3485 The \c{IMPORT} directive takes two required parameters, separated by
3486 white space, which are (respectively) the name of the symbol you
3487 wish to import and the name of the library you wish to import it
3490 \c import WSAStartup wsock32.dll
3492 A third optional parameter gives the name by which the symbol is
3493 known in the library you are importing it from, in case this is not
3494 the same as the name you wish the symbol to be known by to your code
3495 once you have imported it. For example:
3497 \c import asyncsel wsock32.dll WSAAsyncSelect
3500 \S{export} \i\c{EXPORT}: Exporting DLL Symbols\I{DLL symbols,
3501 exporting}\I{symbols, exporting from DLLs}
3503 The \c{EXPORT} format-specific directive defines a global symbol to
3504 be exported as a DLL symbol, for use if you are writing a DLL in
3505 NASM. You still need to declare the symbol as \c{GLOBAL} as well as
3506 using the \c{EXPORT} directive.
3508 \c{EXPORT} takes one required parameter, which is the name of the
3509 symbol you wish to export, as it was defined in your source file. An
3510 optional second parameter (separated by white space from the first)
3511 gives the \e{external} name of the symbol: the name by which you
3512 wish the symbol to be known to programs using the DLL. If this name
3513 is the same as the internal name, you may leave the second parameter
3516 Further parameters can be given to define attributes of the exported
3517 symbol. These parameters, like the second, are separated by white
3518 space. If further parameters are given, the external name must also
3519 be specified, even if it is the same as the internal name. The
3520 available attributes are:
3522 \b \c{resident} indicates that the exported name is to be kept
3523 resident by the system loader. This is an optimisation for
3524 frequently used symbols imported by name.
3526 \b \c{nodata} indicates that the exported symbol is a function which
3527 does not make use of any initialised data.
3529 \b \c{parm=NNN}, where \c{NNN} is an integer, sets the number of
3530 parameter words for the case in which the symbol is a call gate
3531 between 32-bit and 16-bit segments.
3533 \b An attribute which is just a number indicates that the symbol
3534 should be exported with an identifying number (ordinal), and gives
3540 \c export myfunc TheRealMoreFormalLookingFunctionName
3541 \c export myfunc myfunc 1234 ; export by ordinal
3542 \c export myfunc myfunc resident parm=23 nodata
3545 \S{dotdotstart} \i\c{..start}: Defining the \i{Program Entry
3548 \c{OMF} linkers require exactly one of the object files being linked to
3549 define the program entry point, where execution will begin when the
3550 program is run. If the object file that defines the entry point is
3551 assembled using NASM, you specify the entry point by declaring the
3552 special symbol \c{..start} at the point where you wish execution to
3556 \S{objextern} \c{obj} Extensions to the \c{EXTERN}
3557 Directive\I{EXTERN, obj extensions to}
3559 If you declare an external symbol with the directive
3563 then references such as \c{mov ax,foo} will give you the offset of
3564 \c{foo} from its preferred segment base (as specified in whichever
3565 module \c{foo} is actually defined in). So to access the contents of
3566 \c{foo} you will usually need to do something like
3568 \c mov ax,seg foo ; get preferred segment base
3569 \c mov es,ax ; move it into ES
3570 \c mov ax,[es:foo] ; and use offset `foo' from it
3572 This is a little unwieldy, particularly if you know that an external
3573 is going to be accessible from a given segment or group, say
3574 \c{dgroup}. So if \c{DS} already contained \c{dgroup}, you could
3577 \c mov ax,[foo wrt dgroup]
3579 However, having to type this every time you want to access \c{foo}
3580 can be a pain; so NASM allows you to declare \c{foo} in the
3583 \c extern foo:wrt dgroup
3585 This form causes NASM to pretend that the preferred segment base of
3586 \c{foo} is in fact \c{dgroup}; so the expression \c{seg foo} will
3587 now return \c{dgroup}, and the expression \c{foo} is equivalent to
3590 This \I{default-WRT mechanism}default-\c{WRT} mechanism can be used
3591 to make externals appear to be relative to any group or segment in
3592 your program. It can also be applied to common variables: see
3596 \S{objcommon} \c{obj} Extensions to the \c{COMMON}
3597 Directive\I{COMMON, obj extensions to}
3599 The \c{obj} format allows common variables to be either near\I{near
3600 common variables} or far\I{far common variables}; NASM allows you to
3601 specify which your variables should be by the use of the syntax
3603 \c common nearvar 2:near ; `nearvar' is a near common
3604 \c common farvar 10:far ; and `farvar' is far
3606 Far common variables may be greater in size than 64Kb, and so the
3607 OMF specification says that they are declared as a number of
3608 \e{elements} of a given size. So a 10-byte far common variable could
3609 be declared as ten one-byte elements, five two-byte elements, two
3610 five-byte elements or one ten-byte element.
3612 Some \c{OMF} linkers require the \I{element size, in common
3613 variables}\I{common variables, element size}element size, as well as
3614 the variable size, to match when resolving common variables declared
3615 in more than one module. Therefore NASM must allow you to specify
3616 the element size on your far common variables. This is done by the
3619 \c common c_5by2 10:far 5 ; two five-byte elements
3620 \c common c_2by5 10:far 2 ; five two-byte elements
3622 If no element size is specified, the default is 1. Also, the \c{FAR}
3623 keyword is not required when an element size is specified, since
3624 only far commons may have element sizes at all. So the above
3625 declarations could equivalently be
3627 \c common c_5by2 10:5 ; two five-byte elements
3628 \c common c_2by5 10:2 ; five two-byte elements
3630 In addition to these extensions, the \c{COMMON} directive in \c{obj}
3631 also supports default-\c{WRT} specification like \c{EXTERN} does
3632 (explained in \k{objextern}). So you can also declare things like
3634 \c common foo 10:wrt dgroup
3635 \c common bar 16:far 2:wrt data
3636 \c common baz 24:wrt data:6
3639 \H{win32fmt} \i\c{win32}: Microsoft Win32 Object Files
3641 The \c{win32} output format generates Microsoft Win32 object files,
3642 suitable for passing to Microsoft linkers such as \i{Visual C++}.
3643 Note that Borland Win32 compilers do not use this format, but use
3644 \c{obj} instead (see \k{objfmt}).
3646 \c{win32} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.obj}.
3648 Note that although Microsoft say that Win32 object files follow the
3649 \c{COFF} (Common Object File Format) standard, the object files produced
3650 by Microsoft Win32 compilers are not compatible with COFF linkers
3651 such as DJGPP's, and vice versa. This is due to a difference of
3652 opinion over the precise semantics of PC-relative relocations. To
3653 produce COFF files suitable for DJGPP, use NASM's \c{coff} output
3654 format; conversely, the \c{coff} format does not produce object
3655 files that Win32 linkers can generate correct output from.
3658 \S{win32sect} \c{win32} Extensions to the \c{SECTION}
3659 Directive\I{SECTION, win32 extensions to}
3661 Like the \c{obj} format, \c{win32} allows you to specify additional
3662 information on the \c{SECTION} directive line, to control the type
3663 and properties of sections you declare. Section types and properties
3664 are generated automatically by NASM for the \i{standard section names}
3665 \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss}, but may still be overridden by
3668 The available qualifiers are:
3670 \b \c{code}, or equivalently \c{text}, defines the section to be a
3671 code section. This marks the section as readable and executable, but
3672 not writable, and also indicates to the linker that the type of the
3675 \b \c{data} and \c{bss} define the section to be a data section,
3676 analogously to \c{code}. Data sections are marked as readable and
3677 writable, but not executable. \c{data} declares an initialised data
3678 section, whereas \c{bss} declares an uninitialised data section.
3680 \b \c{rdata} declares an initialised data section that is readable
3681 but not writable. Microsoft compilers use this section to place
3684 \b \c{info} defines the section to be an \i{informational section},
3685 which is not included in the executable file by the linker, but may
3686 (for example) pass information \e{to} the linker. For example,
3687 declaring an \c{info}-type section called \i\c{.drectve} causes the
3688 linker to interpret the contents of the section as command-line
3691 \b \c{align=}, used with a trailing number as in \c{obj}, gives the
3692 \I{section alignment, in win32}\I{alignment, in win32
3693 sections}alignment requirements of the section. The maximum you may
3694 specify is 64: the Win32 object file format contains no means to
3695 request a greater section alignment than this. If alignment is not
3696 explicitly specified, the defaults are 16-byte alignment for code
3697 sections, 8-byte alignment for rdata sections and 4-byte alignment
3698 for data (and BSS) sections.
3699 Informational sections get a default alignment of 1 byte (no
3700 alignment), though the value does not matter.
3702 The defaults assumed by NASM if you do not specify the above
3705 \c section .text code align=16
3706 \c section .data data align=4
3707 \c section .rdata rdata align=8
3708 \c section .bss bss align=4
3710 Any other section name is treated by default like \c{.text}.
3713 \H{cofffmt} \i\c{coff}: \i{Common Object File Format}
3715 The \c{coff} output type produces \c{COFF} object files suitable for
3716 linking with the \i{DJGPP} linker.
3718 \c{coff} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
3720 The \c{coff} format supports the same extensions to the \c{SECTION}
3721 directive as \c{win32} does, except that the \c{align} qualifier and
3722 the \c{info} section type are not supported.
3725 \H{elffmt} \i\c{elf}: \i{Linux ELF}\I{Executable and Linkable
3728 The \c{elf} output format generates \c{ELF32} (Executable and Linkable
3729 Format) object files, as used by Linux. \c{elf} provides a default
3730 output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
3733 \S{elfsect} \c{elf} Extensions to the \c{SECTION}
3734 Directive\I{SECTION, elf extensions to}
3736 Like the \c{obj} format, \c{elf} allows you to specify additional
3737 information on the \c{SECTION} directive line, to control the type
3738 and properties of sections you declare. Section types and properties
3739 are generated automatically by NASM for the \i{standard section
3740 names} \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}, but may still be
3741 overridden by these qualifiers.
3743 The available qualifiers are:
3745 \b \i\c{alloc} defines the section to be one which is loaded into
3746 memory when the program is run. \i\c{noalloc} defines it to be one
3747 which is not, such as an informational or comment section.
3749 \b \i\c{exec} defines the section to be one which should have execute
3750 permission when the program is run. \i\c{noexec} defines it as one
3753 \b \i\c{write} defines the section to be one which should be writable
3754 when the program is run. \i\c{nowrite} defines it as one which should
3757 \b \i\c{progbits} defines the section to be one with explicit contents
3758 stored in the object file: an ordinary code or data section, for
3759 example, \i\c{nobits} defines the section to be one with no explicit
3760 contents given, such as a BSS section.
3762 \b \c{align=}, used with a trailing number as in \c{obj}, gives the
3763 \I{section alignment, in elf}\I{alignment, in elf sections}alignment
3764 requirements of the section.
3766 The defaults assumed by NASM if you do not specify the above
3769 \c section .text progbits alloc exec nowrite align=16
3770 \c section .data progbits alloc noexec write align=4
3771 \c section .bss nobits alloc noexec write align=4
3772 \c section other progbits alloc noexec nowrite align=1
3774 (Any section name other than \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss} is
3775 treated by default like \c{other} in the above code.)
3778 \S{elfwrt} \i{Position-Independent Code}\I{PIC}: \c{elf} Special
3779 Symbols and \i\c{WRT}
3781 The \c{ELF} specification contains enough features to allow
3782 position-independent code (PIC) to be written, which makes \i{ELF
3783 shared libraries} very flexible. However, it also means NASM has to
3784 be able to generate a variety of strange relocation types in ELF
3785 object files, if it is to be an assembler which can write PIC.
3787 Since \c{ELF} does not support segment-base references, the \c{WRT}
3788 operator is not used for its normal purpose; therefore NASM's
3789 \c{elf} output format makes use of \c{WRT} for a different purpose,
3790 namely the PIC-specific \I{relocations, PIC-specific}relocation
3793 \c{elf} defines five special symbols which you can use as the
3794 right-hand side of the \c{WRT} operator to obtain PIC relocation
3795 types. They are \i\c{..gotpc}, \i\c{..gotoff}, \i\c{..got},
3796 \i\c{..plt} and \i\c{..sym}. Their functions are summarised here:
3798 \b Referring to the symbol marking the global offset table base
3799 using \c{wrt ..gotpc} will end up giving the distance from the
3800 beginning of the current section to the global offset table.
3801 (\i\c{_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_} is the standard symbol name used to
3802 refer to the \i{GOT}.) So you would then need to add \i\c{$$} to the
3803 result to get the real address of the GOT.
3805 \b Referring to a location in one of your own sections using \c{wrt
3806 ..gotoff} will give the distance from the beginning of the GOT to
3807 the specified location, so that adding on the address of the GOT
3808 would give the real address of the location you wanted.
3810 \b Referring to an external or global symbol using \c{wrt ..got}
3811 causes the linker to build an entry \e{in} the GOT containing the
3812 address of the symbol, and the reference gives the distance from the
3813 beginning of the GOT to the entry; so you can add on the address of
3814 the GOT, load from the resulting address, and end up with the
3815 address of the symbol.
3817 \b Referring to a procedure name using \c{wrt ..plt} causes the
3818 linker to build a \i{procedure linkage table} entry for the symbol,
3819 and the reference gives the address of the \i{PLT} entry. You can
3820 only use this in contexts which would generate a PC-relative
3821 relocation normally (i.e. as the destination for \c{CALL} or
3822 \c{JMP}), since ELF contains no relocation type to refer to PLT
3825 \b Referring to a symbol name using \c{wrt ..sym} causes NASM to
3826 write an ordinary relocation, but instead of making the relocation
3827 relative to the start of the section and then adding on the offset
3828 to the symbol, it will write a relocation record aimed directly at
3829 the symbol in question. The distinction is a necessary one due to a
3830 peculiarity of the dynamic linker.
3832 A fuller explanation of how to use these relocation types to write
3833 shared libraries entirely in NASM is given in \k{picdll}.
3836 \S{elfglob} \c{elf} Extensions to the \c{GLOBAL} Directive\I{GLOBAL,
3837 elf extensions to}\I{GLOBAL, aoutb extensions to}
3839 \c{ELF} object files can contain more information about a global symbol
3840 than just its address: they can contain the \I{symbol sizes,
3841 specifying}\I{size, of symbols}size of the symbol and its \I{symbol
3842 types, specifying}\I{type, of symbols}type as well. These are not
3843 merely debugger conveniences, but are actually necessary when the
3844 program being written is a \i{shared library}. NASM therefore
3845 supports some extensions to the \c{GLOBAL} directive, allowing you
3846 to specify these features.
3848 You can specify whether a global variable is a function or a data
3849 object by suffixing the name with a colon and the word
3850 \i\c{function} or \i\c{data}. (\i\c{object} is a synonym for
3851 \c{data}.) For example:
3853 \c global hashlookup:function, hashtable:data
3855 exports the global symbol \c{hashlookup} as a function and
3856 \c{hashtable} as a data object.
3858 You can also specify the size of the data associated with the
3859 symbol, as a numeric expression (which may involve labels, and even
3860 forward references) after the type specifier. Like this:
3862 \c global hashtable:data (hashtable.end - hashtable)
3864 \c db this,that,theother ; some data here
3867 This makes NASM automatically calculate the length of the table and
3868 place that information into the \c{ELF} symbol table.
3870 Declaring the type and size of global symbols is necessary when
3871 writing shared library code. For more information, see
3875 \S{elfcomm} \c{elf} Extensions to the \c{COMMON} Directive\I{COMMON,
3878 \c{ELF} also allows you to specify alignment requirements \I{common
3879 variables, alignment in elf}\I{alignment, of elf common variables}on
3880 common variables. This is done by putting a number (which must be a
3881 power of two) after the name and size of the common variable,
3882 separated (as usual) by a colon. For example, an array of
3883 doublewords would benefit from 4-byte alignment:
3885 \c common dwordarray 128:4
3887 This declares the total size of the array to be 128 bytes, and
3888 requires that it be aligned on a 4-byte boundary.
3891 \H{aoutfmt} \i\c{aout}: Linux \I{a.out, Linux version}\c{a.out} Object Files
3893 The \c{aout} format generates \c{a.out} object files, in the form
3894 used by early Linux systems. (These differ from other \c{a.out}
3895 object files in that the magic number in the first four bytes of the
3896 file is different. Also, some implementations of \c{a.out}, for
3897 example NetBSD's, support position-independent code, which Linux's
3898 implementation doesn't.)
3900 \c{a.out} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
3902 \c{a.out} is a very simple object format. It supports no special
3903 directives, no special symbols, no use of \c{SEG} or \c{WRT}, and no
3904 extensions to any standard directives. It supports only the three
3905 \i{standard section names} \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}.
3908 \H{aoutfmt} \i\c{aoutb}: \i{NetBSD}/\i{FreeBSD}/\i{OpenBSD}
3909 \I{a.out, BSD version}\c{a.out} Object Files
3911 The \c{aoutb} format generates \c{a.out} object files, in the form
3912 used by the various free \c{BSD Unix} clones, \c{NetBSD}, \c{FreeBSD}
3913 and \c{OpenBSD}. For simple object files, this object format is exactly
3914 the same as \c{aout} except for the magic number in the first four bytes
3915 of the file. However, the \c{aoutb} format supports
3916 \I{PIC}\i{position-independent code} in the same way as the \c{elf}
3917 format, so you can use it to write \c{BSD} \i{shared libraries}.
3919 \c{aoutb} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
3921 \c{aoutb} supports no special directives, no special symbols, and
3922 only the three \i{standard section names} \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data}
3923 and \i\c{.bss}. However, it also supports the same use of \i\c{WRT} as
3924 \c{elf} does, to provide position-independent code relocation types.
3925 See \k{elfwrt} for full documentation of this feature.
3927 \c{aoutb} also supports the same extensions to the \c{GLOBAL}
3928 directive as \c{elf} does: see \k{elfglob} for documentation of
3932 \H{as86fmt} \c{as86}: Linux \i\c{as86} Object Files
3934 The Linux 16-bit assembler \c{as86} has its own non-standard object
3935 file format. Although its companion linker \i\c{ld86} produces
3936 something close to ordinary \c{a.out} binaries as output, the object
3937 file format used to communicate between \c{as86} and \c{ld86} is not
3940 NASM supports this format, just in case it is useful, as \c{as86}.
3941 \c{as86} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
3943 \c{as86} is a very simple object format (from the NASM user's point
3944 of view). It supports no special directives, no special symbols, no
3945 use of \c{SEG} or \c{WRT}, and no extensions to any standard
3946 directives. It supports only the three \i{standard section names}
3947 \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}.
3950 \H{rdffmt} \I{RDOFF}\i\c{rdf}: \i{Relocatable Dynamic Object File
3953 The \c{rdf} output format produces \c{RDOFF} object files. \c{RDOFF}
3954 (Relocatable Dynamic Object File Format) is a home-grown object-file
3955 format, designed alongside NASM itself and reflecting in its file
3956 format the internal structure of the assembler.
3958 \c{RDOFF} is not used by any well-known operating systems. Those
3959 writing their own systems, however, may well wish to use \c{RDOFF}
3960 as their object format, on the grounds that it is designed primarily
3961 for simplicity and contains very little file-header bureaucracy.
3963 The Unix NASM archive, and the DOS archive which includes sources,
3964 both contain an \I{rdoff subdirectory}\c{rdoff} subdirectory holding
3965 a set of RDOFF utilities: an RDF linker, an \c{RDF} static-library
3966 manager, an RDF file dump utility, and a program which will load and
3967 execute an RDF executable under Linux.
3969 \c{rdf} supports only the \i{standard section names} \i\c{.text},
3970 \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}.
3973 \S{rdflib} Requiring a Library: The \i\c{LIBRARY} Directive
3975 \c{RDOFF} contains a mechanism for an object file to demand a given
3976 library to be linked to the module, either at load time or run time.
3977 This is done by the \c{LIBRARY} directive, which takes one argument
3978 which is the name of the module:
3980 \c library mylib.rdl
3983 \S{rdfmod} Specifying a Module Name: The \i\c{MODULE} Directive
3985 Special \c{RDOFF} header record is used to store the name of the module.
3986 It can be used, for example, by run-time loader to perform dynamic
3987 linking. \c{MODULE} directive takes one argument which is the name
3992 Note that when you statically link modules and tell linker to strip
3993 the symbols from output file, all module names will be stripped too.
3994 To avoid it, you should start module names with \I{$prefix}\c{$}, like:
3996 \c module $kernel.core
3999 \S{rdfglob} \c{rdf} Extensions to the \c{GLOBAL} directive\I{GLOBAL,
4002 \c{RDOFF} global symbols can contain additional information needed by
4003 the static linker. You can mark a global symbol as exported, thus
4004 telling the linker do not strip it from target executable or library
4005 file. Like in \c{ELF}, you can also specify whether an exported symbol
4006 is a procedure (function) or data object.
4008 Suffixing the name with a colon and the word \i\c{export} you make the
4011 \c global sys_open:export
4013 To specify that exported symbol is a procedure (function), you add the
4014 word \i\c{proc} or \i\c{function} after declaration:
4016 \c global sys_open:export proc
4018 Similarly, to specify exported data object, add the word \i\c{data}
4019 or \i\c{object} to the directive:
4021 \c global kernel_ticks:export data
4024 \H{dbgfmt} \i\c{dbg}: Debugging Format
4026 The \c{dbg} output format is not built into NASM in the default
4027 configuration. If you are building your own NASM executable from the
4028 sources, you can define \i\c{OF_DBG} in \c{outform.h} or on the
4029 compiler command line, and obtain the \c{dbg} output format.
4031 The \c{dbg} format does not output an object file as such; instead,
4032 it outputs a text file which contains a complete list of all the
4033 transactions between the main body of NASM and the output-format
4034 back end module. It is primarily intended to aid people who want to
4035 write their own output drivers, so that they can get a clearer idea
4036 of the various requests the main program makes of the output driver,
4037 and in what order they happen.
4039 For simple files, one can easily use the \c{dbg} format like this:
4041 \c nasm -f dbg filename.asm
4043 which will generate a diagnostic file called \c{filename.dbg}.
4044 However, this will not work well on files which were designed for a
4045 different object format, because each object format defines its own
4046 macros (usually user-level forms of directives), and those macros
4047 will not be defined in the \c{dbg} format. Therefore it can be
4048 useful to run NASM twice, in order to do the preprocessing with the
4049 native object format selected:
4051 \c nasm -e -f rdf -o rdfprog.i rdfprog.asm
4052 \c nasm -a -f dbg rdfprog.i
4054 This preprocesses \c{rdfprog.asm} into \c{rdfprog.i}, keeping the
4055 \c{rdf} object format selected in order to make sure RDF special
4056 directives are converted into primitive form correctly. Then the
4057 preprocessed source is fed through the \c{dbg} format to generate
4058 the final diagnostic output.
4060 This workaround will still typically not work for programs intended
4061 for \c{obj} format, because the \c{obj} \c{SEGMENT} and \c{GROUP}
4062 directives have side effects of defining the segment and group names
4063 as symbols; \c{dbg} will not do this, so the program will not
4064 assemble. You will have to work around that by defining the symbols
4065 yourself (using \c{EXTERN}, for example) if you really need to get a
4066 \c{dbg} trace of an \c{obj}-specific source file.
4068 \c{dbg} accepts any section name and any directives at all, and logs
4069 them all to its output file.
4072 \C{16bit} Writing 16-bit Code (DOS, Windows 3/3.1)
4074 This chapter attempts to cover some of the common issues encountered
4075 when writing 16-bit code to run under \c{MS-DOS} or \c{Windows 3.x}. It
4076 covers how to link programs to produce \c{.EXE} or \c{.COM} files,
4077 how to write \c{.SYS} device drivers, and how to interface assembly
4078 language code with 16-bit C compilers and with Borland Pascal.
4081 \H{exefiles} Producing \i\c{.EXE} Files
4083 Any large program written under DOS needs to be built as a \c{.EXE}
4084 file: only \c{.EXE} files have the necessary internal structure
4085 required to span more than one 64K segment. \i{Windows} programs,
4086 also, have to be built as \c{.EXE} files, since Windows does not
4087 support the \c{.COM} format.
4089 In general, you generate \c{.EXE} files by using the \c{obj} output
4090 format to produce one or more \i\c{.OBJ} files, and then linking
4091 them together using a linker. However, NASM also supports the direct
4092 generation of simple DOS \c{.EXE} files using the \c{bin} output
4093 format (by using \c{DB} and \c{DW} to construct the \c{.EXE} file
4094 header), and a macro package is supplied to do this. Thanks to
4095 Yann Guidon for contributing the code for this.
4097 NASM may also support \c{.EXE} natively as another output format in
4101 \S{objexe} Using the \c{obj} Format To Generate \c{.EXE} Files
4103 This section describes the usual method of generating \c{.EXE} files
4104 by linking \c{.OBJ} files together.
4106 Most 16-bit programming language packages come with a suitable
4107 linker; if you have none of these, there is a free linker called
4108 \i{VAL}\I{linker, free}, available in \c{LZH} archive format from
4109 \W{ftp://x2ftp.oulu.fi/pub/msdos/programming/lang/}\i\c{x2ftp.oulu.fi}.
4110 An LZH archiver can be found at
4111 \W{ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/arcers}\i\c{ftp.simtel.net}.
4112 There is another `free' linker (though this one doesn't come with
4113 sources) called \i{FREELINK}, available from
4114 \W{http://www.pcorner.com/tpc/old/3-101.html}\i\c{www.pcorner.com}.
4115 A third, \i\c{djlink}, written by DJ Delorie, is available at
4116 \W{http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/16bit/djlink/}\i\c{www.delorie.com}.
4117 A fourth linker, \i\c{ALINK}, written by Anthony A.J. Williams, is
4118 available at \W{http://alink.sourceforge.net}\i\c{alink.sourceforge.net}.
4120 When linking several \c{.OBJ} files into a \c{.EXE} file, you should
4121 ensure that exactly one of them has a start point defined (using the
4122 \I{program entry point}\i\c{..start} special symbol defined by the
4123 \c{obj} format: see \k{dotdotstart}). If no module defines a start
4124 point, the linker will not know what value to give the entry-point
4125 field in the output file header; if more than one defines a start
4126 point, the linker will not know \e{which} value to use.
4128 An example of a NASM source file which can be assembled to a
4129 \c{.OBJ} file and linked on its own to a \c{.EXE} is given here. It
4130 demonstrates the basic principles of defining a stack, initialising
4131 the segment registers, and declaring a start point. This file is
4132 also provided in the \I{test subdirectory}\c{test} subdirectory of
4133 the NASM archives, under the name \c{objexe.asm}.
4137 \c ..start: mov ax,data
4143 This initial piece of code sets up \c{DS} to point to the data
4144 segment, and initialises \c{SS} and \c{SP} to point to the top of
4145 the provided stack. Notice that interrupts are implicitly disabled
4146 for one instruction after a move into \c{SS}, precisely for this
4147 situation, so that there's no chance of an interrupt occurring
4148 between the loads of \c{SS} and \c{SP} and not having a stack to
4151 Note also that the special symbol \c{..start} is defined at the
4152 beginning of this code, which means that will be the entry point
4153 into the resulting executable file.
4159 The above is the main program: load \c{DS:DX} with a pointer to the
4160 greeting message (\c{hello} is implicitly relative to the segment
4161 \c{data}, which was loaded into \c{DS} in the setup code, so the
4162 full pointer is valid), and call the DOS print-string function.
4167 This terminates the program using another DOS system call.
4170 \c hello: db 'hello, world', 13, 10, '$'
4172 The data segment contains the string we want to display.
4174 \c segment stack stack
4178 The above code declares a stack segment containing 64 bytes of
4179 uninitialised stack space, and points \c{stacktop} at the top of it.
4180 The directive \c{segment stack stack} defines a segment \e{called}
4181 \c{stack}, and also of \e{type} \c{STACK}. The latter is not
4182 necessary to the correct running of the program, but linkers are
4183 likely to issue warnings or errors if your program has no segment of
4186 The above file, when assembled into a \c{.OBJ} file, will link on
4187 its own to a valid \c{.EXE} file, which when run will print `hello,
4188 world' and then exit.
4191 \S{binexe} Using the \c{bin} Format To Generate \c{.EXE} Files
4193 The \c{.EXE} file format is simple enough that it's possible to
4194 build a \c{.EXE} file by writing a pure-binary program and sticking
4195 a 32-byte header on the front. This header is simple enough that it
4196 can be generated using \c{DB} and \c{DW} commands by NASM itself, so
4197 that you can use the \c{bin} output format to directly generate
4200 Included in the NASM archives, in the \I{misc subdirectory}\c{misc}
4201 subdirectory, is a file \i\c{exebin.mac} of macros. It defines three
4202 macros: \i\c{EXE_begin}, \i\c{EXE_stack} and \i\c{EXE_end}.
4204 To produce a \c{.EXE} file using this method, you should start by
4205 using \c{%include} to load the \c{exebin.mac} macro package into
4206 your source file. You should then issue the \c{EXE_begin} macro call
4207 (which takes no arguments) to generate the file header data. Then
4208 write code as normal for the \c{bin} format - you can use all three
4209 standard sections \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss}. At the end of
4210 the file you should call the \c{EXE_end} macro (again, no arguments),
4211 which defines some symbols to mark section sizes, and these symbols
4212 are referred to in the header code generated by \c{EXE_begin}.
4214 In this model, the code you end up writing starts at \c{0x100}, just
4215 like a \c{.COM} file - in fact, if you strip off the 32-byte header
4216 from the resulting \c{.EXE} file, you will have a valid \c{.COM}
4217 program. All the segment bases are the same, so you are limited to a
4218 64K program, again just like a \c{.COM} file. Note that an \c{ORG}
4219 directive is issued by the \c{EXE_begin} macro, so you should not
4220 explicitly issue one of your own.
4222 You can't directly refer to your segment base value, unfortunately,
4223 since this would require a relocation in the header, and things
4224 would get a lot more complicated. So you should get your segment
4225 base by copying it out of \c{CS} instead.
4227 On entry to your \c{.EXE} file, \c{SS:SP} are already set up to
4228 point to the top of a 2Kb stack. You can adjust the default stack
4229 size of 2Kb by calling the \c{EXE_stack} macro. For example, to
4230 change the stack size of your program to 64 bytes, you would call
4233 A sample program which generates a \c{.EXE} file in this way is
4234 given in the \c{test} subdirectory of the NASM archive, as
4238 \H{comfiles} Producing \i\c{.COM} Files
4240 While large DOS programs must be written as \c{.EXE} files, small
4241 ones are often better written as \c{.COM} files. \c{.COM} files are
4242 pure binary, and therefore most easily produced using the \c{bin}
4246 \S{combinfmt} Using the \c{bin} Format To Generate \c{.COM} Files
4248 \c{.COM} files expect to be loaded at offset \c{100h} into their
4249 segment (though the segment may change). Execution then begins at
4250 \I\c{ORG}\c{100h}, i.e. right at the start of the program. So to
4251 write a \c{.COM} program, you would create a source file looking
4256 \c start: ; put your code here
4258 \c ; put data items here
4260 \c ; put uninitialised data here
4262 The \c{bin} format puts the \c{.text} section first in the file, so
4263 you can declare data or BSS items before beginning to write code if
4264 you want to and the code will still end up at the front of the file
4267 The BSS (uninitialised data) section does not take up space in the
4268 \c{.COM} file itself: instead, addresses of BSS items are resolved
4269 to point at space beyond the end of the file, on the grounds that
4270 this will be free memory when the program is run. Therefore you
4271 should not rely on your BSS being initialised to all zeros when you
4274 To assemble the above program, you should use a command line like
4276 \c nasm myprog.asm -fbin -o myprog.com
4278 The \c{bin} format would produce a file called \c{myprog} if no
4279 explicit output file name were specified, so you have to override it
4280 and give the desired file name.
4283 \S{comobjfmt} Using the \c{obj} Format To Generate \c{.COM} Files
4285 If you are writing a \c{.COM} program as more than one module, you
4286 may wish to assemble several \c{.OBJ} files and link them together
4287 into a \c{.COM} program. You can do this, provided you have a linker
4288 capable of outputting \c{.COM} files directly (\i{TLINK} does this),
4289 or alternatively a converter program such as \i\c{EXE2BIN} to
4290 transform the \c{.EXE} file output from the linker into a \c{.COM}
4293 If you do this, you need to take care of several things:
4295 \b The first object file containing code should start its code
4296 segment with a line like \c{RESB 100h}. This is to ensure that the
4297 code begins at offset \c{100h} relative to the beginning of the code
4298 segment, so that the linker or converter program does not have to
4299 adjust address references within the file when generating the
4300 \c{.COM} file. Other assemblers use an \i\c{ORG} directive for this
4301 purpose, but \c{ORG} in NASM is a format-specific directive to the
4302 \c{bin} output format, and does not mean the same thing as it does
4303 in MASM-compatible assemblers.
4305 \b You don't need to define a stack segment.
4307 \b All your segments should be in the same group, so that every time
4308 your code or data references a symbol offset, all offsets are
4309 relative to the same segment base. This is because, when a \c{.COM}
4310 file is loaded, all the segment registers contain the same value.
4313 \H{sysfiles} Producing \i\c{.SYS} Files
4315 \i{MS-DOS device drivers} - \c{.SYS} files - are pure binary files,
4316 similar to \c{.COM} files, except that they start at origin zero
4317 rather than \c{100h}. Therefore, if you are writing a device driver
4318 using the \c{bin} format, you do not need the \c{ORG} directive,
4319 since the default origin for \c{bin} is zero. Similarly, if you are
4320 using \c{obj}, you do not need the \c{RESB 100h} at the start of
4323 \c{.SYS} files start with a header structure, containing pointers to
4324 the various routines inside the driver which do the work. This
4325 structure should be defined at the start of the code segment, even
4326 though it is not actually code.
4328 For more information on the format of \c{.SYS} files, and the data
4329 which has to go in the header structure, a list of books is given in
4330 the Frequently Asked Questions list for the newsgroup
4331 \W{news:comp.os.msdos.programmer}\i\c{comp.os.msdos.programmer}.
4334 \H{16c} Interfacing to 16-bit C Programs
4336 This section covers the basics of writing assembly routines that
4337 call, or are called from, C programs. To do this, you would
4338 typically write an assembly module as a \c{.OBJ} file, and link it
4339 with your C modules to produce a \i{mixed-language program}.
4342 \S{16cunder} External Symbol Names
4344 \I{C symbol names}\I{underscore, in C symbols}C compilers have the
4345 convention that the names of all global symbols (functions or data)
4346 they define are formed by prefixing an underscore to the name as it
4347 appears in the C program. So, for example, the function a C
4348 programmer thinks of as \c{printf} appears to an assembly language
4349 programmer as \c{_printf}. This means that in your assembly
4350 programs, you can define symbols without a leading underscore, and
4351 not have to worry about name clashes with C symbols.
4353 If you find the underscores inconvenient, you can define macros to
4354 replace the \c{GLOBAL} and \c{EXTERN} directives as follows:
4366 (These forms of the macros only take one argument at a time; a
4367 \c{%rep} construct could solve this.)
4369 If you then declare an external like this:
4373 then the macro will expand it as
4376 \c %define printf _printf
4378 Thereafter, you can reference \c{printf} as if it was a symbol, and
4379 the preprocessor will put the leading underscore on where necessary.
4381 The \c{cglobal} macro works similarly. You must use \c{cglobal}
4382 before defining the symbol in question, but you would have had to do
4383 that anyway if you used \c{GLOBAL}.
4386 \S{16cmodels} \i{Memory Models}
4388 NASM contains no mechanism to support the various C memory models
4389 directly; you have to keep track yourself of which one you are
4390 writing for. This means you have to keep track of the following
4393 \b In models using a single code segment (tiny, small and compact),
4394 functions are near. This means that function pointers, when stored
4395 in data segments or pushed on the stack as function arguments, are
4396 16 bits long and contain only an offset field (the \c{CS} register
4397 never changes its value, and always gives the segment part of the
4398 full function address), and that functions are called using ordinary
4399 near \c{CALL} instructions and return using \c{RETN} (which, in
4400 NASM, is synonymous with \c{RET} anyway). This means both that you
4401 should write your own routines to return with \c{RETN}, and that you
4402 should call external C routines with near \c{CALL} instructions.
4404 \b In models using more than one code segment (medium, large and
4405 huge), functions are far. This means that function pointers are 32
4406 bits long (consisting of a 16-bit offset followed by a 16-bit
4407 segment), and that functions are called using \c{CALL FAR} (or
4408 \c{CALL seg:offset}) and return using \c{RETF}. Again, you should
4409 therefore write your own routines to return with \c{RETF} and use
4410 \c{CALL FAR} to call external routines.
4412 \b In models using a single data segment (tiny, small and medium),
4413 data pointers are 16 bits long, containing only an offset field (the
4414 \c{DS} register doesn't change its value, and always gives the
4415 segment part of the full data item address).
4417 \b In models using more than one data segment (compact, large and
4418 huge), data pointers are 32 bits long, consisting of a 16-bit offset
4419 followed by a 16-bit segment. You should still be careful not to
4420 modify \c{DS} in your routines without restoring it afterwards, but
4421 \c{ES} is free for you to use to access the contents of 32-bit data
4422 pointers you are passed.
4424 \b The huge memory model allows single data items to exceed 64K in
4425 size. In all other memory models, you can access the whole of a data
4426 item just by doing arithmetic on the offset field of the pointer you
4427 are given, whether a segment field is present or not; in huge model,
4428 you have to be more careful of your pointer arithmetic.
4430 \b In most memory models, there is a \e{default} data segment, whose
4431 segment address is kept in \c{DS} throughout the program. This data
4432 segment is typically the same segment as the stack, kept in \c{SS},
4433 so that functions' local variables (which are stored on the stack)
4434 and global data items can both be accessed easily without changing
4435 \c{DS}. Particularly large data items are typically stored in other
4436 segments. However, some memory models (though not the standard
4437 ones, usually) allow the assumption that \c{SS} and \c{DS} hold the
4438 same value to be removed. Be careful about functions' local
4439 variables in this latter case.
4441 In models with a single code segment, the segment is called
4442 \i\c{_TEXT}, so your code segment must also go by this name in order
4443 to be linked into the same place as the main code segment. In models
4444 with a single data segment, or with a default data segment, it is
4448 \S{16cfunc} Function Definitions and Function Calls
4450 \I{functions, C calling convention}The \i{C calling convention} in
4451 16-bit programs is as follows. In the following description, the
4452 words \e{caller} and \e{callee} are used to denote the function
4453 doing the calling and the function which gets called.
4455 \b The caller pushes the function's parameters on the stack, one
4456 after another, in reverse order (right to left, so that the first
4457 argument specified to the function is pushed last).
4459 \b The caller then executes a \c{CALL} instruction to pass control
4460 to the callee. This \c{CALL} is either near or far depending on the
4463 \b The callee receives control, and typically (although this is not
4464 actually necessary, in functions which do not need to access their
4465 parameters) starts by saving the value of \c{SP} in \c{BP} so as to
4466 be able to use \c{BP} as a base pointer to find its parameters on
4467 the stack. However, the caller was probably doing this too, so part
4468 of the calling convention states that \c{BP} must be preserved by
4469 any C function. Hence the callee, if it is going to set up \c{BP} as
4470 a \i\e{frame pointer}, must push the previous value first.
4472 \b The callee may then access its parameters relative to \c{BP}.
4473 The word at \c{[BP]} holds the previous value of \c{BP} as it was
4474 pushed; the next word, at \c{[BP+2]}, holds the offset part of the
4475 return address, pushed implicitly by \c{CALL}. In a small-model
4476 (near) function, the parameters start after that, at \c{[BP+4]}; in
4477 a large-model (far) function, the segment part of the return address
4478 lives at \c{[BP+4]}, and the parameters begin at \c{[BP+6]}. The
4479 leftmost parameter of the function, since it was pushed last, is
4480 accessible at this offset from \c{BP}; the others follow, at
4481 successively greater offsets. Thus, in a function such as \c{printf}
4482 which takes a variable number of parameters, the pushing of the
4483 parameters in reverse order means that the function knows where to
4484 find its first parameter, which tells it the number and type of the
4487 \b The callee may also wish to decrease \c{SP} further, so as to
4488 allocate space on the stack for local variables, which will then be
4489 accessible at negative offsets from \c{BP}.
4491 \b The callee, if it wishes to return a value to the caller, should
4492 leave the value in \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{DX:AX} depending on the size
4493 of the value. Floating-point results are sometimes (depending on the
4494 compiler) returned in \c{ST0}.
4496 \b Once the callee has finished processing, it restores \c{SP} from
4497 \c{BP} if it had allocated local stack space, then pops the previous
4498 value of \c{BP}, and returns via \c{RETN} or \c{RETF} depending on
4501 \b When the caller regains control from the callee, the function
4502 parameters are still on the stack, so it typically adds an immediate
4503 constant to \c{SP} to remove them (instead of executing a number of
4504 slow \c{POP} instructions). Thus, if a function is accidentally
4505 called with the wrong number of parameters due to a prototype
4506 mismatch, the stack will still be returned to a sensible state since
4507 the caller, which \e{knows} how many parameters it pushed, does the
4510 It is instructive to compare this calling convention with that for
4511 Pascal programs (described in \k{16bpfunc}). Pascal has a simpler
4512 convention, since no functions have variable numbers of parameters.
4513 Therefore the callee knows how many parameters it should have been
4514 passed, and is able to deallocate them from the stack itself by
4515 passing an immediate argument to the \c{RET} or \c{RETF}
4516 instruction, so the caller does not have to do it. Also, the
4517 parameters are pushed in left-to-right order, not right-to-left,
4518 which means that a compiler can give better guarantees about
4519 sequence points without performance suffering.
4521 Thus, you would define a function in C style in the following way.
4522 The following example is for small model:
4527 \c sub sp,0x40 ; 64 bytes of local stack space
4528 \c mov bx,[bp+4] ; first parameter to function
4530 \c mov sp,bp ; undo "sub sp,0x40" above
4534 For a large-model function, you would replace \c{RET} by \c{RETF},
4535 and look for the first parameter at \c{[BP+6]} instead of
4536 \c{[BP+4]}. Of course, if one of the parameters is a pointer, then
4537 the offsets of \e{subsequent} parameters will change depending on
4538 the memory model as well: far pointers take up four bytes on the
4539 stack when passed as a parameter, whereas near pointers take up two.
4541 At the other end of the process, to call a C function from your
4542 assembly code, you would do something like this:
4545 \c ; and then, further down...
4546 \c push word [myint] ; one of my integer variables
4547 \c push word mystring ; pointer into my data segment
4549 \c add sp,byte 4 ; `byte' saves space
4550 \c ; then those data items...
4553 \c mystring db 'This number -> %d <- should be 1234',10,0
4555 This piece of code is the small-model assembly equivalent of the C
4558 \c int myint = 1234;
4559 \c printf("This number -> %d <- should be 1234\n", myint);
4561 In large model, the function-call code might look more like this. In
4562 this example, it is assumed that \c{DS} already holds the segment
4563 base of the segment \c{_DATA}. If not, you would have to initialise
4566 \c push word [myint]
4567 \c push word seg mystring ; Now push the segment, and...
4568 \c push word mystring ; ... offset of "mystring"
4572 The integer value still takes up one word on the stack, since large
4573 model does not affect the size of the \c{int} data type. The first
4574 argument (pushed last) to \c{printf}, however, is a data pointer,
4575 and therefore has to contain a segment and offset part. The segment
4576 should be stored second in memory, and therefore must be pushed
4577 first. (Of course, \c{PUSH DS} would have been a shorter instruction
4578 than \c{PUSH WORD SEG mystring}, if \c{DS} was set up as the above
4579 example assumed.) Then the actual call becomes a far call, since
4580 functions expect far calls in large model; and \c{SP} has to be
4581 increased by 6 rather than 4 afterwards to make up for the extra
4585 \S{16cdata} Accessing Data Items
4587 To get at the contents of C variables, or to declare variables which
4588 C can access, you need only declare the names as \c{GLOBAL} or
4589 \c{EXTERN}. (Again, the names require leading underscores, as stated
4590 in \k{16cunder}.) Thus, a C variable declared as \c{int i} can be
4591 accessed from assembler as
4596 And to declare your own integer variable which C programs can access
4597 as \c{extern int j}, you do this (making sure you are assembling in
4598 the \c{_DATA} segment, if necessary):
4603 To access a C array, you need to know the size of the components of
4604 the array. For example, \c{int} variables are two bytes long, so if
4605 a C program declares an array as \c{int a[10]}, you can access
4606 \c{a[3]} by coding \c{mov ax,[_a+6]}. (The byte offset 6 is obtained
4607 by multiplying the desired array index, 3, by the size of the array
4608 element, 2.) The sizes of the C base types in 16-bit compilers are:
4609 1 for \c{char}, 2 for \c{short} and \c{int}, 4 for \c{long} and
4610 \c{float}, and 8 for \c{double}.
4612 To access a C \i{data structure}, you need to know the offset from
4613 the base of the structure to the field you are interested in. You
4614 can either do this by converting the C structure definition into a
4615 NASM structure definition (using \i\c{STRUC}), or by calculating the
4616 one offset and using just that.
4618 To do either of these, you should read your C compiler's manual to
4619 find out how it organises data structures. NASM gives no special
4620 alignment to structure members in its own \c{STRUC} macro, so you
4621 have to specify alignment yourself if the C compiler generates it.
4622 Typically, you might find that a structure like
4629 might be four bytes long rather than three, since the \c{int} field
4630 would be aligned to a two-byte boundary. However, this sort of
4631 feature tends to be a configurable option in the C compiler, either
4632 using command-line options or \c{#pragma} lines, so you have to find
4633 out how your own compiler does it.
4636 \S{16cmacro} \i\c{c16.mac}: Helper Macros for the 16-bit C Interface
4638 Included in the NASM archives, in the \I{misc subdirectory}\c{misc}
4639 directory, is a file \c{c16.mac} of macros. It defines three macros:
4640 \i\c{proc}, \i\c{arg} and \i\c{endproc}. These are intended to be
4641 used for C-style procedure definitions, and they automate a lot of
4642 the work involved in keeping track of the calling convention.
4644 (An alternative, TASM compatible form of \c{arg} is also now built
4645 into NASM's preprocessor. See \k{tasmcompat} for details.)
4647 An example of an assembly function using the macro set is given
4653 \c mov ax,[bp + %$i]
4654 \c mov bx,[bp + %$j]
4658 This defines \c{_nearproc} to be a procedure taking two arguments,
4659 the first (\c{i}) an integer and the second (\c{j}) a pointer to an
4660 integer. It returns \c{i + *j}.
4662 Note that the \c{arg} macro has an \c{EQU} as the first line of its
4663 expansion, and since the label before the macro call gets prepended
4664 to the first line of the expanded macro, the \c{EQU} works, defining
4665 \c{%$i} to be an offset from \c{BP}. A context-local variable is
4666 used, local to the context pushed by the \c{proc} macro and popped
4667 by the \c{endproc} macro, so that the same argument name can be used
4668 in later procedures. Of course, you don't \e{have} to do that.
4670 The macro set produces code for near functions (tiny, small and
4671 compact-model code) by default. You can have it generate far
4672 functions (medium, large and huge-model code) by means of coding
4673 \I\c{FARCODE}\c{%define FARCODE}. This changes the kind of return
4674 instruction generated by \c{endproc}, and also changes the starting
4675 point for the argument offsets. The macro set contains no intrinsic
4676 dependency on whether data pointers are far or not.
4678 \c{arg} can take an optional parameter, giving the size of the
4679 argument. If no size is given, 2 is assumed, since it is likely that
4680 many function parameters will be of type \c{int}.
4682 The large-model equivalent of the above function would look like this:
4688 \c mov ax,[bp + %$i]
4689 \c mov bx,[bp + %$j]
4690 \c mov es,[bp + %$j + 2]
4694 This makes use of the argument to the \c{arg} macro to define a
4695 parameter of size 4, because \c{j} is now a far pointer. When we
4696 load from \c{j}, we must load a segment and an offset.
4699 \H{16bp} Interfacing to \i{Borland Pascal} Programs
4701 Interfacing to Borland Pascal programs is similar in concept to
4702 interfacing to 16-bit C programs. The differences are:
4704 \b The leading underscore required for interfacing to C programs is
4705 not required for Pascal.
4707 \b The memory model is always large: functions are far, data
4708 pointers are far, and no data item can be more than 64K long.
4709 (Actually, some functions are near, but only those functions that
4710 are local to a Pascal unit and never called from outside it. All
4711 assembly functions that Pascal calls, and all Pascal functions that
4712 assembly routines are able to call, are far.) However, all static
4713 data declared in a Pascal program goes into the default data
4714 segment, which is the one whose segment address will be in \c{DS}
4715 when control is passed to your assembly code. The only things that
4716 do not live in the default data segment are local variables (they
4717 live in the stack segment) and dynamically allocated variables. All
4718 data \e{pointers}, however, are far.
4720 \b The function calling convention is different - described below.
4722 \b Some data types, such as strings, are stored differently.
4724 \b There are restrictions on the segment names you are allowed to
4725 use - Borland Pascal will ignore code or data declared in a segment
4726 it doesn't like the name of. The restrictions are described below.
4729 \S{16bpfunc} The Pascal Calling Convention
4731 \I{functions, Pascal calling convention}\I{Pascal calling
4732 convention}The 16-bit Pascal calling convention is as follows. In
4733 the following description, the words \e{caller} and \e{callee} are
4734 used to denote the function doing the calling and the function which
4737 \b The caller pushes the function's parameters on the stack, one
4738 after another, in normal order (left to right, so that the first
4739 argument specified to the function is pushed first).
4741 \b The caller then executes a far \c{CALL} instruction to pass
4742 control to the callee.
4744 \b The callee receives control, and typically (although this is not
4745 actually necessary, in functions which do not need to access their
4746 parameters) starts by saving the value of \c{SP} in \c{BP} so as to
4747 be able to use \c{BP} as a base pointer to find its parameters on
4748 the stack. However, the caller was probably doing this too, so part
4749 of the calling convention states that \c{BP} must be preserved by
4750 any function. Hence the callee, if it is going to set up \c{BP} as a
4751 \i{frame pointer}, must push the previous value first.
4753 \b The callee may then access its parameters relative to \c{BP}.
4754 The word at \c{[BP]} holds the previous value of \c{BP} as it was
4755 pushed. The next word, at \c{[BP+2]}, holds the offset part of the
4756 return address, and the next one at \c{[BP+4]} the segment part. The
4757 parameters begin at \c{[BP+6]}. The rightmost parameter of the
4758 function, since it was pushed last, is accessible at this offset
4759 from \c{BP}; the others follow, at successively greater offsets.
4761 \b The callee may also wish to decrease \c{SP} further, so as to
4762 allocate space on the stack for local variables, which will then be
4763 accessible at negative offsets from \c{BP}.
4765 \b The callee, if it wishes to return a value to the caller, should
4766 leave the value in \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{DX:AX} depending on the size
4767 of the value. Floating-point results are returned in \c{ST0}.
4768 Results of type \c{Real} (Borland's own custom floating-point data
4769 type, not handled directly by the FPU) are returned in \c{DX:BX:AX}.
4770 To return a result of type \c{String}, the caller pushes a pointer
4771 to a temporary string before pushing the parameters, and the callee
4772 places the returned string value at that location. The pointer is
4773 not a parameter, and should not be removed from the stack by the
4774 \c{RETF} instruction.
4776 \b Once the callee has finished processing, it restores \c{SP} from
4777 \c{BP} if it had allocated local stack space, then pops the previous
4778 value of \c{BP}, and returns via \c{RETF}. It uses the form of
4779 \c{RETF} with an immediate parameter, giving the number of bytes
4780 taken up by the parameters on the stack. This causes the parameters
4781 to be removed from the stack as a side effect of the return
4784 \b When the caller regains control from the callee, the function
4785 parameters have already been removed from the stack, so it needs to
4788 Thus, you would define a function in Pascal style, taking two
4789 \c{Integer}-type parameters, in the following way:
4794 \c sub sp,0x40 ; 64 bytes of local stack space
4795 \c mov bx,[bp+8] ; first parameter to function
4796 \c mov bx,[bp+6] ; second parameter to function
4798 \c mov sp,bp ; undo "sub sp,0x40" above
4800 \c retf 4 ; total size of params is 4
4802 At the other end of the process, to call a Pascal function from your
4803 assembly code, you would do something like this:
4806 \c ; and then, further down...
4807 \c push word seg mystring ; Now push the segment, and...
4808 \c push word mystring ; ... offset of "mystring"
4809 \c push word [myint] ; one of my variables
4810 \c call far SomeFunc
4812 This is equivalent to the Pascal code
4814 \c procedure SomeFunc(String: PChar; Int: Integer);
4815 \c SomeFunc(@mystring, myint);
4818 \S{16bpseg} Borland Pascal \I{segment names, Borland Pascal}Segment
4821 Since Borland Pascal's internal unit file format is completely
4822 different from \c{OBJ}, it only makes a very sketchy job of actually
4823 reading and understanding the various information contained in a
4824 real \c{OBJ} file when it links that in. Therefore an object file
4825 intended to be linked to a Pascal program must obey a number of
4828 \b Procedures and functions must be in a segment whose name is
4829 either \c{CODE}, \c{CSEG}, or something ending in \c{_TEXT}.
4831 \b Initialised data must be in a segment whose name is either
4832 \c{CONST} or something ending in \c{_DATA}.
4834 \b Uninitialised data must be in a segment whose name is either
4835 \c{DATA}, \c{DSEG}, or something ending in \c{_BSS}.
4837 \b Any other segments in the object file are completely ignored.
4838 \c{GROUP} directives and segment attributes are also ignored.
4841 \S{16bpmacro} Using \i\c{c16.mac} With Pascal Programs
4843 The \c{c16.mac} macro package, described in \k{16cmacro}, can also
4844 be used to simplify writing functions to be called from Pascal
4845 programs, if you code \I\c{PASCAL}\c{%define PASCAL}. This
4846 definition ensures that functions are far (it implies
4847 \i\c{FARCODE}), and also causes procedure return instructions to be
4848 generated with an operand.
4850 Defining \c{PASCAL} does not change the code which calculates the
4851 argument offsets; you must declare your function's arguments in
4852 reverse order. For example:
4858 \c mov ax,[bp + %$i]
4859 \c mov bx,[bp + %$j]
4860 \c mov es,[bp + %$j + 2]
4864 This defines the same routine, conceptually, as the example in
4865 \k{16cmacro}: it defines a function taking two arguments, an integer
4866 and a pointer to an integer, which returns the sum of the integer
4867 and the contents of the pointer. The only difference between this
4868 code and the large-model C version is that \c{PASCAL} is defined
4869 instead of \c{FARCODE}, and that the arguments are declared in
4873 \C{32bit} Writing 32-bit Code (Unix, Win32, DJGPP)
4875 This chapter attempts to cover some of the common issues involved
4876 when writing 32-bit code, to run under \i{Win32} or Unix, or to be
4877 linked with C code generated by a Unix-style C compiler such as
4878 \i{DJGPP}. It covers how to write assembly code to interface with
4879 32-bit C routines, and how to write position-independent code for
4882 Almost all 32-bit code, and in particular all code running under
4883 \c{Win32}, \c{DJGPP} or any of the PC Unix variants, runs in \I{flat
4884 memory model}\e{flat} memory model. This means that the segment registers
4885 and paging have already been set up to give you the same 32-bit 4Gb
4886 address space no matter what segment you work relative to, and that
4887 you should ignore all segment registers completely. When writing
4888 flat-model application code, you never need to use a segment
4889 override or modify any segment register, and the code-section
4890 addresses you pass to \c{CALL} and \c{JMP} live in the same address
4891 space as the data-section addresses you access your variables by and
4892 the stack-section addresses you access local variables and procedure
4893 parameters by. Every address is 32 bits long and contains only an
4897 \H{32c} Interfacing to 32-bit C Programs
4899 A lot of the discussion in \k{16c}, about interfacing to 16-bit C
4900 programs, still applies when working in 32 bits. The absence of
4901 memory models or segmentation worries simplifies things a lot.
4904 \S{32cunder} External Symbol Names
4906 Most 32-bit C compilers share the convention used by 16-bit
4907 compilers, that the names of all global symbols (functions or data)
4908 they define are formed by prefixing an underscore to the name as it
4909 appears in the C program. However, not all of them do: the \c{ELF}
4910 specification states that C symbols do \e{not} have a leading
4911 underscore on their assembly-language names.
4913 The older Linux \c{a.out} C compiler, all \c{Win32} compilers,
4914 \c{DJGPP}, and \c{NetBSD} and \c{FreeBSD}, all use the leading
4915 underscore; for these compilers, the macros \c{cextern} and
4916 \c{cglobal}, as given in \k{16cunder}, will still work. For \c{ELF},
4917 though, the leading underscore should not be used.
4920 \S{32cfunc} Function Definitions and Function Calls
4922 \I{functions, C calling convention}The \i{C calling convention}The C
4923 calling convention in 32-bit programs is as follows. In the
4924 following description, the words \e{caller} and \e{callee} are used
4925 to denote the function doing the calling and the function which gets
4928 \b The caller pushes the function's parameters on the stack, one
4929 after another, in reverse order (right to left, so that the first
4930 argument specified to the function is pushed last).
4932 \b The caller then executes a near \c{CALL} instruction to pass
4933 control to the callee.
4935 \b The callee receives control, and typically (although this is not
4936 actually necessary, in functions which do not need to access their
4937 parameters) starts by saving the value of \c{ESP} in \c{EBP} so as
4938 to be able to use \c{EBP} as a base pointer to find its parameters
4939 on the stack. However, the caller was probably doing this too, so
4940 part of the calling convention states that \c{EBP} must be preserved
4941 by any C function. Hence the callee, if it is going to set up
4942 \c{EBP} as a \i{frame pointer}, must push the previous value first.
4944 \b The callee may then access its parameters relative to \c{EBP}.
4945 The doubleword at \c{[EBP]} holds the previous value of \c{EBP} as
4946 it was pushed; the next doubleword, at \c{[EBP+4]}, holds the return
4947 address, pushed implicitly by \c{CALL}. The parameters start after
4948 that, at \c{[EBP+8]}. The leftmost parameter of the function, since
4949 it was pushed last, is accessible at this offset from \c{EBP}; the
4950 others follow, at successively greater offsets. Thus, in a function
4951 such as \c{printf} which takes a variable number of parameters, the
4952 pushing of the parameters in reverse order means that the function
4953 knows where to find its first parameter, which tells it the number
4954 and type of the remaining ones.
4956 \b The callee may also wish to decrease \c{ESP} further, so as to
4957 allocate space on the stack for local variables, which will then be
4958 accessible at negative offsets from \c{EBP}.
4960 \b The callee, if it wishes to return a value to the caller, should
4961 leave the value in \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{EAX} depending on the size
4962 of the value. Floating-point results are typically returned in
4965 \b Once the callee has finished processing, it restores \c{ESP} from
4966 \c{EBP} if it had allocated local stack space, then pops the previous
4967 value of \c{EBP}, and returns via \c{RET} (equivalently, \c{RETN}).
4969 \b When the caller regains control from the callee, the function
4970 parameters are still on the stack, so it typically adds an immediate
4971 constant to \c{ESP} to remove them (instead of executing a number of
4972 slow \c{POP} instructions). Thus, if a function is accidentally
4973 called with the wrong number of parameters due to a prototype
4974 mismatch, the stack will still be returned to a sensible state since
4975 the caller, which \e{knows} how many parameters it pushed, does the
4978 There is an alternative calling convention used by Win32 programs
4979 for Windows API calls, and also for functions called \e{by} the
4980 Windows API such as window procedures: they follow what Microsoft
4981 calls the \c{__stdcall} convention. This is slightly closer to the
4982 Pascal convention, in that the callee clears the stack by passing a
4983 parameter to the \c{RET} instruction. However, the parameters are
4984 still pushed in right-to-left order.
4986 Thus, you would define a function in C style in the following way:
4989 \c _myfunc: push ebp
4991 \c sub esp,0x40 ; 64 bytes of local stack space
4992 \c mov ebx,[ebp+8] ; first parameter to function
4994 \c leave ; mov esp,ebp / pop ebp
4997 At the other end of the process, to call a C function from your
4998 assembly code, you would do something like this:
5001 \c ; and then, further down...
5002 \c push dword [myint] ; one of my integer variables
5003 \c push dword mystring ; pointer into my data segment
5005 \c add esp,byte 8 ; `byte' saves space
5006 \c ; then those data items...
5009 \c mystring db 'This number -> %d <- should be 1234',10,0
5011 This piece of code is the assembly equivalent of the C code
5013 \c int myint = 1234;
5014 \c printf("This number -> %d <- should be 1234\n", myint);
5017 \S{32cdata} Accessing Data Items
5019 To get at the contents of C variables, or to declare variables which
5020 C can access, you need only declare the names as \c{GLOBAL} or
5021 \c{EXTERN}. (Again, the names require leading underscores, as stated
5022 in \k{32cunder}.) Thus, a C variable declared as \c{int i} can be
5023 accessed from assembler as
5028 And to declare your own integer variable which C programs can access
5029 as \c{extern int j}, you do this (making sure you are assembling in
5030 the \c{_DATA} segment, if necessary):
5035 To access a C array, you need to know the size of the components of
5036 the array. For example, \c{int} variables are four bytes long, so if
5037 a C program declares an array as \c{int a[10]}, you can access
5038 \c{a[3]} by coding \c{mov ax,[_a+12]}. (The byte offset 12 is obtained
5039 by multiplying the desired array index, 3, by the size of the array
5040 element, 4.) The sizes of the C base types in 32-bit compilers are:
5041 1 for \c{char}, 2 for \c{short}, 4 for \c{int}, \c{long} and
5042 \c{float}, and 8 for \c{double}. Pointers, being 32-bit addresses,
5043 are also 4 bytes long.
5045 To access a C \i{data structure}, you need to know the offset from
5046 the base of the structure to the field you are interested in. You
5047 can either do this by converting the C structure definition into a
5048 NASM structure definition (using \c{STRUC}), or by calculating the
5049 one offset and using just that.
5051 To do either of these, you should read your C compiler's manual to
5052 find out how it organises data structures. NASM gives no special
5053 alignment to structure members in its own \i\c{STRUC} macro, so you
5054 have to specify alignment yourself if the C compiler generates it.
5055 Typically, you might find that a structure like
5062 might be eight bytes long rather than five, since the \c{int} field
5063 would be aligned to a four-byte boundary. However, this sort of
5064 feature is sometimes a configurable option in the C compiler, either
5065 using command-line options or \c{#pragma} lines, so you have to find
5066 out how your own compiler does it.
5069 \S{32cmacro} \i\c{c32.mac}: Helper Macros for the 32-bit C Interface
5071 Included in the NASM archives, in the \I{misc directory}\c{misc}
5072 directory, is a file \c{c32.mac} of macros. It defines three macros:
5073 \i\c{proc}, \i\c{arg} and \i\c{endproc}. These are intended to be
5074 used for C-style procedure definitions, and they automate a lot of
5075 the work involved in keeping track of the calling convention.
5077 An example of an assembly function using the macro set is given
5083 \c mov eax,[ebp + %$i]
5084 \c mov ebx,[ebp + %$j]
5088 This defines \c{_proc32} to be a procedure taking two arguments, the
5089 first (\c{i}) an integer and the second (\c{j}) a pointer to an
5090 integer. It returns \c{i + *j}.
5092 Note that the \c{arg} macro has an \c{EQU} as the first line of its
5093 expansion, and since the label before the macro call gets prepended
5094 to the first line of the expanded macro, the \c{EQU} works, defining
5095 \c{%$i} to be an offset from \c{BP}. A context-local variable is
5096 used, local to the context pushed by the \c{proc} macro and popped
5097 by the \c{endproc} macro, so that the same argument name can be used
5098 in later procedures. Of course, you don't \e{have} to do that.
5100 \c{arg} can take an optional parameter, giving the size of the
5101 argument. If no size is given, 4 is assumed, since it is likely that
5102 many function parameters will be of type \c{int} or pointers.
5105 \H{picdll} Writing NetBSD/FreeBSD/OpenBSD and Linux/ELF \i{Shared
5108 \c{ELF} replaced the older \c{a.out} object file format under Linux
5109 because it contains support for \i{position-independent code}
5110 (\i{PIC}), which makes writing shared libraries much easier. NASM
5111 supports the \c{ELF} position-independent code features, so you can
5112 write Linux \c{ELF} shared libraries in NASM.
5114 \i{NetBSD}, and its close cousins \i{FreeBSD} and \i{OpenBSD}, take
5115 a different approach by hacking PIC support into the \c{a.out}
5116 format. NASM supports this as the \i\c{aoutb} output format, so you
5117 can write \i{BSD} shared libraries in NASM too.
5119 The operating system loads a PIC shared library by memory-mapping
5120 the library file at an arbitrarily chosen point in the address space
5121 of the running process. The contents of the library's code section
5122 must therefore not depend on where it is loaded in memory.
5124 Therefore, you cannot get at your variables by writing code like
5127 \c mov eax,[myvar] ; WRONG
5129 Instead, the linker provides an area of memory called the
5130 \i\e{global offset table}, or \i{GOT}; the GOT is situated at a
5131 constant distance from your library's code, so if you can find out
5132 where your library is loaded (which is typically done using a
5133 \c{CALL} and \c{POP} combination), you can obtain the address of the
5134 GOT, and you can then load the addresses of your variables out of
5135 linker-generated entries in the GOT.
5137 The \e{data} section of a PIC shared library does not have these
5138 restrictions: since the data section is writable, it has to be
5139 copied into memory anyway rather than just paged in from the library
5140 file, so as long as it's being copied it can be relocated too. So
5141 you can put ordinary types of relocation in the data section without
5142 too much worry (but see \k{picglobal} for a caveat).
5145 \S{picgot} Obtaining the Address of the GOT
5147 Each code module in your shared library should define the GOT as an
5150 \c extern _GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_ ; in ELF
5151 \c extern __GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_ ; in BSD a.out
5153 At the beginning of any function in your shared library which plans
5154 to access your data or BSS sections, you must first calculate the
5155 address of the GOT. This is typically done by writing the function
5162 \c .get_GOT: pop ebx
5163 \c add ebx,_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_+$$-.get_GOT wrt ..gotpc
5164 \c ; the function body comes here
5170 (For BSD, again, the symbol \c{_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE} requires a
5171 second leading underscore.)
5173 The first two lines of this function are simply the standard C
5174 prologue to set up a stack frame, and the last three lines are
5175 standard C function epilogue. The third line, and the fourth to last
5176 line, save and restore the \c{EBX} register, because PIC shared
5177 libraries use this register to store the address of the GOT.
5179 The interesting bit is the \c{CALL} instruction and the following
5180 two lines. The \c{CALL} and \c{POP} combination obtains the address
5181 of the label \c{.get_GOT}, without having to know in advance where
5182 the program was loaded (since the \c{CALL} instruction is encoded
5183 relative to the current position). The \c{ADD} instruction makes use
5184 of one of the special PIC relocation types: \i{GOTPC relocation}.
5185 With the \i\c{WRT ..gotpc} qualifier specified, the symbol
5186 referenced (here \c{_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_}, the special symbol
5187 assigned to the GOT) is given as an offset from the beginning of the
5188 section. (Actually, \c{ELF} encodes it as the offset from the operand
5189 field of the \c{ADD} instruction, but NASM simplifies this
5190 deliberately, so you do things the same way for both \c{ELF} and
5191 \c{BSD}.) So the instruction then \e{adds} the beginning of the section,
5192 to get the real address of the GOT, and subtracts the value of
5193 \c{.get_GOT} which it knows is in \c{EBX}. Therefore, by the time
5194 that instruction has finished, \c{EBX} contains the address of the GOT.
5196 If you didn't follow that, don't worry: it's never necessary to
5197 obtain the address of the GOT by any other means, so you can put
5198 those three instructions into a macro and safely ignore them:
5202 \c %%getgot: pop ebx
5203 \c add ebx,_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_+$$-%%getgot wrt ..gotpc
5206 \S{piclocal} Finding Your Local Data Items
5208 Having got the GOT, you can then use it to obtain the addresses of
5209 your data items. Most variables will reside in the sections you have
5210 declared; they can be accessed using the \I{GOTOFF
5211 relocation}\c{..gotoff} special \I\c{WRT ..gotoff}\c{WRT} type. The
5212 way this works is like this:
5214 \c lea eax,[ebx+myvar wrt ..gotoff]
5216 The expression \c{myvar wrt ..gotoff} is calculated, when the shared
5217 library is linked, to be the offset to the local variable \c{myvar}
5218 from the beginning of the GOT. Therefore, adding it to \c{EBX} as
5219 above will place the real address of \c{myvar} in \c{EAX}.
5221 If you declare variables as \c{GLOBAL} without specifying a size for
5222 them, they are shared between code modules in the library, but do
5223 not get exported from the library to the program that loaded it.
5224 They will still be in your ordinary data and BSS sections, so you
5225 can access them in the same way as local variables, using the above
5226 \c{..gotoff} mechanism.
5228 Note that due to a peculiarity of the way BSD \c{a.out} format
5229 handles this relocation type, there must be at least one non-local
5230 symbol in the same section as the address you're trying to access.
5233 \S{picextern} Finding External and Common Data Items
5235 If your library needs to get at an external variable (external to
5236 the \e{library}, not just to one of the modules within it), you must
5237 use the \I{GOT relocations}\I\c{WRT ..got}\c{..got} type to get at
5238 it. The \c{..got} type, instead of giving you the offset from the
5239 GOT base to the variable, gives you the offset from the GOT base to
5240 a GOT \e{entry} containing the address of the variable. The linker
5241 will set up this GOT entry when it builds the library, and the
5242 dynamic linker will place the correct address in it at load time. So
5243 to obtain the address of an external variable \c{extvar} in \c{EAX},
5246 \c mov eax,[ebx+extvar wrt ..got]
5248 This loads the address of \c{extvar} out of an entry in the GOT. The
5249 linker, when it builds the shared library, collects together every
5250 relocation of type \c{..got}, and builds the GOT so as to ensure it
5251 has every necessary entry present.
5253 Common variables must also be accessed in this way.
5256 \S{picglobal} Exporting Symbols to the Library User
5258 If you want to export symbols to the user of the library, you have
5259 to declare whether they are functions or data, and if they are data,
5260 you have to give the size of the data item. This is because the
5261 dynamic linker has to build \I{PLT}\i{procedure linkage table}
5262 entries for any exported functions, and also moves exported data
5263 items away from the library's data section in which they were
5266 So to export a function to users of the library, you must use
5268 \c global func:function ; declare it as a function
5272 And to export a data item such as an array, you would have to code
5274 \c global array:data array.end-array ; give the size too
5278 Be careful: If you export a variable to the library user, by
5279 declaring it as \c{GLOBAL} and supplying a size, the variable will
5280 end up living in the data section of the main program, rather than
5281 in your library's data section, where you declared it. So you will
5282 have to access your own global variable with the \c{..got} mechanism
5283 rather than \c{..gotoff}, as if it were external (which,
5284 effectively, it has become).
5286 Equally, if you need to store the address of an exported global in
5287 one of your data sections, you can't do it by means of the standard
5290 \c dataptr: dd global_data_item ; WRONG
5292 NASM will interpret this code as an ordinary relocation, in which
5293 \c{global_data_item} is merely an offset from the beginning of the
5294 \c{.data} section (or whatever); so this reference will end up
5295 pointing at your data section instead of at the exported global
5296 which resides elsewhere.
5298 Instead of the above code, then, you must write
5300 \c dataptr: dd global_data_item wrt ..sym
5302 which makes use of the special \c{WRT} type \I\c{WRT ..sym}\c{..sym}
5303 to instruct NASM to search the symbol table for a particular symbol
5304 at that address, rather than just relocating by section base.
5306 Either method will work for functions: referring to one of your
5307 functions by means of
5309 \c funcptr: dd my_function
5311 will give the user the address of the code you wrote, whereas
5313 \c funcptr: dd my_function wrt ..sym
5315 will give the address of the procedure linkage table for the
5316 function, which is where the calling program will \e{believe} the
5317 function lives. Either address is a valid way to call the function.
5320 \S{picproc} Calling Procedures Outside the Library
5322 Calling procedures outside your shared library has to be done by
5323 means of a \i\e{procedure linkage table}, or \i{PLT}. The PLT is
5324 placed at a known offset from where the library is loaded, so the
5325 library code can make calls to the PLT in a position-independent
5326 way. Within the PLT there is code to jump to offsets contained in
5327 the GOT, so function calls to other shared libraries or to routines
5328 in the main program can be transparently passed off to their real
5331 To call an external routine, you must use another special PIC
5332 relocation type, \I{PLT relocations}\i\c{WRT ..plt}. This is much
5333 easier than the GOT-based ones: you simply replace calls such as
5334 \c{CALL printf} with the PLT-relative version \c{CALL printf WRT
5338 \S{link} Generating the Library File
5340 Having written some code modules and assembled them to \c{.o} files,
5341 you then generate your shared library with a command such as
5343 \c ld -shared -o library.so module1.o module2.o # for ELF
5344 \c ld -Bshareable -o library.so module1.o module2.o # for BSD
5346 For ELF, if your shared library is going to reside in system
5347 directories such as \c{/usr/lib} or \c{/lib}, it is usually worth
5348 using the \i\c{-soname} flag to the linker, to store the final
5349 library file name, with a version number, into the library:
5351 \c ld -shared -soname library.so.1 -o library.so.1.2 *.o
5353 You would then copy \c{library.so.1.2} into the library directory,
5354 and create \c{library.so.1} as a symbolic link to it.
5357 \C{mixsize} Mixing 16 and 32 Bit Code
5359 This chapter tries to cover some of the issues, largely related to
5360 unusual forms of addressing and jump instructions, encountered when
5361 writing operating system code such as protected-mode initialisation
5362 routines, which require code that operates in mixed segment sizes,
5363 such as code in a 16-bit segment trying to modify data in a 32-bit
5364 one, or jumps between different-size segments.
5367 \H{mixjump} Mixed-Size Jumps\I{jumps, mixed-size}
5369 \I{operating system, writing}\I{writing operating systems}The most
5370 common form of \i{mixed-size instruction} is the one used when
5371 writing a 32-bit OS: having done your setup in 16-bit mode, such as
5372 loading the kernel, you then have to boot it by switching into
5373 protected mode and jumping to the 32-bit kernel start address. In a
5374 fully 32-bit OS, this tends to be the \e{only} mixed-size
5375 instruction you need, since everything before it can be done in pure
5376 16-bit code, and everything after it can be pure 32-bit.
5378 This jump must specify a 48-bit far address, since the target
5379 segment is a 32-bit one. However, it must be assembled in a 16-bit
5380 segment, so just coding, for example,
5382 \c jmp 0x1234:0x56789ABC ; wrong!
5384 will not work, since the offset part of the address will be
5385 truncated to \c{0x9ABC} and the jump will be an ordinary 16-bit far
5388 The Linux kernel setup code gets round the inability of \c{as86} to
5389 generate the required instruction by coding it manually, using
5390 \c{DB} instructions. NASM can go one better than that, by actually
5391 generating the right instruction itself. Here's how to do it right:
5393 \c jmp dword 0x1234:0x56789ABC ; right
5395 \I\c{JMP DWORD}The \c{DWORD} prefix (strictly speaking, it should
5396 come \e{after} the colon, since it is declaring the \e{offset} field
5397 to be a doubleword; but NASM will accept either form, since both are
5398 unambiguous) forces the offset part to be treated as far, in the
5399 assumption that you are deliberately writing a jump from a 16-bit
5400 segment to a 32-bit one.
5402 You can do the reverse operation, jumping from a 32-bit segment to a
5403 16-bit one, by means of the \c{WORD} prefix:
5405 \c jmp word 0x8765:0x4321 ; 32 to 16 bit
5407 If the \c{WORD} prefix is specified in 16-bit mode, or the \c{DWORD}
5408 prefix in 32-bit mode, they will be ignored, since each is
5409 explicitly forcing NASM into a mode it was in anyway.
5412 \H{mixaddr} Addressing Between Different-Size Segments\I{addressing,
5413 mixed-size}\I{mixed-size addressing}
5415 If your OS is mixed 16 and 32-bit, or if you are writing a DOS
5416 extender, you are likely to have to deal with some 16-bit segments
5417 and some 32-bit ones. At some point, you will probably end up
5418 writing code in a 16-bit segment which has to access data in a
5419 32-bit segment, or vice versa.
5421 If the data you are trying to access in a 32-bit segment lies within
5422 the first 64K of the segment, you may be able to get away with using
5423 an ordinary 16-bit addressing operation for the purpose; but sooner
5424 or later, you will want to do 32-bit addressing from 16-bit mode.
5426 The easiest way to do this is to make sure you use a register for
5427 the address, since any effective address containing a 32-bit
5428 register is forced to be a 32-bit address. So you can do
5430 \c mov eax,offset_into_32_bit_segment_specified_by_fs
5431 \c mov dword [fs:eax],0x11223344
5433 This is fine, but slightly cumbersome (since it wastes an
5434 instruction and a register) if you already know the precise offset
5435 you are aiming at. The x86 architecture does allow 32-bit effective
5436 addresses to specify nothing but a 4-byte offset, so why shouldn't
5437 NASM be able to generate the best instruction for the purpose?
5439 It can. As in \k{mixjump}, you need only prefix the address with the
5440 \c{DWORD} keyword, and it will be forced to be a 32-bit address:
5442 \c mov dword [fs:dword my_offset],0x11223344
5444 Also as in \k{mixjump}, NASM is not fussy about whether the
5445 \c{DWORD} prefix comes before or after the segment override, so
5446 arguably a nicer-looking way to code the above instruction is
5448 \c mov dword [dword fs:my_offset],0x11223344
5450 Don't confuse the \c{DWORD} prefix \e{outside} the square brackets,
5451 which controls the size of the data stored at the address, with the
5452 one \c{inside} the square brackets which controls the length of the
5453 address itself. The two can quite easily be different:
5455 \c mov word [dword 0x12345678],0x9ABC
5457 This moves 16 bits of data to an address specified by a 32-bit
5460 You can also specify \c{WORD} or \c{DWORD} prefixes along with the
5461 \c{FAR} prefix to indirect far jumps or calls. For example:
5463 \c call dword far [fs:word 0x4321]
5465 This instruction contains an address specified by a 16-bit offset;
5466 it loads a 48-bit far pointer from that (16-bit segment and 32-bit
5467 offset), and calls that address.
5470 \H{mixother} Other Mixed-Size Instructions
5472 The other way you might want to access data might be using the
5473 string instructions (\c{LODSx}, \c{STOSx} and so on) or the
5474 \c{XLATB} instruction. These instructions, since they take no
5475 parameters, might seem to have no easy way to make them perform
5476 32-bit addressing when assembled in a 16-bit segment.
5478 This is the purpose of NASM's \i\c{a16} and \i\c{a32} prefixes. If
5479 you are coding \c{LODSB} in a 16-bit segment but it is supposed to
5480 be accessing a string in a 32-bit segment, you should load the
5481 desired address into \c{ESI} and then code
5485 The prefix forces the addressing size to 32 bits, meaning that
5486 \c{LODSB} loads from \c{[DS:ESI]} instead of \c{[DS:SI]}. To access
5487 a string in a 16-bit segment when coding in a 32-bit one, the
5488 corresponding \c{a16} prefix can be used.
5490 The \c{a16} and \c{a32} prefixes can be applied to any instruction
5491 in NASM's instruction table, but most of them can generate all the
5492 useful forms without them. The prefixes are necessary only for
5493 instructions with implicit addressing: \c{CMPSx} (\k{insCMPSB}),
5494 \c{SCASx} (\k{insSCASB}), \c{LODSx} (\k{insLODSB}), \c{STOSx}
5495 (\k{insSTOSB}), \c{MOVSx} (\k{insMOVSB}), \c{INSx} (\k{insINSB}),
5496 \c{OUTSx} (\k{insOUTSB}), and \c{XLATB} (\k{insXLATB}). Also, the
5497 various push and pop instructions (\c{PUSHA} and \c{POPF} as well as
5498 the more usual \c{PUSH} and \c{POP}) can accept \c{a16} or \c{a32}
5499 prefixes to force a particular one of \c{SP} or \c{ESP} to be used
5500 as a stack pointer, in case the stack segment in use is a different
5501 size from the code segment.
5503 \c{PUSH} and \c{POP}, when applied to segment registers in 32-bit
5504 mode, also have the slightly odd behaviour that they push and pop 4
5505 bytes at a time, of which the top two are ignored and the bottom two
5506 give the value of the segment register being manipulated. To force
5507 the 16-bit behaviour of segment-register push and pop instructions,
5508 you can use the operand-size prefix \i\c{o16}:
5513 This code saves a doubleword of stack space by fitting two segment
5514 registers into the space which would normally be consumed by pushing
5517 (You can also use the \i\c{o32} prefix to force the 32-bit behaviour
5518 when in 16-bit mode, but this seems less useful.)
5521 \C{trouble} Troubleshooting
5523 This chapter describes some of the common problems that users have
5524 been known to encounter with NASM, and answers them. It also gives
5525 instructions for reporting bugs in NASM if you find a difficulty
5526 that isn't listed here.
5529 \H{problems} Common Problems
5531 \S{inefficient} NASM Generates \i{Inefficient Code}
5533 I get a lot of `bug' reports about NASM generating inefficient, or
5534 even `wrong', code on instructions such as \c{ADD ESP,8}. This is a
5535 deliberate design feature, connected to predictability of output:
5536 NASM, on seeing \c{ADD ESP,8}, will generate the form of the
5537 instruction which leaves room for a 32-bit offset. You need to code
5538 \I\c{BYTE}\c{ADD ESP,BYTE 8} if you want the space-efficient
5539 form of the instruction. This isn't a bug: at worst it's a
5540 misfeature, and that's a matter of opinion only.
5543 \S{jmprange} My Jumps are Out of Range\I{out of range, jumps}
5545 Similarly, people complain that when they issue \i{conditional
5546 jumps} (which are \c{SHORT} by default) that try to jump too far,
5547 NASM reports `short jump out of range' instead of making the jumps
5550 This, again, is partly a predictability issue, but in fact has a
5551 more practical reason as well. NASM has no means of being told what
5552 type of processor the code it is generating will be run on; so it
5553 cannot decide for itself that it should generate \i\c{Jcc NEAR} type
5554 instructions, because it doesn't know that it's working for a 386 or
5555 above. Alternatively, it could replace the out-of-range short
5556 \c{JNE} instruction with a very short \c{JE} instruction that jumps
5557 over a \c{JMP NEAR}; this is a sensible solution for processors
5558 below a 386, but hardly efficient on processors which have good
5559 branch prediction \e{and} could have used \c{JNE NEAR} instead. So,
5560 once again, it's up to the user, not the assembler, to decide what
5561 instructions should be generated.
5564 \S{proborg} \i\c{ORG} Doesn't Work
5566 People writing \i{boot sector} programs in the \c{bin} format often
5567 complain that \c{ORG} doesn't work the way they'd like: in order to
5568 place the \c{0xAA55} signature word at the end of a 512-byte boot
5569 sector, people who are used to MASM tend to code
5572 \c ; some boot sector code
5576 This is not the intended use of the \c{ORG} directive in NASM, and
5577 will not work. The correct way to solve this problem in NASM is to
5578 use the \i\c{TIMES} directive, like this:
5581 \c ; some boot sector code
5582 \c TIMES 510-($-$$) DB 0
5585 The \c{TIMES} directive will insert exactly enough zero bytes into
5586 the output to move the assembly point up to 510. This method also
5587 has the advantage that if you accidentally fill your boot sector too
5588 full, NASM will catch the problem at assembly time and report it, so
5589 you won't end up with a boot sector that you have to disassemble to
5590 find out what's wrong with it.
5593 \S{probtimes} \i\c{TIMES} Doesn't Work
5595 The other common problem with the above code is people who write the
5600 by reasoning that \c{$} should be a pure number, just like 510, so
5601 the difference between them is also a pure number and can happily be
5604 NASM is a \e{modular} assembler: the various component parts are
5605 designed to be easily separable for re-use, so they don't exchange
5606 information unnecessarily. In consequence, the \c{bin} output
5607 format, even though it has been told by the \c{ORG} directive that
5608 the \c{.text} section should start at 0, does not pass that
5609 information back to the expression evaluator. So from the
5610 evaluator's point of view, \c{$} isn't a pure number: it's an offset
5611 from a section base. Therefore the difference between \c{$} and 510
5612 is also not a pure number, but involves a section base. Values
5613 involving section bases cannot be passed as arguments to \c{TIMES}.
5615 The solution, as in the previous section, is to code the \c{TIMES}
5618 \c TIMES 510-($-$$) DB 0
5620 in which \c{$} and \c{$$} are offsets from the same section base,
5621 and so their difference is a pure number. This will solve the
5622 problem and generate sensible code.
5625 \H{bugs} \i{Bugs}\I{reporting bugs}
5627 We have never yet released a version of NASM with any \e{known}
5628 bugs. That doesn't usually stop there being plenty we didn't know
5629 about, though. Any that you find should be reported firstly via the
5631 \W{http://nasm.2y.net/bugtracker/}\c{http://nasm.2y.net/bugtracker/},
5632 or if that fails then through one of the contacts in \k{contact}
5634 Please read \k{qstart} first, and don't report the bug if it's
5635 listed in there as a deliberate feature. (If you think the feature
5636 is badly thought out, feel free to send us reasons why you think it
5637 should be changed, but don't just send us mail saying `This is a
5638 bug' if the documentation says we did it on purpose.) Then read
5639 \k{problems}, and don't bother reporting the bug if it's listed
5642 If you do report a bug, \e{please} give us all of the following
5645 \b What operating system you're running NASM under. DOS, Linux,
5646 NetBSD, Win16, Win32, VMS (I'd be impressed), whatever.
5648 \b If you're running NASM under DOS or Win32, tell us whether you've
5649 compiled your own executable from the DOS source archive, or whether
5650 you were using the standard distribution binaries out of the
5651 archive. If you were using a locally built executable, try to
5652 reproduce the problem using one of the standard binaries, as this
5653 will make it easier for us to reproduce your problem prior to fixing
5656 \b Which version of NASM you're using, and exactly how you invoked
5657 it. Give us the precise command line, and the contents of the
5658 \c{NASM} environment variable if any.
5660 \b Which versions of any supplementary programs you're using, and
5661 how you invoked them. If the problem only becomes visible at link
5662 time, tell us what linker you're using, what version of it you've
5663 got, and the exact linker command line. If the problem involves
5664 linking against object files generated by a compiler, tell us what
5665 compiler, what version, and what command line or options you used.
5666 (If you're compiling in an IDE, please try to reproduce the problem
5667 with the command-line version of the compiler.)
5669 \b If at all possible, send us a NASM source file which exhibits the
5670 problem. If this causes copyright problems (e.g. you can only
5671 reproduce the bug in restricted-distribution code) then bear in mind
5672 the following two points: firstly, we guarantee that any source code
5673 sent to us for the purposes of debugging NASM will be used \e{only}
5674 for the purposes of debugging NASM, and that we will delete all our
5675 copies of it as soon as we have found and fixed the bug or bugs in
5676 question; and secondly, we would prefer \e{not} to be mailed large
5677 chunks of code anyway. The smaller the file, the better. A
5678 three-line sample file that does nothing useful \e{except}
5679 demonstrate the problem is much easier to work with than a
5680 fully fledged ten-thousand-line program. (Of course, some errors
5681 \e{do} only crop up in large files, so this may not be possible.)
5683 \b A description of what the problem actually \e{is}. `It doesn't
5684 work' is \e{not} a helpful description! Please describe exactly what
5685 is happening that shouldn't be, or what isn't happening that should.
5686 Examples might be: `NASM generates an error message saying Line 3
5687 for an error that's actually on Line 5'; `NASM generates an error
5688 message that I believe it shouldn't be generating at all'; `NASM
5689 fails to generate an error message that I believe it \e{should} be
5690 generating'; `the object file produced from this source code crashes
5691 my linker'; `the ninth byte of the output file is 66 and I think it
5692 should be 77 instead'.
5694 \b If you believe the output file from NASM to be faulty, send it to
5695 us. That allows us to determine whether our own copy of NASM
5696 generates the same file, or whether the problem is related to
5697 portability issues between our development platforms and yours. We
5698 can handle binary files mailed to us as MIME attachments, uuencoded,
5699 and even BinHex. Alternatively, we may be able to provide an FTP
5700 site you can upload the suspect files to; but mailing them is easier
5703 \b Any other information or data files that might be helpful. If,
5704 for example, the problem involves NASM failing to generate an object
5705 file while TASM can generate an equivalent file without trouble,
5706 then send us \e{both} object files, so we can see what TASM is doing
5707 differently from us.
5710 \A{ndisasm} \i{Ndisasm}
5712 The Netwide Disassembler, NDISASM
5714 \H{ndisintro} Introduction
5717 The Netwide Disassembler is a small companion program to the Netwide
5718 Assembler, NASM. It seemed a shame to have an x86 assembler,
5719 complete with a full instruction table, and not make as much use of
5720 it as possible, so here's a disassembler which shares the
5721 instruction table (and some other bits of code) with NASM.
5723 The Netwide Disassembler does nothing except to produce
5724 disassemblies of \e{binary} source files. NDISASM does not have any
5725 understanding of object file formats, like \c{objdump}, and it will
5726 not understand \c{DOS .EXE} files like \c{debug} will. It just
5730 \H{ndisstart} Getting Started: Installation
5732 See \k{install} for installation instructions. NDISASM, like NASM,
5733 has a \c{man page} which you may want to put somewhere useful, if you
5734 are on a Unix system.
5737 \H{ndisrun} Running NDISASM
5739 To disassemble a file, you will typically use a command of the form
5741 \c ndisasm [-b16 | -b32] filename
5743 NDISASM can disassemble 16-bit code or 32-bit code equally easily,
5744 provided of course that you remember to specify which it is to work
5745 with. If no \i\c{-b} switch is present, NDISASM works in 16-bit mode by
5746 default. The \i\c{-u} switch (for USE32) also invokes 32-bit mode.
5748 Two more command line options are \i\c{-r} which reports the version
5749 number of NDISASM you are running, and \i\c{-h} which gives a short
5750 summary of command line options.
5753 \S{ndiscom} COM Files: Specifying an Origin
5755 To disassemble a \c{DOS .COM} file correctly, a disassembler must assume
5756 that the first instruction in the file is loaded at address \c{0x100},
5757 rather than at zero. NDISASM, which assumes by default that any file
5758 you give it is loaded at zero, will therefore need to be informed of
5761 The \i\c{-o} option allows you to declare a different origin for the
5762 file you are disassembling. Its argument may be expressed in any of
5763 the NASM numeric formats: decimal by default, if it begins with `\c{$}'
5764 or `\c{0x}' or ends in `\c{H}' it's \c{hex}, if it ends in `\c{Q}' it's
5765 \c{octal}, and if it ends in `\c{B}' it's \c{binary}.
5767 Hence, to disassemble a \c{.COM} file:
5769 \c ndisasm -o100h filename.com
5774 \S{ndissync} Code Following Data: Synchronisation
5776 Suppose you are disassembling a file which contains some data which
5777 isn't machine code, and \e{then} contains some machine code. NDISASM
5778 will faithfully plough through the data section, producing machine
5779 instructions wherever it can (although most of them will look
5780 bizarre, and some may have unusual prefixes, e.g. `\c{FS OR AX,0x240A}'),
5781 and generating `DB' instructions ever so often if it's totally stumped.
5782 Then it will reach the code section.
5784 Supposing NDISASM has just finished generating a strange machine
5785 instruction from part of the data section, and its file position is
5786 now one byte \e{before} the beginning of the code section. It's
5787 entirely possible that another spurious instruction will get
5788 generated, starting with the final byte of the data section, and
5789 then the correct first instruction in the code section will not be
5790 seen because the starting point skipped over it. This isn't really
5793 To avoid this, you can specify a `\i\c{synchronisation}' point, or indeed
5794 as many synchronisation points as you like (although NDISASM can
5795 only handle 8192 sync points internally). The definition of a sync
5796 point is this: NDISASM guarantees to hit sync points exactly during
5797 disassembly. If it is thinking about generating an instruction which
5798 would cause it to jump over a sync point, it will discard that
5799 instruction and output a `\c{db}' instead. So it \e{will} start
5800 disassembly exactly from the sync point, and so you \e{will} see all
5801 the instructions in your code section.
5803 Sync points are specified using the \i\c{-s} option: they are measured
5804 in terms of the program origin, not the file position. So if you
5805 want to synchronise after 32 bytes of a \c{.COM} file, you would have to
5808 \c ndisasm -o100h -s120h file.com
5812 \c ndisasm -o100h -s20h file.com
5814 As stated above, you can specify multiple sync markers if you need
5815 to, just by repeating the \c{-s} option.
5818 \S{ndisisync} Mixed Code and Data: Automatic (Intelligent) Synchronisation
5821 Suppose you are disassembling the boot sector of a \c{DOS} floppy (maybe
5822 it has a virus, and you need to understand the virus so that you
5823 know what kinds of damage it might have done you). Typically, this
5824 will contain a \c{JMP} instruction, then some data, then the rest of the
5825 code. So there is a very good chance of NDISASM being \e{misaligned}
5826 when the data ends and the code begins. Hence a sync point is
5829 On the other hand, why should you have to specify the sync point
5830 manually? What you'd do in order to find where the sync point would
5831 be, surely, would be to read the \c{JMP} instruction, and then to use
5832 its target address as a sync point. So can NDISASM do that for you?
5834 The answer, of course, is yes: using either of the synonymous
5835 switches \i\c{-a} (for automatic sync) or \i\c{-i} (for intelligent
5836 sync) will enable \c{auto-sync} mode. Auto-sync mode automatically
5837 generates a sync point for any forward-referring PC-relative jump or
5838 call instruction that NDISASM encounters. (Since NDISASM is one-pass,
5839 if it encounters a PC-relative jump whose target has already been
5840 processed, there isn't much it can do about it...)
5842 Only PC-relative jumps are processed, since an absolute jump is
5843 either through a register (in which case NDISASM doesn't know what
5844 the register contains) or involves a segment address (in which case
5845 the target code isn't in the same segment that NDISASM is working
5846 in, and so the sync point can't be placed anywhere useful).
5848 For some kinds of file, this mechanism will automatically put sync
5849 points in all the right places, and save you from having to place
5850 any sync points manually. However, it should be stressed that
5851 auto-sync mode is \e{not} guaranteed to catch all the sync points, and
5852 you may still have to place some manually.
5854 Auto-sync mode doesn't prevent you from declaring manual sync
5855 points: it just adds automatically generated ones to the ones you
5856 provide. It's perfectly feasible to specify \c{-i} \e{and} some \c{-s}
5859 Another caveat with auto-sync mode is that if, by some unpleasant
5860 fluke, something in your data section should disassemble to a
5861 PC-relative call or jump instruction, NDISASM may obediently place a
5862 sync point in a totally random place, for example in the middle of
5863 one of the instructions in your code section. So you may end up with
5864 a wrong disassembly even if you use auto-sync. Again, there isn't
5865 much I can do about this. If you have problems, you'll have to use
5866 manual sync points, or use the \c{-k} option (documented below) to
5867 suppress disassembly of the data area.
5870 \S{ndisother} Other Options
5872 The \i\c{-e} option skips a header on the file, by ignoring the first N
5873 bytes. This means that the header is \e{not} counted towards the
5874 disassembly offset: if you give \c{-e10 -o10}, disassembly will start
5875 at byte 10 in the file, and this will be given offset 10, not 20.
5877 The \i\c{-k} option is provided with two comma-separated numeric
5878 arguments, the first of which is an assembly offset and the second
5879 is a number of bytes to skip. This \e{will} count the skipped bytes
5880 towards the assembly offset: its use is to suppress disassembly of a
5881 data section which wouldn't contain anything you wanted to see
5885 \H{ndisbugs} Bugs and Improvements
5887 There are no known bugs. However, any you find, with patches if
5888 possible, should be sent to \W{mailto:jules@dsf.org.uk}\c{jules@dsf.org.uk}
5889 or \W{mailto:anakin@pobox.com}\c{anakin@pobox.com}, or to the
5890 developer's site \W{http://nasm.2y.net/}\c{http://nasm.2y.net/}
5891 and we'll try to fix them. Feel free to send contributions and
5892 new features as well.
5894 Future plans include awareness of which processors certain
5895 instructions will run on, and marking of instructions that are too
5896 advanced for some processor (or are \c{FPU} instructions, or are
5897 undocumented opcodes, or are privileged protected-mode instructions,
5902 I hope NDISASM is of some use to somebody. Including me. :-)
5904 I don't recommend taking NDISASM apart to see how an efficient
5905 disassembler works, because as far as I know, it isn't an efficient
5906 one anyway. You have been warned.
5909 \A{iref} Intel x86 Instruction Reference
5911 This appendix provides a complete list of the machine instructions
5912 which NASM will assemble, and a short description of the function of
5915 It is not intended to be exhaustive documentation on the fine
5916 details of the instructions' function, such as which exceptions they
5917 can trigger: for such documentation, you should go to Intel's Web
5918 site, \W{http://www.intel.com/}\c{http://www.intel.com/}.
5920 Instead, this appendix is intended primarily to provide
5921 documentation on the way the instructions may be used within NASM.
5922 For example, looking up \c{LOOP} will tell you that NASM allows
5923 \c{CX} or \c{ECX} to be specified as an optional second argument to
5924 the \c{LOOP} instruction, to enforce which of the two possible
5925 counter registers should be used if the default is not the one
5928 The instructions are not quite listed in alphabetical order, since
5929 groups of instructions with similar functions are lumped together in
5930 the same entry. Most of them don't move very far from their
5931 alphabetic position because of this.
5934 \H{iref-opr} Key to Operand Specifications
5936 The instruction descriptions in this appendix specify their operands
5937 using the following notation:
5939 \b Registers: \c{reg8} denotes an 8-bit \i{general purpose
5940 register}, \c{reg16} denotes a 16-bit general purpose register, and
5941 \c{reg32} a 32-bit one. \c{fpureg} denotes one of the eight FPU
5942 stack registers, \c{mmxreg} denotes one of the eight 64-bit MMX
5943 registers, and \c{segreg} denotes a segment register. In addition,
5944 some registers (such as \c{AL}, \c{DX} or
5945 \c{ECX}) may be specified explicitly.
5947 \b Immediate operands: \c{imm} denotes a generic \i{immediate operand}.
5948 \c{imm8}, \c{imm16} and \c{imm32} are used when the operand is
5949 intended to be a specific size. For some of these instructions, NASM
5950 needs an explicit specifier: for example, \c{ADD ESP,16} could be
5951 interpreted as either \c{ADD r/m32,imm32} or \c{ADD r/m32,imm8}.
5952 NASM chooses the former by default, and so you must specify \c{ADD
5953 ESP,BYTE 16} for the latter.
5955 \b Memory references: \c{mem} denotes a generic \i{memory reference};
5956 \c{mem8}, \c{mem16}, \c{mem32}, \c{mem64} and \c{mem80} are used
5957 when the operand needs to be a specific size. Again, a specifier is
5958 needed in some cases: \c{DEC [address]} is ambiguous and will be
5959 rejected by NASM. You must specify \c{DEC BYTE [address]}, \c{DEC
5960 WORD [address]} or \c{DEC DWORD [address]} instead.
5962 \b \i{Restricted memory references}: one form of the \c{MOV}
5963 instruction allows a memory address to be specified \e{without}
5964 allowing the normal range of register combinations and effective
5965 address processing. This is denoted by \c{memoffs8}, \c{memoffs16}
5968 \b Register or memory choices: many instructions can accept either a
5969 register \e{or} a memory reference as an operand. \c{r/m8} is a
5970 shorthand for \c{reg8/mem8}; similarly \c{r/m16} and \c{r/m32}.
5971 \c{r/m64} is MMX-related, and is a shorthand for \c{mmxreg/mem64}.
5974 \H{iref-opc} Key to Opcode Descriptions
5976 This appendix also provides the opcodes which NASM will generate for
5977 each form of each instruction. The opcodes are listed in the
5980 \b A hex number, such as \c{3F}, indicates a fixed byte containing
5983 \b A hex number followed by \c{+r}, such as \c{C8+r}, indicates that
5984 one of the operands to the instruction is a register, and the
5985 `register value' of that register should be added to the hex number
5986 to produce the generated byte. For example, EDX has register value
5987 2, so the code \c{C8+r}, when the register operand is EDX, generates
5988 the hex byte \c{CA}. Register values for specific registers are
5989 given in \k{iref-rv}.
5991 \b A hex number followed by \c{+cc}, such as \c{40+cc}, indicates
5992 that the instruction name has a condition code suffix, and the
5993 numeric representation of the condition code should be added to the
5994 hex number to produce the generated byte. For example, the code
5995 \c{40+cc}, when the instruction contains the \c{NE} condition,
5996 generates the hex byte \c{45}. Condition codes and their numeric
5997 representations are given in \k{iref-cc}.
5999 \b A slash followed by a digit, such as \c{/2}, indicates that one
6000 of the operands to the instruction is a memory address or register
6001 (denoted \c{mem} or \c{r/m}, with an optional size). This is to be
6002 encoded as an effective address, with a \i{ModR/M byte}, an optional
6003 \i{SIB byte}, and an optional displacement, and the spare (register)
6004 field of the ModR/M byte should be the digit given (which will be
6005 from 0 to 7, so it fits in three bits). The encoding of effective
6006 addresses is given in \k{iref-ea}.
6008 \b The code \c{/r} combines the above two: it indicates that one of
6009 the operands is a memory address or \c{r/m}, and another is a
6010 register, and that an effective address should be generated with the
6011 spare (register) field in the ModR/M byte being equal to the
6012 `register value' of the register operand. The encoding of effective
6013 addresses is given in \k{iref-ea}; register values are given in
6016 \b The codes \c{ib}, \c{iw} and \c{id} indicate that one of the
6017 operands to the instruction is an immediate value, and that this is
6018 to be encoded as a byte, little-endian word or little-endian
6019 doubleword respectively.
6021 \b The codes \c{rb}, \c{rw} and \c{rd} indicate that one of the
6022 operands to the instruction is an immediate value, and that the
6023 \e{difference} between this value and the address of the end of the
6024 instruction is to be encoded as a byte, word or doubleword
6025 respectively. Where the form \c{rw/rd} appears, it indicates that
6026 either \c{rw} or \c{rd} should be used according to whether assembly
6027 is being performed in \c{BITS 16} or \c{BITS 32} state respectively.
6029 \b The codes \c{ow} and \c{od} indicate that one of the operands to
6030 the instruction is a reference to the contents of a memory address
6031 specified as an immediate value: this encoding is used in some forms
6032 of the \c{MOV} instruction in place of the standard
6033 effective-address mechanism. The displacement is encoded as a word
6034 or doubleword. Again, \c{ow/od} denotes that \c{ow} or \c{od} should
6035 be chosen according to the \c{BITS} setting.
6037 \b The codes \c{o16} and \c{o32} indicate that the given form of the
6038 instruction should be assembled with operand size 16 or 32 bits. In
6039 other words, \c{o16} indicates a \c{66} prefix in \c{BITS 32} state,
6040 but generates no code in \c{BITS 16} state; and \c{o32} indicates a
6041 \c{66} prefix in \c{BITS 16} state but generates nothing in \c{BITS
6044 \b The codes \c{a16} and \c{a32}, similarly to \c{o16} and \c{o32},
6045 indicate the address size of the given form of the instruction.
6046 Where this does not match the \c{BITS} setting, a \c{67} prefix is
6050 \S{iref-rv} Register Values
6052 Where an instruction requires a register value, it is already
6053 implicit in the encoding of the rest of the instruction what type of
6054 register is intended: an 8-bit general-purpose register, a segment
6055 register, a debug register, an MMX register, or whatever. Therefore
6056 there is no problem with registers of different types sharing an
6059 The encodings for the various classes of register are:
6061 \b 8-bit general registers: \c{AL} is 0, \c{CL} is 1, \c{DL} is 2,
6062 \c{BL} is 3, \c{AH} is 4, \c{CH} is 5, \c{DH} is 6, and \c{BH} is
6065 \b 16-bit general registers: \c{AX} is 0, \c{CX} is 1, \c{DX} is 2,
6066 \c{BX} is 3, \c{SP} is 4, \c{BP} is 5, \c{SI} is 6, and \c{DI} is 7.
6068 \b 32-bit general registers: \c{EAX} is 0, \c{ECX} is 1, \c{EDX} is
6069 2, \c{EBX} is 3, \c{ESP} is 4, \c{EBP} is 5, \c{ESI} is 6, and
6072 \b \i{Segment registers}: \c{ES} is 0, \c{CS} is 1, \c{SS} is 2, \c{DS}
6073 is 3, \c{FS} is 4, and \c{GS} is 5.
6075 \b \I{floating-point, registers}Floating-point registers: \c{ST0}
6076 is 0, \c{ST1} is 1, \c{ST2} is 2, \c{ST3} is 3, \c{ST4} is 4,
6077 \c{ST5} is 5, \c{ST6} is 6, and \c{ST7} is 7.
6079 \b 64-bit \i{MMX registers}: \c{MM0} is 0, \c{MM1} is 1, \c{MM2} is 2,
6080 \c{MM3} is 3, \c{MM4} is 4, \c{MM5} is 5, \c{MM6} is 6, and \c{MM7}
6083 \b \i{Control registers}: \c{CR0} is 0, \c{CR2} is 2, \c{CR3} is 3,
6086 \b \i{Debug registers}: \c{DR0} is 0, \c{DR1} is 1, \c{DR2} is 2,
6087 \c{DR3} is 3, \c{DR6} is 6, and \c{DR7} is 7.
6089 \b \i{Test registers}: \c{TR3} is 3, \c{TR4} is 4, \c{TR5} is 5,
6090 \c{TR6} is 6, and \c{TR7} is 7.
6092 (Note that wherever a register name contains a number, that number
6093 is also the register value for that register.)
6096 \S{iref-cc} \i{Condition Codes}
6098 The available condition codes are given here, along with their
6099 numeric representations as part of opcodes. Many of these condition
6100 codes have synonyms, so several will be listed at a time.
6102 In the following descriptions, the word `either', when applied to two
6103 possible trigger conditions, is used to mean `either or both'. If
6104 `either but not both' is meant, the phrase `exactly one of' is used.
6106 \b \c{O} is 0 (trigger if the overflow flag is set); \c{NO} is 1.
6108 \b \c{B}, \c{C} and \c{NAE} are 2 (trigger if the carry flag is
6109 set); \c{AE}, \c{NB} and \c{NC} are 3.
6111 \b \c{E} and \c{Z} are 4 (trigger if the zero flag is set); \c{NE}
6114 \b \c{BE} and \c{NA} are 6 (trigger if either of the carry or zero
6115 flags is set); \c{A} and \c{NBE} are 7.
6117 \b \c{S} is 8 (trigger if the sign flag is set); \c{NS} is 9.
6119 \b \c{P} and \c{PE} are 10 (trigger if the parity flag is set);
6120 \c{NP} and \c{PO} are 11.
6122 \b \c{L} and \c{NGE} are 12 (trigger if exactly one of the sign and
6123 overflow flags is set); \c{GE} and \c{NL} are 13.
6125 \b \c{LE} and \c{NG} are 14 (trigger if either the zero flag is set,
6126 or exactly one of the sign and overflow flags is set); \c{G} and
6129 Note that in all cases, the sense of a condition code may be
6130 reversed by changing the low bit of the numeric representation.
6132 For details of when an instruction sets each of the status flags,
6133 see the individual instruction, plus the Status Flags reference
6137 \S{iref-SSE-cc} \i{SSE Condition Predicates}
6139 The condition predicates for SSE comparison instructions are the
6140 codes used as part of the opcode, to determine what form of
6141 comparison is being carried out. In each case, the imm8 value is
6142 the final byte of the opcode encoding, and the predicate is the
6143 code used as part of the mnemonic for the instruction (equivalent
6144 to the "cc" in an integer instruction that used a condition code).
6145 The instructions that use this will give details of what the various
6146 mnemonics are, this table is used to help you work out details of what
6149 Predi- imm8 Description Relation where: Emula- Result if QNaN
6150 cate Encod- A Is 1st Operand tion NaN Signals
6151 ing B Is 2nd Operand Operand Invalid
6153 EQ 000B equal A = B False No
6155 LT 001B less-than A < B False Yes
6157 LE 010B less-than- A <= B False Yes
6160 --- ---- greater A > B Swap False Yes
6164 --- ---- greater- A >= B Swap False Yes
6165 than-or-equal Operands,
6168 UNORD 011B unordered A, B = Unordered True No
6170 NEQ 100B not-equal A != B True No
6172 NLT 101B not-less- NOT(A < B) True Yes
6175 NLE 110B not-less- NOT(A <= B) True Yes
6179 --- ---- not-greater NOT(A > B) Swap True Yes
6183 --- ---- not-greater NOT(A >= B) Swap True Yes
6187 ORD 111B ordered A , B = Ordered False No
6189 The unordered relationship is true when at least one of the two
6190 values being compared is a NaN or in an unsupported format.
6192 Note that the comparisons which are listed as not having a predicate
6193 or encoding can only be achieved through software emulation, as
6194 described in the "emulation" column. Note in particular that an
6195 instruction such as \c{greater-than} is not the same as \c{NLE}, as,
6196 unlike with the \c{CMP} instruction, it has to take into account the
6197 possibility of one operand containing a NaN or an unsupported numeric
6201 \S{iref-Flags} \i{Status Flags}
6203 The status flags provide some information about the result of the
6204 arithmetic instructions. This information can be used by conditional
6205 instructions (such a \c{Jcc} and \c{CMOVcc}) as well as by some of
6206 the other instructions (such as \c{ADC} and \c{INTO}).
6208 There are 6 status flags:
6212 Set if an arithmetic operation generates a
6213 carry or a borrow out of the most-significant bit of the result;
6214 cleared otherwise. This flag indicates an overflow condition for
6215 unsigned-integer arithmetic. It is also used in multiple-precision
6218 \c PF - Parity flag.
6220 Set if the least-significant byte of the result contains an even
6221 number of 1 bits; cleared otherwise.
6223 \c AF - Adjust flag.
6225 Set if an arithmetic operation generates a carry or a borrow
6226 out of bit 3 of the result; cleared otherwise. This flag is used
6227 in binary-coded decimal (BCD) arithmetic.
6231 Set if the result is zero; cleared otherwise.
6235 Set equal to the most-significant bit of the result, which is the
6236 sign bit of a signed integer. (0 indicates a positive value and 1
6237 indicates a negative value.)
6239 \c OF - Overflow flag.
6241 Set if the integer result is too large a positive number or too
6242 small a negative number (excluding the sign-bit) to fit in the
6243 destina-tion operand; cleared otherwise. This flag indicates an
6244 overflow condition for signed-integer (two
\92s complement) arithmetic.
6247 \S{iref-ea} Effective Address Encoding: \i{ModR/M} and \i{SIB}
6249 An \i{effective address} is encoded in up to three parts: a ModR/M
6250 byte, an optional SIB byte, and an optional byte, word or doubleword
6253 The ModR/M byte consists of three fields: the \c{mod} field, ranging
6254 from 0 to 3, in the upper two bits of the byte, the \c{r/m} field,
6255 ranging from 0 to 7, in the lower three bits, and the spare
6256 (register) field in the middle (bit 3 to bit 5). The spare field is
6257 not relevant to the effective address being encoded, and either
6258 contains an extension to the instruction opcode or the register
6259 value of another operand.
6261 The ModR/M system can be used to encode a direct register reference
6262 rather than a memory access. This is always done by setting the
6263 \c{mod} field to 3 and the \c{r/m} field to the register value of
6264 the register in question (it must be a general-purpose register, and
6265 the size of the register must already be implicit in the encoding of
6266 the rest of the instruction). In this case, the SIB byte and
6267 displacement field are both absent.
6269 In 16-bit addressing mode (either \c{BITS 16} with no \c{67} prefix,
6270 or \c{BITS 32} with a \c{67} prefix), the SIB byte is never used.
6271 The general rules for \c{mod} and \c{r/m} (there is an exception,
6274 \b The \c{mod} field gives the length of the displacement field: 0
6275 means no displacement, 1 means one byte, and 2 means two bytes.
6277 \b The \c{r/m} field encodes the combination of registers to be
6278 added to the displacement to give the accessed address: 0 means
6279 \c{BX+SI}, 1 means \c{BX+DI}, 2 means \c{BP+SI}, 3 means \c{BP+DI},
6280 4 means \c{SI} only, 5 means \c{DI} only, 6 means \c{BP} only, and 7
6283 However, there is a special case:
6285 \b If \c{mod} is 0 and \c{r/m} is 6, the effective address encoded
6286 is not \c{[BP]} as the above rules would suggest, but instead
6287 \c{[disp16]}: the displacement field is present and is two bytes
6288 long, and no registers are added to the displacement.
6290 Therefore the effective address \c{[BP]} cannot be encoded as
6291 efficiently as \c{[BX]}; so if you code \c{[BP]} in a program, NASM
6292 adds a notional 8-bit zero displacement, and sets \c{mod} to 1,
6293 \c{r/m} to 6, and the one-byte displacement field to 0.
6295 In 32-bit addressing mode (either \c{BITS 16} with a \c{67} prefix,
6296 or \c{BITS 32} with no \c{67} prefix) the general rules (again,
6297 there are exceptions) for \c{mod} and \c{r/m} are:
6299 \b The \c{mod} field gives the length of the displacement field: 0
6300 means no displacement, 1 means one byte, and 2 means four bytes.
6302 \b If only one register is to be added to the displacement, and it
6303 is not \c{ESP}, the \c{r/m} field gives its register value, and the
6304 SIB byte is absent. If the \c{r/m} field is 4 (which would encode
6305 \c{ESP}), the SIB byte is present and gives the combination and
6306 scaling of registers to be added to the displacement.
6308 If the SIB byte is present, it describes the combination of
6309 registers (an optional base register, and an optional index register
6310 scaled by multiplication by 1, 2, 4 or 8) to be added to the
6311 displacement. The SIB byte is divided into the \c{scale} field, in
6312 the top two bits, the \c{index} field in the next three, and the
6313 \c{base} field in the bottom three. The general rules are:
6315 \b The \c{base} field encodes the register value of the base
6318 \b The \c{index} field encodes the register value of the index
6319 register, unless it is 4, in which case no index register is used
6320 (so \c{ESP} cannot be used as an index register).
6322 \b The \c{scale} field encodes the multiplier by which the index
6323 register is scaled before adding it to the base and displacement: 0
6324 encodes a multiplier of 1, 1 encodes 2, 2 encodes 4 and 3 encodes 8.
6326 The exceptions to the 32-bit encoding rules are:
6328 \b If \c{mod} is 0 and \c{r/m} is 5, the effective address encoded
6329 is not \c{[EBP]} as the above rules would suggest, but instead
6330 \c{[disp32]}: the displacement field is present and is four bytes
6331 long, and no registers are added to the displacement.
6333 \b If \c{mod} is 0, \c{r/m} is 4 (meaning the SIB byte is present)
6334 and \c{base} is 4, the effective address encoded is not
6335 \c{[EBP+index]} as the above rules would suggest, but instead
6336 \c{[disp32+index]}: the displacement field is present and is four
6337 bytes long, and there is no base register (but the index register is
6338 still processed in the normal way).
6341 \H{iref-flg} Key to Instruction Flags
6343 Given along with each instruction in this appendix is a set of
6344 flags, denoting the type of the instruction. The types are as follows:
6346 \b \c{8086}, \c{186}, \c{286}, \c{386}, \c{486}, \c{PENT} and \c{P6}
6347 denote the lowest processor type that supports the instruction. Most
6348 instructions run on all processors above the given type; those that
6349 do not are documented. The Pentium II contains no additional
6350 instructions beyond the P6 (Pentium Pro); from the point of view of
6351 its instruction set, it can be thought of as a P6 with MMX
6354 \b \c{3DNOW} indicates that the instruction is a 3DNow! one, and will
6355 run on the AMD K6-2 and later processors. ATHLON extensions to the
6356 3DNow! instruction set are documented as such.
6358 \b \c{CYRIX} indicates that the instruction is specific to Cyrix
6359 processors, for example the extra MMX instructions in the Cyrix
6360 extended MMX instruction set.
6362 \b \c{FPU} indicates that the instruction is a floating-point one,
6363 and will only run on machines with a coprocessor (automatically
6364 including 486DX, Pentium and above).
6366 \b \c{KATMAI} indicates that the instruction was introduced as part
6367 of the Katmai New Instruction set. These instructions are available
6368 on the Pentium III and later processors. Those which are not
6369 specifically SSE instructions are also available on the AMD Athlon.
6371 \b \c{MMX} indicates that the instruction is an MMX one, and will
6372 run on MMX-capable Pentium processors and the Pentium II.
6374 \b \c{PRIV} indicates that the instruction is a protected-mode
6375 management instruction. Many of these may only be used in protected
6376 mode, or only at privilege level zero.
6378 \b \c{SSE} and \c{SSE2} indicate that the instruction is a Streaming
6379 SIMD Extension instruction. These instructions operate on multiple
6380 values in a single operation. SSE was introduced with the Pentium III
6381 and SSE2 was introduced with the Pentium 4.
6383 \b \c{UNDOC} indicates that the instruction is an undocumented one,
6384 and not part of the official Intel Architecture; it may or may not
6385 be supported on any given machine.
6387 \b \c{WILLAMETTE} indicates that the instruction was introduced as
6388 part of the new instruction set in the Pentium 4 and Intel Xeon
6389 processors. These instructions are also known as SSE2 instructions.
6392 \H{insAAA} \i\c{AAA}, \i\c{AAS}, \i\c{AAM}, \i\c{AAD}: ASCII
6399 \c AAD ; D5 0A [8086]
6400 \c AAD imm ; D5 ib [8086]
6402 \c AAM ; D4 0A [8086]
6403 \c AAM imm ; D4 ib [8086]
6405 These instructions are used in conjunction with the add, subtract,
6406 multiply and divide instructions to perform binary-coded decimal
6407 arithmetic in \e{unpacked} (one BCD digit per byte - easy to
6408 translate to and from \c{ASCII}, hence the instruction names) form.
6409 There are also packed BCD instructions \c{DAA} and \c{DAS}: see
6412 \b \c{AAA} (ASCII Adjust After Addition) should be used after a
6413 one-byte \c{ADD} instruction whose destination was the \c{AL}
6414 register: by means of examining the value in the low nibble of
6415 \c{AL} and also the auxiliary carry flag \c{AF}, it determines
6416 whether the addition has overflowed, and adjusts it (and sets
6417 the carry flag) if so. You can add long BCD strings together
6418 by doing \c{ADD}/\c{AAA} on the low digits, then doing
6419 \c{ADC}/\c{AAA} on each subsequent digit.
6421 \b \c{AAS} (ASCII Adjust AL After Subtraction) works similarly to
6422 \c{AAA}, but is for use after \c{SUB} instructions rather than
6425 \b \c{AAM} (ASCII Adjust AX After Multiply) is for use after you
6426 have multiplied two decimal digits together and left the result
6427 in \c{AL}: it divides \c{AL} by ten and stores the quotient in
6428 \c{AH}, leaving the remainder in \c{AL}. The divisor 10 can be
6429 changed by specifying an operand to the instruction: a particularly
6430 handy use of this is \c{AAM 16}, causing the two nibbles in \c{AL}
6431 to be separated into \c{AH} and \c{AL}.
6433 \b \c{AAD} (ASCII Adjust AX Before Division) performs the inverse
6434 operation to \c{AAM}: it multiplies \c{AH} by ten, adds it to
6435 \c{AL}, and sets \c{AH} to zero. Again, the multiplier 10 can
6439 \H{insADC} \i\c{ADC}: Add with Carry
6441 \c ADC r/m8,reg8 ; 10 /r [8086]
6442 \c ADC r/m16,reg16 ; o16 11 /r [8086]
6443 \c ADC r/m32,reg32 ; o32 11 /r [386]
6445 \c ADC reg8,r/m8 ; 12 /r [8086]
6446 \c ADC reg16,r/m16 ; o16 13 /r [8086]
6447 \c ADC reg32,r/m32 ; o32 13 /r [386]
6449 \c ADC r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /2 ib [8086]
6450 \c ADC r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /2 iw [8086]
6451 \c ADC r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /2 id [386]
6453 \c ADC r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /2 ib [8086]
6454 \c ADC r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /2 ib [386]
6456 \c ADC AL,imm8 ; 14 ib [8086]
6457 \c ADC AX,imm16 ; o16 15 iw [8086]
6458 \c ADC EAX,imm32 ; o32 15 id [386]
6460 \c{ADC} performs integer addition: it adds its two operands
6461 together, plus the value of the carry flag, and leaves the result in
6462 its destination (first) operand. The destination operand can be a
6463 register or a memory location. The source operand can be a register,
6464 a memory location or an immediate value.
6466 The flags are set according to the result of the operation: in
6467 particular, the carry flag is affected and can be used by a
6468 subsequent \c{ADC} instruction.
6470 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
6471 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
6472 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
6473 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
6474 form of the instruction.
6476 To add two numbers without also adding the contents of the carry
6477 flag, use \c{ADD} (\k{insADD}).
6480 \H{insADD} \i\c{ADD}: Add Integers
6482 \c ADD r/m8,reg8 ; 00 /r [8086]
6483 \c ADD r/m16,reg16 ; o16 01 /r [8086]
6484 \c ADD r/m32,reg32 ; o32 01 /r [386]
6486 \c ADD reg8,r/m8 ; 02 /r [8086]
6487 \c ADD reg16,r/m16 ; o16 03 /r [8086]
6488 \c ADD reg32,r/m32 ; o32 03 /r [386]
6490 \c ADD r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /0 ib [8086]
6491 \c ADD r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /0 iw [8086]
6492 \c ADD r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /0 id [386]
6494 \c ADD r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /0 ib [8086]
6495 \c ADD r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /0 ib [386]
6497 \c ADD AL,imm8 ; 04 ib [8086]
6498 \c ADD AX,imm16 ; o16 05 iw [8086]
6499 \c ADD EAX,imm32 ; o32 05 id [386]
6501 \c{ADD} performs integer addition: it adds its two operands
6502 together, and leaves the result in its destination (first) operand.
6503 The destination operand can be a register or a memory location.
6504 The source operand can be a register, a memory location or an
6507 The flags are set according to the result of the operation: in
6508 particular, the carry flag is affected and can be used by a
6509 subsequent \c{ADC} instruction.
6511 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
6512 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
6513 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
6514 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
6515 form of the instruction.
6518 \H{insADDPD} \i\c{ADDPD}: ADD Packed Double-Precision FP Values
6520 \c ADDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 58 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6522 \c{ADDPD} performs addition on each of two packed double-precision
6525 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] + src[0-63],
6526 \c dst[64-127] := dst[64-127] + src[64-127].
6528 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6529 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6532 \H{insADDPS} \i\c{ADDPS}: ADD Packed Single-Precision FP Values
6534 \c ADDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 58 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
6536 \c{ADDPS} performs addition on each of four packed single-precision
6539 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + src[0-31],
6540 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] + src[32-63],
6541 \c dst[64-95] := dst[64-95] + src[64-95],
6542 \c dst[96-127] := dst[96-127] + src[96-127].
6544 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6545 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6548 \H{insADDSD} \i\c{ADDSD}: ADD Scalar Double-Precision FP Values
6550 \c ADDSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F 58 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
6552 \c{ADDSD} adds the low double-precision FP values from the source
6553 and destination operands and stores the double-precision FP result
6554 in the destination operand.
6556 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] + src[0-63],
6557 \c dst[64-127) remains unchanged.
6559 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6560 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location.
6563 \H{insADDSS} \i\c{ADDSS}: ADD Scalar Single-Precision FP Values
6565 \c ADDSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 58 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6567 \c{ADDSD} adds the low single-precision FP values from the source
6568 and destination operands and stores the single-precision FP result
6569 in the destination operand.
6571 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + src[0-31],
6572 \c dst[32-127] remains unchanged.
6574 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6575 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location.
6578 \H{insAND} \i\c{AND}: Bitwise AND
6580 \c AND r/m8,reg8 ; 20 /r [8086]
6581 \c AND r/m16,reg16 ; o16 21 /r [8086]
6582 \c AND r/m32,reg32 ; o32 21 /r [386]
6584 \c AND reg8,r/m8 ; 22 /r [8086]
6585 \c AND reg16,r/m16 ; o16 23 /r [8086]
6586 \c AND reg32,r/m32 ; o32 23 /r [386]
6588 \c AND r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /4 ib [8086]
6589 \c AND r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /4 iw [8086]
6590 \c AND r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /4 id [386]
6592 \c AND r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /4 ib [8086]
6593 \c AND r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /4 ib [386]
6595 \c AND AL,imm8 ; 24 ib [8086]
6596 \c AND AX,imm16 ; o16 25 iw [8086]
6597 \c AND EAX,imm32 ; o32 25 id [386]
6599 \c{AND} performs a bitwise AND operation between its two operands
6600 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if the corresponding
6601 bits of the two inputs were both 1), and stores the result in the
6602 destination (first) operand. The destination operand can be a
6603 register or a memory location. The source operand can be a register,
6604 a memory location or an immediate value.
6606 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
6607 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
6608 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
6609 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
6610 form of the instruction.
6612 The \c{MMX} instruction \c{PAND} (see \k{insPAND}) performs the same
6613 operation on the 64-bit \c{MMX} registers.
6616 \H{insANDNPD} \i\c{ANDNPD}: Bitwise Logical AND NOT of
6617 Packed Double-Precision FP Values
6619 \c ANDNPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 55 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6621 \c{ANDNPD} inverts the bits of the two double-precision
6622 floating-point values in the destination register, and then
6623 performs a logical AND between the two double-precision
6624 floating-point values in the source operand and the temporary
6625 inverted result, storing the result in the destination register.
6627 \c dst[0-63] := src[0-63] AND NOT dst[0-63],
6628 \c dst[64-127] := src[64-127] AND NOT dst[64-127].
6630 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6631 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6634 \H{insANDNPS} \i\c{ANDNPS}: Bitwise Logical AND NOT of
6635 Packed Single-Precision FP Values
6637 \c ANDNPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 55 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
6639 \c{ANDNPS} inverts the bits of the four single-precision
6640 floating-point values in the destination register, and then
6641 performs a logical AND between the four single-precision
6642 floating-point values in the source operand and the temporary
6643 inverted result, storing the result in the destination register.
6645 \c dst[0-31] := src[0-31] AND NOT dst[0-31],
6646 \c dst[32-63] := src[32-63] AND NOT dst[32-63],
6647 \c dst[64-95] := src[64-95] AND NOT dst[64-95],
6648 \c dst[96-127] := src[96-127] AND NOT dst[96-127].
6650 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6651 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6654 \H{insANDPD} \i\c{ANDPD}: Bitwise Logical AND For Single FP
6656 \c ANDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 54 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6658 \c{ANDPD} performs a bitwise logical AND of the two double-precision
6659 floating point values in the source and destination operand, and
6660 stores the result in the destination register.
6662 \c dst[0-63] := src[0-63] AND dst[0-63],
6663 \c dst[64-127] := src[64-127] AND dst[64-127].
6665 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6666 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6669 \H{insANDPS} \i\c{ANDPS}: Bitwise Logical AND For Single FP
6671 \c ANDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 54 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
6673 \c{ANDPS} performs a bitwise logical AND of the four single-precision
6674 floating point values in the source and destination operand, and
6675 stores the result in the destination register.
6677 \c dst[0-31] := src[0-31] AND dst[0-31],
6678 \c dst[32-63] := src[32-63] AND dst[32-63],
6679 \c dst[64-95] := src[64-95] AND dst[64-95],
6680 \c dst[96-127] := src[96-127] AND dst[96-127].
6682 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6683 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6686 \H{insARPL} \i\c{ARPL}: Adjust RPL Field of Selector
6688 \c ARPL r/m16,reg16 ; 63 /r [286,PRIV]
6690 \c{ARPL} expects its two word operands to be segment selectors. It
6691 adjusts the \i\c{RPL} (requested privilege level - stored in the bottom
6692 two bits of the selector) field of the destination (first) operand
6693 to ensure that it is no less (i.e. no more privileged than) the \c{RPL}
6694 field of the source operand. The zero flag is set if and only if a
6695 change had to be made.
6698 \H{insBOUND} \i\c{BOUND}: Check Array Index against Bounds
6700 \c BOUND reg16,mem ; o16 62 /r [186]
6701 \c BOUND reg32,mem ; o32 62 /r [386]
6703 \c{BOUND} expects its second operand to point to an area of memory
6704 containing two signed values of the same size as its first operand
6705 (i.e. two words for the 16-bit form; two doublewords for the 32-bit
6706 form). It performs two signed comparisons: if the value in the
6707 register passed as its first operand is less than the first of the
6708 in-memory values, or is greater than or equal to the second, it
6709 throws a \c{BR} exception. Otherwise, it does nothing.
6712 \H{insBSF} \i\c{BSF}, \i\c{BSR}: Bit Scan
6714 \c BSF reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F BC /r [386]
6715 \c BSF reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F BC /r [386]
6717 \c BSR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F BD /r [386]
6718 \c BSR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F BD /r [386]
6720 \b \c{BSF} searches for the least significant set bit in its source
6721 (second) operand, and if it finds one, stores the index in
6722 its destination (first) operand. If no set bit is found, the
6723 contents of the destination operand are undefined. If the source
6724 operand is zero, the zero flag is set.
6726 \b \c{BSR} performs the same function, but searches from the top
6727 instead, so it finds the most significant set bit.
6729 Bit indices are from 0 (least significant) to 15 or 31 (most
6730 significant). The destination operand can only be a register.
6731 The source operand can be a register or a memory location.
6734 \H{insBSWAP} \i\c{BSWAP}: Byte Swap
6736 \c BSWAP reg32 ; o32 0F C8+r [486]
6738 \c{BSWAP} swaps the order of the four bytes of a 32-bit register:
6739 bits 0-7 exchange places with bits 24-31, and bits 8-15 swap with
6740 bits 16-23. There is no explicit 16-bit equivalent: to byte-swap
6741 \c{AX}, \c{BX}, \c{CX} or \c{DX}, \c{XCHG} can be used. When \c{BSWAP}
6742 is used with a 16-bit register, the result is undefined.
6745 \H{insBT} \i\c{BT}, \i\c{BTC}, \i\c{BTR}, \i\c{BTS}: Bit Test
6747 \c BT r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F A3 /r [386]
6748 \c BT r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F A3 /r [386]
6749 \c BT r/m16,imm8 ; o16 0F BA /4 ib [386]
6750 \c BT r/m32,imm8 ; o32 0F BA /4 ib [386]
6752 \c BTC r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F BB /r [386]
6753 \c BTC r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F BB /r [386]
6754 \c BTC r/m16,imm8 ; o16 0F BA /7 ib [386]
6755 \c BTC r/m32,imm8 ; o32 0F BA /7 ib [386]
6757 \c BTR r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F B3 /r [386]
6758 \c BTR r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F B3 /r [386]
6759 \c BTR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 0F BA /6 ib [386]
6760 \c BTR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 0F BA /6 ib [386]
6762 \c BTS r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F AB /r [386]
6763 \c BTS r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F AB /r [386]
6764 \c BTS r/m16,imm ; o16 0F BA /5 ib [386]
6765 \c BTS r/m32,imm ; o32 0F BA /5 ib [386]
6767 These instructions all test one bit of their first operand, whose
6768 index is given by the second operand, and store the value of that
6769 bit into the carry flag. Bit indices are from 0 (least significant)
6770 to 15 or 31 (most significant).
6772 In addition to storing the original value of the bit into the carry
6773 flag, \c{BTR} also resets (clears) the bit in the operand itself.
6774 \c{BTS} sets the bit, and \c{BTC} complements the bit. \c{BT} does
6775 not modify its operands.
6777 The destination can be a register or a memory location. The source can
6778 be a register or an immediate value.
6780 If the destination operand is a register, the bit offset should be
6781 in the range 0-15 (for 16-bit operands) or 0-31 (for 32-bit operands).
6782 An immediate value outside these ranges will be taken modulo 16/32
6785 If the destination operand is a memory location, then an immediate
6786 bit offset follows the same rules as for a register. If the bit offset
6787 is in a register, then it can be anything within the signed range of
6788 the register used (ie, for a 32-bit operand, it can be (-2^31) to (2^31 - 1)
6791 \H{insCALL} \i\c{CALL}: Call Subroutine
6793 \c CALL imm ; E8 rw/rd [8086]
6794 \c CALL imm:imm16 ; o16 9A iw iw [8086]
6795 \c CALL imm:imm32 ; o32 9A id iw [386]
6796 \c CALL FAR mem16 ; o16 FF /3 [8086]
6797 \c CALL FAR mem32 ; o32 FF /3 [386]
6798 \c CALL r/m16 ; o16 FF /2 [8086]
6799 \c CALL r/m32 ; o32 FF /2 [386]
6801 \c{CALL} calls a subroutine, by means of pushing the current
6802 instruction pointer (\c{IP}) and optionally \c{CS} as well on the
6803 stack, and then jumping to a given address.
6805 \c{CS} is pushed as well as \c{IP} if and only if the call is a far
6806 call, i.e. a destination segment address is specified in the
6807 instruction. The forms involving two colon-separated arguments are
6808 far calls; so are the \c{CALL FAR mem} forms.
6810 The immediate \i{near call} takes one of two forms (\c{call imm16/imm32},
6811 determined by the current segment size limit. For 16-bit operands,
6812 you would use \c{CALL 0x1234}, and for 32-bit operands you would use
6813 \c{CALL 0x12345678}. The value passed as an operand is a relative offset.
6815 You can choose between the two immediate \i{far call} forms
6816 (\c{CALL imm:imm}) by the use of the \c{WORD} and \c{DWORD} keywords:
6817 \c{CALL WORD 0x1234:0x5678}) or \c{CALL DWORD 0x1234:0x56789abc}.
6819 The \c{CALL FAR mem} forms execute a far call by loading the
6820 destination address out of memory. The address loaded consists of 16
6821 or 32 bits of offset (depending on the operand size), and 16 bits of
6822 segment. The operand size may be overridden using \c{CALL WORD FAR
6823 mem} or \c{CALL DWORD FAR mem}.
6825 The \c{CALL r/m} forms execute a \i{near call} (within the same
6826 segment), loading the destination address out of memory or out of a
6827 register. The keyword \c{NEAR} may be specified, for clarity, in
6828 these forms, but is not necessary. Again, operand size can be
6829 overridden using \c{CALL WORD mem} or \c{CALL DWORD mem}.
6831 As a convenience, NASM does not require you to call a far procedure
6832 symbol by coding the cumbersome \c{CALL SEG routine:routine}, but
6833 instead allows the easier synonym \c{CALL FAR routine}.
6835 The \c{CALL r/m} forms given above are near calls; NASM will accept
6836 the \c{NEAR} keyword (e.g. \c{CALL NEAR [address]}), even though it
6837 is not strictly necessary.
6840 \H{insCBW} \i\c{CBW}, \i\c{CWD}, \i\c{CDQ}, \i\c{CWDE}: Sign Extensions
6842 \c CBW ; o16 98 [8086]
6843 \c CWDE ; o32 98 [386]
6845 \c CWD ; o16 99 [8086]
6846 \c CDQ ; o32 99 [386]
6848 All these instructions sign-extend a short value into a longer one,
6849 by replicating the top bit of the original value to fill the
6852 \c{CBW} extends \c{AL} into \c{AX} by repeating the top bit of
6853 \c{AL} in every bit of \c{AH}. \c{CWDE} extends \c{AX} into
6854 \c{EAX}. \c{CWD} extends \c{AX} into \c{DX:AX} by repeating
6855 the top bit of \c{AX} throughout \c{DX}, and \c{CDQ} extends
6856 \c{EAX} into \c{EDX:EAX}.
6859 \H{insCLC} \i\c{CLC}, \i\c{CLD}, \i\c{CLI}, \i\c{CLTS}: Clear Flags
6864 \c CLTS ; 0F 06 [286,PRIV]
6866 These instructions clear various flags. \c{CLC} clears the carry
6867 flag; \c{CLD} clears the direction flag; \c{CLI} clears the
6868 interrupt flag (thus disabling interrupts); and \c{CLTS} clears the
6869 task-switched (\c{TS}) flag in \c{CR0}.
6871 To set the carry, direction, or interrupt flags, use the \c{STC},
6872 \c{STD} and \c{STI} instructions (\k{insSTC}). To invert the carry
6873 flag, use \c{CMC} (\k{insCMC}).
6876 \H{insCLFLUSH} \i\c{CLFLUSH}: Flush Cache Line
6878 \c CLFLUSH mem ; 0F AE /7 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6880 \c{CLFLUSH} invlidates the cache line that contains the linear address
6881 specified by the source operand from all levels of the processor cache
6882 hierarchy (data and instruction). If, at any level of the cache
6883 hierarchy, the line is inconsistent with memory (dirty) it is written
6884 to memory before invalidation. The source operand points to a
6885 byte-sized memory location.
6887 Although \c{CLFLUSH} is flagged \c{SSE2} and above, it may not be
6888 present on all processors which have \c{SSE2} support, and it may be
6889 supported on other processors; the \c{CPUID} instruction (\k{insCPUID})
6890 will return a bit which indicates support for the \c{CLFLUSH} instruction.
6893 \H{insCMC} \i\c{CMC}: Complement Carry Flag
6897 \c{CMC} changes the value of the carry flag: if it was 0, it sets it
6898 to 1, and vice versa.
6901 \H{insCMOVcc} \i\c{CMOVcc}: Conditional Move
6903 \c CMOVcc reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 40+cc /r [P6]
6904 \c CMOVcc reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 40+cc /r [P6]
6906 \c{CMOV} moves its source (second) operand into its destination
6907 (first) operand if the given condition code is satisfied; otherwise
6910 For a list of condition codes, see \k{iref-cc}.
6912 Although the \c{CMOV} instructions are flagged \c{P6} and above, they
6913 may not be supported by all Pentium Pro processors; the \c{CPUID}
6914 instruction (\k{insCPUID}) will return a bit which indicates whether
6915 conditional moves are supported.
6918 \H{insCMP} \i\c{CMP}: Compare Integers
6920 \c CMP r/m8,reg8 ; 38 /r [8086]
6921 \c CMP r/m16,reg16 ; o16 39 /r [8086]
6922 \c CMP r/m32,reg32 ; o32 39 /r [386]
6924 \c CMP reg8,r/m8 ; 3A /r [8086]
6925 \c CMP reg16,r/m16 ; o16 3B /r [8086]
6926 \c CMP reg32,r/m32 ; o32 3B /r [386]
6928 \c CMP r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /0 ib [8086]
6929 \c CMP r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /0 iw [8086]
6930 \c CMP r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /0 id [386]
6932 \c CMP r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /0 ib [8086]
6933 \c CMP r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /0 ib [386]
6935 \c CMP AL,imm8 ; 3C ib [8086]
6936 \c CMP AX,imm16 ; o16 3D iw [8086]
6937 \c CMP EAX,imm32 ; o32 3D id [386]
6939 \c{CMP} performs a `mental' subtraction of its second operand from
6940 its first operand, and affects the flags as if the subtraction had
6941 taken place, but does not store the result of the subtraction
6944 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
6945 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
6946 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
6947 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
6948 form of the instruction.
6950 The destination operand can be a register or a memory location. The
6951 source can be a register, memory location or an immediate value of
6952 the same size as the destination.
6955 \H{insCMPccPD} \i\c{CMPccPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Compare
6956 \I\c{CMPEQPD} \I\c{CMPLTPD} \I\c{CMPLEPD} \I\c{CMPUNORDPD}
6957 \I\c{CMPNEQPD} \I\c{CMPNLTPD} \I\c{CMPNLEPD} \I\c{CMPORDPD}
6959 \c CMPPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128,imm8 ; 66 0F C2 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6961 \c CMPEQPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 00 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6962 \c CMPLTPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 01 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6963 \c CMPLEPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 02 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6964 \c CMPUNORDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 03 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6965 \c CMPNEQPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 04 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6966 \c CMPNLTPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 05 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6967 \c CMPNLEPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 06 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6968 \c CMPORDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 07 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6970 The \c{CMPccPD} instructions compare the two packed double-precision
6971 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
6972 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
6973 each comparison is a quadword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
6974 all 0s (comparison false).
6976 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
6977 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6979 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
6980 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
6981 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
6982 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
6983 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
6987 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
6988 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
6990 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
6991 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
6994 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
6995 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
6998 \H{insCMPccPS} \i\c{CMPccPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Compare
6999 \I\c{CMPEQPS} \I\c{CMPLTPS} \I\c{CMPLEPS} \I\c{CMPUNORDPS}
7000 \I\c{CMPNEQPS} \I\c{CMPNLTPS} \I\c{CMPNLEPS} \I\c{CMPORDPS}
7002 \c CMPPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128,imm8 ; 0F C2 /r ib [KATMAI,SSE]
7004 \c CMPEQPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 00 [KATMAI,SSE]
7005 \c CMPLTPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 01 [KATMAI,SSE]
7006 \c CMPLEPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 02 [KATMAI,SSE]
7007 \c CMPUNORDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 03 [KATMAI,SSE]
7008 \c CMPNEQPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 04 [KATMAI,SSE]
7009 \c CMPNLTPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 05 [KATMAI,SSE]
7010 \c CMPNLEPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 06 [KATMAI,SSE]
7011 \c CMPORDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 07 [KATMAI,SSE]
7013 The \c{CMPccPS} instructions compare the two packed single-precision
7014 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
7015 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
7016 each comparison is a doubleword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
7017 all 0s (comparison false).
7019 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
7020 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7022 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
7023 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
7024 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
7025 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
7026 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
7030 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
7031 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
7033 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
7034 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
7037 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
7038 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7041 \H{insCMPSB} \i\c{CMPSB}, \i\c{CMPSW}, \i\c{CMPSD}: Compare Strings
7043 \c CMPSB ; A6 [8086]
7044 \c CMPSW ; o16 A7 [8086]
7045 \c CMPSD ; o32 A7 [386]
7047 \c{CMPSB} compares the byte at \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} with the
7048 byte at \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]}, and sets the flags accordingly.
7049 It then increments or decrements (depending on the direction flag:
7050 increments if the flag is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{SI} and
7051 \c{DI} (or \c{ESI} and \c{EDI}).
7053 The registers used are \c{SI} and \c{DI} if the address size is 16
7054 bits, and \c{ESI} and \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use
7055 an address size not equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can
7056 use an explicit \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
7058 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
7059 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
7060 example, \c{ES CMPSB}). The use of \c{ES} for the load from \c{[DI]}
7061 or \c{[EDI]} cannot be overridden.
7063 \c{CMPSW} and \c{CMPSD} work in the same way, but they compare a
7064 word or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement
7065 the addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
7067 The \c{REPE} and \c{REPNE} prefixes (equivalently, \c{REPZ} and
7068 \c{REPNZ}) may be used to repeat the instruction up to \c{CX} (or
7069 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times until the
7070 first unequal or equal byte is found.
7073 \H{insCMPccSD} \i\c{CMPccSD}: Scalar Double-Precision FP Compare
7074 \I\c{CMPEQSD} \I\c{CMPLTSD} \I\c{CMPLESD} \I\c{CMPUNORDSD}
7075 \I\c{CMPNEQSD} \I\c{CMPNLTSD} \I\c{CMPNLESD} \I\c{CMPORDSD}
7077 \c CMPSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64,imm8 ; F2 0F C2 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7079 \c CMPEQSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 00 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7080 \c CMPLTSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 01 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7081 \c CMPLESD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 02 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7082 \c CMPUNORDSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 03 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7083 \c CMPNEQSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 04 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7084 \c CMPNLTSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 05 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7085 \c CMPNLESD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 06 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7086 \c CMPORDSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 07 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7088 The \c{CMPccSD} instructions compare the low-order double-precision
7089 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
7090 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
7091 each comparison is a quadword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
7092 all 0s (comparison false).
7094 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
7095 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7097 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
7098 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
7099 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
7100 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
7101 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
7105 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
7106 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
7108 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
7109 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
7112 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
7113 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7116 \H{insCMPccSS} \i\c{CMPccSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Compare
7117 \I\c{CMPEQSS} \I\c{CMPLTSS} \I\c{CMPLESS} \I\c{CMPUNORDSS}
7118 \I\c{CMPNEQSS} \I\c{CMPNLTSS} \I\c{CMPNLESS} \I\c{CMPORDSS}
7120 \c CMPSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32,imm8 ; F3 0F C2 /r ib [KATMAI,SSE]
7122 \c CMPEQSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 00 [KATMAI,SSE]
7123 \c CMPLTSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 01 [KATMAI,SSE]
7124 \c CMPLESS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 02 [KATMAI,SSE]
7125 \c CMPUNORDSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 03 [KATMAI,SSE]
7126 \c CMPNEQSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 04 [KATMAI,SSE]
7127 \c CMPNLTSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 05 [KATMAI,SSE]
7128 \c CMPNLESS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 06 [KATMAI,SSE]
7129 \c CMPORDSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 07 [KATMAI,SSE]
7131 The \c{CMPccSS} instructions compare the low-order single-precision
7132 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
7133 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
7134 each comparison is a doubleword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
7135 all 0s (comparison false).
7137 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
7138 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7140 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
7141 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
7142 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
7143 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
7144 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
7148 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
7149 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
7151 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
7152 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
7155 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
7156 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7159 \H{insCMPXCHG} \i\c{CMPXCHG}, \i\c{CMPXCHG486}: Compare and Exchange
7161 \c CMPXCHG r/m8,reg8 ; 0F B0 /r [PENT]
7162 \c CMPXCHG r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F B1 /r [PENT]
7163 \c CMPXCHG r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F B1 /r [PENT]
7165 \c CMPXCHG486 r/m8,reg8 ; 0F A6 /r [486,UNDOC]
7166 \c CMPXCHG486 r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F A7 /r [486,UNDOC]
7167 \c CMPXCHG486 r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F A7 /r [486,UNDOC]
7169 These two instructions perform exactly the same operation; however,
7170 apparently some (not all) 486 processors support it under a
7171 non-standard opcode, so NASM provides the undocumented
7172 \c{CMPXCHG486} form to generate the non-standard opcode.
7174 \c{CMPXCHG} compares its destination (first) operand to the value in
7175 \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{EAX} (depending on the operand size of the
7176 instruction). If they are equal, it copies its source (second)
7177 operand into the destination and sets the zero flag. Otherwise, it
7178 clears the zero flag and leaves the destination alone.
7180 The destination can be either a register or a memory location. The
7181 source is a register.
7183 \c{CMPXCHG} is intended to be used for atomic operations in
7184 multitasking or multiprocessor environments. To safely update a
7185 value in shared memory, for example, you might load the value into
7186 \c{EAX}, load the updated value into \c{EBX}, and then execute the
7187 instruction \c{LOCK CMPXCHG [value],EBX}. If \c{value} has not
7188 changed since being loaded, it is updated with your desired new
7189 value, and the zero flag is set to let you know it has worked. (The
7190 \c{LOCK} prefix prevents another processor doing anything in the
7191 middle of this operation: it guarantees atomicity.) However, if
7192 another processor has modified the value in between your load and
7193 your attempted store, the store does not happen, and you are
7194 notified of the failure by a cleared zero flag, so you can go round
7198 \H{insCMPXCHG8B} \i\c{CMPXCHG8B}: Compare and Exchange Eight Bytes
7200 \c CMPXCHG8B mem ; 0F C7 /1 [PENT]
7202 This is a larger and more unwieldy version of \c{CMPXCHG}: it
7203 compares the 64-bit (eight-byte) value stored at \c{[mem]} with the
7204 value in \c{EDX:EAX}. If they are equal, it sets the zero flag and
7205 stores \c{ECX:EBX} into the memory area. If they are unequal, it
7206 clears the zero flag and stores the memory contents into \c{EDX:EAX}.
7208 \c{CMPXCHG8B} can be used with the \c{LOCK} prefix, to allow atomic
7209 execution. This is useful in multi-processor and multi-tasking
7213 \H{insCOMISD} \i\c{COMISD}: Scalar Ordered Double-Precision FP Compare and Set EFLAGS
7215 \c COMISD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; 66 0F 2F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7217 \c{COMISD} compares the low-order double-precision FP value in the
7218 two source operands. ZF, PF and CF are set according to the result.
7219 OF, AF and AF are cleared. The unordered result is returned if either
7220 source is a NaN (QNaN or SNaN).
7222 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7223 an \c{XMM} register or a memory location.
7225 The flags are set according to the following rules:
7227 \c Result Flags Values
7229 \c UNORDERED: ZF,PF,CF <-- 111;
7230 \c GREATER_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 000;
7231 \c LESS_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 001;
7232 \c EQUAL: ZF,PF,CF <-- 100;
7235 \H{insCOMISS} \i\c{COMISS}: Scalar Ordered Single-Precision FP Compare and Set EFLAGS
7237 \c COMISS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; 66 0F 2F /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7239 \c{COMISS} compares the low-order single-precision FP value in the
7240 two source operands. ZF, PF and CF are set according to the result.
7241 OF, AF and AF are cleared. The unordered result is returned if either
7242 source is a NaN (QNaN or SNaN).
7244 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7245 an \c{XMM} register or a memory location.
7247 The flags are set according to the following rules:
7249 \c Result Flags Values
7251 \c UNORDERED: ZF,PF,CF <-- 111;
7252 \c GREATER_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 000;
7253 \c LESS_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 001;
7254 \c EQUAL: ZF,PF,CF <-- 100;
7257 \H{insCPUID} \i\c{CPUID}: Get CPU Identification Code
7259 \c CPUID ; 0F A2 [PENT]
7261 \c{CPUID} returns various information about the processor it is
7262 being executed on. It fills the four registers \c{EAX}, \c{EBX},
7263 \c{ECX} and \c{EDX} with information, which varies depending on the
7264 input contents of \c{EAX}.
7266 \c{CPUID} also acts as a barrier to serialise instruction execution:
7267 executing the \c{CPUID} instruction guarantees that all the effects
7268 (memory modification, flag modification, register modification) of
7269 previous instructions have been completed before the next
7270 instruction gets fetched.
7272 The information returned is as follows:
7274 \b If \c{EAX} is zero on input, \c{EAX} on output holds the maximum
7275 acceptable input value of \c{EAX}, and \c{EBX:EDX:ECX} contain the
7276 string \c{"GenuineIntel"} (or not, if you have a clone processor).
7277 That is to say, \c{EBX} contains \c{"Genu"} (in NASM's own sense of
7278 character constants, described in \k{chrconst}), \c{EDX} contains
7279 \c{"ineI"} and \c{ECX} contains \c{"ntel"}.
7281 \b If \c{EAX} is one on input, \c{EAX} on output contains version
7282 information about the processor, and \c{EDX} contains a set of
7283 feature flags, showing the presence and absence of various features.
7284 For example, bit 8 is set if the \c{CMPXCHG8B} instruction
7285 (\k{insCMPXCHG8B}) is supported, bit 15 is set if the conditional
7286 move instructions (\k{insCMOVcc} and \k{insFCMOVB}) are supported,
7287 and bit 23 is set if \c{MMX} instructions are supported.
7289 \b If \c{EAX} is two on input, \c{EAX}, \c{EBX}, \c{ECX} and \c{EDX}
7290 all contain information about caches and TLBs (Translation Lookahead
7293 For more information on the data returned from \c{CPUID}, see the
7294 documentation from Intel and other processor manufacturers.
7297 \H{insCVTDQ2PD} \i\c{CVTDQ2PD}:
7298 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Double-Precision FP Conversion
7300 \c CVTDQ2PD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F3 0F E6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7302 \c{CVTDQ2PD} converts two packed signed doublewords from the source
7303 operand to two packed double-precision FP values in the destination
7306 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7307 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
7308 source is a register, the packed integers are in the low quadword.
7311 \H{insCVTDQ2PS} \i\c{CVTDQ2PS}:
7312 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Single-Precision FP Conversion
7314 \c CVTDQ2PS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 5B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7316 \c{CVTDQ2PS} converts four packed signed doublewords from the source
7317 operand to four packed single-precision FP values in the destination
7320 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7321 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7323 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7326 \H{insCVTPD2DQ} \i\c{CVTPD2DQ}:
7327 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
7329 \c CVTPD2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; F2 0F E6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7331 \c{CVTPD2DQ} converts two packed double-precision FP values from the
7332 source operand to two packed signed doublewords in the low quadword
7333 of the destination operand. The high quadword of the destination is
7336 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7337 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7339 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7342 \H{insCVTPD2PI} \i\c{CVTPD2PI}:
7343 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
7345 \c CVTPD2PI mm,xmm/mem128 ; 66 0F 2D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7347 \c{CVTPD2PI} converts two packed double-precision FP values from the
7348 source operand to two packed signed doublewords in the destination
7351 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
7352 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7354 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7357 \H{insCVTPD2PS} \i\c{CVTPD2PS}:
7358 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Single-Precision FP Conversion
7360 \c CVTPD2PS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 5A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7362 \c{CVTPD2PS} converts two packed double-precision FP values from the
7363 source operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the low
7364 quadword of the destination operand. The high quadword of the
7365 destination is set to all 0s.
7367 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7368 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7370 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7373 \H{insCVTPI2PD} \i\c{CVTPI2PD}:
7374 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Double-Precision FP Conversion
7376 \c CVTPI2PD xmm,mm/mem64 ; 66 0F 2A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7378 \c{CVTPI2PD} converts two packed signed doublewords from the source
7379 operand to two packed double-precision FP values in the destination
7382 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7383 either an \c{MMX} register or a 64-bit memory location.
7385 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7388 \H{insCVTPI2PS} \i\c{CVTPI2PS}:
7389 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Single-FP Conversion
7391 \c CVTPI2PS xmm,mm/mem64 ; 0F 2A /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7393 \c{CVTPI2PS} converts two packed signed doublewords from the source
7394 operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the low quadword
7395 of the destination operand. The high quadword of the destination
7398 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7399 either an \c{MMX} register or a 64-bit memory location.
7401 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7404 \H{insCVTPS2DQ} \i\c{CVTPS2DQ}:
7405 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
7407 \c CVTPS2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 5B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7409 \c{CVTPS2DQ} converts four packed single-precision FP values from the
7410 source operand to four packed signed doublewords in the destination operand.
7412 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7413 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7415 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7418 \H{insCVTPS2PD} \i\c{CVTPS2PD}:
7419 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Double-Precision FP Conversion
7421 \c CVTPS2PD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; 0F 5A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7423 \c{CVTPS2PD} converts two packed single-precision FP values from the
7424 source operand to two packed double-precision FP values in the destination
7427 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7428 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the source
7429 is a register, the input values are in the low quadword.
7431 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7434 \H{insCVTPS2PI} \i\c{CVTPS2PI}:
7435 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
7437 \c CVTPS2PI mm,xmm/mem64 ; 0F 2D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7439 \c{CVTPS2PI} converts two packed single-precision FP values from
7440 the source operand to two packed signed doublewords in the destination
7443 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
7444 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
7445 source is a register, the input values are in the low quadword.
7447 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7450 \H{insCVTSD2SI} \i\c{CVTSD2SI}:
7451 Scalar Double-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion
7453 \c CVTSD2SI reg32,xmm/mem64 ; F2 0F 2D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7455 \c{CVTSD2SI} converts a double-precision FP value from the source
7456 operand to a signed doubleword in the destination operand.
7458 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
7459 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
7460 source is a register, the input value is in the low quadword.
7462 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7465 \H{insCVTSD2SS} \i\c{CVTSD2SS}:
7466 Scalar Double-Precision FP to Scalar Single-Precision FP Conversion
7468 \c CVTSD2SS xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F 5A /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7470 \c{CVTSD2SS} converts a double-precision FP value from the source
7471 operand to a single-precision FP value in the low doubleword of the
7472 destination operand. The upper 3 doublewords are left unchanged.
7474 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7475 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
7476 source is a register, the input value is in the low quadword.
7478 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7481 \H{insCVTSI2SD} \i\c{CVTSI2SD}:
7482 Signed INT32 to Scalar Double-Precision FP Conversion
7484 \c CVTSI2SD xmm,r/m32 ; F2 0F 2A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7486 \c{CVTSI2SD} converts a signed doubleword from the source operand to
7487 a double-precision FP value in the low quadword of the destination
7488 operand. The high quadword is left unchanged.
7490 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7491 a general purpose register or a 32-bit memory location.
7493 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7496 \H{insCVTSI2SS} \i\c{CVTSI2SS}:
7497 Signed INT32 to Scalar Single-Precision FP Conversion
7499 \c CVTSI2SS xmm,r/m32 ; F3 0F 2A /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7501 \c{CVTSI2SS} converts a signed doubleword from the source operand to a
7502 single-precision FP value in the low doubleword of the destination operand.
7503 The upper 3 doublewords are left unchanged.
7505 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7506 a general purpose register or a 32-bit memory location.
7508 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7511 \H{insCVTSS2SD} \i\c{CVTSS2SD}:
7512 Scalar Single-Precision FP to Scalar Double-Precision FP Conversion
7514 \c CVTSS2SD xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 5A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7516 \c{CVTSS2SD} converts a single-precision FP value from the source operand
7517 to a double-precision FP value in the low quadword of the destination
7518 operand. The upper quadword is left unchanged.
7520 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7521 an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location. If the source is a
7522 register, the input value is contained in the low doubleword.
7524 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7527 \H{insCVTSS2SI} \i\c{CVTSS2SI}:
7528 Scalar Single-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion
7530 \c CVTSS2SI reg32,xmm/mem32 ; F3 0F 2D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7532 \c{CVTSS2SI} converts a single-precision FP value from the source
7533 operand to a signed doubleword in the destination operand.
7535 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
7536 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location. If the
7537 source is a register, the input value is in the low doubleword.
7539 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7542 \H{insCVTTPD2DQ} \i\c{CVTTPD2DQ}:
7543 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7545 \c CVTTPD2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F E6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7547 \c{CVTTPD2DQ} converts two packed double-precision FP values in the source
7548 operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the destination operand.
7549 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero). The high
7550 quadword is set to all 0s.
7552 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7553 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7555 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7558 \H{insCVTTPD2PI} \i\c{CVTTPD2PI}:
7559 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7561 \c CVTTPD2PI mm,xmm/mem128 ; 66 0F 2C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7563 \c{CVTTPD2PI} converts two packed double-precision FP values in the source
7564 operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the destination operand.
7565 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
7567 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
7568 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7570 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7573 \H{insCVTTPS2DQ} \i\c{CVTTPS2DQ}:
7574 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7576 \c CVTTPS2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; F3 0F 5B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7578 \c{CVTTPS2DQ} converts four packed single-precision FP values in the source
7579 operand to four packed signed doublewords in the destination operand.
7580 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
7582 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7583 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7585 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7588 \H{insCVTTPS2PI} \i\c{CVTTPS2PI}:
7589 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7591 \c CVTTPS2PI mm,xmm/mem64 ; 0F 2C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7593 \c{CVTTPS2PI} converts two packed single-precision FP values in the source
7594 operand to two packed signed doublewords in the destination operand.
7595 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero). If
7596 the source is a register, the input values are in the low quadword.
7598 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
7599 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the source
7600 is a register, the input value is in the low quadword.
7602 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7605 \H{insCVTTSD2SI} \i\c{CVTTSD2SI}:
7606 Scalar Double-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7608 \c CVTTSD2SI reg32,xmm/mem64 ; F2 0F 2C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7610 \c{CVTTSD2SI} converts a double-precision FP value in the source operand
7611 to a signed doubleword in the destination operand. If the result is
7612 inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
7614 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
7615 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the source is a
7616 register, the input value is in the low quadword.
7618 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7621 \H{insCVTTSS2SI} \i\c{CVTTSS2SI}:
7622 Scalar Single-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7624 \c CVTTSD2SI reg32,xmm/mem32 ; F3 0F 2C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7626 \c{CVTTSS2SI} converts a single-precision FP value in the source operand
7627 to a signed doubleword in the destination operand. If the result is
7628 inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
7630 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
7631 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location. If the source is a
7632 register, the input value is in the low doubleword.
7634 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7637 \H{insDAA} \i\c{DAA}, \i\c{DAS}: Decimal Adjustments
7642 These instructions are used in conjunction with the add and subtract
7643 instructions to perform binary-coded decimal arithmetic in
7644 \e{packed} (one BCD digit per nibble) form. For the unpacked
7645 equivalents, see \k{insAAA}.
7647 \c{DAA} should be used after a one-byte \c{ADD} instruction whose
7648 destination was the \c{AL} register: by means of examining the value
7649 in the \c{AL} and also the auxiliary carry flag \c{AF}, it
7650 determines whether either digit of the addition has overflowed, and
7651 adjusts it (and sets the carry and auxiliary-carry flags) if so. You
7652 can add long BCD strings together by doing \c{ADD}/\c{DAA} on the
7653 low two digits, then doing \c{ADC}/\c{DAA} on each subsequent pair
7656 \c{DAS} works similarly to \c{DAA}, but is for use after \c{SUB}
7657 instructions rather than \c{ADD}.
7660 \H{insDEC} \i\c{DEC}: Decrement Integer
7662 \c DEC reg16 ; o16 48+r [8086]
7663 \c DEC reg32 ; o32 48+r [386]
7664 \c DEC r/m8 ; FE /1 [8086]
7665 \c DEC r/m16 ; o16 FF /1 [8086]
7666 \c DEC r/m32 ; o32 FF /1 [386]
7668 \c{DEC} subtracts 1 from its operand. It does \e{not} affect the
7669 carry flag: to affect the carry flag, use \c{SUB something,1} (see
7670 \k{insSUB}). \c{DEC} affects all the other flags according to the result.
7672 This instruction can be used with a \c{LOCK} prefix to allow atomic
7675 See also \c{INC} (\k{insINC}).
7678 \H{insDIV} \i\c{DIV}: Unsigned Integer Divide
7680 \c DIV r/m8 ; F6 /6 [8086]
7681 \c DIV r/m16 ; o16 F7 /6 [8086]
7682 \c DIV r/m32 ; o32 F7 /6 [386]
7684 \c{DIV} performs unsigned integer division. The explicit operand
7685 provided is the divisor; the dividend and destination operands are
7686 implicit, in the following way:
7688 \b For \c{DIV r/m8}, \c{AX} is divided by the given operand; the
7689 quotient is stored in \c{AL} and the remainder in \c{AH}.
7691 \b For \c{DIV r/m16}, \c{DX:AX} is divided by the given operand; the
7692 quotient is stored in \c{AX} and the remainder in \c{DX}.
7694 \b For \c{DIV r/m32}, \c{EDX:EAX} is divided by the given operand;
7695 the quotient is stored in \c{EAX} and the remainder in \c{EDX}.
7697 Signed integer division is performed by the \c{IDIV} instruction:
7701 \H{insDIVPD} \i\c{DIVPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Divide
7703 \c DIVPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 5E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7705 \c{DIVPD} divides the two packed double-precision FP values in
7706 the destination operand by the two packed double-precision FP
7707 values in the source operand, and stores the packed double-precision
7708 results in the destination register.
7710 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7711 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7713 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] / src[0-63],
7714 \c dst[64-127] := dst[64-127] / src[64-127].
7717 \H{insDIVPS} \i\c{DIVPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Divide
7719 \c DIVPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 5E /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7721 \c{DIVPD} divides the four packed single-precision FP values in
7722 the destination operand by the four packed single-precision FP
7723 values in the source operand, and stores the packed single-precision
7724 results in the destination register.
7726 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7727 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7729 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] / src[0-31],
7730 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] / src[32-63],
7731 \c dst[64-95] := dst[64-95] / src[64-95],
7732 \c dst[96-127] := dst[96-127] / src[96-127].
7735 \H{insDIVSD} \i\c{DIVPD}: Scalar Double-Precision FP Divide
7737 \c DIVSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F 5E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7739 \c{DIVSD} divides the low-order double-precision FP value in the
7740 destination operand by the low-order double-precision FP value in
7741 the source operand, and stores the double-precision result in the
7742 destination register.
7744 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7745 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location.
7747 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] / src[0-63],
7748 \c dst[64-127] remains unchanged.
7751 \H{insDIVSS} \i\c{DIVSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Divide
7753 \c DIVSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 5E /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7755 \c{DIVSS} divides the low-order single-precision FP value in the
7756 destination operand by the low-order single-precision FP value in
7757 the source operand, and stores the single-precision result in the
7758 destination register.
7760 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7761 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location.
7763 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] / src[0-31],
7764 \c dst[32-127] remains unchanged.
7767 \H{insEMMS} \i\c{EMMS}: Empty MMX State
7769 \c EMMS ; 0F 77 [PENT,MMX]
7771 \c{EMMS} sets the FPU tag word (marking which floating-point registers
7772 are available) to all ones, meaning all registers are available for
7773 the FPU to use. It should be used after executing \c{MMX} instructions
7774 and before executing any subsequent floating-point operations.
7777 \H{insENTER} \i\c{ENTER}: Create Stack Frame
7779 \c ENTER imm,imm ; C8 iw ib [186]
7781 \c{ENTER} constructs a \i\c{stack frame} for a high-level language
7782 procedure call. The first operand (the \c{iw} in the opcode
7783 definition above refers to the first operand) gives the amount of
7784 stack space to allocate for local variables; the second (the \c{ib}
7785 above) gives the nesting level of the procedure (for languages like
7786 Pascal, with nested procedures).
7788 The function of \c{ENTER}, with a nesting level of zero, is
7791 \c PUSH EBP ; or PUSH BP in 16 bits
7792 \c MOV EBP,ESP ; or MOV BP,SP in 16 bits
7793 \c SUB ESP,operand1 ; or SUB SP,operand1 in 16 bits
7795 This creates a stack frame with the procedure parameters accessible
7796 upwards from \c{EBP}, and local variables accessible downwards from
7799 With a nesting level of one, the stack frame created is 4 (or 2)
7800 bytes bigger, and the value of the final frame pointer \c{EBP} is
7801 accessible in memory at \c{[EBP-4]}.
7803 This allows \c{ENTER}, when called with a nesting level of two, to
7804 look at the stack frame described by the \e{previous} value of
7805 \c{EBP}, find the frame pointer at offset -4 from that, and push it
7806 along with its new frame pointer, so that when a level-two procedure
7807 is called from within a level-one procedure, \c{[EBP-4]} holds the
7808 frame pointer of the most recent level-one procedure call and
7809 \c{[EBP-8]} holds that of the most recent level-two call. And so on,
7810 for nesting levels up to 31.
7812 Stack frames created by \c{ENTER} can be destroyed by the \c{LEAVE}
7813 instruction: see \k{insLEAVE}.
7816 \H{insF2XM1} \i\c{F2XM1}: Calculate 2**X-1
7818 \c F2XM1 ; D9 F0 [8086,FPU]
7820 \c{F2XM1} raises 2 to the power of \c{ST0}, subtracts one, and
7821 stores the result back into \c{ST0}. The initial contents of \c{ST0}
7822 must be a number in the range -1.0 to +1.0.
7825 \H{insFABS} \i\c{FABS}: Floating-Point Absolute Value
7827 \c FABS ; D9 E1 [8086,FPU]
7829 \c{FABS} computes the absolute value of \c{ST0},by clearing the sign
7830 bit, and stores the result back in \c{ST0}.
7833 \H{insFADD} \i\c{FADD}, \i\c{FADDP}: Floating-Point Addition
7835 \c FADD mem32 ; D8 /0 [8086,FPU]
7836 \c FADD mem64 ; DC /0 [8086,FPU]
7838 \c FADD fpureg ; D8 C0+r [8086,FPU]
7839 \c FADD ST0,fpureg ; D8 C0+r [8086,FPU]
7841 \c FADD TO fpureg ; DC C0+r [8086,FPU]
7842 \c FADD fpureg,ST0 ; DC C0+r [8086,FPU]
7844 \c FADDP fpureg ; DE C0+r [8086,FPU]
7845 \c FADDP fpureg,ST0 ; DE C0+r [8086,FPU]
7847 \b \c{FADD}, given one operand, adds the operand to \c{ST0} and stores
7848 the result back in \c{ST0}. If the operand has the \c{TO} modifier,
7849 the result is stored in the register given rather than in \c{ST0}.
7851 \b \c{FADDP} performs the same function as \c{FADD TO}, but pops the
7852 register stack after storing the result.
7854 The given two-operand forms are synonyms for the one-operand forms.
7856 To add an integer value to \c{ST0}, use the c{FIADD} instruction
7860 \H{insFBLD} \i\c{FBLD}, \i\c{FBSTP}: BCD Floating-Point Load and Store
7862 \c FBLD mem80 ; DF /4 [8086,FPU]
7863 \c FBSTP mem80 ; DF /6 [8086,FPU]
7865 \c{FBLD} loads an 80-bit (ten-byte) packed binary-coded decimal
7866 number from the given memory address, converts it to a real, and
7867 pushes it on the register stack. \c{FBSTP} stores the value of
7868 \c{ST0}, in packed BCD, at the given address and then pops the
7872 \H{insFCHS} \i\c{FCHS}: Floating-Point Change Sign
7874 \c FCHS ; D9 E0 [8086,FPU]
7876 \c{FCHS} negates the number in \c{ST0}, by inverting the sign bit:
7877 negative numbers become positive, and vice versa.
7880 \H{insFCLEX} \i\c{FCLEX}, \c{FNCLEX}: Clear Floating-Point Exceptions
7882 \c FCLEX ; 9B DB E2 [8086,FPU]
7883 \c FNCLEX ; DB E2 [8086,FPU]
7885 \c{FCLEX} clears any floating-point exceptions which may be pending.
7886 \c{FNCLEX} does the same thing but doesn't wait for previous
7887 floating-point operations (including the \e{handling} of pending
7888 exceptions) to finish first.
7891 \H{insFCMOVB} \i\c{FCMOVcc}: Floating-Point Conditional Move
7893 \c FCMOVB fpureg ; DA C0+r [P6,FPU]
7894 \c FCMOVB ST0,fpureg ; DA C0+r [P6,FPU]
7896 \c FCMOVE fpureg ; DA C8+r [P6,FPU]
7897 \c FCMOVE ST0,fpureg ; DA C8+r [P6,FPU]
7899 \c FCMOVBE fpureg ; DA D0+r [P6,FPU]
7900 \c FCMOVBE ST0,fpureg ; DA D0+r [P6,FPU]
7902 \c FCMOVU fpureg ; DA D8+r [P6,FPU]
7903 \c FCMOVU ST0,fpureg ; DA D8+r [P6,FPU]
7905 \c FCMOVNB fpureg ; DB C0+r [P6,FPU]
7906 \c FCMOVNB ST0,fpureg ; DB C0+r [P6,FPU]
7908 \c FCMOVNE fpureg ; DB C8+r [P6,FPU]
7909 \c FCMOVNE ST0,fpureg ; DB C8+r [P6,FPU]
7911 \c FCMOVNBE fpureg ; DB D0+r [P6,FPU]
7912 \c FCMOVNBE ST0,fpureg ; DB D0+r [P6,FPU]
7914 \c FCMOVNU fpureg ; DB D8+r [P6,FPU]
7915 \c FCMOVNU ST0,fpureg ; DB D8+r [P6,FPU]
7917 The \c{FCMOV} instructions perform conditional move operations: each
7918 of them moves the contents of the given register into \c{ST0} if its
7919 condition is satisfied, and does nothing if not.
7921 The conditions are not the same as the standard condition codes used
7922 with conditional jump instructions. The conditions \c{B}, \c{BE},
7923 \c{NB}, \c{NBE}, \c{E} and \c{NE} are exactly as normal, but none of
7924 the other standard ones are supported. Instead, the condition \c{U}
7925 and its counterpart \c{NU} are provided; the \c{U} condition is
7926 satisfied if the last two floating-point numbers compared were
7927 \e{unordered}, i.e. they were not equal but neither one could be
7928 said to be greater than the other, for example if they were NaNs.
7929 (The flag state which signals this is the setting of the parity
7930 flag: so the \c{U} condition is notionally equivalent to \c{PE}, and
7931 \c{NU} is equivalent to \c{PO}.)
7933 The \c{FCMOV} conditions test the main processor's status flags, not
7934 the FPU status flags, so using \c{FCMOV} directly after \c{FCOM}
7935 will not work. Instead, you should either use \c{FCOMI} which writes
7936 directly to the main CPU flags word, or use \c{FSTSW} to extract the
7939 Although the \c{FCMOV} instructions are flagged \c{P6} above, they
7940 may not be supported by all Pentium Pro processors; the \c{CPUID}
7941 instruction (\k{insCPUID}) will return a bit which indicates whether
7942 conditional moves are supported.
7945 \H{insFCOM} \i\c{FCOM}, \i\c{FCOMP}, \i\c{FCOMPP}, \i\c{FCOMI},
7946 \i\c{FCOMIP}: Floating-Point Compare
7948 \c FCOM mem32 ; D8 /2 [8086,FPU]
7949 \c FCOM mem64 ; DC /2 [8086,FPU]
7950 \c FCOM fpureg ; D8 D0+r [8086,FPU]
7951 \c FCOM ST0,fpureg ; D8 D0+r [8086,FPU]
7953 \c FCOMP mem32 ; D8 /3 [8086,FPU]
7954 \c FCOMP mem64 ; DC /3 [8086,FPU]
7955 \c FCOMP fpureg ; D8 D8+r [8086,FPU]
7956 \c FCOMP ST0,fpureg ; D8 D8+r [8086,FPU]
7958 \c FCOMPP ; DE D9 [8086,FPU]
7960 \c FCOMI fpureg ; DB F0+r [P6,FPU]
7961 \c FCOMI ST0,fpureg ; DB F0+r [P6,FPU]
7963 \c FCOMIP fpureg ; DF F0+r [P6,FPU]
7964 \c FCOMIP ST0,fpureg ; DF F0+r [P6,FPU]
7966 \c{FCOM} compares \c{ST0} with the given operand, and sets the FPU
7967 flags accordingly. \c{ST0} is treated as the left-hand side of the
7968 comparison, so that the carry flag is set (for a `less-than' result)
7969 if \c{ST0} is less than the given operand.
7971 \c{FCOMP} does the same as \c{FCOM}, but pops the register stack
7972 afterwards. \c{FCOMPP} compares \c{ST0} with \c{ST1} and then pops
7973 the register stack twice.
7975 \c{FCOMI} and \c{FCOMIP} work like the corresponding forms of
7976 \c{FCOM} and \c{FCOMP}, but write their results directly to the CPU
7977 flags register rather than the FPU status word, so they can be
7978 immediately followed by conditional jump or conditional move
7981 The \c{FCOM} instructions differ from the \c{FUCOM} instructions
7982 (\k{insFUCOM}) only in the way they handle quiet NaNs: \c{FUCOM}
7983 will handle them silently and set the condition code flags to an
7984 `unordered' result, whereas \c{FCOM} will generate an exception.
7987 \H{insFCOS} \i\c{FCOS}: Cosine
7989 \c FCOS ; D9 FF [386,FPU]
7991 \c{FCOS} computes the cosine of \c{ST0} (in radians), and stores the
7992 result in \c{ST0}. The absolute value of \c{ST0} must be less than 2**63.
7994 See also \c{FSINCOS} (\k{insFSIN}).
7997 \H{insFDECSTP} \i\c{FDECSTP}: Decrement Floating-Point Stack Pointer
7999 \c FDECSTP ; D9 F6 [8086,FPU]
8001 \c{FDECSTP} decrements the `top' field in the floating-point status
8002 word. This has the effect of rotating the FPU register stack by one,
8003 as if the contents of \c{ST7} had been pushed on the stack. See also
8004 \c{FINCSTP} (\k{insFINCSTP}).
8007 \H{insFDISI} \i\c{FxDISI}, \i\c{FxENI}: Disable and Enable Floating-Point Interrupts
8009 \c FDISI ; 9B DB E1 [8086,FPU]
8010 \c FNDISI ; DB E1 [8086,FPU]
8012 \c FENI ; 9B DB E0 [8086,FPU]
8013 \c FNENI ; DB E0 [8086,FPU]
8015 \c{FDISI} and \c{FENI} disable and enable floating-point interrupts.
8016 These instructions are only meaningful on original 8087 processors:
8017 the 287 and above treat them as no-operation instructions.
8019 \c{FNDISI} and \c{FNENI} do the same thing as \c{FDISI} and \c{FENI}
8020 respectively, but without waiting for the floating-point processor
8021 to finish what it was doing first.
8024 \H{insFDIV} \i\c{FDIV}, \i\c{FDIVP}, \i\c{FDIVR}, \i\c{FDIVRP}: Floating-Point Division
8026 \c FDIV mem32 ; D8 /6 [8086,FPU]
8027 \c FDIV mem64 ; DC /6 [8086,FPU]
8029 \c FDIV fpureg ; D8 F0+r [8086,FPU]
8030 \c FDIV ST0,fpureg ; D8 F0+r [8086,FPU]
8032 \c FDIV TO fpureg ; DC F8+r [8086,FPU]
8033 \c FDIV fpureg,ST0 ; DC F8+r [8086,FPU]
8035 \c FDIVR mem32 ; D8 /0 [8086,FPU]
8036 \c FDIVR mem64 ; DC /0 [8086,FPU]
8038 \c FDIVR fpureg ; D8 F8+r [8086,FPU]
8039 \c FDIVR ST0,fpureg ; D8 F8+r [8086,FPU]
8041 \c FDIVR TO fpureg ; DC F0+r [8086,FPU]
8042 \c FDIVR fpureg,ST0 ; DC F0+r [8086,FPU]
8044 \c FDIVP fpureg ; DE F8+r [8086,FPU]
8045 \c FDIVP fpureg,ST0 ; DE F8+r [8086,FPU]
8047 \c FDIVRP fpureg ; DE F0+r [8086,FPU]
8048 \c FDIVRP fpureg,ST0 ; DE F0+r [8086,FPU]
8050 \b \c{FDIV} divides \c{ST0} by the given operand and stores the result
8051 back in \c{ST0}, unless the \c{TO} qualifier is given, in which case
8052 it divides the given operand by \c{ST0} and stores the result in the
8055 \b \c{FDIVR} does the same thing, but does the division the other way
8056 up: so if \c{TO} is not given, it divides the given operand by
8057 \c{ST0} and stores the result in \c{ST0}, whereas if \c{TO} is given
8058 it divides \c{ST0} by its operand and stores the result in the
8061 \b \c{FDIVP} operates like \c{FDIV TO}, but pops the register stack
8062 once it has finished.
8064 \b \c{FDIVRP} operates like \c{FDIVR TO}, but pops the register stack
8065 once it has finished.
8067 For FP/Integer divisions, see \c{FIDIV} (\k{insFIDIV}).
8070 \H{insFEMMS} \i\c{FEMMS}: Faster Enter/Exit of the MMX or floating-point state
8072 \c FEMMS ; 0F 0E [PENT,3DNOW]
8074 \c{FEMMS} can be used in place of the \c{EMMS} instruction on
8075 processors which support the 3DNow! instruction set. Following
8076 execution of \c{FEMMS}, the state of the \c{MMX/FP} registers
8077 is undefined, and this allows a faster context switch between
8078 \c{FP} and \c{MMX} instructions. The \c{FEMMS} instruction can
8079 also be used \e{before} executing \c{MMX} instructions
8082 \H{insFFREE} \i\c{FFREE}: Flag Floating-Point Register as Unused
8084 \c FFREE fpureg ; DD C0+r [8086,FPU]
8085 \c FFREEP fpureg ; DF C0+r [286,FPU,UNDOC]
8087 \c{FFREE} marks the given register as being empty.
8089 \c{FFREEP} marks the given register as being empty, and then
8090 pops the register stack.
8093 \H{insFIADD} \i\c{FIADD}: Floating-Point/Integer Addition
8095 \c FIADD mem16 ; DE /0 [8086,FPU]
8096 \c FIADD mem32 ; DA /0 [8086,FPU]
8098 \c{FIADD} adds the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored in the given
8099 memory location to \c{ST0}, storing the result in \c{ST0}.
8102 \H{insFICOM} \i\c{FICOM}, \i\c{FICOMP}: Floating-Point/Integer Compare
8104 \c FICOM mem16 ; DE /2 [8086,FPU]
8105 \c FICOM mem32 ; DA /2 [8086,FPU]
8107 \c FICOMP mem16 ; DE /3 [8086,FPU]
8108 \c FICOMP mem32 ; DA /3 [8086,FPU]
8110 \c{FICOM} compares \c{ST0} with the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored
8111 in the given memory location, and sets the FPU flags accordingly.
8112 \c{FICOMP} does the same, but pops the register stack afterwards.
8115 \H{insFIDIV} \i\c{FIDIV}, \i\c{FIDIVR}: Floating-Point/Integer Division
8117 \c FIDIV mem16 ; DE /6 [8086,FPU]
8118 \c FIDIV mem32 ; DA /6 [8086,FPU]
8120 \c FIDIVR mem16 ; DE /7 [8086,FPU]
8121 \c FIDIVR mem32 ; DA /7 [8086,FPU]
8123 \c{FIDIV} divides \c{ST0} by the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored in
8124 the given memory location, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8125 \c{FIDIVR} does the division the other way up: it divides the
8126 integer by \c{ST0}, but still stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8129 \H{insFILD} \i\c{FILD}, \i\c{FIST}, \i\c{FISTP}: Floating-Point/Integer Conversion
8131 \c FILD mem16 ; DF /0 [8086,FPU]
8132 \c FILD mem32 ; DB /0 [8086,FPU]
8133 \c FILD mem64 ; DF /5 [8086,FPU]
8135 \c FIST mem16 ; DF /2 [8086,FPU]
8136 \c FIST mem32 ; DB /2 [8086,FPU]
8138 \c FISTP mem16 ; DF /3 [8086,FPU]
8139 \c FISTP mem32 ; DB /3 [8086,FPU]
8140 \c FISTP mem64 ; DF /7 [8086,FPU]
8142 \c{FILD} loads an integer out of a memory location, converts it to a
8143 real, and pushes it on the FPU register stack. \c{FIST} converts
8144 \c{ST0} to an integer and stores that in memory; \c{FISTP} does the
8145 same as \c{FIST}, but pops the register stack afterwards.
8148 \H{insFIMUL} \i\c{FIMUL}: Floating-Point/Integer Multiplication
8150 \c FIMUL mem16 ; DE /1 [8086,FPU]
8151 \c FIMUL mem32 ; DA /1 [8086,FPU]
8153 \c{FIMUL} multiplies \c{ST0} by the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored
8154 in the given memory location, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8157 \H{insFINCSTP} \i\c{FINCSTP}: Increment Floating-Point Stack Pointer
8159 \c FINCSTP ; D9 F7 [8086,FPU]
8161 \c{FINCSTP} increments the `top' field in the floating-point status
8162 word. This has the effect of rotating the FPU register stack by one,
8163 as if the register stack had been popped; however, unlike the
8164 popping of the stack performed by many FPU instructions, it does not
8165 flag the new \c{ST7} (previously \c{ST0}) as empty. See also
8166 \c{FDECSTP} (\k{insFDECSTP}).
8169 \H{insFINIT} \i\c{FINIT}, \i\c{FNINIT}: Initialise Floating-Point Unit
8171 \c FINIT ; 9B DB E3 [8086,FPU]
8172 \c FNINIT ; DB E3 [8086,FPU]
8174 \c{FINIT} initialises the FPU to its default state. It flags all
8175 registers as empty, without actually change their values, clears
8176 the top of stack pointer. \c{FNINIT} does the same, without first
8177 waiting for pending exceptions to clear.
8180 \H{insFISUB} \i\c{FISUB}: Floating-Point/Integer Subtraction
8182 \c FISUB mem16 ; DE /4 [8086,FPU]
8183 \c FISUB mem32 ; DA /4 [8086,FPU]
8185 \c FISUBR mem16 ; DE /5 [8086,FPU]
8186 \c FISUBR mem32 ; DA /5 [8086,FPU]
8188 \c{FISUB} subtracts the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored in the given
8189 memory location from \c{ST0}, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8190 \c{FISUBR} does the subtraction the other way round, i.e. it
8191 subtracts \c{ST0} from the given integer, but still stores the
8195 \H{insFLD} \i\c{FLD}: Floating-Point Load
8197 \c FLD mem32 ; D9 /0 [8086,FPU]
8198 \c FLD mem64 ; DD /0 [8086,FPU]
8199 \c FLD mem80 ; DB /5 [8086,FPU]
8200 \c FLD fpureg ; D9 C0+r [8086,FPU]
8202 \c{FLD} loads a floating-point value out of the given register or
8203 memory location, and pushes it on the FPU register stack.
8206 \H{insFLD1} \i\c{FLDxx}: Floating-Point Load Constants
8208 \c FLD1 ; D9 E8 [8086,FPU]
8209 \c FLDL2E ; D9 EA [8086,FPU]
8210 \c FLDL2T ; D9 E9 [8086,FPU]
8211 \c FLDLG2 ; D9 EC [8086,FPU]
8212 \c FLDLN2 ; D9 ED [8086,FPU]
8213 \c FLDPI ; D9 EB [8086,FPU]
8214 \c FLDZ ; D9 EE [8086,FPU]
8216 These instructions push specific standard constants on the FPU
8219 \c Instruction Constant pushed
8222 \c FLDL2E base-2 logarithm of e
8223 \c FLDL2T base-2 log of 10
8224 \c FLDLG2 base-10 log of 2
8225 \c FLDLN2 base-e log of 2
8230 \H{insFLDCW} \i\c{FLDCW}: Load Floating-Point Control Word
8232 \c FLDCW mem16 ; D9 /5 [8086,FPU]
8234 \c{FLDCW} loads a 16-bit value out of memory and stores it into the
8235 FPU control word (governing things like the rounding mode, the
8236 precision, and the exception masks). See also \c{FSTCW}
8237 (\k{insFSTCW}). If exceptions are enabled and you don't want to
8238 generate one, use \c{FCLEX} or \c{FNCLEX} (\k{insFCLEX}) before
8239 loading the new control word.
8242 \H{insFLDENV} \i\c{FLDENV}: Load Floating-Point Environment
8244 \c FLDENV mem ; D9 /4 [8086,FPU]
8246 \c{FLDENV} loads the FPU operating environment (control word, status
8247 word, tag word, instruction pointer, data pointer and last opcode)
8248 from memory. The memory area is 14 or 28 bytes long, depending on
8249 the CPU mode at the time. See also \c{FSTENV} (\k{insFSTENV}).
8252 \H{insFMUL} \i\c{FMUL}, \i\c{FMULP}: Floating-Point Multiply
8254 \c FMUL mem32 ; D8 /1 [8086,FPU]
8255 \c FMUL mem64 ; DC /1 [8086,FPU]
8257 \c FMUL fpureg ; D8 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8258 \c FMUL ST0,fpureg ; D8 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8260 \c FMUL TO fpureg ; DC C8+r [8086,FPU]
8261 \c FMUL fpureg,ST0 ; DC C8+r [8086,FPU]
8263 \c FMULP fpureg ; DE C8+r [8086,FPU]
8264 \c FMULP fpureg,ST0 ; DE C8+r [8086,FPU]
8266 \c{FMUL} multiplies \c{ST0} by the given operand, and stores the
8267 result in \c{ST0}, unless the \c{TO} qualifier is used in which case
8268 it stores the result in the operand. \c{FMULP} performs the same
8269 operation as \c{FMUL TO}, and then pops the register stack.
8272 \H{insFNOP} \i\c{FNOP}: Floating-Point No Operation
8274 \c FNOP ; D9 D0 [8086,FPU]
8276 \c{FNOP} does nothing.
8279 \H{insFPATAN} \i\c{FPATAN}, \i\c{FPTAN}: Arctangent and Tangent
8281 \c FPATAN ; D9 F3 [8086,FPU]
8282 \c FPTAN ; D9 F2 [8086,FPU]
8284 \c{FPATAN} computes the arctangent, in radians, of the result of
8285 dividing \c{ST1} by \c{ST0}, stores the result in \c{ST1}, and pops
8286 the register stack. It works like the C \c{atan2} function, in that
8287 changing the sign of both \c{ST0} and \c{ST1} changes the output
8288 value by pi (so it performs true rectangular-to-polar coordinate
8289 conversion, with \c{ST1} being the Y coordinate and \c{ST0} being
8290 the X coordinate, not merely an arctangent).
8292 \c{FPTAN} computes the tangent of the value in \c{ST0} (in radians),
8293 and stores the result back into \c{ST0}.
8295 The absolute value of \c{ST0} must be less than 2**63.
8298 \H{insFPREM} \i\c{FPREM}, \i\c{FPREM1}: Floating-Point Partial Remainder
8300 \c FPREM ; D9 F8 [8086,FPU]
8301 \c FPREM1 ; D9 F5 [386,FPU]
8303 These instructions both produce the remainder obtained by dividing
8304 \c{ST0} by \c{ST1}. This is calculated, notionally, by dividing
8305 \c{ST0} by \c{ST1}, rounding the result to an integer, multiplying
8306 by \c{ST1} again, and computing the value which would need to be
8307 added back on to the result to get back to the original value in
8310 The two instructions differ in the way the notional round-to-integer
8311 operation is performed. \c{FPREM} does it by rounding towards zero,
8312 so that the remainder it returns always has the same sign as the
8313 original value in \c{ST0}; \c{FPREM1} does it by rounding to the
8314 nearest integer, so that the remainder always has at most half the
8315 magnitude of \c{ST1}.
8317 Both instructions calculate \e{partial} remainders, meaning that
8318 they may not manage to provide the final result, but might leave
8319 intermediate results in \c{ST0} instead. If this happens, they will
8320 set the C2 flag in the FPU status word; therefore, to calculate a
8321 remainder, you should repeatedly execute \c{FPREM} or \c{FPREM1}
8322 until C2 becomes clear.
8325 \H{insFRNDINT} \i\c{FRNDINT}: Floating-Point Round to Integer
8327 \c FRNDINT ; D9 FC [8086,FPU]
8329 \c{FRNDINT} rounds the contents of \c{ST0} to an integer, according
8330 to the current rounding mode set in the FPU control word, and stores
8331 the result back in \c{ST0}.
8334 \H{insFRSTOR} \i\c{FSAVE}, \i\c{FRSTOR}: Save/Restore Floating-Point State
8336 \c FSAVE mem ; 9B DD /6 [8086,FPU]
8337 \c FNSAVE mem ; DD /6 [8086,FPU]
8339 \c FRSTOR mem ; DD /4 [8086,FPU]
8341 \c{FSAVE} saves the entire floating-point unit state, including all
8342 the information saved by \c{FSTENV} (\k{insFSTENV}) plus the
8343 contents of all the registers, to a 94 or 108 byte area of memory
8344 (depending on the CPU mode). \c{FRSTOR} restores the floating-point
8345 state from the same area of memory.
8347 \c{FNSAVE} does the same as \c{FSAVE}, without first waiting for
8348 pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
8351 \H{insFSCALE} \i\c{FSCALE}: Scale Floating-Point Value by Power of Two
8353 \c FSCALE ; D9 FD [8086,FPU]
8355 \c{FSCALE} scales a number by a power of two: it rounds \c{ST1}
8356 towards zero to obtain an integer, then multiplies \c{ST0} by two to
8357 the power of that integer, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8360 \H{insFSETPM} \i\c{FSETPM}: Set Protected Mode
8362 \c FSETPM ; DB E4 [286,FPU]
8364 This instruction initalises protected mode on the 287 floating-point
8365 coprocessor. It is only meaningful on that processor: the 387 and
8366 above treat the instruction as a no-operation.
8369 \H{insFSIN} \i\c{FSIN}, \i\c{FSINCOS}: Sine and Cosine
8371 \c FSIN ; D9 FE [386,FPU]
8372 \c FSINCOS ; D9 FB [386,FPU]
8374 \c{FSIN} calculates the sine of \c{ST0} (in radians) and stores the
8375 result in \c{ST0}. \c{FSINCOS} does the same, but then pushes the
8376 cosine of the same value on the register stack, so that the sine
8377 ends up in \c{ST1} and the cosine in \c{ST0}. \c{FSINCOS} is faster
8378 than executing \c{FSIN} and \c{FCOS} (see \k{insFCOS}) in succession.
8380 The absolute value of \c{ST0} must be less than 2**63.
8383 \H{insFSQRT} \i\c{FSQRT}: Floating-Point Square Root
8385 \c FSQRT ; D9 FA [8086,FPU]
8387 \c{FSQRT} calculates the square root of \c{ST0} and stores the
8391 \H{insFST} \i\c{FST}, \i\c{FSTP}: Floating-Point Store
8393 \c FST mem32 ; D9 /2 [8086,FPU]
8394 \c FST mem64 ; DD /2 [8086,FPU]
8395 \c FST fpureg ; DD D0+r [8086,FPU]
8397 \c FSTP mem32 ; D9 /3 [8086,FPU]
8398 \c FSTP mem64 ; DD /3 [8086,FPU]
8399 \c FSTP mem80 ; DB /7 [8086,FPU]
8400 \c FSTP fpureg ; DD D8+r [8086,FPU]
8402 \c{FST} stores the value in \c{ST0} into the given memory location
8403 or other FPU register. \c{FSTP} does the same, but then pops the
8407 \H{insFSTCW} \i\c{FSTCW}: Store Floating-Point Control Word
8409 \c FSTCW mem16 ; 9B D9 /7 [8086,FPU]
8410 \c FNSTCW mem16 ; D9 /7 [8086,FPU]
8412 \c{FSTCW} stores the \c{FPU} control word (governing things like the
8413 rounding mode, the precision, and the exception masks) into a 2-byte
8414 memory area. See also \c{FLDCW} (\k{insFLDCW}).
8416 \c{FNSTCW} does the same thing as \c{FSTCW}, without first waiting
8417 for pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
8420 \H{insFSTENV} \i\c{FSTENV}: Store Floating-Point Environment
8422 \c FSTENV mem ; 9B D9 /6 [8086,FPU]
8423 \c FNSTENV mem ; D9 /6 [8086,FPU]
8425 \c{FSTENV} stores the \c{FPU} operating environment (control word,
8426 status word, tag word, instruction pointer, data pointer and last
8427 opcode) into memory. The memory area is 14 or 28 bytes long,
8428 depending on the CPU mode at the time. See also \c{FLDENV}
8431 \c{FNSTENV} does the same thing as \c{FSTENV}, without first waiting
8432 for pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
8435 \H{insFSTSW} \i\c{FSTSW}: Store Floating-Point Status Word
8437 \c FSTSW mem16 ; 9B DD /7 [8086,FPU]
8438 \c FSTSW AX ; 9B DF E0 [286,FPU]
8440 \c FNSTSW mem16 ; DD /7 [8086,FPU]
8441 \c FNSTSW AX ; DF E0 [286,FPU]
8443 \c{FSTSW} stores the \c{FPU} status word into \c{AX} or into a 2-byte
8446 \c{FNSTSW} does the same thing as \c{FSTSW}, without first waiting
8447 for pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
8450 \H{insFSUB} \i\c{FSUB}, \i\c{FSUBP}, \i\c{FSUBR}, \i\c{FSUBRP}: Floating-Point Subtract
8452 \c FSUB mem32 ; D8 /4 [8086,FPU]
8453 \c FSUB mem64 ; DC /4 [8086,FPU]
8455 \c FSUB fpureg ; D8 E0+r [8086,FPU]
8456 \c FSUB ST0,fpureg ; D8 E0+r [8086,FPU]
8458 \c FSUB TO fpureg ; DC E8+r [8086,FPU]
8459 \c FSUB fpureg,ST0 ; DC E8+r [8086,FPU]
8461 \c FSUBR mem32 ; D8 /5 [8086,FPU]
8462 \c FSUBR mem64 ; DC /5 [8086,FPU]
8464 \c FSUBR fpureg ; D8 E8+r [8086,FPU]
8465 \c FSUBR ST0,fpureg ; D8 E8+r [8086,FPU]
8467 \c FSUBR TO fpureg ; DC E0+r [8086,FPU]
8468 \c FSUBR fpureg,ST0 ; DC E0+r [8086,FPU]
8470 \c FSUBP fpureg ; DE E8+r [8086,FPU]
8471 \c FSUBP fpureg,ST0 ; DE E8+r [8086,FPU]
8473 \c FSUBRP fpureg ; DE E0+r [8086,FPU]
8474 \c FSUBRP fpureg,ST0 ; DE E0+r [8086,FPU]
8476 \b \c{FSUB} subtracts the given operand from \c{ST0} and stores the
8477 result back in \c{ST0}, unless the \c{TO} qualifier is given, in
8478 which case it subtracts \c{ST0} from the given operand and stores
8479 the result in the operand.
8481 \b \c{FSUBR} does the same thing, but does the subtraction the other
8482 way up: so if \c{TO} is not given, it subtracts \c{ST0} from the given
8483 operand and stores the result in \c{ST0}, whereas if \c{TO} is given
8484 it subtracts its operand from \c{ST0} and stores the result in the
8487 \b \c{FSUBP} operates like \c{FSUB TO}, but pops the register stack
8488 once it has finished.
8490 \b \c{FSUBRP} operates like \c{FSUBR TO}, but pops the register stack
8491 once it has finished.
8494 \H{insFTST} \i\c{FTST}: Test \c{ST0} Against Zero
8496 \c FTST ; D9 E4 [8086,FPU]
8498 \c{FTST} compares \c{ST0} with zero and sets the FPU flags
8499 accordingly. \c{ST0} is treated as the left-hand side of the
8500 comparison, so that a `less-than' result is generated if \c{ST0} is
8504 \H{insFUCOM} \i\c{FUCOMxx}: Floating-Point Unordered Compare
8506 \c FUCOM fpureg ; DD E0+r [386,FPU]
8507 \c FUCOM ST0,fpureg ; DD E0+r [386,FPU]
8509 \c FUCOMP fpureg ; DD E8+r [386,FPU]
8510 \c FUCOMP ST0,fpureg ; DD E8+r [386,FPU]
8512 \c FUCOMPP ; DA E9 [386,FPU]
8514 \c FUCOMI fpureg ; DB E8+r [P6,FPU]
8515 \c FUCOMI ST0,fpureg ; DB E8+r [P6,FPU]
8517 \c FUCOMIP fpureg ; DF E8+r [P6,FPU]
8518 \c FUCOMIP ST0,fpureg ; DF E8+r [P6,FPU]
8520 \b \c{FUCOM} compares \c{ST0} with the given operand, and sets the
8521 FPU flags accordingly. \c{ST0} is treated as the left-hand side of
8522 the comparison, so that the carry flag is set (for a `less-than'
8523 result) if \c{ST0} is less than the given operand.
8525 \b \c{FUCOMP} does the same as \c{FUCOM}, but pops the register stack
8526 afterwards. \c{FUCOMPP} compares \c{ST0} with \c{ST1} and then pops
8527 the register stack twice.
8529 \b \c{FUCOMI} and \c{FUCOMIP} work like the corresponding forms of
8530 \c{FUCOM} and \c{FUCOMP}, but write their results directly to the CPU
8531 flags register rather than the FPU status word, so they can be
8532 immediately followed by conditional jump or conditional move
8535 The \c{FUCOM} instructions differ from the \c{FCOM} instructions
8536 (\k{insFCOM}) only in the way they handle quiet NaNs: \c{FUCOM} will
8537 handle them silently and set the condition code flags to an
8538 `unordered' result, whereas \c{FCOM} will generate an exception.
8541 \H{insFXAM} \i\c{FXAM}: Examine Class of Value in \c{ST0}
8543 \c FXAM ; D9 E5 [8086,FPU]
8545 \c{FXAM} sets the FPU flags \c{C3}, \c{C2} and \c{C0} depending on
8546 the type of value stored in \c{ST0}:
8548 \c Register contents Flags
8550 \c Unsupported format 000
8552 \c Finite number 010
8555 \c Empty register 101
8558 Additionally, the \c{C1} flag is set to the sign of the number.
8561 \H{insFXCH} \i\c{FXCH}: Floating-Point Exchange
8563 \c FXCH ; D9 C9 [8086,FPU]
8564 \c FXCH fpureg ; D9 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8565 \c FXCH fpureg,ST0 ; D9 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8566 \c FXCH ST0,fpureg ; D9 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8568 \c{FXCH} exchanges \c{ST0} with a given FPU register. The no-operand
8569 form exchanges \c{ST0} with \c{ST1}.
8572 \H{insFXRSTOR} \i\c{FXRSTOR}: Restore \c{FP}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE} State
8574 \c FXRSTOR memory ; 0F AE /1 [P6,SSE,FPU]
8576 The \c{FXRSTOR} instruction reloads the \c{FPU}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE}
8577 state (environment and registers), from the 512 byte memory area defined
8578 by the source operand. This data should have been written by a previous
8582 \H{insFXSAVE} \i\c{FXSAVE}: Store \c{FP}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE} State
8584 \c FXSAVE memory ; 0F AE /0 [P6,SSE,FPU]
8586 \c{FXSAVE}The FXSAVE instruction writes the current \c{FPU}, \c{MMX}
8587 and \c{SSE} technology states (environment and registers), to the
8588 512 byte memory area defined by the destination operand. It does this
8589 without checking for pending unmasked floating-point exceptions
8590 (similar to the operation of \c{FNSAVE}).
8592 Unlike the \c{FSAVE/FNSAVE} instructions, the processor retains the
8593 contents of the \c{FPU}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE} state in the processor
8594 after the state has been saved. This instruction has been optimized
8595 to maximize floating-point save performance.
8598 \H{insFXTRACT} \i\c{FXTRACT}: Extract Exponent and Significand
8600 \c FXTRACT ; D9 F4 [8086,FPU]
8602 \c{FXTRACT} separates the number in \c{ST0} into its exponent and
8603 significand (mantissa), stores the exponent back into \c{ST0}, and
8604 then pushes the significand on the register stack (so that the
8605 significand ends up in \c{ST0}, and the exponent in \c{ST1}).
8608 \H{insFYL2X} \i\c{FYL2X}, \i\c{FYL2XP1}: Compute Y times Log2(X) or Log2(X+1)
8610 \c FYL2X ; D9 F1 [8086,FPU]
8611 \c FYL2XP1 ; D9 F9 [8086,FPU]
8613 \c{FYL2X} multiplies \c{ST1} by the base-2 logarithm of \c{ST0},
8614 stores the result in \c{ST1}, and pops the register stack (so that
8615 the result ends up in \c{ST0}). \c{ST0} must be non-zero and
8618 \c{FYL2XP1} works the same way, but replacing the base-2 log of
8619 \c{ST0} with that of \c{ST0} plus one. This time, \c{ST0} must have
8620 magnitude no greater than 1 minus half the square root of two.
8623 \H{insHLT} \i\c{HLT}: Halt Processor
8625 \c HLT ; F4 [8086,PRIV]
8627 \c{HLT} puts the processor into a halted state, where it will
8628 perform no more operations until restarted by an interrupt or a
8631 On the 286 and later processors, this is a privileged instruction.
8634 \H{insIBTS} \i\c{IBTS}: Insert Bit String
8636 \c IBTS r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F A7 /r [386,UNDOC]
8637 \c IBTS r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F A7 /r [386,UNDOC]
8639 The implied operation of this instruction is:
8641 \c IBTS r/m16,AX,CL,reg16
8642 \c IBTS r/m32,EAX,CL,reg32
8644 Writes a bit string from the source operand to the destination.
8645 \c{CL} indicates the number of bits to be copied, from the low bits
8646 of the source. \c{(E)AX} indicates the low order bit offset in the
8647 destination that is written to. For example, if \c{CL} is set to 4
8648 and \c{AX} (for 16-bit code) is set to 5, bits 0-3 of \c{src} will
8649 be copied to bits 5-8 of \c{dst}. This instruction is very poorly
8650 documented, and I have been unable to find any official source of
8651 documentation on it.
8653 \c{IBTS} is supported only on the early Intel 386s, and conflicts
8654 with the opcodes for \c{CMPXCHG486} (on early Intel 486s). NASM
8655 supports it only for completeness. Its counterpart is \c{XBTS}
8659 \H{insIDIV} \i\c{IDIV}: Signed Integer Divide
8661 \c IDIV r/m8 ; F6 /7 [8086]
8662 \c IDIV r/m16 ; o16 F7 /7 [8086]
8663 \c IDIV r/m32 ; o32 F7 /7 [386]
8665 \c{IDIV} performs signed integer division. The explicit operand
8666 provided is the divisor; the dividend and destination operands
8667 are implicit, in the following way:
8669 \b For \c{IDIV r/m8}, \c{AX} is divided by the given operand;
8670 the quotient is stored in \c{AL} and the remainder in \c{AH}.
8672 \b For \c{IDIV r/m16}, \c{DX:AX} is divided by the given operand;
8673 the quotient is stored in \c{AX} and the remainder in \c{DX}.
8675 \b For \c{IDIV r/m32}, \c{EDX:EAX} is divided by the given operand;
8676 the quotient is stored in \c{EAX} and the remainder in \c{EDX}.
8678 Unsigned integer division is performed by the \c{DIV} instruction:
8682 \H{insIMUL} \i\c{IMUL}: Signed Integer Multiply
8684 \c IMUL r/m8 ; F6 /5 [8086]
8685 \c IMUL r/m16 ; o16 F7 /5 [8086]
8686 \c IMUL r/m32 ; o32 F7 /5 [386]
8688 \c IMUL reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F AF /r [386]
8689 \c IMUL reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F AF /r [386]
8691 \c IMUL reg16,imm8 ; o16 6B /r ib [286]
8692 \c IMUL reg16,imm16 ; o16 69 /r iw [286]
8693 \c IMUL reg32,imm8 ; o32 6B /r ib [386]
8694 \c IMUL reg32,imm32 ; o32 69 /r id [386]
8696 \c IMUL reg16,r/m16,imm8 ; o16 6B /r ib [286]
8697 \c IMUL reg16,r/m16,imm16 ; o16 69 /r iw [286]
8698 \c IMUL reg32,r/m32,imm8 ; o32 6B /r ib [386]
8699 \c IMUL reg32,r/m32,imm32 ; o32 69 /r id [386]
8701 \c{IMUL} performs signed integer multiplication. For the
8702 single-operand form, the other operand and destination are
8703 implicit, in the following way:
8705 \b For \c{IMUL r/m8}, \c{AL} is multiplied by the given operand;
8706 the product is stored in \c{AX}.
8708 \b For \c{IMUL r/m16}, \c{AX} is multiplied by the given operand;
8709 the product is stored in \c{DX:AX}.
8711 \b For \c{IMUL r/m32}, \c{EAX} is multiplied by the given operand;
8712 the product is stored in \c{EDX:EAX}.
8714 The two-operand form multiplies its two operands and stores the
8715 result in the destination (first) operand. The three-operand
8716 form multiplies its last two operands and stores the result in
8719 The two-operand form with an immediate second operand is in
8720 fact a shorthand for the three-operand form, as can be seen by
8721 examining the opcode descriptions: in the two-operand form, the
8722 code \c{/r} takes both its register and \c{r/m} parts from the
8723 same operand (the first one).
8725 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate operand and another longer
8726 source operand, the immediate operand is considered to be signed,
8727 and is sign-extended to the length of the other source operand.
8728 In these cases, the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force
8729 NASM to generate this form of the instruction.
8731 Unsigned integer multiplication is performed by the \c{MUL}
8732 instruction: see \k{insMUL}.
8735 \H{insIN} \i\c{IN}: Input from I/O Port
8737 \c IN AL,imm8 ; E4 ib [8086]
8738 \c IN AX,imm8 ; o16 E5 ib [8086]
8739 \c IN EAX,imm8 ; o32 E5 ib [386]
8740 \c IN AL,DX ; EC [8086]
8741 \c IN AX,DX ; o16 ED [8086]
8742 \c IN EAX,DX ; o32 ED [386]
8744 \c{IN} reads a byte, word or doubleword from the specified I/O port,
8745 and stores it in the given destination register. The port number may
8746 be specified as an immediate value if it is between 0 and 255, and
8747 otherwise must be stored in \c{DX}. See also \c{OUT} (\k{insOUT}).
8750 \H{insINC} \i\c{INC}: Increment Integer
8752 \c INC reg16 ; o16 40+r [8086]
8753 \c INC reg32 ; o32 40+r [386]
8754 \c INC r/m8 ; FE /0 [8086]
8755 \c INC r/m16 ; o16 FF /0 [8086]
8756 \c INC r/m32 ; o32 FF /0 [386]
8758 \c{INC} adds 1 to its operand. It does \e{not} affect the carry
8759 flag: to affect the carry flag, use \c{ADD something,1} (see
8760 \k{insADD}). \c{INC} affects all the other flags according to the result.
8762 This instruction can be used with a \c{LOCK} prefix to allow atomic execution.
8764 See also \c{DEC} (\k{insDEC}).
8767 \H{insINSB} \i\c{INSB}, \i\c{INSW}, \i\c{INSD}: Input String from I/O Port
8770 \c INSW ; o16 6D [186]
8771 \c INSD ; o32 6D [386]
8773 \c{INSB} inputs a byte from the I/O port specified in \c{DX} and
8774 stores it at \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]}. It then increments or
8775 decrements (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag
8776 is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{DI} or \c{EDI}.
8778 The register used is \c{DI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
8779 \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
8780 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
8781 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
8783 Segment override prefixes have no effect for this instruction: the
8784 use of \c{ES} for the load from \c{[DI]} or \c{[EDI]} cannot be
8787 \c{INSW} and \c{INSD} work in the same way, but they input a word or
8788 a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement the
8789 addressing register by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
8791 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
8792 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
8794 See also \c{OUTSB}, \c{OUTSW} and \c{OUTSD} (\k{insOUTSB}).
8797 \H{insINT} \i\c{INT}: Software Interrupt
8799 \c INT imm8 ; CD ib [8086]
8801 \c{INT} causes a software interrupt through a specified vector
8802 number from 0 to 255.
8804 The code generated by the \c{INT} instruction is always two bytes
8805 long: although there are short forms for some \c{INT} instructions,
8806 NASM does not generate them when it sees the \c{INT} mnemonic. In
8807 order to generate single-byte breakpoint instructions, use the
8808 \c{INT3} or \c{INT1} instructions (see \k{insINT1}) instead.
8811 \H{insINT1} \i\c{INT3}, \i\c{INT1}, \i\c{ICEBP}, \i\c{INT01}: Breakpoints
8818 \c INT03 ; CC [8086]
8820 \c{INT1} and \c{INT3} are short one-byte forms of the instructions
8821 \c{INT 1} and \c{INT 3} (see \k{insINT}). They perform a similar
8822 function to their longer counterparts, but take up less code space.
8823 They are used as breakpoints by debuggers.
8825 \b \c{INT1}, and its alternative synonyms \c{INT01} and \c{ICEBP}, is
8826 an instruction used by in-circuit emulators (ICEs). It is present,
8827 though not documented, on some processors down to the 286, but is
8828 only documented for the Pentium Pro. \c{INT3} is the instruction
8829 normally used as a breakpoint by debuggers.
8831 \b \c{INT3}, and its synonym \c{INT03}, is not precisely equivalent to
8832 \c{INT 3}: the short form, since it is designed to be used as a
8833 breakpoint, bypasses the normal \c{IOPL} checks in virtual-8086 mode,
8834 and also does not go through interrupt redirection.
8837 \H{insINTO} \i\c{INTO}: Interrupt if Overflow
8841 \c{INTO} performs an \c{INT 4} software interrupt (see \k{insINT})
8842 if and only if the overflow flag is set.
8845 \H{insINVD} \i\c{INVD}: Invalidate Internal Caches
8847 \c INVD ; 0F 08 [486]
8849 \c{INVD} invalidates and empties the processor's internal caches,
8850 and causes the processor to instruct external caches to do the same.
8851 It does not write the contents of the caches back to memory first:
8852 any modified data held in the caches will be lost. To write the data
8853 back first, use \c{WBINVD} (\k{insWBINVD}).
8856 \H{insINVLPG} \i\c{INVLPG}: Invalidate TLB Entry
8858 \c INVLPG mem ; 0F 01 /7 [486]
8860 \c{INVLPG} invalidates the translation lookahead buffer (TLB) entry
8861 associated with the supplied memory address.
8864 \H{insIRET} \i\c{IRET}, \i\c{IRETW}, \i\c{IRETD}: Return from Interrupt
8867 \c IRETW ; o16 CF [8086]
8868 \c IRETD ; o32 CF [386]
8870 \c{IRET} returns from an interrupt (hardware or software) by means
8871 of popping \c{IP} (or \c{EIP}), \c{CS} and the flags off the stack
8872 and then continuing execution from the new \c{CS:IP}.
8874 \c{IRETW} pops \c{IP}, \c{CS} and the flags as 2 bytes each, taking
8875 6 bytes off the stack in total. \c{IRETD} pops \c{EIP} as 4 bytes,
8876 pops a further 4 bytes of which the top two are discarded and the
8877 bottom two go into \c{CS}, and pops the flags as 4 bytes as well,
8878 taking 12 bytes off the stack.
8880 \c{IRET} is a shorthand for either \c{IRETW} or \c{IRETD}, depending
8881 on the default \c{BITS} setting at the time.
8884 \H{insJcc} \i\c{Jcc}: Conditional Branch
8886 \c Jcc imm ; 70+cc rb [8086]
8887 \c Jcc NEAR imm ; 0F 80+cc rw/rd [386]
8889 The \i{conditional jump} instructions execute a near (same segment)
8890 jump if and only if their conditions are satisfied. For example,
8891 \c{JNZ} jumps only if the zero flag is not set.
8893 The ordinary form of the instructions has only a 128-byte range; the
8894 \c{NEAR} form is a 386 extension to the instruction set, and can
8895 span the full size of a segment. NASM will not override your choice
8896 of jump instruction: if you want \c{Jcc NEAR}, you have to use the
8899 The \c{SHORT} keyword is allowed on the first form of the
8900 instruction, for clarity, but is not necessary.
8902 For details of the condition codes, see \k{iref-cc}.
8905 \H{insJCXZ} \i\c{JCXZ}, \i\c{JECXZ}: Jump if CX/ECX Zero
8907 \c JCXZ imm ; a16 E3 rb [8086]
8908 \c JECXZ imm ; a32 E3 rb [386]
8910 \c{JCXZ} performs a short jump (with maximum range 128 bytes) if and
8911 only if the contents of the \c{CX} register is 0. \c{JECXZ} does the
8912 same thing, but with \c{ECX}.
8915 \H{insJMP} \i\c{JMP}: Jump
8917 \c JMP imm ; E9 rw/rd [8086]
8918 \c JMP SHORT imm ; EB rb [8086]
8919 \c JMP imm:imm16 ; o16 EA iw iw [8086]
8920 \c JMP imm:imm32 ; o32 EA id iw [386]
8921 \c JMP FAR mem ; o16 FF /5 [8086]
8922 \c JMP FAR mem ; o32 FF /5 [386]
8923 \c JMP r/m16 ; o16 FF /4 [8086]
8924 \c JMP r/m32 ; o32 FF /4 [386]
8926 \c{JMP} jumps to a given address. The address may be specified as an
8927 absolute segment and offset, or as a relative jump within the
8930 \c{JMP SHORT imm} has a maximum range of 128 bytes, since the
8931 displacement is specified as only 8 bits, but takes up less code
8932 space. NASM does not choose when to generate \c{JMP SHORT} for you:
8933 you must explicitly code \c{SHORT} every time you want a short jump.
8935 You can choose between the two immediate \i{far jump} forms (\c{JMP
8936 imm:imm}) by the use of the \c{WORD} and \c{DWORD} keywords: \c{JMP
8937 WORD 0x1234:0x5678}) or \c{JMP DWORD 0x1234:0x56789abc}.
8939 The \c{JMP FAR mem} forms execute a far jump by loading the
8940 destination address out of memory. The address loaded consists of 16
8941 or 32 bits of offset (depending on the operand size), and 16 bits of
8942 segment. The operand size may be overridden using \c{JMP WORD FAR
8943 mem} or \c{JMP DWORD FAR mem}.
8945 The \c{JMP r/m} forms execute a \i{near jump} (within the same
8946 segment), loading the destination address out of memory or out of a
8947 register. The keyword \c{NEAR} may be specified, for clarity, in
8948 these forms, but is not necessary. Again, operand size can be
8949 overridden using \c{JMP WORD mem} or \c{JMP DWORD mem}.
8951 As a convenience, NASM does not require you to jump to a far symbol
8952 by coding the cumbersome \c{JMP SEG routine:routine}, but instead
8953 allows the easier synonym \c{JMP FAR routine}.
8955 The \c{CALL r/m} forms given above are near calls; NASM will accept
8956 the \c{NEAR} keyword (e.g. \c{CALL NEAR [address]}), even though it
8957 is not strictly necessary.
8960 \H{insLAHF} \i\c{LAHF}: Load AH from Flags
8964 \c{LAHF} sets the \c{AH} register according to the contents of the
8965 low byte of the flags word.
8967 The operation of \c{LAHF} is:
8969 \c AH <-- SF:ZF:0:AF:0:PF:1:CF
8971 See also \c{SAHF} (\k{insSAHF}).
8974 \H{insLAR} \i\c{LAR}: Load Access Rights
8976 \c LAR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 02 /r [286,PRIV]
8977 \c LAR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 02 /r [286,PRIV]
8979 \c{LAR} takes the segment selector specified by its source (second)
8980 operand, finds the corresponding segment descriptor in the GDT or
8981 LDT, and loads the access-rights byte of the descriptor into its
8982 destination (first) operand.
8985 \H{insLDMXCSR} \i\c{LDMXCSR}: Load Streaming SIMD Extension
8988 \c LDMXCSR mem32 ; 0F AE /2 [KATMAI,SSE]
8990 \c{LDMXCSR} loads 32-bits of data from the specified memory location
8991 into the \c{MXCSR} control/status register. \c{MXCSR} is used to
8992 enable masked/unmasked exception handling, to set rounding modes,
8993 to set flush-to-zero mode, and to view exception status flags.
8995 For details of the \c{MXCSR} register, see the Intel processor docs.
8997 See also \c{STMXCSR} (\k{insSTMXCSR}
9000 \H{insLDS} \i\c{LDS}, \i\c{LES}, \i\c{LFS}, \i\c{LGS}, \i\c{LSS}: Load Far Pointer
9002 \c LDS reg16,mem ; o16 C5 /r [8086]
9003 \c LDS reg32,mem ; o32 C5 /r [386]
9005 \c LES reg16,mem ; o16 C4 /r [8086]
9006 \c LES reg32,mem ; o32 C4 /r [386]
9008 \c LFS reg16,mem ; o16 0F B4 /r [386]
9009 \c LFS reg32,mem ; o32 0F B4 /r [386]
9011 \c LGS reg16,mem ; o16 0F B5 /r [386]
9012 \c LGS reg32,mem ; o32 0F B5 /r [386]
9014 \c LSS reg16,mem ; o16 0F B2 /r [386]
9015 \c LSS reg32,mem ; o32 0F B2 /r [386]
9017 These instructions load an entire far pointer (16 or 32 bits of
9018 offset, plus 16 bits of segment) out of memory in one go. \c{LDS},
9019 for example, loads 16 or 32 bits from the given memory address into
9020 the given register (depending on the size of the register), then
9021 loads the \e{next} 16 bits from memory into \c{DS}. \c{LES},
9022 \c{LFS}, \c{LGS} and \c{LSS} work in the same way but use the other
9026 \H{insLEA} \i\c{LEA}: Load Effective Address
9028 \c LEA reg16,mem ; o16 8D /r [8086]
9029 \c LEA reg32,mem ; o32 8D /r [386]
9031 \c{LEA}, despite its syntax, does not access memory. It calculates
9032 the effective address specified by its second operand as if it were
9033 going to load or store data from it, but instead it stores the
9034 calculated address into the register specified by its first operand.
9035 This can be used to perform quite complex calculations (e.g. \c{LEA
9036 EAX,[EBX+ECX*4+100]}) in one instruction.
9038 \c{LEA}, despite being a purely arithmetic instruction which
9039 accesses no memory, still requires square brackets around its second
9040 operand, as if it were a memory reference.
9042 The size of the calculation is the current \e{address} size, and the
9043 size that the result is stored as is the current \e{operand} size.
9044 If the address and operand size are not the same, then if the
9045 addressing mode was 32-bits, the low 16-bits are stored, and if the
9046 address was 16-bits, it is zero-extended to 32-bits before storing.
9049 \H{insLEAVE} \i\c{LEAVE}: Destroy Stack Frame
9053 \c{LEAVE} destroys a stack frame of the form created by the
9054 \c{ENTER} instruction (see \k{insENTER}). It is functionally
9055 equivalent to \c{MOV ESP,EBP} followed by \c{POP EBP} (or \c{MOV
9056 SP,BP} followed by \c{POP BP} in 16-bit mode).
9059 \H{insLFENCE} \i\c{LFENCE}: Load Fence
9061 \c LFENCE ; 0F AE /5 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9063 \c{LFENCE} performs a serialising operation on all loads from memory
9064 that were issued before the \c{LFENCE} instruction. This guarantees that
9065 all memory reads before the \c{LFENCE} instruction are visible before any
9066 reads after the \c{LFENCE} instruction.
9068 \c{LFENCE} is ordered respective to other \c{LFENCE} instruction, \c{MFENCE},
9069 any memory read and any other serialising instruction (such as \c{CPUID}).
9071 Weakly ordered memory types can be used to achieve higher processor
9072 performance through such techniques as out-of-order issue and
9073 speculative reads. The degree to which a consumer of data recognizes
9074 or knows that the data is weakly ordered varies among applications
9075 and may be unknown to the producer of this data. The \c{LFENCE}
9076 instruction provides a performance-efficient way of ensuring load
9077 ordering between routines that produce weakly-ordered results and
9078 routines that consume that data.
9080 \c{LFENCE} uses the following ModRM encoding:
9083 \c Reg/Opcode (5:3) = 101B
9086 All other ModRM encodings are defined to be reserved, and use
9087 of these encodings risks incompatibility with future processors.
9089 See also \c{SFENCE} (\k{insSFENCE}) and \c{MFENCE} (\k{insMFENCE}).
9092 \H{insLGDT} \i\c{LGDT}, \i\c{LIDT}, \i\c{LLDT}: Load Descriptor Tables
9094 \c LGDT mem ; 0F 01 /2 [286,PRIV]
9095 \c LIDT mem ; 0F 01 /3 [286,PRIV]
9096 \c LLDT r/m16 ; 0F 00 /2 [286,PRIV]
9098 \c{LGDT} and \c{LIDT} both take a 6-byte memory area as an operand:
9099 they load a 32-bit linear address and a 16-bit size limit from that
9100 area (in the opposite order) into the \c{GDTR} (global descriptor table
9101 register) or \c{IDTR} (interrupt descriptor table register). These are
9102 the only instructions which directly use \e{linear} addresses, rather
9103 than segment/offset pairs.
9105 \c{LLDT} takes a segment selector as an operand. The processor looks
9106 up that selector in the GDT and stores the limit and base address
9107 given there into the \c{LDTR} (local descriptor table register).
9109 See also \c{SGDT}, \c{SIDT} and \c{SLDT} (\k{insSGDT}).
9112 \H{insLMSW} \i\c{LMSW}: Load/Store Machine Status Word
9114 \c LMSW r/m16 ; 0F 01 /6 [286,PRIV]
9116 \c{LMSW} loads the bottom four bits of the source operand into the
9117 bottom four bits of the \c{CR0} control register (or the Machine
9118 Status Word, on 286 processors). See also \c{SMSW} (\k{insSMSW}).
9121 \H{insLOADALL} \i\c{LOADALL}, \i\c{LOADALL286}: Load Processor State
9123 \c LOADALL ; 0F 07 [386,UNDOC]
9124 \c LOADALL286 ; 0F 05 [286,UNDOC]
9126 This instruction, in its two different-opcode forms, is apparently
9127 supported on most 286 processors, some 386 and possibly some 486.
9128 The opcode differs between the 286 and the 386.
9130 The function of the instruction is to load all information relating
9131 to the state of the processor out of a block of memory: on the 286,
9132 this block is located implicitly at absolute address \c{0x800}, and
9133 on the 386 and 486 it is at \c{[ES:EDI]}.
9136 \H{insLODSB} \i\c{LODSB}, \i\c{LODSW}, \i\c{LODSD}: Load from String
9138 \c LODSB ; AC [8086]
9139 \c LODSW ; o16 AD [8086]
9140 \c LODSD ; o32 AD [386]
9142 \c{LODSB} loads a byte from \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} into \c{AL}.
9143 It then increments or decrements (depending on the direction flag:
9144 increments if the flag is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{SI} or
9147 The register used is \c{SI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
9148 \c{ESI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
9149 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
9150 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
9152 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
9153 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
9154 example, \c{ES LODSB}).
9156 \c{LODSW} and \c{LODSD} work in the same way, but they load a
9157 word or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement
9158 the addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
9161 \H{insLOOP} \i\c{LOOP}, \i\c{LOOPE}, \i\c{LOOPZ}, \i\c{LOOPNE}, \i\c{LOOPNZ}: Loop with Counter
9163 \c LOOP imm ; E2 rb [8086]
9164 \c LOOP imm,CX ; a16 E2 rb [8086]
9165 \c LOOP imm,ECX ; a32 E2 rb [386]
9167 \c LOOPE imm ; E1 rb [8086]
9168 \c LOOPE imm,CX ; a16 E1 rb [8086]
9169 \c LOOPE imm,ECX ; a32 E1 rb [386]
9170 \c LOOPZ imm ; E1 rb [8086]
9171 \c LOOPZ imm,CX ; a16 E1 rb [8086]
9172 \c LOOPZ imm,ECX ; a32 E1 rb [386]
9174 \c LOOPNE imm ; E0 rb [8086]
9175 \c LOOPNE imm,CX ; a16 E0 rb [8086]
9176 \c LOOPNE imm,ECX ; a32 E0 rb [386]
9177 \c LOOPNZ imm ; E0 rb [8086]
9178 \c LOOPNZ imm,CX ; a16 E0 rb [8086]
9179 \c LOOPNZ imm,ECX ; a32 E0 rb [386]
9181 \c{LOOP} decrements its counter register (either \c{CX} or \c{ECX} -
9182 if one is not specified explicitly, the \c{BITS} setting dictates
9183 which is used) by one, and if the counter does not become zero as a
9184 result of this operation, it jumps to the given label. The jump has
9185 a range of 128 bytes.
9187 \c{LOOPE} (or its synonym \c{LOOPZ}) adds the additional condition
9188 that it only jumps if the counter is nonzero \e{and} the zero flag
9189 is set. Similarly, \c{LOOPNE} (and \c{LOOPNZ}) jumps only if the
9190 counter is nonzero and the zero flag is clear.
9193 \H{insLSL} \i\c{LSL}: Load Segment Limit
9195 \c LSL reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 03 /r [286,PRIV]
9196 \c LSL reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 03 /r [286,PRIV]
9198 \c{LSL} is given a segment selector in its source (second) operand;
9199 it computes the segment limit value by loading the segment limit
9200 field from the associated segment descriptor in the \c{GDT} or \c{LDT}.
9201 (This involves shifting left by 12 bits if the segment limit is
9202 page-granular, and not if it is byte-granular; so you end up with a
9203 byte limit in either case.) The segment limit obtained is then
9204 loaded into the destination (first) operand.
9207 \H{insLTR} \i\c{LTR}: Load Task Register
9209 \c LTR r/m16 ; 0F 00 /3 [286,PRIV]
9211 \c{LTR} looks up the segment base and limit in the GDT or LDT
9212 descriptor specified by the segment selector given as its operand,
9213 and loads them into the Task Register.
9216 \H{insMASKMOVDQU} \i\c{MASKMOVDQU}: Byte Mask Write
9218 \c MASKMOVDQU xmm1,xmm2 ; 66 0F F7 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9220 \c{MASKMOVDQU} 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{insMASKMOVQ} \i\c{MASKMOVQ}: Byte Mask Write
9229 \c MASKMOVQ mm1,mm2 ; 0F F7 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
9231 \c{MASKMOVQ} stores data from xmm1 to the location specified by
9232 \c{ES:(E)DI}. The size of the store depends on the address-size
9233 attribute. The most significant bit in each byte of the mask
9234 register xmm2 is used to selectively write the data (0 = no write,
9235 1 = write) on a per-byte basis.
9238 \H{insMAXPD} \i\c{MAXPD}: Return Packed Double-Precision FP Maximum
9240 \c MAXPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 5F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9242 \c{MAXPD} performs a SIMD compare of the packed double-precision
9243 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum values
9244 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
9245 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
9246 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
9247 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
9250 \H{insMAXPS} \i\c{MAXPS}: Return Packed Single-Precision FP Maximum
9252 \c MAXPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 5F /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9254 \c{MAXPS} performs a SIMD compare of the packed single-precision
9255 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum values
9256 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
9257 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
9258 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
9259 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
9262 \H{insMAXSD} \i\c{MAXSD}: Return Scalar Double-Precision FP Maximum
9264 \c MAXSD xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F2 0F 5F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9266 \c{MAXSD} compares the low-order double-precision FP numbers from
9267 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum value in xmm1. If the
9268 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m64) would
9269 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m64) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
9270 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
9271 the SNaN is not returned). The high quadword of the destination
9275 \H{insMAXSS} \i\c{MAXSD}: Return Scalar Single-Precision FP Maximum
9277 \c MAXSS xmm1,xmm2/m32 ; F3 0F 5F /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9279 \c{MAXSS} compares the low-order single-precision FP numbers from
9280 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum value in xmm1. If the
9281 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m32) would
9282 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m32) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
9283 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
9284 the SNaN is not returned). The high three doublewords of the
9285 destination are left unchanged.
9288 \H{insMFENCE} \i\c{MFENCE}: Memory Fence
9290 \c MFENCE ; 0F AE /6 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9292 \c{MFENCE} performs a serialising operation on all loads from memory
9293 and writes to memory that were issued before the \c{MFENCE} instruction.
9294 This guarantees that all memory reads and writes before the \c{MFENCE}
9295 instruction are completed before any reads and writes after the
9296 \c{MFENCE} instruction.
9298 \c{MFENCE} is ordered respective to other \c{MFENCE} instructions,
9299 \c{LFENCE}, \c{SFENCE}, any memory read and any other serialising
9300 instruction (such as \c{CPUID}).
9302 Weakly ordered memory types can be used to achieve higher processor
9303 performance through such techniques as out-of-order issue, speculative
9304 reads, write-combining, and write-collapsing. The degree to which a
9305 consumer of data recognizes or knows that the data is weakly ordered
9306 varies among applications and may be unknown to the producer of this
9307 data. The \c{MFENCE} instruction provides a performance-efficient way
9308 of ensuring load and store ordering between routines that produce
9309 weakly-ordered results and routines that consume that data.
9311 \c{MFENCE} uses the following ModRM encoding:
9314 \c Reg/Opcode (5:3) = 110B
9317 All other ModRM encodings are defined to be reserved, and use
9318 of these encodings risks incompatibility with future processors.
9320 See also \c{LFENCE} (\k{insLFENCE}) and \c{SFENCE} (\k{insSFENCE}).
9323 \H{insMINPD} \i\c{MINPD}: Return Packed Double-Precision FP Minimum
9325 \c MINPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 5D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9327 \c{MINPD} performs a SIMD compare of the packed double-precision
9328 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum values
9329 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
9330 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
9331 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
9332 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
9335 \H{insMINPS} \i\c{MINPS}: Return Packed Single-Precision FP Minimum
9337 \c MINPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 5D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9339 \c{MINPS} performs a SIMD compare of the packed single-precision
9340 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum values
9341 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
9342 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
9343 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
9344 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
9347 \H{insMINSD} \i\c{MINSD}: Return Scalar Double-Precision FP Minimum
9349 \c MINSD xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F2 0F 5D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9351 \c{MINSD} compares the low-order double-precision FP numbers from
9352 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum value in xmm1. If the
9353 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m64) would
9354 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m64) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
9355 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
9356 the SNaN is not returned). The high quadword of the destination
9360 \H{insMINSS} \i\c{MINSD}: Return Scalar Single-Precision FP Minimum
9362 \c MINSS xmm1,xmm2/m32 ; F3 0F 5D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9364 \c{MINSS} compares the low-order single-precision FP numbers from
9365 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum value in xmm1. If the
9366 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m32) would
9367 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m32) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
9368 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
9369 the SNaN is not returned). The high three doublewords of the
9370 destination are left unchanged.
9373 \H{insMOV} \i\c{MOV}: Move Data
9375 \c MOV r/m8,reg8 ; 88 /r [8086]
9376 \c MOV r/m16,reg16 ; o16 89 /r [8086]
9377 \c MOV r/m32,reg32 ; o32 89 /r [386]
9378 \c MOV reg8,r/m8 ; 8A /r [8086]
9379 \c MOV reg16,r/m16 ; o16 8B /r [8086]
9380 \c MOV reg32,r/m32 ; o32 8B /r [386]
9382 \c MOV reg8,imm8 ; B0+r ib [8086]
9383 \c MOV reg16,imm16 ; o16 B8+r iw [8086]
9384 \c MOV reg32,imm32 ; o32 B8+r id [386]
9385 \c MOV r/m8,imm8 ; C6 /0 ib [8086]
9386 \c MOV r/m16,imm16 ; o16 C7 /0 iw [8086]
9387 \c MOV r/m32,imm32 ; o32 C7 /0 id [386]
9389 \c MOV AL,memoffs8 ; A0 ow/od [8086]
9390 \c MOV AX,memoffs16 ; o16 A1 ow/od [8086]
9391 \c MOV EAX,memoffs32 ; o32 A1 ow/od [386]
9392 \c MOV memoffs8,AL ; A2 ow/od [8086]
9393 \c MOV memoffs16,AX ; o16 A3 ow/od [8086]
9394 \c MOV memoffs32,EAX ; o32 A3 ow/od [386]
9396 \c MOV r/m16,segreg ; o16 8C /r [8086]
9397 \c MOV r/m32,segreg ; o32 8C /r [386]
9398 \c MOV segreg,r/m16 ; o16 8E /r [8086]
9399 \c MOV segreg,r/m32 ; o32 8E /r [386]
9401 \c MOV reg32,CR0/2/3/4 ; 0F 20 /r [386]
9402 \c MOV reg32,DR0/1/2/3/6/7 ; 0F 21 /r [386]
9403 \c MOV reg32,TR3/4/5/6/7 ; 0F 24 /r [386]
9404 \c MOV CR0/2/3/4,reg32 ; 0F 22 /r [386]
9405 \c MOV DR0/1/2/3/6/7,reg32 ; 0F 23 /r [386]
9406 \c MOV TR3/4/5/6/7,reg32 ; 0F 26 /r [386]
9408 \c{MOV} copies the contents of its source (second) operand into its
9409 destination (first) operand.
9411 In all forms of the \c{MOV} instruction, the two operands are the
9412 same size, except for moving between a segment register and an
9413 \c{r/m32} operand. These instructions are treated exactly like the
9414 corresponding 16-bit equivalent (so that, for example, \c{MOV
9415 DS,EAX} functions identically to \c{MOV DS,AX} but saves a prefix
9416 when in 32-bit mode), except that when a segment register is moved
9417 into a 32-bit destination, the top two bytes of the result are
9420 \c{MOV} may not use \c{CS} as a destination.
9422 \c{CR4} is only a supported register on the Pentium and above.
9424 Test registers are supported on 386/486 processors and on some
9425 non-Intel Pentium class processors.
9428 \H{insMOVAPD} \i\c{MOVAPD}: Move Aligned Packed Double-Precision FP Values
9430 \c MOVAPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 28 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9431 \c MOVAPD xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 66 0F 29 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9433 \c{MOVAPS} moves a double quadword containing 2 packed double-precision
9434 FP values from the source operand to the destination. When the source
9435 or destination operand is a memory location, it must be aligned on a
9438 To move data in and out of memory locations that are not known to be on
9439 16-byte boundaries, use the \c{MOVUPD} instruction (\k{insMOVUPD}).
9442 \H{insMOVAPS} \i\c{MOVAPS}: Move Aligned Packed Single-Precision FP Values
9444 \c MOVAPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 28 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9445 \c MOVAPS xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 0F 29 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9447 \c{MOVAPS} moves a double quadword containing 4 packed single-precision
9448 FP values from the source operand to the destination. When the source
9449 or destination operand is a memory location, it must be aligned on a
9452 To move data in and out of memory locations that are not known to be on
9453 16-byte boundaries, use the \c{MOVUPS} instruction (\k{insMOVUPS}).
9456 \H{insMOVD} \i\c{MOVD}: Move Doubleword to/from MMX Register
9458 \c MOVD mm,r/m32 ; 0F 6E /r [PENT,MMX]
9459 \c MOVD r/m32,mm ; 0F 7E /r [PENT,MMX]
9460 \c MOVD xmm,r/m32 ; 66 0F 6E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9461 \c MOVD r/m32,xmm ; 66 0F 7E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9463 \c{MOVD} copies 32 bits from its source (second) operand into its
9464 destination (first) operand. When the destination is a 64-bit \c{MMX}
9465 register or a 128-bit \c{XMM} register, the input value is zero-extended
9466 to fill the destination register.
9469 \H{insMOVDQ2Q} \i\c{MOVDQ2Q}: Move Quadword from XMM to MMX register.
9471 \c MOVDQ2Q mm,xmm ; F2 OF D6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9473 \c{MOVDQ2Q} moves the low quadword from the source operand to the
9474 destination operand.
9477 \H{insMOVDQA} \i\c{MOVDQA}: Move Aligned Double Quadword
9479 \c MOVDQA xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 OF 6F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9480 \c MOVDQA xmm1/m128,xmm2 ; 66 OF 7F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9482 \c{MOVDQA} moves a double quadword from the source operand to the
9483 destination operand. When the source or destination operand is a
9484 memory location, it must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
9486 To move a double quadword to or from unaligned memory locations,
9487 use the \c{MOVDQU} instruction (\k{insMOVDQU}).
9490 \H{insMOVDQU} \i\c{MOVDQU}: Move Unaligned Double Quadword
9492 \c MOVDQU xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 OF 6F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9493 \c MOVDQU xmm1/m128,xmm2 ; F3 OF 7F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9495 \c{MOVDQU} moves a double quadword from the source operand to the
9496 destination operand. When the source or destination operand is a
9497 memory location, the memory may be unaligned.
9499 To move a double quadword to or from known aligned memory locations,
9500 use the \c{MOVDQA} instruction (\k{insMOVDQA}).
9503 \H{insMOVHLPS} \i\c{MOVHLPS}: Move Packed Single-Precision FP High to Low
9505 \c MOVHLPS xmm1,xmm2 ; OF 12 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9507 \c{MOVHLPS} moves the two packed single-precision FP values from the
9508 high quadword of the source register xmm2 to the low quadword of the
9509 destination register, xmm2. The upper quadword of xmm1 is left unchanged.
9511 The operation of this instruction is:
9513 \c dst[0-63] := src[64-127],
9514 \c dst[64-127] remains unchanged.
9517 \H{insMOVHPD} \i\c{MOVHPD}: Move High Packed Double-Precision FP
9519 \c MOVHPD xmm,m64 ; 66 OF 16 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9520 \c MOVHPD m64,xmm ; 66 OF 17 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9522 \c{MOVHPD} moves a double-precision FP value between the source and
9523 destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
9524 the other is the high quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
9526 The operation of this instruction is:
9528 \c mem[0-63] := xmm[64-127];
9532 \c xmm[0-63] remains unchanged;
9533 \c xmm[64-127] := mem[0-63].
9536 \H{insMOVHPS} \i\c{MOVHPS}: Move High Packed Single-Precision FP
9538 \c MOVHPS xmm,m64 ; 0F 16 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9539 \c MOVHPS m64,xmm ; 0F 17 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9541 \c{MOVHPS} moves two packed single-precision FP values between the source
9542 and destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
9543 the other is the high quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
9545 The operation of this instruction is:
9547 \c mem[0-63] := xmm[64-127];
9551 \c xmm[0-63] remains unchanged;
9552 \c xmm[64-127] := mem[0-63].
9555 \H{insMOVLHPS} \i\c{MOVLHPS}: Move Packed Single-Precision FP Low to High
9557 \c MOVLHPS xmm1,xmm2 ; OF 16 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9559 \c{MOVLHPS} moves the two packed single-precision FP values from the
9560 low quadword of the source register xmm2 to the high quadword of the
9561 destination register, xmm2. The low quadword of xmm1 is left unchanged.
9563 The operation of this instruction is:
9565 \c dst[0-63] remains unchanged;
9566 \c dst[64-127] := src[0-63].
9568 \H{insMOVLPD} \i\c{MOVLPD}: Move Low Packed Double-Precision FP
9570 \c MOVLPD xmm,m64 ; 66 OF 12 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9571 \c MOVLPD m64,xmm ; 66 OF 13 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9573 \c{MOVLPD} moves a double-precision FP value between the source and
9574 destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
9575 the other is the low quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
9577 The operation of this instruction is:
9579 \c mem(0-63) := xmm(0-63);
9583 \c xmm(0-63) := mem(0-63);
9584 \c xmm(64-127) remains unchanged.
9586 \H{insMOVLPS} \i\c{MOVLPS}: Move Low Packed Single-Precision FP
9588 \c MOVLPS xmm,m64 ; OF 12 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9589 \c MOVLPS m64,xmm ; OF 13 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9591 \c{MOVLPS} moves two packed single-precision FP values between the source
9592 and destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
9593 the other is the low quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
9595 The operation of this instruction is:
9597 \c mem(0-63) := xmm(0-63);
9601 \c xmm(0-63) := mem(0-63);
9602 \c xmm(64-127) remains unchanged.
9605 \H{insMOVMSKPD} \i\c{MOVMSKPD}: Extract Packed Double-Precision FP Sign Mask
9607 \c MOVMSKPD reg32,xmm ; 66 0F 50 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9609 \c{MOVMSKPD} inserts a 2-bit mask in r32, formed of the most significant
9610 bits of each double-precision FP number of the source operand.
9613 \H{insMOVMSKPS} \i\c{MOVMSKPS}: Extract Packed Single-Precision FP Sign Mask
9615 \c MOVMSKPS reg32,xmm ; 0F 50 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9617 \c{MOVMSKPS} inserts a 4-bit mask in r32, formed of the most significant
9618 bits of each single-precision FP number of the source operand.
9621 \H{insMOVNTDQ} \i\c{MOVNTDQ}: Move Double Quadword Non Temporal
9623 \c MOVNTDQ m128,xmm ; 66 0F E7 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9625 \c{MOVNTDQ} moves the double quadword from the \c{XMM} source
9626 register to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9627 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution.
9630 \H{insMOVNTI} \i\c{MOVNTI}: Move Doubleword Non Temporal
9632 \c MOVNTI m32,reg32 ; 0F C3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9634 \c{MOVNTI} moves the doubleword in the source register
9635 to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9636 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution.
9639 \H{insMOVNTPD} \i\c{MOVNTPD}: Move Aligned Four Packed Single-Precision
9640 FP Values Non Temporal
9642 \c MOVNTPD m128,xmm ; 66 0F 2B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9644 \c{MOVNTPD} 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{insMOVNTPS} \i\c{MOVNTPS}: Move Aligned Four Packed Single-Precision
9651 FP Values Non Temporal
9653 \c MOVNTPS m128,xmm ; 0F 2B /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9655 \c{MOVNTPS} moves the double quadword from the \c{XMM} source
9656 register to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9657 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution. The memory
9658 location must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
9661 \H{insMOVNTQ} \i\c{MOVNTQ}: Move Quadword Non Temporal
9663 \c MOVNTQ m64,mm ; 0F E7 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
9665 \c{MOVNTQ} moves the quadword in the \c{MMX} source register
9666 to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9667 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution.
9670 \H{insMOVQ} \i\c{MOVQ}: Move Quadword to/from MMX Register
9672 \c MOVQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 6F /r [PENT,MMX]
9673 \c MOVQ mm1/m64,mm2 ; 0F 7F /r [PENT,MMX]
9675 \c MOVQ xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F3 0F 7E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9676 \c MOVQ xmm1/m64,xmm2 ; 66 0F D6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9678 \c{MOVQ} copies 64 bits from its source (second) operand into its
9679 destination (first) operand. When the source is an \c{XMM} register,
9680 the low quadword is moved. When the destination is an \c{XMM} register,
9681 the destination is the low quadword, and the high quadword is cleared.
9684 \H{insMOVQ2DQ} \i\c{MOVQ2DQ}: Move Quadword from MMX to XMM register.
9686 \c MOVQ2DQ xmm,mm ; F3 OF D6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9688 \c{MOVQ2DQ} moves the quadword from the source operand to the low
9689 quadword of the destination operand, and clears the high quadword.
9692 \H{insMOVSB} \i\c{MOVSB}, \i\c{MOVSW}, \i\c{MOVSD}: Move String
9694 \c MOVSB ; A4 [8086]
9695 \c MOVSW ; o16 A5 [8086]
9696 \c MOVSD ; o32 A5 [386]
9698 \c{MOVSB} copies the byte at \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} to
9699 \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]}. It then increments or decrements
9700 (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag is clear,
9701 decrements if it is set) \c{SI} and \c{DI} (or \c{ESI} and \c{EDI}).
9703 The registers used are \c{SI} and \c{DI} if the address size is 16
9704 bits, and \c{ESI} and \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use
9705 an address size not equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can
9706 use an explicit \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
9708 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
9709 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
9710 example, \c{es movsb}). The use of \c{ES} for the store to \c{[DI]}
9711 or \c{[EDI]} cannot be overridden.
9713 \c{MOVSW} and \c{MOVSD} work in the same way, but they copy a word
9714 or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement the
9715 addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
9717 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
9718 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
9721 \H{insMOVSD} \i\c{MOVSD}: Move Scalar Double-Precision FP Value
9723 \c MOVSD xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F2 0F 10 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9724 \c MOVSD xmm1/m64,xmm2 ; F2 0F 11 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9726 \c{MOVDS} moves a double-precision FP value from the source operand
9727 to the destination operand. When the source or destination is a
9728 register, the low-order FP value is read or written.
9731 \H{insMOVSS} \i\c{MOVSS}: Move Scalar Single-Precision FP Value
9733 \c MOVSS xmm1,xmm2/m32 ; F3 0F 10 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9734 \c MOVSS xmm1/m32,xmm2 ; F3 0F 11 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9736 \c{MOVSS} moves a single-precision FP value from the source operand
9737 to the destination operand. When the source or destination is a
9738 register, the low-order FP value is read or written.
9741 \H{insMOVSX} \i\c{MOVSX}, \i\c{MOVZX}: Move Data with Sign or Zero Extend
9743 \c MOVSX reg16,r/m8 ; o16 0F BE /r [386]
9744 \c MOVSX reg32,r/m8 ; o32 0F BE /r [386]
9745 \c MOVSX reg32,r/m16 ; o32 0F BF /r [386]
9747 \c MOVZX reg16,r/m8 ; o16 0F B6 /r [386]
9748 \c MOVZX reg32,r/m8 ; o32 0F B6 /r [386]
9749 \c MOVZX reg32,r/m16 ; o32 0F B7 /r [386]
9751 \c{MOVSX} sign-extends its source (second) operand to the length of
9752 its destination (first) operand, and copies the result into the
9753 destination operand. \c{MOVZX} does the same, but zero-extends
9754 rather than sign-extending.
9757 \H{insMOVUPD} \i\c{MOVUPD}: Move Unaligned Packed Double-Precision FP Values
9759 \c MOVUPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 10 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9760 \c MOVUPD xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 66 0F 11 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9762 \c{MOVUPD} moves a double quadword containing 2 packed double-precision
9763 FP values from the source operand to the destination. This instruction
9764 makes no assumptions about alignment of memory operands.
9766 To move data in and out of memory locations that are known to be on 16-byte
9767 boundaries, use the \c{MOVAPD} instruction (\k{insMOVAPD}).
9770 \H{insMOVUPS} \i\c{MOVUPS}: Move Unaligned Packed Single-Precision FP Values
9772 \c MOVUPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 10 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9773 \c MOVUPS xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 0F 11 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9775 \c{MOVUPS} moves a double quadword containing 4 packed single-precision
9776 FP values from the source operand to the destination. This instruction
9777 makes no assumptions about alignment of memory operands.
9779 To move data in and out of memory locations that are known to be on 16-byte
9780 boundaries, use the \c{MOVAPS} instruction (\k{insMOVAPS}).
9783 \H{insMUL} \i\c{MUL}: Unsigned Integer Multiply
9785 \c MUL r/m8 ; F6 /4 [8086]
9786 \c MUL r/m16 ; o16 F7 /4 [8086]
9787 \c MUL r/m32 ; o32 F7 /4 [386]
9789 \c{MUL} performs unsigned integer multiplication. The other operand
9790 to the multiplication, and the destination operand, are implicit, in
9793 \b For \c{MUL r/m8}, \c{AL} is multiplied by the given operand; the
9794 product is stored in \c{AX}.
9796 \b For \c{MUL r/m16}, \c{AX} is multiplied by the given operand;
9797 the product is stored in \c{DX:AX}.
9799 \b For \c{MUL r/m32}, \c{EAX} is multiplied by the given operand;
9800 the product is stored in \c{EDX:EAX}.
9802 Signed integer multiplication is performed by the \c{IMUL}
9803 instruction: see \k{insIMUL}.
9806 \H{insMULPD} \i\c{MULPD}: Packed Single-FP Multiply
9808 \c MULPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 59 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9810 \c{MULPD} performs a SIMD multiply of the packed double-precision FP
9811 values in both operands, and stores the results in the destination register.
9814 \H{insMULPS} \i\c{MULPS}: Packed Single-FP Multiply
9816 \c MULPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 59 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9818 \c{MULPS} performs a SIMD multiply of the packed single-precision FP
9819 values in both operands, and stores the results in the destination register.
9822 \H{insMULSD} \i\c{MULSD}: Scalar Single-FP Multiply
9824 \c MULSD xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F2 0F 59 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9826 \c{MULSD} multiplies the lowest double-precision FP values of both
9827 operands, and stores the result in the low quadword of xmm1.
9830 \H{insMULSS} \i\c{MULSS}: Scalar Single-FP Multiply
9832 \c MULSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 59 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9834 \c{MULSS} multiplies the lowest single-precision FP values of both
9835 operands, and stores the result in the low doubleword of xmm1.
9838 \H{insNEG} \i\c{NEG}, \i\c{NOT}: Two's and One's Complement
9840 \c NEG r/m8 ; F6 /3 [8086]
9841 \c NEG r/m16 ; o16 F7 /3 [8086]
9842 \c NEG r/m32 ; o32 F7 /3 [386]
9844 \c NOT r/m8 ; F6 /2 [8086]
9845 \c NOT r/m16 ; o16 F7 /2 [8086]
9846 \c NOT r/m32 ; o32 F7 /2 [386]
9848 \c{NEG} replaces the contents of its operand by the two's complement
9849 negation (invert all the bits and then add one) of the original
9850 value. \c{NOT}, similarly, performs one's complement (inverts all
9854 \H{insNOP} \i\c{NOP}: No Operation
9858 \c{NOP} performs no operation. Its opcode is the same as that
9859 generated by \c{XCHG AX,AX} or \c{XCHG EAX,EAX} (depending on the
9860 processor mode; see \k{insXCHG}).
9863 \H{insOR} \i\c{OR}: Bitwise OR
9865 \c OR r/m8,reg8 ; 08 /r [8086]
9866 \c OR r/m16,reg16 ; o16 09 /r [8086]
9867 \c OR r/m32,reg32 ; o32 09 /r [386]
9869 \c OR reg8,r/m8 ; 0A /r [8086]
9870 \c OR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0B /r [8086]
9871 \c OR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0B /r [386]
9873 \c OR r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /1 ib [8086]
9874 \c OR r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /1 iw [8086]
9875 \c OR r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /1 id [386]
9877 \c OR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /1 ib [8086]
9878 \c OR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /1 ib [386]
9880 \c OR AL,imm8 ; 0C ib [8086]
9881 \c OR AX,imm16 ; o16 0D iw [8086]
9882 \c OR EAX,imm32 ; o32 0D id [386]
9884 \c{OR} performs a bitwise OR operation between its two operands
9885 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if at least one of the
9886 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
9887 in the destination (first) operand.
9889 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
9890 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
9891 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
9892 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
9893 form of the instruction.
9895 The MMX instruction \c{POR} (see \k{insPOR}) performs the same
9896 operation on the 64-bit MMX registers.
9899 \H{insORPD} \i\c{ORPD}: Bit-wise Logical OR of Double-Precision FP Data
9901 \c ORPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 56 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9903 \c{ORPD} return a bit-wise logical OR between xmm1 and xmm2/mem,
9904 and stores the result in xmm1. If the source operand is a memory
9905 location, it must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
9908 \H{insORPS} \i\c{ORPS}: Bit-wise Logical OR of Single-Precision FP Data
9910 \c ORPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 56 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9912 \c{ORPS} return a bit-wise logical OR between xmm1 and xmm2/mem,
9913 and stores the result in xmm1. If the source operand is a memory
9914 location, it must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
9917 \H{insOUT} \i\c{OUT}: Output Data to I/O Port
9919 \c OUT imm8,AL ; E6 ib [8086]
9920 \c OUT imm8,AX ; o16 E7 ib [8086]
9921 \c OUT imm8,EAX ; o32 E7 ib [386]
9922 \c OUT DX,AL ; EE [8086]
9923 \c OUT DX,AX ; o16 EF [8086]
9924 \c OUT DX,EAX ; o32 EF [386]
9926 \c{OUT} writes the contents of the given source register to the
9927 specified I/O port. The port number may be specified as an immediate
9928 value if it is between 0 and 255, and otherwise must be stored in
9929 \c{DX}. See also \c{IN} (\k{insIN}).
9932 \H{insOUTSB} \i\c{OUTSB}, \i\c{OUTSW}, \i\c{OUTSD}: Output String to I/O Port
9936 \c OUTSW ; o16 6F [186]
9938 \c OUTSD ; o32 6F [386]
9940 \c{OUTSB} loads a byte from \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} and writes
9941 it to the I/O port specified in \c{DX}. It then increments or
9942 decrements (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag
9943 is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{SI} or \c{ESI}.
9945 The register used is \c{SI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
9946 \c{ESI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
9947 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
9948 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
9950 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
9951 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
9952 example, \c{es outsb}).
9954 \c{OUTSW} and \c{OUTSD} work in the same way, but they output a
9955 word or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement
9956 the addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
9958 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
9959 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
9962 \H{insPACKSSDW} \i\c{PACKSSDW}, \i\c{PACKSSWB}, \i\c{PACKUSWB}: Pack Data
9964 \c PACKSSDW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 6B /r [PENT,MMX]
9965 \c PACKSSWB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 63 /r [PENT,MMX]
9966 \c PACKUSWB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 67 /r [PENT,MMX]
9968 \c PACKSSDW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9969 \c PACKSSWB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 63 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9970 \c PACKUSWB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 67 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9972 All these instructions start by combining the source and destination
9973 operands, and then splitting the result in smaller sections which it
9974 then packs into the destination register. The \c{MMX} versions pack
9975 two 64-bit operands into one 64-bit register, while the \c{SSE}
9976 versions pack two 128-bit operands into one 128-bit register.
9978 \b \c{PACKSSWB} splits the combined value into words, and then reduces
9979 the words to btes, using signed saturation. It then packs the bytes
9980 into the destination register in the same order the words were in.
9982 \b \c{PACKSSDW} performs the same operation as \c{PACKSSWB}, except that
9983 it reduces doublewords to words, then packs them into the destination
9986 \b \c{PACKUSWB} performs the same operation as \c{PACKSSWB}, except that
9987 it uses unsigned saturation when reducing the size of the elements.
9989 To perform signed saturation on a number, it is replaced by the largest
9990 signed number (\c{7FFFh} or \c{7Fh}) that \e{will} fit, and if it is too
9991 small it is replaced by the smallest signed number (\c{8000h} or
9992 \c{80h}) that will fit. To perform unsigned saturation, the input is
9993 treated as unsigned, and the input is replaced by the largest unsigned
9994 number that will fit.
9997 \H{insPADDB} \i\c{PADDB}, \i\c{PADDW}, \i\c{PADDD}: Add Packed Integers
9999 \c PADDB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FC /r [PENT,MMX]
10000 \c PADDW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FD /r [PENT,MMX]
10001 \c PADDD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FE /r [PENT,MMX]
10003 \c PADDB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FC /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10004 \c PADDW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FD /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10005 \c PADDD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FE /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10007 \c{PADDx} performs packed addition of the two operands, storing the
10008 result in the destination (first) operand.
10010 \b \c{PADDB} treats the operands as packed bytes, and adds each byte
10013 \b \c{PADDW} treats the operands as packed words;
10015 \b \c{PADDD} treats its operands as packed doublewords.
10017 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, it
10018 is wrapped around and the low bits are stored, with the carry bit
10022 \H{insPADDQ} \i\c{PADDQ}: Add Packed Quadword Integers
10024 \c PADDQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D4 /r [PENT,MMX]
10026 \c PADDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10028 \c{PADDQ} adds the quadwords in the source and destination operands, and
10029 stores the result in the destination register.
10031 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, it
10032 is wrapped around and the low bits are stored, with the carry bit
10036 \H{insPADDSB} \i\c{PADDSB}, \i\c{PADDSW}: Add Packed Signed Integers With Saturation
10038 \c PADDSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EC /r [PENT,MMX]
10039 \c PADDSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F ED /r [PENT,MMX]
10041 \c PADDSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EC /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10042 \c PADDSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F ED /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10044 \c{PADDSx} performs packed addition of the two operands, storing the
10045 result in the destination (first) operand.
10046 \c{PADDSB} treats the operands as packed bytes, and adds each byte
10047 individually; and \c{PADDSW} treats the operands as packed words.
10049 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, a
10050 saturated value is stored. The resulting value is the value with the
10051 largest magnitude of the same sign as the result which will fit in
10052 the available space.
10055 \H{insPADDSIW} \i\c{PADDSIW}: MMX Packed Addition to Implicit Destination
10057 \c PADDSIW mmxreg,r/m64 ; 0F 51 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10059 \c{PADDSIW}, specific to the Cyrix extensions to the MMX instruction
10060 set, performs the same function as \c{PADDSW}, except that the result
10061 is placed in an implied register.
10063 To work out the implied register, invert the lowest bit in the register
10064 number. So \c{PADDSIW MM0,MM2} would put the result in \c{MM1}, but
10065 \c{PADDSIW MM1,MM2} would put the result in \c{MM0}.
10068 \H{insPADDUSB} \i\c{PADDUSB}, \i\c{PADDUSW}: Add Packed Unsigned Integers With Saturation
10070 \c PADDUSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DC /r [PENT,MMX]
10071 \c PADDUSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DD /r [PENT,MMX]
10073 \c PADDUSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DC /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10074 \c PADDUSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DD /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10076 \c{PADDUSx} performs packed addition of the two operands, storing the
10077 result in the destination (first) operand.
10078 \c{PADDUSB} treats the operands as packed bytes, and adds each byte
10079 individually; and \c{PADDUSW} treats the operands as packed words.
10081 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, a
10082 saturated value is stored. The resulting value is the maximum value
10083 that will fit in the available space.
10086 \H{insPAND} \i\c{PAND}, \i\c{PANDN}: MMX Bitwise AND and AND-NOT
10088 \c PAND mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DB /r [PENT,MMX]
10089 \c PANDN mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DF /r [PENT,MMX]
10091 \c PAND xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10092 \c PANDN xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DF /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10095 \c{PAND} performs a bitwise AND operation between its two operands
10096 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if the corresponding
10097 bits of the two inputs were both 1), and stores the result in the
10098 destination (first) operand.
10100 \c{PANDN} performs the same operation, but performs a one's
10101 complement operation on the destination (first) operand first.
10104 \H{insPAUSE} \i\c{PAUSE}: Spin Loop Hint
10106 \c PAUSE ; F3 90 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10108 \c{PAUSE} provides a hint to the processor that the following code
10109 is a spin loop. This improves processor performance by bypassing
10110 possible memory order violations. On older processors, this instruction
10111 operates as a \c{NOP}.
10114 \H{insPAVEB} \i\c{PAVEB}: MMX Packed Average
10116 \c PAVEB mmxreg,r/m64 ; 0F 50 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10118 \c{PAVEB}, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, treats its two
10119 operands as vectors of eight unsigned bytes, and calculates the
10120 average of the corresponding bytes in the operands. The resulting
10121 vector of eight averages is stored in the first operand.
10123 This opcode maps to \c{MOVMSKPS r32, xmm} on processors that support
10124 the SSE instruction set.
10127 \H{insPAVGB} \i\c{PAVGB} \i\c{PAVGW}: Average Packed Integers
10129 \c PAVGB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E0 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10130 \c PAVGW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E3 /r [KATMAI,MMX,SM]
10132 \c PAVGB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E0 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10133 \c PAVGW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10135 \c{PAVGB} and \c{PAVGW} add the unsigned data elements of the source
10136 operand to the unsigned data elements of the destination register,
10137 then adds 1 to the temporary results. The results of the add are then
10138 each independently right-shifted by one bit position. The high order
10139 bits of each element are filled with the carry bits of the corresponding
10142 \b \c{PAVGB} operates on packed unsigned bytes, and
10144 \b \c{PAVGW} operates on packed unsigned words.
10147 \H{insPAVGUSB} \i\c{PAVGUSB}: Average of unsigned packed 8-bit values
10149 \c PAVGUSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r BF [PENT,3DNOW]
10151 \c{PAVGUSB} adds the unsigned data elements of the source operand to
10152 the unsigned data elements of the destination register, then adds 1
10153 to the temporary results. The results of the add are then each
10154 independently right-shifted by one bit position. The high order bits
10155 of each element are filled with the carry bits of the corresponding
10158 This instruction performs exactly the same operations as the \c{PAVGB}
10159 \c{MMX} instruction (\k{insPAVGB}).
10162 \H{insPCMPEQB} \i\c{PCMPxx}: Compare Packed Integers.
10164 \c PCMPEQB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 74 /r [PENT,MMX]
10165 \c PCMPEQW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 75 /r [PENT,MMX]
10166 \c PCMPEQD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 76 /r [PENT,MMX]
10168 \c PCMPGTB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 64 /r [PENT,MMX]
10169 \c PCMPGTW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 65 /r [PENT,MMX]
10170 \c PCMPGTD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 66 /r [PENT,MMX]
10172 \c PCMPEQB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 74 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10173 \c PCMPEQW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 75 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10174 \c PCMPEQD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 76 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10176 \c PCMPGTB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 64 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10177 \c PCMPGTW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 65 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10178 \c PCMPGTD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 66 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10180 The \c{PCMPxx} instructions all treat their operands as vectors of
10181 bytes, words, or doublewords; corresponding elements of the source
10182 and destination are compared, and the corresponding element of the
10183 destination (first) operand is set to all zeros or all ones
10184 depending on the result of the comparison.
10186 \b \c{PCMPxxB} treats the operands as vectors of bytes;
10188 \b \c{PCMPxxW} treats the operands as vectors of words;
10190 \b \c{PCMPxxD} treats the operands as vectors of doublewords;
10192 \b \c{PCMPEQx} sets the corresponding element of the destination
10193 operand to all ones if the two elements compared are equal;
10195 \b \c{PCMPGTx} sets the destination element to all ones if the element
10196 of the first (destination) operand is greater (treated as a signed
10197 integer) than that of the second (source) operand.
10200 \H{insPDISTIB} \i\c{PDISTIB}: MMX Packed Distance and Accumulate
10201 with Implied Register
10203 \c PDISTIB mm,m64 ; 0F 54 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10205 \c{PDISTIB}, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, treats its two
10206 input operands as vectors of eight unsigned bytes. For each byte
10207 position, it finds the absolute difference between the bytes in that
10208 position in the two input operands, and adds that value to the byte
10209 in the same position in the implied output register. The addition is
10210 saturated to an unsigned byte in the same way as \c{PADDUSB}.
10212 To work out the implied register, invert the lowest bit in the register
10213 number. So \c{PDISTIB MM0,M64} would put the result in \c{MM1}, but
10214 \c{PDISTIB MM1,M64} would put the result in \c{MM0}.
10216 Note that \c{PDISTIB} cannot take a register as its second source
10221 \c dstI[0-7] := dstI[0-7] + ABS(src0[0-7] - src1[0-7]),
10222 \c dstI[8-15] := dstI[8-15] + ABS(src0[8-15] - src1[8-15]),
10225 \c dstI[56-63] := dstI[56-63] + ABS(src0[56-63] - src1[56-63]).
10228 \H{insPEXTRW} \i\c{PEXTRW}: Extract Word
10230 \c PEXTRW reg32,mm,imm8 ; 0F C5 /r ib [KATMAI,MMX]
10231 \c PEXTRW reg32,xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F C5 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10233 \c{PEXTRW} moves the word in the source register (second operand)
10234 that is pointed to by the count operand (third operand), into the
10235 lower half of a 32-bit general purpose register. The upper half of
10236 the register is cleared to all 0s.
10238 When the source operand is an \c{MMX} register, the two least
10239 significant bits of the count specify the source word. When it is
10240 an \c{SSE} register, the three least significant bits specify the
10244 \H{insPF2ID} \i\c{PF2ID}: Packed Single-Precision FP to Integer Convert
10246 \c PF2ID mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 1D [PENT,3DNOW]
10248 \c{PF2ID} converts two single-precision FP values in the source operand
10249 to signed 32-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
10255 \H{insPF2IW} \i\c{PF2IW}: Packed Single-Precision FP to Integer Word Convert
10257 \c PF2IW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 1C [PENT,3DNOW]
10259 \c{PF2IW} converts two single-precision FP values in the source operand
10260 to signed 16-bit integers, using truncation, and stores them in the
10261 destination operand. Source values that are outside the range supported
10262 by the destination are saturated to the largest absolute value of the
10265 \b In the K6-2 and K6-III, the 16-bit value is zero-extended to 32-bits
10268 \b In the K6-2+, K6-III+ and Athlon processors, the value is sign-extended
10269 to 32-bits before storing.
10272 \H{insPFACC} \i\c{PFACC}: Packed Single-Precision FP Accumulate
10274 \c PFACC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r AE [PENT,3DNOW]
10276 \c{PFACC} adds the two single-precision FP values from the destination
10277 operand together, then adds the two single-precision FP values from the
10278 source operand, and places the results in the low and high doublewords
10279 of the destination operand.
10283 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + dst[32-63],
10284 \c dst[32-63] := src[0-31] + src[32-63].
10287 \H{insPFADD} \i\c{PFADD}: Packed Single-Precision FP Addition
10289 \c PFADD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 9E [PENT,3DNOW]
10291 \c{PFADD} performs addition on each of two packed single-precision
10294 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + src[0-31],
10295 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] + src[32-63].
10298 \H{insPFCMP} \i\c{PFCMPxx}: Packed Single-Precision FP Compare
10299 \I\c{PFCMPEQ} \I\c{PFCMPGE} \I\c{PFCMPGT}
10301 \c PFCMPEQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B0 [PENT,3DNOW]
10302 \c PFCMPGE mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 90 [PENT,3DNOW]
10303 \c PFCMPGT mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A0 [PENT,3DNOW]
10305 The \c{PFCMPxx} instructions compare the packed single-point FP values
10306 in the source and destination operands, and set the destination
10307 according to the result. If the condition is true, the destination is
10308 set to all 1s, otherwise it's set to all 0s.
10310 \b \c{PFCMPEQ} tests whether dst == src;
10312 \b \c{PFCMPGE} tests whether dst >= src;
10314 \b \c{PFCMPGT} tests whether dst > src.
10317 \H{insPFMAX} \i\c{PFMAX}: Packed Single-Precision FP Maximum
10319 \c PFMAX mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A4 [PENT,3DNOW]
10321 \c{PFMAX} returns the higher of each pair of single-precision FP values.
10322 If the higher value is zero, it is returned as positive zero.
10325 \H{insPFMIN} \i\c{PFMIN}: Packed Single-Precision FP Minimum
10327 \c PFMIN mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 94 [PENT,3DNOW]
10329 \c{PFMIN} returns the lower of each pair of single-precision FP values.
10330 If the lower value is zero, it is returned as positive zero.
10333 \H{insPFMUL} \i\c{PFMUL}: Packed Single-Precision FP Multiply
10335 \c PFMUL mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B4 [PENT,3DNOW]
10337 \c{PFMUL} returns the product of each pair of single-precision FP values.
10339 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] * src[0-31],
10340 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] * src[32-63].
10343 \H{insPFNACC} \i\c{PFNACC}: Packed Single-Precision FP Negative Accumulate
10345 \c PFNACC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 8A [PENT,3DNOW]
10347 \c{PFACC} performs a negative accumulate of the two single-precision
10348 FP values in the source and destination registers. The result of the
10349 accumulate from the destination register is stored in the low doubleword
10350 of the destination, and the result of the source accumulate is stored in
10351 the high doubleword of the destination register.
10355 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] - dst[32-63],
10356 \c dst[32-63] := src[0-31] - src[32-63].
10359 \H{insPFNACC} \i\c{PFNACC}: Packed Single-Precision FP Mixed Accumulate
10361 \c PFNACC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 8E [PENT,3DNOW]
10363 \c{PFACC} performs a positive accumulate of the two single-precision
10364 FP values in the source register and a negative accumulate of the
10365 destination register. The result of the accumulate from the destination
10366 register is stored in the low doubleword of the destination, and the
10367 result of the source accumulate is stored in the high doubleword of the
10368 destination register.
10372 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] - dst[32-63],
10373 \c dst[32-63] := src[0-31] + src[32-63].
10376 \H{insPFRCP} \i\c{PFRCP}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal Approximation
10378 \c PFRCP mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 96 [PENT,3DNOW]
10380 \c{PFRCP} performs a low precision estimate of the reciprocal of the
10381 low-order single-precision FP value in the source operand, storing the
10382 result in both halves of the destination register. The result is accurate
10385 For higher precision reciprocals, this instruction should be followed by
10386 two more instructions: \c{PFRCPIT1} (\k{insPFRCPIT1}) and \c{PFRCPIT2}
10387 (\k{insPFRCPIT1}). This will result in a 24-bit accuracy. For more details,
10388 see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10391 \H{insPFRCPIT1} \i\c{PFRCPIT1}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal,
10392 First Iteration Step
10394 \c PFRCPIT1 mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A6 [PENT,3DNOW]
10396 \c{PFRCPIT1} performs the first intermediate step in the calculation of
10397 the reciprocal of a single-precision FP value. The first source value
10398 (\c{mm1} is the original value, and the second source value (\c{mm2/m64}
10399 is the result of a \c{PFRCP} instruction.
10401 For the final step in a reciprocal, returning the full 24-bit accuracy
10402 of a single-precision FP value, see \c{PFRCPIT2} (\k{insPFRCPIT2}). For
10403 more details, see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10406 \H{insPFRCPIT2} \i\c{PFRCPIT2}: Packed Single-Precision FP
10407 Reciprocal/ Reciprocal Square Root, Second Iteration Step
10409 \c PFRCPIT2 mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B6 [PENT,3DNOW]
10411 \c{PFRCPIT2} performs the second and final intermediate step in the
10412 calculation of a reciprocal or reciprocal square root, refining the
10413 values returned by the \c{PFRCP} and \c{PFRSQRT} instructions,
10416 The first source value (\c{mm1}) is the output of either a \c{PFRCPIT1}
10417 or a \c{PFRSQIT1} instruction, and the second source is the output of
10418 either the \c{PFRCP} or the \c{PFRSQRT} instruction. For more details,
10419 see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10422 \H{insPFRSQIT1} \i\c{PFRSQIT1}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
10423 Square Root, First Iteration Step
10425 \c PFRSQIT1 mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A7 [PENT,3DNOW]
10427 \c{PFRSQIT1} performs the first intermediate step in the calculation of
10428 the reciprocal square root of a single-precision FP value. The first
10429 source value (\c{mm1} is the square of the result of a \c{PFRSQRT}
10430 instruction, and the second source value (\c{mm2/m64} is the original
10433 For the final step in a calculation, returning the full 24-bit accuracy
10434 of a single-precision FP value, see \c{PFRCPIT2} (\k{insPFRCPIT2}). For
10435 more details, see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10438 \H{insPFRSQRT} \i\c{PFRSQRT}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
10439 Square Root Approximation
10441 \c PFRSQRT mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 97 [PENT,3DNOW]
10443 \c{PFRSQRT} performs a low precision estimate of the reciprocal square
10444 root of the low-order single-precision FP value in the source operand,
10445 storing the result in both halves of the destination register. The result
10446 is accurate to 15 bits.
10448 For higher precision reciprocals, this instruction should be followed by
10449 two more instructions: \c{PFRSQIT1} (\k{insPFRSQIT1}) and \c{PFRCPIT2}
10450 (\k{insPFRCPIT1}). This will result in a 24-bit accuracy. For more details,
10451 see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10454 \H{insPFSUB} \i\c{PFSUB}: Packed Single-Precision FP Subtract
10456 \c PFSUB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 9A [PENT,3DNOW]
10458 \c{PFSUB} subtracts the single-precision FP values in the source from
10459 those in the destination, and stores the result in the destination
10462 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] - src[0-31],
10463 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] - src[32-63].
10466 \H{insPFSUBR} \i\c{PFSUBR}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reverse Subtract
10468 \c PFSUBR mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r AA [PENT,3DNOW]
10470 \c{PFSUBR} subtracts the single-precision FP values in the destination
10471 from those in the source, and stores the result in the destination
10474 \c dst[0-31] := src[0-31] - dst[0-31],
10475 \c dst[32-63] := src[32-63] - dst[32-63].
10478 \H{insPI2FD} \i\c{PI2FD}: Packed Doubleword Integer to Single-Precision FP Convert
10480 \c PI2FD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 0D [PENT,3DNOW]
10482 \c{PF2ID} converts two signed 32-bit integers in the source operand
10483 to single-precision FP values, using truncation of significant digits,
10484 and stores them in the destination operand.
10487 \H{insPF2IW} \i\c{PF2IW}: Packed Word Integer to Single-Precision FP Convert
10489 \c PI2FW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 0C [PENT,3DNOW]
10491 \c{PF2IW} converts two signed 16-bit integers in the source operand
10492 to single-precision FP values, and stores them in the destination
10493 operand. The input values are in the low word of each doubleword.
10496 \H{insPINSRW} \i\c{PINSRW}: Insert Word
10498 \c PINSRW mm,r16/r32/m16,imm8 ;0F C4 /r ib [KATMAI,MMX]
10499 \c PINSRW xmm,r16/r32/m16,imm8 ;66 0F C4 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10501 \c{PINSRW} loads a word from a 16-bit register (or the low half of a
10502 32-bit register), or from memory, and loads it to the word position
10503 in the destination register, pointed at by the count operand (third
10504 operand). If the destination is an \c{MMX} register, the low two bits
10505 of the count byte are used, if it is an \c{XMM} register the low 3
10506 bits are used. The insertion is done in such a way that the other
10507 words from the destination register are left untouched.
10510 \H{insPMACHRIW} \i\c{PMACHRIW}: Packed Multiply and Accumulate with Rounding
10512 \c PMACHRIW mm,m64 ; 0F 5E /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10514 \c{PMACHRIW} takes two packed 16-bit integer inputs, multiplies the
10515 values in the inputs, rounds on bit 15 of each result, then adds bits
10516 15-30 of each result to the corresponding position of the \e{implied}
10517 destination register.
10519 The operation of this instruction is:
10521 \c dstI[0-15] := dstI[0-15] + (mm[0-15] *m64[0-15]
10522 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30],
10523 \c dstI[16-31] := dstI[16-31] + (mm[16-31]*m64[16-31]
10524 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30],
10525 \c dstI[32-47] := dstI[32-47] + (mm[32-47]*m64[32-47]
10526 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30],
10527 \c dstI[48-63] := dstI[48-63] + (mm[48-63]*m64[48-63]
10528 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30].
10530 Note that \c{PMACHRIW} cannot take a register as its second source
10534 \H{insPMADDWD} \i\c{PMADDWD}: MMX Packed Multiply and Add
10536 \c PMADDWD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F5 /r [PENT,MMX]
10537 \c PMADDWD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F5 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10539 \c{PMADDWD} treats its two inputs as vectors of signed words. It
10540 multiplies corresponding elements of the two operands, giving doubleword
10541 results. These are then added together in pairs and stored in the
10542 destination operand.
10544 The operation of this instruction is:
10546 \c dst[0-31] := (dst[0-15] * src[0-15])
10547 \c + (dst[16-31] * src[16-31]);
10548 \c dst[32-63] := (dst[32-47] * src[32-47])
10549 \c + (dst[48-63] * src[48-63]);
10551 The following apply to the \c{SSE} version of the instruction:
10553 \c dst[64-95] := (dst[64-79] * src[64-79])
10554 \c + (dst[80-95] * src[80-95]);
10555 \c dst[96-127] := (dst[96-111] * src[96-111])
10556 \c + (dst[112-127] * src[112-127]).
10559 \H{insPMAGW} \i\c{PMAGW}: MMX Packed Magnitude
10561 \c PMAGW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 52 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10563 \c{PMAGW}, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, treats both its
10564 operands as vectors of four signed words. It compares the absolute
10565 values of the words in corresponding positions, and sets each word
10566 of the destination (first) operand to whichever of the two words in
10567 that position had the larger absolute value.
10570 \H{insPMAXSW} \i\c{PMAXSW}: Packed Signed Integer Word Maximum
10572 \c PMAXSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EE /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10573 \c PMAXSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EE /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10575 \c{PMAXSW} compares each pair of words in the two source operands, and
10576 for each pair it stores the maximum value in the destination register.
10579 \H{insPMAXUB} \i\c{PMAXUB}: Packed Unsigned Integer Byte Maximum
10581 \c PMAXUB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DE /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10582 \c PMAXUB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DE /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10584 \c{PMAXUB} compares each pair of bytes in the two source operands, and
10585 for each pair it stores the maximum value in the destination register.
10588 \H{insPMINSW} \i\c{PMINSW}: Packed Signed Integer Word Minimum
10590 \c PMINSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EA /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10591 \c PMINSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EA /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10593 \c{PMINSW} compares each pair of words in the two source operands, and
10594 for each pair it stores the minimum value in the destination register.
10597 \H{insPMINUB} \i\c{PMINUB}: Packed Unsigned Integer Byte Minimum
10599 \c PMINUB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DA /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10600 \c PMINUB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DA /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10602 \c{PMINUB} compares each pair of bytes in the two source operands, and
10603 for each pair it stores the minimum value in the destination register.
10606 \H{insPMOVMSKB} \i\c{PMOVMSKB}: Move Byte Mask To Integer
10608 \c PMOVMSKB reg32,mm ; 0F D7 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10609 \c PMOVMSKB reg32,xmm ; 66 0F D7 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10611 \c{PMOVMSKB} returns an 8-bit or 16-bit mask formed of the most
10612 significant bits of each byte of source operand (8-bits for an
10613 \c{MMX} register, 16-bits for an \c{XMM} register).
10616 \H{insPMULHRW} \i\c{PMULHRWC}, \i\c{PMULHRIW}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers
10617 With Rounding, and Store High Word
10619 \c PMULHRWC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 59 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10620 \c PMULHRIW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 5D /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10622 These instructions take two packed 16-bit integer inputs, multiply the
10623 values in the inputs, round on bit 15 of each result, then store bits
10624 15-30 of each result to the corresponding position of the destination
10627 \b For \c{PMULHRWC}, the destination is the first source operand.
10629 \b For \c{PMULHRIW}, the destination is an implied register (worked out
10630 as described for \c{PADDSIW} (\k{insPADDSIW})).
10632 The operation of this instruction is:
10634 \c dst[0-15] := (src1[0-15] *src2[0-15] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
10635 \c dst[16-31] := (src1[16-31]*src2[16-31] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
10636 \c dst[32-47] := (src1[32-47]*src2[32-47] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
10637 \c dst[48-63] := (src1[48-63]*src2[48-63] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
10639 See also \c{PMULHRWA} (\k{insPMULHRWA}) for a 3DNow! version of this
10643 \H{insPMULHRWA} \i\c{PMULHRWA}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers
10644 With Rounding, and Store High Word
10646 \c PMULHRWA mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B7 [PENT,3DNOW]
10648 \c{PMULHRWA} takes two packed 16-bit integer inputs, multiplies
10649 the values in the inputs, rounds on bit 16 of each result, then
10650 stores bits 16-31 of each result to the corresponding position
10651 of the destination register.
10653 The operation of this instruction is:
10655 \c dst[0-15] := (src1[0-15] *src2[0-15] + 0x00008000)[16-31];
10656 \c dst[16-31] := (src1[16-31]*src2[16-31] + 0x00008000)[16-31];
10657 \c dst[32-47] := (src1[32-47]*src2[32-47] + 0x00008000)[16-31];
10658 \c dst[48-63] := (src1[48-63]*src2[48-63] + 0x00008000)[16-31].
10660 See also \c{PMULHRWC} (\k{insPMULHRW}) for a Cyrix version of this
10664 \H{insPMULHUW} \i\c{PMULHUW}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers,
10665 and Store High Word
10667 \c PMULHUW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E4 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10668 \c PMULHUW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10670 \c{PMULHUW} takes two packed unsigned 16-bit integer inputs, multiplies
10671 the values in the inputs, then stores bits 16-31 of each result to the
10672 corresponding position of the destination register.
10675 \H{insPMULHW} \i\c{PMULHW}, \i\c{PMULLW}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers,
10678 \c PMULHW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E5 /r [PENT,MMX]
10679 \c PMULLW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D5 /r [PENT,MMX]
10681 \c PMULHW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E5 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10682 \c PMULLW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D5 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10684 \c{PMULxW} takes two packed unsigned 16-bit integer inputs, and
10685 multiplies the values in the inputs, forming doubleword results.
10687 \b \c{PMULHW} then stores the top 16 bits of each doubleword in the
10688 destination (first) operand;
10690 \b \c{PMULLW} stores the bottom 16 bits of each doubleword in the
10691 destination operand.
10694 \H{insPMULUDQ} \i\c{PMULUDQ}: Multiply Packed Unsigned
10695 32-bit Integers, and Store.
10697 \c PMULUDQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10698 \c PMULUDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10700 \c{PMULUDQ} takes two packed unsigned 32-bit integer inputs, and
10701 multiplies the values in the inputs, forming quadword results. The
10702 source is either an unsigned doubleword in the low doubleword of a
10703 64-bit operand, or it's two unsigned doublewords in the first and
10704 third doublewords of a 128-bit operand. This produces either one or
10705 two 64-bit results, which are stored in the respective quadword
10706 locations of the destination register.
10710 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-31] * src[0-31];
10711 \c dst[64-127] := dst[64-95] * src[64-95].
10714 \H{insPMVccZB} \i\c{PMVccZB}: MMX Packed Conditional Move
10716 \c PMVZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 58 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10717 \c PMVNZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 5A /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10718 \c PMVLZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 5B /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10719 \c PMVGEZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 5C /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10721 These instructions, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, perform
10722 parallel conditional moves. The two input operands are treated as
10723 vectors of eight bytes. Each byte of the destination (first) operand
10724 is either written from the corresponding byte of the source (second)
10725 operand, or left alone, depending on the value of the byte in the
10726 \e{implied} operand (specified in the same way as \c{PADDSIW}, in
10729 \b \c{PMVZB} performs each move if the corresponding byte in the
10730 implied operand is zero;
10732 \b \c{PMVNZB} moves if the byte is non-zero;
10734 \b \c{PMVLZB} moves if the byte is less than zero;
10736 \b \c{PMVGEZB} moves if the byte is greater than or equal to zero.
10738 Note that these instructions cannot take a register as their second
10742 \H{insPOP} \i\c{POP}: Pop Data from Stack
10744 \c POP reg16 ; o16 58+r [8086]
10745 \c POP reg32 ; o32 58+r [386]
10747 \c POP r/m16 ; o16 8F /0 [8086]
10748 \c POP r/m32 ; o32 8F /0 [386]
10750 \c POP CS ; 0F [8086,UNDOC]
10751 \c POP DS ; 1F [8086]
10752 \c POP ES ; 07 [8086]
10753 \c POP SS ; 17 [8086]
10754 \c POP FS ; 0F A1 [386]
10755 \c POP GS ; 0F A9 [386]
10757 \c{POP} loads a value from the stack (from \c{[SS:SP]} or
10758 \c{[SS:ESP]}) and then increments the stack pointer.
10760 The address-size attribute of the instruction determines whether
10761 \c{SP} or \c{ESP} is used as the stack pointer: to deliberately
10762 override the default given by the \c{BITS} setting, you can use an
10763 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
10765 The operand-size attribute of the instruction determines whether the
10766 stack pointer is incremented by 2 or 4: this means that segment
10767 register pops in \c{BITS 32} mode will pop 4 bytes off the stack and
10768 discard the upper two of them. If you need to override that, you can
10769 use an \i\c{o16} or \i\c{o32} prefix.
10771 The above opcode listings give two forms for general-purpose
10772 register pop instructions: for example, \c{POP BX} has the two forms
10773 \c{5B} and \c{8F C3}. NASM will always generate the shorter form
10774 when given \c{POP BX}. NDISASM will disassemble both.
10776 \c{POP CS} is not a documented instruction, and is not supported on
10777 any processor above the 8086 (since they use \c{0Fh} as an opcode
10778 prefix for instruction set extensions). However, at least some 8086
10779 processors do support it, and so NASM generates it for completeness.
10782 \H{insPOPA} \i\c{POPAx}: Pop All General-Purpose Registers
10785 \c POPAW ; o16 61 [186]
10786 \c POPAD ; o32 61 [386]
10788 \b \c{POPAW} pops a word from the stack into each of, successively,
10789 \c{DI}, \c{SI}, \c{BP}, nothing (it discards a word from the stack
10790 which was a placeholder for \c{SP}), \c{BX}, \c{DX}, \c{CX} and
10791 \c{AX}. It is intended to reverse the operation of \c{PUSHAW} (see
10792 \k{insPUSHA}), but it ignores the value for \c{SP} that was pushed
10793 on the stack by \c{PUSHAW}.
10795 \b \c{POPAD} pops twice as much data, and places the results in
10796 \c{EDI}, \c{ESI}, \c{EBP}, nothing (placeholder for \c{ESP}),
10797 \c{EBX}, \c{EDX}, \c{ECX} and \c{EAX}. It reverses the operation of
10800 \c{POPA} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{POPAW} or \c{POPAD},
10801 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
10803 Note that the registers are popped in reverse order of their numeric
10804 values in opcodes (see \k{iref-rv}).
10807 \H{insPOPF} \i\c{POPFx}: Pop Flags Register
10810 \c POPFW ; o16 9D [186]
10811 \c POPFD ; o32 9D [386]
10813 \b \c{POPFW} pops a word from the stack and stores it in the bottom 16
10814 bits of the flags register (or the whole flags register, on
10815 processors below a 386).
10817 \b \c{POPFD} pops a doubleword and stores it in the entire flags register.
10819 \c{POPF} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{POPFW} or \c{POPFD},
10820 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
10822 See also \c{PUSHF} (\k{insPUSHF}).
10825 \H{insPOR} \i\c{POR}: MMX Bitwise OR
10827 \c POR mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EB /r [PENT,MMX]
10828 \c POR xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10830 \c{POR} performs a bitwise OR operation between its two operands
10831 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if at least one of the
10832 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
10833 in the destination (first) operand.
10836 \H{insPREFETCH} \i\c{PREFETCH}: Prefetch Data Into Caches
10838 \c PREFETCH mem8 ; 0F 0D /0 [PENT,3DNOW]
10839 \c PREFETCHW mem8 ; 0F 0D /1 [PENT,3DNOW]
10841 \c{PREFETCH} and \c{PREFETCHW} fetch the line of data from memory that
10842 contains the specified byte. \c{PREFETCHW} performs differently on the
10843 Athlon to earlier processors.
10845 For more details, see the 3DNow! Technology Manual.
10848 \H{insPREFETCHh} \i\c{PREFETCHh}: Prefetch Data Into Caches
10849 \I\c{PREFETCHNTA} \I\c{PREFETCHT0} \I\c{PREFETCHT1} \I\c{PREFETCHT2}
10851 \c PREFETCHNTA m8 ; 0F 18 /0 [KATMAI]
10852 \c PREFETCHT0 m8 ; 0F 18 /1 [KATMAI]
10853 \c PREFETCHT1 m8 ; 0F 18 /2 [KATMAI]
10854 \c PREFETCHT2 m8 ; 0F 18 /3 [KATMAI]
10856 The \c{PREFETCHh} instructions fetch the line of data from memory
10857 that contains the specified byte. It is placed in the cache
10858 according to rules specified by locality hints \c{h}:
10862 \b \c{T0} (temporal data) - prefetch data into all levels of the
10865 \b \c{T1} (temporal data with respect to first level cache) -
10866 prefetch data into level 2 cache and higher.
10868 \b \c{T2} (temporal data with respect to second level cache) -
10869 prefetch data into level 2 cache and higher.
10871 \b \c{NTA} (non-temporal data with respect to all cache levels)
\97
10872 prefetch data into non-temporal cache structure and into a
10873 location close to the processor, minimizing cache pollution.
10875 Note that this group of instructions doesn't provide a guarantee
10876 that the data will be in the cache when it is needed. For more
10877 details, see the Intel IA32 Software Developer Manual, Volume 2.
10880 \H{insPSADBW} \i\c{PSADBW}: Packed Sum of Absolute Differences
10882 \c PSADBW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F6 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10883 \c PSADBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10885 \c{PSADBW} The PSADBW instruction computes the absolute value of the
10886 difference of the packed unsigned bytes in the two source operands.
10887 These differences are then summed to produce a word result in the lower
10888 16-bit field of the destination register; the rest of the register is
10889 cleared. The destination operand is an \c{MMX} or an \c{XMM} register.
10890 The source operand can either be a register or a memory operand.
10893 \H{insPSHUFD} \i\c{PSHUFD}: Shuffle Packed Doublewords
10895 \c PSHUFD xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; 66 0F 70 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10897 \c{PSHUFD} shuffles the doublewords in the source (second) operand
10898 according to the encoding specified by imm8, and stores the result
10899 in the destination (first) operand.
10901 Bits 0 and 1 of imm8 encode the source position of the doubleword to
10902 be copied to position 0 in the destination operand. Bits 2 and 3
10903 encode for position 1, bits 4 and 5 encode for position 2, and bits
10904 6 and 7 encode for position 3. For example, an encoding of 10 in
10905 bits 0 and 1 of imm8 indicates that the doubleword at bits 64-95 of
10906 the source operand will be copied to bits 0-31 of the destination.
10909 \H{insPSHUFHW} \i\c{PSHUFHW}: Shuffle Packed High Words
10911 \c PSHUFHW xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; F3 0F 70 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10913 \c{PSHUFW} shuffles the words in the high quadword of the source
10914 (second) operand according to the encoding specified by imm8, and
10915 stores the result in the high quadword of the destination (first)
10918 The operation of this instruction is similar to the \c{PSHUFW}
10919 instruction, except that the source and destination are the top
10920 quadword of a 128-bit operand, instead of being 64-bit operands.
10921 The low quadword is copied from the source to the destination
10922 without any changes.
10925 \H{insPSHUFLW} \i\c{PSHUFLW}: Shuffle Packed Low Words
10927 \c PSHUFLW xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; F2 0F 70 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10929 \c{PSHUFW} shuffles the words in the low quadword of the source
10930 (second) operand according to the encoding specified by imm8, and
10931 stores the result in the low quadword of the destination (first)
10934 The operation of this instruction is similar to the \c{PSHUFW}
10935 instruction, except that the source and destination are the low
10936 quadword of a 128-bit operand, instead of being 64-bit operands.
10937 The high quadword is copied from the source to the destination
10938 without any changes.
10941 \H{insPSHUFW} \i\c{PSHUFW}: Shuffle Packed Words
10943 \c PSHUFW mm1,mm2/m64,imm8 ; 0F 70 /r ib [KATMAI,MMX]
10945 \c{PSHUFW} shuffles the words in the source (second) operand
10946 according to the encoding specified by imm8, and stores the result
10947 in the destination (first) operand.
10949 Bits 0 and 1 of imm8 encode the source position of the word to be
10950 copied to position 0 in the destination operand. Bits 2 and 3 encode
10951 for position 1, bits 4 and 5 encode for position 2, and bits 6 and 7
10952 encode for position 3. For example, an encoding of 10 in bits 0 and 1
10953 of imm8 indicates that the word at bits 32-47 of the source operand
10954 will be copied to bits 0-15 of the destination.
10957 \H{insPSLLD} \i\c{PSLLx}: Packed Data Bit Shift Left Logical
10959 \c PSLLW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F1 /r [PENT,MMX]
10960 \c PSLLW mm,imm8 ; 0F 71 /6 ib [PENT,MMX]
10962 \c PSLLW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F1 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10963 \c PSLLW xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 71 /6 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10965 \c PSLLD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F2 /r [PENT,MMX]
10966 \c PSLLD mm,imm8 ; 0F 72 /6 ib [PENT,MMX]
10968 \c PSLLD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F2 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10969 \c PSLLD xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 72 /6 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10971 \c PSLLQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F3 /r [PENT,MMX]
10972 \c PSLLQ mm,imm8 ; 0F 73 /6 ib [PENT,MMX]
10974 \c PSLLQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10975 \c PSLLQ xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /6 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10977 \c PSLLDQ xmm1,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /7 ib [PENT,MMX]
10979 \c{PSLLx} performs logical left shifts of the data elements in the
10980 destination (first) operand, moving each bit in the separate elements
10981 left by the number of bits specified in the source (second) operand,
10982 clearing the low-order bits as they are vacated.
10984 \b \c{PSLLW} shifts word sized elements.
10986 \b \c{PSLLD} shifts doubleword sized elements.
10988 \b \c{PSLLQ} shifts quadword sized elements.
10990 \b \c{PSLLDQ} shifts double quadword sized elements.
10993 \H{insPSRAD} \i\c{PSRAx}: Packed Data Bit Shift Right Arithmetic
10995 \c PSRAW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E1 /r [PENT,MMX]
10996 \c PSRAW mm,imm8 ; 0F 71 /4 ib [PENT,MMX]
10998 \c PSRAW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E1 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10999 \c PSRAW xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 71 /4 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11001 \c PSRAD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E2 /r [PENT,MMX]
11002 \c PSRAD mm,imm8 ; 0F 72 /4 ib [PENT,MMX]
11004 \c PSRAD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E2 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11005 \c PSRAD xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 72 /4 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11007 \c{PSRAx} performs arithmetic right shifts of the data elements in the
11008 destination (first) operand, moving each bit in the separate elements
11009 right by the number of bits specified in the source (second) operand,
11010 setting the high-order bits to the value of the original sign bit.
11012 \b \c{PSRAW} shifts word sized elements.
11014 \b \c{PSRAD} shifts doubleword sized elements.
11017 \H{insPSRLD} \i\c{PSRLx}: Packed Data Bit Shift Right Logical
11019 \c PSRLW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D1 /r [PENT,MMX]
11020 \c PSRLW mm,imm8 ; 0F 71 /2 ib [PENT,MMX]
11022 \c PSRLW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D1 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11023 \c PSRLW xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 71 /2 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11025 \c PSRLD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D2 /r [PENT,MMX]
11026 \c PSRLD mm,imm8 ; 0F 72 /2 ib [PENT,MMX]
11028 \c PSRLD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D2 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11029 \c PSRLD xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 72 /2 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11031 \c PSRLQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D3 /r [PENT,MMX]
11032 \c PSRLQ mm,imm8 ; 0F 73 /2 ib [PENT,MMX]
11034 \c PSRLQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11035 \c PSRLQ xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /2 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11037 \c PSRLDQ xmm1,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /3 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11039 \c{PSRLx} performs logical right shifts of the data elements in the
11040 destination (first) operand, moving each bit in the separate elements
11041 right by the number of bits specified in the source (second) operand,
11042 clearing the high-order bits as they are vacated.
11044 \b \c{PSRLW} shifts word sized elements.
11046 \b \c{PSRLD} shifts doubleword sized elements.
11048 \b \c{PSRLQ} shifts quadword sized elements.
11050 \b \c{PSRLDQ} shifts double quadword sized elements.
11053 \H{insPSUBB} \i\c{PSUBx}: Subtract Packed Integers
11055 \c PSUBB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F8 /r [PENT,MMX]
11056 \c PSUBW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F9 /r [PENT,MMX]
11057 \c PSUBD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FA /r [PENT,MMX]
11058 \c PSUBQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11060 \c PSUBB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F8 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11061 \c PSUBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F9 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11062 \c PSUBD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FA /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11063 \c PSUBQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11065 \c{PSUBx} subtracts packed integers in the source operand from those
11066 in the destination operand. It doesn't differentiate between signed
11067 and unsigned integers, and doesn't set any of the flags.
11069 \b \c{PSUBB} operates on byte sized elements.
11071 \b \c{PSUBW} operates on word sized elements.
11073 \b \c{PSUBD} operates on doubleword sized elements.
11075 \b \c{PSUBQ} operates on quadword sized elements.
11078 \H{insPSUBSB} \i\c{PSUBSxx}, \i\c{PSUBUSx}: Subtract Packed Integers With Saturation
11080 \c PSUBSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E8 /r [PENT,MMX]
11081 \c PSUBSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E9 /r [PENT,MMX]
11083 \c PSUBSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E8 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11084 \c PSUBSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E9 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11086 \c PSUBUSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D8 /r [PENT,MMX]
11087 \c PSUBUSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D9 /r [PENT,MMX]
11089 \c PSUBUSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D8 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11090 \c PSUBUSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D9 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11092 \c{PSUBSx} and \c{PSUBUSx} subtracts packed integers in the source
11093 operand from those in the destination operand, and use saturation for
11094 results that are outide the range supported by the destination operand.
11096 \b \c{PSUBSB} operates on signed bytes, and uses signed saturation on the
11099 \b \c{PSUBSW} operates on signed words, and uses signed saturation on the
11102 \b \c{PSUBUSB} operates on unsigned bytes, and uses signed saturation on
11105 \b \c{PSUBUSW} operates on unsigned words, and uses signed saturation on
11109 \H{insPSUBSIW} \i\c{PSUBSIW}: MMX Packed Subtract with Saturation to
11110 Implied Destination
11112 \c PSUBSIW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 55 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
11114 \c{PSUBSIW}, specific to the Cyrix extensions to the MMX instruction
11115 set, performs the same function as \c{PSUBSW}, except that the
11116 result is not placed in the register specified by the first operand,
11117 but instead in the implied destination register, specified as for
11118 \c{PADDSIW} (\k{insPADDSIW}).
11121 \H{insPSWAPD} \i\c{PSWAPD}: Swap Packed Data
11124 \c PSWAPD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r BB [PENT,3DNOW]
11126 \c{PSWAPD} swaps the packed doublewords in the source operand, and
11127 stores the result in the destination operand.
11129 In the \c{K6-2} and \c{K6-III} processors, this opcode uses the
11130 mnemonic \c{PSWAPW}, and it swaps the order of words when copying
11131 from the source to the destination.
11133 The operation in the \c{K6-2} and \c{K6-III} processors is
11135 \c dst[0-15] = src[48-63];
11136 \c dst[16-31] = src[32-47];
11137 \c dst[32-47] = src[16-31];
11138 \c dst[48-63] = src[0-15].
11140 The operation in the \c{K6-x+}, \c{ATHLON} and later processors is:
11142 \c dst[0-31] = src[32-63];
11143 \c dst[32-63] = src[0-31].
11146 \H{insPUNPCKHBW} \i\c{PUNPCKxxx}: Unpack and Interleave Data
11148 \c PUNPCKHBW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 68 /r [PENT,MMX]
11149 \c PUNPCKHWD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 69 /r [PENT,MMX]
11150 \c PUNPCKHDQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 6A /r [PENT,MMX]
11152 \c PUNPCKHBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 68 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11153 \c PUNPCKHWD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 69 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11154 \c PUNPCKHDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11155 \c PUNPCKHQDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11157 \c PUNPCKLBW mm1,mm2/m32 ; 0F 60 /r [PENT,MMX]
11158 \c PUNPCKLWD mm1,mm2/m32 ; 0F 61 /r [PENT,MMX]
11159 \c PUNPCKLDQ mm1,mm2/m32 ; 0F 62 /r [PENT,MMX]
11161 \c PUNPCKLBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 60 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11162 \c PUNPCKLWD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 61 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11163 \c PUNPCKLDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 62 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11164 \c PUNPCKLQDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11166 \c{PUNPCKxx} all treat their operands as vectors, and produce a new
11167 vector generated by interleaving elements from the two inputs. The
11168 \c{PUNPCKHxx} instructions start by throwing away the bottom half of
11169 each input operand, and the \c{PUNPCKLxx} instructions throw away
11172 The remaining elements, are then interleaved into the destination,
11173 alternating elements from the second (source) operand and the first
11174 (destination) operand: so the leftmost part of each element in the
11175 result always comes from the second operand, and the rightmost from
11178 \b \c{PUNPCKxBW} works a byte at a time, producing word sized output
11181 \b \c{PUNPCKxWD} works a word at a time, producing doubleword sized
11184 \b \c{PUNPCKxDQ} works a doubleword at a time, producing quadword sized
11187 \b \c{PUNPCKxQDQ} works a quadword at a time, producing double quadword
11188 sized output elements.
11190 So, for example, for \c{MMX} operands, if the first operand held
11191 \c{0x7A6A5A4A3A2A1A0A} and the second held \c{0x7B6B5B4B3B2B1B0B},
11194 \b \c{PUNPCKHBW} would return \c{0x7B7A6B6A5B5A4B4A}.
11196 \b \c{PUNPCKHWD} would return \c{0x7B6B7A6A5B4B5A4A}.
11198 \b \c{PUNPCKHDQ} would return \c{0x7B6B5B4B7A6A5A4A}.
11200 \b \c{PUNPCKLBW} would return \c{0x3B3A2B2A1B1A0B0A}.
11202 \b \c{PUNPCKLWD} would return \c{0x3B2B3A2A1B0B1A0A}.
11204 \b \c{PUNPCKLDQ} would return \c{0x3B2B1B0B3A2A1A0A}.
11207 \H{insPUSH} \i\c{PUSH}: Push Data on Stack
11209 \c PUSH reg16 ; o16 50+r [8086]
11210 \c PUSH reg32 ; o32 50+r [386]
11212 \c PUSH r/m16 ; o16 FF /6 [8086]
11213 \c PUSH r/m32 ; o32 FF /6 [386]
11215 \c PUSH CS ; 0E [8086]
11216 \c PUSH DS ; 1E [8086]
11217 \c PUSH ES ; 06 [8086]
11218 \c PUSH SS ; 16 [8086]
11219 \c PUSH FS ; 0F A0 [386]
11220 \c PUSH GS ; 0F A8 [386]
11222 \c PUSH imm8 ; 6A ib [286]
11223 \c PUSH imm16 ; o16 68 iw [286]
11224 \c PUSH imm32 ; o32 68 id [386]
11226 \c{PUSH} decrements the stack pointer (\c{SP} or \c{ESP}) by 2 or 4,
11227 and then stores the given value at \c{[SS:SP]} or \c{[SS:ESP]}.
11229 The address-size attribute of the instruction determines whether
11230 \c{SP} or \c{ESP} is used as the stack pointer: to deliberately
11231 override the default given by the \c{BITS} setting, you can use an
11232 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
11234 The operand-size attribute of the instruction determines whether the
11235 stack pointer is decremented by 2 or 4: this means that segment
11236 register pushes in \c{BITS 32} mode will push 4 bytes on the stack,
11237 of which the upper two are undefined. If you need to override that,
11238 you can use an \i\c{o16} or \i\c{o32} prefix.
11240 The above opcode listings give two forms for general-purpose
11241 \i{register push} instructions: for example, \c{PUSH BX} has the two
11242 forms \c{53} and \c{FF F3}. NASM will always generate the shorter
11243 form when given \c{PUSH BX}. NDISASM will disassemble both.
11245 Unlike the undocumented and barely supported \c{POP CS}, \c{PUSH CS}
11246 is a perfectly valid and sensible instruction, supported on all
11249 The instruction \c{PUSH SP} may be used to distinguish an 8086 from
11250 later processors: on an 8086, the value of \c{SP} stored is the
11251 value it has \e{after} the push instruction, whereas on later
11252 processors it is the value \e{before} the push instruction.
11255 \H{insPUSHA} \i\c{PUSHAx}: Push All General-Purpose Registers
11257 \c PUSHA ; 60 [186]
11258 \c PUSHAD ; o32 60 [386]
11259 \c PUSHAW ; o16 60 [186]
11261 \c{PUSHAW} pushes, in succession, \c{AX}, \c{CX}, \c{DX}, \c{BX},
11262 \c{SP}, \c{BP}, \c{SI} and \c{DI} on the stack, decrementing the
11263 stack pointer by a total of 16.
11265 \c{PUSHAD} pushes, in succession, \c{EAX}, \c{ECX}, \c{EDX},
11266 \c{EBX}, \c{ESP}, \c{EBP}, \c{ESI} and \c{EDI} on the stack,
11267 decrementing the stack pointer by a total of 32.
11269 In both cases, the value of \c{SP} or \c{ESP} pushed is its
11270 \e{original} value, as it had before the instruction was executed.
11272 \c{PUSHA} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{PUSHAW} or \c{PUSHAD},
11273 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
11275 Note that the registers are pushed in order of their numeric values
11276 in opcodes (see \k{iref-rv}).
11278 See also \c{POPA} (\k{insPOPA}).
11281 \H{insPUSHF} \i\c{PUSHFx}: Push Flags Register
11283 \c PUSHF ; 9C [186]
11284 \c PUSHFD ; o32 9C [386]
11285 \c PUSHFW ; o16 9C [186]
11287 \b \c{PUSHFW} pops a word from the stack and stores it in the
11288 bottom 16 bits of the flags register (or the whole flags register,
11289 on processors below a 386).
11291 \b \c{PUSHFD} pops a doubleword and stores it in the entire flags
11294 \c{PUSHF} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{PUSHFW} or \c{PUSHFD},
11295 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
11297 See also \c{POPF} (\k{insPOPF}).
11300 \H{insPXOR} \i\c{PXOR}: MMX Bitwise XOR
11302 \c PXOR mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EF /r [PENT,MMX]
11303 \c PXOR xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EF /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11305 \c{PXOR} performs a bitwise XOR operation between its two operands
11306 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if exactly one of the
11307 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
11308 in the destination (first) operand.
11311 \H{insRCL} \i\c{RCL}, \i\c{RCR}: Bitwise Rotate through Carry Bit
11313 \c RCL r/m8,1 ; D0 /2 [8086]
11314 \c RCL r/m8,CL ; D2 /2 [8086]
11315 \c RCL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /2 ib [286]
11316 \c RCL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /2 [8086]
11317 \c RCL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /2 [8086]
11318 \c RCL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /2 ib [286]
11319 \c RCL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /2 [386]
11320 \c RCL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /2 [386]
11321 \c RCL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /2 ib [386]
11323 \c RCR r/m8,1 ; D0 /3 [8086]
11324 \c RCR r/m8,CL ; D2 /3 [8086]
11325 \c RCR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /3 ib [286]
11326 \c RCR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /3 [8086]
11327 \c RCR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /3 [8086]
11328 \c RCR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /3 ib [286]
11329 \c RCR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /3 [386]
11330 \c RCR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /3 [386]
11331 \c RCR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /3 ib [386]
11333 \c{RCL} and \c{RCR} perform a 9-bit, 17-bit or 33-bit bitwise
11334 rotation operation, involving the given source/destination (first)
11335 operand and the carry bit. Thus, for example, in the operation
11336 \c{RCL AL,1}, a 9-bit rotation is performed in which \c{AL} is
11337 shifted left by 1, the top bit of \c{AL} moves into the carry flag,
11338 and the original value of the carry flag is placed in the low bit of
11341 The number of bits to rotate by is given by the second operand. Only
11342 the bottom five bits of the rotation count are considered by
11343 processors above the 8086.
11345 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
11346 byte) form of \c{RCL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{RCL
11347 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{RCR}.
11350 \H{insRCPPS} \i\c{RCPPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
11352 \c RCPPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 53 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11354 \c{RCPPS} returns an approximation of the reciprocal of the packed
11355 single-precision FP values from xmm2/m128. The maximum error for this
11356 approximation is: |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
11359 \H{insRCPSS} \i\c{RCPSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
11361 \c RCPSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 53 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11363 \c{RCPSS} returns an approximation of the reciprocal of the lower
11364 single-precision FP value from xmm2/m32; the upper three fields are
11365 passed through from xmm1. The maximum error for this approximation is:
11366 |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
11369 \H{insRDMSR} \i\c{RDMSR}: Read Model-Specific Registers
11371 \c RDMSR ; 0F 32 [PENT,PRIV]
11373 \c{RDMSR} reads the processor Model-Specific Register (MSR) whose
11374 index is stored in \c{ECX}, and stores the result in \c{EDX:EAX}.
11375 See also \c{WRMSR} (\k{insWRMSR}).
11378 \H{insRDPMC} \i\c{RDPMC}: Read Performance-Monitoring Counters
11380 \c RDPMC ; 0F 33 [P6]
11382 \c{RDPMC} reads the processor performance-monitoring counter whose
11383 index is stored in \c{ECX}, and stores the result in \c{EDX:EAX}.
11385 This instruction is available on P6 and later processors and on MMX
11389 \H{insRDSHR} \i\c{RDSHR}: Read SMM Header Pointer Register
11391 \c RDSHR r/m32 ; 0F 36 /0 [386,CYRIX,SMM]
11393 \c{RDSHR} reads the contents of the SMM header pointer register and
11394 saves it to the destination operand, which can be either a 32 bit
11395 memory location or a 32 bit register.
11397 See also \c{WRSHR} (\k{insWRSHR}).
11400 \H{insRDTSC} \i\c{RDTSC}: Read Time-Stamp Counter
11402 \c RDTSC ; 0F 31 [PENT]
11404 \c{RDTSC} reads the processor's time-stamp counter into \c{EDX:EAX}.
11407 \H{insRET} \i\c{RET}, \i\c{RETF}, \i\c{RETN}: Return from Procedure Call
11410 \c RET imm16 ; C2 iw [8086]
11412 \c RETF ; CB [8086]
11413 \c RETF imm16 ; CA iw [8086]
11415 \c RETN ; C3 [8086]
11416 \c RETN imm16 ; C2 iw [8086]
11418 \b \c{RET}, and its exact synonym \c{RETN}, pop \c{IP} or \c{EIP} from
11419 the stack and transfer control to the new address. Optionally, if a
11420 numeric second operand is provided, they increment the stack pointer
11421 by a further \c{imm16} bytes after popping the return address.
11423 \b \c{RETF} executes a far return: after popping \c{IP}/\c{EIP}, it
11424 then pops \c{CS}, and \e{then} increments the stack pointer by the
11425 optional argument if present.
11428 \H{insROL} \i\c{ROL}, \i\c{ROR}: Bitwise Rotate
11430 \c ROL r/m8,1 ; D0 /0 [8086]
11431 \c ROL r/m8,CL ; D2 /0 [8086]
11432 \c ROL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /0 ib [286]
11433 \c ROL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /0 [8086]
11434 \c ROL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /0 [8086]
11435 \c ROL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /0 ib [286]
11436 \c ROL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /0 [386]
11437 \c ROL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /0 [386]
11438 \c ROL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /0 ib [386]
11440 \c ROR r/m8,1 ; D0 /1 [8086]
11441 \c ROR r/m8,CL ; D2 /1 [8086]
11442 \c ROR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /1 ib [286]
11443 \c ROR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /1 [8086]
11444 \c ROR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /1 [8086]
11445 \c ROR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /1 ib [286]
11446 \c ROR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /1 [386]
11447 \c ROR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /1 [386]
11448 \c ROR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /1 ib [386]
11450 \c{ROL} and \c{ROR} perform a bitwise rotation operation on the given
11451 source/destination (first) operand. Thus, for example, in the
11452 operation \c{ROL AL,1}, an 8-bit rotation is performed in which
11453 \c{AL} is shifted left by 1 and the original top bit of \c{AL} moves
11454 round into the low bit.
11456 The number of bits to rotate by is given by the second operand. Only
11457 the bottom five bits of the rotation count are considered by processors
11460 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
11461 byte) form of \c{ROL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{ROL
11462 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{ROR}.
11465 \H{insRSDC} \i\c{RSDC}: Restore Segment Register and Descriptor
11467 \c RSDC segreg,m80 ; 0F 79 /r [486,CYRIX,SMM]
11469 \c{RSDC} restores a segment register (DS, ES, FS, GS, or SS) from mem80,
11470 and sets up its descriptor.
11473 \H{insRSLDT} \i\c{RSLDT}: Restore Segment Register and Descriptor
11475 \c RSLDT m80 ; 0F 7B /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
11477 \c{RSLDT} restores the Local Descriptor Table (LDTR) from mem80.
11480 \H{insRSM} \i\c{RSM}: Resume from System-Management Mode
11482 \c RSM ; 0F AA [PENT]
11484 \c{RSM} returns the processor to its normal operating mode when it
11485 was in System-Management Mode.
11488 \H{insRSQRTPS} \i\c{RSQRTPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Square Root Reciprocal
11490 \c RSQRTPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 52 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11492 \c{RSQRTPS} computes the approximate reciprocals of the square
11493 roots of the packed single-precision floating-point values in the
11494 source and stores the results in xmm1. The maximum error for this
11495 approximation is: |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
11498 \H{insRSQRTSS} \i\c{RSQRTSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Square Root Reciprocal
11500 \c RSQRTSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 52 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11502 \c{RSQRTSS} returns an approximation of the reciprocal of the
11503 square root of the lowest order single-precision FP value from
11504 the source, and stores it in the low doubleword of the destination
11505 register. The upper three fields of xmm1 are preserved. The maximum
11506 error for this approximation is: |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
11509 \H{insRSTS} \i\c{RSTS}: Restore TSR and Descriptor
11511 \c RSTS m80 ; 0F 7D /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
11513 \c{RSTS} restores Task State Register (TSR) from mem80.
11516 \H{insSAHF} \i\c{SAHF}: Store AH to Flags
11518 \c SAHF ; 9E [8086]
11520 \c{SAHF} sets the low byte of the flags word according to the
11521 contents of the \c{AH} register.
11523 The operation of \c{SAHF} is:
11525 \c AH --> SF:ZF:0:AF:0:PF:1:CF
11527 See also \c{LAHF} (\k{insLAHF}).
11530 \H{insSAL} \i\c{SAL}, \i\c{SAR}: Bitwise Arithmetic Shifts
11532 \c SAL r/m8,1 ; D0 /4 [8086]
11533 \c SAL r/m8,CL ; D2 /4 [8086]
11534 \c SAL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /4 ib [286]
11535 \c SAL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /4 [8086]
11536 \c SAL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /4 [8086]
11537 \c SAL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /4 ib [286]
11538 \c SAL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /4 [386]
11539 \c SAL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /4 [386]
11540 \c SAL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /4 ib [386]
11542 \c SAR r/m8,1 ; D0 /7 [8086]
11543 \c SAR r/m8,CL ; D2 /7 [8086]
11544 \c SAR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /7 ib [286]
11545 \c SAR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /7 [8086]
11546 \c SAR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /7 [8086]
11547 \c SAR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /7 ib [286]
11548 \c SAR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /7 [386]
11549 \c SAR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /7 [386]
11550 \c SAR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /7 ib [386]
11552 \c{SAL} and \c{SAR} perform an arithmetic shift operation on the given
11553 source/destination (first) operand. The vacated bits are filled with
11554 zero for \c{SAL}, and with copies of the original high bit of the
11555 source operand for \c{SAR}.
11557 \c{SAL} is a synonym for \c{SHL} (see \k{insSHL}). NASM will
11558 assemble either one to the same code, but NDISASM will always
11559 disassemble that code as \c{SHL}.
11561 The number of bits to shift by is given by the second operand. Only
11562 the bottom five bits of the shift count are considered by processors
11565 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
11566 byte) form of \c{SAL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{SAL
11567 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{SAR}.
11570 \H{insSALC} \i\c{SALC}: Set AL from Carry Flag
11572 \c SALC ; D6 [8086,UNDOC]
11574 \c{SALC} is an early undocumented instruction similar in concept to
11575 \c{SETcc} (\k{insSETcc}). Its function is to set \c{AL} to zero if
11576 the carry flag is clear, or to \c{0xFF} if it is set.
11579 \H{insSBB} \i\c{SBB}: Subtract with Borrow
11581 \c SBB r/m8,reg8 ; 18 /r [8086]
11582 \c SBB r/m16,reg16 ; o16 19 /r [8086]
11583 \c SBB r/m32,reg32 ; o32 19 /r [386]
11585 \c SBB reg8,r/m8 ; 1A /r [8086]
11586 \c SBB reg16,r/m16 ; o16 1B /r [8086]
11587 \c SBB reg32,r/m32 ; o32 1B /r [386]
11589 \c SBB r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /3 ib [8086]
11590 \c SBB r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /3 iw [8086]
11591 \c SBB r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /3 id [386]
11593 \c SBB r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /3 ib [8086]
11594 \c SBB r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /3 ib [8086]
11596 \c SBB AL,imm8 ; 1C ib [8086]
11597 \c SBB AX,imm16 ; o16 1D iw [8086]
11598 \c SBB EAX,imm32 ; o32 1D id [386]
11600 \c{SBB} performs integer subtraction: it subtracts its second
11601 operand, plus the value of the carry flag, from its first, and
11602 leaves the result in its destination (first) operand. The flags are
11603 set according to the result of the operation: in particular, the
11604 carry flag is affected and can be used by a subsequent \c{SBB}
11607 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
11608 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
11609 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
11610 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
11611 form of the instruction.
11613 To subtract one number from another without also subtracting the
11614 contents of the carry flag, use \c{SUB} (\k{insSUB}).
11617 \H{insSCASB} \i\c{SCASB}, \i\c{SCASW}, \i\c{SCASD}: Scan String
11619 \c SCASB ; AE [8086]
11620 \c SCASW ; o16 AF [8086]
11621 \c SCASD ; o32 AF [386]
11623 \c{SCASB} compares the byte in \c{AL} with the byte at \c{[ES:DI]}
11624 or \c{[ES:EDI]}, and sets the flags accordingly. It then increments
11625 or decrements (depending on the direction flag: increments if the
11626 flag is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{DI} (or \c{EDI}).
11628 The register used is \c{DI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
11629 \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
11630 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
11631 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
11633 Segment override prefixes have no effect for this instruction: the
11634 use of \c{ES} for the load from \c{[DI]} or \c{[EDI]} cannot be
11637 \c{SCASW} and \c{SCASD} work in the same way, but they compare a
11638 word to \c{AX} or a doubleword to \c{EAX} instead of a byte to
11639 \c{AL}, and increment or decrement the addressing registers by 2 or
11642 The \c{REPE} and \c{REPNE} prefixes (equivalently, \c{REPZ} and
11643 \c{REPNZ}) may be used to repeat the instruction up to \c{CX} (or
11644 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times until the
11645 first unequal or equal byte is found.
11648 \H{insSETcc} \i\c{SETcc}: Set Register from Condition
11650 \c SETcc r/m8 ; 0F 90+cc /2 [386]
11652 \c{SETcc} sets the given 8-bit operand to zero if its condition is
11653 not satisfied, and to 1 if it is.
11656 \H{insSFENCE} \i\c{SFENCE}: Store Fence
11658 \c SFENCE ; 0F AE /7 [KATMAI]
11660 \c{SFENCE} performs a serialising operation on all writes to memory
11661 that were issued before the \c{SFENCE} instruction. This guarantees that
11662 all memory writes before the \c{SFENCE} instruction are visible before any
11663 writes after the \c{SFENCE} instruction.
11665 \c{SFENCE} is ordered respective to other \c{SFENCE} instruction, \c{MFENCE},
11666 any memory write and any other serialising instruction (such as \c{CPUID}).
11668 Weakly ordered memory types can be used to achieve higher processor
11669 performance through such techniques as out-of-order issue,
11670 write-combining, and write-collapsing. The degree to which a consumer
11671 of data recognizes or knows that the data is weakly ordered varies
11672 among applications and may be unknown to the producer of this data.
11673 The \c{SFENCE} instruction provides a performance-efficient way of
11674 insuring store ordering between routines that produce weakly-ordered
11675 results and routines that consume this data.
11677 \c{SFENCE} uses the following ModRM encoding:
11680 \c Reg/Opcode (5:3) = 111B
11681 \c R/M (2:0) = 000B
11683 All other ModRM encodings are defined to be reserved, and use
11684 of these encodings risks incompatibility with future processors.
11686 See also \c{LFENCE} (\k{insLFENCE}) and \c{MFENCE} (\k{insMFENCE}).
11689 \H{insSGDT} \i\c{SGDT}, \i\c{SIDT}, \i\c{SLDT}: Store Descriptor Table Pointers
11691 \c SGDT mem ; 0F 01 /0 [286,PRIV]
11692 \c SIDT mem ; 0F 01 /1 [286,PRIV]
11693 \c SLDT r/m16 ; 0F 00 /0 [286,PRIV]
11695 \c{SGDT} and \c{SIDT} both take a 6-byte memory area as an operand:
11696 they store the contents of the GDTR (global descriptor table
11697 register) or IDTR (interrupt descriptor table register) into that
11698 area as a 32-bit linear address and a 16-bit size limit from that
11699 area (in that order). These are the only instructions which directly
11700 use \e{linear} addresses, rather than segment/offset pairs.
11702 \c{SLDT} stores the segment selector corresponding to the LDT (local
11703 descriptor table) into the given operand.
11705 See also \c{LGDT}, \c{LIDT} and \c{LLDT} (\k{insLGDT}).
11708 \H{insSHL} \i\c{SHL}, \i\c{SHR}: Bitwise Logical Shifts
11710 \c SHL r/m8,1 ; D0 /4 [8086]
11711 \c SHL r/m8,CL ; D2 /4 [8086]
11712 \c SHL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /4 ib [286]
11713 \c SHL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /4 [8086]
11714 \c SHL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /4 [8086]
11715 \c SHL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /4 ib [286]
11716 \c SHL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /4 [386]
11717 \c SHL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /4 [386]
11718 \c SHL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /4 ib [386]
11720 \c SHR r/m8,1 ; D0 /5 [8086]
11721 \c SHR r/m8,CL ; D2 /5 [8086]
11722 \c SHR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /5 ib [286]
11723 \c SHR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /5 [8086]
11724 \c SHR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /5 [8086]
11725 \c SHR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /5 ib [286]
11726 \c SHR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /5 [386]
11727 \c SHR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /5 [386]
11728 \c SHR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /5 ib [386]
11730 \c{SHL} and \c{SHR} perform a logical shift operation on the given
11731 source/destination (first) operand. The vacated bits are filled with
11734 A synonym for \c{SHL} is \c{SAL} (see \k{insSAL}). NASM will
11735 assemble either one to the same code, but NDISASM will always
11736 disassemble that code as \c{SHL}.
11738 The number of bits to shift by is given by the second operand. Only
11739 the bottom five bits of the shift count are considered by processors
11742 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
11743 byte) form of \c{SHL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{SHL
11744 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{SHR}.
11747 \H{insSHLD} \i\c{SHLD}, \i\c{SHRD}: Bitwise Double-Precision Shifts
11749 \c SHLD r/m16,reg16,imm8 ; o16 0F A4 /r ib [386]
11750 \c SHLD r/m16,reg32,imm8 ; o32 0F A4 /r ib [386]
11751 \c SHLD r/m16,reg16,CL ; o16 0F A5 /r [386]
11752 \c SHLD r/m16,reg32,CL ; o32 0F A5 /r [386]
11754 \c SHRD r/m16,reg16,imm8 ; o16 0F AC /r ib [386]
11755 \c SHRD r/m32,reg32,imm8 ; o32 0F AC /r ib [386]
11756 \c SHRD r/m16,reg16,CL ; o16 0F AD /r [386]
11757 \c SHRD r/m32,reg32,CL ; o32 0F AD /r [386]
11759 \b \c{SHLD} performs a double-precision left shift. It notionally
11760 places its second operand to the right of its first, then shifts
11761 the entire bit string thus generated to the left by a number of
11762 bits specified in the third operand. It then updates only the
11763 \e{first} operand according to the result of this. The second
11764 operand is not modified.
11766 \b \c{SHRD} performs the corresponding right shift: it notionally
11767 places the second operand to the \e{left} of the first, shifts the
11768 whole bit string right, and updates only the first operand.
11770 For example, if \c{EAX} holds \c{0x01234567} and \c{EBX} holds
11771 \c{0x89ABCDEF}, then the instruction \c{SHLD EAX,EBX,4} would update
11772 \c{EAX} to hold \c{0x12345678}. Under the same conditions, \c{SHRD
11773 EAX,EBX,4} would update \c{EAX} to hold \c{0xF0123456}.
11775 The number of bits to shift by is given by the third operand. Only
11776 the bottom five bits of the shift count are considered.
11779 \H{insSHUFPD} \i\c{SHUFPD}: Shuffle Packed Double-Precision FP Values
11781 \c SHUFPD xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; 66 0F C6 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11783 \c{SHUFPD} moves one of the packed double-precision FP values from
11784 the destination operand into the low quadword of the destination
11785 operand; the upper quadword is generated by moving one of the
11786 double-precision FP values from the source operand into the
11787 destination. The select (third) operand selects which of the values
11788 are moved to the destination register.
11790 The select operand is an 8-bit immediate: bit 0 selects which value
11791 is moved from the destination operand to the result (where 0 selects
11792 the low quadword and 1 selects the high quadword) and bit 1 selects
11793 which value is moved from the source operand to the result.
11794 Bits 2 through 7 of the shuffle operand are reserved.
11797 \H{insSHUFPS} \i\c{SHUFPS}: Shuffle Packed Single-Precision FP Values
11799 \c SHUFPS xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; 0F C6 /r ib [KATMAI,SSE]
11801 \c{SHUFPD} moves two of the packed single-precision FP values from
11802 the destination operand into the low quadword of the destination
11803 operand; the upper quadword is generated by moving two of the
11804 single-precision FP values from the source operand into the
11805 destination. The select (third) operand selects which of the
11806 values are moved to the destination register.
11808 The select operand is an 8-bit immediate: bits 0 and 1 select the
11809 value to be moved from the destination operand the low doubleword of
11810 the result, bits 2 and 3 select the value to be moved from the
11811 destination operand the second doubleword of the result, bits 4 and
11812 5 select the value to be moved from the source operand the third
11813 doubleword of the result, and bits 6 and 7 select the value to be
11814 moved from the source operand to the high doubleword of the result.
11817 \H{insSMI} \i\c{SMI}: System Management Interrupt
11819 \c SMI ; F1 [386,UNDOC]
11821 \c{SMI} puts some AMD processors into SMM mode. It is available on some
11822 386 and 486 processors, and is only available when DR7 bit 12 is set,
11823 otherwise it generates an Int 1.
11826 \H{insSMINT} \i\c{SMINT}, \i\c{SMINTOLD}: Software SMM Entry (CYRIX)
11828 \c SMINT ; 0F 38 [PENT,CYRIX]
11829 \c SMINTOLD ; 0F 7E [486,CYRIX]
11831 \c{SMINT} puts the processor into SMM mode. The CPU state information is
11832 saved in the SMM memory header, and then execution begins at the SMM base
11835 \c{SMINTOLD} is the same as \c{SMINT}, but was the opcode used on the 486.
11837 This pair of opcodes are specific to the Cyrix and compatible range of
11838 processors (Cyrix, IBM, Via).
11841 \H{insSMSW} \i\c{SMSW}: Store Machine Status Word
11843 \c SMSW r/m16 ; 0F 01 /4 [286,PRIV]
11845 \c{SMSW} stores the bottom half of the \c{CR0} control register (or
11846 the Machine Status Word, on 286 processors) into the destination
11847 operand. See also \c{LMSW} (\k{insLMSW}).
11849 For 32-bit code, this would use the low 16-bits of the specified
11850 register (or a 16bit memory location), without needing an operand
11851 size override byte.
11854 \H{insSQRTPD} \i\c{SQRTPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Square Root
11856 \c SQRTPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 51 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11858 \c{SQRTPD} calculates the square root of the packed double-precision
11859 FP value from the source operand, and stores the double-precision
11860 results in the destination register.
11863 \H{insSQRTPS} \i\c{SQRTPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Square Root
11865 \c SQRTPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 51 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11867 \c{SQRTPS} calculates the square root of the packed single-precision
11868 FP value from the source operand, and stores the single-precision
11869 results in the destination register.
11872 \H{insSQRTSD} \i\c{SQRTSD}: Scalar Double-Precision FP Square Root
11874 \c SQRTSD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F2 0F 51 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11876 \c{SQRTSD} calculates the square root of the low-order double-precision
11877 FP value from the source operand, and stores the double-precision
11878 result in the destination register. The high-quadword remains unchanged.
11881 \H{insSQRTSS} \i\c{SQRTSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Square Root
11883 \c SQRTSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 51 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11885 \c{SQRTSS} calculates the square root of the low-order single-precision
11886 FP value from the source operand, and stores the single-precision
11887 result in the destination register. The three high doublewords remain
11891 \H{insSTC} \i\c{STC}, \i\c{STD}, \i\c{STI}: Set Flags
11897 These instructions set various flags. \c{STC} sets the carry flag;
11898 \c{STD} sets the direction flag; and \c{STI} sets the interrupt flag
11899 (thus enabling interrupts).
11901 To clear the carry, direction, or interrupt flags, use the \c{CLC},
11902 \c{CLD} and \c{CLI} instructions (\k{insCLC}). To invert the carry
11903 flag, use \c{CMC} (\k{insCMC}).
11906 \H{insSTMXCSR} \i\c{STMXCSR}: Store Streaming SIMD Extension
11909 \c STMXCSR m32 ; 0F AE /3 [KATMAI,SSE]
11911 \c{STMXCSR} stores the contents of the \c{MXCSR} control/status
11912 register to the specified memory location. \c{MXCSR} is used to
11913 enable masked/unmasked exception handling, to set rounding modes,
11914 to set flush-to-zero mode, and to view exception status flags.
11915 The reserved bits in the \c{MXCSR} register are stored as 0s.
11917 For details of the \c{MXCSR} register, see the Intel processor docs.
11919 See also \c{LDMXCSR} (\k{insLDMXCSR}).
11922 \H{insSTOSB} \i\c{STOSB}, \i\c{STOSW}, \i\c{STOSD}: Store Byte to String
11924 \c STOSB ; AA [8086]
11925 \c STOSW ; o16 AB [8086]
11926 \c STOSD ; o32 AB [386]
11928 \c{STOSB} stores the byte in \c{AL} at \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]},
11929 and sets the flags accordingly. It then increments or decrements
11930 (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag is clear,
11931 decrements if it is set) \c{DI} (or \c{EDI}).
11933 The register used is \c{DI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
11934 \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
11935 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
11936 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
11938 Segment override prefixes have no effect for this instruction: the
11939 use of \c{ES} for the store to \c{[DI]} or \c{[EDI]} cannot be
11942 \c{STOSW} and \c{STOSD} work in the same way, but they store the
11943 word in \c{AX} or the doubleword in \c{EAX} instead of the byte in
11944 \c{AL}, and increment or decrement the addressing registers by 2 or
11947 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
11948 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
11951 \H{insSTR} \i\c{STR}: Store Task Register
11953 \c STR r/m16 ; 0F 00 /1 [286,PRIV]
11955 \c{STR} stores the segment selector corresponding to the contents of
11956 the Task Register into its operand. When the operand size is a 16-bit
11957 register, the upper 16-bits are cleared to 0s. When the destination
11958 operand is a memory location, 16 bits are written regardless of the
11962 \H{insSUB} \i\c{SUB}: Subtract Integers
11964 \c SUB r/m8,reg8 ; 28 /r [8086]
11965 \c SUB r/m16,reg16 ; o16 29 /r [8086]
11966 \c SUB r/m32,reg32 ; o32 29 /r [386]
11968 \c SUB reg8,r/m8 ; 2A /r [8086]
11969 \c SUB reg16,r/m16 ; o16 2B /r [8086]
11970 \c SUB reg32,r/m32 ; o32 2B /r [386]
11972 \c SUB r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /5 ib [8086]
11973 \c SUB r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /5 iw [8086]
11974 \c SUB r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /5 id [386]
11976 \c SUB r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /5 ib [8086]
11977 \c SUB r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /5 ib [386]
11979 \c SUB AL,imm8 ; 2C ib [8086]
11980 \c SUB AX,imm16 ; o16 2D iw [8086]
11981 \c SUB EAX,imm32 ; o32 2D id [386]
11983 \c{SUB} performs integer subtraction: it subtracts its second
11984 operand from its first, and leaves the result in its destination
11985 (first) operand. The flags are set according to the result of the
11986 operation: in particular, the carry flag is affected and can be used
11987 by a subsequent \c{SBB} instruction (\k{insSBB}).
11989 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
11990 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
11991 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
11992 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
11993 form of the instruction.
11996 \H{insSUBPD} \i\c{SUBPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Subtract
11998 \c SUBPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 5C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12000 \c{SUBPD} subtracts the packed double-precision FP values of
12001 the source operand from those of the destination operand, and
12002 stores the result in the destination operation.
12005 \H{insSUBPS} \i\c{SUBPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Subtract
12007 \c SUBPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 5C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12009 \c{SUBPS} subtracts the packed single-precision FP values of
12010 the source operand from those of the destination operand, and
12011 stores the result in the destination operation.
12014 \H{insSUBSD} \i\c{SUBSD}: Scalar Single-FP Subtract
12016 \c SUBSD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F2 0F 5C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12018 \c{SUBSD} subtracts the low-order double-precision FP value of
12019 the source operand from that of the destination operand, and
12020 stores the result in the destination operation. The high
12021 quadword is unchanged.
12024 \H{insSUBSS} \i\c{SUBSS}: Scalar Single-FP Subtract
12026 \c SUBSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 5C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12028 \c{SUBSS} subtracts the low-order single-precision FP value of
12029 the source operand from that of the destination operand, and
12030 stores the result in the destination operation. The three high
12031 doublewords are unchanged.
12034 \H{insSVDC} \i\c{SVDC}: Save Segment Register and Descriptor
12036 \c SVDC m80,segreg ; 0F 78 /r [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12038 \c{SVDC} saves a segment register (DS, ES, FS, GS, or SS) and its
12039 descriptor to mem80.
12042 \H{insSVLDT} \i\c{SVLDT}: Save LDTR and Descriptor
12044 \c SVLDT m80 ; 0F 7A /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12046 \c{SVLDT} saves the Local Descriptor Table (LDTR) to mem80.
12049 \H{insSVTS} \i\c{SVTS}: Save TSR and Descriptor
12051 \c SVTS m80 ; 0F 7C /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12053 \c{SVTS} saves the Task State Register (TSR) to mem80.
12056 \H{insSYSCALL} \i\c{SYSCALL}: Call Operating System
12058 \c SYSCALL ; 0F 05 [P6,AMD]
12060 \c{SYSCALL} provides a fast method of transfering control to a fixed
12061 entry point in an operating system.
12063 \b The \c{EIP} register is copied into the \c{ECX} register.
12065 \b Bits [31
\960] of the 64-bit SYSCALL/SYSRET Target Address Register
12066 (\c{STAR}) are copied into the \c{EIP} register.
12068 \b Bits [47
\9632] of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is
12069 copied into the \c{CS} register.
12071 \b Bits [47
\9632]+1000b of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that
12072 is copied into the SS register.
12074 The \c{CS} and \c{SS} registers should not be modified by the operating
12075 system between the execution of the \c{SYSCALL} instruction and its
12076 corresponding \c{SYSRET} instruction.
12078 For more information, see the \c{SYSCALL and SYSRET Instruction Specification}
12079 (AMD document number 21086.pdf).
12082 \H{insSYSENTER} \i\c{SYSENTER}: Fast System Call
12084 \c SYSENTER ; 0F 34 [P6]
12086 \c{SYSENTER} executes a fast call to a level 0 system procedure or
12087 routine. Before using this instruction, various MSRs need to be set
12090 \b \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} contains the 32-bit segment selector for the
12091 privilege level 0 code segment. (This value is also used to compute
12092 the segment selector of the privilege level 0 stack segment.)
12094 \b \c{SYSENTER_EIP_MSR} contains the 32-bit offset into the privilege
12095 level 0 code segment to the first instruction of the selected operating
12096 procedure or routine.
12098 \b \c{SYSENTER_ESP_MSR} contains the 32-bit stack pointer for the
12099 privilege level 0 stack.
12101 \c{SYSENTER} performs the following sequence of operations:
12103 \b Loads the segment selector from the \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} into the
12106 \b Loads the instruction pointer from the \c{SYSENTER_EIP_MSR} into
12107 the \c{EIP} register.
12109 \b Adds 8 to the value in \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} and loads it into the
12112 \b Loads the stack pointer from the \c{SYSENTER_ESP_MSR} into the
12115 \b Switches to privilege level 0.
12117 \b Clears the \c{VM} flag in the \c{EFLAGS} register, if the flag
12120 \b Begins executing the selected system procedure.
12122 In particular, note that this instruction des not save the values of
12123 \c{CS} or \c{(E)IP}. If you need to return to the calling code, you
12124 need to write your code to cater for this.
12126 For more information, see the Intel Architecture Software Developer
\92s
12130 \H{insSYSEXIT} \i\c{SYSEXIT}: Fast Return From System Call
12132 \c SYSEXIT ; 0F 35 [P6,PRIV]
12134 \c{SYSEXIT} executes a fast return to privilege level 3 user code.
12135 This instruction is a companion instruction to the \c{SYSENTER}
12136 instruction, and can only be executed by privelege level 0 code.
12137 Various registers need to be set up before calling this instruction:
12139 \b \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} contains the 32-bit segment selector for the
12140 privilege level 0 code segment in which the processor is currently
12141 executing. (This value is used to compute the segment selectors for
12142 the privilege level 3 code and stack segments.)
12144 \b \c{EDX} contains the 32-bit offset into the privilege level 3 code
12145 segment to the first instruction to be executed in the user code.
12147 \b \c{ECX} contains the 32-bit stack pointer for the privilege level 3
12150 \c{SYSEXIT} performs the following sequence of operations:
12152 \b Adds 16 to the value in \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} and loads the sum into
12153 the \c{CS} selector register.
12155 \b Loads the instruction pointer from the \c{EDX} register into the
12158 \b Adds 24 to the value in \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} and loads the sum
12159 into the \c{SS} selector register.
12161 \b Loads the stack pointer from the \c{ECX} register into the \c{ESP}
12164 \b Switches to privilege level 3.
12166 \b Begins executing the user code at the \c{EIP} address.
12168 For more information on the use of the \c{SYSENTER} and \c{SYSEXIT}
12169 instructions, see the Intel Architecture Software Developer
\92s
12173 \H{insSYSRET} \i\c{SYSRET}: Return From Operating System
12175 \c SYSRET ; 0F 07 [P6,AMD,PRIV]
12177 \c{SYSRET} is the return instruction used in conjunction with the
12178 \c{SYSCALL} instruction to provide fast entry/exit to an operating system.
12180 \b The \c{ECX} register, which points to the next sequential instruction
12181 after the corresponding \c{SYSCALL} instruction, is copied into the \c{EIP}
12184 \b Bits [63
\9648] of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is copied
12185 into the \c{CS} register.
12187 \b Bits [63
\9648]+1000b of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is
12188 copied into the \c{SS} register.
12190 \b Bits [1
\960] of the \c{SS} register are set to 11b (RPL of 3) regardless of
12191 the value of bits [49
\9648] of the \c{STAR} register.
12193 The \c{CS} and \c{SS} registers should not be modified by the operating
12194 system between the execution of the \c{SYSCALL} instruction and its
12195 corresponding \c{SYSRET} instruction.
12197 For more information, see the \c{SYSCALL and SYSRET Instruction Specification}
12198 (AMD document number 21086.pdf).
12201 \H{insTEST} \i\c{TEST}: Test Bits (notional bitwise AND)
12203 \c TEST r/m8,reg8 ; 84 /r [8086]
12204 \c TEST r/m16,reg16 ; o16 85 /r [8086]
12205 \c TEST r/m32,reg32 ; o32 85 /r [386]
12207 \c TEST r/m8,imm8 ; F6 /0 ib [8086]
12208 \c TEST r/m16,imm16 ; o16 F7 /0 iw [8086]
12209 \c TEST r/m32,imm32 ; o32 F7 /0 id [386]
12211 \c TEST AL,imm8 ; A8 ib [8086]
12212 \c TEST AX,imm16 ; o16 A9 iw [8086]
12213 \c TEST EAX,imm32 ; o32 A9 id [386]
12215 \c{TEST} performs a `mental' bitwise AND of its two operands, and
12216 affects the flags as if the operation had taken place, but does not
12217 store the result of the operation anywhere.
12220 \H{insUCOMISD} \i\c{UCOMISD}: Unordered Scalar Double-Precision FP
12221 compare and set EFLAGS
12223 \c UCOMISD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 2E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12225 \c{UCOMISD} compares the low-order double-precision FP numbers in the
12226 two operands, and sets the \c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} bits in the
12227 \c{EFLAGS} register. In addition, the \c{OF}, \c{SF} and \c{AF} bits
12228 in the \c{EFLAGS} register are zeroed out. The unordered predicate
12229 (\c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} all set) is returned if either source
12230 operand is a \c{NaN} (\c{qNaN} or \c{sNaN}).
12233 \H{insUCOMISS} \i\c{UCOMISS}: Unordered Scalar Single-Precision FP
12234 compare and set EFLAGS
12236 \c UCOMISS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 2E /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12238 \c{UCOMISS} compares the low-order single-precision FP numbers in the
12239 two operands, and sets the \c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} bits in the
12240 \c{EFLAGS} register. In addition, the \c{OF}, \c{SF} and \c{AF} bits
12241 in the \c{EFLAGS} register are zeroed out. The unordered predicate
12242 (\c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} all set) is returned if either source
12243 operand is a \c{NaN} (\c{qNaN} or \c{sNaN}).
12246 \H{insUD2} \i\c{UD0}, \i\c{UD1}, \i\c{UD2}: Undefined Instruction
12248 \c UD0 ; 0F FF [186,UNDOC]
12249 \c UD1 ; 0F B9 [186,UNDOC]
12250 \c UD2 ; 0F 0B [186]
12252 \c{UDx} can be used to generate an invalid opcode exception, for testing
12255 \c{UD0} is specifically documented by AMD as being reserved for this
12258 \c{UD1} is specifically documented by Intel as being reserved for this
12261 \c{UD2} is mentioned by Intel as being available, but is not mentioned
12264 All these opcodes can be used to generate invalid opcode exceptions on
12265 all processors that are available at the current time.
12268 \H{insUMOV} \i\c{UMOV}: User Move Data
12270 \c UMOV r/m8,reg8 ; 0F 10 /r [386,UNDOC]
12271 \c UMOV r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F 11 /r [386,UNDOC]
12272 \c UMOV r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F 11 /r [386,UNDOC]
12274 \c UMOV reg8,r/m8 ; 0F 12 /r [386,UNDOC]
12275 \c UMOV reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 13 /r [386,UNDOC]
12276 \c UMOV reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 13 /r [386,UNDOC]
12278 This undocumented instruction is used by in-circuit emulators to
12279 access user memory (as opposed to host memory). It is used just like
12280 an ordinary memory/register or register/register \c{MOV}
12281 instruction, but accesses user space.
12283 This instruction is only available on some AMD and IBM 386 and 486
12287 \H{insUNPCKHPD} \i\c{UNPCKHPD}: Unpack and Interleave High Packed
12288 Double-Precision FP Values
12290 \c UNPCKHPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 15 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12292 \c{UNPCKHPD} performs an interleaved unpack of the high-order data
12293 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
12294 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
12296 The operation of this instruction is:
12298 \c dst[63-0] := dst[127-64];
12299 \c dst[127-64] := src[127-64].
12302 \H{insUNPCKHPS} \i\c{UNPCKHPS}: Unpack and Interleave High Packed
12303 Single-Precision FP Values
12305 \c UNPCKHPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 15 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12307 \c{UNPCKHPS} performs an interleaved unpack of the high-order data
12308 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
12309 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
12311 The operation of this instruction is:
12313 \c dst[31-0] := dst[95-64];
12314 \c dst[63-32] := src[95-64];
12315 \c dst[95-64] := dst[127-96];
12316 \c dst[127-96] := src[127-96].
12319 \H{insUNPCKLPD} \i\c{UNPCKLPD}: Unpack and Interleave Low Packed
12320 Double-Precision FP Data
12322 \c UNPCKLPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 14 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12324 \c{UNPCKLPD} performs an interleaved unpack of the low-order data
12325 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
12326 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
12328 The operation of this instruction is:
12330 \c dst[63-0] := dst[63-0];
12331 \c dst[127-64] := src[63-0].
12334 \H{insUNPCKLPS} \i\c{UNPCKLPS}: Unpack and Interleave Low Packed
12335 Single-Precision FP Data
12337 \c UNPCKLPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 14 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12339 \c{UNPCKLPS} performs an interleaved unpack of the low-order data
12340 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
12341 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
12343 The operation of this instruction is:
12345 \c dst[31-0] := dst[31-0];
12346 \c dst[63-32] := src[31-0];
12347 \c dst[95-64] := dst[63-32];
12348 \c dst[127-96] := src[63-32].
12351 \H{insVERR} \i\c{VERR}, \i\c{VERW}: Verify Segment Readability/Writability
12353 \c VERR r/m16 ; 0F 00 /4 [286,PRIV]
12355 \c VERW r/m16 ; 0F 00 /5 [286,PRIV]
12357 \b \c{VERR} sets the zero flag if the segment specified by the selector
12358 in its operand can be read from at the current privilege level.
12359 Otherwise it is cleared.
12361 \b \c{VERW} sets the zero flag if the segment can be written.
12364 \H{insWAIT} \i\c{WAIT}: Wait for Floating-Point Processor
12366 \c WAIT ; 9B [8086]
12367 \c FWAIT ; 9B [8086]
12369 \c{WAIT}, on 8086 systems with a separate 8087 FPU, waits for the
12370 FPU to have finished any operation it is engaged in before
12371 continuing main processor operations, so that (for example) an FPU
12372 store to main memory can be guaranteed to have completed before the
12373 CPU tries to read the result back out.
12375 On higher processors, \c{WAIT} is unnecessary for this purpose, and
12376 it has the alternative purpose of ensuring that any pending unmasked
12377 FPU exceptions have happened before execution continues.
12380 \H{insWBINVD} \i\c{WBINVD}: Write Back and Invalidate Cache
12382 \c WBINVD ; 0F 09 [486]
12384 \c{WBINVD} invalidates and empties the processor's internal caches,
12385 and causes the processor to instruct external caches to do the same.
12386 It writes the contents of the caches back to memory first, so no
12387 data is lost. To flush the caches quickly without bothering to write
12388 the data back first, use \c{INVD} (\k{insINVD}).
12391 \H{insWRMSR} \i\c{WRMSR}: Write Model-Specific Registers
12393 \c WRMSR ; 0F 30 [PENT]
12395 \c{WRMSR} writes the value in \c{EDX:EAX} to the processor
12396 Model-Specific Register (MSR) whose index is stored in \c{ECX}.
12397 See also \c{RDMSR} (\k{insRDMSR}).
12400 \H{insWRSHR} \i\c{WRSHR}: Write SMM Header Pointer Register
12402 \c WRSHR r/m32 ; 0F 37 /0 [386,CYRIX,SMM]
12404 \c{WRSHR} loads the contents of either a 32-bit memory location or a
12405 32-bit register into the SMM header pointer register.
12407 See also \c{RDSHR} (\k{insRDSHR}).
12410 \H{insXADD} \i\c{XADD}: Exchange and Add
12412 \c XADD r/m8,reg8 ; 0F C0 /r [486]
12413 \c XADD r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F C1 /r [486]
12414 \c XADD r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F C1 /r [486]
12416 \c{XADD} exchanges the values in its two operands, and then adds
12417 them together and writes the result into the destination (first)
12418 operand. This instruction can be used with a \c{LOCK} prefix for
12419 multi-processor synchronisation purposes.
12422 \H{insXBTS} \i\c{XBTS}: Extract Bit String
12424 \c XBTS reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F A6 /r [386,UNDOC]
12425 \c XBTS reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F A6 /r [386,UNDOC]
12427 The implied operation of this instruction is:
12429 \c XBTS r/m16,reg16,AX,CL
12430 \c XBTS r/m32,reg32,EAX,CL
12432 Writes a bit string from the source operand to the destination. \c{CL}
12433 indicates the number of bits to be copied, and \c{(E)AX} indicates the
12434 low order bit offset in the source. The bist are written to the low
12435 order bits of the destination register. For example, if \c{CL} is set
12436 to 4 and \c{AX} (for 16-bit code) is set to 5, bits 5-8 of \c{src} will
12437 be copied to bits 0-3 of \c{dst}. This instruction is very poorly
12438 documented, and I have been unable to find any official source of
12439 documentation on it.
12441 \c{XBTS} is supported only on the early Intel 386s, and conflicts with
12442 the opcodes for \c{CMPXCHG486} (on early Intel 486s). NASM supports it
12443 only for completeness. Its counterpart is \c{IBTS} (see \k{insIBTS}).
12446 \H{insXCHG} \i\c{XCHG}: Exchange
12448 \c XCHG reg8,r/m8 ; 86 /r [8086]
12449 \c XCHG reg16,r/m8 ; o16 87 /r [8086]
12450 \c XCHG reg32,r/m32 ; o32 87 /r [386]
12452 \c XCHG r/m8,reg8 ; 86 /r [8086]
12453 \c XCHG r/m16,reg16 ; o16 87 /r [8086]
12454 \c XCHG r/m32,reg32 ; o32 87 /r [386]
12456 \c XCHG AX,reg16 ; o16 90+r [8086]
12457 \c XCHG EAX,reg32 ; o32 90+r [386]
12458 \c XCHG reg16,AX ; o16 90+r [8086]
12459 \c XCHG reg32,EAX ; o32 90+r [386]
12461 \c{XCHG} exchanges the values in its two operands. It can be used
12462 with a \c{LOCK} prefix for purposes of multi-processor
12465 \c{XCHG AX,AX} or \c{XCHG EAX,EAX} (depending on the \c{BITS}
12466 setting) generates the opcode \c{90h}, and so is a synonym for
12467 \c{NOP} (\k{insNOP}).
12470 \H{insXLATB} \i\c{XLATB}: Translate Byte in Lookup Table
12472 \c XLAT ; D7 [8086]
12473 \c XLATB ; D7 [8086]
12475 \c{XLATB} adds the value in \c{AL}, treated as an unsigned byte, to
12476 \c{BX} or \c{EBX}, and loads the byte from the resulting address (in
12477 the segment specified by \c{DS}) back into \c{AL}.
12479 The base register used is \c{BX} if the address size is 16 bits, and
12480 \c{EBX} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
12481 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
12482 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
12484 The segment register used to load from \c{[BX+AL]} or \c{[EBX+AL]}
12485 can be overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
12486 example, \c{es xlatb}).
12489 \H{insXOR} \i\c{XOR}: Bitwise Exclusive OR
12491 \c XOR r/m8,reg8 ; 30 /r [8086]
12492 \c XOR r/m16,reg16 ; o16 31 /r [8086]
12493 \c XOR r/m32,reg32 ; o32 31 /r [386]
12495 \c XOR reg8,r/m8 ; 32 /r [8086]
12496 \c XOR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 33 /r [8086]
12497 \c XOR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 33 /r [386]
12499 \c XOR r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /6 ib [8086]
12500 \c XOR r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /6 iw [8086]
12501 \c XOR r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /6 id [386]
12503 \c XOR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /6 ib [8086]
12504 \c XOR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /6 ib [386]
12506 \c XOR AL,imm8 ; 34 ib [8086]
12507 \c XOR AX,imm16 ; o16 35 iw [8086]
12508 \c XOR EAX,imm32 ; o32 35 id [386]
12510 \c{XOR} performs a bitwise XOR operation between its two operands
12511 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if exactly one of the
12512 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
12513 in the destination (first) operand.
12515 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
12516 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
12517 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
12518 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
12519 form of the instruction.
12521 The \c{MMX} instruction \c{PXOR} (see \k{insPXOR}) performs the same
12522 operation on the 64-bit \c{MMX} registers.
12525 \H{insXORPD} \i\c{XORPD}: Bitwise Logical XOR of Double-Precision FP Values
12527 \c XORPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 57 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12529 \c{XORPD} returns a bit-wise logical XOR between the source and
12530 destination operands, storing the result in the destination operand.
12533 \H{insXORPS} \i\c{XORPS}: Bitwise Logical XOR of Single-Precision FP Values
12535 \c XORPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 57 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12537 \c{XORPS} returns a bit-wise logical XOR between the source and
12538 destination operands, storing the result in the destination operand.