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{NASMENV} environment variable (see
567 For Makefile compatibility with many C compilers, this option can also
568 be specified as \c{-I}.
571 \S{opt-p} The \i\c{-p}\I\c{-P} Option: \I{pre-including files}Pre-Include a File
573 \I\c{%include}NASM allows you to specify files to be
574 \e{pre-included} into your source file, by the use of the \c{-p}
577 \c nasm myfile.asm -p myinc.inc
579 is equivalent to running \c{nasm myfile.asm} and placing the
580 directive \c{%include "myinc.inc"} at the start of the file.
582 For consistency with the \c{-I}, \c{-D} and \c{-U} options, this
583 option can also be specified as \c{-P}.
586 \S{opt-d} The \i\c{-d}\I\c{-D} Option: \I{pre-defining macros} Pre-Define a Macro
588 \I\c{%define}Just as the \c{-p} option gives an alternative to placing
589 \c{%include} directives at the start of a source file, the \c{-d}
590 option gives an alternative to placing a \c{%define} directive. You
593 \c nasm myfile.asm -dFOO=100
595 as an alternative to placing the directive
599 at the start of the file. You can miss off the macro value, as well:
600 the option \c{-dFOO} is equivalent to coding \c{%define FOO}. This
601 form of the directive may be useful for selecting \i{assembly-time
602 options} which are then tested using \c{%ifdef}, for example
605 For Makefile compatibility with many C compilers, this option can also
606 be specified as \c{-D}.
609 \S{opt-u} The \i\c{-u}\I\c{-U} Option: \I{Undefining macros} Undefine a Macro
611 \I\c{%undef}The \c{-u} option undefines a macro that would otherwise
612 have been pre-defined, either automatically or by a \c{-p} or \c{-d}
613 option specified earlier on the command lines.
615 For example, the following command line:
617 \c nasm myfile.asm -dFOO=100 -uFOO
619 would result in \c{FOO} \e{not} being a predefined macro in the
620 program. This is useful to override options specified at a different
623 For Makefile compatibility with many C compilers, this option can also
624 be specified as \c{-U}.
627 \S{opt-e} The \i\c{-e} Option: Preprocess Only
629 NASM allows the \i{preprocessor} to be run on its own, up to a
630 point. Using the \c{-e} option (which requires no arguments) will
631 cause NASM to preprocess its input file, expand all the macro
632 references, remove all the comments and preprocessor directives, and
633 print the resulting file on standard output (or save it to a file,
634 if the \c{-o} option is also used).
636 This option cannot be applied to programs which require the
637 preprocessor to evaluate \I{preprocessor expressions}\i{expressions}
638 which depend on the values of symbols: so code such as
640 \c %assign tablesize ($-tablestart)
642 will cause an error in \i{preprocess-only mode}.
645 \S{opt-a} The \i\c{-a} Option: Don't Preprocess At All
647 If NASM is being used as the back end to a compiler, it might be
648 desirable to \I{suppressing preprocessing}suppress preprocessing
649 completely and assume the compiler has already done it, to save time
650 and increase compilation speeds. The \c{-a} option, requiring no
651 argument, instructs NASM to replace its powerful \i{preprocessor}
652 with a \i{stub preprocessor} which does nothing.
655 \S{opt-On} The \i\c{-On} Option: Specifying \i{Multipass Optimization}.
657 NASM defaults to being a two pass assembler. This means that if you
658 have a complex source file which needs more than 2 passes to assemble
659 correctly, you have to tell it.
661 Using the \c{-O} option, you can tell NASM to carry out multiple passes.
664 \b \c{-O0} strict two-pass assembly, JMP and Jcc are handled more
665 like v0.98, except that backward JMPs are short, if possible.
666 Immediate operands take their long forms if a short form is
669 \b \c{-O1} strict two-pass assembly, but forward branches are assembled
670 with code guaranteed to reach; may produce larger code than
671 -O0, but will produce successful assembly more often if
672 branch offset sizes are not specified.
673 Additionally, immediate operands which will fit in a signed byte
674 are optimised, unless the long form is specified.
676 \b \c{-On} multi-pass optimization, minimize branch offsets; also will
677 minimize signed immediate bytes, overriding size specification.
678 If 2 <= n <= 3, then there are 5 * n passes, otherwise there
682 Note that this is a capital O, and is different from a small o, which
683 is used to specify the output format. See \k{opt-o}.
686 \S{opt-t} The \i\c{-t} option: Enable TASM Compatibility Mode
688 NASM includes a limited form of compatibility with Borland's \c{TASM}.
689 When NASM's \c{-t} option is used, the following changes are made:
691 \b local labels may be prefixed with \c{@@} instead of \c{.}
693 \b TASM-style response files beginning with \c{@} may be specified on
694 the command line. This is different from the \c{-@resp} style that NASM
697 \b size override is supported within brackets. In TASM compatible mode,
698 a size override inside square brackets changes the size of the operand,
699 and not the address type of the operand as it does in NASM syntax. E.g.
700 \c{mov eax,[DWORD val]} is valid syntax in TASM compatibility mode.
701 Note that you lose the ability to override the default address type for
704 \b \c{%arg} preprocessor directive is supported which is similar to
705 TASM's \c{ARG} directive.
707 \b \c{%local} preprocessor directive
709 \b \c{%stacksize} preprocessor directive
711 \b unprefixed forms of some directives supported (\c{arg}, \c{elif},
712 \c{else}, \c{endif}, \c{if}, \c{ifdef}, \c{ifdifi}, \c{ifndef},
713 \c{include}, \c{local})
717 For more information on the directives, see the section on TASM
718 Compatiblity preprocessor directives in \k{tasmcompat}.
721 \S{opt-w} The \i\c{-w} Option: Enable or Disable Assembly \i{Warnings}
723 NASM can observe many conditions during the course of assembly which
724 are worth mentioning to the user, but not a sufficiently severe
725 error to justify NASM refusing to generate an output file. These
726 conditions are reported like errors, but come up with the word
727 `warning' before the message. Warnings do not prevent NASM from
728 generating an output file and returning a success status to the
731 Some conditions are even less severe than that: they are only
732 sometimes worth mentioning to the user. Therefore NASM supports the
733 \c{-w} command-line option, which enables or disables certain
734 classes of assembly warning. Such warning classes are described by a
735 name, for example \c{orphan-labels}; you can enable warnings of
736 this class by the command-line option \c{-w+orphan-labels} and
737 disable it by \c{-w-orphan-labels}.
739 The \i{suppressible warning} classes are:
741 \b \i\c{macro-params} covers warnings about \i{multi-line macros}
742 being invoked with the wrong number of parameters. This warning
743 class is enabled by default; see \k{mlmacover} for an example of why
744 you might want to disable it.
746 \b \i\c{orphan-labels} covers warnings about source lines which
747 contain no instruction but define a label without a trailing colon.
748 NASM does not warn about this somewhat obscure condition by default;
749 see \k{syntax} for an example of why you might want it to.
751 \b \i\c{number-overflow} covers warnings about numeric constants which
752 don't fit in 32 bits (for example, it's easy to type one too many Fs
753 and produce \c{0x7ffffffff} by mistake). This warning class is
757 \S{opt-v} The \i\c{-v} Option: Display \i{Version} Info
759 Typing \c{NASM -v} will display the version of NASM which you are using,
760 and the date on which it was compiled.
762 You will need the version number if you report a bug.
765 \S{nasmenv} The \c{NASMENV} \i{Environment} Variable
767 If you define an environment variable called \c{NASMENV}, the program
768 will interpret it as a list of extra command-line options, which are
769 processed before the real command line. You can use this to define
770 standard search directories for include files, by putting \c{-i}
771 options in the \c{NASMENV} variable.
773 The value of the variable is split up at white space, so that the
774 value \c{-s -ic:\\nasmlib} will be treated as two separate options.
775 However, that means that the value \c{-dNAME="my name"} won't do
776 what you might want, because it will be split at the space and the
777 NASM command-line processing will get confused by the two
778 nonsensical words \c{-dNAME="my} and \c{name"}.
780 To get round this, NASM provides a feature whereby, if you begin the
781 \c{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{NASMENV} variable to the
784 value \c{!-s!-ic:\\nasmlib} is equivalent to setting it to \c{-s
785 -ic:\\nasmlib}, but \c{!-dNAME="my name"} will work.
787 This variable was called \c{NASM} in earlier versions of NASM,
788 however, this caused problems with makefiles which used a \c{$(NASM)}
791 \H{qstart} \i{Quick Start} for \i{MASM} Users
793 If you're used to writing programs with MASM, or with \i{TASM} in
794 MASM-compatible (non-Ideal) mode, or with \i\c{a86}, this section
795 attempts to outline the major differences between MASM's syntax and
796 NASM's. If you're not already used to MASM, it's probably worth
797 skipping this section.
800 \S{qscs} NASM Is \I{case sensitivity}Case-Sensitive
802 One simple difference is that NASM is case-sensitive. It makes a
803 difference whether you call your label \c{foo}, \c{Foo} or \c{FOO}.
804 If you're assembling to \c{DOS} or \c{OS/2} \c{.OBJ} files, you can
805 invoke the \i\c{UPPERCASE} directive (documented in \k{objfmt}) to
806 ensure that all symbols exported to other code modules are forced
807 to be upper case; but even then, \e{within} a single module, NASM
808 will distinguish between labels differing only in case.
811 \S{qsbrackets} NASM Requires \i{Square Brackets} For \i{Memory References}
813 NASM was designed with simplicity of syntax in mind. One of the
814 \i{design goals} of NASM is that it should be possible, as far as is
815 practical, for the user to look at a single line of NASM code
816 and tell what opcode is generated by it. You can't do this in MASM:
817 if you declare, for example,
822 then the two lines of code
827 generate completely different opcodes, despite having
828 identical-looking syntaxes.
830 NASM avoids this undesirable situation by having a much simpler
831 syntax for memory references. The rule is simply that any access to
832 the \e{contents} of a memory location requires square brackets
833 around the address, and any access to the \e{address} of a variable
834 doesn't. So an instruction of the form \c{mov ax,foo} will
835 \e{always} refer to a compile-time constant, whether it's an \c{EQU}
836 or the address of a variable; and to access the \e{contents} of the
837 variable \c{bar}, you must code \c{mov ax,[bar]}.
839 This also means that NASM has no need for MASM's \i\c{OFFSET}
840 keyword, since the MASM code \c{mov ax,offset bar} means exactly the
841 same thing as NASM's \c{mov ax,bar}. If you're trying to get
842 large amounts of MASM code to assemble sensibly under NASM, you
843 can always code \c{%idefine offset} to make the preprocessor treat
844 the \c{OFFSET} keyword as a no-op.
846 This issue is even more confusing in \i\c{a86}, where declaring a
847 label with a trailing colon defines it to be a `label' as opposed to
848 a `variable' and causes \c{a86} to adopt NASM-style semantics; so in
849 \c{a86}, \c{mov ax,var} has different behaviour depending on whether
850 \c{var} was declared as \c{var: dw 0} (a label) or \c{var dw 0} (a
851 word-size variable). NASM is very simple by comparison:
852 \e{everything} is a label.
854 NASM, in the interests of simplicity, also does not support the
855 \i{hybrid syntaxes} supported by MASM and its clones, such as
856 \c{mov ax,table[bx]}, where a memory reference is denoted by one
857 portion outside square brackets and another portion inside. The
858 correct syntax for the above is \c{mov ax,[table+bx]}. Likewise,
859 \c{mov ax,es:[di]} is wrong and \c{mov ax,[es:di]} is right.
862 \S{qstypes} NASM Doesn't Store \i{Variable Types}
864 NASM, by design, chooses not to remember the types of variables you
865 declare. Whereas MASM will remember, on seeing \c{var dw 0}, that
866 you declared \c{var} as a word-size variable, and will then be able
867 to fill in the \i{ambiguity} in the size of the instruction \c{mov
868 var,2}, NASM will deliberately remember nothing about the symbol
869 \c{var} except where it begins, and so you must explicitly code
870 \c{mov word [var],2}.
872 For this reason, NASM doesn't support the \c{LODS}, \c{MOVS},
873 \c{STOS}, \c{SCAS}, \c{CMPS}, \c{INS}, or \c{OUTS} instructions,
874 but only supports the forms such as \c{LODSB}, \c{MOVSW}, and
875 \c{SCASD}, which explicitly specify the size of the components of
876 the strings being manipulated.
879 \S{qsassume} NASM Doesn't \i\c{ASSUME}
881 As part of NASM's drive for simplicity, it also does not support the
882 \c{ASSUME} directive. NASM will not keep track of what values you
883 choose to put in your segment registers, and will never
884 \e{automatically} generate a \i{segment override} prefix.
887 \S{qsmodel} NASM Doesn't Support \i{Memory Models}
889 NASM also does not have any directives to support different 16-bit
890 memory models. The programmer has to keep track of which functions
891 are supposed to be called with a \i{far call} and which with a
892 \i{near call}, and is responsible for putting the correct form of
893 \c{RET} instruction (\c{RETN} or \c{RETF}; NASM accepts \c{RET}
894 itself as an alternate form for \c{RETN}); in addition, the
895 programmer is responsible for coding CALL FAR instructions where
896 necessary when calling \e{external} functions, and must also keep
897 track of which external variable definitions are far and which are
901 \S{qsfpu} \i{Floating-Point} Differences
903 NASM uses different names to refer to floating-point registers from
904 MASM: where MASM would call them \c{ST(0)}, \c{ST(1)} and so on, and
905 \i\c{a86} would call them simply \c{0}, \c{1} and so on, NASM
906 chooses to call them \c{st0}, \c{st1} etc.
908 As of version 0.96, NASM now treats the instructions with
909 \i{`nowait'} forms in the same way as MASM-compatible assemblers.
910 The idiosyncratic treatment employed by 0.95 and earlier was based
911 on a misunderstanding by the authors.
914 \S{qsother} Other Differences
916 For historical reasons, NASM uses the keyword \i\c{TWORD} where MASM
917 and compatible assemblers use \i\c{TBYTE}.
919 NASM does not declare \i{uninitialised storage} in the same way as
920 MASM: where a MASM programmer might use \c{stack db 64 dup (?)},
921 NASM requires \c{stack resb 64}, intended to be read as `reserve 64
922 bytes'. For a limited amount of compatibility, since NASM treats
923 \c{?} as a valid character in symbol names, you can code \c{? equ 0}
924 and then writing \c{dw ?} will at least do something vaguely useful.
925 \I\c{RESB}\i\c{DUP} is still not a supported syntax, however.
927 In addition to all of this, macros and directives work completely
928 differently to MASM. See \k{preproc} and \k{directive} for further
932 \C{lang} The NASM Language
934 \H{syntax} Layout of a NASM Source Line
936 Like most assemblers, each NASM source line contains (unless it
937 is a macro, a preprocessor directive or an assembler directive: see
938 \k{preproc} and \k{directive}) some combination of the four fields
940 \c label: instruction operands ; comment
942 As usual, most of these fields are optional; the presence or absence
943 of any combination of a label, an instruction and a comment is allowed.
944 Of course, the operand field is either required or forbidden by the
945 presence and nature of the instruction field.
947 NASM uses backslash (\\) as the line continuation character; if a line
948 ends with backslash, the next line is considered to be a part of the
949 backslash-ended line.
951 NASM places no restrictions on white space within a line: labels may
952 have white space before them, or instructions may have no space
953 before them, or anything. The \i{colon} after a label is also
954 optional. (Note that this means that if you intend to code \c{lodsb}
955 alone on a line, and type \c{lodab} by accident, then that's still a
956 valid source line which does nothing but define a label. Running
957 NASM with the command-line option
958 \I{orphan-labels}\c{-w+orphan-labels} will cause it to warn you if
959 you define a label alone on a line without a \i{trailing colon}.)
961 \i{Valid characters} in labels are letters, numbers, \c{_}, \c{$},
962 \c{#}, \c{@}, \c{~}, \c{.}, and \c{?}. The only characters which may
963 be used as the \e{first} character of an identifier are letters,
964 \c{.} (with special meaning: see \k{locallab}), \c{_} and \c{?}.
965 An identifier may also be prefixed with a \I{$prefix}\c{$} to
966 indicate that it is intended to be read as an identifier and not a
967 reserved word; thus, if some other module you are linking with
968 defines a symbol called \c{eax}, you can refer to \c{$eax} in NASM
969 code to distinguish the symbol from the register.
971 The instruction field may contain any machine instruction: Pentium
972 and P6 instructions, FPU instructions, MMX instructions and even
973 undocumented instructions are all supported. The instruction may be
974 prefixed by \c{LOCK}, \c{REP}, \c{REPE}/\c{REPZ} or
975 \c{REPNE}/\c{REPNZ}, in the usual way. Explicit \I{address-size
976 prefixes}address-size and \i{operand-size prefixes} \c{A16},
977 \c{A32}, \c{O16} and \c{O32} are provided - one example of their use
978 is given in \k{mixsize}. You can also use the name of a \I{segment
979 override}segment register as an instruction prefix: coding
980 \c{es mov [bx],ax} is equivalent to coding \c{mov [es:bx],ax}. We
981 recommend the latter syntax, since it is consistent with other
982 syntactic features of the language, but for instructions such as
983 \c{LODSB}, which has no operands and yet can require a segment
984 override, there is no clean syntactic way to proceed apart from
987 An instruction is not required to use a prefix: prefixes such as
988 \c{CS}, \c{A32}, \c{LOCK} or \c{REPE} can appear on a line by
989 themselves, and NASM will just generate the prefix bytes.
991 In addition to actual machine instructions, NASM also supports a
992 number of pseudo-instructions, described in \k{pseudop}.
994 Instruction \i{operands} may take a number of forms: they can be
995 registers, described simply by the register name (e.g. \c{ax},
996 \c{bp}, \c{ebx}, \c{cr0}: NASM does not use the \c{gas}-style
997 syntax in which register names must be prefixed by a \c{%} sign), or
998 they can be \i{effective addresses} (see \k{effaddr}), constants
999 (\k{const}) or expressions (\k{expr}).
1001 For \i{floating-point} instructions, NASM accepts a wide range of
1002 syntaxes: you can use two-operand forms like MASM supports, or you
1003 can use NASM's native single-operand forms in most cases. Details of
1004 all forms of each supported instruction are given in
1005 \k{iref}. For example, you can code:
1007 \c fadd st1 ; this sets st0 := st0 + st1
1008 \c fadd st0,st1 ; so does this
1010 \c fadd st1,st0 ; this sets st1 := st1 + st0
1011 \c fadd to st1 ; so does this
1013 Almost any floating-point instruction that references memory must
1014 use one of the prefixes \i\c{DWORD}, \i\c{QWORD} or \i\c{TWORD} to
1015 indicate what size of \i{memory operand} it refers to.
1018 \H{pseudop} \i{Pseudo-Instructions}
1020 Pseudo-instructions are things which, though not real x86 machine
1021 instructions, are used in the instruction field anyway because
1022 that's the most convenient place to put them. The current
1023 pseudo-instructions are \i\c{DB}, \i\c{DW}, \i\c{DD}, \i\c{DQ} and
1024 \i\c{DT}, their \i{uninitialised} counterparts \i\c{RESB},
1025 \i\c{RESW}, \i\c{RESD}, \i\c{RESQ} and \i\c{REST}, the \i\c{INCBIN}
1026 command, the \i\c{EQU} command, and the \i\c{TIMES} prefix.
1029 \S{db} \c{DB} and friends: Declaring Initialised Data
1031 \i\c{DB}, \i\c{DW}, \i\c{DD}, \i\c{DQ} and \i\c{DT} are used, much
1032 as in MASM, to declare initialised data in the output file. They can
1033 be invoked in a wide range of ways:
1034 \I{floating-point}\I{character constant}\I{string constant}
1036 \c db 0x55 ; just the byte 0x55
1037 \c db 0x55,0x56,0x57 ; three bytes in succession
1038 \c db 'a',0x55 ; character constants are OK
1039 \c db 'hello',13,10,'$' ; so are string constants
1040 \c dw 0x1234 ; 0x34 0x12
1041 \c dw 'a' ; 0x41 0x00 (it's just a number)
1042 \c dw 'ab' ; 0x41 0x42 (character constant)
1043 \c dw 'abc' ; 0x41 0x42 0x43 0x00 (string)
1044 \c dd 0x12345678 ; 0x78 0x56 0x34 0x12
1045 \c dd 1.234567e20 ; floating-point constant
1046 \c dq 1.234567e20 ; double-precision float
1047 \c dt 1.234567e20 ; extended-precision float
1049 \c{DQ} and \c{DT} do not accept \i{numeric constants} or string
1050 constants as operands.
1053 \S{resb} \c{RESB} and friends: Declaring \i{Uninitialised} Data
1055 \i\c{RESB}, \i\c{RESW}, \i\c{RESD}, \i\c{RESQ} and \i\c{REST} are
1056 designed to be used in the BSS section of a module: they declare
1057 \e{uninitialised} storage space. Each takes a single operand, which
1058 is the number of bytes, words, doublewords or whatever to reserve.
1059 As stated in \k{qsother}, NASM does not support the MASM/TASM syntax
1060 of reserving uninitialised space by writing \I\c{?}\c{DW ?} or
1061 similar things: this is what it does instead. The operand to a
1062 \c{RESB}-type pseudo-instruction is a \i\e{critical expression}: see
1067 \c buffer: resb 64 ; reserve 64 bytes
1068 \c wordvar: resw 1 ; reserve a word
1069 \c realarray resq 10 ; array of ten reals
1072 \S{incbin} \i\c{INCBIN}: Including External \i{Binary Files}
1074 \c{INCBIN} is borrowed from the old Amiga assembler \i{DevPac}: it
1075 includes a binary file verbatim into the output file. This can be
1076 handy for (for example) including \i{graphics} and \i{sound} data
1077 directly into a game executable file. It can be called in one of
1080 \c incbin "file.dat" ; include the whole file
1081 \c incbin "file.dat",1024 ; skip the first 1024 bytes
1082 \c incbin "file.dat",1024,512 ; skip the first 1024, and
1083 \c ; actually include at most 512
1086 \S{equ} \i\c{EQU}: Defining Constants
1088 \c{EQU} defines a symbol to a given constant value: when \c{EQU} is
1089 used, the source line must contain a label. The action of \c{EQU} is
1090 to define the given label name to the value of its (only) operand.
1091 This definition is absolute, and cannot change later. So, for
1094 \c message db 'hello, world'
1095 \c msglen equ $-message
1097 defines \c{msglen} to be the constant 12. \c{msglen} may not then be
1098 redefined later. This is not a \i{preprocessor} definition either:
1099 the value of \c{msglen} is evaluated \e{once}, using the value of
1100 \c{$} (see \k{expr} for an explanation of \c{$}) at the point of
1101 definition, rather than being evaluated wherever it is referenced
1102 and using the value of \c{$} at the point of reference. Note that
1103 the operand to an \c{EQU} is also a \i{critical expression}
1107 \S{times} \i\c{TIMES}: \i{Repeating} Instructions or Data
1109 The \c{TIMES} prefix causes the instruction to be assembled multiple
1110 times. This is partly present as NASM's equivalent of the \i\c{DUP}
1111 syntax supported by \i{MASM}-compatible assemblers, in that you can
1114 \c zerobuf: times 64 db 0
1116 or similar things; but \c{TIMES} is more versatile than that. The
1117 argument to \c{TIMES} is not just a numeric constant, but a numeric
1118 \e{expression}, so you can do things like
1120 \c buffer: db 'hello, world'
1121 \c times 64-$+buffer db ' '
1123 which will store exactly enough spaces to make the total length of
1124 \c{buffer} up to 64. Finally, \c{TIMES} can be applied to ordinary
1125 instructions, so you can code trivial \i{unrolled loops} in it:
1129 Note that there is no effective difference between \c{times 100 resb
1130 1} and \c{resb 100}, except that the latter will be assembled about
1131 100 times faster due to the internal structure of the assembler.
1133 The operand to \c{TIMES}, like that of \c{EQU} and those of \c{RESB}
1134 and friends, is a critical expression (\k{crit}).
1136 Note also that \c{TIMES} can't be applied to \i{macros}: the reason
1137 for this is that \c{TIMES} is processed after the macro phase, which
1138 allows the argument to \c{TIMES} to contain expressions such as
1139 \c{64-$+buffer} as above. To repeat more than one line of code, or a
1140 complex macro, use the preprocessor \i\c{%rep} directive.
1143 \H{effaddr} Effective Addresses
1145 An \i{effective address} is any operand to an instruction which
1146 \I{memory reference}references memory. Effective addresses, in NASM,
1147 have a very simple syntax: they consist of an expression evaluating
1148 to the desired address, enclosed in \i{square brackets}. For
1153 \c mov ax,[wordvar+1]
1154 \c mov ax,[es:wordvar+bx]
1156 Anything not conforming to this simple system is not a valid memory
1157 reference in NASM, for example \c{es:wordvar[bx]}.
1159 More complicated effective addresses, such as those involving more
1160 than one register, work in exactly the same way:
1162 \c mov eax,[ebx*2+ecx+offset]
1165 NASM is capable of doing \i{algebra} on these effective addresses,
1166 so that things which don't necessarily \e{look} legal are perfectly
1169 \c mov eax,[ebx*5] ; assembles as [ebx*4+ebx]
1170 \c mov eax,[label1*2-label2] ; ie [label1+(label1-label2)]
1172 Some forms of effective address have more than one assembled form;
1173 in most such cases NASM will generate the smallest form it can. For
1174 example, there are distinct assembled forms for the 32-bit effective
1175 addresses \c{[eax*2+0]} and \c{[eax+eax]}, and NASM will generally
1176 generate the latter on the grounds that the former requires four
1177 bytes to store a zero offset.
1179 NASM has a hinting mechanism which will cause \c{[eax+ebx]} and
1180 \c{[ebx+eax]} to generate different opcodes; this is occasionally
1181 useful because \c{[esi+ebp]} and \c{[ebp+esi]} have different
1182 default segment registers.
1184 However, you can force NASM to generate an effective address in a
1185 particular form by the use of the keywords \c{BYTE}, \c{WORD},
1186 \c{DWORD} and \c{NOSPLIT}. If you need \c{[eax+3]} to be assembled
1187 using a double-word offset field instead of the one byte NASM will
1188 normally generate, you can code \c{[dword eax+3]}. Similarly, you
1189 can force NASM to use a byte offset for a small value which it
1190 hasn't seen on the first pass (see \k{crit} for an example of such a
1191 code fragment) by using \c{[byte eax+offset]}. As special cases,
1192 \c{[byte eax]} will code \c{[eax+0]} with a byte offset of zero, and
1193 \c{[dword eax]} will code it with a double-word offset of zero. The
1194 normal form, \c{[eax]}, will be coded with no offset field.
1196 Similarly, NASM will split \c{[eax*2]} into \c{[eax+eax]} because
1197 that allows the offset field to be absent and space to be saved; in
1198 fact, it will also split \c{[eax*2+offset]} into
1199 \c{[eax+eax+offset]}. You can combat this behaviour by the use of
1200 the \c{NOSPLIT} keyword: \c{[nosplit eax*2]} will force
1201 \c{[eax*2+0]} to be generated literally.
1204 \H{const} \i{Constants}
1206 NASM understands four different types of constant: numeric,
1207 character, string and floating-point.
1210 \S{numconst} \i{Numeric Constants}
1212 A numeric constant is simply a number. NASM allows you to specify
1213 numbers in a variety of number bases, in a variety of ways: you can
1214 suffix \c{H}, \c{Q} and \c{B} for \i{hex}, \i{octal} and \i{binary},
1215 or you can prefix \c{0x} for hex in the style of C, or you can
1216 prefix \c{$} for hex in the style of Borland Pascal. Note, though,
1217 that the \I{$prefix}\c{$} prefix does double duty as a prefix on
1218 identifiers (see \k{syntax}), so a hex number prefixed with a \c{$}
1219 sign must have a digit after the \c{$} rather than a letter.
1223 \c mov ax,100 ; decimal
1224 \c mov ax,0a2h ; hex
1225 \c mov ax,$0a2 ; hex again: the 0 is required
1226 \c mov ax,0xa2 ; hex yet again
1227 \c mov ax,777q ; octal
1228 \c mov ax,10010011b ; binary
1231 \S{chrconst} \i{Character Constants}
1233 A character constant consists of up to four characters enclosed in
1234 either single or double quotes. The type of quote makes no
1235 difference to NASM, except of course that surrounding the constant
1236 with single quotes allows double quotes to appear within it and vice
1239 A character constant with more than one character will be arranged
1240 with \i{little-endian} order in mind: if you code
1244 then the constant generated is not \c{0x61626364}, but
1245 \c{0x64636261}, so that if you were then to store the value into
1246 memory, it would read \c{abcd} rather than \c{dcba}. This is also
1247 the sense of character constants understood by the Pentium's
1248 \i\c{CPUID} instruction (see \k{insCPUID}).
1251 \S{strconst} String Constants
1253 String constants are only acceptable to some pseudo-instructions,
1254 namely the \I\c{DW}\I\c{DD}\I\c{DQ}\I\c{DT}\i\c{DB} family and
1257 A string constant looks like a character constant, only longer. It
1258 is treated as a concatenation of maximum-size character constants
1259 for the conditions. So the following are equivalent:
1261 \c db 'hello' ; string constant
1262 \c db 'h','e','l','l','o' ; equivalent character constants
1264 And the following are also equivalent:
1266 \c dd 'ninechars' ; doubleword string constant
1267 \c dd 'nine','char','s' ; becomes three doublewords
1268 \c db 'ninechars',0,0,0 ; and really looks like this
1270 Note that when used as an operand to \c{db}, a constant like
1271 \c{'ab'} is treated as a string constant despite being short enough
1272 to be a character constant, because otherwise \c{db 'ab'} would have
1273 the same effect as \c{db 'a'}, which would be silly. Similarly,
1274 three-character or four-character constants are treated as strings
1275 when they are operands to \c{dw}.
1278 \S{fltconst} \I{floating-point, constants}Floating-Point Constants
1280 \i{Floating-point} constants are acceptable only as arguments to
1281 \i\c{DD}, \i\c{DQ} and \i\c{DT}. They are expressed in the
1282 traditional form: digits, then a period, then optionally more
1283 digits, then optionally an \c{E} followed by an exponent. The period
1284 is mandatory, so that NASM can distinguish between \c{dd 1}, which
1285 declares an integer constant, and \c{dd 1.0} which declares a
1286 floating-point constant.
1290 \c dd 1.2 ; an easy one
1291 \c dq 1.e10 ; 10,000,000,000
1292 \c dq 1.e+10 ; synonymous with 1.e10
1293 \c dq 1.e-10 ; 0.000 000 000 1
1294 \c dt 3.141592653589793238462 ; pi
1296 NASM cannot do compile-time arithmetic on floating-point constants.
1297 This is because NASM is designed to be portable - although it always
1298 generates code to run on x86 processors, the assembler itself can
1299 run on any system with an ANSI C compiler. Therefore, the assembler
1300 cannot guarantee the presence of a floating-point unit capable of
1301 handling the \i{Intel number formats}, and so for NASM to be able to
1302 do floating arithmetic it would have to include its own complete set
1303 of floating-point routines, which would significantly increase the
1304 size of the assembler for very little benefit.
1307 \H{expr} \i{Expressions}
1309 Expressions in NASM are similar in syntax to those in C.
1311 NASM does not guarantee the size of the integers used to evaluate
1312 expressions at compile time: since NASM can compile and run on
1313 64-bit systems quite happily, don't assume that expressions are
1314 evaluated in 32-bit registers and so try to make deliberate use of
1315 \i{integer overflow}. It might not always work. The only thing NASM
1316 will guarantee is what's guaranteed by ANSI C: you always have \e{at
1317 least} 32 bits to work in.
1319 NASM supports two special tokens in expressions, allowing
1320 calculations to involve the current assembly position: the
1321 \I{$ here}\c{$} and \i\c{$$} tokens. \c{$} evaluates to the assembly
1322 position at the beginning of the line containing the expression; so
1323 you can code an \i{infinite loop} using \c{JMP $}. \c{$$} evaluates
1324 to the beginning of the current section; so you can tell how far
1325 into the section you are by using \c{($-$$)}.
1327 The arithmetic \i{operators} provided by NASM are listed here, in
1328 increasing order of \i{precedence}.
1331 \S{expor} \i\c{|}: \i{Bitwise OR} Operator
1333 The \c{|} operator gives a bitwise OR, exactly as performed by the
1334 \c{OR} machine instruction. Bitwise OR is the lowest-priority
1335 arithmetic operator supported by NASM.
1338 \S{expxor} \i\c{^}: \i{Bitwise XOR} Operator
1340 \c{^} provides the bitwise XOR operation.
1343 \S{expand} \i\c{&}: \i{Bitwise AND} Operator
1345 \c{&} provides the bitwise AND operation.
1348 \S{expshift} \i\c{<<} and \i\c{>>}: \i{Bit Shift} Operators
1350 \c{<<} gives a bit-shift to the left, just as it does in C. So \c{5<<3}
1351 evaluates to 5 times 8, or 40. \c{>>} gives a bit-shift to the
1352 right; in NASM, such a shift is \e{always} unsigned, so that
1353 the bits shifted in from the left-hand end are filled with zero
1354 rather than a sign-extension of the previous highest bit.
1357 \S{expplmi} \I{+ opaddition}\c{+} and \I{- opsubtraction}\c{-}:
1358 \i{Addition} and \i{Subtraction} Operators
1360 The \c{+} and \c{-} operators do perfectly ordinary addition and
1364 \S{expmul} \i\c{*}, \i\c{/}, \i\c{//}, \i\c{%} and \i\c{%%}:
1365 \i{Multiplication} and \i{Division}
1367 \c{*} is the multiplication operator. \c{/} and \c{//} are both
1368 division operators: \c{/} is \i{unsigned division} and \c{//} is
1369 \i{signed division}. Similarly, \c{%} and \c{%%} provide \I{unsigned
1370 modulo}\I{modulo operators}unsigned and
1371 \i{signed modulo} operators respectively.
1373 NASM, like ANSI C, provides no guarantees about the sensible
1374 operation of the signed modulo operator.
1376 Since the \c{%} character is used extensively by the macro
1377 \i{preprocessor}, you should ensure that both the signed and unsigned
1378 modulo operators are followed by white space wherever they appear.
1381 \S{expmul} \i{Unary Operators}: \I{+ opunary}\c{+}, \I{- opunary}\c{-},
1382 \i\c{~} and \i\c{SEG}
1384 The highest-priority operators in NASM's expression grammar are
1385 those which only apply to one argument. \c{-} negates its operand,
1386 \c{+} does nothing (it's provided for symmetry with \c{-}), \c{~}
1387 computes the \i{one's complement} of its operand, and \c{SEG}
1388 provides the \i{segment address} of its operand (explained in more
1389 detail in \k{segwrt}).
1392 \H{segwrt} \i\c{SEG} and \i\c{WRT}
1394 When writing large 16-bit programs, which must be split into
1395 multiple \i{segments}, it is often necessary to be able to refer to
1396 the \I{segment address}segment part of the address of a symbol. NASM
1397 supports the \c{SEG} operator to perform this function.
1399 The \c{SEG} operator returns the \i\e{preferred} segment base of a
1400 symbol, defined as the segment base relative to which the offset of
1401 the symbol makes sense. So the code
1403 \c mov ax,seg symbol
1407 will load \c{ES:BX} with a valid pointer to the symbol \c{symbol}.
1409 Things can be more complex than this: since 16-bit segments and
1410 \i{groups} may \I{overlapping segments}overlap, you might occasionally
1411 want to refer to some symbol using a different segment base from the
1412 preferred one. NASM lets you do this, by the use of the \c{WRT}
1413 (With Reference To) keyword. So you can do things like
1415 \c mov ax,weird_seg ; weird_seg is a segment base
1417 \c mov bx,symbol wrt weird_seg
1419 to load \c{ES:BX} with a different, but functionally equivalent,
1420 pointer to the symbol \c{symbol}.
1422 NASM supports far (inter-segment) calls and jumps by means of the
1423 syntax \c{call segment:offset}, where \c{segment} and \c{offset}
1424 both represent immediate values. So to call a far procedure, you
1425 could code either of
1427 \c call (seg procedure):procedure
1428 \c call weird_seg:(procedure wrt weird_seg)
1430 (The parentheses are included for clarity, to show the intended
1431 parsing of the above instructions. They are not necessary in
1434 NASM supports the syntax \I\c{CALL FAR}\c{call far procedure} as a
1435 synonym for the first of the above usages. \c{JMP} works identically
1436 to \c{CALL} in these examples.
1438 To declare a \i{far pointer} to a data item in a data segment, you
1441 \c dw symbol, seg symbol
1443 NASM supports no convenient synonym for this, though you can always
1444 invent one using the macro processor.
1447 \H{crit} \i{Critical Expressions}
1449 A limitation of NASM is that it is a \i{two-pass assembler}; unlike
1450 TASM and others, it will always do exactly two \I{passes}\i{assembly
1451 passes}. Therefore it is unable to cope with source files that are
1452 complex enough to require three or more passes.
1454 The first pass is used to determine the size of all the assembled
1455 code and data, so that the second pass, when generating all the
1456 code, knows all the symbol addresses the code refers to. So one
1457 thing NASM can't handle is code whose size depends on the value of a
1458 symbol declared after the code in question. For example,
1460 \c times (label-$) db 0
1461 \c label: db 'Where am I?'
1463 The argument to \i\c{TIMES} in this case could equally legally
1464 evaluate to anything at all; NASM will reject this example because
1465 it cannot tell the size of the \c{TIMES} line when it first sees it.
1466 It will just as firmly reject the slightly \I{paradox}paradoxical
1469 \c times (label-$+1) db 0
1470 \c label: db 'NOW where am I?'
1472 in which \e{any} value for the \c{TIMES} argument is by definition
1475 NASM rejects these examples by means of a concept called a
1476 \e{critical expression}, which is defined to be an expression whose
1477 value is required to be computable in the first pass, and which must
1478 therefore depend only on symbols defined before it. The argument to
1479 the \c{TIMES} prefix is a critical expression; for the same reason,
1480 the arguments to the \i\c{RESB} family of pseudo-instructions are
1481 also critical expressions.
1483 Critical expressions can crop up in other contexts as well: consider
1487 \c symbol1 equ symbol2
1490 On the first pass, NASM cannot determine the value of \c{symbol1},
1491 because \c{symbol1} is defined to be equal to \c{symbol2} which NASM
1492 hasn't seen yet. On the second pass, therefore, when it encounters
1493 the line \c{mov ax,symbol1}, it is unable to generate the code for
1494 it because it still doesn't know the value of \c{symbol1}. On the
1495 next line, it would see the \i\c{EQU} again and be able to determine
1496 the value of \c{symbol1}, but by then it would be too late.
1498 NASM avoids this problem by defining the right-hand side of an
1499 \c{EQU} statement to be a critical expression, so the definition of
1500 \c{symbol1} would be rejected in the first pass.
1502 There is a related issue involving \i{forward references}: consider
1505 \c mov eax,[ebx+offset]
1508 NASM, on pass one, must calculate the size of the instruction \c{mov
1509 eax,[ebx+offset]} without knowing the value of \c{offset}. It has no
1510 way of knowing that \c{offset} is small enough to fit into a
1511 one-byte offset field and that it could therefore get away with
1512 generating a shorter form of the \i{effective-address} encoding; for
1513 all it knows, in pass one, \c{offset} could be a symbol in the code
1514 segment, and it might need the full four-byte form. So it is forced
1515 to compute the size of the instruction to accommodate a four-byte
1516 address part. In pass two, having made this decision, it is now
1517 forced to honour it and keep the instruction large, so the code
1518 generated in this case is not as small as it could have been. This
1519 problem can be solved by defining \c{offset} before using it, or by
1520 forcing byte size in the effective address by coding \c{[byte
1524 \H{locallab} \i{Local Labels}
1526 NASM gives special treatment to symbols beginning with a \i{period}.
1527 A label beginning with a single period is treated as a \e{local}
1528 label, which means that it is associated with the previous non-local
1529 label. So, for example:
1531 \c label1 ; some code
1532 \c .loop ; some more code
1535 \c label2 ; some code
1536 \c .loop ; some more code
1540 In the above code fragment, each \c{JNE} instruction jumps to the
1541 line immediately before it, because the two definitions of \c{.loop}
1542 are kept separate by virtue of each being associated with the
1543 previous non-local label.
1545 This form of local label handling is borrowed from the old Amiga
1546 assembler \i{DevPac}; however, NASM goes one step further, in
1547 allowing access to local labels from other parts of the code. This
1548 is achieved by means of \e{defining} a local label in terms of the
1549 previous non-local label: the first definition of \c{.loop} above is
1550 really defining a symbol called \c{label1.loop}, and the second
1551 defines a symbol called \c{label2.loop}. So, if you really needed
1554 \c label3 ; some more code
1558 Sometimes it is useful - in a macro, for instance - to be able to
1559 define a label which can be referenced from anywhere but which
1560 doesn't interfere with the normal local-label mechanism. Such a
1561 label can't be non-local because it would interfere with subsequent
1562 definitions of, and references to, local labels; and it can't be
1563 local because the macro that defined it wouldn't know the label's
1564 full name. NASM therefore introduces a third type of label, which is
1565 probably only useful in macro definitions: if a label begins with
1566 the \I{label prefix}special prefix \i\c{..@}, then it does nothing
1567 to the local label mechanism. So you could code
1569 \c label1: ; a non-local label
1570 \c .local: ; this is really label1.local
1571 \c ..@foo: ; this is a special symbol
1572 \c label2: ; another non-local label
1573 \c .local: ; this is really label2.local
1574 \c jmp ..@foo ; this will jump three lines up
1576 NASM has the capacity to define other special symbols beginning with
1577 a double period: for example, \c{..start} is used to specify the
1578 entry point in the \c{obj} output format (see \k{dotdotstart}).
1581 \C{preproc} The NASM \i{Preprocessor}
1583 NASM contains a powerful \i{macro processor}, which supports
1584 conditional assembly, multi-level file inclusion, two forms of macro
1585 (single-line and multi-line), and a `context stack' mechanism for
1586 extra macro power. Preprocessor directives all begin with a \c{%}
1589 The preprocessor collapses all lines which end with a backslash (\\)
1590 character into a single line. Thus:
1592 \c %define THIS_VERY_LONG_MACRO_NAME_IS_DEFINED_TO \\
1595 will work as expected.
1597 \H{slmacro} \i{Single-Line Macros}
1599 \S{define} The Normal Way: \I\c{%idefine}\i\c{%define}
1601 Single-line macros are defined using the \c{%define} preprocessor
1602 directive. The definitions work in a similar way to C; so you can do
1605 \c %define ctrl 0x1F &
1606 \c %define param(a,b) ((a)+(a)*(b))
1607 \c mov byte [param(2,ebx)], ctrl 'D'
1609 which will expand to
1611 \c mov byte [(2)+(2)*(ebx)], 0x1F & 'D'
1613 When the expansion of a single-line macro contains tokens which
1614 invoke another macro, the expansion is performed at invocation time,
1615 not at definition time. Thus the code
1617 \c %define a(x) 1+b(x)
1621 will evaluate in the expected way to \c{mov ax,1+2*8}, even though
1622 the macro \c{b} wasn't defined at the time of definition of \c{a}.
1624 Macros defined with \c{%define} are \i{case sensitive}: after
1625 \c{%define foo bar}, only \c{foo} will expand to \c{bar}: \c{Foo} or
1626 \c{FOO} will not. By using \c{%idefine} instead of \c{%define} (the
1627 `i' stands for `insensitive') you can define all the case variants
1628 of a macro at once, so that \c{%idefine foo bar} would cause
1629 \c{foo}, \c{Foo}, \c{FOO}, \c{fOO} and so on all to expand to
1632 There is a mechanism which detects when a macro call has occurred as
1633 a result of a previous expansion of the same macro, to guard against
1634 \i{circular references} and infinite loops. If this happens, the
1635 preprocessor will only expand the first occurrence of the macro.
1638 \c %define a(x) 1+a(x)
1641 the macro \c{a(3)} will expand once, becoming \c{1+a(3)}, and will
1642 then expand no further. This behaviour can be useful: see \k{32c}
1643 for an example of its use.
1645 You can \I{overloading, single-line macros}overload single-line
1646 macros: if you write
1648 \c %define foo(x) 1+x
1649 \c %define foo(x,y) 1+x*y
1651 the preprocessor will be able to handle both types of macro call,
1652 by counting the parameters you pass; so \c{foo(3)} will become
1653 \c{1+3} whereas \c{foo(ebx,2)} will become \c{1+ebx*2}. However, if
1658 then no other definition of \c{foo} will be accepted: a macro with
1659 no parameters prohibits the definition of the same name as a macro
1660 \e{with} parameters, and vice versa.
1662 This doesn't prevent single-line macros being \e{redefined}: you can
1663 perfectly well define a macro with
1667 and then re-define it later in the same source file with
1671 Then everywhere the macro \c{foo} is invoked, it will be expanded
1672 according to the most recent definition. This is particularly useful
1673 when defining single-line macros with \c{%assign} (see \k{assign}).
1675 You can \i{pre-define} single-line macros using the `-d' option on
1676 the NASM command line: see \k{opt-d}.
1679 \S{undef} Undefining macros: \i\c{%undef}
1681 Single-line macros can be removed with the \c{%undef} command. For
1682 example, the following sequence:
1688 will expand to the instruction \c{mov eax, foo}, since after
1689 \c{%undef} the macro \c{foo} is no longer defined.
1691 Macros that would otherwise be pre-defined can be undefined on the
1692 command-line using the `-u' option on the NASM command line: see
1696 \S{assign} \i{Preprocessor Variables}: \i\c{%assign}
1698 An alternative way to define single-line macros is by means of the
1699 \c{%assign} command (and its \i{case sensitive}case-insensitive
1700 counterpart \i\c{%iassign}, which differs from \c{%assign} in
1701 exactly the same way that \c{%idefine} differs from \c{%define}).
1703 \c{%assign} is used to define single-line macros which take no
1704 parameters and have a numeric value. This value can be specified in
1705 the form of an expression, and it will be evaluated once, when the
1706 \c{%assign} directive is processed.
1708 Like \c{%define}, macros defined using \c{%assign} can be re-defined
1709 later, so you can do things like
1713 to increment the numeric value of a macro.
1715 \c{%assign} is useful for controlling the termination of \c{%rep}
1716 preprocessor loops: see \k{rep} for an example of this. Another
1717 use for \c{%assign} is given in \k{16c} and \k{32c}.
1719 The expression passed to \c{%assign} is a \i{critical expression}
1720 (see \k{crit}), and must also evaluate to a pure number (rather than
1721 a relocatable reference such as a code or data address, or anything
1722 involving a register).
1725 \H{strlen} \i{String Handling in Macros}: \i\c{%strlen} and \i\c{%substr}
1727 It's often useful to be able to handle strings in macros. NASM
1728 supports two simple string handling macro operators from which
1729 more complex operations can be constructed.
1732 \S{strlen} \i{String Length}: \i\c{%strlen}
1734 The \c{%strlen} macro is like \c{%assign} macro in that it creates
1735 (or redefines) a numeric value to a macro. The difference is that
1736 with \c{%strlen}, the numeric value is the length of a string. An
1737 example of the use of this would be:
1739 \c %strlen charcnt 'my string'
1741 In this example, \c{charcnt} would receive the value 8, just as
1742 if an \c{%assign} had been used. In this example, \c{'my string'}
1743 was a literal string but it could also have been a single-line
1744 macro that expands to a string, as in the following example:
1746 \c %define sometext 'my string'
1747 \c %strlen charcnt sometext
1749 As in the first case, this would result in \c{charcnt} being
1750 assigned the value of 8.
1753 \S{substr} \i{Sub-strings}: \i\c{%substr}
1755 Individual letters in strings can be extracted using \c{%substr}.
1756 An example of its use is probably more useful than the description:
1758 \c %substr mychar 'xyz' 1 ; equivalent to %define mychar 'x'
1759 \c %substr mychar 'xyz' 2 ; equivalent to %define mychar 'y'
1760 \c %substr mychar 'xyz' 3 ; equivalent to %define mychar 'z'
1762 In this example, mychar gets the value of 'y'. As with \c{%strlen}
1763 (see \k{strlen}), the first parameter is the single-line macro to
1764 be created and the second is the string. The third parameter
1765 specifies which character is to be selected. Note that the first
1766 index is 1, not 0 and the last index is equal to the value that
1767 \c{%strlen} would assign given the same string. Index values out
1768 of range result in an empty string.
1771 \H{mlmacro} \i{Multi-Line Macros}: \I\c{%imacro}\i\c{%macro}
1773 Multi-line macros are much more like the type of macro seen in MASM
1774 and TASM: a multi-line macro definition in NASM looks something like
1777 \c %macro prologue 1
1783 This defines a C-like function prologue as a macro: so you would
1784 invoke the macro with a call such as
1786 \c myfunc: prologue 12
1788 which would expand to the three lines of code
1794 The number \c{1} after the macro name in the \c{%macro} line defines
1795 the number of parameters the macro \c{prologue} expects to receive.
1796 The use of \c{%1} inside the macro definition refers to the first
1797 parameter to the macro call. With a macro taking more than one
1798 parameter, subsequent parameters would be referred to as \c{%2},
1801 Multi-line macros, like single-line macros, are \i{case-sensitive},
1802 unless you define them using the alternative directive \c{%imacro}.
1804 If you need to pass a comma as \e{part} of a parameter to a
1805 multi-line macro, you can do that by enclosing the entire parameter
1806 in \I{braces, around macro parameters}braces. So you could code
1812 \c silly 'a', letter_a ; letter_a: db 'a'
1813 \c silly 'ab', string_ab ; string_ab: db 'ab'
1814 \c silly {13,10}, crlf ; crlf: db 13,10
1817 \S{mlmacover} \i{Overloading Multi-Line Macros}
1819 As with single-line macros, multi-line macros can be overloaded by
1820 defining the same macro name several times with different numbers of
1821 parameters. This time, no exception is made for macros with no
1822 parameters at all. So you could define
1824 \c %macro prologue 0
1829 to define an alternative form of the function prologue which
1830 allocates no local stack space.
1832 Sometimes, however, you might want to `overload' a machine
1833 instruction; for example, you might want to define
1840 so that you could code
1842 \c push ebx ; this line is not a macro call
1843 \c push eax,ecx ; but this one is
1845 Ordinarily, NASM will give a warning for the first of the above two
1846 lines, since \c{push} is now defined to be a macro, and is being
1847 invoked with a number of parameters for which no definition has been
1848 given. The correct code will still be generated, but the assembler
1849 will give a warning. This warning can be disabled by the use of the
1850 \c{-w-macro-params} command-line option (see \k{opt-w}).
1853 \S{maclocal} \i{Macro-Local Labels}
1855 NASM allows you to define labels within a multi-line macro
1856 definition in such a way as to make them local to the macro call: so
1857 calling the same macro multiple times will use a different label
1858 each time. You do this by prefixing \i\c{%%} to the label name. So
1859 you can invent an instruction which executes a \c{RET} if the \c{Z}
1860 flag is set by doing this:
1868 You can call this macro as many times as you want, and every time
1869 you call it NASM will make up a different `real' name to substitute
1870 for the label \c{%%skip}. The names NASM invents are of the form
1871 \c{..@2345.skip}, where the number 2345 changes with every macro
1872 call. The \i\c{..@} prefix prevents macro-local labels from
1873 interfering with the local label mechanism, as described in
1874 \k{locallab}. You should avoid defining your own labels in this form
1875 (the \c{..@} prefix, then a number, then another period) in case
1876 they interfere with macro-local labels.
1879 \S{mlmacgre} \i{Greedy Macro Parameters}
1881 Occasionally it is useful to define a macro which lumps its entire
1882 command line into one parameter definition, possibly after
1883 extracting one or two smaller parameters from the front. An example
1884 might be a macro to write a text string to a file in MS-DOS, where
1885 you might want to be able to write
1887 \c writefile [filehandle],"hello, world",13,10
1889 NASM allows you to define the last parameter of a macro to be
1890 \e{greedy}, meaning that if you invoke the macro with more
1891 parameters than it expects, all the spare parameters get lumped into
1892 the last defined one along with the separating commas. So if you
1895 \c %macro writefile 2+
1898 \c %%endstr: mov dx,%%str
1899 \c mov cx,%%endstr-%%str
1905 then the example call to \c{writefile} above will work as expected:
1906 the text before the first comma, \c{[filehandle]}, is used as the
1907 first macro parameter and expanded when \c{%1} is referred to, and
1908 all the subsequent text is lumped into \c{%2} and placed after the
1911 The greedy nature of the macro is indicated to NASM by the use of
1912 the \I{+ modifier}\c{+} sign after the parameter count on the
1915 If you define a greedy macro, you are effectively telling NASM how
1916 it should expand the macro given \e{any} number of parameters from
1917 the actual number specified up to infinity; in this case, for
1918 example, NASM now knows what to do when it sees a call to
1919 \c{writefile} with 2, 3, 4 or more parameters. NASM will take this
1920 into account when overloading macros, and will not allow you to
1921 define another form of \c{writefile} taking 4 parameters (for
1924 Of course, the above macro could have been implemented as a
1925 non-greedy macro, in which case the call to it would have had to
1928 \c writefile [filehandle], {"hello, world",13,10}
1930 NASM provides both mechanisms for putting \i{commas in macro
1931 parameters}, and you choose which one you prefer for each macro
1934 See \k{sectmac} for a better way to write the above macro.
1937 \S{mlmacdef} \i{Default Macro Parameters}
1939 NASM also allows you to define a multi-line macro with a \e{range}
1940 of allowable parameter counts. If you do this, you can specify
1941 defaults for \i{omitted parameters}. So, for example:
1943 \c %macro die 0-1 "Painful program death has occurred."
1949 This macro (which makes use of the \c{writefile} macro defined in
1950 \k{mlmacgre}) can be called with an explicit error message, which it
1951 will display on the error output stream before exiting, or it can be
1952 called with no parameters, in which case it will use the default
1953 error message supplied in the macro definition.
1955 In general, you supply a minimum and maximum number of parameters
1956 for a macro of this type; the minimum number of parameters are then
1957 required in the macro call, and then you provide defaults for the
1958 optional ones. So if a macro definition began with the line
1960 \c %macro foobar 1-3 eax,[ebx+2]
1962 then it could be called with between one and three parameters, and
1963 \c{%1} would always be taken from the macro call. \c{%2}, if not
1964 specified by the macro call, would default to \c{eax}, and \c{%3} if
1965 not specified would default to \c{[ebx+2]}.
1967 You may omit parameter defaults from the macro definition, in which
1968 case the parameter default is taken to be blank. This can be useful
1969 for macros which can take a variable number of parameters, since the
1970 \i\c{%0} token (see \k{percent0}) allows you to determine how many
1971 parameters were really passed to the macro call.
1973 This defaulting mechanism can be combined with the greedy-parameter
1974 mechanism; so the \c{die} macro above could be made more powerful,
1975 and more useful, by changing the first line of the definition to
1977 \c %macro die 0-1+ "Painful program death has occurred.",13,10
1979 The maximum parameter count can be infinite, denoted by \c{*}. In
1980 this case, of course, it is impossible to provide a \e{full} set of
1981 default parameters. Examples of this usage are shown in \k{rotate}.
1984 \S{percent0} \i\c{%0}: \I{counting macro parameters}Macro Parameter Counter
1986 For a macro which can take a variable number of parameters, the
1987 parameter reference \c{%0} will return a numeric constant giving the
1988 number of parameters passed to the macro. This can be used as an
1989 argument to \c{%rep} (see \k{rep}) in order to iterate through all
1990 the parameters of a macro. Examples are given in \k{rotate}.
1993 \S{rotate} \i\c{%rotate}: \i{Rotating Macro Parameters}
1995 Unix shell programmers will be familiar with the \I{shift
1996 command}\c{shift} shell command, which allows the arguments passed
1997 to a shell script (referenced as \c{$1}, \c{$2} and so on) to be
1998 moved left by one place, so that the argument previously referenced
1999 as \c{$2} becomes available as \c{$1}, and the argument previously
2000 referenced as \c{$1} is no longer available at all.
2002 NASM provides a similar mechanism, in the form of \c{%rotate}. As
2003 its name suggests, it differs from the Unix \c{shift} in that no
2004 parameters are lost: parameters rotated off the left end of the
2005 argument list reappear on the right, and vice versa.
2007 \c{%rotate} is invoked with a single numeric argument (which may be
2008 an expression). The macro parameters are rotated to the left by that
2009 many places. If the argument to \c{%rotate} is negative, the macro
2010 parameters are rotated to the right.
2012 \I{iterating over macro parameters}So a pair of macros to save and
2013 restore a set of registers might work as follows:
2015 \c %macro multipush 1-*
2022 This macro invokes the \c{PUSH} instruction on each of its arguments
2023 in turn, from left to right. It begins by pushing its first
2024 argument, \c{%1}, then invokes \c{%rotate} to move all the arguments
2025 one place to the left, so that the original second argument is now
2026 available as \c{%1}. Repeating this procedure as many times as there
2027 were arguments (achieved by supplying \c{%0} as the argument to
2028 \c{%rep}) causes each argument in turn to be pushed.
2030 Note also the use of \c{*} as the maximum parameter count,
2031 indicating that there is no upper limit on the number of parameters
2032 you may supply to the \i\c{multipush} macro.
2034 It would be convenient, when using this macro, to have a \c{POP}
2035 equivalent, which \e{didn't} require the arguments to be given in
2036 reverse order. Ideally, you would write the \c{multipush} macro
2037 call, then cut-and-paste the line to where the pop needed to be
2038 done, and change the name of the called macro to \c{multipop}, and
2039 the macro would take care of popping the registers in the opposite
2040 order from the one in which they were pushed.
2042 This can be done by the following definition:
2044 \c %macro multipop 1-*
2051 This macro begins by rotating its arguments one place to the
2052 \e{right}, so that the original \e{last} argument appears as \c{%1}.
2053 This is then popped, and the arguments are rotated right again, so
2054 the second-to-last argument becomes \c{%1}. Thus the arguments are
2055 iterated through in reverse order.
2058 \S{concat} \i{Concatenating Macro Parameters}
2060 NASM can concatenate macro parameters on to other text surrounding
2061 them. This allows you to declare a family of symbols, for example,
2062 in a macro definition. If, for example, you wanted to generate a
2063 table of key codes along with offsets into the table, you could code
2066 \c %macro keytab_entry 2
2067 \c keypos%1 equ $-keytab
2071 \c keytab_entry F1,128+1
2072 \c keytab_entry F2,128+2
2073 \c keytab_entry Return,13
2075 which would expand to
2078 \c keyposF1 equ $-keytab
2080 \c keyposF2 equ $-keytab
2082 \c keyposReturn equ $-keytab
2085 You can just as easily concatenate text on to the other end of a
2086 macro parameter, by writing \c{%1foo}.
2088 If you need to append a \e{digit} to a macro parameter, for example
2089 defining labels \c{foo1} and \c{foo2} when passed the parameter
2090 \c{foo}, you can't code \c{%11} because that would be taken as the
2091 eleventh macro parameter. Instead, you must code
2092 \I{braces, after % sign}\c{%\{1\}1}, which will separate the first
2093 \c{1} (giving the number of the macro parameter) from the second
2094 (literal text to be concatenated to the parameter).
2096 This concatenation can also be applied to other preprocessor in-line
2097 objects, such as macro-local labels (\k{maclocal}) and context-local
2098 labels (\k{ctxlocal}). In all cases, ambiguities in syntax can be
2099 resolved by enclosing everything after the \c{%} sign and before the
2100 literal text in braces: so \c{%\{%foo\}bar} concatenates the text
2101 \c{bar} to the end of the real name of the macro-local label
2102 \c{%%foo}. (This is unnecessary, since the form NASM uses for the
2103 real names of macro-local labels means that the two usages
2104 \c{%\{%foo\}bar} and \c{%%foobar} would both expand to the same
2105 thing anyway; nevertheless, the capability is there.)
2108 \S{mlmaccc} \i{Condition Codes as Macro Parameters}
2110 NASM can give special treatment to a macro parameter which contains
2111 a condition code. For a start, you can refer to the macro parameter
2112 \c{%1} by means of the alternative syntax \i\c{%+1}, which informs
2113 NASM that this macro parameter is supposed to contain a condition
2114 code, and will cause the preprocessor to report an error message if
2115 the macro is called with a parameter which is \e{not} a valid
2118 Far more usefully, though, you can refer to the macro parameter by
2119 means of \i\c{%-1}, which NASM will expand as the \e{inverse}
2120 condition code. So the \c{retz} macro defined in \k{maclocal} can be
2121 replaced by a general \i{conditional-return macro} like this:
2129 This macro can now be invoked using calls like \c{retc ne}, which
2130 will cause the conditional-jump instruction in the macro expansion
2131 to come out as \c{JE}, or \c{retc po} which will make the jump a
2134 The \c{%+1} macro-parameter reference is quite happy to interpret
2135 the arguments \c{CXZ} and \c{ECXZ} as valid condition codes;
2136 however, \c{%-1} will report an error if passed either of these,
2137 because no inverse condition code exists.
2140 \S{nolist} \i{Disabling Listing Expansion}\I\c{.nolist}
2142 When NASM is generating a listing file from your program, it will
2143 generally expand multi-line macros by means of writing the macro
2144 call and then listing each line of the expansion. This allows you to
2145 see which instructions in the macro expansion are generating what
2146 code; however, for some macros this clutters the listing up
2149 NASM therefore provides the \c{.nolist} qualifier, which you can
2150 include in a macro definition to inhibit the expansion of the macro
2151 in the listing file. The \c{.nolist} qualifier comes directly after
2152 the number of parameters, like this:
2154 \c %macro foo 1.nolist
2158 \c %macro bar 1-5+.nolist a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h
2160 \H{condasm} \i{Conditional Assembly}\I\c{%if}
2162 Similarly to the C preprocessor, NASM allows sections of a source
2163 file to be assembled only if certain conditions are met. The general
2164 syntax of this feature looks like this:
2167 \c ; some code which only appears if <condition> is met
2168 \c %elif<condition2>
2169 \c ; only appears if <condition> is not met but <condition2> is
2171 \c ; this appears if neither <condition> nor <condition2> was met
2174 The \i\c{%else} clause is optional, as is the \i\c{%elif} clause.
2175 You can have more than one \c{%elif} clause as well.
2178 \S{ifdef} \i\c{%ifdef}: \i{Testing Single-Line Macro Existence}
2180 Beginning a conditional-assembly block with the line \c{%ifdef
2181 MACRO} will assemble the subsequent code if, and only if, a
2182 single-line macro called \c{MACRO} is defined. If not, then the
2183 \c{%elif} and \c{%else} blocks (if any) will be processed instead.
2185 For example, when debugging a program, you might want to write code
2188 \c ; perform some function
2190 \c writefile 2,"Function performed successfully",13,10
2192 \c ; go and do something else
2194 Then you could use the command-line option \c{-dDEBUG} to create a
2195 version of the program which produced debugging messages, and remove
2196 the option to generate the final release version of the program.
2198 You can test for a macro \e{not} being defined by using
2199 \i\c{%ifndef} instead of \c{%ifdef}. You can also test for macro
2200 definitions in \c{%elif} blocks by using \i\c{%elifdef} and
2204 \S{ifctx} \i\c{%ifctx}: \i{Testing the Context Stack}
2206 The conditional-assembly construct \c{%ifctx ctxname} will cause the
2207 subsequent code to be assembled if and only if the top context on
2208 the preprocessor's context stack has the name \c{ctxname}. As with
2209 \c{%ifdef}, the inverse and \c{%elif} forms \i\c{%ifnctx},
2210 \i\c{%elifctx} and \i\c{%elifnctx} are also supported.
2212 For more details of the context stack, see \k{ctxstack}. For a
2213 sample use of \c{%ifctx}, see \k{blockif}.
2216 \S{if} \i\c{%if}: \i{Testing Arbitrary Numeric Expressions}
2218 The conditional-assembly construct \c{%if expr} will cause the
2219 subsequent code to be assembled if and only if the value of the
2220 numeric expression \c{expr} is non-zero. An example of the use of
2221 this feature is in deciding when to break out of a \c{%rep}
2222 preprocessor loop: see \k{rep} for a detailed example.
2224 The expression given to \c{%if}, and its counterpart \i\c{%elif}, is
2225 a critical expression (see \k{crit}).
2227 \c{%if} extends the normal NASM expression syntax, by providing a
2228 set of \i{relational operators} which are not normally available in
2229 expressions. The operators \i\c{=}, \i\c{<}, \i\c{>}, \i\c{<=},
2230 \i\c{>=} and \i\c{<>} test equality, less-than, greater-than,
2231 less-or-equal, greater-or-equal and not-equal respectively. The
2232 C-like forms \i\c{==} and \i\c{!=} are supported as alternative
2233 forms of \c{=} and \c{<>}. In addition, low-priority logical
2234 operators \i\c{&&}, \i\c{^^} and \i\c{||} are provided, supplying
2235 \i{logical AND}, \i{logical XOR} and \i{logical OR}. These work like
2236 the C logical operators (although C has no logical XOR), in that
2237 they always return either 0 or 1, and treat any non-zero input as 1
2238 (so that \c{^^}, for example, returns 1 if exactly one of its inputs
2239 is zero, and 0 otherwise). The relational operators also return 1
2240 for true and 0 for false.
2243 \S{ifidn} \i\c{%ifidn} and \i\c{%ifidni}: \i{Testing Exact Text
2246 The construct \c{%ifidn text1,text2} will cause the subsequent code
2247 to be assembled if and only if \c{text1} and \c{text2}, after
2248 expanding single-line macros, are identical pieces of text.
2249 Differences in white space are not counted.
2251 \c{%ifidni} is similar to \c{%ifidn}, but is \i{case-insensitive}.
2253 For example, the following macro pushes a register or number on the
2254 stack, and allows you to treat \c{IP} as a real register:
2256 \c %macro pushparam 1
2265 Like most other \c{%if} constructs, \c{%ifidn} has a counterpart
2266 \i\c{%elifidn}, and negative forms \i\c{%ifnidn} and \i\c{%elifnidn}.
2267 Similarly, \c{%ifidni} has counterparts \i\c{%elifidni},
2268 \i\c{%ifnidni} and \i\c{%elifnidni}.
2271 \S{iftyp} \i\c{%ifid}, \i\c{%ifnum}, \i\c{%ifstr}: \i{Testing Token
2274 Some macros will want to perform different tasks depending on
2275 whether they are passed a number, a string, or an identifier. For
2276 example, a string output macro might want to be able to cope with
2277 being passed either a string constant or a pointer to an existing
2280 The conditional assembly construct \c{%ifid}, taking one parameter
2281 (which may be blank), assembles the subsequent code if and only if
2282 the first token in the parameter exists and is an identifier.
2283 \c{%ifnum} works similarly, but tests for the token being a numeric
2284 constant; \c{%ifstr} tests for it being a string.
2286 For example, the \c{writefile} macro defined in \k{mlmacgre} can be
2287 extended to take advantage of \c{%ifstr} in the following fashion:
2289 \c %macro writefile 2-3+
2297 \c %%endstr: mov dx,%%str
2298 \c mov cx,%%endstr-%%str
2308 Then the \c{writefile} macro can cope with being called in either of
2309 the following two ways:
2311 \c writefile [file], strpointer, length
2312 \c writefile [file], "hello", 13, 10
2314 In the first, \c{strpointer} is used as the address of an
2315 already-declared string, and \c{length} is used as its length; in
2316 the second, a string is given to the macro, which therefore declares
2317 it itself and works out the address and length for itself.
2319 Note the use of \c{%if} inside the \c{%ifstr}: this is to detect
2320 whether the macro was passed two arguments (so the string would be a
2321 single string constant, and \c{db %2} would be adequate) or more (in
2322 which case, all but the first two would be lumped together into
2323 \c{%3}, and \c{db %2,%3} would be required).
2325 \I\c{%ifnid}\I\c{%elifid}\I\c{%elifnid}\I\c{%ifnnum}\I\c{%elifnum}
2326 \I\c{%elifnnum}\I\c{%ifnstr}\I\c{%elifstr}\I\c{%elifnstr}
2327 The usual \c{%elifXXX}, \c{%ifnXXX} and \c{%elifnXXX} versions exist
2328 for each of \c{%ifid}, \c{%ifnum} and \c{%ifstr}.
2331 \S{pperror} \i\c{%error}: Reporting \i{User-Defined Errors}
2333 The preprocessor directive \c{%error} will cause NASM to report an
2334 error if it occurs in assembled code. So if other users are going to
2335 try to assemble your source files, you can ensure that they define
2336 the right macros by means of code like this:
2338 \c %ifdef SOME_MACRO
2340 \c %elifdef SOME_OTHER_MACRO
2341 \c ; do some different setup
2343 \c %error Neither SOME_MACRO nor SOME_OTHER_MACRO was defined.
2346 Then any user who fails to understand the way your code is supposed
2347 to be assembled will be quickly warned of their mistake, rather than
2348 having to wait until the program crashes on being run and then not
2349 knowing what went wrong.
2352 \H{rep} \i{Preprocessor Loops}\I{repeating code}: \i\c{%rep}
2354 NASM's \c{TIMES} prefix, though useful, cannot be used to invoke a
2355 multi-line macro multiple times, because it is processed by NASM
2356 after macros have already been expanded. Therefore NASM provides
2357 another form of loop, this time at the preprocessor level: \c{%rep}.
2359 The directives \c{%rep} and \i\c{%endrep} (\c{%rep} takes a numeric
2360 argument, which can be an expression; \c{%endrep} takes no
2361 arguments) can be used to enclose a chunk of code, which is then
2362 replicated as many times as specified by the preprocessor:
2366 \c inc word [table+2*i]
2370 This will generate a sequence of 64 \c{INC} instructions,
2371 incrementing every word of memory from \c{[table]} to
2374 For more complex termination conditions, or to break out of a repeat
2375 loop part way along, you can use the \i\c{%exitrep} directive to
2376 terminate the loop, like this:
2390 \c fib_number equ ($-fibonacci)/2
2392 This produces a list of all the Fibonacci numbers that will fit in
2393 16 bits. Note that a maximum repeat count must still be given to
2394 \c{%rep}. This is to prevent the possibility of NASM getting into an
2395 infinite loop in the preprocessor, which (on multitasking or
2396 multi-user systems) would typically cause all the system memory to
2397 be gradually used up and other applications to start crashing.
2400 \H{include} \i{Including Other Files}
2402 Using, once again, a very similar syntax to the C preprocessor,
2403 NASM's preprocessor lets you include other source files into your
2404 code. This is done by the use of the \i\c{%include} directive:
2406 \c %include "macros.mac"
2408 will include the contents of the file \c{macros.mac} into the source
2409 file containing the \c{%include} directive.
2411 Include files are \I{searching for include files}searched for in the
2412 current directory (the directory you're in when you run NASM, as
2413 opposed to the location of the NASM executable or the location of
2414 the source file), plus any directories specified on the NASM command
2415 line using the \c{-i} option.
2417 The standard C idiom for preventing a file being included more than
2418 once is just as applicable in NASM: if the file \c{macros.mac} has
2421 \c %ifndef MACROS_MAC
2422 \c %define MACROS_MAC
2423 \c ; now define some macros
2426 then including the file more than once will not cause errors,
2427 because the second time the file is included nothing will happen
2428 because the macro \c{MACROS_MAC} will already be defined.
2430 You can force a file to be included even if there is no \c{%include}
2431 directive that explicitly includes it, by using the \i\c{-p} option
2432 on the NASM command line (see \k{opt-p}).
2435 \H{ctxstack} The \i{Context Stack}
2437 Having labels that are local to a macro definition is sometimes not
2438 quite powerful enough: sometimes you want to be able to share labels
2439 between several macro calls. An example might be a \c{REPEAT} ...
2440 \c{UNTIL} loop, in which the expansion of the \c{REPEAT} macro
2441 would need to be able to refer to a label which the \c{UNTIL} macro
2442 had defined. However, for such a macro you would also want to be
2443 able to nest these loops.
2445 NASM provides this level of power by means of a \e{context stack}.
2446 The preprocessor maintains a stack of \e{contexts}, each of which is
2447 characterised by a name. You add a new context to the stack using
2448 the \i\c{%push} directive, and remove one using \i\c{%pop}. You can
2449 define labels that are local to a particular context on the stack.
2452 \S{pushpop} \i\c{%push} and \i\c{%pop}: \I{creating
2453 contexts}\I{removing contexts}Creating and Removing Contexts
2455 The \c{%push} directive is used to create a new context and place it
2456 on the top of the context stack. \c{%push} requires one argument,
2457 which is the name of the context. For example:
2461 This pushes a new context called \c{foobar} on the stack. You can
2462 have several contexts on the stack with the same name: they can
2463 still be distinguished.
2465 The directive \c{%pop}, requiring no arguments, removes the top
2466 context from the context stack and destroys it, along with any
2467 labels associated with it.
2470 \S{ctxlocal} \i{Context-Local Labels}
2472 Just as the usage \c{%%foo} defines a label which is local to the
2473 particular macro call in which it is used, the usage \I{%$}\c{%$foo}
2474 is used to define a label which is local to the context on the top
2475 of the context stack. So the \c{REPEAT} and \c{UNTIL} example given
2476 above could be implemented by means of:
2488 and invoked by means of, for example,
2496 which would scan every fourth byte of a string in search of the byte
2499 If you need to define, or access, labels local to the context
2500 \e{below} the top one on the stack, you can use \I{%$$}\c{%$$foo}, or
2501 \c{%$$$foo} for the context below that, and so on.
2504 \S{ctxdefine} \i{Context-Local Single-Line Macros}
2506 NASM also allows you to define single-line macros which are local to
2507 a particular context, in just the same way:
2509 \c %define %$localmac 3
2511 will define the single-line macro \c{%$localmac} to be local to the
2512 top context on the stack. Of course, after a subsequent \c{%push},
2513 it can then still be accessed by the name \c{%$$localmac}.
2516 \S{ctxrepl} \i\c{%repl}: \I{renaming contexts}Renaming a Context
2518 If you need to change the name of the top context on the stack (in
2519 order, for example, to have it respond differently to \c{%ifctx}),
2520 you can execute a \c{%pop} followed by a \c{%push}; but this will
2521 have the side effect of destroying all context-local labels and
2522 macros associated with the context that was just popped.
2524 NASM provides the directive \c{%repl}, which \e{replaces} a context
2525 with a different name, without touching the associated macros and
2526 labels. So you could replace the destructive code
2531 with the non-destructive version \c{%repl newname}.
2534 \S{blockif} Example Use of the \i{Context Stack}: \i{Block IFs}
2536 This example makes use of almost all the context-stack features,
2537 including the conditional-assembly construct \i\c{%ifctx}, to
2538 implement a block IF statement as a set of macros.
2551 \c %error "expected `if' before `else'"
2563 \c %error "expected `if' or `else' before `endif'"
2567 This code is more robust than the \c{REPEAT} and \c{UNTIL} macros
2568 given in \k{ctxlocal}, because it uses conditional assembly to check
2569 that the macros are issued in the right order (for example, not
2570 calling \c{endif} before \c{if}) and issues a \c{%error} if they're
2573 In addition, the \c{endif} macro has to be able to cope with the two
2574 distinct cases of either directly following an \c{if}, or following
2575 an \c{else}. It achieves this, again, by using conditional assembly
2576 to do different things depending on whether the context on top of
2577 the stack is \c{if} or \c{else}.
2579 The \c{else} macro has to preserve the context on the stack, in
2580 order to have the \c{%$ifnot} referred to by the \c{if} macro be the
2581 same as the one defined by the \c{endif} macro, but has to change
2582 the context's name so that \c{endif} will know there was an
2583 intervening \c{else}. It does this by the use of \c{%repl}.
2585 A sample usage of these macros might look like:
2602 The block-\c{IF} macros handle nesting quite happily, by means of
2603 pushing another context, describing the inner \c{if}, on top of the
2604 one describing the outer \c{if}; thus \c{else} and \c{endif} always
2605 refer to the last unmatched \c{if} or \c{else}.
2608 \H{stdmac} \i{Standard Macros}
2610 NASM defines a set of standard macros, which are already defined
2611 when it starts to process any source file. If you really need a
2612 program to be assembled with no pre-defined macros, you can use the
2613 \i\c{%clear} directive to empty the preprocessor of everything.
2615 Most \i{user-level assembler directives} (see \k{directive}) are
2616 implemented as macros which invoke primitive directives; these are
2617 described in \k{directive}. The rest of the standard macro set is
2621 \S{stdmacver} \i\c{__NASM_MAJOR__} and \i\c{__NASM_MINOR__}: \i{NASM
2624 The single-line macros \c{__NASM_MAJOR__} and \c{__NASM_MINOR__}
2625 expand to the major and minor parts of the \i{version number of
2626 NASM} being used. So, under NASM 0.96 for example,
2627 \c{__NASM_MAJOR__} would be defined to be 0 and \c{__NASM_MINOR__}
2628 would be defined as 96.
2631 \S{fileline} \i\c{__FILE__} and \i\c{__LINE__}: File Name and Line Number
2633 Like the C preprocessor, NASM allows the user to find out the file
2634 name and line number containing the current instruction. The macro
2635 \c{__FILE__} expands to a string constant giving the name of the
2636 current input file (which may change through the course of assembly
2637 if \c{%include} directives are used), and \c{__LINE__} expands to a
2638 numeric constant giving the current line number in the input file.
2640 These macros could be used, for example, to communicate debugging
2641 information to a macro, since invoking \c{__LINE__} inside a macro
2642 definition (either single-line or multi-line) will return the line
2643 number of the macro \e{call}, rather than \e{definition}. So to
2644 determine where in a piece of code a crash is occurring, for
2645 example, one could write a routine \c{stillhere}, which is passed a
2646 line number in \c{EAX} and outputs something like `line 155: still
2647 here'. You could then write a macro
2649 \c %macro notdeadyet 0
2656 and then pepper your code with calls to \c{notdeadyet} until you
2657 find the crash point.
2660 \S{struc} \i\c{STRUC} and \i\c{ENDSTRUC}: \i{Declaring Structure} Data Types
2662 The core of NASM contains no intrinsic means of defining data
2663 structures; instead, the preprocessor is sufficiently powerful that
2664 data structures can be implemented as a set of macros. The macros
2665 \c{STRUC} and \c{ENDSTRUC} are used to define a structure data type.
2667 \c{STRUC} takes one parameter, which is the name of the data type.
2668 This name is defined as a symbol with the value zero, and also has
2669 the suffix \c{_size} appended to it and is then defined as an
2670 \c{EQU} giving the size of the structure. Once \c{STRUC} has been
2671 issued, you are defining the structure, and should define fields
2672 using the \c{RESB} family of pseudo-instructions, and then invoke
2673 \c{ENDSTRUC} to finish the definition.
2675 For example, to define a structure called \c{mytype} containing a
2676 longword, a word, a byte and a string of bytes, you might code
2685 The above code defines six symbols: \c{mt_long} as 0 (the offset
2686 from the beginning of a \c{mytype} structure to the longword field),
2687 \c{mt_word} as 4, \c{mt_byte} as 6, \c{mt_str} as 7, \c{mytype_size}
2688 as 39, and \c{mytype} itself as zero.
2690 The reason why the structure type name is defined at zero is a side
2691 effect of allowing structures to work with the local label
2692 mechanism: if your structure members tend to have the same names in
2693 more than one structure, you can define the above structure like this:
2702 This defines the offsets to the structure fields as \c{mytype.long},
2703 \c{mytype.word}, \c{mytype.byte} and \c{mytype.str}.
2705 NASM, since it has no \e{intrinsic} structure support, does not
2706 support any form of period notation to refer to the elements of a
2707 structure once you have one (except the above local-label notation),
2708 so code such as \c{mov ax,[mystruc.mt_word]} is not valid.
2709 \c{mt_word} is a constant just like any other constant, so the
2710 correct syntax is \c{mov ax,[mystruc+mt_word]} or \c{mov
2711 ax,[mystruc+mytype.word]}.
2714 \S{istruc} \i\c{ISTRUC}, \i\c{AT} and \i\c{IEND}: Declaring
2715 \i{Instances of Structures}
2717 Having defined a structure type, the next thing you typically want
2718 to do is to declare instances of that structure in your data
2719 segment. NASM provides an easy way to do this in the \c{ISTRUC}
2720 mechanism. To declare a structure of type \c{mytype} in a program,
2721 you code something like this:
2723 \c mystruc: istruc mytype
2724 \c at mt_long, dd 123456
2725 \c at mt_word, dw 1024
2726 \c at mt_byte, db 'x'
2727 \c at mt_str, db 'hello, world', 13, 10, 0
2730 The function of the \c{AT} macro is to make use of the \c{TIMES}
2731 prefix to advance the assembly position to the correct point for the
2732 specified structure field, and then to declare the specified data.
2733 Therefore the structure fields must be declared in the same order as
2734 they were specified in the structure definition.
2736 If the data to go in a structure field requires more than one source
2737 line to specify, the remaining source lines can easily come after
2738 the \c{AT} line. For example:
2740 \c at mt_str, db 123,134,145,156,167,178,189
2743 Depending on personal taste, you can also omit the code part of the
2744 \c{AT} line completely, and start the structure field on the next
2748 \c db 'hello, world'
2752 \S{align} \i\c{ALIGN} and \i\c{ALIGNB}: Data Alignment
2754 The \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB} macros provides a convenient way to
2755 align code or data on a word, longword, paragraph or other boundary.
2756 (Some assemblers call this directive \i\c{EVEN}.) The syntax of the
2757 \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB} macros is
2759 \c align 4 ; align on 4-byte boundary
2760 \c align 16 ; align on 16-byte boundary
2761 \c align 8,db 0 ; pad with 0s rather than NOPs
2762 \c align 4,resb 1 ; align to 4 in the BSS
2763 \c alignb 4 ; equivalent to previous line
2765 Both macros require their first argument to be a power of two; they
2766 both compute the number of additional bytes required to bring the
2767 length of the current section up to a multiple of that power of two,
2768 and then apply the \c{TIMES} prefix to their second argument to
2769 perform the alignment.
2771 If the second argument is not specified, the default for \c{ALIGN}
2772 is \c{NOP}, and the default for \c{ALIGNB} is \c{RESB 1}. So if the
2773 second argument is specified, the two macros are equivalent.
2774 Normally, you can just use \c{ALIGN} in code and data sections and
2775 \c{ALIGNB} in BSS sections, and never need the second argument
2776 except for special purposes.
2778 \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB}, being simple macros, perform no error
2779 checking: they cannot warn you if their first argument fails to be a
2780 power of two, or if their second argument generates more than one
2781 byte of code. In each of these cases they will silently do the wrong
2784 \c{ALIGNB} (or \c{ALIGN} with a second argument of \c{RESB 1}) can
2785 be used within structure definitions:
2796 This will ensure that the structure members are sensibly aligned
2797 relative to the base of the structure.
2799 A final caveat: \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB} work relative to the
2800 beginning of the \e{section}, not the beginning of the address space
2801 in the final executable. Aligning to a 16-byte boundary when the
2802 section you're in is only guaranteed to be aligned to a 4-byte
2803 boundary, for example, is a waste of effort. Again, NASM does not
2804 check that the section's alignment characteristics are sensible for
2805 the use of \c{ALIGN} or \c{ALIGNB}.
2808 \H{tasmcompat} \i{TASM Compatible Preprocessor Directives}
2810 The following preprocessor directives may only be used when TASM
2811 compatibility is turned on using the \c{-t} command line switch
2812 (This switch is described in \k{opt-t}.)
2814 \b\c{%arg} (see \k{arg})
2816 \b\c{%stacksize} (see \k{stacksize})
2818 \b\c{%local} (see \k{local})
2821 \S{arg} \i\c{%arg} Directive
2823 The \c{%arg} directive is used to simplify the handling of
2824 parameters passed on the stack. Stack based parameter passing
2825 is used by many high level languages, including C, C++ and Pascal.
2827 While NASM comes with macros which attempt to duplicate this
2828 functionality (see \k{16cmacro}), the syntax is not particularly
2829 convenient to use and is not TASM compatible. Here is an example
2830 which shows the use of \c{%arg} without any external macros:
2833 \c %push mycontext ; save the current context
2834 \c %stacksize large ; tell NASM to use bp
2835 \c %arg i:word, j_ptr:word
2840 \c %pop ; restore original context
2842 This is similar to the procedure defined in \k{16cmacro} and adds
2843 the value in i to the value pointed to by j_ptr and returns the
2844 sum in the ax register. See \k{pushpop} for an explanation of
2845 \c{push} and \c{pop} and the use of context stacks.
2848 \S{stacksize} \i\c{%stacksize} Directive
2850 The \c{%stacksize} directive is used in conjunction with the
2851 \c{%arg} (see \k{arg}) and the \c{%local} (see \k{local}) directives.
2852 It tells NASM the default size to use for subsequent \c{%arg} and
2853 \c{%local} directives. The \c{%stacksize} directive takes one
2854 required argument which is one of \c{flat}, \c{large} or \c{small}.
2858 This form causes NASM to use stack-based parameter addressing
2859 relative to \c{ebp} and it assumes that a near form of call was used
2860 to get to this label (i.e. that \c{eip} is on the stack).
2864 This form uses \c{bp} to do stack-based parameter addressing and
2865 assumes that a far form of call was used to get to this address
2866 (i.e. that \c{ip} and \c{cs} are on the stack).
2870 This form also uses \c{bp} to address stack parameters, but it is
2871 different from \c{large} because it also assumes that the old value
2872 of bp is pushed onto the stack (i.e. it expects an \c{ENTER}
2873 instruction). In other words, it expects that \c{bp}, \c{ip} and
2874 \c{cs} are on the top of the stack, underneath any local space which
2875 may have been allocated by \c{ENTER}. This form is probably most
2876 useful when used in combination with the \c{%local} directive
2880 \S{local} \i\c{%local} Directive
2882 The \c{%local} directive is used to simplify the use of local
2883 temporary stack variables allocated in a stack frame. Automatic
2884 local variables in C are an example of this kind of variable. The
2885 \c{%local} directive is most useful when used with the \c{%stacksize}
2886 (see \k{stacksize} and is also compatible with the \c{%arg} directive
2887 (see \k{arg}). It allows simplified reference to variables on the
2888 stack which have been allocated typically by using the \c{ENTER}
2889 instruction (see \k{insENTER} for a description of that instruction).
2890 An example of its use is the following:
2893 \c %push mycontext ; save the current context
2894 \c %stacksize small ; tell NASM to use bp
2895 \c %assign %$localsize 0 ; see text for explanation
2896 \c %local old_ax:word, old_dx:word
2897 \c enter %$localsize,0 ; see text for explanation
2898 \c mov [old_ax],ax ; swap ax & bx
2899 \c mov [old_dx],dx ; and swap dx & cx
2904 \c leave ; restore old bp
2906 \c %pop ; restore original context
2908 The \c{%$localsize} variable is used internally by the
2909 \c{%local} directive and \e{must} be defined within the
2910 current context before the \c{%local} directive may be used.
2911 Failure to do so will result in one expression syntax error for
2912 each \c{%local} variable declared. It then may be used in
2913 the construction of an appropriately sized ENTER instruction
2914 as shown in the example.
2917 \C{directive} \i{Assembler Directives}
2919 NASM, though it attempts to avoid the bureaucracy of assemblers like
2920 MASM and TASM, is nevertheless forced to support a \e{few}
2921 directives. These are described in this chapter.
2923 NASM's directives come in two types: \i{user-level
2924 directives}\e{user-level} directives and \i{primitive
2925 directives}\e{primitive} directives. Typically, each directive has a
2926 user-level form and a primitive form. In almost all cases, we
2927 recommend that users use the user-level forms of the directives,
2928 which are implemented as macros which call the primitive forms.
2930 Primitive directives are enclosed in square brackets; user-level
2933 In addition to the universal directives described in this chapter,
2934 each object file format can optionally supply extra directives in
2935 order to control particular features of that file format. These
2936 \i{format-specific directives}\e{format-specific} directives are
2937 documented along with the formats that implement them, in \k{outfmt}.
2940 \H{bits} \i\c{BITS}: Specifying Target \i{Processor Mode}
2942 The \c{BITS} directive specifies whether NASM should generate code
2943 \I{16-bit mode, versus 32-bit mode}designed to run on a processor
2944 operating in 16-bit mode, or code designed to run on a processor
2945 operating in 32-bit mode. The syntax is \c{BITS 16} or \c{BITS 32}.
2947 In most cases, you should not need to use \c{BITS} explicitly. The
2948 \c{aout}, \c{coff}, \c{elf} and \c{win32} object formats, which are
2949 designed for use in 32-bit operating systems, all cause NASM to
2950 select 32-bit mode by default. The \c{obj} object format allows you
2951 to specify each segment you define as either \c{USE16} or \c{USE32},
2952 and NASM will set its operating mode accordingly, so the use of the
2953 \c{BITS} directive is once again unnecessary.
2955 The most likely reason for using the \c{BITS} directive is to write
2956 32-bit code in a flat binary file; this is because the \c{bin}
2957 output format defaults to 16-bit mode in anticipation of it being
2958 used most frequently to write DOS \c{.COM} programs, DOS \c{.SYS}
2959 device drivers and boot loader software.
2961 You do \e{not} need to specify \c{BITS 32} merely in order to use
2962 32-bit instructions in a 16-bit DOS program; if you do, the
2963 assembler will generate incorrect code because it will be writing
2964 code targeted at a 32-bit platform, to be run on a 16-bit one.
2966 When NASM is in \c{BITS 16} state, instructions which use 32-bit
2967 data are prefixed with an 0x66 byte, and those referring to 32-bit
2968 addresses have an 0x67 prefix. In \c{BITS 32} state, the reverse is
2969 true: 32-bit instructions require no prefixes, whereas instructions
2970 using 16-bit data need an 0x66 and those working in 16-bit addresses
2973 The \c{BITS} directive has an exactly equivalent primitive form,
2974 \c{[BITS 16]} and \c{[BITS 32]}. The user-level form is a macro
2975 which has no function other than to call the primitive form.
2978 \S{USE16 & USE32} \i\c{USE16} & \i\c{USE32}: Aliases for BITS
2980 The `\c{USE16}' and `\c{USE32}' directives can be used in place of
2981 `\c{BIT 16}' and `\c{BITS 32}', for compatibility with other assemblers.
2984 \H{section} \i\c{SECTION} or \i\c{SEGMENT}: Changing and \i{Defining
2987 \I{changing sections}\I{switching between sections}The \c{SECTION}
2988 directive (\c{SEGMENT} is an exactly equivalent synonym) changes
2989 which section of the output file the code you write will be
2990 assembled into. In some object file formats, the number and names of
2991 sections are fixed; in others, the user may make up as many as they
2992 wish. Hence \c{SECTION} may sometimes give an error message, or may
2993 define a new section, if you try to switch to a section that does
2996 The Unix object formats, and the \c{bin} object format, all support
2997 the \i{standardised section names} \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss}
2998 for the code, data and uninitialised-data sections. The \c{obj}
2999 format, by contrast, does not recognise these section names as being
3000 special, and indeed will strip off the leading period of any section
3004 \S{sectmac} The \i\c{__SECT__} Macro
3006 The \c{SECTION} directive is unusual in that its user-level form
3007 functions differently from its primitive form. The primitive form,
3008 \c{[SECTION xyz]}, simply switches the current target section to the
3009 one given. The user-level form, \c{SECTION xyz}, however, first
3010 defines the single-line macro \c{__SECT__} to be the primitive
3011 \c{[SECTION]} directive which it is about to issue, and then issues
3012 it. So the user-level directive
3016 expands to the two lines
3018 \c %define __SECT__ [SECTION .text]
3021 Users may find it useful to make use of this in their own macros.
3022 For example, the \c{writefile} macro defined in \k{mlmacgre} can be
3023 usefully rewritten in the following more sophisticated form:
3025 \c %macro writefile 2+
3031 \c mov cx,%%endstr-%%str
3037 This form of the macro, once passed a string to output, first
3038 switches temporarily to the data section of the file, using the
3039 primitive form of the \c{SECTION} directive so as not to modify
3040 \c{__SECT__}. It then declares its string in the data section, and
3041 then invokes \c{__SECT__} to switch back to \e{whichever} section
3042 the user was previously working in. It thus avoids the need, in the
3043 previous version of the macro, to include a \c{JMP} instruction to
3044 jump over the data, and also does not fail if, in a complicated
3045 \c{OBJ} format module, the user could potentially be assembling the
3046 code in any of several separate code sections.
3049 \H{absolute} \i\c{ABSOLUTE}: Defining Absolute Labels
3051 The \c{ABSOLUTE} directive can be thought of as an alternative form
3052 of \c{SECTION}: it causes the subsequent code to be directed at no
3053 physical section, but at the hypothetical section starting at the
3054 given absolute address. The only instructions you can use in this
3055 mode are the \c{RESB} family.
3057 \c{ABSOLUTE} is used as follows:
3064 This example describes a section of the PC BIOS data area, at
3065 segment address 0x40: the above code defines \c{kbuf_chr} to be
3066 0x1A, \c{kbuf_free} to be 0x1C, and \c{kbuf} to be 0x1E.
3068 The user-level form of \c{ABSOLUTE}, like that of \c{SECTION},
3069 redefines the \i\c{__SECT__} macro when it is invoked.
3071 \i\c{STRUC} and \i\c{ENDSTRUC} are defined as macros which use
3072 \c{ABSOLUTE} (and also \c{__SECT__}).
3074 \c{ABSOLUTE} doesn't have to take an absolute constant as an
3075 argument: it can take an expression (actually, a \i{critical
3076 expression}: see \k{crit}) and it can be a value in a segment. For
3077 example, a TSR can re-use its setup code as run-time BSS like this:
3079 \c org 100h ; it's a .COM program
3080 \c jmp setup ; setup code comes last
3081 \c ; the resident part of the TSR goes here
3082 \c setup: ; now write the code that installs the TSR here
3084 \c runtimevar1 resw 1
3085 \c runtimevar2 resd 20
3088 This defines some variables `on top of' the setup code, so that
3089 after the setup has finished running, the space it took up can be
3090 re-used as data storage for the running TSR. The symbol `tsr_end'
3091 can be used to calculate the total size of the part of the TSR that
3092 needs to be made resident.
3095 \H{extern} \i\c{EXTERN}: \i{Importing Symbols} from Other Modules
3097 \c{EXTERN} is similar to the MASM directive \c{EXTRN} and the C
3098 keyword \c{extern}: it is used to declare a symbol which is not
3099 defined anywhere in the module being assembled, but is assumed to be
3100 defined in some other module and needs to be referred to by this
3101 one. Not every object-file format can support external variables:
3102 the \c{bin} format cannot.
3104 The \c{EXTERN} directive takes as many arguments as you like. Each
3105 argument is the name of a symbol:
3108 \c extern _sscanf,_fscanf
3110 Some object-file formats provide extra features to the \c{EXTERN}
3111 directive. In all cases, the extra features are used by suffixing a
3112 colon to the symbol name followed by object-format specific text.
3113 For example, the \c{obj} format allows you to declare that the
3114 default segment base of an external should be the group \c{dgroup}
3115 by means of the directive
3117 \c extern _variable:wrt dgroup
3119 The primitive form of \c{EXTERN} differs from the user-level form
3120 only in that it can take only one argument at a time: the support
3121 for multiple arguments is implemented at the preprocessor level.
3123 You can declare the same variable as \c{EXTERN} more than once: NASM
3124 will quietly ignore the second and later redeclarations. You can't
3125 declare a variable as \c{EXTERN} as well as something else, though.
3128 \H{global} \i\c{GLOBAL}: \i{Exporting Symbols} to Other Modules
3130 \c{GLOBAL} is the other end of \c{EXTERN}: if one module declares a
3131 symbol as \c{EXTERN} and refers to it, then in order to prevent
3132 linker errors, some other module must actually \e{define} the
3133 symbol and declare it as \c{GLOBAL}. Some assemblers use the name
3134 \i\c{PUBLIC} for this purpose.
3136 The \c{GLOBAL} directive applying to a symbol must appear \e{before}
3137 the definition of the symbol.
3139 \c{GLOBAL} uses the same syntax as \c{EXTERN}, except that it must
3140 refer to symbols which \e{are} defined in the same module as the
3141 \c{GLOBAL} directive. For example:
3144 \c _main: ; some code
3146 \c{GLOBAL}, like \c{EXTERN}, allows object formats to define private
3147 extensions by means of a colon. The \c{elf} object format, for
3148 example, lets you specify whether global data items are functions or
3151 \c global hashlookup:function, hashtable:data
3153 Like \c{EXTERN}, the primitive form of \c{GLOBAL} differs from the
3154 user-level form only in that it can take only one argument at a
3158 \H{common} \i\c{COMMON}: Defining Common Data Areas
3160 The \c{COMMON} directive is used to declare \i\e{common variables}.
3161 A common variable is much like a global variable declared in the
3162 uninitialised data section, so that
3166 is similar in function to
3172 The difference is that if more than one module defines the same
3173 common variable, then at link time those variables will be
3174 \e{merged}, and references to \c{intvar} in all modules will point
3175 at the same piece of memory.
3177 Like \c{GLOBAL} and \c{EXTERN}, \c{COMMON} supports object-format
3178 specific extensions. For example, the \c{obj} format allows common
3179 variables to be NEAR or FAR, and the \c{elf} format allows you to
3180 specify the alignment requirements of a common variable:
3182 \c common commvar 4:near ; works in OBJ
3183 \c common intarray 100:4 ; works in ELF: 4 byte aligned
3185 Once again, like \c{EXTERN} and \c{GLOBAL}, the primitive form of
3186 \c{COMMON} differs from the user-level form only in that it can take
3187 only one argument at a time.
3190 \H{CPU} \i\c{CPU XXX}: Defining CPU Dependencies
3192 The \i\c{CPU} directive restricts assembly to those instructions which
3193 are available on the specified CPU.
3197 \b\c{CPU 8086} Assemble only 8086 instruction set
3199 \b\c{CPU 186} Assemble instructions up to the 80186 instruction set
3201 \b\c{CPU 286} Assemble instructions up to the 286 instruction set
3203 \b\c{CPU 386} Assemble instructions up to the 386 instruction set
3205 \b\c{CPU 486} 486 instruction set
3207 \b\c{CPU 586} Pentium instruction set
3209 \b\c{CPU PENTIUM} Same as 586
3211 \b\c{CPU 686} Pentium Pro instruction set
3213 \b\c{CPU PPRO} Same as 686
3215 \b\c{CPU P2} Pentium II instruction set
3217 \b\c{CPU P3} Pentium III and Katmai instruction sets
3219 \b\c{CPU KATMAI} Same as P3
3221 \b\c{CPU P4} Pentium 4 (Willamette) instruction set
3223 \b\c{CPU WILLAMETTE} Same as P4
3225 All options are case insensitive. All instructions will
3226 be selected only if they apply to the selected cpu or lower.
3229 \C{outfmt} \i{Output Formats}
3231 NASM is a portable assembler, designed to be able to compile on any
3232 ANSI C-supporting platform and produce output to run on a variety of
3233 Intel x86 operating systems. For this reason, it has a large number
3234 of available output formats, selected using the \i\c{-f} option on
3235 the NASM \i{command line}. Each of these formats, along with its
3236 extensions to the base NASM syntax, is detailed in this chapter.
3238 As stated in \k{opt-o}, NASM chooses a \i{default name} for your
3239 output file based on the input file name and the chosen output
3240 format. This will be generated by removing the \i{extension}
3241 (\c{.asm}, \c{.s}, or whatever you like to use) from the input file
3242 name, and substituting an extension defined by the output format.
3243 The extensions are given with each format below.
3246 \H{binfmt} \i\c{bin}: \i{Flat-Form Binary}\I{pure binary} Output
3248 The \c{bin} format does not produce object files: it generates
3249 nothing in the output file except the code you wrote. Such `pure
3250 binary' files are used by \i{MS-DOS}: \i\c{.COM} executables and
3251 \i\c{.SYS} device drivers are pure binary files. Pure binary output
3252 is also useful for \i{operating-system} and \i{boot loader}
3255 \c{bin} supports the three \i{standardised section names} \i\c{.text},
3256 \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss} only. The file NASM outputs will contain the
3257 contents of the \c{.text} section first, followed by the contents of
3258 the \c{.data} section, aligned on a four-byte boundary. The \c{.bss}
3259 section is not stored in the output file at all, but is assumed to
3260 appear directly after the end of the \c{.data} section, again
3261 aligned on a four-byte boundary.
3263 If you specify no explicit \c{SECTION} directive, the code you write
3264 will be directed by default into the \c{.text} section.
3266 Using the \c{bin} format puts NASM by default into 16-bit mode (see
3267 \k{bits}). In order to use \c{bin} to write 32-bit code such as an
3268 OS kernel, you need to explicitly issue the \I\c{BITS}\c{BITS 32}
3271 \c{bin} has no default output file name extension: instead, it
3272 leaves your file name as it is once the original extension has been
3273 removed. Thus, the default is for NASM to assemble \c{binprog.asm}
3274 into a binary file called \c{binprog}.
3277 \S{org} \i\c{ORG}: Binary File \i{Program Origin}
3279 The \c{bin} format provides an additional directive to the list
3280 given in \k{directive}: \c{ORG}. The function of the \c{ORG}
3281 directive is to specify the origin address which NASM will assume
3282 the program begins at when it is loaded into memory.
3284 For example, the following code will generate the longword
3291 Unlike the \c{ORG} directive provided by MASM-compatible assemblers,
3292 which allows you to jump around in the object file and overwrite
3293 code you have already generated, NASM's \c{ORG} does exactly what
3294 the directive says: \e{origin}. Its sole function is to specify one
3295 offset which is added to all internal address references within the
3296 file; it does not permit any of the trickery that MASM's version
3297 does. See \k{proborg} for further comments.
3300 \S{binseg} \c{bin} Extensions to the \c{SECTION}
3301 Directive\I{SECTION, bin extensions to}
3303 The \c{bin} output format extends the \c{SECTION} (or \c{SEGMENT})
3304 directive to allow you to specify the alignment requirements of
3305 segments. This is done by appending the \i\c{ALIGN} qualifier to the
3306 end of the section-definition line. For example,
3308 \c section .data align=16
3310 switches to the section \c{.data} and also specifies that it must be
3311 aligned on a 16-byte boundary.
3313 The parameter to \c{ALIGN} specifies how many low bits of the
3314 section start address must be forced to zero. The alignment value
3315 given may be any power of two.\I{section alignment, in
3316 bin}\I{segment alignment, in bin}\I{alignment, in bin sections}
3319 \H{objfmt} \i\c{obj}: \i{Microsoft OMF}\I{OMF} Object Files
3321 The \c{obj} file format (NASM calls it \c{obj} rather than \c{omf}
3322 for historical reasons) is the one produced by \i{MASM} and
3323 \i{TASM}, which is typically fed to 16-bit DOS linkers to produce
3324 \i\c{.EXE} files. It is also the format used by \i{OS/2}.
3326 \c{obj} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.obj}.
3328 \c{obj} is not exclusively a 16-bit format, though: NASM has full
3329 support for the 32-bit extensions to the format. In particular,
3330 32-bit \c{obj} format files are used by \i{Borland's Win32
3331 compilers}, instead of using Microsoft's newer \i\c{win32} object
3334 The \c{obj} format does not define any special segment names: you
3335 can call your segments anything you like. Typical names for segments
3336 in \c{obj} format files are \c{CODE}, \c{DATA} and \c{BSS}.
3338 If your source file contains code before specifying an explicit
3339 \c{SEGMENT} directive, then NASM will invent its own segment called
3340 \i\c{__NASMDEFSEG} for you.
3342 When you define a segment in an \c{obj} file, NASM defines the
3343 segment name as a symbol as well, so that you can access the segment
3344 address of the segment. So, for example:
3349 \c function: mov ax,data ; get segment address of data
3350 \c mov ds,ax ; and move it into DS
3351 \c inc word [dvar] ; now this reference will work
3354 The \c{obj} format also enables the use of the \i\c{SEG} and
3355 \i\c{WRT} operators, so that you can write code which does things
3359 \c mov ax,seg foo ; get preferred segment of foo
3361 \c mov ax,data ; a different segment
3363 \c mov ax,[ds:foo] ; this accesses `foo'
3364 \c mov [es:foo wrt data],bx ; so does this
3367 \S{objseg} \c{obj} Extensions to the \c{SEGMENT}
3368 Directive\I{SEGMENT, obj extensions to}
3370 The \c{obj} output format extends the \c{SEGMENT} (or \c{SECTION})
3371 directive to allow you to specify various properties of the segment
3372 you are defining. This is done by appending extra qualifiers to the
3373 end of the segment-definition line. For example,
3375 \c segment code private align=16
3377 defines the segment \c{code}, but also declares it to be a private
3378 segment, and requires that the portion of it described in this code
3379 module must be aligned on a 16-byte boundary.
3381 The available qualifiers are:
3383 \b \i\c{PRIVATE}, \i\c{PUBLIC}, \i\c{COMMON} and \i\c{STACK} specify
3384 the combination characteristics of the segment. \c{PRIVATE} segments
3385 do not get combined with any others by the linker; \c{PUBLIC} and
3386 \c{STACK} segments get concatenated together at link time; and
3387 \c{COMMON} segments all get overlaid on top of each other rather
3388 than stuck end-to-end.
3390 \b \i\c{ALIGN} is used, as shown above, to specify how many low bits
3391 of the segment start address must be forced to zero. The alignment
3392 value given may be any power of two from 1 to 4096; in reality, the
3393 only values supported are 1, 2, 4, 16, 256 and 4096, so if 8 is
3394 specified it will be rounded up to 16, and 32, 64 and 128 will all
3395 be rounded up to 256, and so on. Note that alignment to 4096-byte
3396 boundaries is a \i{PharLap} extension to the format and may not be
3397 supported by all linkers.\I{section alignment, in OBJ}\I{segment
3398 alignment, in OBJ}\I{alignment, in OBJ sections}
3400 \b \i\c{CLASS} can be used to specify the segment class; this feature
3401 indicates to the linker that segments of the same class should be
3402 placed near each other in the output file. The class name can be any
3403 word, e.g. \c{CLASS=CODE}.
3405 \b \i\c{OVERLAY}, like \c{CLASS}, is specified with an arbitrary word
3406 as an argument, and provides overlay information to an
3407 overlay-capable linker.
3409 \b Segments can be declared as \i\c{USE16} or \i\c{USE32}, which has
3410 the effect of recording the choice in the object file and also
3411 ensuring that NASM's default assembly mode when assembling in that
3412 segment is 16-bit or 32-bit respectively.
3414 \b When writing \i{OS/2} object files, you should declare 32-bit
3415 segments as \i\c{FLAT}, which causes the default segment base for
3416 anything in the segment to be the special group \c{FLAT}, and also
3417 defines the group if it is not already defined.
3419 \b The \c{obj} file format also allows segments to be declared as
3420 having a pre-defined absolute segment address, although no linkers
3421 are currently known to make sensible use of this feature;
3422 nevertheless, NASM allows you to declare a segment such as
3423 \c{SEGMENT SCREEN ABSOLUTE=0xB800} if you need to. The \i\c{ABSOLUTE}
3424 and \c{ALIGN} keywords are mutually exclusive.
3426 NASM's default segment attributes are \c{PUBLIC}, \c{ALIGN=1}, no
3427 class, no overlay, and \c{USE16}.
3430 \S{group} \i\c{GROUP}: Defining Groups of Segments\I{segments, groups of}
3432 The \c{obj} format also allows segments to be grouped, so that a
3433 single segment register can be used to refer to all the segments in
3434 a group. NASM therefore supplies the \c{GROUP} directive, whereby
3440 \c ; some uninitialised data
3441 \c group dgroup data bss
3443 which will define a group called \c{dgroup} to contain the segments
3444 \c{data} and \c{bss}. Like \c{SEGMENT}, \c{GROUP} causes the group
3445 name to be defined as a symbol, so that you can refer to a variable
3446 \c{var} in the \c{data} segment as \c{var wrt data} or as \c{var wrt
3447 dgroup}, depending on which segment value is currently in your
3450 If you just refer to \c{var}, however, and \c{var} is declared in a
3451 segment which is part of a group, then NASM will default to giving
3452 you the offset of \c{var} from the beginning of the \e{group}, not
3453 the \e{segment}. Therefore \c{SEG var}, also, will return the group
3454 base rather than the segment base.
3456 NASM will allow a segment to be part of more than one group, but
3457 will generate a warning if you do this. Variables declared in a
3458 segment which is part of more than one group will default to being
3459 relative to the first group that was defined to contain the segment.
3461 A group does not have to contain any segments; you can still make
3462 \c{WRT} references to a group which does not contain the variable
3463 you are referring to. OS/2, for example, defines the special group
3464 \c{FLAT} with no segments in it.
3467 \S{uppercase} \i\c{UPPERCASE}: Disabling Case Sensitivity in Output
3469 Although NASM itself is \i{case sensitive}, some OMF linkers are
3470 not; therefore it can be useful for NASM to output single-case
3471 object files. The \c{UPPERCASE} format-specific directive causes all
3472 segment, group and symbol names that are written to the object file
3473 to be forced to upper case just before being written. Within a
3474 source file, NASM is still case-sensitive; but the object file can
3475 be written entirely in upper case if desired.
3477 \c{UPPERCASE} is used alone on a line; it requires no parameters.
3480 \S{import} \i\c{IMPORT}: Importing DLL Symbols\I{DLL symbols,
3481 importing}\I{symbols, importing from DLLs}
3483 The \c{IMPORT} format-specific directive defines a symbol to be
3484 imported from a DLL, for use if you are writing a DLL's \i{import
3485 library} in NASM. You still need to declare the symbol as \c{EXTERN}
3486 as well as using the \c{IMPORT} directive.
3488 The \c{IMPORT} directive takes two required parameters, separated by
3489 white space, which are (respectively) the name of the symbol you
3490 wish to import and the name of the library you wish to import it
3493 \c import WSAStartup wsock32.dll
3495 A third optional parameter gives the name by which the symbol is
3496 known in the library you are importing it from, in case this is not
3497 the same as the name you wish the symbol to be known by to your code
3498 once you have imported it. For example:
3500 \c import asyncsel wsock32.dll WSAAsyncSelect
3503 \S{export} \i\c{EXPORT}: Exporting DLL Symbols\I{DLL symbols,
3504 exporting}\I{symbols, exporting from DLLs}
3506 The \c{EXPORT} format-specific directive defines a global symbol to
3507 be exported as a DLL symbol, for use if you are writing a DLL in
3508 NASM. You still need to declare the symbol as \c{GLOBAL} as well as
3509 using the \c{EXPORT} directive.
3511 \c{EXPORT} takes one required parameter, which is the name of the
3512 symbol you wish to export, as it was defined in your source file. An
3513 optional second parameter (separated by white space from the first)
3514 gives the \e{external} name of the symbol: the name by which you
3515 wish the symbol to be known to programs using the DLL. If this name
3516 is the same as the internal name, you may leave the second parameter
3519 Further parameters can be given to define attributes of the exported
3520 symbol. These parameters, like the second, are separated by white
3521 space. If further parameters are given, the external name must also
3522 be specified, even if it is the same as the internal name. The
3523 available attributes are:
3525 \b \c{resident} indicates that the exported name is to be kept
3526 resident by the system loader. This is an optimisation for
3527 frequently used symbols imported by name.
3529 \b \c{nodata} indicates that the exported symbol is a function which
3530 does not make use of any initialised data.
3532 \b \c{parm=NNN}, where \c{NNN} is an integer, sets the number of
3533 parameter words for the case in which the symbol is a call gate
3534 between 32-bit and 16-bit segments.
3536 \b An attribute which is just a number indicates that the symbol
3537 should be exported with an identifying number (ordinal), and gives
3543 \c export myfunc TheRealMoreFormalLookingFunctionName
3544 \c export myfunc myfunc 1234 ; export by ordinal
3545 \c export myfunc myfunc resident parm=23 nodata
3548 \S{dotdotstart} \i\c{..start}: Defining the \i{Program Entry
3551 \c{OMF} linkers require exactly one of the object files being linked to
3552 define the program entry point, where execution will begin when the
3553 program is run. If the object file that defines the entry point is
3554 assembled using NASM, you specify the entry point by declaring the
3555 special symbol \c{..start} at the point where you wish execution to
3559 \S{objextern} \c{obj} Extensions to the \c{EXTERN}
3560 Directive\I{EXTERN, obj extensions to}
3562 If you declare an external symbol with the directive
3566 then references such as \c{mov ax,foo} will give you the offset of
3567 \c{foo} from its preferred segment base (as specified in whichever
3568 module \c{foo} is actually defined in). So to access the contents of
3569 \c{foo} you will usually need to do something like
3571 \c mov ax,seg foo ; get preferred segment base
3572 \c mov es,ax ; move it into ES
3573 \c mov ax,[es:foo] ; and use offset `foo' from it
3575 This is a little unwieldy, particularly if you know that an external
3576 is going to be accessible from a given segment or group, say
3577 \c{dgroup}. So if \c{DS} already contained \c{dgroup}, you could
3580 \c mov ax,[foo wrt dgroup]
3582 However, having to type this every time you want to access \c{foo}
3583 can be a pain; so NASM allows you to declare \c{foo} in the
3586 \c extern foo:wrt dgroup
3588 This form causes NASM to pretend that the preferred segment base of
3589 \c{foo} is in fact \c{dgroup}; so the expression \c{seg foo} will
3590 now return \c{dgroup}, and the expression \c{foo} is equivalent to
3593 This \I{default-WRT mechanism}default-\c{WRT} mechanism can be used
3594 to make externals appear to be relative to any group or segment in
3595 your program. It can also be applied to common variables: see
3599 \S{objcommon} \c{obj} Extensions to the \c{COMMON}
3600 Directive\I{COMMON, obj extensions to}
3602 The \c{obj} format allows common variables to be either near\I{near
3603 common variables} or far\I{far common variables}; NASM allows you to
3604 specify which your variables should be by the use of the syntax
3606 \c common nearvar 2:near ; `nearvar' is a near common
3607 \c common farvar 10:far ; and `farvar' is far
3609 Far common variables may be greater in size than 64Kb, and so the
3610 OMF specification says that they are declared as a number of
3611 \e{elements} of a given size. So a 10-byte far common variable could
3612 be declared as ten one-byte elements, five two-byte elements, two
3613 five-byte elements or one ten-byte element.
3615 Some \c{OMF} linkers require the \I{element size, in common
3616 variables}\I{common variables, element size}element size, as well as
3617 the variable size, to match when resolving common variables declared
3618 in more than one module. Therefore NASM must allow you to specify
3619 the element size on your far common variables. This is done by the
3622 \c common c_5by2 10:far 5 ; two five-byte elements
3623 \c common c_2by5 10:far 2 ; five two-byte elements
3625 If no element size is specified, the default is 1. Also, the \c{FAR}
3626 keyword is not required when an element size is specified, since
3627 only far commons may have element sizes at all. So the above
3628 declarations could equivalently be
3630 \c common c_5by2 10:5 ; two five-byte elements
3631 \c common c_2by5 10:2 ; five two-byte elements
3633 In addition to these extensions, the \c{COMMON} directive in \c{obj}
3634 also supports default-\c{WRT} specification like \c{EXTERN} does
3635 (explained in \k{objextern}). So you can also declare things like
3637 \c common foo 10:wrt dgroup
3638 \c common bar 16:far 2:wrt data
3639 \c common baz 24:wrt data:6
3642 \H{win32fmt} \i\c{win32}: Microsoft Win32 Object Files
3644 The \c{win32} output format generates Microsoft Win32 object files,
3645 suitable for passing to Microsoft linkers such as \i{Visual C++}.
3646 Note that Borland Win32 compilers do not use this format, but use
3647 \c{obj} instead (see \k{objfmt}).
3649 \c{win32} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.obj}.
3651 Note that although Microsoft say that Win32 object files follow the
3652 \c{COFF} (Common Object File Format) standard, the object files produced
3653 by Microsoft Win32 compilers are not compatible with COFF linkers
3654 such as DJGPP's, and vice versa. This is due to a difference of
3655 opinion over the precise semantics of PC-relative relocations. To
3656 produce COFF files suitable for DJGPP, use NASM's \c{coff} output
3657 format; conversely, the \c{coff} format does not produce object
3658 files that Win32 linkers can generate correct output from.
3661 \S{win32sect} \c{win32} Extensions to the \c{SECTION}
3662 Directive\I{SECTION, win32 extensions to}
3664 Like the \c{obj} format, \c{win32} allows you to specify additional
3665 information on the \c{SECTION} directive line, to control the type
3666 and properties of sections you declare. Section types and properties
3667 are generated automatically by NASM for the \i{standard section names}
3668 \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss}, but may still be overridden by
3671 The available qualifiers are:
3673 \b \c{code}, or equivalently \c{text}, defines the section to be a
3674 code section. This marks the section as readable and executable, but
3675 not writable, and also indicates to the linker that the type of the
3678 \b \c{data} and \c{bss} define the section to be a data section,
3679 analogously to \c{code}. Data sections are marked as readable and
3680 writable, but not executable. \c{data} declares an initialised data
3681 section, whereas \c{bss} declares an uninitialised data section.
3683 \b \c{rdata} declares an initialised data section that is readable
3684 but not writable. Microsoft compilers use this section to place
3687 \b \c{info} defines the section to be an \i{informational section},
3688 which is not included in the executable file by the linker, but may
3689 (for example) pass information \e{to} the linker. For example,
3690 declaring an \c{info}-type section called \i\c{.drectve} causes the
3691 linker to interpret the contents of the section as command-line
3694 \b \c{align=}, used with a trailing number as in \c{obj}, gives the
3695 \I{section alignment, in win32}\I{alignment, in win32
3696 sections}alignment requirements of the section. The maximum you may
3697 specify is 64: the Win32 object file format contains no means to
3698 request a greater section alignment than this. If alignment is not
3699 explicitly specified, the defaults are 16-byte alignment for code
3700 sections, 8-byte alignment for rdata sections and 4-byte alignment
3701 for data (and BSS) sections.
3702 Informational sections get a default alignment of 1 byte (no
3703 alignment), though the value does not matter.
3705 The defaults assumed by NASM if you do not specify the above
3708 \c section .text code align=16
3709 \c section .data data align=4
3710 \c section .rdata rdata align=8
3711 \c section .bss bss align=4
3713 Any other section name is treated by default like \c{.text}.
3716 \H{cofffmt} \i\c{coff}: \i{Common Object File Format}
3718 The \c{coff} output type produces \c{COFF} object files suitable for
3719 linking with the \i{DJGPP} linker.
3721 \c{coff} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
3723 The \c{coff} format supports the same extensions to the \c{SECTION}
3724 directive as \c{win32} does, except that the \c{align} qualifier and
3725 the \c{info} section type are not supported.
3728 \H{elffmt} \i\c{elf}: \i{Linux ELF}\I{Executable and Linkable
3731 The \c{elf} output format generates \c{ELF32} (Executable and Linkable
3732 Format) object files, as used by Linux. \c{elf} provides a default
3733 output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
3736 \S{elfsect} \c{elf} Extensions to the \c{SECTION}
3737 Directive\I{SECTION, elf extensions to}
3739 Like the \c{obj} format, \c{elf} allows you to specify additional
3740 information on the \c{SECTION} directive line, to control the type
3741 and properties of sections you declare. Section types and properties
3742 are generated automatically by NASM for the \i{standard section
3743 names} \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}, but may still be
3744 overridden by these qualifiers.
3746 The available qualifiers are:
3748 \b \i\c{alloc} defines the section to be one which is loaded into
3749 memory when the program is run. \i\c{noalloc} defines it to be one
3750 which is not, such as an informational or comment section.
3752 \b \i\c{exec} defines the section to be one which should have execute
3753 permission when the program is run. \i\c{noexec} defines it as one
3756 \b \i\c{write} defines the section to be one which should be writable
3757 when the program is run. \i\c{nowrite} defines it as one which should
3760 \b \i\c{progbits} defines the section to be one with explicit contents
3761 stored in the object file: an ordinary code or data section, for
3762 example, \i\c{nobits} defines the section to be one with no explicit
3763 contents given, such as a BSS section.
3765 \b \c{align=}, used with a trailing number as in \c{obj}, gives the
3766 \I{section alignment, in elf}\I{alignment, in elf sections}alignment
3767 requirements of the section.
3769 The defaults assumed by NASM if you do not specify the above
3772 \c section .text progbits alloc exec nowrite align=16
3773 \c section .data progbits alloc noexec write align=4
3774 \c section .bss nobits alloc noexec write align=4
3775 \c section other progbits alloc noexec nowrite align=1
3777 (Any section name other than \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss} is
3778 treated by default like \c{other} in the above code.)
3781 \S{elfwrt} \i{Position-Independent Code}\I{PIC}: \c{elf} Special
3782 Symbols and \i\c{WRT}
3784 The \c{ELF} specification contains enough features to allow
3785 position-independent code (PIC) to be written, which makes \i{ELF
3786 shared libraries} very flexible. However, it also means NASM has to
3787 be able to generate a variety of strange relocation types in ELF
3788 object files, if it is to be an assembler which can write PIC.
3790 Since \c{ELF} does not support segment-base references, the \c{WRT}
3791 operator is not used for its normal purpose; therefore NASM's
3792 \c{elf} output format makes use of \c{WRT} for a different purpose,
3793 namely the PIC-specific \I{relocations, PIC-specific}relocation
3796 \c{elf} defines five special symbols which you can use as the
3797 right-hand side of the \c{WRT} operator to obtain PIC relocation
3798 types. They are \i\c{..gotpc}, \i\c{..gotoff}, \i\c{..got},
3799 \i\c{..plt} and \i\c{..sym}. Their functions are summarised here:
3801 \b Referring to the symbol marking the global offset table base
3802 using \c{wrt ..gotpc} will end up giving the distance from the
3803 beginning of the current section to the global offset table.
3804 (\i\c{_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_} is the standard symbol name used to
3805 refer to the \i{GOT}.) So you would then need to add \i\c{$$} to the
3806 result to get the real address of the GOT.
3808 \b Referring to a location in one of your own sections using \c{wrt
3809 ..gotoff} will give the distance from the beginning of the GOT to
3810 the specified location, so that adding on the address of the GOT
3811 would give the real address of the location you wanted.
3813 \b Referring to an external or global symbol using \c{wrt ..got}
3814 causes the linker to build an entry \e{in} the GOT containing the
3815 address of the symbol, and the reference gives the distance from the
3816 beginning of the GOT to the entry; so you can add on the address of
3817 the GOT, load from the resulting address, and end up with the
3818 address of the symbol.
3820 \b Referring to a procedure name using \c{wrt ..plt} causes the
3821 linker to build a \i{procedure linkage table} entry for the symbol,
3822 and the reference gives the address of the \i{PLT} entry. You can
3823 only use this in contexts which would generate a PC-relative
3824 relocation normally (i.e. as the destination for \c{CALL} or
3825 \c{JMP}), since ELF contains no relocation type to refer to PLT
3828 \b Referring to a symbol name using \c{wrt ..sym} causes NASM to
3829 write an ordinary relocation, but instead of making the relocation
3830 relative to the start of the section and then adding on the offset
3831 to the symbol, it will write a relocation record aimed directly at
3832 the symbol in question. The distinction is a necessary one due to a
3833 peculiarity of the dynamic linker.
3835 A fuller explanation of how to use these relocation types to write
3836 shared libraries entirely in NASM is given in \k{picdll}.
3839 \S{elfglob} \c{elf} Extensions to the \c{GLOBAL} Directive\I{GLOBAL,
3840 elf extensions to}\I{GLOBAL, aoutb extensions to}
3842 \c{ELF} object files can contain more information about a global symbol
3843 than just its address: they can contain the \I{symbol sizes,
3844 specifying}\I{size, of symbols}size of the symbol and its \I{symbol
3845 types, specifying}\I{type, of symbols}type as well. These are not
3846 merely debugger conveniences, but are actually necessary when the
3847 program being written is a \i{shared library}. NASM therefore
3848 supports some extensions to the \c{GLOBAL} directive, allowing you
3849 to specify these features.
3851 You can specify whether a global variable is a function or a data
3852 object by suffixing the name with a colon and the word
3853 \i\c{function} or \i\c{data}. (\i\c{object} is a synonym for
3854 \c{data}.) For example:
3856 \c global hashlookup:function, hashtable:data
3858 exports the global symbol \c{hashlookup} as a function and
3859 \c{hashtable} as a data object.
3861 You can also specify the size of the data associated with the
3862 symbol, as a numeric expression (which may involve labels, and even
3863 forward references) after the type specifier. Like this:
3865 \c global hashtable:data (hashtable.end - hashtable)
3867 \c db this,that,theother ; some data here
3870 This makes NASM automatically calculate the length of the table and
3871 place that information into the \c{ELF} symbol table.
3873 Declaring the type and size of global symbols is necessary when
3874 writing shared library code. For more information, see
3878 \S{elfcomm} \c{elf} Extensions to the \c{COMMON} Directive\I{COMMON,
3881 \c{ELF} also allows you to specify alignment requirements \I{common
3882 variables, alignment in elf}\I{alignment, of elf common variables}on
3883 common variables. This is done by putting a number (which must be a
3884 power of two) after the name and size of the common variable,
3885 separated (as usual) by a colon. For example, an array of
3886 doublewords would benefit from 4-byte alignment:
3888 \c common dwordarray 128:4
3890 This declares the total size of the array to be 128 bytes, and
3891 requires that it be aligned on a 4-byte boundary.
3894 \H{aoutfmt} \i\c{aout}: Linux \I{a.out, Linux version}\c{a.out} Object Files
3896 The \c{aout} format generates \c{a.out} object files, in the form
3897 used by early Linux systems. (These differ from other \c{a.out}
3898 object files in that the magic number in the first four bytes of the
3899 file is different. Also, some implementations of \c{a.out}, for
3900 example NetBSD's, support position-independent code, which Linux's
3901 implementation doesn't.)
3903 \c{a.out} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
3905 \c{a.out} is a very simple object format. It supports no special
3906 directives, no special symbols, no use of \c{SEG} or \c{WRT}, and no
3907 extensions to any standard directives. It supports only the three
3908 \i{standard section names} \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}.
3911 \H{aoutfmt} \i\c{aoutb}: \i{NetBSD}/\i{FreeBSD}/\i{OpenBSD}
3912 \I{a.out, BSD version}\c{a.out} Object Files
3914 The \c{aoutb} format generates \c{a.out} object files, in the form
3915 used by the various free \c{BSD Unix} clones, \c{NetBSD}, \c{FreeBSD}
3916 and \c{OpenBSD}. For simple object files, this object format is exactly
3917 the same as \c{aout} except for the magic number in the first four bytes
3918 of the file. However, the \c{aoutb} format supports
3919 \I{PIC}\i{position-independent code} in the same way as the \c{elf}
3920 format, so you can use it to write \c{BSD} \i{shared libraries}.
3922 \c{aoutb} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
3924 \c{aoutb} supports no special directives, no special symbols, and
3925 only the three \i{standard section names} \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data}
3926 and \i\c{.bss}. However, it also supports the same use of \i\c{WRT} as
3927 \c{elf} does, to provide position-independent code relocation types.
3928 See \k{elfwrt} for full documentation of this feature.
3930 \c{aoutb} also supports the same extensions to the \c{GLOBAL}
3931 directive as \c{elf} does: see \k{elfglob} for documentation of
3935 \H{as86fmt} \c{as86}: Linux \i\c{as86} Object Files
3937 The Linux 16-bit assembler \c{as86} has its own non-standard object
3938 file format. Although its companion linker \i\c{ld86} produces
3939 something close to ordinary \c{a.out} binaries as output, the object
3940 file format used to communicate between \c{as86} and \c{ld86} is not
3943 NASM supports this format, just in case it is useful, as \c{as86}.
3944 \c{as86} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
3946 \c{as86} is a very simple object format (from the NASM user's point
3947 of view). It supports no special directives, no special symbols, no
3948 use of \c{SEG} or \c{WRT}, and no extensions to any standard
3949 directives. It supports only the three \i{standard section names}
3950 \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}.
3953 \H{rdffmt} \I{RDOFF}\i\c{rdf}: \i{Relocatable Dynamic Object File
3956 The \c{rdf} output format produces \c{RDOFF} object files. \c{RDOFF}
3957 (Relocatable Dynamic Object File Format) is a home-grown object-file
3958 format, designed alongside NASM itself and reflecting in its file
3959 format the internal structure of the assembler.
3961 \c{RDOFF} is not used by any well-known operating systems. Those
3962 writing their own systems, however, may well wish to use \c{RDOFF}
3963 as their object format, on the grounds that it is designed primarily
3964 for simplicity and contains very little file-header bureaucracy.
3966 The Unix NASM archive, and the DOS archive which includes sources,
3967 both contain an \I{rdoff subdirectory}\c{rdoff} subdirectory holding
3968 a set of RDOFF utilities: an RDF linker, an \c{RDF} static-library
3969 manager, an RDF file dump utility, and a program which will load and
3970 execute an RDF executable under Linux.
3972 \c{rdf} supports only the \i{standard section names} \i\c{.text},
3973 \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}.
3976 \S{rdflib} Requiring a Library: The \i\c{LIBRARY} Directive
3978 \c{RDOFF} contains a mechanism for an object file to demand a given
3979 library to be linked to the module, either at load time or run time.
3980 This is done by the \c{LIBRARY} directive, which takes one argument
3981 which is the name of the module:
3983 \c library mylib.rdl
3986 \S{rdfmod} Specifying a Module Name: The \i\c{MODULE} Directive
3988 Special \c{RDOFF} header record is used to store the name of the module.
3989 It can be used, for example, by run-time loader to perform dynamic
3990 linking. \c{MODULE} directive takes one argument which is the name
3995 Note that when you statically link modules and tell linker to strip
3996 the symbols from output file, all module names will be stripped too.
3997 To avoid it, you should start module names with \I{$prefix}\c{$}, like:
3999 \c module $kernel.core
4002 \S{rdfglob} \c{rdf} Extensions to the \c{GLOBAL} directive\I{GLOBAL,
4005 \c{RDOFF} global symbols can contain additional information needed by
4006 the static linker. You can mark a global symbol as exported, thus
4007 telling the linker do not strip it from target executable or library
4008 file. Like in \c{ELF}, you can also specify whether an exported symbol
4009 is a procedure (function) or data object.
4011 Suffixing the name with a colon and the word \i\c{export} you make the
4014 \c global sys_open:export
4016 To specify that exported symbol is a procedure (function), you add the
4017 word \i\c{proc} or \i\c{function} after declaration:
4019 \c global sys_open:export proc
4021 Similarly, to specify exported data object, add the word \i\c{data}
4022 or \i\c{object} to the directive:
4024 \c global kernel_ticks:export data
4027 \H{dbgfmt} \i\c{dbg}: Debugging Format
4029 The \c{dbg} output format is not built into NASM in the default
4030 configuration. If you are building your own NASM executable from the
4031 sources, you can define \i\c{OF_DBG} in \c{outform.h} or on the
4032 compiler command line, and obtain the \c{dbg} output format.
4034 The \c{dbg} format does not output an object file as such; instead,
4035 it outputs a text file which contains a complete list of all the
4036 transactions between the main body of NASM and the output-format
4037 back end module. It is primarily intended to aid people who want to
4038 write their own output drivers, so that they can get a clearer idea
4039 of the various requests the main program makes of the output driver,
4040 and in what order they happen.
4042 For simple files, one can easily use the \c{dbg} format like this:
4044 \c nasm -f dbg filename.asm
4046 which will generate a diagnostic file called \c{filename.dbg}.
4047 However, this will not work well on files which were designed for a
4048 different object format, because each object format defines its own
4049 macros (usually user-level forms of directives), and those macros
4050 will not be defined in the \c{dbg} format. Therefore it can be
4051 useful to run NASM twice, in order to do the preprocessing with the
4052 native object format selected:
4054 \c nasm -e -f rdf -o rdfprog.i rdfprog.asm
4055 \c nasm -a -f dbg rdfprog.i
4057 This preprocesses \c{rdfprog.asm} into \c{rdfprog.i}, keeping the
4058 \c{rdf} object format selected in order to make sure RDF special
4059 directives are converted into primitive form correctly. Then the
4060 preprocessed source is fed through the \c{dbg} format to generate
4061 the final diagnostic output.
4063 This workaround will still typically not work for programs intended
4064 for \c{obj} format, because the \c{obj} \c{SEGMENT} and \c{GROUP}
4065 directives have side effects of defining the segment and group names
4066 as symbols; \c{dbg} will not do this, so the program will not
4067 assemble. You will have to work around that by defining the symbols
4068 yourself (using \c{EXTERN}, for example) if you really need to get a
4069 \c{dbg} trace of an \c{obj}-specific source file.
4071 \c{dbg} accepts any section name and any directives at all, and logs
4072 them all to its output file.
4075 \C{16bit} Writing 16-bit Code (DOS, Windows 3/3.1)
4077 This chapter attempts to cover some of the common issues encountered
4078 when writing 16-bit code to run under \c{MS-DOS} or \c{Windows 3.x}. It
4079 covers how to link programs to produce \c{.EXE} or \c{.COM} files,
4080 how to write \c{.SYS} device drivers, and how to interface assembly
4081 language code with 16-bit C compilers and with Borland Pascal.
4084 \H{exefiles} Producing \i\c{.EXE} Files
4086 Any large program written under DOS needs to be built as a \c{.EXE}
4087 file: only \c{.EXE} files have the necessary internal structure
4088 required to span more than one 64K segment. \i{Windows} programs,
4089 also, have to be built as \c{.EXE} files, since Windows does not
4090 support the \c{.COM} format.
4092 In general, you generate \c{.EXE} files by using the \c{obj} output
4093 format to produce one or more \i\c{.OBJ} files, and then linking
4094 them together using a linker. However, NASM also supports the direct
4095 generation of simple DOS \c{.EXE} files using the \c{bin} output
4096 format (by using \c{DB} and \c{DW} to construct the \c{.EXE} file
4097 header), and a macro package is supplied to do this. Thanks to
4098 Yann Guidon for contributing the code for this.
4100 NASM may also support \c{.EXE} natively as another output format in
4104 \S{objexe} Using the \c{obj} Format To Generate \c{.EXE} Files
4106 This section describes the usual method of generating \c{.EXE} files
4107 by linking \c{.OBJ} files together.
4109 Most 16-bit programming language packages come with a suitable
4110 linker; if you have none of these, there is a free linker called
4111 \i{VAL}\I{linker, free}, available in \c{LZH} archive format from
4112 \W{ftp://x2ftp.oulu.fi/pub/msdos/programming/lang/}\i\c{x2ftp.oulu.fi}.
4113 An LZH archiver can be found at
4114 \W{ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/arcers}\i\c{ftp.simtel.net}.
4115 There is another `free' linker (though this one doesn't come with
4116 sources) called \i{FREELINK}, available from
4117 \W{http://www.pcorner.com/tpc/old/3-101.html}\i\c{www.pcorner.com}.
4118 A third, \i\c{djlink}, written by DJ Delorie, is available at
4119 \W{http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/16bit/djlink/}\i\c{www.delorie.com}.
4120 A fourth linker, \i\c{ALINK}, written by Anthony A.J. Williams, is
4121 available at \W{http://alink.sourceforge.net}\i\c{alink.sourceforge.net}.
4123 When linking several \c{.OBJ} files into a \c{.EXE} file, you should
4124 ensure that exactly one of them has a start point defined (using the
4125 \I{program entry point}\i\c{..start} special symbol defined by the
4126 \c{obj} format: see \k{dotdotstart}). If no module defines a start
4127 point, the linker will not know what value to give the entry-point
4128 field in the output file header; if more than one defines a start
4129 point, the linker will not know \e{which} value to use.
4131 An example of a NASM source file which can be assembled to a
4132 \c{.OBJ} file and linked on its own to a \c{.EXE} is given here. It
4133 demonstrates the basic principles of defining a stack, initialising
4134 the segment registers, and declaring a start point. This file is
4135 also provided in the \I{test subdirectory}\c{test} subdirectory of
4136 the NASM archives, under the name \c{objexe.asm}.
4140 \c ..start: mov ax,data
4146 This initial piece of code sets up \c{DS} to point to the data
4147 segment, and initialises \c{SS} and \c{SP} to point to the top of
4148 the provided stack. Notice that interrupts are implicitly disabled
4149 for one instruction after a move into \c{SS}, precisely for this
4150 situation, so that there's no chance of an interrupt occurring
4151 between the loads of \c{SS} and \c{SP} and not having a stack to
4154 Note also that the special symbol \c{..start} is defined at the
4155 beginning of this code, which means that will be the entry point
4156 into the resulting executable file.
4162 The above is the main program: load \c{DS:DX} with a pointer to the
4163 greeting message (\c{hello} is implicitly relative to the segment
4164 \c{data}, which was loaded into \c{DS} in the setup code, so the
4165 full pointer is valid), and call the DOS print-string function.
4170 This terminates the program using another DOS system call.
4173 \c hello: db 'hello, world', 13, 10, '$'
4175 The data segment contains the string we want to display.
4177 \c segment stack stack
4181 The above code declares a stack segment containing 64 bytes of
4182 uninitialised stack space, and points \c{stacktop} at the top of it.
4183 The directive \c{segment stack stack} defines a segment \e{called}
4184 \c{stack}, and also of \e{type} \c{STACK}. The latter is not
4185 necessary to the correct running of the program, but linkers are
4186 likely to issue warnings or errors if your program has no segment of
4189 The above file, when assembled into a \c{.OBJ} file, will link on
4190 its own to a valid \c{.EXE} file, which when run will print `hello,
4191 world' and then exit.
4194 \S{binexe} Using the \c{bin} Format To Generate \c{.EXE} Files
4196 The \c{.EXE} file format is simple enough that it's possible to
4197 build a \c{.EXE} file by writing a pure-binary program and sticking
4198 a 32-byte header on the front. This header is simple enough that it
4199 can be generated using \c{DB} and \c{DW} commands by NASM itself, so
4200 that you can use the \c{bin} output format to directly generate
4203 Included in the NASM archives, in the \I{misc subdirectory}\c{misc}
4204 subdirectory, is a file \i\c{exebin.mac} of macros. It defines three
4205 macros: \i\c{EXE_begin}, \i\c{EXE_stack} and \i\c{EXE_end}.
4207 To produce a \c{.EXE} file using this method, you should start by
4208 using \c{%include} to load the \c{exebin.mac} macro package into
4209 your source file. You should then issue the \c{EXE_begin} macro call
4210 (which takes no arguments) to generate the file header data. Then
4211 write code as normal for the \c{bin} format - you can use all three
4212 standard sections \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss}. At the end of
4213 the file you should call the \c{EXE_end} macro (again, no arguments),
4214 which defines some symbols to mark section sizes, and these symbols
4215 are referred to in the header code generated by \c{EXE_begin}.
4217 In this model, the code you end up writing starts at \c{0x100}, just
4218 like a \c{.COM} file - in fact, if you strip off the 32-byte header
4219 from the resulting \c{.EXE} file, you will have a valid \c{.COM}
4220 program. All the segment bases are the same, so you are limited to a
4221 64K program, again just like a \c{.COM} file. Note that an \c{ORG}
4222 directive is issued by the \c{EXE_begin} macro, so you should not
4223 explicitly issue one of your own.
4225 You can't directly refer to your segment base value, unfortunately,
4226 since this would require a relocation in the header, and things
4227 would get a lot more complicated. So you should get your segment
4228 base by copying it out of \c{CS} instead.
4230 On entry to your \c{.EXE} file, \c{SS:SP} are already set up to
4231 point to the top of a 2Kb stack. You can adjust the default stack
4232 size of 2Kb by calling the \c{EXE_stack} macro. For example, to
4233 change the stack size of your program to 64 bytes, you would call
4236 A sample program which generates a \c{.EXE} file in this way is
4237 given in the \c{test} subdirectory of the NASM archive, as
4241 \H{comfiles} Producing \i\c{.COM} Files
4243 While large DOS programs must be written as \c{.EXE} files, small
4244 ones are often better written as \c{.COM} files. \c{.COM} files are
4245 pure binary, and therefore most easily produced using the \c{bin}
4249 \S{combinfmt} Using the \c{bin} Format To Generate \c{.COM} Files
4251 \c{.COM} files expect to be loaded at offset \c{100h} into their
4252 segment (though the segment may change). Execution then begins at
4253 \I\c{ORG}\c{100h}, i.e. right at the start of the program. So to
4254 write a \c{.COM} program, you would create a source file looking
4259 \c start: ; put your code here
4261 \c ; put data items here
4263 \c ; put uninitialised data here
4265 The \c{bin} format puts the \c{.text} section first in the file, so
4266 you can declare data or BSS items before beginning to write code if
4267 you want to and the code will still end up at the front of the file
4270 The BSS (uninitialised data) section does not take up space in the
4271 \c{.COM} file itself: instead, addresses of BSS items are resolved
4272 to point at space beyond the end of the file, on the grounds that
4273 this will be free memory when the program is run. Therefore you
4274 should not rely on your BSS being initialised to all zeros when you
4277 To assemble the above program, you should use a command line like
4279 \c nasm myprog.asm -fbin -o myprog.com
4281 The \c{bin} format would produce a file called \c{myprog} if no
4282 explicit output file name were specified, so you have to override it
4283 and give the desired file name.
4286 \S{comobjfmt} Using the \c{obj} Format To Generate \c{.COM} Files
4288 If you are writing a \c{.COM} program as more than one module, you
4289 may wish to assemble several \c{.OBJ} files and link them together
4290 into a \c{.COM} program. You can do this, provided you have a linker
4291 capable of outputting \c{.COM} files directly (\i{TLINK} does this),
4292 or alternatively a converter program such as \i\c{EXE2BIN} to
4293 transform the \c{.EXE} file output from the linker into a \c{.COM}
4296 If you do this, you need to take care of several things:
4298 \b The first object file containing code should start its code
4299 segment with a line like \c{RESB 100h}. This is to ensure that the
4300 code begins at offset \c{100h} relative to the beginning of the code
4301 segment, so that the linker or converter program does not have to
4302 adjust address references within the file when generating the
4303 \c{.COM} file. Other assemblers use an \i\c{ORG} directive for this
4304 purpose, but \c{ORG} in NASM is a format-specific directive to the
4305 \c{bin} output format, and does not mean the same thing as it does
4306 in MASM-compatible assemblers.
4308 \b You don't need to define a stack segment.
4310 \b All your segments should be in the same group, so that every time
4311 your code or data references a symbol offset, all offsets are
4312 relative to the same segment base. This is because, when a \c{.COM}
4313 file is loaded, all the segment registers contain the same value.
4316 \H{sysfiles} Producing \i\c{.SYS} Files
4318 \i{MS-DOS device drivers} - \c{.SYS} files - are pure binary files,
4319 similar to \c{.COM} files, except that they start at origin zero
4320 rather than \c{100h}. Therefore, if you are writing a device driver
4321 using the \c{bin} format, you do not need the \c{ORG} directive,
4322 since the default origin for \c{bin} is zero. Similarly, if you are
4323 using \c{obj}, you do not need the \c{RESB 100h} at the start of
4326 \c{.SYS} files start with a header structure, containing pointers to
4327 the various routines inside the driver which do the work. This
4328 structure should be defined at the start of the code segment, even
4329 though it is not actually code.
4331 For more information on the format of \c{.SYS} files, and the data
4332 which has to go in the header structure, a list of books is given in
4333 the Frequently Asked Questions list for the newsgroup
4334 \W{news:comp.os.msdos.programmer}\i\c{comp.os.msdos.programmer}.
4337 \H{16c} Interfacing to 16-bit C Programs
4339 This section covers the basics of writing assembly routines that
4340 call, or are called from, C programs. To do this, you would
4341 typically write an assembly module as a \c{.OBJ} file, and link it
4342 with your C modules to produce a \i{mixed-language program}.
4345 \S{16cunder} External Symbol Names
4347 \I{C symbol names}\I{underscore, in C symbols}C compilers have the
4348 convention that the names of all global symbols (functions or data)
4349 they define are formed by prefixing an underscore to the name as it
4350 appears in the C program. So, for example, the function a C
4351 programmer thinks of as \c{printf} appears to an assembly language
4352 programmer as \c{_printf}. This means that in your assembly
4353 programs, you can define symbols without a leading underscore, and
4354 not have to worry about name clashes with C symbols.
4356 If you find the underscores inconvenient, you can define macros to
4357 replace the \c{GLOBAL} and \c{EXTERN} directives as follows:
4369 (These forms of the macros only take one argument at a time; a
4370 \c{%rep} construct could solve this.)
4372 If you then declare an external like this:
4376 then the macro will expand it as
4379 \c %define printf _printf
4381 Thereafter, you can reference \c{printf} as if it was a symbol, and
4382 the preprocessor will put the leading underscore on where necessary.
4384 The \c{cglobal} macro works similarly. You must use \c{cglobal}
4385 before defining the symbol in question, but you would have had to do
4386 that anyway if you used \c{GLOBAL}.
4389 \S{16cmodels} \i{Memory Models}
4391 NASM contains no mechanism to support the various C memory models
4392 directly; you have to keep track yourself of which one you are
4393 writing for. This means you have to keep track of the following
4396 \b In models using a single code segment (tiny, small and compact),
4397 functions are near. This means that function pointers, when stored
4398 in data segments or pushed on the stack as function arguments, are
4399 16 bits long and contain only an offset field (the \c{CS} register
4400 never changes its value, and always gives the segment part of the
4401 full function address), and that functions are called using ordinary
4402 near \c{CALL} instructions and return using \c{RETN} (which, in
4403 NASM, is synonymous with \c{RET} anyway). This means both that you
4404 should write your own routines to return with \c{RETN}, and that you
4405 should call external C routines with near \c{CALL} instructions.
4407 \b In models using more than one code segment (medium, large and
4408 huge), functions are far. This means that function pointers are 32
4409 bits long (consisting of a 16-bit offset followed by a 16-bit
4410 segment), and that functions are called using \c{CALL FAR} (or
4411 \c{CALL seg:offset}) and return using \c{RETF}. Again, you should
4412 therefore write your own routines to return with \c{RETF} and use
4413 \c{CALL FAR} to call external routines.
4415 \b In models using a single data segment (tiny, small and medium),
4416 data pointers are 16 bits long, containing only an offset field (the
4417 \c{DS} register doesn't change its value, and always gives the
4418 segment part of the full data item address).
4420 \b In models using more than one data segment (compact, large and
4421 huge), data pointers are 32 bits long, consisting of a 16-bit offset
4422 followed by a 16-bit segment. You should still be careful not to
4423 modify \c{DS} in your routines without restoring it afterwards, but
4424 \c{ES} is free for you to use to access the contents of 32-bit data
4425 pointers you are passed.
4427 \b The huge memory model allows single data items to exceed 64K in
4428 size. In all other memory models, you can access the whole of a data
4429 item just by doing arithmetic on the offset field of the pointer you
4430 are given, whether a segment field is present or not; in huge model,
4431 you have to be more careful of your pointer arithmetic.
4433 \b In most memory models, there is a \e{default} data segment, whose
4434 segment address is kept in \c{DS} throughout the program. This data
4435 segment is typically the same segment as the stack, kept in \c{SS},
4436 so that functions' local variables (which are stored on the stack)
4437 and global data items can both be accessed easily without changing
4438 \c{DS}. Particularly large data items are typically stored in other
4439 segments. However, some memory models (though not the standard
4440 ones, usually) allow the assumption that \c{SS} and \c{DS} hold the
4441 same value to be removed. Be careful about functions' local
4442 variables in this latter case.
4444 In models with a single code segment, the segment is called
4445 \i\c{_TEXT}, so your code segment must also go by this name in order
4446 to be linked into the same place as the main code segment. In models
4447 with a single data segment, or with a default data segment, it is
4451 \S{16cfunc} Function Definitions and Function Calls
4453 \I{functions, C calling convention}The \i{C calling convention} in
4454 16-bit programs is as follows. In the following description, the
4455 words \e{caller} and \e{callee} are used to denote the function
4456 doing the calling and the function which gets called.
4458 \b The caller pushes the function's parameters on the stack, one
4459 after another, in reverse order (right to left, so that the first
4460 argument specified to the function is pushed last).
4462 \b The caller then executes a \c{CALL} instruction to pass control
4463 to the callee. This \c{CALL} is either near or far depending on the
4466 \b The callee receives control, and typically (although this is not
4467 actually necessary, in functions which do not need to access their
4468 parameters) starts by saving the value of \c{SP} in \c{BP} so as to
4469 be able to use \c{BP} as a base pointer to find its parameters on
4470 the stack. However, the caller was probably doing this too, so part
4471 of the calling convention states that \c{BP} must be preserved by
4472 any C function. Hence the callee, if it is going to set up \c{BP} as
4473 a \i\e{frame pointer}, must push the previous value first.
4475 \b The callee may then access its parameters relative to \c{BP}.
4476 The word at \c{[BP]} holds the previous value of \c{BP} as it was
4477 pushed; the next word, at \c{[BP+2]}, holds the offset part of the
4478 return address, pushed implicitly by \c{CALL}. In a small-model
4479 (near) function, the parameters start after that, at \c{[BP+4]}; in
4480 a large-model (far) function, the segment part of the return address
4481 lives at \c{[BP+4]}, and the parameters begin at \c{[BP+6]}. The
4482 leftmost parameter of the function, since it was pushed last, is
4483 accessible at this offset from \c{BP}; the others follow, at
4484 successively greater offsets. Thus, in a function such as \c{printf}
4485 which takes a variable number of parameters, the pushing of the
4486 parameters in reverse order means that the function knows where to
4487 find its first parameter, which tells it the number and type of the
4490 \b The callee may also wish to decrease \c{SP} further, so as to
4491 allocate space on the stack for local variables, which will then be
4492 accessible at negative offsets from \c{BP}.
4494 \b The callee, if it wishes to return a value to the caller, should
4495 leave the value in \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{DX:AX} depending on the size
4496 of the value. Floating-point results are sometimes (depending on the
4497 compiler) returned in \c{ST0}.
4499 \b Once the callee has finished processing, it restores \c{SP} from
4500 \c{BP} if it had allocated local stack space, then pops the previous
4501 value of \c{BP}, and returns via \c{RETN} or \c{RETF} depending on
4504 \b When the caller regains control from the callee, the function
4505 parameters are still on the stack, so it typically adds an immediate
4506 constant to \c{SP} to remove them (instead of executing a number of
4507 slow \c{POP} instructions). Thus, if a function is accidentally
4508 called with the wrong number of parameters due to a prototype
4509 mismatch, the stack will still be returned to a sensible state since
4510 the caller, which \e{knows} how many parameters it pushed, does the
4513 It is instructive to compare this calling convention with that for
4514 Pascal programs (described in \k{16bpfunc}). Pascal has a simpler
4515 convention, since no functions have variable numbers of parameters.
4516 Therefore the callee knows how many parameters it should have been
4517 passed, and is able to deallocate them from the stack itself by
4518 passing an immediate argument to the \c{RET} or \c{RETF}
4519 instruction, so the caller does not have to do it. Also, the
4520 parameters are pushed in left-to-right order, not right-to-left,
4521 which means that a compiler can give better guarantees about
4522 sequence points without performance suffering.
4524 Thus, you would define a function in C style in the following way.
4525 The following example is for small model:
4530 \c sub sp,0x40 ; 64 bytes of local stack space
4531 \c mov bx,[bp+4] ; first parameter to function
4533 \c mov sp,bp ; undo "sub sp,0x40" above
4537 For a large-model function, you would replace \c{RET} by \c{RETF},
4538 and look for the first parameter at \c{[BP+6]} instead of
4539 \c{[BP+4]}. Of course, if one of the parameters is a pointer, then
4540 the offsets of \e{subsequent} parameters will change depending on
4541 the memory model as well: far pointers take up four bytes on the
4542 stack when passed as a parameter, whereas near pointers take up two.
4544 At the other end of the process, to call a C function from your
4545 assembly code, you would do something like this:
4548 \c ; and then, further down...
4549 \c push word [myint] ; one of my integer variables
4550 \c push word mystring ; pointer into my data segment
4552 \c add sp,byte 4 ; `byte' saves space
4553 \c ; then those data items...
4556 \c mystring db 'This number -> %d <- should be 1234',10,0
4558 This piece of code is the small-model assembly equivalent of the C
4561 \c int myint = 1234;
4562 \c printf("This number -> %d <- should be 1234\n", myint);
4564 In large model, the function-call code might look more like this. In
4565 this example, it is assumed that \c{DS} already holds the segment
4566 base of the segment \c{_DATA}. If not, you would have to initialise
4569 \c push word [myint]
4570 \c push word seg mystring ; Now push the segment, and...
4571 \c push word mystring ; ... offset of "mystring"
4575 The integer value still takes up one word on the stack, since large
4576 model does not affect the size of the \c{int} data type. The first
4577 argument (pushed last) to \c{printf}, however, is a data pointer,
4578 and therefore has to contain a segment and offset part. The segment
4579 should be stored second in memory, and therefore must be pushed
4580 first. (Of course, \c{PUSH DS} would have been a shorter instruction
4581 than \c{PUSH WORD SEG mystring}, if \c{DS} was set up as the above
4582 example assumed.) Then the actual call becomes a far call, since
4583 functions expect far calls in large model; and \c{SP} has to be
4584 increased by 6 rather than 4 afterwards to make up for the extra
4588 \S{16cdata} Accessing Data Items
4590 To get at the contents of C variables, or to declare variables which
4591 C can access, you need only declare the names as \c{GLOBAL} or
4592 \c{EXTERN}. (Again, the names require leading underscores, as stated
4593 in \k{16cunder}.) Thus, a C variable declared as \c{int i} can be
4594 accessed from assembler as
4599 And to declare your own integer variable which C programs can access
4600 as \c{extern int j}, you do this (making sure you are assembling in
4601 the \c{_DATA} segment, if necessary):
4606 To access a C array, you need to know the size of the components of
4607 the array. For example, \c{int} variables are two bytes long, so if
4608 a C program declares an array as \c{int a[10]}, you can access
4609 \c{a[3]} by coding \c{mov ax,[_a+6]}. (The byte offset 6 is obtained
4610 by multiplying the desired array index, 3, by the size of the array
4611 element, 2.) The sizes of the C base types in 16-bit compilers are:
4612 1 for \c{char}, 2 for \c{short} and \c{int}, 4 for \c{long} and
4613 \c{float}, and 8 for \c{double}.
4615 To access a C \i{data structure}, you need to know the offset from
4616 the base of the structure to the field you are interested in. You
4617 can either do this by converting the C structure definition into a
4618 NASM structure definition (using \i\c{STRUC}), or by calculating the
4619 one offset and using just that.
4621 To do either of these, you should read your C compiler's manual to
4622 find out how it organises data structures. NASM gives no special
4623 alignment to structure members in its own \c{STRUC} macro, so you
4624 have to specify alignment yourself if the C compiler generates it.
4625 Typically, you might find that a structure like
4632 might be four bytes long rather than three, since the \c{int} field
4633 would be aligned to a two-byte boundary. However, this sort of
4634 feature tends to be a configurable option in the C compiler, either
4635 using command-line options or \c{#pragma} lines, so you have to find
4636 out how your own compiler does it.
4639 \S{16cmacro} \i\c{c16.mac}: Helper Macros for the 16-bit C Interface
4641 Included in the NASM archives, in the \I{misc subdirectory}\c{misc}
4642 directory, is a file \c{c16.mac} of macros. It defines three macros:
4643 \i\c{proc}, \i\c{arg} and \i\c{endproc}. These are intended to be
4644 used for C-style procedure definitions, and they automate a lot of
4645 the work involved in keeping track of the calling convention.
4647 (An alternative, TASM compatible form of \c{arg} is also now built
4648 into NASM's preprocessor. See \k{tasmcompat} for details.)
4650 An example of an assembly function using the macro set is given
4656 \c mov ax,[bp + %$i]
4657 \c mov bx,[bp + %$j]
4661 This defines \c{_nearproc} to be a procedure taking two arguments,
4662 the first (\c{i}) an integer and the second (\c{j}) a pointer to an
4663 integer. It returns \c{i + *j}.
4665 Note that the \c{arg} macro has an \c{EQU} as the first line of its
4666 expansion, and since the label before the macro call gets prepended
4667 to the first line of the expanded macro, the \c{EQU} works, defining
4668 \c{%$i} to be an offset from \c{BP}. A context-local variable is
4669 used, local to the context pushed by the \c{proc} macro and popped
4670 by the \c{endproc} macro, so that the same argument name can be used
4671 in later procedures. Of course, you don't \e{have} to do that.
4673 The macro set produces code for near functions (tiny, small and
4674 compact-model code) by default. You can have it generate far
4675 functions (medium, large and huge-model code) by means of coding
4676 \I\c{FARCODE}\c{%define FARCODE}. This changes the kind of return
4677 instruction generated by \c{endproc}, and also changes the starting
4678 point for the argument offsets. The macro set contains no intrinsic
4679 dependency on whether data pointers are far or not.
4681 \c{arg} can take an optional parameter, giving the size of the
4682 argument. If no size is given, 2 is assumed, since it is likely that
4683 many function parameters will be of type \c{int}.
4685 The large-model equivalent of the above function would look like this:
4691 \c mov ax,[bp + %$i]
4692 \c mov bx,[bp + %$j]
4693 \c mov es,[bp + %$j + 2]
4697 This makes use of the argument to the \c{arg} macro to define a
4698 parameter of size 4, because \c{j} is now a far pointer. When we
4699 load from \c{j}, we must load a segment and an offset.
4702 \H{16bp} Interfacing to \i{Borland Pascal} Programs
4704 Interfacing to Borland Pascal programs is similar in concept to
4705 interfacing to 16-bit C programs. The differences are:
4707 \b The leading underscore required for interfacing to C programs is
4708 not required for Pascal.
4710 \b The memory model is always large: functions are far, data
4711 pointers are far, and no data item can be more than 64K long.
4712 (Actually, some functions are near, but only those functions that
4713 are local to a Pascal unit and never called from outside it. All
4714 assembly functions that Pascal calls, and all Pascal functions that
4715 assembly routines are able to call, are far.) However, all static
4716 data declared in a Pascal program goes into the default data
4717 segment, which is the one whose segment address will be in \c{DS}
4718 when control is passed to your assembly code. The only things that
4719 do not live in the default data segment are local variables (they
4720 live in the stack segment) and dynamically allocated variables. All
4721 data \e{pointers}, however, are far.
4723 \b The function calling convention is different - described below.
4725 \b Some data types, such as strings, are stored differently.
4727 \b There are restrictions on the segment names you are allowed to
4728 use - Borland Pascal will ignore code or data declared in a segment
4729 it doesn't like the name of. The restrictions are described below.
4732 \S{16bpfunc} The Pascal Calling Convention
4734 \I{functions, Pascal calling convention}\I{Pascal calling
4735 convention}The 16-bit Pascal calling convention is as follows. In
4736 the following description, the words \e{caller} and \e{callee} are
4737 used to denote the function doing the calling and the function which
4740 \b The caller pushes the function's parameters on the stack, one
4741 after another, in normal order (left to right, so that the first
4742 argument specified to the function is pushed first).
4744 \b The caller then executes a far \c{CALL} instruction to pass
4745 control to the callee.
4747 \b The callee receives control, and typically (although this is not
4748 actually necessary, in functions which do not need to access their
4749 parameters) starts by saving the value of \c{SP} in \c{BP} so as to
4750 be able to use \c{BP} as a base pointer to find its parameters on
4751 the stack. However, the caller was probably doing this too, so part
4752 of the calling convention states that \c{BP} must be preserved by
4753 any function. Hence the callee, if it is going to set up \c{BP} as a
4754 \i{frame pointer}, must push the previous value first.
4756 \b The callee may then access its parameters relative to \c{BP}.
4757 The word at \c{[BP]} holds the previous value of \c{BP} as it was
4758 pushed. The next word, at \c{[BP+2]}, holds the offset part of the
4759 return address, and the next one at \c{[BP+4]} the segment part. The
4760 parameters begin at \c{[BP+6]}. The rightmost parameter of the
4761 function, since it was pushed last, is accessible at this offset
4762 from \c{BP}; the others follow, at successively greater offsets.
4764 \b The callee may also wish to decrease \c{SP} further, so as to
4765 allocate space on the stack for local variables, which will then be
4766 accessible at negative offsets from \c{BP}.
4768 \b The callee, if it wishes to return a value to the caller, should
4769 leave the value in \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{DX:AX} depending on the size
4770 of the value. Floating-point results are returned in \c{ST0}.
4771 Results of type \c{Real} (Borland's own custom floating-point data
4772 type, not handled directly by the FPU) are returned in \c{DX:BX:AX}.
4773 To return a result of type \c{String}, the caller pushes a pointer
4774 to a temporary string before pushing the parameters, and the callee
4775 places the returned string value at that location. The pointer is
4776 not a parameter, and should not be removed from the stack by the
4777 \c{RETF} instruction.
4779 \b Once the callee has finished processing, it restores \c{SP} from
4780 \c{BP} if it had allocated local stack space, then pops the previous
4781 value of \c{BP}, and returns via \c{RETF}. It uses the form of
4782 \c{RETF} with an immediate parameter, giving the number of bytes
4783 taken up by the parameters on the stack. This causes the parameters
4784 to be removed from the stack as a side effect of the return
4787 \b When the caller regains control from the callee, the function
4788 parameters have already been removed from the stack, so it needs to
4791 Thus, you would define a function in Pascal style, taking two
4792 \c{Integer}-type parameters, in the following way:
4797 \c sub sp,0x40 ; 64 bytes of local stack space
4798 \c mov bx,[bp+8] ; first parameter to function
4799 \c mov bx,[bp+6] ; second parameter to function
4801 \c mov sp,bp ; undo "sub sp,0x40" above
4803 \c retf 4 ; total size of params is 4
4805 At the other end of the process, to call a Pascal function from your
4806 assembly code, you would do something like this:
4809 \c ; and then, further down...
4810 \c push word seg mystring ; Now push the segment, and...
4811 \c push word mystring ; ... offset of "mystring"
4812 \c push word [myint] ; one of my variables
4813 \c call far SomeFunc
4815 This is equivalent to the Pascal code
4817 \c procedure SomeFunc(String: PChar; Int: Integer);
4818 \c SomeFunc(@mystring, myint);
4821 \S{16bpseg} Borland Pascal \I{segment names, Borland Pascal}Segment
4824 Since Borland Pascal's internal unit file format is completely
4825 different from \c{OBJ}, it only makes a very sketchy job of actually
4826 reading and understanding the various information contained in a
4827 real \c{OBJ} file when it links that in. Therefore an object file
4828 intended to be linked to a Pascal program must obey a number of
4831 \b Procedures and functions must be in a segment whose name is
4832 either \c{CODE}, \c{CSEG}, or something ending in \c{_TEXT}.
4834 \b Initialised data must be in a segment whose name is either
4835 \c{CONST} or something ending in \c{_DATA}.
4837 \b Uninitialised data must be in a segment whose name is either
4838 \c{DATA}, \c{DSEG}, or something ending in \c{_BSS}.
4840 \b Any other segments in the object file are completely ignored.
4841 \c{GROUP} directives and segment attributes are also ignored.
4844 \S{16bpmacro} Using \i\c{c16.mac} With Pascal Programs
4846 The \c{c16.mac} macro package, described in \k{16cmacro}, can also
4847 be used to simplify writing functions to be called from Pascal
4848 programs, if you code \I\c{PASCAL}\c{%define PASCAL}. This
4849 definition ensures that functions are far (it implies
4850 \i\c{FARCODE}), and also causes procedure return instructions to be
4851 generated with an operand.
4853 Defining \c{PASCAL} does not change the code which calculates the
4854 argument offsets; you must declare your function's arguments in
4855 reverse order. For example:
4861 \c mov ax,[bp + %$i]
4862 \c mov bx,[bp + %$j]
4863 \c mov es,[bp + %$j + 2]
4867 This defines the same routine, conceptually, as the example in
4868 \k{16cmacro}: it defines a function taking two arguments, an integer
4869 and a pointer to an integer, which returns the sum of the integer
4870 and the contents of the pointer. The only difference between this
4871 code and the large-model C version is that \c{PASCAL} is defined
4872 instead of \c{FARCODE}, and that the arguments are declared in
4876 \C{32bit} Writing 32-bit Code (Unix, Win32, DJGPP)
4878 This chapter attempts to cover some of the common issues involved
4879 when writing 32-bit code, to run under \i{Win32} or Unix, or to be
4880 linked with C code generated by a Unix-style C compiler such as
4881 \i{DJGPP}. It covers how to write assembly code to interface with
4882 32-bit C routines, and how to write position-independent code for
4885 Almost all 32-bit code, and in particular all code running under
4886 \c{Win32}, \c{DJGPP} or any of the PC Unix variants, runs in \I{flat
4887 memory model}\e{flat} memory model. This means that the segment registers
4888 and paging have already been set up to give you the same 32-bit 4Gb
4889 address space no matter what segment you work relative to, and that
4890 you should ignore all segment registers completely. When writing
4891 flat-model application code, you never need to use a segment
4892 override or modify any segment register, and the code-section
4893 addresses you pass to \c{CALL} and \c{JMP} live in the same address
4894 space as the data-section addresses you access your variables by and
4895 the stack-section addresses you access local variables and procedure
4896 parameters by. Every address is 32 bits long and contains only an
4900 \H{32c} Interfacing to 32-bit C Programs
4902 A lot of the discussion in \k{16c}, about interfacing to 16-bit C
4903 programs, still applies when working in 32 bits. The absence of
4904 memory models or segmentation worries simplifies things a lot.
4907 \S{32cunder} External Symbol Names
4909 Most 32-bit C compilers share the convention used by 16-bit
4910 compilers, that the names of all global symbols (functions or data)
4911 they define are formed by prefixing an underscore to the name as it
4912 appears in the C program. However, not all of them do: the \c{ELF}
4913 specification states that C symbols do \e{not} have a leading
4914 underscore on their assembly-language names.
4916 The older Linux \c{a.out} C compiler, all \c{Win32} compilers,
4917 \c{DJGPP}, and \c{NetBSD} and \c{FreeBSD}, all use the leading
4918 underscore; for these compilers, the macros \c{cextern} and
4919 \c{cglobal}, as given in \k{16cunder}, will still work. For \c{ELF},
4920 though, the leading underscore should not be used.
4923 \S{32cfunc} Function Definitions and Function Calls
4925 \I{functions, C calling convention}The \i{C calling convention}The C
4926 calling convention in 32-bit programs is as follows. In the
4927 following description, the words \e{caller} and \e{callee} are used
4928 to denote the function doing the calling and the function which gets
4931 \b The caller pushes the function's parameters on the stack, one
4932 after another, in reverse order (right to left, so that the first
4933 argument specified to the function is pushed last).
4935 \b The caller then executes a near \c{CALL} instruction to pass
4936 control to the callee.
4938 \b The callee receives control, and typically (although this is not
4939 actually necessary, in functions which do not need to access their
4940 parameters) starts by saving the value of \c{ESP} in \c{EBP} so as
4941 to be able to use \c{EBP} as a base pointer to find its parameters
4942 on the stack. However, the caller was probably doing this too, so
4943 part of the calling convention states that \c{EBP} must be preserved
4944 by any C function. Hence the callee, if it is going to set up
4945 \c{EBP} as a \i{frame pointer}, must push the previous value first.
4947 \b The callee may then access its parameters relative to \c{EBP}.
4948 The doubleword at \c{[EBP]} holds the previous value of \c{EBP} as
4949 it was pushed; the next doubleword, at \c{[EBP+4]}, holds the return
4950 address, pushed implicitly by \c{CALL}. The parameters start after
4951 that, at \c{[EBP+8]}. The leftmost parameter of the function, since
4952 it was pushed last, is accessible at this offset from \c{EBP}; the
4953 others follow, at successively greater offsets. Thus, in a function
4954 such as \c{printf} which takes a variable number of parameters, the
4955 pushing of the parameters in reverse order means that the function
4956 knows where to find its first parameter, which tells it the number
4957 and type of the remaining ones.
4959 \b The callee may also wish to decrease \c{ESP} further, so as to
4960 allocate space on the stack for local variables, which will then be
4961 accessible at negative offsets from \c{EBP}.
4963 \b The callee, if it wishes to return a value to the caller, should
4964 leave the value in \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{EAX} depending on the size
4965 of the value. Floating-point results are typically returned in
4968 \b Once the callee has finished processing, it restores \c{ESP} from
4969 \c{EBP} if it had allocated local stack space, then pops the previous
4970 value of \c{EBP}, and returns via \c{RET} (equivalently, \c{RETN}).
4972 \b When the caller regains control from the callee, the function
4973 parameters are still on the stack, so it typically adds an immediate
4974 constant to \c{ESP} to remove them (instead of executing a number of
4975 slow \c{POP} instructions). Thus, if a function is accidentally
4976 called with the wrong number of parameters due to a prototype
4977 mismatch, the stack will still be returned to a sensible state since
4978 the caller, which \e{knows} how many parameters it pushed, does the
4981 There is an alternative calling convention used by Win32 programs
4982 for Windows API calls, and also for functions called \e{by} the
4983 Windows API such as window procedures: they follow what Microsoft
4984 calls the \c{__stdcall} convention. This is slightly closer to the
4985 Pascal convention, in that the callee clears the stack by passing a
4986 parameter to the \c{RET} instruction. However, the parameters are
4987 still pushed in right-to-left order.
4989 Thus, you would define a function in C style in the following way:
4992 \c _myfunc: push ebp
4994 \c sub esp,0x40 ; 64 bytes of local stack space
4995 \c mov ebx,[ebp+8] ; first parameter to function
4997 \c leave ; mov esp,ebp / pop ebp
5000 At the other end of the process, to call a C function from your
5001 assembly code, you would do something like this:
5004 \c ; and then, further down...
5005 \c push dword [myint] ; one of my integer variables
5006 \c push dword mystring ; pointer into my data segment
5008 \c add esp,byte 8 ; `byte' saves space
5009 \c ; then those data items...
5012 \c mystring db 'This number -> %d <- should be 1234',10,0
5014 This piece of code is the assembly equivalent of the C code
5016 \c int myint = 1234;
5017 \c printf("This number -> %d <- should be 1234\n", myint);
5020 \S{32cdata} Accessing Data Items
5022 To get at the contents of C variables, or to declare variables which
5023 C can access, you need only declare the names as \c{GLOBAL} or
5024 \c{EXTERN}. (Again, the names require leading underscores, as stated
5025 in \k{32cunder}.) Thus, a C variable declared as \c{int i} can be
5026 accessed from assembler as
5031 And to declare your own integer variable which C programs can access
5032 as \c{extern int j}, you do this (making sure you are assembling in
5033 the \c{_DATA} segment, if necessary):
5038 To access a C array, you need to know the size of the components of
5039 the array. For example, \c{int} variables are four bytes long, so if
5040 a C program declares an array as \c{int a[10]}, you can access
5041 \c{a[3]} by coding \c{mov ax,[_a+12]}. (The byte offset 12 is obtained
5042 by multiplying the desired array index, 3, by the size of the array
5043 element, 4.) The sizes of the C base types in 32-bit compilers are:
5044 1 for \c{char}, 2 for \c{short}, 4 for \c{int}, \c{long} and
5045 \c{float}, and 8 for \c{double}. Pointers, being 32-bit addresses,
5046 are also 4 bytes long.
5048 To access a C \i{data structure}, you need to know the offset from
5049 the base of the structure to the field you are interested in. You
5050 can either do this by converting the C structure definition into a
5051 NASM structure definition (using \c{STRUC}), or by calculating the
5052 one offset and using just that.
5054 To do either of these, you should read your C compiler's manual to
5055 find out how it organises data structures. NASM gives no special
5056 alignment to structure members in its own \i\c{STRUC} macro, so you
5057 have to specify alignment yourself if the C compiler generates it.
5058 Typically, you might find that a structure like
5065 might be eight bytes long rather than five, since the \c{int} field
5066 would be aligned to a four-byte boundary. However, this sort of
5067 feature is sometimes a configurable option in the C compiler, either
5068 using command-line options or \c{#pragma} lines, so you have to find
5069 out how your own compiler does it.
5072 \S{32cmacro} \i\c{c32.mac}: Helper Macros for the 32-bit C Interface
5074 Included in the NASM archives, in the \I{misc directory}\c{misc}
5075 directory, is a file \c{c32.mac} of macros. It defines three macros:
5076 \i\c{proc}, \i\c{arg} and \i\c{endproc}. These are intended to be
5077 used for C-style procedure definitions, and they automate a lot of
5078 the work involved in keeping track of the calling convention.
5080 An example of an assembly function using the macro set is given
5086 \c mov eax,[ebp + %$i]
5087 \c mov ebx,[ebp + %$j]
5091 This defines \c{_proc32} to be a procedure taking two arguments, the
5092 first (\c{i}) an integer and the second (\c{j}) a pointer to an
5093 integer. It returns \c{i + *j}.
5095 Note that the \c{arg} macro has an \c{EQU} as the first line of its
5096 expansion, and since the label before the macro call gets prepended
5097 to the first line of the expanded macro, the \c{EQU} works, defining
5098 \c{%$i} to be an offset from \c{BP}. A context-local variable is
5099 used, local to the context pushed by the \c{proc} macro and popped
5100 by the \c{endproc} macro, so that the same argument name can be used
5101 in later procedures. Of course, you don't \e{have} to do that.
5103 \c{arg} can take an optional parameter, giving the size of the
5104 argument. If no size is given, 4 is assumed, since it is likely that
5105 many function parameters will be of type \c{int} or pointers.
5108 \H{picdll} Writing NetBSD/FreeBSD/OpenBSD and Linux/ELF \i{Shared
5111 \c{ELF} replaced the older \c{a.out} object file format under Linux
5112 because it contains support for \i{position-independent code}
5113 (\i{PIC}), which makes writing shared libraries much easier. NASM
5114 supports the \c{ELF} position-independent code features, so you can
5115 write Linux \c{ELF} shared libraries in NASM.
5117 \i{NetBSD}, and its close cousins \i{FreeBSD} and \i{OpenBSD}, take
5118 a different approach by hacking PIC support into the \c{a.out}
5119 format. NASM supports this as the \i\c{aoutb} output format, so you
5120 can write \i{BSD} shared libraries in NASM too.
5122 The operating system loads a PIC shared library by memory-mapping
5123 the library file at an arbitrarily chosen point in the address space
5124 of the running process. The contents of the library's code section
5125 must therefore not depend on where it is loaded in memory.
5127 Therefore, you cannot get at your variables by writing code like
5130 \c mov eax,[myvar] ; WRONG
5132 Instead, the linker provides an area of memory called the
5133 \i\e{global offset table}, or \i{GOT}; the GOT is situated at a
5134 constant distance from your library's code, so if you can find out
5135 where your library is loaded (which is typically done using a
5136 \c{CALL} and \c{POP} combination), you can obtain the address of the
5137 GOT, and you can then load the addresses of your variables out of
5138 linker-generated entries in the GOT.
5140 The \e{data} section of a PIC shared library does not have these
5141 restrictions: since the data section is writable, it has to be
5142 copied into memory anyway rather than just paged in from the library
5143 file, so as long as it's being copied it can be relocated too. So
5144 you can put ordinary types of relocation in the data section without
5145 too much worry (but see \k{picglobal} for a caveat).
5148 \S{picgot} Obtaining the Address of the GOT
5150 Each code module in your shared library should define the GOT as an
5153 \c extern _GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_ ; in ELF
5154 \c extern __GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_ ; in BSD a.out
5156 At the beginning of any function in your shared library which plans
5157 to access your data or BSS sections, you must first calculate the
5158 address of the GOT. This is typically done by writing the function
5165 \c .get_GOT: pop ebx
5166 \c add ebx,_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_+$$-.get_GOT wrt ..gotpc
5167 \c ; the function body comes here
5173 (For BSD, again, the symbol \c{_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE} requires a
5174 second leading underscore.)
5176 The first two lines of this function are simply the standard C
5177 prologue to set up a stack frame, and the last three lines are
5178 standard C function epilogue. The third line, and the fourth to last
5179 line, save and restore the \c{EBX} register, because PIC shared
5180 libraries use this register to store the address of the GOT.
5182 The interesting bit is the \c{CALL} instruction and the following
5183 two lines. The \c{CALL} and \c{POP} combination obtains the address
5184 of the label \c{.get_GOT}, without having to know in advance where
5185 the program was loaded (since the \c{CALL} instruction is encoded
5186 relative to the current position). The \c{ADD} instruction makes use
5187 of one of the special PIC relocation types: \i{GOTPC relocation}.
5188 With the \i\c{WRT ..gotpc} qualifier specified, the symbol
5189 referenced (here \c{_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_}, the special symbol
5190 assigned to the GOT) is given as an offset from the beginning of the
5191 section. (Actually, \c{ELF} encodes it as the offset from the operand
5192 field of the \c{ADD} instruction, but NASM simplifies this
5193 deliberately, so you do things the same way for both \c{ELF} and
5194 \c{BSD}.) So the instruction then \e{adds} the beginning of the section,
5195 to get the real address of the GOT, and subtracts the value of
5196 \c{.get_GOT} which it knows is in \c{EBX}. Therefore, by the time
5197 that instruction has finished, \c{EBX} contains the address of the GOT.
5199 If you didn't follow that, don't worry: it's never necessary to
5200 obtain the address of the GOT by any other means, so you can put
5201 those three instructions into a macro and safely ignore them:
5205 \c %%getgot: pop ebx
5206 \c add ebx,_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_+$$-%%getgot wrt ..gotpc
5209 \S{piclocal} Finding Your Local Data Items
5211 Having got the GOT, you can then use it to obtain the addresses of
5212 your data items. Most variables will reside in the sections you have
5213 declared; they can be accessed using the \I{GOTOFF
5214 relocation}\c{..gotoff} special \I\c{WRT ..gotoff}\c{WRT} type. The
5215 way this works is like this:
5217 \c lea eax,[ebx+myvar wrt ..gotoff]
5219 The expression \c{myvar wrt ..gotoff} is calculated, when the shared
5220 library is linked, to be the offset to the local variable \c{myvar}
5221 from the beginning of the GOT. Therefore, adding it to \c{EBX} as
5222 above will place the real address of \c{myvar} in \c{EAX}.
5224 If you declare variables as \c{GLOBAL} without specifying a size for
5225 them, they are shared between code modules in the library, but do
5226 not get exported from the library to the program that loaded it.
5227 They will still be in your ordinary data and BSS sections, so you
5228 can access them in the same way as local variables, using the above
5229 \c{..gotoff} mechanism.
5231 Note that due to a peculiarity of the way BSD \c{a.out} format
5232 handles this relocation type, there must be at least one non-local
5233 symbol in the same section as the address you're trying to access.
5236 \S{picextern} Finding External and Common Data Items
5238 If your library needs to get at an external variable (external to
5239 the \e{library}, not just to one of the modules within it), you must
5240 use the \I{GOT relocations}\I\c{WRT ..got}\c{..got} type to get at
5241 it. The \c{..got} type, instead of giving you the offset from the
5242 GOT base to the variable, gives you the offset from the GOT base to
5243 a GOT \e{entry} containing the address of the variable. The linker
5244 will set up this GOT entry when it builds the library, and the
5245 dynamic linker will place the correct address in it at load time. So
5246 to obtain the address of an external variable \c{extvar} in \c{EAX},
5249 \c mov eax,[ebx+extvar wrt ..got]
5251 This loads the address of \c{extvar} out of an entry in the GOT. The
5252 linker, when it builds the shared library, collects together every
5253 relocation of type \c{..got}, and builds the GOT so as to ensure it
5254 has every necessary entry present.
5256 Common variables must also be accessed in this way.
5259 \S{picglobal} Exporting Symbols to the Library User
5261 If you want to export symbols to the user of the library, you have
5262 to declare whether they are functions or data, and if they are data,
5263 you have to give the size of the data item. This is because the
5264 dynamic linker has to build \I{PLT}\i{procedure linkage table}
5265 entries for any exported functions, and also moves exported data
5266 items away from the library's data section in which they were
5269 So to export a function to users of the library, you must use
5271 \c global func:function ; declare it as a function
5275 And to export a data item such as an array, you would have to code
5277 \c global array:data array.end-array ; give the size too
5281 Be careful: If you export a variable to the library user, by
5282 declaring it as \c{GLOBAL} and supplying a size, the variable will
5283 end up living in the data section of the main program, rather than
5284 in your library's data section, where you declared it. So you will
5285 have to access your own global variable with the \c{..got} mechanism
5286 rather than \c{..gotoff}, as if it were external (which,
5287 effectively, it has become).
5289 Equally, if you need to store the address of an exported global in
5290 one of your data sections, you can't do it by means of the standard
5293 \c dataptr: dd global_data_item ; WRONG
5295 NASM will interpret this code as an ordinary relocation, in which
5296 \c{global_data_item} is merely an offset from the beginning of the
5297 \c{.data} section (or whatever); so this reference will end up
5298 pointing at your data section instead of at the exported global
5299 which resides elsewhere.
5301 Instead of the above code, then, you must write
5303 \c dataptr: dd global_data_item wrt ..sym
5305 which makes use of the special \c{WRT} type \I\c{WRT ..sym}\c{..sym}
5306 to instruct NASM to search the symbol table for a particular symbol
5307 at that address, rather than just relocating by section base.
5309 Either method will work for functions: referring to one of your
5310 functions by means of
5312 \c funcptr: dd my_function
5314 will give the user the address of the code you wrote, whereas
5316 \c funcptr: dd my_function wrt ..sym
5318 will give the address of the procedure linkage table for the
5319 function, which is where the calling program will \e{believe} the
5320 function lives. Either address is a valid way to call the function.
5323 \S{picproc} Calling Procedures Outside the Library
5325 Calling procedures outside your shared library has to be done by
5326 means of a \i\e{procedure linkage table}, or \i{PLT}. The PLT is
5327 placed at a known offset from where the library is loaded, so the
5328 library code can make calls to the PLT in a position-independent
5329 way. Within the PLT there is code to jump to offsets contained in
5330 the GOT, so function calls to other shared libraries or to routines
5331 in the main program can be transparently passed off to their real
5334 To call an external routine, you must use another special PIC
5335 relocation type, \I{PLT relocations}\i\c{WRT ..plt}. This is much
5336 easier than the GOT-based ones: you simply replace calls such as
5337 \c{CALL printf} with the PLT-relative version \c{CALL printf WRT
5341 \S{link} Generating the Library File
5343 Having written some code modules and assembled them to \c{.o} files,
5344 you then generate your shared library with a command such as
5346 \c ld -shared -o library.so module1.o module2.o # for ELF
5347 \c ld -Bshareable -o library.so module1.o module2.o # for BSD
5349 For ELF, if your shared library is going to reside in system
5350 directories such as \c{/usr/lib} or \c{/lib}, it is usually worth
5351 using the \i\c{-soname} flag to the linker, to store the final
5352 library file name, with a version number, into the library:
5354 \c ld -shared -soname library.so.1 -o library.so.1.2 *.o
5356 You would then copy \c{library.so.1.2} into the library directory,
5357 and create \c{library.so.1} as a symbolic link to it.
5360 \C{mixsize} Mixing 16 and 32 Bit Code
5362 This chapter tries to cover some of the issues, largely related to
5363 unusual forms of addressing and jump instructions, encountered when
5364 writing operating system code such as protected-mode initialisation
5365 routines, which require code that operates in mixed segment sizes,
5366 such as code in a 16-bit segment trying to modify data in a 32-bit
5367 one, or jumps between different-size segments.
5370 \H{mixjump} Mixed-Size Jumps\I{jumps, mixed-size}
5372 \I{operating system, writing}\I{writing operating systems}The most
5373 common form of \i{mixed-size instruction} is the one used when
5374 writing a 32-bit OS: having done your setup in 16-bit mode, such as
5375 loading the kernel, you then have to boot it by switching into
5376 protected mode and jumping to the 32-bit kernel start address. In a
5377 fully 32-bit OS, this tends to be the \e{only} mixed-size
5378 instruction you need, since everything before it can be done in pure
5379 16-bit code, and everything after it can be pure 32-bit.
5381 This jump must specify a 48-bit far address, since the target
5382 segment is a 32-bit one. However, it must be assembled in a 16-bit
5383 segment, so just coding, for example,
5385 \c jmp 0x1234:0x56789ABC ; wrong!
5387 will not work, since the offset part of the address will be
5388 truncated to \c{0x9ABC} and the jump will be an ordinary 16-bit far
5391 The Linux kernel setup code gets round the inability of \c{as86} to
5392 generate the required instruction by coding it manually, using
5393 \c{DB} instructions. NASM can go one better than that, by actually
5394 generating the right instruction itself. Here's how to do it right:
5396 \c jmp dword 0x1234:0x56789ABC ; right
5398 \I\c{JMP DWORD}The \c{DWORD} prefix (strictly speaking, it should
5399 come \e{after} the colon, since it is declaring the \e{offset} field
5400 to be a doubleword; but NASM will accept either form, since both are
5401 unambiguous) forces the offset part to be treated as far, in the
5402 assumption that you are deliberately writing a jump from a 16-bit
5403 segment to a 32-bit one.
5405 You can do the reverse operation, jumping from a 32-bit segment to a
5406 16-bit one, by means of the \c{WORD} prefix:
5408 \c jmp word 0x8765:0x4321 ; 32 to 16 bit
5410 If the \c{WORD} prefix is specified in 16-bit mode, or the \c{DWORD}
5411 prefix in 32-bit mode, they will be ignored, since each is
5412 explicitly forcing NASM into a mode it was in anyway.
5415 \H{mixaddr} Addressing Between Different-Size Segments\I{addressing,
5416 mixed-size}\I{mixed-size addressing}
5418 If your OS is mixed 16 and 32-bit, or if you are writing a DOS
5419 extender, you are likely to have to deal with some 16-bit segments
5420 and some 32-bit ones. At some point, you will probably end up
5421 writing code in a 16-bit segment which has to access data in a
5422 32-bit segment, or vice versa.
5424 If the data you are trying to access in a 32-bit segment lies within
5425 the first 64K of the segment, you may be able to get away with using
5426 an ordinary 16-bit addressing operation for the purpose; but sooner
5427 or later, you will want to do 32-bit addressing from 16-bit mode.
5429 The easiest way to do this is to make sure you use a register for
5430 the address, since any effective address containing a 32-bit
5431 register is forced to be a 32-bit address. So you can do
5433 \c mov eax,offset_into_32_bit_segment_specified_by_fs
5434 \c mov dword [fs:eax],0x11223344
5436 This is fine, but slightly cumbersome (since it wastes an
5437 instruction and a register) if you already know the precise offset
5438 you are aiming at. The x86 architecture does allow 32-bit effective
5439 addresses to specify nothing but a 4-byte offset, so why shouldn't
5440 NASM be able to generate the best instruction for the purpose?
5442 It can. As in \k{mixjump}, you need only prefix the address with the
5443 \c{DWORD} keyword, and it will be forced to be a 32-bit address:
5445 \c mov dword [fs:dword my_offset],0x11223344
5447 Also as in \k{mixjump}, NASM is not fussy about whether the
5448 \c{DWORD} prefix comes before or after the segment override, so
5449 arguably a nicer-looking way to code the above instruction is
5451 \c mov dword [dword fs:my_offset],0x11223344
5453 Don't confuse the \c{DWORD} prefix \e{outside} the square brackets,
5454 which controls the size of the data stored at the address, with the
5455 one \c{inside} the square brackets which controls the length of the
5456 address itself. The two can quite easily be different:
5458 \c mov word [dword 0x12345678],0x9ABC
5460 This moves 16 bits of data to an address specified by a 32-bit
5463 You can also specify \c{WORD} or \c{DWORD} prefixes along with the
5464 \c{FAR} prefix to indirect far jumps or calls. For example:
5466 \c call dword far [fs:word 0x4321]
5468 This instruction contains an address specified by a 16-bit offset;
5469 it loads a 48-bit far pointer from that (16-bit segment and 32-bit
5470 offset), and calls that address.
5473 \H{mixother} Other Mixed-Size Instructions
5475 The other way you might want to access data might be using the
5476 string instructions (\c{LODSx}, \c{STOSx} and so on) or the
5477 \c{XLATB} instruction. These instructions, since they take no
5478 parameters, might seem to have no easy way to make them perform
5479 32-bit addressing when assembled in a 16-bit segment.
5481 This is the purpose of NASM's \i\c{a16} and \i\c{a32} prefixes. If
5482 you are coding \c{LODSB} in a 16-bit segment but it is supposed to
5483 be accessing a string in a 32-bit segment, you should load the
5484 desired address into \c{ESI} and then code
5488 The prefix forces the addressing size to 32 bits, meaning that
5489 \c{LODSB} loads from \c{[DS:ESI]} instead of \c{[DS:SI]}. To access
5490 a string in a 16-bit segment when coding in a 32-bit one, the
5491 corresponding \c{a16} prefix can be used.
5493 The \c{a16} and \c{a32} prefixes can be applied to any instruction
5494 in NASM's instruction table, but most of them can generate all the
5495 useful forms without them. The prefixes are necessary only for
5496 instructions with implicit addressing: \c{CMPSx} (\k{insCMPSB}),
5497 \c{SCASx} (\k{insSCASB}), \c{LODSx} (\k{insLODSB}), \c{STOSx}
5498 (\k{insSTOSB}), \c{MOVSx} (\k{insMOVSB}), \c{INSx} (\k{insINSB}),
5499 \c{OUTSx} (\k{insOUTSB}), and \c{XLATB} (\k{insXLATB}). Also, the
5500 various push and pop instructions (\c{PUSHA} and \c{POPF} as well as
5501 the more usual \c{PUSH} and \c{POP}) can accept \c{a16} or \c{a32}
5502 prefixes to force a particular one of \c{SP} or \c{ESP} to be used
5503 as a stack pointer, in case the stack segment in use is a different
5504 size from the code segment.
5506 \c{PUSH} and \c{POP}, when applied to segment registers in 32-bit
5507 mode, also have the slightly odd behaviour that they push and pop 4
5508 bytes at a time, of which the top two are ignored and the bottom two
5509 give the value of the segment register being manipulated. To force
5510 the 16-bit behaviour of segment-register push and pop instructions,
5511 you can use the operand-size prefix \i\c{o16}:
5516 This code saves a doubleword of stack space by fitting two segment
5517 registers into the space which would normally be consumed by pushing
5520 (You can also use the \i\c{o32} prefix to force the 32-bit behaviour
5521 when in 16-bit mode, but this seems less useful.)
5524 \C{trouble} Troubleshooting
5526 This chapter describes some of the common problems that users have
5527 been known to encounter with NASM, and answers them. It also gives
5528 instructions for reporting bugs in NASM if you find a difficulty
5529 that isn't listed here.
5532 \H{problems} Common Problems
5534 \S{inefficient} NASM Generates \i{Inefficient Code}
5536 I get a lot of `bug' reports about NASM generating inefficient, or
5537 even `wrong', code on instructions such as \c{ADD ESP,8}. This is a
5538 deliberate design feature, connected to predictability of output:
5539 NASM, on seeing \c{ADD ESP,8}, will generate the form of the
5540 instruction which leaves room for a 32-bit offset. You need to code
5541 \I\c{BYTE}\c{ADD ESP,BYTE 8} if you want the space-efficient
5542 form of the instruction. This isn't a bug: at worst it's a
5543 misfeature, and that's a matter of opinion only.
5546 \S{jmprange} My Jumps are Out of Range\I{out of range, jumps}
5548 Similarly, people complain that when they issue \i{conditional
5549 jumps} (which are \c{SHORT} by default) that try to jump too far,
5550 NASM reports `short jump out of range' instead of making the jumps
5553 This, again, is partly a predictability issue, but in fact has a
5554 more practical reason as well. NASM has no means of being told what
5555 type of processor the code it is generating will be run on; so it
5556 cannot decide for itself that it should generate \i\c{Jcc NEAR} type
5557 instructions, because it doesn't know that it's working for a 386 or
5558 above. Alternatively, it could replace the out-of-range short
5559 \c{JNE} instruction with a very short \c{JE} instruction that jumps
5560 over a \c{JMP NEAR}; this is a sensible solution for processors
5561 below a 386, but hardly efficient on processors which have good
5562 branch prediction \e{and} could have used \c{JNE NEAR} instead. So,
5563 once again, it's up to the user, not the assembler, to decide what
5564 instructions should be generated.
5567 \S{proborg} \i\c{ORG} Doesn't Work
5569 People writing \i{boot sector} programs in the \c{bin} format often
5570 complain that \c{ORG} doesn't work the way they'd like: in order to
5571 place the \c{0xAA55} signature word at the end of a 512-byte boot
5572 sector, people who are used to MASM tend to code
5575 \c ; some boot sector code
5579 This is not the intended use of the \c{ORG} directive in NASM, and
5580 will not work. The correct way to solve this problem in NASM is to
5581 use the \i\c{TIMES} directive, like this:
5584 \c ; some boot sector code
5585 \c TIMES 510-($-$$) DB 0
5588 The \c{TIMES} directive will insert exactly enough zero bytes into
5589 the output to move the assembly point up to 510. This method also
5590 has the advantage that if you accidentally fill your boot sector too
5591 full, NASM will catch the problem at assembly time and report it, so
5592 you won't end up with a boot sector that you have to disassemble to
5593 find out what's wrong with it.
5596 \S{probtimes} \i\c{TIMES} Doesn't Work
5598 The other common problem with the above code is people who write the
5603 by reasoning that \c{$} should be a pure number, just like 510, so
5604 the difference between them is also a pure number and can happily be
5607 NASM is a \e{modular} assembler: the various component parts are
5608 designed to be easily separable for re-use, so they don't exchange
5609 information unnecessarily. In consequence, the \c{bin} output
5610 format, even though it has been told by the \c{ORG} directive that
5611 the \c{.text} section should start at 0, does not pass that
5612 information back to the expression evaluator. So from the
5613 evaluator's point of view, \c{$} isn't a pure number: it's an offset
5614 from a section base. Therefore the difference between \c{$} and 510
5615 is also not a pure number, but involves a section base. Values
5616 involving section bases cannot be passed as arguments to \c{TIMES}.
5618 The solution, as in the previous section, is to code the \c{TIMES}
5621 \c TIMES 510-($-$$) DB 0
5623 in which \c{$} and \c{$$} are offsets from the same section base,
5624 and so their difference is a pure number. This will solve the
5625 problem and generate sensible code.
5628 \H{bugs} \i{Bugs}\I{reporting bugs}
5630 We have never yet released a version of NASM with any \e{known}
5631 bugs. That doesn't usually stop there being plenty we didn't know
5632 about, though. Any that you find should be reported firstly via the
5634 \W{http://nasm.2y.net/bugtracker/}\c{http://nasm.2y.net/bugtracker/},
5635 or if that fails then through one of the contacts in \k{contact}
5637 Please read \k{qstart} first, and don't report the bug if it's
5638 listed in there as a deliberate feature. (If you think the feature
5639 is badly thought out, feel free to send us reasons why you think it
5640 should be changed, but don't just send us mail saying `This is a
5641 bug' if the documentation says we did it on purpose.) Then read
5642 \k{problems}, and don't bother reporting the bug if it's listed
5645 If you do report a bug, \e{please} give us all of the following
5648 \b What operating system you're running NASM under. DOS, Linux,
5649 NetBSD, Win16, Win32, VMS (I'd be impressed), whatever.
5651 \b If you're running NASM under DOS or Win32, tell us whether you've
5652 compiled your own executable from the DOS source archive, or whether
5653 you were using the standard distribution binaries out of the
5654 archive. If you were using a locally built executable, try to
5655 reproduce the problem using one of the standard binaries, as this
5656 will make it easier for us to reproduce your problem prior to fixing
5659 \b Which version of NASM you're using, and exactly how you invoked
5660 it. Give us the precise command line, and the contents of the
5661 \c{NASMENV} environment variable if any.
5663 \b Which versions of any supplementary programs you're using, and
5664 how you invoked them. If the problem only becomes visible at link
5665 time, tell us what linker you're using, what version of it you've
5666 got, and the exact linker command line. If the problem involves
5667 linking against object files generated by a compiler, tell us what
5668 compiler, what version, and what command line or options you used.
5669 (If you're compiling in an IDE, please try to reproduce the problem
5670 with the command-line version of the compiler.)
5672 \b If at all possible, send us a NASM source file which exhibits the
5673 problem. If this causes copyright problems (e.g. you can only
5674 reproduce the bug in restricted-distribution code) then bear in mind
5675 the following two points: firstly, we guarantee that any source code
5676 sent to us for the purposes of debugging NASM will be used \e{only}
5677 for the purposes of debugging NASM, and that we will delete all our
5678 copies of it as soon as we have found and fixed the bug or bugs in
5679 question; and secondly, we would prefer \e{not} to be mailed large
5680 chunks of code anyway. The smaller the file, the better. A
5681 three-line sample file that does nothing useful \e{except}
5682 demonstrate the problem is much easier to work with than a
5683 fully fledged ten-thousand-line program. (Of course, some errors
5684 \e{do} only crop up in large files, so this may not be possible.)
5686 \b A description of what the problem actually \e{is}. `It doesn't
5687 work' is \e{not} a helpful description! Please describe exactly what
5688 is happening that shouldn't be, or what isn't happening that should.
5689 Examples might be: `NASM generates an error message saying Line 3
5690 for an error that's actually on Line 5'; `NASM generates an error
5691 message that I believe it shouldn't be generating at all'; `NASM
5692 fails to generate an error message that I believe it \e{should} be
5693 generating'; `the object file produced from this source code crashes
5694 my linker'; `the ninth byte of the output file is 66 and I think it
5695 should be 77 instead'.
5697 \b If you believe the output file from NASM to be faulty, send it to
5698 us. That allows us to determine whether our own copy of NASM
5699 generates the same file, or whether the problem is related to
5700 portability issues between our development platforms and yours. We
5701 can handle binary files mailed to us as MIME attachments, uuencoded,
5702 and even BinHex. Alternatively, we may be able to provide an FTP
5703 site you can upload the suspect files to; but mailing them is easier
5706 \b Any other information or data files that might be helpful. If,
5707 for example, the problem involves NASM failing to generate an object
5708 file while TASM can generate an equivalent file without trouble,
5709 then send us \e{both} object files, so we can see what TASM is doing
5710 differently from us.
5713 \A{ndisasm} \i{Ndisasm}
5715 The Netwide Disassembler, NDISASM
5717 \H{ndisintro} Introduction
5720 The Netwide Disassembler is a small companion program to the Netwide
5721 Assembler, NASM. It seemed a shame to have an x86 assembler,
5722 complete with a full instruction table, and not make as much use of
5723 it as possible, so here's a disassembler which shares the
5724 instruction table (and some other bits of code) with NASM.
5726 The Netwide Disassembler does nothing except to produce
5727 disassemblies of \e{binary} source files. NDISASM does not have any
5728 understanding of object file formats, like \c{objdump}, and it will
5729 not understand \c{DOS .EXE} files like \c{debug} will. It just
5733 \H{ndisstart} Getting Started: Installation
5735 See \k{install} for installation instructions. NDISASM, like NASM,
5736 has a \c{man page} which you may want to put somewhere useful, if you
5737 are on a Unix system.
5740 \H{ndisrun} Running NDISASM
5742 To disassemble a file, you will typically use a command of the form
5744 \c ndisasm [-b16 | -b32] filename
5746 NDISASM can disassemble 16-bit code or 32-bit code equally easily,
5747 provided of course that you remember to specify which it is to work
5748 with. If no \i\c{-b} switch is present, NDISASM works in 16-bit mode by
5749 default. The \i\c{-u} switch (for USE32) also invokes 32-bit mode.
5751 Two more command line options are \i\c{-r} which reports the version
5752 number of NDISASM you are running, and \i\c{-h} which gives a short
5753 summary of command line options.
5756 \S{ndiscom} COM Files: Specifying an Origin
5758 To disassemble a \c{DOS .COM} file correctly, a disassembler must assume
5759 that the first instruction in the file is loaded at address \c{0x100},
5760 rather than at zero. NDISASM, which assumes by default that any file
5761 you give it is loaded at zero, will therefore need to be informed of
5764 The \i\c{-o} option allows you to declare a different origin for the
5765 file you are disassembling. Its argument may be expressed in any of
5766 the NASM numeric formats: decimal by default, if it begins with `\c{$}'
5767 or `\c{0x}' or ends in `\c{H}' it's \c{hex}, if it ends in `\c{Q}' it's
5768 \c{octal}, and if it ends in `\c{B}' it's \c{binary}.
5770 Hence, to disassemble a \c{.COM} file:
5772 \c ndisasm -o100h filename.com
5777 \S{ndissync} Code Following Data: Synchronisation
5779 Suppose you are disassembling a file which contains some data which
5780 isn't machine code, and \e{then} contains some machine code. NDISASM
5781 will faithfully plough through the data section, producing machine
5782 instructions wherever it can (although most of them will look
5783 bizarre, and some may have unusual prefixes, e.g. `\c{FS OR AX,0x240A}'),
5784 and generating `DB' instructions ever so often if it's totally stumped.
5785 Then it will reach the code section.
5787 Supposing NDISASM has just finished generating a strange machine
5788 instruction from part of the data section, and its file position is
5789 now one byte \e{before} the beginning of the code section. It's
5790 entirely possible that another spurious instruction will get
5791 generated, starting with the final byte of the data section, and
5792 then the correct first instruction in the code section will not be
5793 seen because the starting point skipped over it. This isn't really
5796 To avoid this, you can specify a `\i\c{synchronisation}' point, or indeed
5797 as many synchronisation points as you like (although NDISASM can
5798 only handle 8192 sync points internally). The definition of a sync
5799 point is this: NDISASM guarantees to hit sync points exactly during
5800 disassembly. If it is thinking about generating an instruction which
5801 would cause it to jump over a sync point, it will discard that
5802 instruction and output a `\c{db}' instead. So it \e{will} start
5803 disassembly exactly from the sync point, and so you \e{will} see all
5804 the instructions in your code section.
5806 Sync points are specified using the \i\c{-s} option: they are measured
5807 in terms of the program origin, not the file position. So if you
5808 want to synchronise after 32 bytes of a \c{.COM} file, you would have to
5811 \c ndisasm -o100h -s120h file.com
5815 \c ndisasm -o100h -s20h file.com
5817 As stated above, you can specify multiple sync markers if you need
5818 to, just by repeating the \c{-s} option.
5821 \S{ndisisync} Mixed Code and Data: Automatic (Intelligent) Synchronisation
5824 Suppose you are disassembling the boot sector of a \c{DOS} floppy (maybe
5825 it has a virus, and you need to understand the virus so that you
5826 know what kinds of damage it might have done you). Typically, this
5827 will contain a \c{JMP} instruction, then some data, then the rest of the
5828 code. So there is a very good chance of NDISASM being \e{misaligned}
5829 when the data ends and the code begins. Hence a sync point is
5832 On the other hand, why should you have to specify the sync point
5833 manually? What you'd do in order to find where the sync point would
5834 be, surely, would be to read the \c{JMP} instruction, and then to use
5835 its target address as a sync point. So can NDISASM do that for you?
5837 The answer, of course, is yes: using either of the synonymous
5838 switches \i\c{-a} (for automatic sync) or \i\c{-i} (for intelligent
5839 sync) will enable \c{auto-sync} mode. Auto-sync mode automatically
5840 generates a sync point for any forward-referring PC-relative jump or
5841 call instruction that NDISASM encounters. (Since NDISASM is one-pass,
5842 if it encounters a PC-relative jump whose target has already been
5843 processed, there isn't much it can do about it...)
5845 Only PC-relative jumps are processed, since an absolute jump is
5846 either through a register (in which case NDISASM doesn't know what
5847 the register contains) or involves a segment address (in which case
5848 the target code isn't in the same segment that NDISASM is working
5849 in, and so the sync point can't be placed anywhere useful).
5851 For some kinds of file, this mechanism will automatically put sync
5852 points in all the right places, and save you from having to place
5853 any sync points manually. However, it should be stressed that
5854 auto-sync mode is \e{not} guaranteed to catch all the sync points, and
5855 you may still have to place some manually.
5857 Auto-sync mode doesn't prevent you from declaring manual sync
5858 points: it just adds automatically generated ones to the ones you
5859 provide. It's perfectly feasible to specify \c{-i} \e{and} some \c{-s}
5862 Another caveat with auto-sync mode is that if, by some unpleasant
5863 fluke, something in your data section should disassemble to a
5864 PC-relative call or jump instruction, NDISASM may obediently place a
5865 sync point in a totally random place, for example in the middle of
5866 one of the instructions in your code section. So you may end up with
5867 a wrong disassembly even if you use auto-sync. Again, there isn't
5868 much I can do about this. If you have problems, you'll have to use
5869 manual sync points, or use the \c{-k} option (documented below) to
5870 suppress disassembly of the data area.
5873 \S{ndisother} Other Options
5875 The \i\c{-e} option skips a header on the file, by ignoring the first N
5876 bytes. This means that the header is \e{not} counted towards the
5877 disassembly offset: if you give \c{-e10 -o10}, disassembly will start
5878 at byte 10 in the file, and this will be given offset 10, not 20.
5880 The \i\c{-k} option is provided with two comma-separated numeric
5881 arguments, the first of which is an assembly offset and the second
5882 is a number of bytes to skip. This \e{will} count the skipped bytes
5883 towards the assembly offset: its use is to suppress disassembly of a
5884 data section which wouldn't contain anything you wanted to see
5888 \H{ndisbugs} Bugs and Improvements
5890 There are no known bugs. However, any you find, with patches if
5891 possible, should be sent to \W{mailto:jules@dsf.org.uk}\c{jules@dsf.org.uk}
5892 or \W{mailto:anakin@pobox.com}\c{anakin@pobox.com}, or to the
5893 developer's site \W{http://nasm.2y.net/}\c{http://nasm.2y.net/}
5894 and we'll try to fix them. Feel free to send contributions and
5895 new features as well.
5897 Future plans include awareness of which processors certain
5898 instructions will run on, and marking of instructions that are too
5899 advanced for some processor (or are \c{FPU} instructions, or are
5900 undocumented opcodes, or are privileged protected-mode instructions,
5905 I hope NDISASM is of some use to somebody. Including me. :-)
5907 I don't recommend taking NDISASM apart to see how an efficient
5908 disassembler works, because as far as I know, it isn't an efficient
5909 one anyway. You have been warned.
5912 \A{iref} Intel x86 Instruction Reference
5914 This appendix provides a complete list of the machine instructions
5915 which NASM will assemble, and a short description of the function of
5918 It is not intended to be exhaustive documentation on the fine
5919 details of the instructions' function, such as which exceptions they
5920 can trigger: for such documentation, you should go to Intel's Web
5921 site, \W{http://www.intel.com/}\c{http://www.intel.com/}.
5923 Instead, this appendix is intended primarily to provide
5924 documentation on the way the instructions may be used within NASM.
5925 For example, looking up \c{LOOP} will tell you that NASM allows
5926 \c{CX} or \c{ECX} to be specified as an optional second argument to
5927 the \c{LOOP} instruction, to enforce which of the two possible
5928 counter registers should be used if the default is not the one
5931 The instructions are not quite listed in alphabetical order, since
5932 groups of instructions with similar functions are lumped together in
5933 the same entry. Most of them don't move very far from their
5934 alphabetic position because of this.
5937 \H{iref-opr} Key to Operand Specifications
5939 The instruction descriptions in this appendix specify their operands
5940 using the following notation:
5942 \b Registers: \c{reg8} denotes an 8-bit \i{general purpose
5943 register}, \c{reg16} denotes a 16-bit general purpose register, and
5944 \c{reg32} a 32-bit one. \c{fpureg} denotes one of the eight FPU
5945 stack registers, \c{mmxreg} denotes one of the eight 64-bit MMX
5946 registers, and \c{segreg} denotes a segment register. In addition,
5947 some registers (such as \c{AL}, \c{DX} or
5948 \c{ECX}) may be specified explicitly.
5950 \b Immediate operands: \c{imm} denotes a generic \i{immediate operand}.
5951 \c{imm8}, \c{imm16} and \c{imm32} are used when the operand is
5952 intended to be a specific size. For some of these instructions, NASM
5953 needs an explicit specifier: for example, \c{ADD ESP,16} could be
5954 interpreted as either \c{ADD r/m32,imm32} or \c{ADD r/m32,imm8}.
5955 NASM chooses the former by default, and so you must specify \c{ADD
5956 ESP,BYTE 16} for the latter.
5958 \b Memory references: \c{mem} denotes a generic \i{memory reference};
5959 \c{mem8}, \c{mem16}, \c{mem32}, \c{mem64} and \c{mem80} are used
5960 when the operand needs to be a specific size. Again, a specifier is
5961 needed in some cases: \c{DEC [address]} is ambiguous and will be
5962 rejected by NASM. You must specify \c{DEC BYTE [address]}, \c{DEC
5963 WORD [address]} or \c{DEC DWORD [address]} instead.
5965 \b \i{Restricted memory references}: one form of the \c{MOV}
5966 instruction allows a memory address to be specified \e{without}
5967 allowing the normal range of register combinations and effective
5968 address processing. This is denoted by \c{memoffs8}, \c{memoffs16}
5971 \b Register or memory choices: many instructions can accept either a
5972 register \e{or} a memory reference as an operand. \c{r/m8} is a
5973 shorthand for \c{reg8/mem8}; similarly \c{r/m16} and \c{r/m32}.
5974 \c{r/m64} is MMX-related, and is a shorthand for \c{mmxreg/mem64}.
5977 \H{iref-opc} Key to Opcode Descriptions
5979 This appendix also provides the opcodes which NASM will generate for
5980 each form of each instruction. The opcodes are listed in the
5983 \b A hex number, such as \c{3F}, indicates a fixed byte containing
5986 \b A hex number followed by \c{+r}, such as \c{C8+r}, indicates that
5987 one of the operands to the instruction is a register, and the
5988 `register value' of that register should be added to the hex number
5989 to produce the generated byte. For example, EDX has register value
5990 2, so the code \c{C8+r}, when the register operand is EDX, generates
5991 the hex byte \c{CA}. Register values for specific registers are
5992 given in \k{iref-rv}.
5994 \b A hex number followed by \c{+cc}, such as \c{40+cc}, indicates
5995 that the instruction name has a condition code suffix, and the
5996 numeric representation of the condition code should be added to the
5997 hex number to produce the generated byte. For example, the code
5998 \c{40+cc}, when the instruction contains the \c{NE} condition,
5999 generates the hex byte \c{45}. Condition codes and their numeric
6000 representations are given in \k{iref-cc}.
6002 \b A slash followed by a digit, such as \c{/2}, indicates that one
6003 of the operands to the instruction is a memory address or register
6004 (denoted \c{mem} or \c{r/m}, with an optional size). This is to be
6005 encoded as an effective address, with a \i{ModR/M byte}, an optional
6006 \i{SIB byte}, and an optional displacement, and the spare (register)
6007 field of the ModR/M byte should be the digit given (which will be
6008 from 0 to 7, so it fits in three bits). The encoding of effective
6009 addresses is given in \k{iref-ea}.
6011 \b The code \c{/r} combines the above two: it indicates that one of
6012 the operands is a memory address or \c{r/m}, and another is a
6013 register, and that an effective address should be generated with the
6014 spare (register) field in the ModR/M byte being equal to the
6015 `register value' of the register operand. The encoding of effective
6016 addresses is given in \k{iref-ea}; register values are given in
6019 \b The codes \c{ib}, \c{iw} and \c{id} indicate that one of the
6020 operands to the instruction is an immediate value, and that this is
6021 to be encoded as a byte, little-endian word or little-endian
6022 doubleword respectively.
6024 \b The codes \c{rb}, \c{rw} and \c{rd} indicate that one of the
6025 operands to the instruction is an immediate value, and that the
6026 \e{difference} between this value and the address of the end of the
6027 instruction is to be encoded as a byte, word or doubleword
6028 respectively. Where the form \c{rw/rd} appears, it indicates that
6029 either \c{rw} or \c{rd} should be used according to whether assembly
6030 is being performed in \c{BITS 16} or \c{BITS 32} state respectively.
6032 \b The codes \c{ow} and \c{od} indicate that one of the operands to
6033 the instruction is a reference to the contents of a memory address
6034 specified as an immediate value: this encoding is used in some forms
6035 of the \c{MOV} instruction in place of the standard
6036 effective-address mechanism. The displacement is encoded as a word
6037 or doubleword. Again, \c{ow/od} denotes that \c{ow} or \c{od} should
6038 be chosen according to the \c{BITS} setting.
6040 \b The codes \c{o16} and \c{o32} indicate that the given form of the
6041 instruction should be assembled with operand size 16 or 32 bits. In
6042 other words, \c{o16} indicates a \c{66} prefix in \c{BITS 32} state,
6043 but generates no code in \c{BITS 16} state; and \c{o32} indicates a
6044 \c{66} prefix in \c{BITS 16} state but generates nothing in \c{BITS
6047 \b The codes \c{a16} and \c{a32}, similarly to \c{o16} and \c{o32},
6048 indicate the address size of the given form of the instruction.
6049 Where this does not match the \c{BITS} setting, a \c{67} prefix is
6053 \S{iref-rv} Register Values
6055 Where an instruction requires a register value, it is already
6056 implicit in the encoding of the rest of the instruction what type of
6057 register is intended: an 8-bit general-purpose register, a segment
6058 register, a debug register, an MMX register, or whatever. Therefore
6059 there is no problem with registers of different types sharing an
6062 The encodings for the various classes of register are:
6064 \b 8-bit general registers: \c{AL} is 0, \c{CL} is 1, \c{DL} is 2,
6065 \c{BL} is 3, \c{AH} is 4, \c{CH} is 5, \c{DH} is 6, and \c{BH} is
6068 \b 16-bit general registers: \c{AX} is 0, \c{CX} is 1, \c{DX} is 2,
6069 \c{BX} is 3, \c{SP} is 4, \c{BP} is 5, \c{SI} is 6, and \c{DI} is 7.
6071 \b 32-bit general registers: \c{EAX} is 0, \c{ECX} is 1, \c{EDX} is
6072 2, \c{EBX} is 3, \c{ESP} is 4, \c{EBP} is 5, \c{ESI} is 6, and
6075 \b \i{Segment registers}: \c{ES} is 0, \c{CS} is 1, \c{SS} is 2, \c{DS}
6076 is 3, \c{FS} is 4, and \c{GS} is 5.
6078 \b \I{floating-point, registers}Floating-point registers: \c{ST0}
6079 is 0, \c{ST1} is 1, \c{ST2} is 2, \c{ST3} is 3, \c{ST4} is 4,
6080 \c{ST5} is 5, \c{ST6} is 6, and \c{ST7} is 7.
6082 \b 64-bit \i{MMX registers}: \c{MM0} is 0, \c{MM1} is 1, \c{MM2} is 2,
6083 \c{MM3} is 3, \c{MM4} is 4, \c{MM5} is 5, \c{MM6} is 6, and \c{MM7}
6086 \b \i{Control registers}: \c{CR0} is 0, \c{CR2} is 2, \c{CR3} is 3,
6089 \b \i{Debug registers}: \c{DR0} is 0, \c{DR1} is 1, \c{DR2} is 2,
6090 \c{DR3} is 3, \c{DR6} is 6, and \c{DR7} is 7.
6092 \b \i{Test registers}: \c{TR3} is 3, \c{TR4} is 4, \c{TR5} is 5,
6093 \c{TR6} is 6, and \c{TR7} is 7.
6095 (Note that wherever a register name contains a number, that number
6096 is also the register value for that register.)
6099 \S{iref-cc} \i{Condition Codes}
6101 The available condition codes are given here, along with their
6102 numeric representations as part of opcodes. Many of these condition
6103 codes have synonyms, so several will be listed at a time.
6105 In the following descriptions, the word `either', when applied to two
6106 possible trigger conditions, is used to mean `either or both'. If
6107 `either but not both' is meant, the phrase `exactly one of' is used.
6109 \b \c{O} is 0 (trigger if the overflow flag is set); \c{NO} is 1.
6111 \b \c{B}, \c{C} and \c{NAE} are 2 (trigger if the carry flag is
6112 set); \c{AE}, \c{NB} and \c{NC} are 3.
6114 \b \c{E} and \c{Z} are 4 (trigger if the zero flag is set); \c{NE}
6117 \b \c{BE} and \c{NA} are 6 (trigger if either of the carry or zero
6118 flags is set); \c{A} and \c{NBE} are 7.
6120 \b \c{S} is 8 (trigger if the sign flag is set); \c{NS} is 9.
6122 \b \c{P} and \c{PE} are 10 (trigger if the parity flag is set);
6123 \c{NP} and \c{PO} are 11.
6125 \b \c{L} and \c{NGE} are 12 (trigger if exactly one of the sign and
6126 overflow flags is set); \c{GE} and \c{NL} are 13.
6128 \b \c{LE} and \c{NG} are 14 (trigger if either the zero flag is set,
6129 or exactly one of the sign and overflow flags is set); \c{G} and
6132 Note that in all cases, the sense of a condition code may be
6133 reversed by changing the low bit of the numeric representation.
6135 For details of when an instruction sets each of the status flags,
6136 see the individual instruction, plus the Status Flags reference
6140 \S{iref-SSE-cc} \i{SSE Condition Predicates}
6142 The condition predicates for SSE comparison instructions are the
6143 codes used as part of the opcode, to determine what form of
6144 comparison is being carried out. In each case, the imm8 value is
6145 the final byte of the opcode encoding, and the predicate is the
6146 code used as part of the mnemonic for the instruction (equivalent
6147 to the "cc" in an integer instruction that used a condition code).
6148 The instructions that use this will give details of what the various
6149 mnemonics are, this table is used to help you work out details of what
6152 Predi- imm8 Description Relation where: Emula- Result if QNaN
6153 cate Encod- A Is 1st Operand tion NaN Signals
6154 ing B Is 2nd Operand Operand Invalid
6156 EQ 000B equal A = B False No
6158 LT 001B less-than A < B False Yes
6160 LE 010B less-than- A <= B False Yes
6163 --- ---- greater A > B Swap False Yes
6167 --- ---- greater- A >= B Swap False Yes
6168 than-or-equal Operands,
6171 UNORD 011B unordered A, B = Unordered True No
6173 NEQ 100B not-equal A != B True No
6175 NLT 101B not-less- NOT(A < B) True Yes
6178 NLE 110B not-less- NOT(A <= B) True Yes
6182 --- ---- not-greater NOT(A > B) Swap True Yes
6186 --- ---- not-greater NOT(A >= B) Swap True Yes
6190 ORD 111B ordered A , B = Ordered False No
6192 The unordered relationship is true when at least one of the two
6193 values being compared is a NaN or in an unsupported format.
6195 Note that the comparisons which are listed as not having a predicate
6196 or encoding can only be achieved through software emulation, as
6197 described in the "emulation" column. Note in particular that an
6198 instruction such as \c{greater-than} is not the same as \c{NLE}, as,
6199 unlike with the \c{CMP} instruction, it has to take into account the
6200 possibility of one operand containing a NaN or an unsupported numeric
6204 \S{iref-Flags} \i{Status Flags}
6206 The status flags provide some information about the result of the
6207 arithmetic instructions. This information can be used by conditional
6208 instructions (such a \c{Jcc} and \c{CMOVcc}) as well as by some of
6209 the other instructions (such as \c{ADC} and \c{INTO}).
6211 There are 6 status flags:
6215 Set if an arithmetic operation generates a
6216 carry or a borrow out of the most-significant bit of the result;
6217 cleared otherwise. This flag indicates an overflow condition for
6218 unsigned-integer arithmetic. It is also used in multiple-precision
6221 \c PF - Parity flag.
6223 Set if the least-significant byte of the result contains an even
6224 number of 1 bits; cleared otherwise.
6226 \c AF - Adjust flag.
6228 Set if an arithmetic operation generates a carry or a borrow
6229 out of bit 3 of the result; cleared otherwise. This flag is used
6230 in binary-coded decimal (BCD) arithmetic.
6234 Set if the result is zero; cleared otherwise.
6238 Set equal to the most-significant bit of the result, which is the
6239 sign bit of a signed integer. (0 indicates a positive value and 1
6240 indicates a negative value.)
6242 \c OF - Overflow flag.
6244 Set if the integer result is too large a positive number or too
6245 small a negative number (excluding the sign-bit) to fit in the
6246 destina-tion operand; cleared otherwise. This flag indicates an
6247 overflow condition for signed-integer (two
\92s complement) arithmetic.
6250 \S{iref-ea} Effective Address Encoding: \i{ModR/M} and \i{SIB}
6252 An \i{effective address} is encoded in up to three parts: a ModR/M
6253 byte, an optional SIB byte, and an optional byte, word or doubleword
6256 The ModR/M byte consists of three fields: the \c{mod} field, ranging
6257 from 0 to 3, in the upper two bits of the byte, the \c{r/m} field,
6258 ranging from 0 to 7, in the lower three bits, and the spare
6259 (register) field in the middle (bit 3 to bit 5). The spare field is
6260 not relevant to the effective address being encoded, and either
6261 contains an extension to the instruction opcode or the register
6262 value of another operand.
6264 The ModR/M system can be used to encode a direct register reference
6265 rather than a memory access. This is always done by setting the
6266 \c{mod} field to 3 and the \c{r/m} field to the register value of
6267 the register in question (it must be a general-purpose register, and
6268 the size of the register must already be implicit in the encoding of
6269 the rest of the instruction). In this case, the SIB byte and
6270 displacement field are both absent.
6272 In 16-bit addressing mode (either \c{BITS 16} with no \c{67} prefix,
6273 or \c{BITS 32} with a \c{67} prefix), the SIB byte is never used.
6274 The general rules for \c{mod} and \c{r/m} (there is an exception,
6277 \b The \c{mod} field gives the length of the displacement field: 0
6278 means no displacement, 1 means one byte, and 2 means two bytes.
6280 \b The \c{r/m} field encodes the combination of registers to be
6281 added to the displacement to give the accessed address: 0 means
6282 \c{BX+SI}, 1 means \c{BX+DI}, 2 means \c{BP+SI}, 3 means \c{BP+DI},
6283 4 means \c{SI} only, 5 means \c{DI} only, 6 means \c{BP} only, and 7
6286 However, there is a special case:
6288 \b If \c{mod} is 0 and \c{r/m} is 6, the effective address encoded
6289 is not \c{[BP]} as the above rules would suggest, but instead
6290 \c{[disp16]}: the displacement field is present and is two bytes
6291 long, and no registers are added to the displacement.
6293 Therefore the effective address \c{[BP]} cannot be encoded as
6294 efficiently as \c{[BX]}; so if you code \c{[BP]} in a program, NASM
6295 adds a notional 8-bit zero displacement, and sets \c{mod} to 1,
6296 \c{r/m} to 6, and the one-byte displacement field to 0.
6298 In 32-bit addressing mode (either \c{BITS 16} with a \c{67} prefix,
6299 or \c{BITS 32} with no \c{67} prefix) the general rules (again,
6300 there are exceptions) for \c{mod} and \c{r/m} are:
6302 \b The \c{mod} field gives the length of the displacement field: 0
6303 means no displacement, 1 means one byte, and 2 means four bytes.
6305 \b If only one register is to be added to the displacement, and it
6306 is not \c{ESP}, the \c{r/m} field gives its register value, and the
6307 SIB byte is absent. If the \c{r/m} field is 4 (which would encode
6308 \c{ESP}), the SIB byte is present and gives the combination and
6309 scaling of registers to be added to the displacement.
6311 If the SIB byte is present, it describes the combination of
6312 registers (an optional base register, and an optional index register
6313 scaled by multiplication by 1, 2, 4 or 8) to be added to the
6314 displacement. The SIB byte is divided into the \c{scale} field, in
6315 the top two bits, the \c{index} field in the next three, and the
6316 \c{base} field in the bottom three. The general rules are:
6318 \b The \c{base} field encodes the register value of the base
6321 \b The \c{index} field encodes the register value of the index
6322 register, unless it is 4, in which case no index register is used
6323 (so \c{ESP} cannot be used as an index register).
6325 \b The \c{scale} field encodes the multiplier by which the index
6326 register is scaled before adding it to the base and displacement: 0
6327 encodes a multiplier of 1, 1 encodes 2, 2 encodes 4 and 3 encodes 8.
6329 The exceptions to the 32-bit encoding rules are:
6331 \b If \c{mod} is 0 and \c{r/m} is 5, the effective address encoded
6332 is not \c{[EBP]} as the above rules would suggest, but instead
6333 \c{[disp32]}: the displacement field is present and is four bytes
6334 long, and no registers are added to the displacement.
6336 \b If \c{mod} is 0, \c{r/m} is 4 (meaning the SIB byte is present)
6337 and \c{base} is 4, the effective address encoded is not
6338 \c{[EBP+index]} as the above rules would suggest, but instead
6339 \c{[disp32+index]}: the displacement field is present and is four
6340 bytes long, and there is no base register (but the index register is
6341 still processed in the normal way).
6344 \H{iref-flg} Key to Instruction Flags
6346 Given along with each instruction in this appendix is a set of
6347 flags, denoting the type of the instruction. The types are as follows:
6349 \b \c{8086}, \c{186}, \c{286}, \c{386}, \c{486}, \c{PENT} and \c{P6}
6350 denote the lowest processor type that supports the instruction. Most
6351 instructions run on all processors above the given type; those that
6352 do not are documented. The Pentium II contains no additional
6353 instructions beyond the P6 (Pentium Pro); from the point of view of
6354 its instruction set, it can be thought of as a P6 with MMX
6357 \b \c{3DNOW} indicates that the instruction is a 3DNow! one, and will
6358 run on the AMD K6-2 and later processors. ATHLON extensions to the
6359 3DNow! instruction set are documented as such.
6361 \b \c{CYRIX} indicates that the instruction is specific to Cyrix
6362 processors, for example the extra MMX instructions in the Cyrix
6363 extended MMX instruction set.
6365 \b \c{FPU} indicates that the instruction is a floating-point one,
6366 and will only run on machines with a coprocessor (automatically
6367 including 486DX, Pentium and above).
6369 \b \c{KATMAI} indicates that the instruction was introduced as part
6370 of the Katmai New Instruction set. These instructions are available
6371 on the Pentium III and later processors. Those which are not
6372 specifically SSE instructions are also available on the AMD Athlon.
6374 \b \c{MMX} indicates that the instruction is an MMX one, and will
6375 run on MMX-capable Pentium processors and the Pentium II.
6377 \b \c{PRIV} indicates that the instruction is a protected-mode
6378 management instruction. Many of these may only be used in protected
6379 mode, or only at privilege level zero.
6381 \b \c{SSE} and \c{SSE2} indicate that the instruction is a Streaming
6382 SIMD Extension instruction. These instructions operate on multiple
6383 values in a single operation. SSE was introduced with the Pentium III
6384 and SSE2 was introduced with the Pentium 4.
6386 \b \c{UNDOC} indicates that the instruction is an undocumented one,
6387 and not part of the official Intel Architecture; it may or may not
6388 be supported on any given machine.
6390 \b \c{WILLAMETTE} indicates that the instruction was introduced as
6391 part of the new instruction set in the Pentium 4 and Intel Xeon
6392 processors. These instructions are also known as SSE2 instructions.
6395 \H{insAAA} \i\c{AAA}, \i\c{AAS}, \i\c{AAM}, \i\c{AAD}: ASCII
6402 \c AAD ; D5 0A [8086]
6403 \c AAD imm ; D5 ib [8086]
6405 \c AAM ; D4 0A [8086]
6406 \c AAM imm ; D4 ib [8086]
6408 These instructions are used in conjunction with the add, subtract,
6409 multiply and divide instructions to perform binary-coded decimal
6410 arithmetic in \e{unpacked} (one BCD digit per byte - easy to
6411 translate to and from \c{ASCII}, hence the instruction names) form.
6412 There are also packed BCD instructions \c{DAA} and \c{DAS}: see
6415 \b \c{AAA} (ASCII Adjust After Addition) should be used after a
6416 one-byte \c{ADD} instruction whose destination was the \c{AL}
6417 register: by means of examining the value in the low nibble of
6418 \c{AL} and also the auxiliary carry flag \c{AF}, it determines
6419 whether the addition has overflowed, and adjusts it (and sets
6420 the carry flag) if so. You can add long BCD strings together
6421 by doing \c{ADD}/\c{AAA} on the low digits, then doing
6422 \c{ADC}/\c{AAA} on each subsequent digit.
6424 \b \c{AAS} (ASCII Adjust AL After Subtraction) works similarly to
6425 \c{AAA}, but is for use after \c{SUB} instructions rather than
6428 \b \c{AAM} (ASCII Adjust AX After Multiply) is for use after you
6429 have multiplied two decimal digits together and left the result
6430 in \c{AL}: it divides \c{AL} by ten and stores the quotient in
6431 \c{AH}, leaving the remainder in \c{AL}. The divisor 10 can be
6432 changed by specifying an operand to the instruction: a particularly
6433 handy use of this is \c{AAM 16}, causing the two nibbles in \c{AL}
6434 to be separated into \c{AH} and \c{AL}.
6436 \b \c{AAD} (ASCII Adjust AX Before Division) performs the inverse
6437 operation to \c{AAM}: it multiplies \c{AH} by ten, adds it to
6438 \c{AL}, and sets \c{AH} to zero. Again, the multiplier 10 can
6442 \H{insADC} \i\c{ADC}: Add with Carry
6444 \c ADC r/m8,reg8 ; 10 /r [8086]
6445 \c ADC r/m16,reg16 ; o16 11 /r [8086]
6446 \c ADC r/m32,reg32 ; o32 11 /r [386]
6448 \c ADC reg8,r/m8 ; 12 /r [8086]
6449 \c ADC reg16,r/m16 ; o16 13 /r [8086]
6450 \c ADC reg32,r/m32 ; o32 13 /r [386]
6452 \c ADC r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /2 ib [8086]
6453 \c ADC r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /2 iw [8086]
6454 \c ADC r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /2 id [386]
6456 \c ADC r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /2 ib [8086]
6457 \c ADC r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /2 ib [386]
6459 \c ADC AL,imm8 ; 14 ib [8086]
6460 \c ADC AX,imm16 ; o16 15 iw [8086]
6461 \c ADC EAX,imm32 ; o32 15 id [386]
6463 \c{ADC} performs integer addition: it adds its two operands
6464 together, plus the value of the carry flag, and leaves the result in
6465 its destination (first) operand. The destination operand can be a
6466 register or a memory location. The source operand can be a register,
6467 a memory location or an immediate value.
6469 The flags are set according to the result of the operation: in
6470 particular, the carry flag is affected and can be used by a
6471 subsequent \c{ADC} instruction.
6473 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
6474 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
6475 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
6476 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
6477 form of the instruction.
6479 To add two numbers without also adding the contents of the carry
6480 flag, use \c{ADD} (\k{insADD}).
6483 \H{insADD} \i\c{ADD}: Add Integers
6485 \c ADD r/m8,reg8 ; 00 /r [8086]
6486 \c ADD r/m16,reg16 ; o16 01 /r [8086]
6487 \c ADD r/m32,reg32 ; o32 01 /r [386]
6489 \c ADD reg8,r/m8 ; 02 /r [8086]
6490 \c ADD reg16,r/m16 ; o16 03 /r [8086]
6491 \c ADD reg32,r/m32 ; o32 03 /r [386]
6493 \c ADD r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /0 ib [8086]
6494 \c ADD r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /0 iw [8086]
6495 \c ADD r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /0 id [386]
6497 \c ADD r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /0 ib [8086]
6498 \c ADD r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /0 ib [386]
6500 \c ADD AL,imm8 ; 04 ib [8086]
6501 \c ADD AX,imm16 ; o16 05 iw [8086]
6502 \c ADD EAX,imm32 ; o32 05 id [386]
6504 \c{ADD} performs integer addition: it adds its two operands
6505 together, and leaves the result in its destination (first) operand.
6506 The destination operand can be a register or a memory location.
6507 The source operand can be a register, a memory location or an
6510 The flags are set according to the result of the operation: in
6511 particular, the carry flag is affected and can be used by a
6512 subsequent \c{ADC} instruction.
6514 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
6515 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
6516 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
6517 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
6518 form of the instruction.
6521 \H{insADDPD} \i\c{ADDPD}: ADD Packed Double-Precision FP Values
6523 \c ADDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 58 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6525 \c{ADDPD} performs addition on each of two packed double-precision
6528 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] + src[0-63],
6529 \c dst[64-127] := dst[64-127] + src[64-127].
6531 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6532 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6535 \H{insADDPS} \i\c{ADDPS}: ADD Packed Single-Precision FP Values
6537 \c ADDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 58 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
6539 \c{ADDPS} performs addition on each of four packed single-precision
6542 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + src[0-31],
6543 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] + src[32-63],
6544 \c dst[64-95] := dst[64-95] + src[64-95],
6545 \c dst[96-127] := dst[96-127] + src[96-127].
6547 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6548 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6551 \H{insADDSD} \i\c{ADDSD}: ADD Scalar Double-Precision FP Values
6553 \c ADDSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F 58 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
6555 \c{ADDSD} adds the low double-precision FP values from the source
6556 and destination operands and stores the double-precision FP result
6557 in the destination operand.
6559 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] + src[0-63],
6560 \c dst[64-127) remains unchanged.
6562 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6563 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location.
6566 \H{insADDSS} \i\c{ADDSS}: ADD Scalar Single-Precision FP Values
6568 \c ADDSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 58 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6570 \c{ADDSD} adds the low single-precision FP values from the source
6571 and destination operands and stores the single-precision FP result
6572 in the destination operand.
6574 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + src[0-31],
6575 \c dst[32-127] remains unchanged.
6577 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6578 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location.
6581 \H{insAND} \i\c{AND}: Bitwise AND
6583 \c AND r/m8,reg8 ; 20 /r [8086]
6584 \c AND r/m16,reg16 ; o16 21 /r [8086]
6585 \c AND r/m32,reg32 ; o32 21 /r [386]
6587 \c AND reg8,r/m8 ; 22 /r [8086]
6588 \c AND reg16,r/m16 ; o16 23 /r [8086]
6589 \c AND reg32,r/m32 ; o32 23 /r [386]
6591 \c AND r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /4 ib [8086]
6592 \c AND r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /4 iw [8086]
6593 \c AND r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /4 id [386]
6595 \c AND r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /4 ib [8086]
6596 \c AND r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /4 ib [386]
6598 \c AND AL,imm8 ; 24 ib [8086]
6599 \c AND AX,imm16 ; o16 25 iw [8086]
6600 \c AND EAX,imm32 ; o32 25 id [386]
6602 \c{AND} performs a bitwise AND operation between its two operands
6603 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if the corresponding
6604 bits of the two inputs were both 1), and stores the result in the
6605 destination (first) operand. The destination operand can be a
6606 register or a memory location. The source operand can be a register,
6607 a memory location or an immediate value.
6609 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
6610 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
6611 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
6612 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
6613 form of the instruction.
6615 The \c{MMX} instruction \c{PAND} (see \k{insPAND}) performs the same
6616 operation on the 64-bit \c{MMX} registers.
6619 \H{insANDNPD} \i\c{ANDNPD}: Bitwise Logical AND NOT of
6620 Packed Double-Precision FP Values
6622 \c ANDNPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 55 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6624 \c{ANDNPD} inverts the bits of the two double-precision
6625 floating-point values in the destination register, and then
6626 performs a logical AND between the two double-precision
6627 floating-point values in the source operand and the temporary
6628 inverted result, storing the result in the destination register.
6630 \c dst[0-63] := src[0-63] AND NOT dst[0-63],
6631 \c dst[64-127] := src[64-127] AND NOT dst[64-127].
6633 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6634 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6637 \H{insANDNPS} \i\c{ANDNPS}: Bitwise Logical AND NOT of
6638 Packed Single-Precision FP Values
6640 \c ANDNPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 55 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
6642 \c{ANDNPS} inverts the bits of the four single-precision
6643 floating-point values in the destination register, and then
6644 performs a logical AND between the four single-precision
6645 floating-point values in the source operand and the temporary
6646 inverted result, storing the result in the destination register.
6648 \c dst[0-31] := src[0-31] AND NOT dst[0-31],
6649 \c dst[32-63] := src[32-63] AND NOT dst[32-63],
6650 \c dst[64-95] := src[64-95] AND NOT dst[64-95],
6651 \c dst[96-127] := src[96-127] AND NOT dst[96-127].
6653 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6654 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6657 \H{insANDPD} \i\c{ANDPD}: Bitwise Logical AND For Single FP
6659 \c ANDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 54 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6661 \c{ANDPD} performs a bitwise logical AND of the two double-precision
6662 floating point values in the source and destination operand, and
6663 stores the result in the destination register.
6665 \c dst[0-63] := src[0-63] AND dst[0-63],
6666 \c dst[64-127] := src[64-127] AND dst[64-127].
6668 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6669 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6672 \H{insANDPS} \i\c{ANDPS}: Bitwise Logical AND For Single FP
6674 \c ANDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 54 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
6676 \c{ANDPS} performs a bitwise logical AND of the four single-precision
6677 floating point values in the source and destination operand, and
6678 stores the result in the destination register.
6680 \c dst[0-31] := src[0-31] AND dst[0-31],
6681 \c dst[32-63] := src[32-63] AND dst[32-63],
6682 \c dst[64-95] := src[64-95] AND dst[64-95],
6683 \c dst[96-127] := src[96-127] AND dst[96-127].
6685 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
6686 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6689 \H{insARPL} \i\c{ARPL}: Adjust RPL Field of Selector
6691 \c ARPL r/m16,reg16 ; 63 /r [286,PRIV]
6693 \c{ARPL} expects its two word operands to be segment selectors. It
6694 adjusts the \i\c{RPL} (requested privilege level - stored in the bottom
6695 two bits of the selector) field of the destination (first) operand
6696 to ensure that it is no less (i.e. no more privileged than) the \c{RPL}
6697 field of the source operand. The zero flag is set if and only if a
6698 change had to be made.
6701 \H{insBOUND} \i\c{BOUND}: Check Array Index against Bounds
6703 \c BOUND reg16,mem ; o16 62 /r [186]
6704 \c BOUND reg32,mem ; o32 62 /r [386]
6706 \c{BOUND} expects its second operand to point to an area of memory
6707 containing two signed values of the same size as its first operand
6708 (i.e. two words for the 16-bit form; two doublewords for the 32-bit
6709 form). It performs two signed comparisons: if the value in the
6710 register passed as its first operand is less than the first of the
6711 in-memory values, or is greater than or equal to the second, it
6712 throws a \c{BR} exception. Otherwise, it does nothing.
6715 \H{insBSF} \i\c{BSF}, \i\c{BSR}: Bit Scan
6717 \c BSF reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F BC /r [386]
6718 \c BSF reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F BC /r [386]
6720 \c BSR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F BD /r [386]
6721 \c BSR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F BD /r [386]
6723 \b \c{BSF} searches for the least significant set bit in its source
6724 (second) operand, and if it finds one, stores the index in
6725 its destination (first) operand. If no set bit is found, the
6726 contents of the destination operand are undefined. If the source
6727 operand is zero, the zero flag is set.
6729 \b \c{BSR} performs the same function, but searches from the top
6730 instead, so it finds the most significant set bit.
6732 Bit indices are from 0 (least significant) to 15 or 31 (most
6733 significant). The destination operand can only be a register.
6734 The source operand can be a register or a memory location.
6737 \H{insBSWAP} \i\c{BSWAP}: Byte Swap
6739 \c BSWAP reg32 ; o32 0F C8+r [486]
6741 \c{BSWAP} swaps the order of the four bytes of a 32-bit register:
6742 bits 0-7 exchange places with bits 24-31, and bits 8-15 swap with
6743 bits 16-23. There is no explicit 16-bit equivalent: to byte-swap
6744 \c{AX}, \c{BX}, \c{CX} or \c{DX}, \c{XCHG} can be used. When \c{BSWAP}
6745 is used with a 16-bit register, the result is undefined.
6748 \H{insBT} \i\c{BT}, \i\c{BTC}, \i\c{BTR}, \i\c{BTS}: Bit Test
6750 \c BT r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F A3 /r [386]
6751 \c BT r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F A3 /r [386]
6752 \c BT r/m16,imm8 ; o16 0F BA /4 ib [386]
6753 \c BT r/m32,imm8 ; o32 0F BA /4 ib [386]
6755 \c BTC r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F BB /r [386]
6756 \c BTC r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F BB /r [386]
6757 \c BTC r/m16,imm8 ; o16 0F BA /7 ib [386]
6758 \c BTC r/m32,imm8 ; o32 0F BA /7 ib [386]
6760 \c BTR r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F B3 /r [386]
6761 \c BTR r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F B3 /r [386]
6762 \c BTR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 0F BA /6 ib [386]
6763 \c BTR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 0F BA /6 ib [386]
6765 \c BTS r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F AB /r [386]
6766 \c BTS r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F AB /r [386]
6767 \c BTS r/m16,imm ; o16 0F BA /5 ib [386]
6768 \c BTS r/m32,imm ; o32 0F BA /5 ib [386]
6770 These instructions all test one bit of their first operand, whose
6771 index is given by the second operand, and store the value of that
6772 bit into the carry flag. Bit indices are from 0 (least significant)
6773 to 15 or 31 (most significant).
6775 In addition to storing the original value of the bit into the carry
6776 flag, \c{BTR} also resets (clears) the bit in the operand itself.
6777 \c{BTS} sets the bit, and \c{BTC} complements the bit. \c{BT} does
6778 not modify its operands.
6780 The destination can be a register or a memory location. The source can
6781 be a register or an immediate value.
6783 If the destination operand is a register, the bit offset should be
6784 in the range 0-15 (for 16-bit operands) or 0-31 (for 32-bit operands).
6785 An immediate value outside these ranges will be taken modulo 16/32
6788 If the destination operand is a memory location, then an immediate
6789 bit offset follows the same rules as for a register. If the bit offset
6790 is in a register, then it can be anything within the signed range of
6791 the register used (ie, for a 32-bit operand, it can be (-2^31) to (2^31 - 1)
6794 \H{insCALL} \i\c{CALL}: Call Subroutine
6796 \c CALL imm ; E8 rw/rd [8086]
6797 \c CALL imm:imm16 ; o16 9A iw iw [8086]
6798 \c CALL imm:imm32 ; o32 9A id iw [386]
6799 \c CALL FAR mem16 ; o16 FF /3 [8086]
6800 \c CALL FAR mem32 ; o32 FF /3 [386]
6801 \c CALL r/m16 ; o16 FF /2 [8086]
6802 \c CALL r/m32 ; o32 FF /2 [386]
6804 \c{CALL} calls a subroutine, by means of pushing the current
6805 instruction pointer (\c{IP}) and optionally \c{CS} as well on the
6806 stack, and then jumping to a given address.
6808 \c{CS} is pushed as well as \c{IP} if and only if the call is a far
6809 call, i.e. a destination segment address is specified in the
6810 instruction. The forms involving two colon-separated arguments are
6811 far calls; so are the \c{CALL FAR mem} forms.
6813 The immediate \i{near call} takes one of two forms (\c{call imm16/imm32},
6814 determined by the current segment size limit. For 16-bit operands,
6815 you would use \c{CALL 0x1234}, and for 32-bit operands you would use
6816 \c{CALL 0x12345678}. The value passed as an operand is a relative offset.
6818 You can choose between the two immediate \i{far call} forms
6819 (\c{CALL imm:imm}) by the use of the \c{WORD} and \c{DWORD} keywords:
6820 \c{CALL WORD 0x1234:0x5678}) or \c{CALL DWORD 0x1234:0x56789abc}.
6822 The \c{CALL FAR mem} forms execute a far call by loading the
6823 destination address out of memory. The address loaded consists of 16
6824 or 32 bits of offset (depending on the operand size), and 16 bits of
6825 segment. The operand size may be overridden using \c{CALL WORD FAR
6826 mem} or \c{CALL DWORD FAR mem}.
6828 The \c{CALL r/m} forms execute a \i{near call} (within the same
6829 segment), loading the destination address out of memory or out of a
6830 register. The keyword \c{NEAR} may be specified, for clarity, in
6831 these forms, but is not necessary. Again, operand size can be
6832 overridden using \c{CALL WORD mem} or \c{CALL DWORD mem}.
6834 As a convenience, NASM does not require you to call a far procedure
6835 symbol by coding the cumbersome \c{CALL SEG routine:routine}, but
6836 instead allows the easier synonym \c{CALL FAR routine}.
6838 The \c{CALL r/m} forms given above are near calls; NASM will accept
6839 the \c{NEAR} keyword (e.g. \c{CALL NEAR [address]}), even though it
6840 is not strictly necessary.
6843 \H{insCBW} \i\c{CBW}, \i\c{CWD}, \i\c{CDQ}, \i\c{CWDE}: Sign Extensions
6845 \c CBW ; o16 98 [8086]
6846 \c CWDE ; o32 98 [386]
6848 \c CWD ; o16 99 [8086]
6849 \c CDQ ; o32 99 [386]
6851 All these instructions sign-extend a short value into a longer one,
6852 by replicating the top bit of the original value to fill the
6855 \c{CBW} extends \c{AL} into \c{AX} by repeating the top bit of
6856 \c{AL} in every bit of \c{AH}. \c{CWDE} extends \c{AX} into
6857 \c{EAX}. \c{CWD} extends \c{AX} into \c{DX:AX} by repeating
6858 the top bit of \c{AX} throughout \c{DX}, and \c{CDQ} extends
6859 \c{EAX} into \c{EDX:EAX}.
6862 \H{insCLC} \i\c{CLC}, \i\c{CLD}, \i\c{CLI}, \i\c{CLTS}: Clear Flags
6867 \c CLTS ; 0F 06 [286,PRIV]
6869 These instructions clear various flags. \c{CLC} clears the carry
6870 flag; \c{CLD} clears the direction flag; \c{CLI} clears the
6871 interrupt flag (thus disabling interrupts); and \c{CLTS} clears the
6872 task-switched (\c{TS}) flag in \c{CR0}.
6874 To set the carry, direction, or interrupt flags, use the \c{STC},
6875 \c{STD} and \c{STI} instructions (\k{insSTC}). To invert the carry
6876 flag, use \c{CMC} (\k{insCMC}).
6879 \H{insCLFLUSH} \i\c{CLFLUSH}: Flush Cache Line
6881 \c CLFLUSH mem ; 0F AE /7 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6883 \c{CLFLUSH} invlidates the cache line that contains the linear address
6884 specified by the source operand from all levels of the processor cache
6885 hierarchy (data and instruction). If, at any level of the cache
6886 hierarchy, the line is inconsistent with memory (dirty) it is written
6887 to memory before invalidation. The source operand points to a
6888 byte-sized memory location.
6890 Although \c{CLFLUSH} is flagged \c{SSE2} and above, it may not be
6891 present on all processors which have \c{SSE2} support, and it may be
6892 supported on other processors; the \c{CPUID} instruction (\k{insCPUID})
6893 will return a bit which indicates support for the \c{CLFLUSH} instruction.
6896 \H{insCMC} \i\c{CMC}: Complement Carry Flag
6900 \c{CMC} changes the value of the carry flag: if it was 0, it sets it
6901 to 1, and vice versa.
6904 \H{insCMOVcc} \i\c{CMOVcc}: Conditional Move
6906 \c CMOVcc reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 40+cc /r [P6]
6907 \c CMOVcc reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 40+cc /r [P6]
6909 \c{CMOV} moves its source (second) operand into its destination
6910 (first) operand if the given condition code is satisfied; otherwise
6913 For a list of condition codes, see \k{iref-cc}.
6915 Although the \c{CMOV} instructions are flagged \c{P6} and above, they
6916 may not be supported by all Pentium Pro processors; the \c{CPUID}
6917 instruction (\k{insCPUID}) will return a bit which indicates whether
6918 conditional moves are supported.
6921 \H{insCMP} \i\c{CMP}: Compare Integers
6923 \c CMP r/m8,reg8 ; 38 /r [8086]
6924 \c CMP r/m16,reg16 ; o16 39 /r [8086]
6925 \c CMP r/m32,reg32 ; o32 39 /r [386]
6927 \c CMP reg8,r/m8 ; 3A /r [8086]
6928 \c CMP reg16,r/m16 ; o16 3B /r [8086]
6929 \c CMP reg32,r/m32 ; o32 3B /r [386]
6931 \c CMP r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /0 ib [8086]
6932 \c CMP r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /0 iw [8086]
6933 \c CMP r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /0 id [386]
6935 \c CMP r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /0 ib [8086]
6936 \c CMP r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /0 ib [386]
6938 \c CMP AL,imm8 ; 3C ib [8086]
6939 \c CMP AX,imm16 ; o16 3D iw [8086]
6940 \c CMP EAX,imm32 ; o32 3D id [386]
6942 \c{CMP} performs a `mental' subtraction of its second operand from
6943 its first operand, and affects the flags as if the subtraction had
6944 taken place, but does not store the result of the subtraction
6947 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
6948 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
6949 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
6950 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
6951 form of the instruction.
6953 The destination operand can be a register or a memory location. The
6954 source can be a register, memory location or an immediate value of
6955 the same size as the destination.
6958 \H{insCMPccPD} \i\c{CMPccPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Compare
6959 \I\c{CMPEQPD} \I\c{CMPLTPD} \I\c{CMPLEPD} \I\c{CMPUNORDPD}
6960 \I\c{CMPNEQPD} \I\c{CMPNLTPD} \I\c{CMPNLEPD} \I\c{CMPORDPD}
6962 \c CMPPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128,imm8 ; 66 0F C2 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6964 \c CMPEQPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 00 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6965 \c CMPLTPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 01 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6966 \c CMPLEPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 02 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6967 \c CMPUNORDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 03 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6968 \c CMPNEQPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 04 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6969 \c CMPNLTPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 05 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6970 \c CMPNLEPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 06 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6971 \c CMPORDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 07 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
6973 The \c{CMPccPD} instructions compare the two packed double-precision
6974 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
6975 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
6976 each comparison is a quadword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
6977 all 0s (comparison false).
6979 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
6980 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
6982 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
6983 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
6984 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
6985 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
6986 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
6990 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
6991 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
6993 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
6994 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
6997 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
6998 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7001 \H{insCMPccPS} \i\c{CMPccPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Compare
7002 \I\c{CMPEQPS} \I\c{CMPLTPS} \I\c{CMPLEPS} \I\c{CMPUNORDPS}
7003 \I\c{CMPNEQPS} \I\c{CMPNLTPS} \I\c{CMPNLEPS} \I\c{CMPORDPS}
7005 \c CMPPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128,imm8 ; 0F C2 /r ib [KATMAI,SSE]
7007 \c CMPEQPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 00 [KATMAI,SSE]
7008 \c CMPLTPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 01 [KATMAI,SSE]
7009 \c CMPLEPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 02 [KATMAI,SSE]
7010 \c CMPUNORDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 03 [KATMAI,SSE]
7011 \c CMPNEQPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 04 [KATMAI,SSE]
7012 \c CMPNLTPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 05 [KATMAI,SSE]
7013 \c CMPNLEPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 06 [KATMAI,SSE]
7014 \c CMPORDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 07 [KATMAI,SSE]
7016 The \c{CMPccPS} instructions compare the two packed single-precision
7017 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
7018 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
7019 each comparison is a doubleword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
7020 all 0s (comparison false).
7022 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
7023 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7025 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
7026 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
7027 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
7028 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
7029 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
7033 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
7034 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
7036 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
7037 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
7040 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
7041 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7044 \H{insCMPSB} \i\c{CMPSB}, \i\c{CMPSW}, \i\c{CMPSD}: Compare Strings
7046 \c CMPSB ; A6 [8086]
7047 \c CMPSW ; o16 A7 [8086]
7048 \c CMPSD ; o32 A7 [386]
7050 \c{CMPSB} compares the byte at \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} with the
7051 byte at \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]}, and sets the flags accordingly.
7052 It then increments or decrements (depending on the direction flag:
7053 increments if the flag is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{SI} and
7054 \c{DI} (or \c{ESI} and \c{EDI}).
7056 The registers used are \c{SI} and \c{DI} if the address size is 16
7057 bits, and \c{ESI} and \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use
7058 an address size not equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can
7059 use an explicit \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
7061 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
7062 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
7063 example, \c{ES CMPSB}). The use of \c{ES} for the load from \c{[DI]}
7064 or \c{[EDI]} cannot be overridden.
7066 \c{CMPSW} and \c{CMPSD} work in the same way, but they compare a
7067 word or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement
7068 the addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
7070 The \c{REPE} and \c{REPNE} prefixes (equivalently, \c{REPZ} and
7071 \c{REPNZ}) may be used to repeat the instruction up to \c{CX} (or
7072 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times until the
7073 first unequal or equal byte is found.
7076 \H{insCMPccSD} \i\c{CMPccSD}: Scalar Double-Precision FP Compare
7077 \I\c{CMPEQSD} \I\c{CMPLTSD} \I\c{CMPLESD} \I\c{CMPUNORDSD}
7078 \I\c{CMPNEQSD} \I\c{CMPNLTSD} \I\c{CMPNLESD} \I\c{CMPORDSD}
7080 \c CMPSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64,imm8 ; F2 0F C2 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7082 \c CMPEQSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 00 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7083 \c CMPLTSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 01 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7084 \c CMPLESD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 02 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7085 \c CMPUNORDSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 03 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7086 \c CMPNEQSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 04 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7087 \c CMPNLTSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 05 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7088 \c CMPNLESD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 06 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7089 \c CMPORDSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 07 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7091 The \c{CMPccSD} instructions compare the low-order double-precision
7092 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
7093 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
7094 each comparison is a quadword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
7095 all 0s (comparison false).
7097 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
7098 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7100 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
7101 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
7102 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
7103 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
7104 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
7108 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
7109 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
7111 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
7112 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
7115 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
7116 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7119 \H{insCMPccSS} \i\c{CMPccSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Compare
7120 \I\c{CMPEQSS} \I\c{CMPLTSS} \I\c{CMPLESS} \I\c{CMPUNORDSS}
7121 \I\c{CMPNEQSS} \I\c{CMPNLTSS} \I\c{CMPNLESS} \I\c{CMPORDSS}
7123 \c CMPSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32,imm8 ; F3 0F C2 /r ib [KATMAI,SSE]
7125 \c CMPEQSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 00 [KATMAI,SSE]
7126 \c CMPLTSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 01 [KATMAI,SSE]
7127 \c CMPLESS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 02 [KATMAI,SSE]
7128 \c CMPUNORDSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 03 [KATMAI,SSE]
7129 \c CMPNEQSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 04 [KATMAI,SSE]
7130 \c CMPNLTSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 05 [KATMAI,SSE]
7131 \c CMPNLESS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 06 [KATMAI,SSE]
7132 \c CMPORDSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 07 [KATMAI,SSE]
7134 The \c{CMPccSS} instructions compare the low-order single-precision
7135 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
7136 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
7137 each comparison is a doubleword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
7138 all 0s (comparison false).
7140 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
7141 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7143 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
7144 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
7145 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
7146 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
7147 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
7151 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
7152 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
7154 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
7155 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
7158 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
7159 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7162 \H{insCMPXCHG} \i\c{CMPXCHG}, \i\c{CMPXCHG486}: Compare and Exchange
7164 \c CMPXCHG r/m8,reg8 ; 0F B0 /r [PENT]
7165 \c CMPXCHG r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F B1 /r [PENT]
7166 \c CMPXCHG r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F B1 /r [PENT]
7168 \c CMPXCHG486 r/m8,reg8 ; 0F A6 /r [486,UNDOC]
7169 \c CMPXCHG486 r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F A7 /r [486,UNDOC]
7170 \c CMPXCHG486 r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F A7 /r [486,UNDOC]
7172 These two instructions perform exactly the same operation; however,
7173 apparently some (not all) 486 processors support it under a
7174 non-standard opcode, so NASM provides the undocumented
7175 \c{CMPXCHG486} form to generate the non-standard opcode.
7177 \c{CMPXCHG} compares its destination (first) operand to the value in
7178 \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{EAX} (depending on the operand size of the
7179 instruction). If they are equal, it copies its source (second)
7180 operand into the destination and sets the zero flag. Otherwise, it
7181 clears the zero flag and leaves the destination alone.
7183 The destination can be either a register or a memory location. The
7184 source is a register.
7186 \c{CMPXCHG} is intended to be used for atomic operations in
7187 multitasking or multiprocessor environments. To safely update a
7188 value in shared memory, for example, you might load the value into
7189 \c{EAX}, load the updated value into \c{EBX}, and then execute the
7190 instruction \c{LOCK CMPXCHG [value],EBX}. If \c{value} has not
7191 changed since being loaded, it is updated with your desired new
7192 value, and the zero flag is set to let you know it has worked. (The
7193 \c{LOCK} prefix prevents another processor doing anything in the
7194 middle of this operation: it guarantees atomicity.) However, if
7195 another processor has modified the value in between your load and
7196 your attempted store, the store does not happen, and you are
7197 notified of the failure by a cleared zero flag, so you can go round
7201 \H{insCMPXCHG8B} \i\c{CMPXCHG8B}: Compare and Exchange Eight Bytes
7203 \c CMPXCHG8B mem ; 0F C7 /1 [PENT]
7205 This is a larger and more unwieldy version of \c{CMPXCHG}: it
7206 compares the 64-bit (eight-byte) value stored at \c{[mem]} with the
7207 value in \c{EDX:EAX}. If they are equal, it sets the zero flag and
7208 stores \c{ECX:EBX} into the memory area. If they are unequal, it
7209 clears the zero flag and stores the memory contents into \c{EDX:EAX}.
7211 \c{CMPXCHG8B} can be used with the \c{LOCK} prefix, to allow atomic
7212 execution. This is useful in multi-processor and multi-tasking
7216 \H{insCOMISD} \i\c{COMISD}: Scalar Ordered Double-Precision FP Compare and Set EFLAGS
7218 \c COMISD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; 66 0F 2F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7220 \c{COMISD} compares the low-order double-precision FP value in the
7221 two source operands. ZF, PF and CF are set according to the result.
7222 OF, AF and AF are cleared. The unordered result is returned if either
7223 source is a NaN (QNaN or SNaN).
7225 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7226 an \c{XMM} register or a memory location.
7228 The flags are set according to the following rules:
7230 \c Result Flags Values
7232 \c UNORDERED: ZF,PF,CF <-- 111;
7233 \c GREATER_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 000;
7234 \c LESS_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 001;
7235 \c EQUAL: ZF,PF,CF <-- 100;
7238 \H{insCOMISS} \i\c{COMISS}: Scalar Ordered Single-Precision FP Compare and Set EFLAGS
7240 \c COMISS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; 66 0F 2F /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7242 \c{COMISS} compares the low-order single-precision FP value in the
7243 two source operands. ZF, PF and CF are set according to the result.
7244 OF, AF and AF are cleared. The unordered result is returned if either
7245 source is a NaN (QNaN or SNaN).
7247 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7248 an \c{XMM} register or a memory location.
7250 The flags are set according to the following rules:
7252 \c Result Flags Values
7254 \c UNORDERED: ZF,PF,CF <-- 111;
7255 \c GREATER_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 000;
7256 \c LESS_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 001;
7257 \c EQUAL: ZF,PF,CF <-- 100;
7260 \H{insCPUID} \i\c{CPUID}: Get CPU Identification Code
7262 \c CPUID ; 0F A2 [PENT]
7264 \c{CPUID} returns various information about the processor it is
7265 being executed on. It fills the four registers \c{EAX}, \c{EBX},
7266 \c{ECX} and \c{EDX} with information, which varies depending on the
7267 input contents of \c{EAX}.
7269 \c{CPUID} also acts as a barrier to serialise instruction execution:
7270 executing the \c{CPUID} instruction guarantees that all the effects
7271 (memory modification, flag modification, register modification) of
7272 previous instructions have been completed before the next
7273 instruction gets fetched.
7275 The information returned is as follows:
7277 \b If \c{EAX} is zero on input, \c{EAX} on output holds the maximum
7278 acceptable input value of \c{EAX}, and \c{EBX:EDX:ECX} contain the
7279 string \c{"GenuineIntel"} (or not, if you have a clone processor).
7280 That is to say, \c{EBX} contains \c{"Genu"} (in NASM's own sense of
7281 character constants, described in \k{chrconst}), \c{EDX} contains
7282 \c{"ineI"} and \c{ECX} contains \c{"ntel"}.
7284 \b If \c{EAX} is one on input, \c{EAX} on output contains version
7285 information about the processor, and \c{EDX} contains a set of
7286 feature flags, showing the presence and absence of various features.
7287 For example, bit 8 is set if the \c{CMPXCHG8B} instruction
7288 (\k{insCMPXCHG8B}) is supported, bit 15 is set if the conditional
7289 move instructions (\k{insCMOVcc} and \k{insFCMOVB}) are supported,
7290 and bit 23 is set if \c{MMX} instructions are supported.
7292 \b If \c{EAX} is two on input, \c{EAX}, \c{EBX}, \c{ECX} and \c{EDX}
7293 all contain information about caches and TLBs (Translation Lookahead
7296 For more information on the data returned from \c{CPUID}, see the
7297 documentation from Intel and other processor manufacturers.
7300 \H{insCVTDQ2PD} \i\c{CVTDQ2PD}:
7301 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Double-Precision FP Conversion
7303 \c CVTDQ2PD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F3 0F E6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7305 \c{CVTDQ2PD} converts two packed signed doublewords from the source
7306 operand to two packed double-precision FP values in the destination
7309 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7310 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
7311 source is a register, the packed integers are in the low quadword.
7314 \H{insCVTDQ2PS} \i\c{CVTDQ2PS}:
7315 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Single-Precision FP Conversion
7317 \c CVTDQ2PS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 5B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7319 \c{CVTDQ2PS} converts four packed signed doublewords from the source
7320 operand to four packed single-precision FP values in the destination
7323 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7324 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7326 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7329 \H{insCVTPD2DQ} \i\c{CVTPD2DQ}:
7330 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
7332 \c CVTPD2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; F2 0F E6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7334 \c{CVTPD2DQ} converts two packed double-precision FP values from the
7335 source operand to two packed signed doublewords in the low quadword
7336 of the destination operand. The high quadword of the destination is
7339 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7340 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7342 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7345 \H{insCVTPD2PI} \i\c{CVTPD2PI}:
7346 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
7348 \c CVTPD2PI mm,xmm/mem128 ; 66 0F 2D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7350 \c{CVTPD2PI} converts two packed double-precision FP values from the
7351 source operand to two packed signed doublewords in the destination
7354 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
7355 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7357 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7360 \H{insCVTPD2PS} \i\c{CVTPD2PS}:
7361 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Single-Precision FP Conversion
7363 \c CVTPD2PS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 5A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7365 \c{CVTPD2PS} converts two packed double-precision FP values from the
7366 source operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the low
7367 quadword of the destination operand. The high quadword of the
7368 destination is set to all 0s.
7370 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7371 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7373 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7376 \H{insCVTPI2PD} \i\c{CVTPI2PD}:
7377 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Double-Precision FP Conversion
7379 \c CVTPI2PD xmm,mm/mem64 ; 66 0F 2A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7381 \c{CVTPI2PD} converts two packed signed doublewords from the source
7382 operand to two packed double-precision FP values in the destination
7385 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7386 either an \c{MMX} register or a 64-bit memory location.
7388 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7391 \H{insCVTPI2PS} \i\c{CVTPI2PS}:
7392 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Single-FP Conversion
7394 \c CVTPI2PS xmm,mm/mem64 ; 0F 2A /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7396 \c{CVTPI2PS} converts two packed signed doublewords from the source
7397 operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the low quadword
7398 of the destination operand. The high quadword of the destination
7401 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7402 either an \c{MMX} register or a 64-bit memory location.
7404 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7407 \H{insCVTPS2DQ} \i\c{CVTPS2DQ}:
7408 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
7410 \c CVTPS2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 5B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7412 \c{CVTPS2DQ} converts four packed single-precision FP values from the
7413 source operand to four packed signed doublewords in the destination operand.
7415 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7416 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7418 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7421 \H{insCVTPS2PD} \i\c{CVTPS2PD}:
7422 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Double-Precision FP Conversion
7424 \c CVTPS2PD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; 0F 5A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7426 \c{CVTPS2PD} converts two packed single-precision FP values from the
7427 source operand to two packed double-precision FP values in the destination
7430 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7431 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the source
7432 is a register, the input values are in the low quadword.
7434 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7437 \H{insCVTPS2PI} \i\c{CVTPS2PI}:
7438 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
7440 \c CVTPS2PI mm,xmm/mem64 ; 0F 2D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7442 \c{CVTPS2PI} converts two packed single-precision FP values from
7443 the source operand to two packed signed doublewords in the destination
7446 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
7447 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
7448 source is a register, the input values are in the low quadword.
7450 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7453 \H{insCVTSD2SI} \i\c{CVTSD2SI}:
7454 Scalar Double-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion
7456 \c CVTSD2SI reg32,xmm/mem64 ; F2 0F 2D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7458 \c{CVTSD2SI} converts a double-precision FP value from the source
7459 operand to a signed doubleword in the destination operand.
7461 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
7462 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
7463 source is a register, the input value is in the low quadword.
7465 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7468 \H{insCVTSD2SS} \i\c{CVTSD2SS}:
7469 Scalar Double-Precision FP to Scalar Single-Precision FP Conversion
7471 \c CVTSD2SS xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F 5A /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7473 \c{CVTSD2SS} converts a double-precision FP value from the source
7474 operand to a single-precision FP value in the low doubleword of the
7475 destination operand. The upper 3 doublewords are left unchanged.
7477 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7478 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
7479 source is a register, the input value is in the low quadword.
7481 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7484 \H{insCVTSI2SD} \i\c{CVTSI2SD}:
7485 Signed INT32 to Scalar Double-Precision FP Conversion
7487 \c CVTSI2SD xmm,r/m32 ; F2 0F 2A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7489 \c{CVTSI2SD} converts a signed doubleword from the source operand to
7490 a double-precision FP value in the low quadword of the destination
7491 operand. The high quadword is left unchanged.
7493 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7494 a general purpose register or a 32-bit memory location.
7496 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7499 \H{insCVTSI2SS} \i\c{CVTSI2SS}:
7500 Signed INT32 to Scalar Single-Precision FP Conversion
7502 \c CVTSI2SS xmm,r/m32 ; F3 0F 2A /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7504 \c{CVTSI2SS} converts a signed doubleword from the source operand to a
7505 single-precision FP value in the low doubleword of the destination operand.
7506 The upper 3 doublewords are left unchanged.
7508 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7509 a general purpose register or a 32-bit memory location.
7511 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7514 \H{insCVTSS2SD} \i\c{CVTSS2SD}:
7515 Scalar Single-Precision FP to Scalar Double-Precision FP Conversion
7517 \c CVTSS2SD xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 5A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7519 \c{CVTSS2SD} converts a single-precision FP value from the source operand
7520 to a double-precision FP value in the low quadword of the destination
7521 operand. The upper quadword is left unchanged.
7523 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7524 an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location. If the source is a
7525 register, the input value is contained in the low doubleword.
7527 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7530 \H{insCVTSS2SI} \i\c{CVTSS2SI}:
7531 Scalar Single-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion
7533 \c CVTSS2SI reg32,xmm/mem32 ; F3 0F 2D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7535 \c{CVTSS2SI} converts a single-precision FP value from the source
7536 operand to a signed doubleword in the destination operand.
7538 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
7539 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location. If the
7540 source is a register, the input value is in the low doubleword.
7542 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7545 \H{insCVTTPD2DQ} \i\c{CVTTPD2DQ}:
7546 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7548 \c CVTTPD2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F E6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7550 \c{CVTTPD2DQ} converts two packed double-precision FP values in the source
7551 operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the destination operand.
7552 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero). The high
7553 quadword is set to all 0s.
7555 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7556 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7558 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7561 \H{insCVTTPD2PI} \i\c{CVTTPD2PI}:
7562 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7564 \c CVTTPD2PI mm,xmm/mem128 ; 66 0F 2C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7566 \c{CVTTPD2PI} converts two packed double-precision FP values in the source
7567 operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the destination operand.
7568 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
7570 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
7571 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7573 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7576 \H{insCVTTPS2DQ} \i\c{CVTTPS2DQ}:
7577 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7579 \c CVTTPS2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; F3 0F 5B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7581 \c{CVTTPS2DQ} converts four packed single-precision FP values in the source
7582 operand to four packed signed doublewords in the destination operand.
7583 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
7585 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
7586 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7588 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7591 \H{insCVTTPS2PI} \i\c{CVTTPS2PI}:
7592 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7594 \c CVTTPS2PI mm,xmm/mem64 ; 0F 2C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7596 \c{CVTTPS2PI} converts two packed single-precision FP values in the source
7597 operand to two packed signed doublewords in the destination operand.
7598 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero). If
7599 the source is a register, the input values are in the low quadword.
7601 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
7602 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the source
7603 is a register, the input value is in the low quadword.
7605 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7608 \H{insCVTTSD2SI} \i\c{CVTTSD2SI}:
7609 Scalar Double-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7611 \c CVTTSD2SI reg32,xmm/mem64 ; F2 0F 2C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7613 \c{CVTTSD2SI} converts a double-precision FP value in the source operand
7614 to a signed doubleword in the destination operand. If the result is
7615 inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
7617 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
7618 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the source is a
7619 register, the input value is in the low quadword.
7621 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7624 \H{insCVTTSS2SI} \i\c{CVTTSS2SI}:
7625 Scalar Single-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
7627 \c CVTTSD2SI reg32,xmm/mem32 ; F3 0F 2C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7629 \c{CVTTSS2SI} converts a single-precision FP value in the source operand
7630 to a signed doubleword in the destination operand. If the result is
7631 inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
7633 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
7634 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location. If the source is a
7635 register, the input value is in the low doubleword.
7637 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
7640 \H{insDAA} \i\c{DAA}, \i\c{DAS}: Decimal Adjustments
7645 These instructions are used in conjunction with the add and subtract
7646 instructions to perform binary-coded decimal arithmetic in
7647 \e{packed} (one BCD digit per nibble) form. For the unpacked
7648 equivalents, see \k{insAAA}.
7650 \c{DAA} should be used after a one-byte \c{ADD} instruction whose
7651 destination was the \c{AL} register: by means of examining the value
7652 in the \c{AL} and also the auxiliary carry flag \c{AF}, it
7653 determines whether either digit of the addition has overflowed, and
7654 adjusts it (and sets the carry and auxiliary-carry flags) if so. You
7655 can add long BCD strings together by doing \c{ADD}/\c{DAA} on the
7656 low two digits, then doing \c{ADC}/\c{DAA} on each subsequent pair
7659 \c{DAS} works similarly to \c{DAA}, but is for use after \c{SUB}
7660 instructions rather than \c{ADD}.
7663 \H{insDEC} \i\c{DEC}: Decrement Integer
7665 \c DEC reg16 ; o16 48+r [8086]
7666 \c DEC reg32 ; o32 48+r [386]
7667 \c DEC r/m8 ; FE /1 [8086]
7668 \c DEC r/m16 ; o16 FF /1 [8086]
7669 \c DEC r/m32 ; o32 FF /1 [386]
7671 \c{DEC} subtracts 1 from its operand. It does \e{not} affect the
7672 carry flag: to affect the carry flag, use \c{SUB something,1} (see
7673 \k{insSUB}). \c{DEC} affects all the other flags according to the result.
7675 This instruction can be used with a \c{LOCK} prefix to allow atomic
7678 See also \c{INC} (\k{insINC}).
7681 \H{insDIV} \i\c{DIV}: Unsigned Integer Divide
7683 \c DIV r/m8 ; F6 /6 [8086]
7684 \c DIV r/m16 ; o16 F7 /6 [8086]
7685 \c DIV r/m32 ; o32 F7 /6 [386]
7687 \c{DIV} performs unsigned integer division. The explicit operand
7688 provided is the divisor; the dividend and destination operands are
7689 implicit, in the following way:
7691 \b For \c{DIV r/m8}, \c{AX} is divided by the given operand; the
7692 quotient is stored in \c{AL} and the remainder in \c{AH}.
7694 \b For \c{DIV r/m16}, \c{DX:AX} is divided by the given operand; the
7695 quotient is stored in \c{AX} and the remainder in \c{DX}.
7697 \b For \c{DIV r/m32}, \c{EDX:EAX} is divided by the given operand;
7698 the quotient is stored in \c{EAX} and the remainder in \c{EDX}.
7700 Signed integer division is performed by the \c{IDIV} instruction:
7704 \H{insDIVPD} \i\c{DIVPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Divide
7706 \c DIVPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 5E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7708 \c{DIVPD} divides the two packed double-precision FP values in
7709 the destination operand by the two packed double-precision FP
7710 values in the source operand, and stores the packed double-precision
7711 results in the destination register.
7713 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7714 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7716 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] / src[0-63],
7717 \c dst[64-127] := dst[64-127] / src[64-127].
7720 \H{insDIVPS} \i\c{DIVPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Divide
7722 \c DIVPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 5E /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7724 \c{DIVPD} divides the four packed single-precision FP values in
7725 the destination operand by the four packed single-precision FP
7726 values in the source operand, and stores the packed single-precision
7727 results in the destination register.
7729 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7730 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7732 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] / src[0-31],
7733 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] / src[32-63],
7734 \c dst[64-95] := dst[64-95] / src[64-95],
7735 \c dst[96-127] := dst[96-127] / src[96-127].
7738 \H{insDIVSD} \i\c{DIVPD}: Scalar Double-Precision FP Divide
7740 \c DIVSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F 5E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7742 \c{DIVSD} divides the low-order double-precision FP value in the
7743 destination operand by the low-order double-precision FP value in
7744 the source operand, and stores the double-precision result in the
7745 destination register.
7747 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7748 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location.
7750 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] / src[0-63],
7751 \c dst[64-127] remains unchanged.
7754 \H{insDIVSS} \i\c{DIVSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Divide
7756 \c DIVSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 5E /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7758 \c{DIVSS} divides the low-order single-precision FP value in the
7759 destination operand by the low-order single-precision FP value in
7760 the source operand, and stores the single-precision result in the
7761 destination register.
7763 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7764 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location.
7766 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] / src[0-31],
7767 \c dst[32-127] remains unchanged.
7770 \H{insEMMS} \i\c{EMMS}: Empty MMX State
7772 \c EMMS ; 0F 77 [PENT,MMX]
7774 \c{EMMS} sets the FPU tag word (marking which floating-point registers
7775 are available) to all ones, meaning all registers are available for
7776 the FPU to use. It should be used after executing \c{MMX} instructions
7777 and before executing any subsequent floating-point operations.
7780 \H{insENTER} \i\c{ENTER}: Create Stack Frame
7782 \c ENTER imm,imm ; C8 iw ib [186]
7784 \c{ENTER} constructs a \i\c{stack frame} for a high-level language
7785 procedure call. The first operand (the \c{iw} in the opcode
7786 definition above refers to the first operand) gives the amount of
7787 stack space to allocate for local variables; the second (the \c{ib}
7788 above) gives the nesting level of the procedure (for languages like
7789 Pascal, with nested procedures).
7791 The function of \c{ENTER}, with a nesting level of zero, is
7794 \c PUSH EBP ; or PUSH BP in 16 bits
7795 \c MOV EBP,ESP ; or MOV BP,SP in 16 bits
7796 \c SUB ESP,operand1 ; or SUB SP,operand1 in 16 bits
7798 This creates a stack frame with the procedure parameters accessible
7799 upwards from \c{EBP}, and local variables accessible downwards from
7802 With a nesting level of one, the stack frame created is 4 (or 2)
7803 bytes bigger, and the value of the final frame pointer \c{EBP} is
7804 accessible in memory at \c{[EBP-4]}.
7806 This allows \c{ENTER}, when called with a nesting level of two, to
7807 look at the stack frame described by the \e{previous} value of
7808 \c{EBP}, find the frame pointer at offset -4 from that, and push it
7809 along with its new frame pointer, so that when a level-two procedure
7810 is called from within a level-one procedure, \c{[EBP-4]} holds the
7811 frame pointer of the most recent level-one procedure call and
7812 \c{[EBP-8]} holds that of the most recent level-two call. And so on,
7813 for nesting levels up to 31.
7815 Stack frames created by \c{ENTER} can be destroyed by the \c{LEAVE}
7816 instruction: see \k{insLEAVE}.
7819 \H{insF2XM1} \i\c{F2XM1}: Calculate 2**X-1
7821 \c F2XM1 ; D9 F0 [8086,FPU]
7823 \c{F2XM1} raises 2 to the power of \c{ST0}, subtracts one, and
7824 stores the result back into \c{ST0}. The initial contents of \c{ST0}
7825 must be a number in the range -1.0 to +1.0.
7828 \H{insFABS} \i\c{FABS}: Floating-Point Absolute Value
7830 \c FABS ; D9 E1 [8086,FPU]
7832 \c{FABS} computes the absolute value of \c{ST0},by clearing the sign
7833 bit, and stores the result back in \c{ST0}.
7836 \H{insFADD} \i\c{FADD}, \i\c{FADDP}: Floating-Point Addition
7838 \c FADD mem32 ; D8 /0 [8086,FPU]
7839 \c FADD mem64 ; DC /0 [8086,FPU]
7841 \c FADD fpureg ; D8 C0+r [8086,FPU]
7842 \c FADD ST0,fpureg ; D8 C0+r [8086,FPU]
7844 \c FADD TO fpureg ; DC C0+r [8086,FPU]
7845 \c FADD fpureg,ST0 ; DC C0+r [8086,FPU]
7847 \c FADDP fpureg ; DE C0+r [8086,FPU]
7848 \c FADDP fpureg,ST0 ; DE C0+r [8086,FPU]
7850 \b \c{FADD}, given one operand, adds the operand to \c{ST0} and stores
7851 the result back in \c{ST0}. If the operand has the \c{TO} modifier,
7852 the result is stored in the register given rather than in \c{ST0}.
7854 \b \c{FADDP} performs the same function as \c{FADD TO}, but pops the
7855 register stack after storing the result.
7857 The given two-operand forms are synonyms for the one-operand forms.
7859 To add an integer value to \c{ST0}, use the c{FIADD} instruction
7863 \H{insFBLD} \i\c{FBLD}, \i\c{FBSTP}: BCD Floating-Point Load and Store
7865 \c FBLD mem80 ; DF /4 [8086,FPU]
7866 \c FBSTP mem80 ; DF /6 [8086,FPU]
7868 \c{FBLD} loads an 80-bit (ten-byte) packed binary-coded decimal
7869 number from the given memory address, converts it to a real, and
7870 pushes it on the register stack. \c{FBSTP} stores the value of
7871 \c{ST0}, in packed BCD, at the given address and then pops the
7875 \H{insFCHS} \i\c{FCHS}: Floating-Point Change Sign
7877 \c FCHS ; D9 E0 [8086,FPU]
7879 \c{FCHS} negates the number in \c{ST0}, by inverting the sign bit:
7880 negative numbers become positive, and vice versa.
7883 \H{insFCLEX} \i\c{FCLEX}, \c{FNCLEX}: Clear Floating-Point Exceptions
7885 \c FCLEX ; 9B DB E2 [8086,FPU]
7886 \c FNCLEX ; DB E2 [8086,FPU]
7888 \c{FCLEX} clears any floating-point exceptions which may be pending.
7889 \c{FNCLEX} does the same thing but doesn't wait for previous
7890 floating-point operations (including the \e{handling} of pending
7891 exceptions) to finish first.
7894 \H{insFCMOVB} \i\c{FCMOVcc}: Floating-Point Conditional Move
7896 \c FCMOVB fpureg ; DA C0+r [P6,FPU]
7897 \c FCMOVB ST0,fpureg ; DA C0+r [P6,FPU]
7899 \c FCMOVE fpureg ; DA C8+r [P6,FPU]
7900 \c FCMOVE ST0,fpureg ; DA C8+r [P6,FPU]
7902 \c FCMOVBE fpureg ; DA D0+r [P6,FPU]
7903 \c FCMOVBE ST0,fpureg ; DA D0+r [P6,FPU]
7905 \c FCMOVU fpureg ; DA D8+r [P6,FPU]
7906 \c FCMOVU ST0,fpureg ; DA D8+r [P6,FPU]
7908 \c FCMOVNB fpureg ; DB C0+r [P6,FPU]
7909 \c FCMOVNB ST0,fpureg ; DB C0+r [P6,FPU]
7911 \c FCMOVNE fpureg ; DB C8+r [P6,FPU]
7912 \c FCMOVNE ST0,fpureg ; DB C8+r [P6,FPU]
7914 \c FCMOVNBE fpureg ; DB D0+r [P6,FPU]
7915 \c FCMOVNBE ST0,fpureg ; DB D0+r [P6,FPU]
7917 \c FCMOVNU fpureg ; DB D8+r [P6,FPU]
7918 \c FCMOVNU ST0,fpureg ; DB D8+r [P6,FPU]
7920 The \c{FCMOV} instructions perform conditional move operations: each
7921 of them moves the contents of the given register into \c{ST0} if its
7922 condition is satisfied, and does nothing if not.
7924 The conditions are not the same as the standard condition codes used
7925 with conditional jump instructions. The conditions \c{B}, \c{BE},
7926 \c{NB}, \c{NBE}, \c{E} and \c{NE} are exactly as normal, but none of
7927 the other standard ones are supported. Instead, the condition \c{U}
7928 and its counterpart \c{NU} are provided; the \c{U} condition is
7929 satisfied if the last two floating-point numbers compared were
7930 \e{unordered}, i.e. they were not equal but neither one could be
7931 said to be greater than the other, for example if they were NaNs.
7932 (The flag state which signals this is the setting of the parity
7933 flag: so the \c{U} condition is notionally equivalent to \c{PE}, and
7934 \c{NU} is equivalent to \c{PO}.)
7936 The \c{FCMOV} conditions test the main processor's status flags, not
7937 the FPU status flags, so using \c{FCMOV} directly after \c{FCOM}
7938 will not work. Instead, you should either use \c{FCOMI} which writes
7939 directly to the main CPU flags word, or use \c{FSTSW} to extract the
7942 Although the \c{FCMOV} instructions are flagged \c{P6} above, they
7943 may not be supported by all Pentium Pro processors; the \c{CPUID}
7944 instruction (\k{insCPUID}) will return a bit which indicates whether
7945 conditional moves are supported.
7948 \H{insFCOM} \i\c{FCOM}, \i\c{FCOMP}, \i\c{FCOMPP}, \i\c{FCOMI},
7949 \i\c{FCOMIP}: Floating-Point Compare
7951 \c FCOM mem32 ; D8 /2 [8086,FPU]
7952 \c FCOM mem64 ; DC /2 [8086,FPU]
7953 \c FCOM fpureg ; D8 D0+r [8086,FPU]
7954 \c FCOM ST0,fpureg ; D8 D0+r [8086,FPU]
7956 \c FCOMP mem32 ; D8 /3 [8086,FPU]
7957 \c FCOMP mem64 ; DC /3 [8086,FPU]
7958 \c FCOMP fpureg ; D8 D8+r [8086,FPU]
7959 \c FCOMP ST0,fpureg ; D8 D8+r [8086,FPU]
7961 \c FCOMPP ; DE D9 [8086,FPU]
7963 \c FCOMI fpureg ; DB F0+r [P6,FPU]
7964 \c FCOMI ST0,fpureg ; DB F0+r [P6,FPU]
7966 \c FCOMIP fpureg ; DF F0+r [P6,FPU]
7967 \c FCOMIP ST0,fpureg ; DF F0+r [P6,FPU]
7969 \c{FCOM} compares \c{ST0} with the given operand, and sets the FPU
7970 flags accordingly. \c{ST0} is treated as the left-hand side of the
7971 comparison, so that the carry flag is set (for a `less-than' result)
7972 if \c{ST0} is less than the given operand.
7974 \c{FCOMP} does the same as \c{FCOM}, but pops the register stack
7975 afterwards. \c{FCOMPP} compares \c{ST0} with \c{ST1} and then pops
7976 the register stack twice.
7978 \c{FCOMI} and \c{FCOMIP} work like the corresponding forms of
7979 \c{FCOM} and \c{FCOMP}, but write their results directly to the CPU
7980 flags register rather than the FPU status word, so they can be
7981 immediately followed by conditional jump or conditional move
7984 The \c{FCOM} instructions differ from the \c{FUCOM} instructions
7985 (\k{insFUCOM}) only in the way they handle quiet NaNs: \c{FUCOM}
7986 will handle them silently and set the condition code flags to an
7987 `unordered' result, whereas \c{FCOM} will generate an exception.
7990 \H{insFCOS} \i\c{FCOS}: Cosine
7992 \c FCOS ; D9 FF [386,FPU]
7994 \c{FCOS} computes the cosine of \c{ST0} (in radians), and stores the
7995 result in \c{ST0}. The absolute value of \c{ST0} must be less than 2**63.
7997 See also \c{FSINCOS} (\k{insFSIN}).
8000 \H{insFDECSTP} \i\c{FDECSTP}: Decrement Floating-Point Stack Pointer
8002 \c FDECSTP ; D9 F6 [8086,FPU]
8004 \c{FDECSTP} decrements the `top' field in the floating-point status
8005 word. This has the effect of rotating the FPU register stack by one,
8006 as if the contents of \c{ST7} had been pushed on the stack. See also
8007 \c{FINCSTP} (\k{insFINCSTP}).
8010 \H{insFDISI} \i\c{FxDISI}, \i\c{FxENI}: Disable and Enable Floating-Point Interrupts
8012 \c FDISI ; 9B DB E1 [8086,FPU]
8013 \c FNDISI ; DB E1 [8086,FPU]
8015 \c FENI ; 9B DB E0 [8086,FPU]
8016 \c FNENI ; DB E0 [8086,FPU]
8018 \c{FDISI} and \c{FENI} disable and enable floating-point interrupts.
8019 These instructions are only meaningful on original 8087 processors:
8020 the 287 and above treat them as no-operation instructions.
8022 \c{FNDISI} and \c{FNENI} do the same thing as \c{FDISI} and \c{FENI}
8023 respectively, but without waiting for the floating-point processor
8024 to finish what it was doing first.
8027 \H{insFDIV} \i\c{FDIV}, \i\c{FDIVP}, \i\c{FDIVR}, \i\c{FDIVRP}: Floating-Point Division
8029 \c FDIV mem32 ; D8 /6 [8086,FPU]
8030 \c FDIV mem64 ; DC /6 [8086,FPU]
8032 \c FDIV fpureg ; D8 F0+r [8086,FPU]
8033 \c FDIV ST0,fpureg ; D8 F0+r [8086,FPU]
8035 \c FDIV TO fpureg ; DC F8+r [8086,FPU]
8036 \c FDIV fpureg,ST0 ; DC F8+r [8086,FPU]
8038 \c FDIVR mem32 ; D8 /0 [8086,FPU]
8039 \c FDIVR mem64 ; DC /0 [8086,FPU]
8041 \c FDIVR fpureg ; D8 F8+r [8086,FPU]
8042 \c FDIVR ST0,fpureg ; D8 F8+r [8086,FPU]
8044 \c FDIVR TO fpureg ; DC F0+r [8086,FPU]
8045 \c FDIVR fpureg,ST0 ; DC F0+r [8086,FPU]
8047 \c FDIVP fpureg ; DE F8+r [8086,FPU]
8048 \c FDIVP fpureg,ST0 ; DE F8+r [8086,FPU]
8050 \c FDIVRP fpureg ; DE F0+r [8086,FPU]
8051 \c FDIVRP fpureg,ST0 ; DE F0+r [8086,FPU]
8053 \b \c{FDIV} divides \c{ST0} by the given operand and stores the result
8054 back in \c{ST0}, unless the \c{TO} qualifier is given, in which case
8055 it divides the given operand by \c{ST0} and stores the result in the
8058 \b \c{FDIVR} does the same thing, but does the division the other way
8059 up: so if \c{TO} is not given, it divides the given operand by
8060 \c{ST0} and stores the result in \c{ST0}, whereas if \c{TO} is given
8061 it divides \c{ST0} by its operand and stores the result in the
8064 \b \c{FDIVP} operates like \c{FDIV TO}, but pops the register stack
8065 once it has finished.
8067 \b \c{FDIVRP} operates like \c{FDIVR TO}, but pops the register stack
8068 once it has finished.
8070 For FP/Integer divisions, see \c{FIDIV} (\k{insFIDIV}).
8073 \H{insFEMMS} \i\c{FEMMS}: Faster Enter/Exit of the MMX or floating-point state
8075 \c FEMMS ; 0F 0E [PENT,3DNOW]
8077 \c{FEMMS} can be used in place of the \c{EMMS} instruction on
8078 processors which support the 3DNow! instruction set. Following
8079 execution of \c{FEMMS}, the state of the \c{MMX/FP} registers
8080 is undefined, and this allows a faster context switch between
8081 \c{FP} and \c{MMX} instructions. The \c{FEMMS} instruction can
8082 also be used \e{before} executing \c{MMX} instructions
8085 \H{insFFREE} \i\c{FFREE}: Flag Floating-Point Register as Unused
8087 \c FFREE fpureg ; DD C0+r [8086,FPU]
8088 \c FFREEP fpureg ; DF C0+r [286,FPU,UNDOC]
8090 \c{FFREE} marks the given register as being empty.
8092 \c{FFREEP} marks the given register as being empty, and then
8093 pops the register stack.
8096 \H{insFIADD} \i\c{FIADD}: Floating-Point/Integer Addition
8098 \c FIADD mem16 ; DE /0 [8086,FPU]
8099 \c FIADD mem32 ; DA /0 [8086,FPU]
8101 \c{FIADD} adds the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored in the given
8102 memory location to \c{ST0}, storing the result in \c{ST0}.
8105 \H{insFICOM} \i\c{FICOM}, \i\c{FICOMP}: Floating-Point/Integer Compare
8107 \c FICOM mem16 ; DE /2 [8086,FPU]
8108 \c FICOM mem32 ; DA /2 [8086,FPU]
8110 \c FICOMP mem16 ; DE /3 [8086,FPU]
8111 \c FICOMP mem32 ; DA /3 [8086,FPU]
8113 \c{FICOM} compares \c{ST0} with the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored
8114 in the given memory location, and sets the FPU flags accordingly.
8115 \c{FICOMP} does the same, but pops the register stack afterwards.
8118 \H{insFIDIV} \i\c{FIDIV}, \i\c{FIDIVR}: Floating-Point/Integer Division
8120 \c FIDIV mem16 ; DE /6 [8086,FPU]
8121 \c FIDIV mem32 ; DA /6 [8086,FPU]
8123 \c FIDIVR mem16 ; DE /7 [8086,FPU]
8124 \c FIDIVR mem32 ; DA /7 [8086,FPU]
8126 \c{FIDIV} divides \c{ST0} by the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored in
8127 the given memory location, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8128 \c{FIDIVR} does the division the other way up: it divides the
8129 integer by \c{ST0}, but still stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8132 \H{insFILD} \i\c{FILD}, \i\c{FIST}, \i\c{FISTP}: Floating-Point/Integer Conversion
8134 \c FILD mem16 ; DF /0 [8086,FPU]
8135 \c FILD mem32 ; DB /0 [8086,FPU]
8136 \c FILD mem64 ; DF /5 [8086,FPU]
8138 \c FIST mem16 ; DF /2 [8086,FPU]
8139 \c FIST mem32 ; DB /2 [8086,FPU]
8141 \c FISTP mem16 ; DF /3 [8086,FPU]
8142 \c FISTP mem32 ; DB /3 [8086,FPU]
8143 \c FISTP mem64 ; DF /7 [8086,FPU]
8145 \c{FILD} loads an integer out of a memory location, converts it to a
8146 real, and pushes it on the FPU register stack. \c{FIST} converts
8147 \c{ST0} to an integer and stores that in memory; \c{FISTP} does the
8148 same as \c{FIST}, but pops the register stack afterwards.
8151 \H{insFIMUL} \i\c{FIMUL}: Floating-Point/Integer Multiplication
8153 \c FIMUL mem16 ; DE /1 [8086,FPU]
8154 \c FIMUL mem32 ; DA /1 [8086,FPU]
8156 \c{FIMUL} multiplies \c{ST0} by the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored
8157 in the given memory location, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8160 \H{insFINCSTP} \i\c{FINCSTP}: Increment Floating-Point Stack Pointer
8162 \c FINCSTP ; D9 F7 [8086,FPU]
8164 \c{FINCSTP} increments the `top' field in the floating-point status
8165 word. This has the effect of rotating the FPU register stack by one,
8166 as if the register stack had been popped; however, unlike the
8167 popping of the stack performed by many FPU instructions, it does not
8168 flag the new \c{ST7} (previously \c{ST0}) as empty. See also
8169 \c{FDECSTP} (\k{insFDECSTP}).
8172 \H{insFINIT} \i\c{FINIT}, \i\c{FNINIT}: Initialise Floating-Point Unit
8174 \c FINIT ; 9B DB E3 [8086,FPU]
8175 \c FNINIT ; DB E3 [8086,FPU]
8177 \c{FINIT} initialises the FPU to its default state. It flags all
8178 registers as empty, without actually change their values, clears
8179 the top of stack pointer. \c{FNINIT} does the same, without first
8180 waiting for pending exceptions to clear.
8183 \H{insFISUB} \i\c{FISUB}: Floating-Point/Integer Subtraction
8185 \c FISUB mem16 ; DE /4 [8086,FPU]
8186 \c FISUB mem32 ; DA /4 [8086,FPU]
8188 \c FISUBR mem16 ; DE /5 [8086,FPU]
8189 \c FISUBR mem32 ; DA /5 [8086,FPU]
8191 \c{FISUB} subtracts the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored in the given
8192 memory location from \c{ST0}, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8193 \c{FISUBR} does the subtraction the other way round, i.e. it
8194 subtracts \c{ST0} from the given integer, but still stores the
8198 \H{insFLD} \i\c{FLD}: Floating-Point Load
8200 \c FLD mem32 ; D9 /0 [8086,FPU]
8201 \c FLD mem64 ; DD /0 [8086,FPU]
8202 \c FLD mem80 ; DB /5 [8086,FPU]
8203 \c FLD fpureg ; D9 C0+r [8086,FPU]
8205 \c{FLD} loads a floating-point value out of the given register or
8206 memory location, and pushes it on the FPU register stack.
8209 \H{insFLD1} \i\c{FLDxx}: Floating-Point Load Constants
8211 \c FLD1 ; D9 E8 [8086,FPU]
8212 \c FLDL2E ; D9 EA [8086,FPU]
8213 \c FLDL2T ; D9 E9 [8086,FPU]
8214 \c FLDLG2 ; D9 EC [8086,FPU]
8215 \c FLDLN2 ; D9 ED [8086,FPU]
8216 \c FLDPI ; D9 EB [8086,FPU]
8217 \c FLDZ ; D9 EE [8086,FPU]
8219 These instructions push specific standard constants on the FPU
8222 \c Instruction Constant pushed
8225 \c FLDL2E base-2 logarithm of e
8226 \c FLDL2T base-2 log of 10
8227 \c FLDLG2 base-10 log of 2
8228 \c FLDLN2 base-e log of 2
8233 \H{insFLDCW} \i\c{FLDCW}: Load Floating-Point Control Word
8235 \c FLDCW mem16 ; D9 /5 [8086,FPU]
8237 \c{FLDCW} loads a 16-bit value out of memory and stores it into the
8238 FPU control word (governing things like the rounding mode, the
8239 precision, and the exception masks). See also \c{FSTCW}
8240 (\k{insFSTCW}). If exceptions are enabled and you don't want to
8241 generate one, use \c{FCLEX} or \c{FNCLEX} (\k{insFCLEX}) before
8242 loading the new control word.
8245 \H{insFLDENV} \i\c{FLDENV}: Load Floating-Point Environment
8247 \c FLDENV mem ; D9 /4 [8086,FPU]
8249 \c{FLDENV} loads the FPU operating environment (control word, status
8250 word, tag word, instruction pointer, data pointer and last opcode)
8251 from memory. The memory area is 14 or 28 bytes long, depending on
8252 the CPU mode at the time. See also \c{FSTENV} (\k{insFSTENV}).
8255 \H{insFMUL} \i\c{FMUL}, \i\c{FMULP}: Floating-Point Multiply
8257 \c FMUL mem32 ; D8 /1 [8086,FPU]
8258 \c FMUL mem64 ; DC /1 [8086,FPU]
8260 \c FMUL fpureg ; D8 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8261 \c FMUL ST0,fpureg ; D8 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8263 \c FMUL TO fpureg ; DC C8+r [8086,FPU]
8264 \c FMUL fpureg,ST0 ; DC C8+r [8086,FPU]
8266 \c FMULP fpureg ; DE C8+r [8086,FPU]
8267 \c FMULP fpureg,ST0 ; DE C8+r [8086,FPU]
8269 \c{FMUL} multiplies \c{ST0} by the given operand, and stores the
8270 result in \c{ST0}, unless the \c{TO} qualifier is used in which case
8271 it stores the result in the operand. \c{FMULP} performs the same
8272 operation as \c{FMUL TO}, and then pops the register stack.
8275 \H{insFNOP} \i\c{FNOP}: Floating-Point No Operation
8277 \c FNOP ; D9 D0 [8086,FPU]
8279 \c{FNOP} does nothing.
8282 \H{insFPATAN} \i\c{FPATAN}, \i\c{FPTAN}: Arctangent and Tangent
8284 \c FPATAN ; D9 F3 [8086,FPU]
8285 \c FPTAN ; D9 F2 [8086,FPU]
8287 \c{FPATAN} computes the arctangent, in radians, of the result of
8288 dividing \c{ST1} by \c{ST0}, stores the result in \c{ST1}, and pops
8289 the register stack. It works like the C \c{atan2} function, in that
8290 changing the sign of both \c{ST0} and \c{ST1} changes the output
8291 value by pi (so it performs true rectangular-to-polar coordinate
8292 conversion, with \c{ST1} being the Y coordinate and \c{ST0} being
8293 the X coordinate, not merely an arctangent).
8295 \c{FPTAN} computes the tangent of the value in \c{ST0} (in radians),
8296 and stores the result back into \c{ST0}.
8298 The absolute value of \c{ST0} must be less than 2**63.
8301 \H{insFPREM} \i\c{FPREM}, \i\c{FPREM1}: Floating-Point Partial Remainder
8303 \c FPREM ; D9 F8 [8086,FPU]
8304 \c FPREM1 ; D9 F5 [386,FPU]
8306 These instructions both produce the remainder obtained by dividing
8307 \c{ST0} by \c{ST1}. This is calculated, notionally, by dividing
8308 \c{ST0} by \c{ST1}, rounding the result to an integer, multiplying
8309 by \c{ST1} again, and computing the value which would need to be
8310 added back on to the result to get back to the original value in
8313 The two instructions differ in the way the notional round-to-integer
8314 operation is performed. \c{FPREM} does it by rounding towards zero,
8315 so that the remainder it returns always has the same sign as the
8316 original value in \c{ST0}; \c{FPREM1} does it by rounding to the
8317 nearest integer, so that the remainder always has at most half the
8318 magnitude of \c{ST1}.
8320 Both instructions calculate \e{partial} remainders, meaning that
8321 they may not manage to provide the final result, but might leave
8322 intermediate results in \c{ST0} instead. If this happens, they will
8323 set the C2 flag in the FPU status word; therefore, to calculate a
8324 remainder, you should repeatedly execute \c{FPREM} or \c{FPREM1}
8325 until C2 becomes clear.
8328 \H{insFRNDINT} \i\c{FRNDINT}: Floating-Point Round to Integer
8330 \c FRNDINT ; D9 FC [8086,FPU]
8332 \c{FRNDINT} rounds the contents of \c{ST0} to an integer, according
8333 to the current rounding mode set in the FPU control word, and stores
8334 the result back in \c{ST0}.
8337 \H{insFRSTOR} \i\c{FSAVE}, \i\c{FRSTOR}: Save/Restore Floating-Point State
8339 \c FSAVE mem ; 9B DD /6 [8086,FPU]
8340 \c FNSAVE mem ; DD /6 [8086,FPU]
8342 \c FRSTOR mem ; DD /4 [8086,FPU]
8344 \c{FSAVE} saves the entire floating-point unit state, including all
8345 the information saved by \c{FSTENV} (\k{insFSTENV}) plus the
8346 contents of all the registers, to a 94 or 108 byte area of memory
8347 (depending on the CPU mode). \c{FRSTOR} restores the floating-point
8348 state from the same area of memory.
8350 \c{FNSAVE} does the same as \c{FSAVE}, without first waiting for
8351 pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
8354 \H{insFSCALE} \i\c{FSCALE}: Scale Floating-Point Value by Power of Two
8356 \c FSCALE ; D9 FD [8086,FPU]
8358 \c{FSCALE} scales a number by a power of two: it rounds \c{ST1}
8359 towards zero to obtain an integer, then multiplies \c{ST0} by two to
8360 the power of that integer, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8363 \H{insFSETPM} \i\c{FSETPM}: Set Protected Mode
8365 \c FSETPM ; DB E4 [286,FPU]
8367 This instruction initalises protected mode on the 287 floating-point
8368 coprocessor. It is only meaningful on that processor: the 387 and
8369 above treat the instruction as a no-operation.
8372 \H{insFSIN} \i\c{FSIN}, \i\c{FSINCOS}: Sine and Cosine
8374 \c FSIN ; D9 FE [386,FPU]
8375 \c FSINCOS ; D9 FB [386,FPU]
8377 \c{FSIN} calculates the sine of \c{ST0} (in radians) and stores the
8378 result in \c{ST0}. \c{FSINCOS} does the same, but then pushes the
8379 cosine of the same value on the register stack, so that the sine
8380 ends up in \c{ST1} and the cosine in \c{ST0}. \c{FSINCOS} is faster
8381 than executing \c{FSIN} and \c{FCOS} (see \k{insFCOS}) in succession.
8383 The absolute value of \c{ST0} must be less than 2**63.
8386 \H{insFSQRT} \i\c{FSQRT}: Floating-Point Square Root
8388 \c FSQRT ; D9 FA [8086,FPU]
8390 \c{FSQRT} calculates the square root of \c{ST0} and stores the
8394 \H{insFST} \i\c{FST}, \i\c{FSTP}: Floating-Point Store
8396 \c FST mem32 ; D9 /2 [8086,FPU]
8397 \c FST mem64 ; DD /2 [8086,FPU]
8398 \c FST fpureg ; DD D0+r [8086,FPU]
8400 \c FSTP mem32 ; D9 /3 [8086,FPU]
8401 \c FSTP mem64 ; DD /3 [8086,FPU]
8402 \c FSTP mem80 ; DB /7 [8086,FPU]
8403 \c FSTP fpureg ; DD D8+r [8086,FPU]
8405 \c{FST} stores the value in \c{ST0} into the given memory location
8406 or other FPU register. \c{FSTP} does the same, but then pops the
8410 \H{insFSTCW} \i\c{FSTCW}: Store Floating-Point Control Word
8412 \c FSTCW mem16 ; 9B D9 /7 [8086,FPU]
8413 \c FNSTCW mem16 ; D9 /7 [8086,FPU]
8415 \c{FSTCW} stores the \c{FPU} control word (governing things like the
8416 rounding mode, the precision, and the exception masks) into a 2-byte
8417 memory area. See also \c{FLDCW} (\k{insFLDCW}).
8419 \c{FNSTCW} does the same thing as \c{FSTCW}, without first waiting
8420 for pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
8423 \H{insFSTENV} \i\c{FSTENV}: Store Floating-Point Environment
8425 \c FSTENV mem ; 9B D9 /6 [8086,FPU]
8426 \c FNSTENV mem ; D9 /6 [8086,FPU]
8428 \c{FSTENV} stores the \c{FPU} operating environment (control word,
8429 status word, tag word, instruction pointer, data pointer and last
8430 opcode) into memory. The memory area is 14 or 28 bytes long,
8431 depending on the CPU mode at the time. See also \c{FLDENV}
8434 \c{FNSTENV} does the same thing as \c{FSTENV}, without first waiting
8435 for pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
8438 \H{insFSTSW} \i\c{FSTSW}: Store Floating-Point Status Word
8440 \c FSTSW mem16 ; 9B DD /7 [8086,FPU]
8441 \c FSTSW AX ; 9B DF E0 [286,FPU]
8443 \c FNSTSW mem16 ; DD /7 [8086,FPU]
8444 \c FNSTSW AX ; DF E0 [286,FPU]
8446 \c{FSTSW} stores the \c{FPU} status word into \c{AX} or into a 2-byte
8449 \c{FNSTSW} does the same thing as \c{FSTSW}, without first waiting
8450 for pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
8453 \H{insFSUB} \i\c{FSUB}, \i\c{FSUBP}, \i\c{FSUBR}, \i\c{FSUBRP}: Floating-Point Subtract
8455 \c FSUB mem32 ; D8 /4 [8086,FPU]
8456 \c FSUB mem64 ; DC /4 [8086,FPU]
8458 \c FSUB fpureg ; D8 E0+r [8086,FPU]
8459 \c FSUB ST0,fpureg ; D8 E0+r [8086,FPU]
8461 \c FSUB TO fpureg ; DC E8+r [8086,FPU]
8462 \c FSUB fpureg,ST0 ; DC E8+r [8086,FPU]
8464 \c FSUBR mem32 ; D8 /5 [8086,FPU]
8465 \c FSUBR mem64 ; DC /5 [8086,FPU]
8467 \c FSUBR fpureg ; D8 E8+r [8086,FPU]
8468 \c FSUBR ST0,fpureg ; D8 E8+r [8086,FPU]
8470 \c FSUBR TO fpureg ; DC E0+r [8086,FPU]
8471 \c FSUBR fpureg,ST0 ; DC E0+r [8086,FPU]
8473 \c FSUBP fpureg ; DE E8+r [8086,FPU]
8474 \c FSUBP fpureg,ST0 ; DE E8+r [8086,FPU]
8476 \c FSUBRP fpureg ; DE E0+r [8086,FPU]
8477 \c FSUBRP fpureg,ST0 ; DE E0+r [8086,FPU]
8479 \b \c{FSUB} subtracts the given operand from \c{ST0} and stores the
8480 result back in \c{ST0}, unless the \c{TO} qualifier is given, in
8481 which case it subtracts \c{ST0} from the given operand and stores
8482 the result in the operand.
8484 \b \c{FSUBR} does the same thing, but does the subtraction the other
8485 way up: so if \c{TO} is not given, it subtracts \c{ST0} from the given
8486 operand and stores the result in \c{ST0}, whereas if \c{TO} is given
8487 it subtracts its operand from \c{ST0} and stores the result in the
8490 \b \c{FSUBP} operates like \c{FSUB TO}, but pops the register stack
8491 once it has finished.
8493 \b \c{FSUBRP} operates like \c{FSUBR TO}, but pops the register stack
8494 once it has finished.
8497 \H{insFTST} \i\c{FTST}: Test \c{ST0} Against Zero
8499 \c FTST ; D9 E4 [8086,FPU]
8501 \c{FTST} compares \c{ST0} with zero and sets the FPU flags
8502 accordingly. \c{ST0} is treated as the left-hand side of the
8503 comparison, so that a `less-than' result is generated if \c{ST0} is
8507 \H{insFUCOM} \i\c{FUCOMxx}: Floating-Point Unordered Compare
8509 \c FUCOM fpureg ; DD E0+r [386,FPU]
8510 \c FUCOM ST0,fpureg ; DD E0+r [386,FPU]
8512 \c FUCOMP fpureg ; DD E8+r [386,FPU]
8513 \c FUCOMP ST0,fpureg ; DD E8+r [386,FPU]
8515 \c FUCOMPP ; DA E9 [386,FPU]
8517 \c FUCOMI fpureg ; DB E8+r [P6,FPU]
8518 \c FUCOMI ST0,fpureg ; DB E8+r [P6,FPU]
8520 \c FUCOMIP fpureg ; DF E8+r [P6,FPU]
8521 \c FUCOMIP ST0,fpureg ; DF E8+r [P6,FPU]
8523 \b \c{FUCOM} compares \c{ST0} with the given operand, and sets the
8524 FPU flags accordingly. \c{ST0} is treated as the left-hand side of
8525 the comparison, so that the carry flag is set (for a `less-than'
8526 result) if \c{ST0} is less than the given operand.
8528 \b \c{FUCOMP} does the same as \c{FUCOM}, but pops the register stack
8529 afterwards. \c{FUCOMPP} compares \c{ST0} with \c{ST1} and then pops
8530 the register stack twice.
8532 \b \c{FUCOMI} and \c{FUCOMIP} work like the corresponding forms of
8533 \c{FUCOM} and \c{FUCOMP}, but write their results directly to the CPU
8534 flags register rather than the FPU status word, so they can be
8535 immediately followed by conditional jump or conditional move
8538 The \c{FUCOM} instructions differ from the \c{FCOM} instructions
8539 (\k{insFCOM}) only in the way they handle quiet NaNs: \c{FUCOM} will
8540 handle them silently and set the condition code flags to an
8541 `unordered' result, whereas \c{FCOM} will generate an exception.
8544 \H{insFXAM} \i\c{FXAM}: Examine Class of Value in \c{ST0}
8546 \c FXAM ; D9 E5 [8086,FPU]
8548 \c{FXAM} sets the FPU flags \c{C3}, \c{C2} and \c{C0} depending on
8549 the type of value stored in \c{ST0}:
8551 \c Register contents Flags
8553 \c Unsupported format 000
8555 \c Finite number 010
8558 \c Empty register 101
8561 Additionally, the \c{C1} flag is set to the sign of the number.
8564 \H{insFXCH} \i\c{FXCH}: Floating-Point Exchange
8566 \c FXCH ; D9 C9 [8086,FPU]
8567 \c FXCH fpureg ; D9 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8568 \c FXCH fpureg,ST0 ; D9 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8569 \c FXCH ST0,fpureg ; D9 C8+r [8086,FPU]
8571 \c{FXCH} exchanges \c{ST0} with a given FPU register. The no-operand
8572 form exchanges \c{ST0} with \c{ST1}.
8575 \H{insFXRSTOR} \i\c{FXRSTOR}: Restore \c{FP}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE} State
8577 \c FXRSTOR memory ; 0F AE /1 [P6,SSE,FPU]
8579 The \c{FXRSTOR} instruction reloads the \c{FPU}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE}
8580 state (environment and registers), from the 512 byte memory area defined
8581 by the source operand. This data should have been written by a previous
8585 \H{insFXSAVE} \i\c{FXSAVE}: Store \c{FP}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE} State
8587 \c FXSAVE memory ; 0F AE /0 [P6,SSE,FPU]
8589 \c{FXSAVE}The FXSAVE instruction writes the current \c{FPU}, \c{MMX}
8590 and \c{SSE} technology states (environment and registers), to the
8591 512 byte memory area defined by the destination operand. It does this
8592 without checking for pending unmasked floating-point exceptions
8593 (similar to the operation of \c{FNSAVE}).
8595 Unlike the \c{FSAVE/FNSAVE} instructions, the processor retains the
8596 contents of the \c{FPU}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE} state in the processor
8597 after the state has been saved. This instruction has been optimized
8598 to maximize floating-point save performance.
8601 \H{insFXTRACT} \i\c{FXTRACT}: Extract Exponent and Significand
8603 \c FXTRACT ; D9 F4 [8086,FPU]
8605 \c{FXTRACT} separates the number in \c{ST0} into its exponent and
8606 significand (mantissa), stores the exponent back into \c{ST0}, and
8607 then pushes the significand on the register stack (so that the
8608 significand ends up in \c{ST0}, and the exponent in \c{ST1}).
8611 \H{insFYL2X} \i\c{FYL2X}, \i\c{FYL2XP1}: Compute Y times Log2(X) or Log2(X+1)
8613 \c FYL2X ; D9 F1 [8086,FPU]
8614 \c FYL2XP1 ; D9 F9 [8086,FPU]
8616 \c{FYL2X} multiplies \c{ST1} by the base-2 logarithm of \c{ST0},
8617 stores the result in \c{ST1}, and pops the register stack (so that
8618 the result ends up in \c{ST0}). \c{ST0} must be non-zero and
8621 \c{FYL2XP1} works the same way, but replacing the base-2 log of
8622 \c{ST0} with that of \c{ST0} plus one. This time, \c{ST0} must have
8623 magnitude no greater than 1 minus half the square root of two.
8626 \H{insHLT} \i\c{HLT}: Halt Processor
8628 \c HLT ; F4 [8086,PRIV]
8630 \c{HLT} puts the processor into a halted state, where it will
8631 perform no more operations until restarted by an interrupt or a
8634 On the 286 and later processors, this is a privileged instruction.
8637 \H{insIBTS} \i\c{IBTS}: Insert Bit String
8639 \c IBTS r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F A7 /r [386,UNDOC]
8640 \c IBTS r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F A7 /r [386,UNDOC]
8642 The implied operation of this instruction is:
8644 \c IBTS r/m16,AX,CL,reg16
8645 \c IBTS r/m32,EAX,CL,reg32
8647 Writes a bit string from the source operand to the destination.
8648 \c{CL} indicates the number of bits to be copied, from the low bits
8649 of the source. \c{(E)AX} indicates the low order bit offset in the
8650 destination that is written to. For example, if \c{CL} is set to 4
8651 and \c{AX} (for 16-bit code) is set to 5, bits 0-3 of \c{src} will
8652 be copied to bits 5-8 of \c{dst}. This instruction is very poorly
8653 documented, and I have been unable to find any official source of
8654 documentation on it.
8656 \c{IBTS} is supported only on the early Intel 386s, and conflicts
8657 with the opcodes for \c{CMPXCHG486} (on early Intel 486s). NASM
8658 supports it only for completeness. Its counterpart is \c{XBTS}
8662 \H{insIDIV} \i\c{IDIV}: Signed Integer Divide
8664 \c IDIV r/m8 ; F6 /7 [8086]
8665 \c IDIV r/m16 ; o16 F7 /7 [8086]
8666 \c IDIV r/m32 ; o32 F7 /7 [386]
8668 \c{IDIV} performs signed integer division. The explicit operand
8669 provided is the divisor; the dividend and destination operands
8670 are implicit, in the following way:
8672 \b For \c{IDIV r/m8}, \c{AX} is divided by the given operand;
8673 the quotient is stored in \c{AL} and the remainder in \c{AH}.
8675 \b For \c{IDIV r/m16}, \c{DX:AX} is divided by the given operand;
8676 the quotient is stored in \c{AX} and the remainder in \c{DX}.
8678 \b For \c{IDIV r/m32}, \c{EDX:EAX} is divided by the given operand;
8679 the quotient is stored in \c{EAX} and the remainder in \c{EDX}.
8681 Unsigned integer division is performed by the \c{DIV} instruction:
8685 \H{insIMUL} \i\c{IMUL}: Signed Integer Multiply
8687 \c IMUL r/m8 ; F6 /5 [8086]
8688 \c IMUL r/m16 ; o16 F7 /5 [8086]
8689 \c IMUL r/m32 ; o32 F7 /5 [386]
8691 \c IMUL reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F AF /r [386]
8692 \c IMUL reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F AF /r [386]
8694 \c IMUL reg16,imm8 ; o16 6B /r ib [286]
8695 \c IMUL reg16,imm16 ; o16 69 /r iw [286]
8696 \c IMUL reg32,imm8 ; o32 6B /r ib [386]
8697 \c IMUL reg32,imm32 ; o32 69 /r id [386]
8699 \c IMUL reg16,r/m16,imm8 ; o16 6B /r ib [286]
8700 \c IMUL reg16,r/m16,imm16 ; o16 69 /r iw [286]
8701 \c IMUL reg32,r/m32,imm8 ; o32 6B /r ib [386]
8702 \c IMUL reg32,r/m32,imm32 ; o32 69 /r id [386]
8704 \c{IMUL} performs signed integer multiplication. For the
8705 single-operand form, the other operand and destination are
8706 implicit, in the following way:
8708 \b For \c{IMUL r/m8}, \c{AL} is multiplied by the given operand;
8709 the product is stored in \c{AX}.
8711 \b For \c{IMUL r/m16}, \c{AX} is multiplied by the given operand;
8712 the product is stored in \c{DX:AX}.
8714 \b For \c{IMUL r/m32}, \c{EAX} is multiplied by the given operand;
8715 the product is stored in \c{EDX:EAX}.
8717 The two-operand form multiplies its two operands and stores the
8718 result in the destination (first) operand. The three-operand
8719 form multiplies its last two operands and stores the result in
8722 The two-operand form with an immediate second operand is in
8723 fact a shorthand for the three-operand form, as can be seen by
8724 examining the opcode descriptions: in the two-operand form, the
8725 code \c{/r} takes both its register and \c{r/m} parts from the
8726 same operand (the first one).
8728 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate operand and another longer
8729 source operand, the immediate operand is considered to be signed,
8730 and is sign-extended to the length of the other source operand.
8731 In these cases, the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force
8732 NASM to generate this form of the instruction.
8734 Unsigned integer multiplication is performed by the \c{MUL}
8735 instruction: see \k{insMUL}.
8738 \H{insIN} \i\c{IN}: Input from I/O Port
8740 \c IN AL,imm8 ; E4 ib [8086]
8741 \c IN AX,imm8 ; o16 E5 ib [8086]
8742 \c IN EAX,imm8 ; o32 E5 ib [386]
8743 \c IN AL,DX ; EC [8086]
8744 \c IN AX,DX ; o16 ED [8086]
8745 \c IN EAX,DX ; o32 ED [386]
8747 \c{IN} reads a byte, word or doubleword from the specified I/O port,
8748 and stores it in the given destination register. The port number may
8749 be specified as an immediate value if it is between 0 and 255, and
8750 otherwise must be stored in \c{DX}. See also \c{OUT} (\k{insOUT}).
8753 \H{insINC} \i\c{INC}: Increment Integer
8755 \c INC reg16 ; o16 40+r [8086]
8756 \c INC reg32 ; o32 40+r [386]
8757 \c INC r/m8 ; FE /0 [8086]
8758 \c INC r/m16 ; o16 FF /0 [8086]
8759 \c INC r/m32 ; o32 FF /0 [386]
8761 \c{INC} adds 1 to its operand. It does \e{not} affect the carry
8762 flag: to affect the carry flag, use \c{ADD something,1} (see
8763 \k{insADD}). \c{INC} affects all the other flags according to the result.
8765 This instruction can be used with a \c{LOCK} prefix to allow atomic execution.
8767 See also \c{DEC} (\k{insDEC}).
8770 \H{insINSB} \i\c{INSB}, \i\c{INSW}, \i\c{INSD}: Input String from I/O Port
8773 \c INSW ; o16 6D [186]
8774 \c INSD ; o32 6D [386]
8776 \c{INSB} inputs a byte from the I/O port specified in \c{DX} and
8777 stores it at \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]}. It then increments or
8778 decrements (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag
8779 is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{DI} or \c{EDI}.
8781 The register used is \c{DI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
8782 \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
8783 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
8784 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
8786 Segment override prefixes have no effect for this instruction: the
8787 use of \c{ES} for the load from \c{[DI]} or \c{[EDI]} cannot be
8790 \c{INSW} and \c{INSD} work in the same way, but they input a word or
8791 a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement the
8792 addressing register by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
8794 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
8795 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
8797 See also \c{OUTSB}, \c{OUTSW} and \c{OUTSD} (\k{insOUTSB}).
8800 \H{insINT} \i\c{INT}: Software Interrupt
8802 \c INT imm8 ; CD ib [8086]
8804 \c{INT} causes a software interrupt through a specified vector
8805 number from 0 to 255.
8807 The code generated by the \c{INT} instruction is always two bytes
8808 long: although there are short forms for some \c{INT} instructions,
8809 NASM does not generate them when it sees the \c{INT} mnemonic. In
8810 order to generate single-byte breakpoint instructions, use the
8811 \c{INT3} or \c{INT1} instructions (see \k{insINT1}) instead.
8814 \H{insINT1} \i\c{INT3}, \i\c{INT1}, \i\c{ICEBP}, \i\c{INT01}: Breakpoints
8821 \c INT03 ; CC [8086]
8823 \c{INT1} and \c{INT3} are short one-byte forms of the instructions
8824 \c{INT 1} and \c{INT 3} (see \k{insINT}). They perform a similar
8825 function to their longer counterparts, but take up less code space.
8826 They are used as breakpoints by debuggers.
8828 \b \c{INT1}, and its alternative synonyms \c{INT01} and \c{ICEBP}, is
8829 an instruction used by in-circuit emulators (ICEs). It is present,
8830 though not documented, on some processors down to the 286, but is
8831 only documented for the Pentium Pro. \c{INT3} is the instruction
8832 normally used as a breakpoint by debuggers.
8834 \b \c{INT3}, and its synonym \c{INT03}, is not precisely equivalent to
8835 \c{INT 3}: the short form, since it is designed to be used as a
8836 breakpoint, bypasses the normal \c{IOPL} checks in virtual-8086 mode,
8837 and also does not go through interrupt redirection.
8840 \H{insINTO} \i\c{INTO}: Interrupt if Overflow
8844 \c{INTO} performs an \c{INT 4} software interrupt (see \k{insINT})
8845 if and only if the overflow flag is set.
8848 \H{insINVD} \i\c{INVD}: Invalidate Internal Caches
8850 \c INVD ; 0F 08 [486]
8852 \c{INVD} invalidates and empties the processor's internal caches,
8853 and causes the processor to instruct external caches to do the same.
8854 It does not write the contents of the caches back to memory first:
8855 any modified data held in the caches will be lost. To write the data
8856 back first, use \c{WBINVD} (\k{insWBINVD}).
8859 \H{insINVLPG} \i\c{INVLPG}: Invalidate TLB Entry
8861 \c INVLPG mem ; 0F 01 /7 [486]
8863 \c{INVLPG} invalidates the translation lookahead buffer (TLB) entry
8864 associated with the supplied memory address.
8867 \H{insIRET} \i\c{IRET}, \i\c{IRETW}, \i\c{IRETD}: Return from Interrupt
8870 \c IRETW ; o16 CF [8086]
8871 \c IRETD ; o32 CF [386]
8873 \c{IRET} returns from an interrupt (hardware or software) by means
8874 of popping \c{IP} (or \c{EIP}), \c{CS} and the flags off the stack
8875 and then continuing execution from the new \c{CS:IP}.
8877 \c{IRETW} pops \c{IP}, \c{CS} and the flags as 2 bytes each, taking
8878 6 bytes off the stack in total. \c{IRETD} pops \c{EIP} as 4 bytes,
8879 pops a further 4 bytes of which the top two are discarded and the
8880 bottom two go into \c{CS}, and pops the flags as 4 bytes as well,
8881 taking 12 bytes off the stack.
8883 \c{IRET} is a shorthand for either \c{IRETW} or \c{IRETD}, depending
8884 on the default \c{BITS} setting at the time.
8887 \H{insJcc} \i\c{Jcc}: Conditional Branch
8889 \c Jcc imm ; 70+cc rb [8086]
8890 \c Jcc NEAR imm ; 0F 80+cc rw/rd [386]
8892 The \i{conditional jump} instructions execute a near (same segment)
8893 jump if and only if their conditions are satisfied. For example,
8894 \c{JNZ} jumps only if the zero flag is not set.
8896 The ordinary form of the instructions has only a 128-byte range; the
8897 \c{NEAR} form is a 386 extension to the instruction set, and can
8898 span the full size of a segment. NASM will not override your choice
8899 of jump instruction: if you want \c{Jcc NEAR}, you have to use the
8902 The \c{SHORT} keyword is allowed on the first form of the
8903 instruction, for clarity, but is not necessary.
8905 For details of the condition codes, see \k{iref-cc}.
8908 \H{insJCXZ} \i\c{JCXZ}, \i\c{JECXZ}: Jump if CX/ECX Zero
8910 \c JCXZ imm ; a16 E3 rb [8086]
8911 \c JECXZ imm ; a32 E3 rb [386]
8913 \c{JCXZ} performs a short jump (with maximum range 128 bytes) if and
8914 only if the contents of the \c{CX} register is 0. \c{JECXZ} does the
8915 same thing, but with \c{ECX}.
8918 \H{insJMP} \i\c{JMP}: Jump
8920 \c JMP imm ; E9 rw/rd [8086]
8921 \c JMP SHORT imm ; EB rb [8086]
8922 \c JMP imm:imm16 ; o16 EA iw iw [8086]
8923 \c JMP imm:imm32 ; o32 EA id iw [386]
8924 \c JMP FAR mem ; o16 FF /5 [8086]
8925 \c JMP FAR mem ; o32 FF /5 [386]
8926 \c JMP r/m16 ; o16 FF /4 [8086]
8927 \c JMP r/m32 ; o32 FF /4 [386]
8929 \c{JMP} jumps to a given address. The address may be specified as an
8930 absolute segment and offset, or as a relative jump within the
8933 \c{JMP SHORT imm} has a maximum range of 128 bytes, since the
8934 displacement is specified as only 8 bits, but takes up less code
8935 space. NASM does not choose when to generate \c{JMP SHORT} for you:
8936 you must explicitly code \c{SHORT} every time you want a short jump.
8938 You can choose between the two immediate \i{far jump} forms (\c{JMP
8939 imm:imm}) by the use of the \c{WORD} and \c{DWORD} keywords: \c{JMP
8940 WORD 0x1234:0x5678}) or \c{JMP DWORD 0x1234:0x56789abc}.
8942 The \c{JMP FAR mem} forms execute a far jump by loading the
8943 destination address out of memory. The address loaded consists of 16
8944 or 32 bits of offset (depending on the operand size), and 16 bits of
8945 segment. The operand size may be overridden using \c{JMP WORD FAR
8946 mem} or \c{JMP DWORD FAR mem}.
8948 The \c{JMP r/m} forms execute a \i{near jump} (within the same
8949 segment), loading the destination address out of memory or out of a
8950 register. The keyword \c{NEAR} may be specified, for clarity, in
8951 these forms, but is not necessary. Again, operand size can be
8952 overridden using \c{JMP WORD mem} or \c{JMP DWORD mem}.
8954 As a convenience, NASM does not require you to jump to a far symbol
8955 by coding the cumbersome \c{JMP SEG routine:routine}, but instead
8956 allows the easier synonym \c{JMP FAR routine}.
8958 The \c{CALL r/m} forms given above are near calls; NASM will accept
8959 the \c{NEAR} keyword (e.g. \c{CALL NEAR [address]}), even though it
8960 is not strictly necessary.
8963 \H{insLAHF} \i\c{LAHF}: Load AH from Flags
8967 \c{LAHF} sets the \c{AH} register according to the contents of the
8968 low byte of the flags word.
8970 The operation of \c{LAHF} is:
8972 \c AH <-- SF:ZF:0:AF:0:PF:1:CF
8974 See also \c{SAHF} (\k{insSAHF}).
8977 \H{insLAR} \i\c{LAR}: Load Access Rights
8979 \c LAR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 02 /r [286,PRIV]
8980 \c LAR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 02 /r [286,PRIV]
8982 \c{LAR} takes the segment selector specified by its source (second)
8983 operand, finds the corresponding segment descriptor in the GDT or
8984 LDT, and loads the access-rights byte of the descriptor into its
8985 destination (first) operand.
8988 \H{insLDMXCSR} \i\c{LDMXCSR}: Load Streaming SIMD Extension
8991 \c LDMXCSR mem32 ; 0F AE /2 [KATMAI,SSE]
8993 \c{LDMXCSR} loads 32-bits of data from the specified memory location
8994 into the \c{MXCSR} control/status register. \c{MXCSR} is used to
8995 enable masked/unmasked exception handling, to set rounding modes,
8996 to set flush-to-zero mode, and to view exception status flags.
8998 For details of the \c{MXCSR} register, see the Intel processor docs.
9000 See also \c{STMXCSR} (\k{insSTMXCSR}
9003 \H{insLDS} \i\c{LDS}, \i\c{LES}, \i\c{LFS}, \i\c{LGS}, \i\c{LSS}: Load Far Pointer
9005 \c LDS reg16,mem ; o16 C5 /r [8086]
9006 \c LDS reg32,mem ; o32 C5 /r [386]
9008 \c LES reg16,mem ; o16 C4 /r [8086]
9009 \c LES reg32,mem ; o32 C4 /r [386]
9011 \c LFS reg16,mem ; o16 0F B4 /r [386]
9012 \c LFS reg32,mem ; o32 0F B4 /r [386]
9014 \c LGS reg16,mem ; o16 0F B5 /r [386]
9015 \c LGS reg32,mem ; o32 0F B5 /r [386]
9017 \c LSS reg16,mem ; o16 0F B2 /r [386]
9018 \c LSS reg32,mem ; o32 0F B2 /r [386]
9020 These instructions load an entire far pointer (16 or 32 bits of
9021 offset, plus 16 bits of segment) out of memory in one go. \c{LDS},
9022 for example, loads 16 or 32 bits from the given memory address into
9023 the given register (depending on the size of the register), then
9024 loads the \e{next} 16 bits from memory into \c{DS}. \c{LES},
9025 \c{LFS}, \c{LGS} and \c{LSS} work in the same way but use the other
9029 \H{insLEA} \i\c{LEA}: Load Effective Address
9031 \c LEA reg16,mem ; o16 8D /r [8086]
9032 \c LEA reg32,mem ; o32 8D /r [386]
9034 \c{LEA}, despite its syntax, does not access memory. It calculates
9035 the effective address specified by its second operand as if it were
9036 going to load or store data from it, but instead it stores the
9037 calculated address into the register specified by its first operand.
9038 This can be used to perform quite complex calculations (e.g. \c{LEA
9039 EAX,[EBX+ECX*4+100]}) in one instruction.
9041 \c{LEA}, despite being a purely arithmetic instruction which
9042 accesses no memory, still requires square brackets around its second
9043 operand, as if it were a memory reference.
9045 The size of the calculation is the current \e{address} size, and the
9046 size that the result is stored as is the current \e{operand} size.
9047 If the address and operand size are not the same, then if the
9048 addressing mode was 32-bits, the low 16-bits are stored, and if the
9049 address was 16-bits, it is zero-extended to 32-bits before storing.
9052 \H{insLEAVE} \i\c{LEAVE}: Destroy Stack Frame
9056 \c{LEAVE} destroys a stack frame of the form created by the
9057 \c{ENTER} instruction (see \k{insENTER}). It is functionally
9058 equivalent to \c{MOV ESP,EBP} followed by \c{POP EBP} (or \c{MOV
9059 SP,BP} followed by \c{POP BP} in 16-bit mode).
9062 \H{insLFENCE} \i\c{LFENCE}: Load Fence
9064 \c LFENCE ; 0F AE /5 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9066 \c{LFENCE} performs a serialising operation on all loads from memory
9067 that were issued before the \c{LFENCE} instruction. This guarantees that
9068 all memory reads before the \c{LFENCE} instruction are visible before any
9069 reads after the \c{LFENCE} instruction.
9071 \c{LFENCE} is ordered respective to other \c{LFENCE} instruction, \c{MFENCE},
9072 any memory read and any other serialising instruction (such as \c{CPUID}).
9074 Weakly ordered memory types can be used to achieve higher processor
9075 performance through such techniques as out-of-order issue and
9076 speculative reads. The degree to which a consumer of data recognizes
9077 or knows that the data is weakly ordered varies among applications
9078 and may be unknown to the producer of this data. The \c{LFENCE}
9079 instruction provides a performance-efficient way of ensuring load
9080 ordering between routines that produce weakly-ordered results and
9081 routines that consume that data.
9083 \c{LFENCE} uses the following ModRM encoding:
9086 \c Reg/Opcode (5:3) = 101B
9089 All other ModRM encodings are defined to be reserved, and use
9090 of these encodings risks incompatibility with future processors.
9092 See also \c{SFENCE} (\k{insSFENCE}) and \c{MFENCE} (\k{insMFENCE}).
9095 \H{insLGDT} \i\c{LGDT}, \i\c{LIDT}, \i\c{LLDT}: Load Descriptor Tables
9097 \c LGDT mem ; 0F 01 /2 [286,PRIV]
9098 \c LIDT mem ; 0F 01 /3 [286,PRIV]
9099 \c LLDT r/m16 ; 0F 00 /2 [286,PRIV]
9101 \c{LGDT} and \c{LIDT} both take a 6-byte memory area as an operand:
9102 they load a 32-bit linear address and a 16-bit size limit from that
9103 area (in the opposite order) into the \c{GDTR} (global descriptor table
9104 register) or \c{IDTR} (interrupt descriptor table register). These are
9105 the only instructions which directly use \e{linear} addresses, rather
9106 than segment/offset pairs.
9108 \c{LLDT} takes a segment selector as an operand. The processor looks
9109 up that selector in the GDT and stores the limit and base address
9110 given there into the \c{LDTR} (local descriptor table register).
9112 See also \c{SGDT}, \c{SIDT} and \c{SLDT} (\k{insSGDT}).
9115 \H{insLMSW} \i\c{LMSW}: Load/Store Machine Status Word
9117 \c LMSW r/m16 ; 0F 01 /6 [286,PRIV]
9119 \c{LMSW} loads the bottom four bits of the source operand into the
9120 bottom four bits of the \c{CR0} control register (or the Machine
9121 Status Word, on 286 processors). See also \c{SMSW} (\k{insSMSW}).
9124 \H{insLOADALL} \i\c{LOADALL}, \i\c{LOADALL286}: Load Processor State
9126 \c LOADALL ; 0F 07 [386,UNDOC]
9127 \c LOADALL286 ; 0F 05 [286,UNDOC]
9129 This instruction, in its two different-opcode forms, is apparently
9130 supported on most 286 processors, some 386 and possibly some 486.
9131 The opcode differs between the 286 and the 386.
9133 The function of the instruction is to load all information relating
9134 to the state of the processor out of a block of memory: on the 286,
9135 this block is located implicitly at absolute address \c{0x800}, and
9136 on the 386 and 486 it is at \c{[ES:EDI]}.
9139 \H{insLODSB} \i\c{LODSB}, \i\c{LODSW}, \i\c{LODSD}: Load from String
9141 \c LODSB ; AC [8086]
9142 \c LODSW ; o16 AD [8086]
9143 \c LODSD ; o32 AD [386]
9145 \c{LODSB} loads a byte from \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} into \c{AL}.
9146 It then increments or decrements (depending on the direction flag:
9147 increments if the flag is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{SI} or
9150 The register used is \c{SI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
9151 \c{ESI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
9152 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
9153 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
9155 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
9156 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
9157 example, \c{ES LODSB}).
9159 \c{LODSW} and \c{LODSD} work in the same way, but they load a
9160 word or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement
9161 the addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
9164 \H{insLOOP} \i\c{LOOP}, \i\c{LOOPE}, \i\c{LOOPZ}, \i\c{LOOPNE}, \i\c{LOOPNZ}: Loop with Counter
9166 \c LOOP imm ; E2 rb [8086]
9167 \c LOOP imm,CX ; a16 E2 rb [8086]
9168 \c LOOP imm,ECX ; a32 E2 rb [386]
9170 \c LOOPE imm ; E1 rb [8086]
9171 \c LOOPE imm,CX ; a16 E1 rb [8086]
9172 \c LOOPE imm,ECX ; a32 E1 rb [386]
9173 \c LOOPZ imm ; E1 rb [8086]
9174 \c LOOPZ imm,CX ; a16 E1 rb [8086]
9175 \c LOOPZ imm,ECX ; a32 E1 rb [386]
9177 \c LOOPNE imm ; E0 rb [8086]
9178 \c LOOPNE imm,CX ; a16 E0 rb [8086]
9179 \c LOOPNE imm,ECX ; a32 E0 rb [386]
9180 \c LOOPNZ imm ; E0 rb [8086]
9181 \c LOOPNZ imm,CX ; a16 E0 rb [8086]
9182 \c LOOPNZ imm,ECX ; a32 E0 rb [386]
9184 \c{LOOP} decrements its counter register (either \c{CX} or \c{ECX} -
9185 if one is not specified explicitly, the \c{BITS} setting dictates
9186 which is used) by one, and if the counter does not become zero as a
9187 result of this operation, it jumps to the given label. The jump has
9188 a range of 128 bytes.
9190 \c{LOOPE} (or its synonym \c{LOOPZ}) adds the additional condition
9191 that it only jumps if the counter is nonzero \e{and} the zero flag
9192 is set. Similarly, \c{LOOPNE} (and \c{LOOPNZ}) jumps only if the
9193 counter is nonzero and the zero flag is clear.
9196 \H{insLSL} \i\c{LSL}: Load Segment Limit
9198 \c LSL reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 03 /r [286,PRIV]
9199 \c LSL reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 03 /r [286,PRIV]
9201 \c{LSL} is given a segment selector in its source (second) operand;
9202 it computes the segment limit value by loading the segment limit
9203 field from the associated segment descriptor in the \c{GDT} or \c{LDT}.
9204 (This involves shifting left by 12 bits if the segment limit is
9205 page-granular, and not if it is byte-granular; so you end up with a
9206 byte limit in either case.) The segment limit obtained is then
9207 loaded into the destination (first) operand.
9210 \H{insLTR} \i\c{LTR}: Load Task Register
9212 \c LTR r/m16 ; 0F 00 /3 [286,PRIV]
9214 \c{LTR} looks up the segment base and limit in the GDT or LDT
9215 descriptor specified by the segment selector given as its operand,
9216 and loads them into the Task Register.
9219 \H{insMASKMOVDQU} \i\c{MASKMOVDQU}: Byte Mask Write
9221 \c MASKMOVDQU xmm1,xmm2 ; 66 0F F7 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9223 \c{MASKMOVDQU} stores data from xmm1 to the location specified by
9224 \c{ES:(E)DI}. The size of the store depends on the address-size
9225 attribute. The most significant bit in each byte of the mask
9226 register xmm2 is used to selectively write the data (0 = no write,
9227 1 = write) on a per-byte basis.
9230 \H{insMASKMOVQ} \i\c{MASKMOVQ}: Byte Mask Write
9232 \c MASKMOVQ mm1,mm2 ; 0F F7 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
9234 \c{MASKMOVQ} stores data from xmm1 to the location specified by
9235 \c{ES:(E)DI}. The size of the store depends on the address-size
9236 attribute. The most significant bit in each byte of the mask
9237 register xmm2 is used to selectively write the data (0 = no write,
9238 1 = write) on a per-byte basis.
9241 \H{insMAXPD} \i\c{MAXPD}: Return Packed Double-Precision FP Maximum
9243 \c MAXPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 5F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9245 \c{MAXPD} performs a SIMD compare of the packed double-precision
9246 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum values
9247 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
9248 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
9249 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
9250 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
9253 \H{insMAXPS} \i\c{MAXPS}: Return Packed Single-Precision FP Maximum
9255 \c MAXPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 5F /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9257 \c{MAXPS} performs a SIMD compare of the packed single-precision
9258 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum values
9259 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
9260 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
9261 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
9262 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
9265 \H{insMAXSD} \i\c{MAXSD}: Return Scalar Double-Precision FP Maximum
9267 \c MAXSD xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F2 0F 5F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9269 \c{MAXSD} compares the low-order double-precision FP numbers from
9270 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum value in xmm1. If the
9271 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m64) would
9272 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m64) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
9273 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
9274 the SNaN is not returned). The high quadword of the destination
9278 \H{insMAXSS} \i\c{MAXSD}: Return Scalar Single-Precision FP Maximum
9280 \c MAXSS xmm1,xmm2/m32 ; F3 0F 5F /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9282 \c{MAXSS} compares the low-order single-precision FP numbers from
9283 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum value in xmm1. If the
9284 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m32) would
9285 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m32) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
9286 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
9287 the SNaN is not returned). The high three doublewords of the
9288 destination are left unchanged.
9291 \H{insMFENCE} \i\c{MFENCE}: Memory Fence
9293 \c MFENCE ; 0F AE /6 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9295 \c{MFENCE} performs a serialising operation on all loads from memory
9296 and writes to memory that were issued before the \c{MFENCE} instruction.
9297 This guarantees that all memory reads and writes before the \c{MFENCE}
9298 instruction are completed before any reads and writes after the
9299 \c{MFENCE} instruction.
9301 \c{MFENCE} is ordered respective to other \c{MFENCE} instructions,
9302 \c{LFENCE}, \c{SFENCE}, any memory read and any other serialising
9303 instruction (such as \c{CPUID}).
9305 Weakly ordered memory types can be used to achieve higher processor
9306 performance through such techniques as out-of-order issue, speculative
9307 reads, write-combining, and write-collapsing. The degree to which a
9308 consumer of data recognizes or knows that the data is weakly ordered
9309 varies among applications and may be unknown to the producer of this
9310 data. The \c{MFENCE} instruction provides a performance-efficient way
9311 of ensuring load and store ordering between routines that produce
9312 weakly-ordered results and routines that consume that data.
9314 \c{MFENCE} uses the following ModRM encoding:
9317 \c Reg/Opcode (5:3) = 110B
9320 All other ModRM encodings are defined to be reserved, and use
9321 of these encodings risks incompatibility with future processors.
9323 See also \c{LFENCE} (\k{insLFENCE}) and \c{SFENCE} (\k{insSFENCE}).
9326 \H{insMINPD} \i\c{MINPD}: Return Packed Double-Precision FP Minimum
9328 \c MINPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 5D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9330 \c{MINPD} performs a SIMD compare of the packed double-precision
9331 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum values
9332 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
9333 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
9334 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
9335 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
9338 \H{insMINPS} \i\c{MINPS}: Return Packed Single-Precision FP Minimum
9340 \c MINPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 5D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9342 \c{MINPS} performs a SIMD compare of the packed single-precision
9343 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum values
9344 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
9345 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
9346 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
9347 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
9350 \H{insMINSD} \i\c{MINSD}: Return Scalar Double-Precision FP Minimum
9352 \c MINSD xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F2 0F 5D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9354 \c{MINSD} compares the low-order double-precision FP numbers from
9355 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum value in xmm1. If the
9356 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m64) would
9357 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m64) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
9358 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
9359 the SNaN is not returned). The high quadword of the destination
9363 \H{insMINSS} \i\c{MINSD}: Return Scalar Single-Precision FP Minimum
9365 \c MINSS xmm1,xmm2/m32 ; F3 0F 5D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9367 \c{MINSS} compares the low-order single-precision FP numbers from
9368 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum value in xmm1. If the
9369 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m32) would
9370 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m32) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
9371 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
9372 the SNaN is not returned). The high three doublewords of the
9373 destination are left unchanged.
9376 \H{insMOV} \i\c{MOV}: Move Data
9378 \c MOV r/m8,reg8 ; 88 /r [8086]
9379 \c MOV r/m16,reg16 ; o16 89 /r [8086]
9380 \c MOV r/m32,reg32 ; o32 89 /r [386]
9381 \c MOV reg8,r/m8 ; 8A /r [8086]
9382 \c MOV reg16,r/m16 ; o16 8B /r [8086]
9383 \c MOV reg32,r/m32 ; o32 8B /r [386]
9385 \c MOV reg8,imm8 ; B0+r ib [8086]
9386 \c MOV reg16,imm16 ; o16 B8+r iw [8086]
9387 \c MOV reg32,imm32 ; o32 B8+r id [386]
9388 \c MOV r/m8,imm8 ; C6 /0 ib [8086]
9389 \c MOV r/m16,imm16 ; o16 C7 /0 iw [8086]
9390 \c MOV r/m32,imm32 ; o32 C7 /0 id [386]
9392 \c MOV AL,memoffs8 ; A0 ow/od [8086]
9393 \c MOV AX,memoffs16 ; o16 A1 ow/od [8086]
9394 \c MOV EAX,memoffs32 ; o32 A1 ow/od [386]
9395 \c MOV memoffs8,AL ; A2 ow/od [8086]
9396 \c MOV memoffs16,AX ; o16 A3 ow/od [8086]
9397 \c MOV memoffs32,EAX ; o32 A3 ow/od [386]
9399 \c MOV r/m16,segreg ; o16 8C /r [8086]
9400 \c MOV r/m32,segreg ; o32 8C /r [386]
9401 \c MOV segreg,r/m16 ; o16 8E /r [8086]
9402 \c MOV segreg,r/m32 ; o32 8E /r [386]
9404 \c MOV reg32,CR0/2/3/4 ; 0F 20 /r [386]
9405 \c MOV reg32,DR0/1/2/3/6/7 ; 0F 21 /r [386]
9406 \c MOV reg32,TR3/4/5/6/7 ; 0F 24 /r [386]
9407 \c MOV CR0/2/3/4,reg32 ; 0F 22 /r [386]
9408 \c MOV DR0/1/2/3/6/7,reg32 ; 0F 23 /r [386]
9409 \c MOV TR3/4/5/6/7,reg32 ; 0F 26 /r [386]
9411 \c{MOV} copies the contents of its source (second) operand into its
9412 destination (first) operand.
9414 In all forms of the \c{MOV} instruction, the two operands are the
9415 same size, except for moving between a segment register and an
9416 \c{r/m32} operand. These instructions are treated exactly like the
9417 corresponding 16-bit equivalent (so that, for example, \c{MOV
9418 DS,EAX} functions identically to \c{MOV DS,AX} but saves a prefix
9419 when in 32-bit mode), except that when a segment register is moved
9420 into a 32-bit destination, the top two bytes of the result are
9423 \c{MOV} may not use \c{CS} as a destination.
9425 \c{CR4} is only a supported register on the Pentium and above.
9427 Test registers are supported on 386/486 processors and on some
9428 non-Intel Pentium class processors.
9431 \H{insMOVAPD} \i\c{MOVAPD}: Move Aligned Packed Double-Precision FP Values
9433 \c MOVAPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 28 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9434 \c MOVAPD xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 66 0F 29 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9436 \c{MOVAPS} moves a double quadword containing 2 packed double-precision
9437 FP values from the source operand to the destination. When the source
9438 or destination operand is a memory location, it must be aligned on a
9441 To move data in and out of memory locations that are not known to be on
9442 16-byte boundaries, use the \c{MOVUPD} instruction (\k{insMOVUPD}).
9445 \H{insMOVAPS} \i\c{MOVAPS}: Move Aligned Packed Single-Precision FP Values
9447 \c MOVAPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 28 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9448 \c MOVAPS xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 0F 29 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9450 \c{MOVAPS} moves a double quadword containing 4 packed single-precision
9451 FP values from the source operand to the destination. When the source
9452 or destination operand is a memory location, it must be aligned on a
9455 To move data in and out of memory locations that are not known to be on
9456 16-byte boundaries, use the \c{MOVUPS} instruction (\k{insMOVUPS}).
9459 \H{insMOVD} \i\c{MOVD}: Move Doubleword to/from MMX Register
9461 \c MOVD mm,r/m32 ; 0F 6E /r [PENT,MMX]
9462 \c MOVD r/m32,mm ; 0F 7E /r [PENT,MMX]
9463 \c MOVD xmm,r/m32 ; 66 0F 6E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9464 \c MOVD r/m32,xmm ; 66 0F 7E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9466 \c{MOVD} copies 32 bits from its source (second) operand into its
9467 destination (first) operand. When the destination is a 64-bit \c{MMX}
9468 register or a 128-bit \c{XMM} register, the input value is zero-extended
9469 to fill the destination register.
9472 \H{insMOVDQ2Q} \i\c{MOVDQ2Q}: Move Quadword from XMM to MMX register.
9474 \c MOVDQ2Q mm,xmm ; F2 OF D6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9476 \c{MOVDQ2Q} moves the low quadword from the source operand to the
9477 destination operand.
9480 \H{insMOVDQA} \i\c{MOVDQA}: Move Aligned Double Quadword
9482 \c MOVDQA xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 OF 6F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9483 \c MOVDQA xmm1/m128,xmm2 ; 66 OF 7F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9485 \c{MOVDQA} moves a double quadword from the source operand to the
9486 destination operand. When the source or destination operand is a
9487 memory location, it must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
9489 To move a double quadword to or from unaligned memory locations,
9490 use the \c{MOVDQU} instruction (\k{insMOVDQU}).
9493 \H{insMOVDQU} \i\c{MOVDQU}: Move Unaligned Double Quadword
9495 \c MOVDQU xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 OF 6F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9496 \c MOVDQU xmm1/m128,xmm2 ; F3 OF 7F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9498 \c{MOVDQU} moves a double quadword from the source operand to the
9499 destination operand. When the source or destination operand is a
9500 memory location, the memory may be unaligned.
9502 To move a double quadword to or from known aligned memory locations,
9503 use the \c{MOVDQA} instruction (\k{insMOVDQA}).
9506 \H{insMOVHLPS} \i\c{MOVHLPS}: Move Packed Single-Precision FP High to Low
9508 \c MOVHLPS xmm1,xmm2 ; OF 12 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9510 \c{MOVHLPS} moves the two packed single-precision FP values from the
9511 high quadword of the source register xmm2 to the low quadword of the
9512 destination register, xmm2. The upper quadword of xmm1 is left unchanged.
9514 The operation of this instruction is:
9516 \c dst[0-63] := src[64-127],
9517 \c dst[64-127] remains unchanged.
9520 \H{insMOVHPD} \i\c{MOVHPD}: Move High Packed Double-Precision FP
9522 \c MOVHPD xmm,m64 ; 66 OF 16 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9523 \c MOVHPD m64,xmm ; 66 OF 17 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9525 \c{MOVHPD} moves a double-precision FP value between the source and
9526 destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
9527 the other is the high quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
9529 The operation of this instruction is:
9531 \c mem[0-63] := xmm[64-127];
9535 \c xmm[0-63] remains unchanged;
9536 \c xmm[64-127] := mem[0-63].
9539 \H{insMOVHPS} \i\c{MOVHPS}: Move High Packed Single-Precision FP
9541 \c MOVHPS xmm,m64 ; 0F 16 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9542 \c MOVHPS m64,xmm ; 0F 17 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9544 \c{MOVHPS} moves two packed single-precision FP values between the source
9545 and destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
9546 the other is the high quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
9548 The operation of this instruction is:
9550 \c mem[0-63] := xmm[64-127];
9554 \c xmm[0-63] remains unchanged;
9555 \c xmm[64-127] := mem[0-63].
9558 \H{insMOVLHPS} \i\c{MOVLHPS}: Move Packed Single-Precision FP Low to High
9560 \c MOVLHPS xmm1,xmm2 ; OF 16 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9562 \c{MOVLHPS} moves the two packed single-precision FP values from the
9563 low quadword of the source register xmm2 to the high quadword of the
9564 destination register, xmm2. The low quadword of xmm1 is left unchanged.
9566 The operation of this instruction is:
9568 \c dst[0-63] remains unchanged;
9569 \c dst[64-127] := src[0-63].
9571 \H{insMOVLPD} \i\c{MOVLPD}: Move Low Packed Double-Precision FP
9573 \c MOVLPD xmm,m64 ; 66 OF 12 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9574 \c MOVLPD m64,xmm ; 66 OF 13 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9576 \c{MOVLPD} moves a double-precision FP value between the source and
9577 destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
9578 the other is the low quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
9580 The operation of this instruction is:
9582 \c mem(0-63) := xmm(0-63);
9586 \c xmm(0-63) := mem(0-63);
9587 \c xmm(64-127) remains unchanged.
9589 \H{insMOVLPS} \i\c{MOVLPS}: Move Low Packed Single-Precision FP
9591 \c MOVLPS xmm,m64 ; OF 12 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9592 \c MOVLPS m64,xmm ; OF 13 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9594 \c{MOVLPS} moves two packed single-precision FP values between the source
9595 and destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
9596 the other is the low quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
9598 The operation of this instruction is:
9600 \c mem(0-63) := xmm(0-63);
9604 \c xmm(0-63) := mem(0-63);
9605 \c xmm(64-127) remains unchanged.
9608 \H{insMOVMSKPD} \i\c{MOVMSKPD}: Extract Packed Double-Precision FP Sign Mask
9610 \c MOVMSKPD reg32,xmm ; 66 0F 50 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9612 \c{MOVMSKPD} inserts a 2-bit mask in r32, formed of the most significant
9613 bits of each double-precision FP number of the source operand.
9616 \H{insMOVMSKPS} \i\c{MOVMSKPS}: Extract Packed Single-Precision FP Sign Mask
9618 \c MOVMSKPS reg32,xmm ; 0F 50 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9620 \c{MOVMSKPS} inserts a 4-bit mask in r32, formed of the most significant
9621 bits of each single-precision FP number of the source operand.
9624 \H{insMOVNTDQ} \i\c{MOVNTDQ}: Move Double Quadword Non Temporal
9626 \c MOVNTDQ m128,xmm ; 66 0F E7 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9628 \c{MOVNTDQ} moves the double quadword from the \c{XMM} source
9629 register to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9630 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution.
9633 \H{insMOVNTI} \i\c{MOVNTI}: Move Doubleword Non Temporal
9635 \c MOVNTI m32,reg32 ; 0F C3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9637 \c{MOVNTI} moves the doubleword in the source register
9638 to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9639 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution.
9642 \H{insMOVNTPD} \i\c{MOVNTPD}: Move Aligned Four Packed Single-Precision
9643 FP Values Non Temporal
9645 \c MOVNTPD m128,xmm ; 66 0F 2B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9647 \c{MOVNTPD} moves the double quadword from the \c{XMM} source
9648 register to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9649 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution. The memory
9650 location must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
9653 \H{insMOVNTPS} \i\c{MOVNTPS}: Move Aligned Four Packed Single-Precision
9654 FP Values Non Temporal
9656 \c MOVNTPS m128,xmm ; 0F 2B /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9658 \c{MOVNTPS} moves the double quadword from the \c{XMM} source
9659 register to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9660 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution. The memory
9661 location must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
9664 \H{insMOVNTQ} \i\c{MOVNTQ}: Move Quadword Non Temporal
9666 \c MOVNTQ m64,mm ; 0F E7 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
9668 \c{MOVNTQ} moves the quadword in the \c{MMX} source register
9669 to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
9670 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution.
9673 \H{insMOVQ} \i\c{MOVQ}: Move Quadword to/from MMX Register
9675 \c MOVQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 6F /r [PENT,MMX]
9676 \c MOVQ mm1/m64,mm2 ; 0F 7F /r [PENT,MMX]
9678 \c MOVQ xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F3 0F 7E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9679 \c MOVQ xmm1/m64,xmm2 ; 66 0F D6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9681 \c{MOVQ} copies 64 bits from its source (second) operand into its
9682 destination (first) operand. When the source is an \c{XMM} register,
9683 the low quadword is moved. When the destination is an \c{XMM} register,
9684 the destination is the low quadword, and the high quadword is cleared.
9687 \H{insMOVQ2DQ} \i\c{MOVQ2DQ}: Move Quadword from MMX to XMM register.
9689 \c MOVQ2DQ xmm,mm ; F3 OF D6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9691 \c{MOVQ2DQ} moves the quadword from the source operand to the low
9692 quadword of the destination operand, and clears the high quadword.
9695 \H{insMOVSB} \i\c{MOVSB}, \i\c{MOVSW}, \i\c{MOVSD}: Move String
9697 \c MOVSB ; A4 [8086]
9698 \c MOVSW ; o16 A5 [8086]
9699 \c MOVSD ; o32 A5 [386]
9701 \c{MOVSB} copies the byte at \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} to
9702 \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]}. It then increments or decrements
9703 (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag is clear,
9704 decrements if it is set) \c{SI} and \c{DI} (or \c{ESI} and \c{EDI}).
9706 The registers used are \c{SI} and \c{DI} if the address size is 16
9707 bits, and \c{ESI} and \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use
9708 an address size not equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can
9709 use an explicit \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
9711 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
9712 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
9713 example, \c{es movsb}). The use of \c{ES} for the store to \c{[DI]}
9714 or \c{[EDI]} cannot be overridden.
9716 \c{MOVSW} and \c{MOVSD} work in the same way, but they copy a word
9717 or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement the
9718 addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
9720 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
9721 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
9724 \H{insMOVSD} \i\c{MOVSD}: Move Scalar Double-Precision FP Value
9726 \c MOVSD xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F2 0F 10 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9727 \c MOVSD xmm1/m64,xmm2 ; F2 0F 11 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9729 \c{MOVDS} moves a double-precision FP value from the source operand
9730 to the destination operand. When the source or destination is a
9731 register, the low-order FP value is read or written.
9734 \H{insMOVSS} \i\c{MOVSS}: Move Scalar Single-Precision FP Value
9736 \c MOVSS xmm1,xmm2/m32 ; F3 0F 10 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9737 \c MOVSS xmm1/m32,xmm2 ; F3 0F 11 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9739 \c{MOVSS} moves a single-precision FP value from the source operand
9740 to the destination operand. When the source or destination is a
9741 register, the low-order FP value is read or written.
9744 \H{insMOVSX} \i\c{MOVSX}, \i\c{MOVZX}: Move Data with Sign or Zero Extend
9746 \c MOVSX reg16,r/m8 ; o16 0F BE /r [386]
9747 \c MOVSX reg32,r/m8 ; o32 0F BE /r [386]
9748 \c MOVSX reg32,r/m16 ; o32 0F BF /r [386]
9750 \c MOVZX reg16,r/m8 ; o16 0F B6 /r [386]
9751 \c MOVZX reg32,r/m8 ; o32 0F B6 /r [386]
9752 \c MOVZX reg32,r/m16 ; o32 0F B7 /r [386]
9754 \c{MOVSX} sign-extends its source (second) operand to the length of
9755 its destination (first) operand, and copies the result into the
9756 destination operand. \c{MOVZX} does the same, but zero-extends
9757 rather than sign-extending.
9760 \H{insMOVUPD} \i\c{MOVUPD}: Move Unaligned Packed Double-Precision FP Values
9762 \c MOVUPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 10 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9763 \c MOVUPD xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 66 0F 11 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9765 \c{MOVUPD} moves a double quadword containing 2 packed double-precision
9766 FP values from the source operand to the destination. This instruction
9767 makes no assumptions about alignment of memory operands.
9769 To move data in and out of memory locations that are known to be on 16-byte
9770 boundaries, use the \c{MOVAPD} instruction (\k{insMOVAPD}).
9773 \H{insMOVUPS} \i\c{MOVUPS}: Move Unaligned Packed Single-Precision FP Values
9775 \c MOVUPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 10 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9776 \c MOVUPS xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 0F 11 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9778 \c{MOVUPS} moves a double quadword containing 4 packed single-precision
9779 FP values from the source operand to the destination. This instruction
9780 makes no assumptions about alignment of memory operands.
9782 To move data in and out of memory locations that are known to be on 16-byte
9783 boundaries, use the \c{MOVAPS} instruction (\k{insMOVAPS}).
9786 \H{insMUL} \i\c{MUL}: Unsigned Integer Multiply
9788 \c MUL r/m8 ; F6 /4 [8086]
9789 \c MUL r/m16 ; o16 F7 /4 [8086]
9790 \c MUL r/m32 ; o32 F7 /4 [386]
9792 \c{MUL} performs unsigned integer multiplication. The other operand
9793 to the multiplication, and the destination operand, are implicit, in
9796 \b For \c{MUL r/m8}, \c{AL} is multiplied by the given operand; the
9797 product is stored in \c{AX}.
9799 \b For \c{MUL r/m16}, \c{AX} is multiplied by the given operand;
9800 the product is stored in \c{DX:AX}.
9802 \b For \c{MUL r/m32}, \c{EAX} is multiplied by the given operand;
9803 the product is stored in \c{EDX:EAX}.
9805 Signed integer multiplication is performed by the \c{IMUL}
9806 instruction: see \k{insIMUL}.
9809 \H{insMULPD} \i\c{MULPD}: Packed Single-FP Multiply
9811 \c MULPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 59 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9813 \c{MULPD} performs a SIMD multiply of the packed double-precision FP
9814 values in both operands, and stores the results in the destination register.
9817 \H{insMULPS} \i\c{MULPS}: Packed Single-FP Multiply
9819 \c MULPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 59 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9821 \c{MULPS} performs a SIMD multiply of the packed single-precision FP
9822 values in both operands, and stores the results in the destination register.
9825 \H{insMULSD} \i\c{MULSD}: Scalar Single-FP Multiply
9827 \c MULSD xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F2 0F 59 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9829 \c{MULSD} multiplies the lowest double-precision FP values of both
9830 operands, and stores the result in the low quadword of xmm1.
9833 \H{insMULSS} \i\c{MULSS}: Scalar Single-FP Multiply
9835 \c MULSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 59 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9837 \c{MULSS} multiplies the lowest single-precision FP values of both
9838 operands, and stores the result in the low doubleword of xmm1.
9841 \H{insNEG} \i\c{NEG}, \i\c{NOT}: Two's and One's Complement
9843 \c NEG r/m8 ; F6 /3 [8086]
9844 \c NEG r/m16 ; o16 F7 /3 [8086]
9845 \c NEG r/m32 ; o32 F7 /3 [386]
9847 \c NOT r/m8 ; F6 /2 [8086]
9848 \c NOT r/m16 ; o16 F7 /2 [8086]
9849 \c NOT r/m32 ; o32 F7 /2 [386]
9851 \c{NEG} replaces the contents of its operand by the two's complement
9852 negation (invert all the bits and then add one) of the original
9853 value. \c{NOT}, similarly, performs one's complement (inverts all
9857 \H{insNOP} \i\c{NOP}: No Operation
9861 \c{NOP} performs no operation. Its opcode is the same as that
9862 generated by \c{XCHG AX,AX} or \c{XCHG EAX,EAX} (depending on the
9863 processor mode; see \k{insXCHG}).
9866 \H{insOR} \i\c{OR}: Bitwise OR
9868 \c OR r/m8,reg8 ; 08 /r [8086]
9869 \c OR r/m16,reg16 ; o16 09 /r [8086]
9870 \c OR r/m32,reg32 ; o32 09 /r [386]
9872 \c OR reg8,r/m8 ; 0A /r [8086]
9873 \c OR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0B /r [8086]
9874 \c OR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0B /r [386]
9876 \c OR r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /1 ib [8086]
9877 \c OR r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /1 iw [8086]
9878 \c OR r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /1 id [386]
9880 \c OR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /1 ib [8086]
9881 \c OR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /1 ib [386]
9883 \c OR AL,imm8 ; 0C ib [8086]
9884 \c OR AX,imm16 ; o16 0D iw [8086]
9885 \c OR EAX,imm32 ; o32 0D id [386]
9887 \c{OR} performs a bitwise OR operation between its two operands
9888 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if at least one of the
9889 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
9890 in the destination (first) operand.
9892 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
9893 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
9894 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
9895 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
9896 form of the instruction.
9898 The MMX instruction \c{POR} (see \k{insPOR}) performs the same
9899 operation on the 64-bit MMX registers.
9902 \H{insORPD} \i\c{ORPD}: Bit-wise Logical OR of Double-Precision FP Data
9904 \c ORPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 56 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9906 \c{ORPD} return a bit-wise logical OR between xmm1 and xmm2/mem,
9907 and stores the result in xmm1. If the source operand is a memory
9908 location, it must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
9911 \H{insORPS} \i\c{ORPS}: Bit-wise Logical OR of Single-Precision FP Data
9913 \c ORPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 56 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
9915 \c{ORPS} return a bit-wise logical OR between xmm1 and xmm2/mem,
9916 and stores the result in xmm1. If the source operand is a memory
9917 location, it must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
9920 \H{insOUT} \i\c{OUT}: Output Data to I/O Port
9922 \c OUT imm8,AL ; E6 ib [8086]
9923 \c OUT imm8,AX ; o16 E7 ib [8086]
9924 \c OUT imm8,EAX ; o32 E7 ib [386]
9925 \c OUT DX,AL ; EE [8086]
9926 \c OUT DX,AX ; o16 EF [8086]
9927 \c OUT DX,EAX ; o32 EF [386]
9929 \c{OUT} writes the contents of the given source register to the
9930 specified I/O port. The port number may be specified as an immediate
9931 value if it is between 0 and 255, and otherwise must be stored in
9932 \c{DX}. See also \c{IN} (\k{insIN}).
9935 \H{insOUTSB} \i\c{OUTSB}, \i\c{OUTSW}, \i\c{OUTSD}: Output String to I/O Port
9939 \c OUTSW ; o16 6F [186]
9941 \c OUTSD ; o32 6F [386]
9943 \c{OUTSB} loads a byte from \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} and writes
9944 it to the I/O port specified in \c{DX}. It then increments or
9945 decrements (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag
9946 is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{SI} or \c{ESI}.
9948 The register used is \c{SI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
9949 \c{ESI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
9950 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
9951 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
9953 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
9954 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
9955 example, \c{es outsb}).
9957 \c{OUTSW} and \c{OUTSD} work in the same way, but they output a
9958 word or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement
9959 the addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
9961 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
9962 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
9965 \H{insPACKSSDW} \i\c{PACKSSDW}, \i\c{PACKSSWB}, \i\c{PACKUSWB}: Pack Data
9967 \c PACKSSDW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 6B /r [PENT,MMX]
9968 \c PACKSSWB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 63 /r [PENT,MMX]
9969 \c PACKUSWB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 67 /r [PENT,MMX]
9971 \c PACKSSDW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9972 \c PACKSSWB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 63 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9973 \c PACKUSWB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 67 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9975 All these instructions start by combining the source and destination
9976 operands, and then splitting the result in smaller sections which it
9977 then packs into the destination register. The \c{MMX} versions pack
9978 two 64-bit operands into one 64-bit register, while the \c{SSE}
9979 versions pack two 128-bit operands into one 128-bit register.
9981 \b \c{PACKSSWB} splits the combined value into words, and then reduces
9982 the words to btes, using signed saturation. It then packs the bytes
9983 into the destination register in the same order the words were in.
9985 \b \c{PACKSSDW} performs the same operation as \c{PACKSSWB}, except that
9986 it reduces doublewords to words, then packs them into the destination
9989 \b \c{PACKUSWB} performs the same operation as \c{PACKSSWB}, except that
9990 it uses unsigned saturation when reducing the size of the elements.
9992 To perform signed saturation on a number, it is replaced by the largest
9993 signed number (\c{7FFFh} or \c{7Fh}) that \e{will} fit, and if it is too
9994 small it is replaced by the smallest signed number (\c{8000h} or
9995 \c{80h}) that will fit. To perform unsigned saturation, the input is
9996 treated as unsigned, and the input is replaced by the largest unsigned
9997 number that will fit.
10000 \H{insPADDB} \i\c{PADDB}, \i\c{PADDW}, \i\c{PADDD}: Add Packed Integers
10002 \c PADDB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FC /r [PENT,MMX]
10003 \c PADDW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FD /r [PENT,MMX]
10004 \c PADDD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FE /r [PENT,MMX]
10006 \c PADDB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FC /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10007 \c PADDW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FD /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10008 \c PADDD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FE /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10010 \c{PADDx} performs packed addition of the two operands, storing the
10011 result in the destination (first) operand.
10013 \b \c{PADDB} treats the operands as packed bytes, and adds each byte
10016 \b \c{PADDW} treats the operands as packed words;
10018 \b \c{PADDD} treats its operands as packed doublewords.
10020 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, it
10021 is wrapped around and the low bits are stored, with the carry bit
10025 \H{insPADDQ} \i\c{PADDQ}: Add Packed Quadword Integers
10027 \c PADDQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D4 /r [PENT,MMX]
10029 \c PADDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10031 \c{PADDQ} adds the quadwords in the source and destination operands, and
10032 stores the result in the destination register.
10034 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, it
10035 is wrapped around and the low bits are stored, with the carry bit
10039 \H{insPADDSB} \i\c{PADDSB}, \i\c{PADDSW}: Add Packed Signed Integers With Saturation
10041 \c PADDSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EC /r [PENT,MMX]
10042 \c PADDSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F ED /r [PENT,MMX]
10044 \c PADDSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EC /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10045 \c PADDSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F ED /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10047 \c{PADDSx} performs packed addition of the two operands, storing the
10048 result in the destination (first) operand.
10049 \c{PADDSB} treats the operands as packed bytes, and adds each byte
10050 individually; and \c{PADDSW} treats the operands as packed words.
10052 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, a
10053 saturated value is stored. The resulting value is the value with the
10054 largest magnitude of the same sign as the result which will fit in
10055 the available space.
10058 \H{insPADDSIW} \i\c{PADDSIW}: MMX Packed Addition to Implicit Destination
10060 \c PADDSIW mmxreg,r/m64 ; 0F 51 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10062 \c{PADDSIW}, specific to the Cyrix extensions to the MMX instruction
10063 set, performs the same function as \c{PADDSW}, except that the result
10064 is placed in an implied register.
10066 To work out the implied register, invert the lowest bit in the register
10067 number. So \c{PADDSIW MM0,MM2} would put the result in \c{MM1}, but
10068 \c{PADDSIW MM1,MM2} would put the result in \c{MM0}.
10071 \H{insPADDUSB} \i\c{PADDUSB}, \i\c{PADDUSW}: Add Packed Unsigned Integers With Saturation
10073 \c PADDUSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DC /r [PENT,MMX]
10074 \c PADDUSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DD /r [PENT,MMX]
10076 \c PADDUSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DC /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10077 \c PADDUSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DD /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10079 \c{PADDUSx} performs packed addition of the two operands, storing the
10080 result in the destination (first) operand.
10081 \c{PADDUSB} treats the operands as packed bytes, and adds each byte
10082 individually; and \c{PADDUSW} treats the operands as packed words.
10084 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, a
10085 saturated value is stored. The resulting value is the maximum value
10086 that will fit in the available space.
10089 \H{insPAND} \i\c{PAND}, \i\c{PANDN}: MMX Bitwise AND and AND-NOT
10091 \c PAND mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DB /r [PENT,MMX]
10092 \c PANDN mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DF /r [PENT,MMX]
10094 \c PAND xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10095 \c PANDN xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DF /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10098 \c{PAND} performs a bitwise AND operation between its two operands
10099 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if the corresponding
10100 bits of the two inputs were both 1), and stores the result in the
10101 destination (first) operand.
10103 \c{PANDN} performs the same operation, but performs a one's
10104 complement operation on the destination (first) operand first.
10107 \H{insPAUSE} \i\c{PAUSE}: Spin Loop Hint
10109 \c PAUSE ; F3 90 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10111 \c{PAUSE} provides a hint to the processor that the following code
10112 is a spin loop. This improves processor performance by bypassing
10113 possible memory order violations. On older processors, this instruction
10114 operates as a \c{NOP}.
10117 \H{insPAVEB} \i\c{PAVEB}: MMX Packed Average
10119 \c PAVEB mmxreg,r/m64 ; 0F 50 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10121 \c{PAVEB}, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, treats its two
10122 operands as vectors of eight unsigned bytes, and calculates the
10123 average of the corresponding bytes in the operands. The resulting
10124 vector of eight averages is stored in the first operand.
10126 This opcode maps to \c{MOVMSKPS r32, xmm} on processors that support
10127 the SSE instruction set.
10130 \H{insPAVGB} \i\c{PAVGB} \i\c{PAVGW}: Average Packed Integers
10132 \c PAVGB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E0 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10133 \c PAVGW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E3 /r [KATMAI,MMX,SM]
10135 \c PAVGB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E0 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10136 \c PAVGW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10138 \c{PAVGB} and \c{PAVGW} add the unsigned data elements of the source
10139 operand to the unsigned data elements of the destination register,
10140 then adds 1 to the temporary results. The results of the add are then
10141 each independently right-shifted by one bit position. The high order
10142 bits of each element are filled with the carry bits of the corresponding
10145 \b \c{PAVGB} operates on packed unsigned bytes, and
10147 \b \c{PAVGW} operates on packed unsigned words.
10150 \H{insPAVGUSB} \i\c{PAVGUSB}: Average of unsigned packed 8-bit values
10152 \c PAVGUSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r BF [PENT,3DNOW]
10154 \c{PAVGUSB} adds the unsigned data elements of the source operand to
10155 the unsigned data elements of the destination register, then adds 1
10156 to the temporary results. The results of the add are then each
10157 independently right-shifted by one bit position. The high order bits
10158 of each element are filled with the carry bits of the corresponding
10161 This instruction performs exactly the same operations as the \c{PAVGB}
10162 \c{MMX} instruction (\k{insPAVGB}).
10165 \H{insPCMPEQB} \i\c{PCMPxx}: Compare Packed Integers.
10167 \c PCMPEQB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 74 /r [PENT,MMX]
10168 \c PCMPEQW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 75 /r [PENT,MMX]
10169 \c PCMPEQD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 76 /r [PENT,MMX]
10171 \c PCMPGTB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 64 /r [PENT,MMX]
10172 \c PCMPGTW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 65 /r [PENT,MMX]
10173 \c PCMPGTD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 66 /r [PENT,MMX]
10175 \c PCMPEQB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 74 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10176 \c PCMPEQW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 75 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10177 \c PCMPEQD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 76 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10179 \c PCMPGTB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 64 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10180 \c PCMPGTW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 65 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10181 \c PCMPGTD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 66 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10183 The \c{PCMPxx} instructions all treat their operands as vectors of
10184 bytes, words, or doublewords; corresponding elements of the source
10185 and destination are compared, and the corresponding element of the
10186 destination (first) operand is set to all zeros or all ones
10187 depending on the result of the comparison.
10189 \b \c{PCMPxxB} treats the operands as vectors of bytes;
10191 \b \c{PCMPxxW} treats the operands as vectors of words;
10193 \b \c{PCMPxxD} treats the operands as vectors of doublewords;
10195 \b \c{PCMPEQx} sets the corresponding element of the destination
10196 operand to all ones if the two elements compared are equal;
10198 \b \c{PCMPGTx} sets the destination element to all ones if the element
10199 of the first (destination) operand is greater (treated as a signed
10200 integer) than that of the second (source) operand.
10203 \H{insPDISTIB} \i\c{PDISTIB}: MMX Packed Distance and Accumulate
10204 with Implied Register
10206 \c PDISTIB mm,m64 ; 0F 54 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10208 \c{PDISTIB}, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, treats its two
10209 input operands as vectors of eight unsigned bytes. For each byte
10210 position, it finds the absolute difference between the bytes in that
10211 position in the two input operands, and adds that value to the byte
10212 in the same position in the implied output register. The addition is
10213 saturated to an unsigned byte in the same way as \c{PADDUSB}.
10215 To work out the implied register, invert the lowest bit in the register
10216 number. So \c{PDISTIB MM0,M64} would put the result in \c{MM1}, but
10217 \c{PDISTIB MM1,M64} would put the result in \c{MM0}.
10219 Note that \c{PDISTIB} cannot take a register as its second source
10224 \c dstI[0-7] := dstI[0-7] + ABS(src0[0-7] - src1[0-7]),
10225 \c dstI[8-15] := dstI[8-15] + ABS(src0[8-15] - src1[8-15]),
10228 \c dstI[56-63] := dstI[56-63] + ABS(src0[56-63] - src1[56-63]).
10231 \H{insPEXTRW} \i\c{PEXTRW}: Extract Word
10233 \c PEXTRW reg32,mm,imm8 ; 0F C5 /r ib [KATMAI,MMX]
10234 \c PEXTRW reg32,xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F C5 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10236 \c{PEXTRW} moves the word in the source register (second operand)
10237 that is pointed to by the count operand (third operand), into the
10238 lower half of a 32-bit general purpose register. The upper half of
10239 the register is cleared to all 0s.
10241 When the source operand is an \c{MMX} register, the two least
10242 significant bits of the count specify the source word. When it is
10243 an \c{SSE} register, the three least significant bits specify the
10247 \H{insPF2ID} \i\c{PF2ID}: Packed Single-Precision FP to Integer Convert
10249 \c PF2ID mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 1D [PENT,3DNOW]
10251 \c{PF2ID} converts two single-precision FP values in the source operand
10252 to signed 32-bit integers, using truncation, and stores them in the
10253 destination operand. Source values that are outside the range supported
10254 by the destination are saturated to the largest absolute value of the
10258 \H{insPF2IW} \i\c{PF2IW}: Packed Single-Precision FP to Integer Word Convert
10260 \c PF2IW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 1C [PENT,3DNOW]
10262 \c{PF2IW} converts two single-precision FP values in the source operand
10263 to signed 16-bit integers, using truncation, and stores them in the
10264 destination operand. Source values that are outside the range supported
10265 by the destination are saturated to the largest absolute value of the
10268 \b In the K6-2 and K6-III, the 16-bit value is zero-extended to 32-bits
10271 \b In the K6-2+, K6-III+ and Athlon processors, the value is sign-extended
10272 to 32-bits before storing.
10275 \H{insPFACC} \i\c{PFACC}: Packed Single-Precision FP Accumulate
10277 \c PFACC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r AE [PENT,3DNOW]
10279 \c{PFACC} adds the two single-precision FP values from the destination
10280 operand together, then adds the two single-precision FP values from the
10281 source operand, and places the results in the low and high doublewords
10282 of the destination operand.
10286 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + dst[32-63],
10287 \c dst[32-63] := src[0-31] + src[32-63].
10290 \H{insPFADD} \i\c{PFADD}: Packed Single-Precision FP Addition
10292 \c PFADD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 9E [PENT,3DNOW]
10294 \c{PFADD} performs addition on each of two packed single-precision
10297 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + src[0-31],
10298 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] + src[32-63].
10301 \H{insPFCMP} \i\c{PFCMPxx}: Packed Single-Precision FP Compare
10302 \I\c{PFCMPEQ} \I\c{PFCMPGE} \I\c{PFCMPGT}
10304 \c PFCMPEQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B0 [PENT,3DNOW]
10305 \c PFCMPGE mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 90 [PENT,3DNOW]
10306 \c PFCMPGT mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A0 [PENT,3DNOW]
10308 The \c{PFCMPxx} instructions compare the packed single-point FP values
10309 in the source and destination operands, and set the destination
10310 according to the result. If the condition is true, the destination is
10311 set to all 1s, otherwise it's set to all 0s.
10313 \b \c{PFCMPEQ} tests whether dst == src;
10315 \b \c{PFCMPGE} tests whether dst >= src;
10317 \b \c{PFCMPGT} tests whether dst > src.
10320 \H{insPFMAX} \i\c{PFMAX}: Packed Single-Precision FP Maximum
10322 \c PFMAX mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A4 [PENT,3DNOW]
10324 \c{PFMAX} returns the higher of each pair of single-precision FP values.
10325 If the higher value is zero, it is returned as positive zero.
10328 \H{insPFMIN} \i\c{PFMIN}: Packed Single-Precision FP Minimum
10330 \c PFMIN mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 94 [PENT,3DNOW]
10332 \c{PFMIN} returns the lower of each pair of single-precision FP values.
10333 If the lower value is zero, it is returned as positive zero.
10336 \H{insPFMUL} \i\c{PFMUL}: Packed Single-Precision FP Multiply
10338 \c PFMUL mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B4 [PENT,3DNOW]
10340 \c{PFMUL} returns the product of each pair of single-precision FP values.
10342 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] * src[0-31],
10343 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] * src[32-63].
10346 \H{insPFNACC} \i\c{PFNACC}: Packed Single-Precision FP Negative Accumulate
10348 \c PFNACC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 8A [PENT,3DNOW]
10350 \c{PFACC} performs a negative accumulate of the two single-precision
10351 FP values in the source and destination registers. The result of the
10352 accumulate from the destination register is stored in the low doubleword
10353 of the destination, and the result of the source accumulate is stored in
10354 the high doubleword of the destination register.
10358 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] - dst[32-63],
10359 \c dst[32-63] := src[0-31] - src[32-63].
10362 \H{insPFNACC} \i\c{PFNACC}: Packed Single-Precision FP Mixed Accumulate
10364 \c PFNACC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 8E [PENT,3DNOW]
10366 \c{PFACC} performs a positive accumulate of the two single-precision
10367 FP values in the source register and a negative accumulate of the
10368 destination register. The result of the accumulate from the destination
10369 register is stored in the low doubleword of the destination, and the
10370 result of the source accumulate is stored in the high doubleword of the
10371 destination register.
10375 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] - dst[32-63],
10376 \c dst[32-63] := src[0-31] + src[32-63].
10379 \H{insPFRCP} \i\c{PFRCP}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal Approximation
10381 \c PFRCP mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 96 [PENT,3DNOW]
10383 \c{PFRCP} performs a low precision estimate of the reciprocal of the
10384 low-order single-precision FP value in the source operand, storing the
10385 result in both halves of the destination register. The result is accurate
10388 For higher precision reciprocals, this instruction should be followed by
10389 two more instructions: \c{PFRCPIT1} (\k{insPFRCPIT1}) and \c{PFRCPIT2}
10390 (\k{insPFRCPIT1}). This will result in a 24-bit accuracy. For more details,
10391 see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10394 \H{insPFRCPIT1} \i\c{PFRCPIT1}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal,
10395 First Iteration Step
10397 \c PFRCPIT1 mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A6 [PENT,3DNOW]
10399 \c{PFRCPIT1} performs the first intermediate step in the calculation of
10400 the reciprocal of a single-precision FP value. The first source value
10401 (\c{mm1} is the original value, and the second source value (\c{mm2/m64}
10402 is the result of a \c{PFRCP} instruction.
10404 For the final step in a reciprocal, returning the full 24-bit accuracy
10405 of a single-precision FP value, see \c{PFRCPIT2} (\k{insPFRCPIT2}). For
10406 more details, see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10409 \H{insPFRCPIT2} \i\c{PFRCPIT2}: Packed Single-Precision FP
10410 Reciprocal/ Reciprocal Square Root, Second Iteration Step
10412 \c PFRCPIT2 mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B6 [PENT,3DNOW]
10414 \c{PFRCPIT2} performs the second and final intermediate step in the
10415 calculation of a reciprocal or reciprocal square root, refining the
10416 values returned by the \c{PFRCP} and \c{PFRSQRT} instructions,
10419 The first source value (\c{mm1}) is the output of either a \c{PFRCPIT1}
10420 or a \c{PFRSQIT1} instruction, and the second source is the output of
10421 either the \c{PFRCP} or the \c{PFRSQRT} instruction. For more details,
10422 see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10425 \H{insPFRSQIT1} \i\c{PFRSQIT1}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
10426 Square Root, First Iteration Step
10428 \c PFRSQIT1 mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A7 [PENT,3DNOW]
10430 \c{PFRSQIT1} performs the first intermediate step in the calculation of
10431 the reciprocal square root of a single-precision FP value. The first
10432 source value (\c{mm1} is the square of the result of a \c{PFRSQRT}
10433 instruction, and the second source value (\c{mm2/m64} is the original
10436 For the final step in a calculation, returning the full 24-bit accuracy
10437 of a single-precision FP value, see \c{PFRCPIT2} (\k{insPFRCPIT2}). For
10438 more details, see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10441 \H{insPFRSQRT} \i\c{PFRSQRT}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
10442 Square Root Approximation
10444 \c PFRSQRT mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 97 [PENT,3DNOW]
10446 \c{PFRSQRT} performs a low precision estimate of the reciprocal square
10447 root of the low-order single-precision FP value in the source operand,
10448 storing the result in both halves of the destination register. The result
10449 is accurate to 15 bits.
10451 For higher precision reciprocals, this instruction should be followed by
10452 two more instructions: \c{PFRSQIT1} (\k{insPFRSQIT1}) and \c{PFRCPIT2}
10453 (\k{insPFRCPIT1}). This will result in a 24-bit accuracy. For more details,
10454 see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
10457 \H{insPFSUB} \i\c{PFSUB}: Packed Single-Precision FP Subtract
10459 \c PFSUB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 9A [PENT,3DNOW]
10461 \c{PFSUB} subtracts the single-precision FP values in the source from
10462 those in the destination, and stores the result in the destination
10465 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] - src[0-31],
10466 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] - src[32-63].
10469 \H{insPFSUBR} \i\c{PFSUBR}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reverse Subtract
10471 \c PFSUBR mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r AA [PENT,3DNOW]
10473 \c{PFSUBR} subtracts the single-precision FP values in the destination
10474 from those in the source, and stores the result in the destination
10477 \c dst[0-31] := src[0-31] - dst[0-31],
10478 \c dst[32-63] := src[32-63] - dst[32-63].
10481 \H{insPI2FD} \i\c{PI2FD}: Packed Doubleword Integer to Single-Precision FP Convert
10483 \c PI2FD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 0D [PENT,3DNOW]
10485 \c{PF2ID} converts two signed 32-bit integers in the source operand
10486 to single-precision FP values, using truncation of significant digits,
10487 and stores them in the destination operand.
10490 \H{insPF2IW} \i\c{PF2IW}: Packed Word Integer to Single-Precision FP Convert
10492 \c PI2FW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 0C [PENT,3DNOW]
10494 \c{PF2IW} converts two signed 16-bit integers in the source operand
10495 to single-precision FP values, and stores them in the destination
10496 operand. The input values are in the low word of each doubleword.
10499 \H{insPINSRW} \i\c{PINSRW}: Insert Word
10501 \c PINSRW mm,r16/r32/m16,imm8 ;0F C4 /r ib [KATMAI,MMX]
10502 \c PINSRW xmm,r16/r32/m16,imm8 ;66 0F C4 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10504 \c{PINSRW} loads a word from a 16-bit register (or the low half of a
10505 32-bit register), or from memory, and loads it to the word position
10506 in the destination register, pointed at by the count operand (third
10507 operand). If the destination is an \c{MMX} register, the low two bits
10508 of the count byte are used, if it is an \c{XMM} register the low 3
10509 bits are used. The insertion is done in such a way that the other
10510 words from the destination register are left untouched.
10513 \H{insPMACHRIW} \i\c{PMACHRIW}: Packed Multiply and Accumulate with Rounding
10515 \c PMACHRIW mm,m64 ; 0F 5E /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10517 \c{PMACHRIW} takes two packed 16-bit integer inputs, multiplies the
10518 values in the inputs, rounds on bit 15 of each result, then adds bits
10519 15-30 of each result to the corresponding position of the \e{implied}
10520 destination register.
10522 The operation of this instruction is:
10524 \c dstI[0-15] := dstI[0-15] + (mm[0-15] *m64[0-15]
10525 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30],
10526 \c dstI[16-31] := dstI[16-31] + (mm[16-31]*m64[16-31]
10527 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30],
10528 \c dstI[32-47] := dstI[32-47] + (mm[32-47]*m64[32-47]
10529 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30],
10530 \c dstI[48-63] := dstI[48-63] + (mm[48-63]*m64[48-63]
10531 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30].
10533 Note that \c{PMACHRIW} cannot take a register as its second source
10537 \H{insPMADDWD} \i\c{PMADDWD}: MMX Packed Multiply and Add
10539 \c PMADDWD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F5 /r [PENT,MMX]
10540 \c PMADDWD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F5 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10542 \c{PMADDWD} treats its two inputs as vectors of signed words. It
10543 multiplies corresponding elements of the two operands, giving doubleword
10544 results. These are then added together in pairs and stored in the
10545 destination operand.
10547 The operation of this instruction is:
10549 \c dst[0-31] := (dst[0-15] * src[0-15])
10550 \c + (dst[16-31] * src[16-31]);
10551 \c dst[32-63] := (dst[32-47] * src[32-47])
10552 \c + (dst[48-63] * src[48-63]);
10554 The following apply to the \c{SSE} version of the instruction:
10556 \c dst[64-95] := (dst[64-79] * src[64-79])
10557 \c + (dst[80-95] * src[80-95]);
10558 \c dst[96-127] := (dst[96-111] * src[96-111])
10559 \c + (dst[112-127] * src[112-127]).
10562 \H{insPMAGW} \i\c{PMAGW}: MMX Packed Magnitude
10564 \c PMAGW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 52 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10566 \c{PMAGW}, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, treats both its
10567 operands as vectors of four signed words. It compares the absolute
10568 values of the words in corresponding positions, and sets each word
10569 of the destination (first) operand to whichever of the two words in
10570 that position had the larger absolute value.
10573 \H{insPMAXSW} \i\c{PMAXSW}: Packed Signed Integer Word Maximum
10575 \c PMAXSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EE /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10576 \c PMAXSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EE /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10578 \c{PMAXSW} compares each pair of words in the two source operands, and
10579 for each pair it stores the maximum value in the destination register.
10582 \H{insPMAXUB} \i\c{PMAXUB}: Packed Unsigned Integer Byte Maximum
10584 \c PMAXUB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DE /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10585 \c PMAXUB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DE /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10587 \c{PMAXUB} compares each pair of bytes in the two source operands, and
10588 for each pair it stores the maximum value in the destination register.
10591 \H{insPMINSW} \i\c{PMINSW}: Packed Signed Integer Word Minimum
10593 \c PMINSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EA /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10594 \c PMINSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EA /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10596 \c{PMINSW} compares each pair of words in the two source operands, and
10597 for each pair it stores the minimum value in the destination register.
10600 \H{insPMINUB} \i\c{PMINUB}: Packed Unsigned Integer Byte Minimum
10602 \c PMINUB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DA /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10603 \c PMINUB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DA /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10605 \c{PMINUB} compares each pair of bytes in the two source operands, and
10606 for each pair it stores the minimum value in the destination register.
10609 \H{insPMOVMSKB} \i\c{PMOVMSKB}: Move Byte Mask To Integer
10611 \c PMOVMSKB reg32,mm ; 0F D7 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10612 \c PMOVMSKB reg32,xmm ; 66 0F D7 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10614 \c{PMOVMSKB} returns an 8-bit or 16-bit mask formed of the most
10615 significant bits of each byte of source operand (8-bits for an
10616 \c{MMX} register, 16-bits for an \c{XMM} register).
10619 \H{insPMULHRW} \i\c{PMULHRWC}, \i\c{PMULHRIW}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers
10620 With Rounding, and Store High Word
10622 \c PMULHRWC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 59 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10623 \c PMULHRIW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 5D /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10625 These instructions take two packed 16-bit integer inputs, multiply the
10626 values in the inputs, round on bit 15 of each result, then store bits
10627 15-30 of each result to the corresponding position of the destination
10630 \b For \c{PMULHRWC}, the destination is the first source operand.
10632 \b For \c{PMULHRIW}, the destination is an implied register (worked out
10633 as described for \c{PADDSIW} (\k{insPADDSIW})).
10635 The operation of this instruction is:
10637 \c dst[0-15] := (src1[0-15] *src2[0-15] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
10638 \c dst[16-31] := (src1[16-31]*src2[16-31] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
10639 \c dst[32-47] := (src1[32-47]*src2[32-47] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
10640 \c dst[48-63] := (src1[48-63]*src2[48-63] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
10642 See also \c{PMULHRWA} (\k{insPMULHRWA}) for a 3DNow! version of this
10646 \H{insPMULHRWA} \i\c{PMULHRWA}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers
10647 With Rounding, and Store High Word
10649 \c PMULHRWA mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B7 [PENT,3DNOW]
10651 \c{PMULHRWA} takes two packed 16-bit integer inputs, multiplies
10652 the values in the inputs, rounds on bit 16 of each result, then
10653 stores bits 16-31 of each result to the corresponding position
10654 of the destination register.
10656 The operation of this instruction is:
10658 \c dst[0-15] := (src1[0-15] *src2[0-15] + 0x00008000)[16-31];
10659 \c dst[16-31] := (src1[16-31]*src2[16-31] + 0x00008000)[16-31];
10660 \c dst[32-47] := (src1[32-47]*src2[32-47] + 0x00008000)[16-31];
10661 \c dst[48-63] := (src1[48-63]*src2[48-63] + 0x00008000)[16-31].
10663 See also \c{PMULHRWC} (\k{insPMULHRW}) for a Cyrix version of this
10667 \H{insPMULHUW} \i\c{PMULHUW}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers,
10668 and Store High Word
10670 \c PMULHUW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E4 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10671 \c PMULHUW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10673 \c{PMULHUW} takes two packed unsigned 16-bit integer inputs, multiplies
10674 the values in the inputs, then stores bits 16-31 of each result to the
10675 corresponding position of the destination register.
10678 \H{insPMULHW} \i\c{PMULHW}, \i\c{PMULLW}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers,
10681 \c PMULHW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E5 /r [PENT,MMX]
10682 \c PMULLW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D5 /r [PENT,MMX]
10684 \c PMULHW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E5 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10685 \c PMULLW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D5 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10687 \c{PMULxW} takes two packed unsigned 16-bit integer inputs, and
10688 multiplies the values in the inputs, forming doubleword results.
10690 \b \c{PMULHW} then stores the top 16 bits of each doubleword in the
10691 destination (first) operand;
10693 \b \c{PMULLW} stores the bottom 16 bits of each doubleword in the
10694 destination operand.
10697 \H{insPMULUDQ} \i\c{PMULUDQ}: Multiply Packed Unsigned
10698 32-bit Integers, and Store.
10700 \c PMULUDQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10701 \c PMULUDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10703 \c{PMULUDQ} takes two packed unsigned 32-bit integer inputs, and
10704 multiplies the values in the inputs, forming quadword results. The
10705 source is either an unsigned doubleword in the low doubleword of a
10706 64-bit operand, or it's two unsigned doublewords in the first and
10707 third doublewords of a 128-bit operand. This produces either one or
10708 two 64-bit results, which are stored in the respective quadword
10709 locations of the destination register.
10713 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-31] * src[0-31];
10714 \c dst[64-127] := dst[64-95] * src[64-95].
10717 \H{insPMVccZB} \i\c{PMVccZB}: MMX Packed Conditional Move
10719 \c PMVZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 58 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10720 \c PMVNZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 5A /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10721 \c PMVLZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 5B /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10722 \c PMVGEZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 5C /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10724 These instructions, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, perform
10725 parallel conditional moves. The two input operands are treated as
10726 vectors of eight bytes. Each byte of the destination (first) operand
10727 is either written from the corresponding byte of the source (second)
10728 operand, or left alone, depending on the value of the byte in the
10729 \e{implied} operand (specified in the same way as \c{PADDSIW}, in
10732 \b \c{PMVZB} performs each move if the corresponding byte in the
10733 implied operand is zero;
10735 \b \c{PMVNZB} moves if the byte is non-zero;
10737 \b \c{PMVLZB} moves if the byte is less than zero;
10739 \b \c{PMVGEZB} moves if the byte is greater than or equal to zero.
10741 Note that these instructions cannot take a register as their second
10745 \H{insPOP} \i\c{POP}: Pop Data from Stack
10747 \c POP reg16 ; o16 58+r [8086]
10748 \c POP reg32 ; o32 58+r [386]
10750 \c POP r/m16 ; o16 8F /0 [8086]
10751 \c POP r/m32 ; o32 8F /0 [386]
10753 \c POP CS ; 0F [8086,UNDOC]
10754 \c POP DS ; 1F [8086]
10755 \c POP ES ; 07 [8086]
10756 \c POP SS ; 17 [8086]
10757 \c POP FS ; 0F A1 [386]
10758 \c POP GS ; 0F A9 [386]
10760 \c{POP} loads a value from the stack (from \c{[SS:SP]} or
10761 \c{[SS:ESP]}) and then increments the stack pointer.
10763 The address-size attribute of the instruction determines whether
10764 \c{SP} or \c{ESP} is used as the stack pointer: to deliberately
10765 override the default given by the \c{BITS} setting, you can use an
10766 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
10768 The operand-size attribute of the instruction determines whether the
10769 stack pointer is incremented by 2 or 4: this means that segment
10770 register pops in \c{BITS 32} mode will pop 4 bytes off the stack and
10771 discard the upper two of them. If you need to override that, you can
10772 use an \i\c{o16} or \i\c{o32} prefix.
10774 The above opcode listings give two forms for general-purpose
10775 register pop instructions: for example, \c{POP BX} has the two forms
10776 \c{5B} and \c{8F C3}. NASM will always generate the shorter form
10777 when given \c{POP BX}. NDISASM will disassemble both.
10779 \c{POP CS} is not a documented instruction, and is not supported on
10780 any processor above the 8086 (since they use \c{0Fh} as an opcode
10781 prefix for instruction set extensions). However, at least some 8086
10782 processors do support it, and so NASM generates it for completeness.
10785 \H{insPOPA} \i\c{POPAx}: Pop All General-Purpose Registers
10788 \c POPAW ; o16 61 [186]
10789 \c POPAD ; o32 61 [386]
10791 \b \c{POPAW} pops a word from the stack into each of, successively,
10792 \c{DI}, \c{SI}, \c{BP}, nothing (it discards a word from the stack
10793 which was a placeholder for \c{SP}), \c{BX}, \c{DX}, \c{CX} and
10794 \c{AX}. It is intended to reverse the operation of \c{PUSHAW} (see
10795 \k{insPUSHA}), but it ignores the value for \c{SP} that was pushed
10796 on the stack by \c{PUSHAW}.
10798 \b \c{POPAD} pops twice as much data, and places the results in
10799 \c{EDI}, \c{ESI}, \c{EBP}, nothing (placeholder for \c{ESP}),
10800 \c{EBX}, \c{EDX}, \c{ECX} and \c{EAX}. It reverses the operation of
10803 \c{POPA} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{POPAW} or \c{POPAD},
10804 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
10806 Note that the registers are popped in reverse order of their numeric
10807 values in opcodes (see \k{iref-rv}).
10810 \H{insPOPF} \i\c{POPFx}: Pop Flags Register
10813 \c POPFW ; o16 9D [186]
10814 \c POPFD ; o32 9D [386]
10816 \b \c{POPFW} pops a word from the stack and stores it in the bottom 16
10817 bits of the flags register (or the whole flags register, on
10818 processors below a 386).
10820 \b \c{POPFD} pops a doubleword and stores it in the entire flags register.
10822 \c{POPF} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{POPFW} or \c{POPFD},
10823 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
10825 See also \c{PUSHF} (\k{insPUSHF}).
10828 \H{insPOR} \i\c{POR}: MMX Bitwise OR
10830 \c POR mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EB /r [PENT,MMX]
10831 \c POR xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10833 \c{POR} performs a bitwise OR operation between its two operands
10834 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if at least one of the
10835 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
10836 in the destination (first) operand.
10839 \H{insPREFETCH} \i\c{PREFETCH}: Prefetch Data Into Caches
10841 \c PREFETCH mem8 ; 0F 0D /0 [PENT,3DNOW]
10842 \c PREFETCHW mem8 ; 0F 0D /1 [PENT,3DNOW]
10844 \c{PREFETCH} and \c{PREFETCHW} fetch the line of data from memory that
10845 contains the specified byte. \c{PREFETCHW} performs differently on the
10846 Athlon to earlier processors.
10848 For more details, see the 3DNow! Technology Manual.
10851 \H{insPREFETCHh} \i\c{PREFETCHh}: Prefetch Data Into Caches
10852 \I\c{PREFETCHNTA} \I\c{PREFETCHT0} \I\c{PREFETCHT1} \I\c{PREFETCHT2}
10854 \c PREFETCHNTA m8 ; 0F 18 /0 [KATMAI]
10855 \c PREFETCHT0 m8 ; 0F 18 /1 [KATMAI]
10856 \c PREFETCHT1 m8 ; 0F 18 /2 [KATMAI]
10857 \c PREFETCHT2 m8 ; 0F 18 /3 [KATMAI]
10859 The \c{PREFETCHh} instructions fetch the line of data from memory
10860 that contains the specified byte. It is placed in the cache
10861 according to rules specified by locality hints \c{h}:
10865 \b \c{T0} (temporal data) - prefetch data into all levels of the
10868 \b \c{T1} (temporal data with respect to first level cache) -
10869 prefetch data into level 2 cache and higher.
10871 \b \c{T2} (temporal data with respect to second level cache) -
10872 prefetch data into level 2 cache and higher.
10874 \b \c{NTA} (non-temporal data with respect to all cache levels)
\97
10875 prefetch data into non-temporal cache structure and into a
10876 location close to the processor, minimizing cache pollution.
10878 Note that this group of instructions doesn't provide a guarantee
10879 that the data will be in the cache when it is needed. For more
10880 details, see the Intel IA32 Software Developer Manual, Volume 2.
10883 \H{insPSADBW} \i\c{PSADBW}: Packed Sum of Absolute Differences
10885 \c PSADBW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F6 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10886 \c PSADBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10888 \c{PSADBW} The PSADBW instruction computes the absolute value of the
10889 difference of the packed unsigned bytes in the two source operands.
10890 These differences are then summed to produce a word result in the lower
10891 16-bit field of the destination register; the rest of the register is
10892 cleared. The destination operand is an \c{MMX} or an \c{XMM} register.
10893 The source operand can either be a register or a memory operand.
10896 \H{insPSHUFD} \i\c{PSHUFD}: Shuffle Packed Doublewords
10898 \c PSHUFD xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; 66 0F 70 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10900 \c{PSHUFD} shuffles the doublewords in the source (second) operand
10901 according to the encoding specified by imm8, and stores the result
10902 in the destination (first) operand.
10904 Bits 0 and 1 of imm8 encode the source position of the doubleword to
10905 be copied to position 0 in the destination operand. Bits 2 and 3
10906 encode for position 1, bits 4 and 5 encode for position 2, and bits
10907 6 and 7 encode for position 3. For example, an encoding of 10 in
10908 bits 0 and 1 of imm8 indicates that the doubleword at bits 64-95 of
10909 the source operand will be copied to bits 0-31 of the destination.
10912 \H{insPSHUFHW} \i\c{PSHUFHW}: Shuffle Packed High Words
10914 \c PSHUFHW xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; F3 0F 70 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10916 \c{PSHUFW} shuffles the words in the high quadword of the source
10917 (second) operand according to the encoding specified by imm8, and
10918 stores the result in the high quadword of the destination (first)
10921 The operation of this instruction is similar to the \c{PSHUFW}
10922 instruction, except that the source and destination are the top
10923 quadword of a 128-bit operand, instead of being 64-bit operands.
10924 The low quadword is copied from the source to the destination
10925 without any changes.
10928 \H{insPSHUFLW} \i\c{PSHUFLW}: Shuffle Packed Low Words
10930 \c PSHUFLW xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; F2 0F 70 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10932 \c{PSHUFW} shuffles the words in the low quadword of the source
10933 (second) operand according to the encoding specified by imm8, and
10934 stores the result in the low quadword of the destination (first)
10937 The operation of this instruction is similar to the \c{PSHUFW}
10938 instruction, except that the source and destination are the low
10939 quadword of a 128-bit operand, instead of being 64-bit operands.
10940 The high quadword is copied from the source to the destination
10941 without any changes.
10944 \H{insPSHUFW} \i\c{PSHUFW}: Shuffle Packed Words
10946 \c PSHUFW mm1,mm2/m64,imm8 ; 0F 70 /r ib [KATMAI,MMX]
10948 \c{PSHUFW} shuffles the words in the source (second) operand
10949 according to the encoding specified by imm8, and stores the result
10950 in the destination (first) operand.
10952 Bits 0 and 1 of imm8 encode the source position of the word to be
10953 copied to position 0 in the destination operand. Bits 2 and 3 encode
10954 for position 1, bits 4 and 5 encode for position 2, and bits 6 and 7
10955 encode for position 3. For example, an encoding of 10 in bits 0 and 1
10956 of imm8 indicates that the word at bits 32-47 of the source operand
10957 will be copied to bits 0-15 of the destination.
10960 \H{insPSLLD} \i\c{PSLLx}: Packed Data Bit Shift Left Logical
10962 \c PSLLW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F1 /r [PENT,MMX]
10963 \c PSLLW mm,imm8 ; 0F 71 /6 ib [PENT,MMX]
10965 \c PSLLW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F1 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10966 \c PSLLW xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 71 /6 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10968 \c PSLLD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F2 /r [PENT,MMX]
10969 \c PSLLD mm,imm8 ; 0F 72 /6 ib [PENT,MMX]
10971 \c PSLLD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F2 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10972 \c PSLLD xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 72 /6 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10974 \c PSLLQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F3 /r [PENT,MMX]
10975 \c PSLLQ mm,imm8 ; 0F 73 /6 ib [PENT,MMX]
10977 \c PSLLQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10978 \c PSLLQ xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /6 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10980 \c PSLLDQ xmm1,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /7 ib [PENT,MMX]
10982 \c{PSLLx} performs logical left shifts of the data elements in the
10983 destination (first) operand, moving each bit in the separate elements
10984 left by the number of bits specified in the source (second) operand,
10985 clearing the low-order bits as they are vacated.
10987 \b \c{PSLLW} shifts word sized elements.
10989 \b \c{PSLLD} shifts doubleword sized elements.
10991 \b \c{PSLLQ} shifts quadword sized elements.
10993 \b \c{PSLLDQ} shifts double quadword sized elements.
10996 \H{insPSRAD} \i\c{PSRAx}: Packed Data Bit Shift Right Arithmetic
10998 \c PSRAW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E1 /r [PENT,MMX]
10999 \c PSRAW mm,imm8 ; 0F 71 /4 ib [PENT,MMX]
11001 \c PSRAW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E1 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11002 \c PSRAW xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 71 /4 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11004 \c PSRAD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E2 /r [PENT,MMX]
11005 \c PSRAD mm,imm8 ; 0F 72 /4 ib [PENT,MMX]
11007 \c PSRAD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E2 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11008 \c PSRAD xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 72 /4 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11010 \c{PSRAx} performs arithmetic right shifts of the data elements in the
11011 destination (first) operand, moving each bit in the separate elements
11012 right by the number of bits specified in the source (second) operand,
11013 setting the high-order bits to the value of the original sign bit.
11015 \b \c{PSRAW} shifts word sized elements.
11017 \b \c{PSRAD} shifts doubleword sized elements.
11020 \H{insPSRLD} \i\c{PSRLx}: Packed Data Bit Shift Right Logical
11022 \c PSRLW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D1 /r [PENT,MMX]
11023 \c PSRLW mm,imm8 ; 0F 71 /2 ib [PENT,MMX]
11025 \c PSRLW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D1 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11026 \c PSRLW xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 71 /2 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11028 \c PSRLD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D2 /r [PENT,MMX]
11029 \c PSRLD mm,imm8 ; 0F 72 /2 ib [PENT,MMX]
11031 \c PSRLD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D2 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11032 \c PSRLD xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 72 /2 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11034 \c PSRLQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D3 /r [PENT,MMX]
11035 \c PSRLQ mm,imm8 ; 0F 73 /2 ib [PENT,MMX]
11037 \c PSRLQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11038 \c PSRLQ xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /2 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11040 \c PSRLDQ xmm1,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /3 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11042 \c{PSRLx} performs logical right shifts of the data elements in the
11043 destination (first) operand, moving each bit in the separate elements
11044 right by the number of bits specified in the source (second) operand,
11045 clearing the high-order bits as they are vacated.
11047 \b \c{PSRLW} shifts word sized elements.
11049 \b \c{PSRLD} shifts doubleword sized elements.
11051 \b \c{PSRLQ} shifts quadword sized elements.
11053 \b \c{PSRLDQ} shifts double quadword sized elements.
11056 \H{insPSUBB} \i\c{PSUBx}: Subtract Packed Integers
11058 \c PSUBB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F8 /r [PENT,MMX]
11059 \c PSUBW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F9 /r [PENT,MMX]
11060 \c PSUBD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FA /r [PENT,MMX]
11061 \c PSUBQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11063 \c PSUBB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F8 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11064 \c PSUBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F9 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11065 \c PSUBD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FA /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11066 \c PSUBQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11068 \c{PSUBx} subtracts packed integers in the source operand from those
11069 in the destination operand. It doesn't differentiate between signed
11070 and unsigned integers, and doesn't set any of the flags.
11072 \b \c{PSUBB} operates on byte sized elements.
11074 \b \c{PSUBW} operates on word sized elements.
11076 \b \c{PSUBD} operates on doubleword sized elements.
11078 \b \c{PSUBQ} operates on quadword sized elements.
11081 \H{insPSUBSB} \i\c{PSUBSxx}, \i\c{PSUBUSx}: Subtract Packed Integers With Saturation
11083 \c PSUBSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E8 /r [PENT,MMX]
11084 \c PSUBSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E9 /r [PENT,MMX]
11086 \c PSUBSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E8 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11087 \c PSUBSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E9 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11089 \c PSUBUSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D8 /r [PENT,MMX]
11090 \c PSUBUSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D9 /r [PENT,MMX]
11092 \c PSUBUSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D8 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11093 \c PSUBUSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D9 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11095 \c{PSUBSx} and \c{PSUBUSx} subtracts packed integers in the source
11096 operand from those in the destination operand, and use saturation for
11097 results that are outide the range supported by the destination operand.
11099 \b \c{PSUBSB} operates on signed bytes, and uses signed saturation on the
11102 \b \c{PSUBSW} operates on signed words, and uses signed saturation on the
11105 \b \c{PSUBUSB} operates on unsigned bytes, and uses signed saturation on
11108 \b \c{PSUBUSW} operates on unsigned words, and uses signed saturation on
11112 \H{insPSUBSIW} \i\c{PSUBSIW}: MMX Packed Subtract with Saturation to
11113 Implied Destination
11115 \c PSUBSIW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 55 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
11117 \c{PSUBSIW}, specific to the Cyrix extensions to the MMX instruction
11118 set, performs the same function as \c{PSUBSW}, except that the
11119 result is not placed in the register specified by the first operand,
11120 but instead in the implied destination register, specified as for
11121 \c{PADDSIW} (\k{insPADDSIW}).
11124 \H{insPSWAPD} \i\c{PSWAPD}: Swap Packed Data
11127 \c PSWAPD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r BB [PENT,3DNOW]
11129 \c{PSWAPD} swaps the packed doublewords in the source operand, and
11130 stores the result in the destination operand.
11132 In the \c{K6-2} and \c{K6-III} processors, this opcode uses the
11133 mnemonic \c{PSWAPW}, and it swaps the order of words when copying
11134 from the source to the destination.
11136 The operation in the \c{K6-2} and \c{K6-III} processors is
11138 \c dst[0-15] = src[48-63];
11139 \c dst[16-31] = src[32-47];
11140 \c dst[32-47] = src[16-31];
11141 \c dst[48-63] = src[0-15].
11143 The operation in the \c{K6-x+}, \c{ATHLON} and later processors is:
11145 \c dst[0-31] = src[32-63];
11146 \c dst[32-63] = src[0-31].
11149 \H{insPUNPCKHBW} \i\c{PUNPCKxxx}: Unpack and Interleave Data
11151 \c PUNPCKHBW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 68 /r [PENT,MMX]
11152 \c PUNPCKHWD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 69 /r [PENT,MMX]
11153 \c PUNPCKHDQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 6A /r [PENT,MMX]
11155 \c PUNPCKHBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 68 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11156 \c PUNPCKHWD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 69 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11157 \c PUNPCKHDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11158 \c PUNPCKHQDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11160 \c PUNPCKLBW mm1,mm2/m32 ; 0F 60 /r [PENT,MMX]
11161 \c PUNPCKLWD mm1,mm2/m32 ; 0F 61 /r [PENT,MMX]
11162 \c PUNPCKLDQ mm1,mm2/m32 ; 0F 62 /r [PENT,MMX]
11164 \c PUNPCKLBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 60 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11165 \c PUNPCKLWD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 61 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11166 \c PUNPCKLDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 62 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11167 \c PUNPCKLQDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11169 \c{PUNPCKxx} all treat their operands as vectors, and produce a new
11170 vector generated by interleaving elements from the two inputs. The
11171 \c{PUNPCKHxx} instructions start by throwing away the bottom half of
11172 each input operand, and the \c{PUNPCKLxx} instructions throw away
11175 The remaining elements, are then interleaved into the destination,
11176 alternating elements from the second (source) operand and the first
11177 (destination) operand: so the leftmost part of each element in the
11178 result always comes from the second operand, and the rightmost from
11181 \b \c{PUNPCKxBW} works a byte at a time, producing word sized output
11184 \b \c{PUNPCKxWD} works a word at a time, producing doubleword sized
11187 \b \c{PUNPCKxDQ} works a doubleword at a time, producing quadword sized
11190 \b \c{PUNPCKxQDQ} works a quadword at a time, producing double quadword
11191 sized output elements.
11193 So, for example, for \c{MMX} operands, if the first operand held
11194 \c{0x7A6A5A4A3A2A1A0A} and the second held \c{0x7B6B5B4B3B2B1B0B},
11197 \b \c{PUNPCKHBW} would return \c{0x7B7A6B6A5B5A4B4A}.
11199 \b \c{PUNPCKHWD} would return \c{0x7B6B7A6A5B4B5A4A}.
11201 \b \c{PUNPCKHDQ} would return \c{0x7B6B5B4B7A6A5A4A}.
11203 \b \c{PUNPCKLBW} would return \c{0x3B3A2B2A1B1A0B0A}.
11205 \b \c{PUNPCKLWD} would return \c{0x3B2B3A2A1B0B1A0A}.
11207 \b \c{PUNPCKLDQ} would return \c{0x3B2B1B0B3A2A1A0A}.
11210 \H{insPUSH} \i\c{PUSH}: Push Data on Stack
11212 \c PUSH reg16 ; o16 50+r [8086]
11213 \c PUSH reg32 ; o32 50+r [386]
11215 \c PUSH r/m16 ; o16 FF /6 [8086]
11216 \c PUSH r/m32 ; o32 FF /6 [386]
11218 \c PUSH CS ; 0E [8086]
11219 \c PUSH DS ; 1E [8086]
11220 \c PUSH ES ; 06 [8086]
11221 \c PUSH SS ; 16 [8086]
11222 \c PUSH FS ; 0F A0 [386]
11223 \c PUSH GS ; 0F A8 [386]
11225 \c PUSH imm8 ; 6A ib [286]
11226 \c PUSH imm16 ; o16 68 iw [286]
11227 \c PUSH imm32 ; o32 68 id [386]
11229 \c{PUSH} decrements the stack pointer (\c{SP} or \c{ESP}) by 2 or 4,
11230 and then stores the given value at \c{[SS:SP]} or \c{[SS:ESP]}.
11232 The address-size attribute of the instruction determines whether
11233 \c{SP} or \c{ESP} is used as the stack pointer: to deliberately
11234 override the default given by the \c{BITS} setting, you can use an
11235 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
11237 The operand-size attribute of the instruction determines whether the
11238 stack pointer is decremented by 2 or 4: this means that segment
11239 register pushes in \c{BITS 32} mode will push 4 bytes on the stack,
11240 of which the upper two are undefined. If you need to override that,
11241 you can use an \i\c{o16} or \i\c{o32} prefix.
11243 The above opcode listings give two forms for general-purpose
11244 \i{register push} instructions: for example, \c{PUSH BX} has the two
11245 forms \c{53} and \c{FF F3}. NASM will always generate the shorter
11246 form when given \c{PUSH BX}. NDISASM will disassemble both.
11248 Unlike the undocumented and barely supported \c{POP CS}, \c{PUSH CS}
11249 is a perfectly valid and sensible instruction, supported on all
11252 The instruction \c{PUSH SP} may be used to distinguish an 8086 from
11253 later processors: on an 8086, the value of \c{SP} stored is the
11254 value it has \e{after} the push instruction, whereas on later
11255 processors it is the value \e{before} the push instruction.
11258 \H{insPUSHA} \i\c{PUSHAx}: Push All General-Purpose Registers
11260 \c PUSHA ; 60 [186]
11261 \c PUSHAD ; o32 60 [386]
11262 \c PUSHAW ; o16 60 [186]
11264 \c{PUSHAW} pushes, in succession, \c{AX}, \c{CX}, \c{DX}, \c{BX},
11265 \c{SP}, \c{BP}, \c{SI} and \c{DI} on the stack, decrementing the
11266 stack pointer by a total of 16.
11268 \c{PUSHAD} pushes, in succession, \c{EAX}, \c{ECX}, \c{EDX},
11269 \c{EBX}, \c{ESP}, \c{EBP}, \c{ESI} and \c{EDI} on the stack,
11270 decrementing the stack pointer by a total of 32.
11272 In both cases, the value of \c{SP} or \c{ESP} pushed is its
11273 \e{original} value, as it had before the instruction was executed.
11275 \c{PUSHA} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{PUSHAW} or \c{PUSHAD},
11276 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
11278 Note that the registers are pushed in order of their numeric values
11279 in opcodes (see \k{iref-rv}).
11281 See also \c{POPA} (\k{insPOPA}).
11284 \H{insPUSHF} \i\c{PUSHFx}: Push Flags Register
11286 \c PUSHF ; 9C [186]
11287 \c PUSHFD ; o32 9C [386]
11288 \c PUSHFW ; o16 9C [186]
11290 \b \c{PUSHFW} pops a word from the stack and stores it in the
11291 bottom 16 bits of the flags register (or the whole flags register,
11292 on processors below a 386).
11294 \b \c{PUSHFD} pops a doubleword and stores it in the entire flags
11297 \c{PUSHF} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{PUSHFW} or \c{PUSHFD},
11298 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
11300 See also \c{POPF} (\k{insPOPF}).
11303 \H{insPXOR} \i\c{PXOR}: MMX Bitwise XOR
11305 \c PXOR mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EF /r [PENT,MMX]
11306 \c PXOR xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EF /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11308 \c{PXOR} performs a bitwise XOR operation between its two operands
11309 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if exactly one of the
11310 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
11311 in the destination (first) operand.
11314 \H{insRCL} \i\c{RCL}, \i\c{RCR}: Bitwise Rotate through Carry Bit
11316 \c RCL r/m8,1 ; D0 /2 [8086]
11317 \c RCL r/m8,CL ; D2 /2 [8086]
11318 \c RCL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /2 ib [286]
11319 \c RCL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /2 [8086]
11320 \c RCL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /2 [8086]
11321 \c RCL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /2 ib [286]
11322 \c RCL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /2 [386]
11323 \c RCL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /2 [386]
11324 \c RCL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /2 ib [386]
11326 \c RCR r/m8,1 ; D0 /3 [8086]
11327 \c RCR r/m8,CL ; D2 /3 [8086]
11328 \c RCR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /3 ib [286]
11329 \c RCR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /3 [8086]
11330 \c RCR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /3 [8086]
11331 \c RCR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /3 ib [286]
11332 \c RCR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /3 [386]
11333 \c RCR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /3 [386]
11334 \c RCR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /3 ib [386]
11336 \c{RCL} and \c{RCR} perform a 9-bit, 17-bit or 33-bit bitwise
11337 rotation operation, involving the given source/destination (first)
11338 operand and the carry bit. Thus, for example, in the operation
11339 \c{RCL AL,1}, a 9-bit rotation is performed in which \c{AL} is
11340 shifted left by 1, the top bit of \c{AL} moves into the carry flag,
11341 and the original value of the carry flag is placed in the low bit of
11344 The number of bits to rotate by is given by the second operand. Only
11345 the bottom five bits of the rotation count are considered by
11346 processors above the 8086.
11348 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
11349 byte) form of \c{RCL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{RCL
11350 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{RCR}.
11353 \H{insRCPPS} \i\c{RCPPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
11355 \c RCPPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 53 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11357 \c{RCPPS} returns an approximation of the reciprocal of the packed
11358 single-precision FP values from xmm2/m128. The maximum error for this
11359 approximation is: |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
11362 \H{insRCPSS} \i\c{RCPSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
11364 \c RCPSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 53 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11366 \c{RCPSS} returns an approximation of the reciprocal of the lower
11367 single-precision FP value from xmm2/m32; the upper three fields are
11368 passed through from xmm1. The maximum error for this approximation is:
11369 |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
11372 \H{insRDMSR} \i\c{RDMSR}: Read Model-Specific Registers
11374 \c RDMSR ; 0F 32 [PENT,PRIV]
11376 \c{RDMSR} reads the processor Model-Specific Register (MSR) whose
11377 index is stored in \c{ECX}, and stores the result in \c{EDX:EAX}.
11378 See also \c{WRMSR} (\k{insWRMSR}).
11381 \H{insRDPMC} \i\c{RDPMC}: Read Performance-Monitoring Counters
11383 \c RDPMC ; 0F 33 [P6]
11385 \c{RDPMC} reads the processor performance-monitoring counter whose
11386 index is stored in \c{ECX}, and stores the result in \c{EDX:EAX}.
11388 This instruction is available on P6 and later processors and on MMX
11392 \H{insRDSHR} \i\c{RDSHR}: Read SMM Header Pointer Register
11394 \c RDSHR r/m32 ; 0F 36 /0 [386,CYRIX,SMM]
11396 \c{RDSHR} reads the contents of the SMM header pointer register and
11397 saves it to the destination operand, which can be either a 32 bit
11398 memory location or a 32 bit register.
11400 See also \c{WRSHR} (\k{insWRSHR}).
11403 \H{insRDTSC} \i\c{RDTSC}: Read Time-Stamp Counter
11405 \c RDTSC ; 0F 31 [PENT]
11407 \c{RDTSC} reads the processor's time-stamp counter into \c{EDX:EAX}.
11410 \H{insRET} \i\c{RET}, \i\c{RETF}, \i\c{RETN}: Return from Procedure Call
11413 \c RET imm16 ; C2 iw [8086]
11415 \c RETF ; CB [8086]
11416 \c RETF imm16 ; CA iw [8086]
11418 \c RETN ; C3 [8086]
11419 \c RETN imm16 ; C2 iw [8086]
11421 \b \c{RET}, and its exact synonym \c{RETN}, pop \c{IP} or \c{EIP} from
11422 the stack and transfer control to the new address. Optionally, if a
11423 numeric second operand is provided, they increment the stack pointer
11424 by a further \c{imm16} bytes after popping the return address.
11426 \b \c{RETF} executes a far return: after popping \c{IP}/\c{EIP}, it
11427 then pops \c{CS}, and \e{then} increments the stack pointer by the
11428 optional argument if present.
11431 \H{insROL} \i\c{ROL}, \i\c{ROR}: Bitwise Rotate
11433 \c ROL r/m8,1 ; D0 /0 [8086]
11434 \c ROL r/m8,CL ; D2 /0 [8086]
11435 \c ROL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /0 ib [286]
11436 \c ROL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /0 [8086]
11437 \c ROL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /0 [8086]
11438 \c ROL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /0 ib [286]
11439 \c ROL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /0 [386]
11440 \c ROL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /0 [386]
11441 \c ROL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /0 ib [386]
11443 \c ROR r/m8,1 ; D0 /1 [8086]
11444 \c ROR r/m8,CL ; D2 /1 [8086]
11445 \c ROR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /1 ib [286]
11446 \c ROR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /1 [8086]
11447 \c ROR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /1 [8086]
11448 \c ROR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /1 ib [286]
11449 \c ROR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /1 [386]
11450 \c ROR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /1 [386]
11451 \c ROR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /1 ib [386]
11453 \c{ROL} and \c{ROR} perform a bitwise rotation operation on the given
11454 source/destination (first) operand. Thus, for example, in the
11455 operation \c{ROL AL,1}, an 8-bit rotation is performed in which
11456 \c{AL} is shifted left by 1 and the original top bit of \c{AL} moves
11457 round into the low bit.
11459 The number of bits to rotate by is given by the second operand. Only
11460 the bottom five bits of the rotation count are considered by processors
11463 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
11464 byte) form of \c{ROL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{ROL
11465 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{ROR}.
11468 \H{insRSDC} \i\c{RSDC}: Restore Segment Register and Descriptor
11470 \c RSDC segreg,m80 ; 0F 79 /r [486,CYRIX,SMM]
11472 \c{RSDC} restores a segment register (DS, ES, FS, GS, or SS) from mem80,
11473 and sets up its descriptor.
11476 \H{insRSLDT} \i\c{RSLDT}: Restore Segment Register and Descriptor
11478 \c RSLDT m80 ; 0F 7B /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
11480 \c{RSLDT} restores the Local Descriptor Table (LDTR) from mem80.
11483 \H{insRSM} \i\c{RSM}: Resume from System-Management Mode
11485 \c RSM ; 0F AA [PENT]
11487 \c{RSM} returns the processor to its normal operating mode when it
11488 was in System-Management Mode.
11491 \H{insRSQRTPS} \i\c{RSQRTPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Square Root Reciprocal
11493 \c RSQRTPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 52 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11495 \c{RSQRTPS} computes the approximate reciprocals of the square
11496 roots of the packed single-precision floating-point values in the
11497 source and stores the results in xmm1. The maximum error for this
11498 approximation is: |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
11501 \H{insRSQRTSS} \i\c{RSQRTSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Square Root Reciprocal
11503 \c RSQRTSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 52 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11505 \c{RSQRTSS} returns an approximation of the reciprocal of the
11506 square root of the lowest order single-precision FP value from
11507 the source, and stores it in the low doubleword of the destination
11508 register. The upper three fields of xmm1 are preserved. The maximum
11509 error for this approximation is: |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
11512 \H{insRSTS} \i\c{RSTS}: Restore TSR and Descriptor
11514 \c RSTS m80 ; 0F 7D /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
11516 \c{RSTS} restores Task State Register (TSR) from mem80.
11519 \H{insSAHF} \i\c{SAHF}: Store AH to Flags
11521 \c SAHF ; 9E [8086]
11523 \c{SAHF} sets the low byte of the flags word according to the
11524 contents of the \c{AH} register.
11526 The operation of \c{SAHF} is:
11528 \c AH --> SF:ZF:0:AF:0:PF:1:CF
11530 See also \c{LAHF} (\k{insLAHF}).
11533 \H{insSAL} \i\c{SAL}, \i\c{SAR}: Bitwise Arithmetic Shifts
11535 \c SAL r/m8,1 ; D0 /4 [8086]
11536 \c SAL r/m8,CL ; D2 /4 [8086]
11537 \c SAL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /4 ib [286]
11538 \c SAL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /4 [8086]
11539 \c SAL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /4 [8086]
11540 \c SAL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /4 ib [286]
11541 \c SAL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /4 [386]
11542 \c SAL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /4 [386]
11543 \c SAL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /4 ib [386]
11545 \c SAR r/m8,1 ; D0 /7 [8086]
11546 \c SAR r/m8,CL ; D2 /7 [8086]
11547 \c SAR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /7 ib [286]
11548 \c SAR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /7 [8086]
11549 \c SAR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /7 [8086]
11550 \c SAR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /7 ib [286]
11551 \c SAR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /7 [386]
11552 \c SAR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /7 [386]
11553 \c SAR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /7 ib [386]
11555 \c{SAL} and \c{SAR} perform an arithmetic shift operation on the given
11556 source/destination (first) operand. The vacated bits are filled with
11557 zero for \c{SAL}, and with copies of the original high bit of the
11558 source operand for \c{SAR}.
11560 \c{SAL} is a synonym for \c{SHL} (see \k{insSHL}). NASM will
11561 assemble either one to the same code, but NDISASM will always
11562 disassemble that code as \c{SHL}.
11564 The number of bits to shift by is given by the second operand. Only
11565 the bottom five bits of the shift count are considered by processors
11568 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
11569 byte) form of \c{SAL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{SAL
11570 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{SAR}.
11573 \H{insSALC} \i\c{SALC}: Set AL from Carry Flag
11575 \c SALC ; D6 [8086,UNDOC]
11577 \c{SALC} is an early undocumented instruction similar in concept to
11578 \c{SETcc} (\k{insSETcc}). Its function is to set \c{AL} to zero if
11579 the carry flag is clear, or to \c{0xFF} if it is set.
11582 \H{insSBB} \i\c{SBB}: Subtract with Borrow
11584 \c SBB r/m8,reg8 ; 18 /r [8086]
11585 \c SBB r/m16,reg16 ; o16 19 /r [8086]
11586 \c SBB r/m32,reg32 ; o32 19 /r [386]
11588 \c SBB reg8,r/m8 ; 1A /r [8086]
11589 \c SBB reg16,r/m16 ; o16 1B /r [8086]
11590 \c SBB reg32,r/m32 ; o32 1B /r [386]
11592 \c SBB r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /3 ib [8086]
11593 \c SBB r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /3 iw [8086]
11594 \c SBB r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /3 id [386]
11596 \c SBB r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /3 ib [8086]
11597 \c SBB r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /3 ib [8086]
11599 \c SBB AL,imm8 ; 1C ib [8086]
11600 \c SBB AX,imm16 ; o16 1D iw [8086]
11601 \c SBB EAX,imm32 ; o32 1D id [386]
11603 \c{SBB} performs integer subtraction: it subtracts its second
11604 operand, plus the value of the carry flag, from its first, and
11605 leaves the result in its destination (first) operand. The flags are
11606 set according to the result of the operation: in particular, the
11607 carry flag is affected and can be used by a subsequent \c{SBB}
11610 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
11611 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
11612 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
11613 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
11614 form of the instruction.
11616 To subtract one number from another without also subtracting the
11617 contents of the carry flag, use \c{SUB} (\k{insSUB}).
11620 \H{insSCASB} \i\c{SCASB}, \i\c{SCASW}, \i\c{SCASD}: Scan String
11622 \c SCASB ; AE [8086]
11623 \c SCASW ; o16 AF [8086]
11624 \c SCASD ; o32 AF [386]
11626 \c{SCASB} compares the byte in \c{AL} with the byte at \c{[ES:DI]}
11627 or \c{[ES:EDI]}, and sets the flags accordingly. It then increments
11628 or decrements (depending on the direction flag: increments if the
11629 flag is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{DI} (or \c{EDI}).
11631 The register used is \c{DI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
11632 \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
11633 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
11634 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
11636 Segment override prefixes have no effect for this instruction: the
11637 use of \c{ES} for the load from \c{[DI]} or \c{[EDI]} cannot be
11640 \c{SCASW} and \c{SCASD} work in the same way, but they compare a
11641 word to \c{AX} or a doubleword to \c{EAX} instead of a byte to
11642 \c{AL}, and increment or decrement the addressing registers by 2 or
11645 The \c{REPE} and \c{REPNE} prefixes (equivalently, \c{REPZ} and
11646 \c{REPNZ}) may be used to repeat the instruction up to \c{CX} (or
11647 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times until the
11648 first unequal or equal byte is found.
11651 \H{insSETcc} \i\c{SETcc}: Set Register from Condition
11653 \c SETcc r/m8 ; 0F 90+cc /2 [386]
11655 \c{SETcc} sets the given 8-bit operand to zero if its condition is
11656 not satisfied, and to 1 if it is.
11659 \H{insSFENCE} \i\c{SFENCE}: Store Fence
11661 \c SFENCE ; 0F AE /7 [KATMAI]
11663 \c{SFENCE} performs a serialising operation on all writes to memory
11664 that were issued before the \c{SFENCE} instruction. This guarantees that
11665 all memory writes before the \c{SFENCE} instruction are visible before any
11666 writes after the \c{SFENCE} instruction.
11668 \c{SFENCE} is ordered respective to other \c{SFENCE} instruction, \c{MFENCE},
11669 any memory write and any other serialising instruction (such as \c{CPUID}).
11671 Weakly ordered memory types can be used to achieve higher processor
11672 performance through such techniques as out-of-order issue,
11673 write-combining, and write-collapsing. The degree to which a consumer
11674 of data recognizes or knows that the data is weakly ordered varies
11675 among applications and may be unknown to the producer of this data.
11676 The \c{SFENCE} instruction provides a performance-efficient way of
11677 insuring store ordering between routines that produce weakly-ordered
11678 results and routines that consume this data.
11680 \c{SFENCE} uses the following ModRM encoding:
11683 \c Reg/Opcode (5:3) = 111B
11684 \c R/M (2:0) = 000B
11686 All other ModRM encodings are defined to be reserved, and use
11687 of these encodings risks incompatibility with future processors.
11689 See also \c{LFENCE} (\k{insLFENCE}) and \c{MFENCE} (\k{insMFENCE}).
11692 \H{insSGDT} \i\c{SGDT}, \i\c{SIDT}, \i\c{SLDT}: Store Descriptor Table Pointers
11694 \c SGDT mem ; 0F 01 /0 [286,PRIV]
11695 \c SIDT mem ; 0F 01 /1 [286,PRIV]
11696 \c SLDT r/m16 ; 0F 00 /0 [286,PRIV]
11698 \c{SGDT} and \c{SIDT} both take a 6-byte memory area as an operand:
11699 they store the contents of the GDTR (global descriptor table
11700 register) or IDTR (interrupt descriptor table register) into that
11701 area as a 32-bit linear address and a 16-bit size limit from that
11702 area (in that order). These are the only instructions which directly
11703 use \e{linear} addresses, rather than segment/offset pairs.
11705 \c{SLDT} stores the segment selector corresponding to the LDT (local
11706 descriptor table) into the given operand.
11708 See also \c{LGDT}, \c{LIDT} and \c{LLDT} (\k{insLGDT}).
11711 \H{insSHL} \i\c{SHL}, \i\c{SHR}: Bitwise Logical Shifts
11713 \c SHL r/m8,1 ; D0 /4 [8086]
11714 \c SHL r/m8,CL ; D2 /4 [8086]
11715 \c SHL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /4 ib [286]
11716 \c SHL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /4 [8086]
11717 \c SHL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /4 [8086]
11718 \c SHL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /4 ib [286]
11719 \c SHL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /4 [386]
11720 \c SHL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /4 [386]
11721 \c SHL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /4 ib [386]
11723 \c SHR r/m8,1 ; D0 /5 [8086]
11724 \c SHR r/m8,CL ; D2 /5 [8086]
11725 \c SHR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /5 ib [286]
11726 \c SHR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /5 [8086]
11727 \c SHR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /5 [8086]
11728 \c SHR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /5 ib [286]
11729 \c SHR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /5 [386]
11730 \c SHR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /5 [386]
11731 \c SHR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /5 ib [386]
11733 \c{SHL} and \c{SHR} perform a logical shift operation on the given
11734 source/destination (first) operand. The vacated bits are filled with
11737 A synonym for \c{SHL} is \c{SAL} (see \k{insSAL}). NASM will
11738 assemble either one to the same code, but NDISASM will always
11739 disassemble that code as \c{SHL}.
11741 The number of bits to shift by is given by the second operand. Only
11742 the bottom five bits of the shift count are considered by processors
11745 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
11746 byte) form of \c{SHL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{SHL
11747 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{SHR}.
11750 \H{insSHLD} \i\c{SHLD}, \i\c{SHRD}: Bitwise Double-Precision Shifts
11752 \c SHLD r/m16,reg16,imm8 ; o16 0F A4 /r ib [386]
11753 \c SHLD r/m16,reg32,imm8 ; o32 0F A4 /r ib [386]
11754 \c SHLD r/m16,reg16,CL ; o16 0F A5 /r [386]
11755 \c SHLD r/m16,reg32,CL ; o32 0F A5 /r [386]
11757 \c SHRD r/m16,reg16,imm8 ; o16 0F AC /r ib [386]
11758 \c SHRD r/m32,reg32,imm8 ; o32 0F AC /r ib [386]
11759 \c SHRD r/m16,reg16,CL ; o16 0F AD /r [386]
11760 \c SHRD r/m32,reg32,CL ; o32 0F AD /r [386]
11762 \b \c{SHLD} performs a double-precision left shift. It notionally
11763 places its second operand to the right of its first, then shifts
11764 the entire bit string thus generated to the left by a number of
11765 bits specified in the third operand. It then updates only the
11766 \e{first} operand according to the result of this. The second
11767 operand is not modified.
11769 \b \c{SHRD} performs the corresponding right shift: it notionally
11770 places the second operand to the \e{left} of the first, shifts the
11771 whole bit string right, and updates only the first operand.
11773 For example, if \c{EAX} holds \c{0x01234567} and \c{EBX} holds
11774 \c{0x89ABCDEF}, then the instruction \c{SHLD EAX,EBX,4} would update
11775 \c{EAX} to hold \c{0x12345678}. Under the same conditions, \c{SHRD
11776 EAX,EBX,4} would update \c{EAX} to hold \c{0xF0123456}.
11778 The number of bits to shift by is given by the third operand. Only
11779 the bottom five bits of the shift count are considered.
11782 \H{insSHUFPD} \i\c{SHUFPD}: Shuffle Packed Double-Precision FP Values
11784 \c SHUFPD xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; 66 0F C6 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11786 \c{SHUFPD} moves one of the packed double-precision FP values from
11787 the destination operand into the low quadword of the destination
11788 operand; the upper quadword is generated by moving one of the
11789 double-precision FP values from the source operand into the
11790 destination. The select (third) operand selects which of the values
11791 are moved to the destination register.
11793 The select operand is an 8-bit immediate: bit 0 selects which value
11794 is moved from the destination operand to the result (where 0 selects
11795 the low quadword and 1 selects the high quadword) and bit 1 selects
11796 which value is moved from the source operand to the result.
11797 Bits 2 through 7 of the shuffle operand are reserved.
11800 \H{insSHUFPS} \i\c{SHUFPS}: Shuffle Packed Single-Precision FP Values
11802 \c SHUFPS xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; 0F C6 /r ib [KATMAI,SSE]
11804 \c{SHUFPD} moves two of the packed single-precision FP values from
11805 the destination operand into the low quadword of the destination
11806 operand; the upper quadword is generated by moving two of the
11807 single-precision FP values from the source operand into the
11808 destination. The select (third) operand selects which of the
11809 values are moved to the destination register.
11811 The select operand is an 8-bit immediate: bits 0 and 1 select the
11812 value to be moved from the destination operand the low doubleword of
11813 the result, bits 2 and 3 select the value to be moved from the
11814 destination operand the second doubleword of the result, bits 4 and
11815 5 select the value to be moved from the source operand the third
11816 doubleword of the result, and bits 6 and 7 select the value to be
11817 moved from the source operand to the high doubleword of the result.
11820 \H{insSMI} \i\c{SMI}: System Management Interrupt
11822 \c SMI ; F1 [386,UNDOC]
11824 \c{SMI} puts some AMD processors into SMM mode. It is available on some
11825 386 and 486 processors, and is only available when DR7 bit 12 is set,
11826 otherwise it generates an Int 1.
11829 \H{insSMINT} \i\c{SMINT}, \i\c{SMINTOLD}: Software SMM Entry (CYRIX)
11831 \c SMINT ; 0F 38 [PENT,CYRIX]
11832 \c SMINTOLD ; 0F 7E [486,CYRIX]
11834 \c{SMINT} puts the processor into SMM mode. The CPU state information is
11835 saved in the SMM memory header, and then execution begins at the SMM base
11838 \c{SMINTOLD} is the same as \c{SMINT}, but was the opcode used on the 486.
11840 This pair of opcodes are specific to the Cyrix and compatible range of
11841 processors (Cyrix, IBM, Via).
11844 \H{insSMSW} \i\c{SMSW}: Store Machine Status Word
11846 \c SMSW r/m16 ; 0F 01 /4 [286,PRIV]
11848 \c{SMSW} stores the bottom half of the \c{CR0} control register (or
11849 the Machine Status Word, on 286 processors) into the destination
11850 operand. See also \c{LMSW} (\k{insLMSW}).
11852 For 32-bit code, this would use the low 16-bits of the specified
11853 register (or a 16bit memory location), without needing an operand
11854 size override byte.
11857 \H{insSQRTPD} \i\c{SQRTPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Square Root
11859 \c SQRTPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 51 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11861 \c{SQRTPD} calculates the square root of the packed double-precision
11862 FP value from the source operand, and stores the double-precision
11863 results in the destination register.
11866 \H{insSQRTPS} \i\c{SQRTPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Square Root
11868 \c SQRTPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 51 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11870 \c{SQRTPS} calculates the square root of the packed single-precision
11871 FP value from the source operand, and stores the single-precision
11872 results in the destination register.
11875 \H{insSQRTSD} \i\c{SQRTSD}: Scalar Double-Precision FP Square Root
11877 \c SQRTSD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F2 0F 51 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11879 \c{SQRTSD} calculates the square root of the low-order double-precision
11880 FP value from the source operand, and stores the double-precision
11881 result in the destination register. The high-quadword remains unchanged.
11884 \H{insSQRTSS} \i\c{SQRTSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Square Root
11886 \c SQRTSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 51 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
11888 \c{SQRTSS} calculates the square root of the low-order single-precision
11889 FP value from the source operand, and stores the single-precision
11890 result in the destination register. The three high doublewords remain
11894 \H{insSTC} \i\c{STC}, \i\c{STD}, \i\c{STI}: Set Flags
11900 These instructions set various flags. \c{STC} sets the carry flag;
11901 \c{STD} sets the direction flag; and \c{STI} sets the interrupt flag
11902 (thus enabling interrupts).
11904 To clear the carry, direction, or interrupt flags, use the \c{CLC},
11905 \c{CLD} and \c{CLI} instructions (\k{insCLC}). To invert the carry
11906 flag, use \c{CMC} (\k{insCMC}).
11909 \H{insSTMXCSR} \i\c{STMXCSR}: Store Streaming SIMD Extension
11912 \c STMXCSR m32 ; 0F AE /3 [KATMAI,SSE]
11914 \c{STMXCSR} stores the contents of the \c{MXCSR} control/status
11915 register to the specified memory location. \c{MXCSR} is used to
11916 enable masked/unmasked exception handling, to set rounding modes,
11917 to set flush-to-zero mode, and to view exception status flags.
11918 The reserved bits in the \c{MXCSR} register are stored as 0s.
11920 For details of the \c{MXCSR} register, see the Intel processor docs.
11922 See also \c{LDMXCSR} (\k{insLDMXCSR}).
11925 \H{insSTOSB} \i\c{STOSB}, \i\c{STOSW}, \i\c{STOSD}: Store Byte to String
11927 \c STOSB ; AA [8086]
11928 \c STOSW ; o16 AB [8086]
11929 \c STOSD ; o32 AB [386]
11931 \c{STOSB} stores the byte in \c{AL} at \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]},
11932 and sets the flags accordingly. It then increments or decrements
11933 (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag is clear,
11934 decrements if it is set) \c{DI} (or \c{EDI}).
11936 The register used is \c{DI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
11937 \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
11938 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
11939 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
11941 Segment override prefixes have no effect for this instruction: the
11942 use of \c{ES} for the store to \c{[DI]} or \c{[EDI]} cannot be
11945 \c{STOSW} and \c{STOSD} work in the same way, but they store the
11946 word in \c{AX} or the doubleword in \c{EAX} instead of the byte in
11947 \c{AL}, and increment or decrement the addressing registers by 2 or
11950 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
11951 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
11954 \H{insSTR} \i\c{STR}: Store Task Register
11956 \c STR r/m16 ; 0F 00 /1 [286,PRIV]
11958 \c{STR} stores the segment selector corresponding to the contents of
11959 the Task Register into its operand. When the operand size is a 16-bit
11960 register, the upper 16-bits are cleared to 0s. When the destination
11961 operand is a memory location, 16 bits are written regardless of the
11965 \H{insSUB} \i\c{SUB}: Subtract Integers
11967 \c SUB r/m8,reg8 ; 28 /r [8086]
11968 \c SUB r/m16,reg16 ; o16 29 /r [8086]
11969 \c SUB r/m32,reg32 ; o32 29 /r [386]
11971 \c SUB reg8,r/m8 ; 2A /r [8086]
11972 \c SUB reg16,r/m16 ; o16 2B /r [8086]
11973 \c SUB reg32,r/m32 ; o32 2B /r [386]
11975 \c SUB r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /5 ib [8086]
11976 \c SUB r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /5 iw [8086]
11977 \c SUB r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /5 id [386]
11979 \c SUB r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /5 ib [8086]
11980 \c SUB r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /5 ib [386]
11982 \c SUB AL,imm8 ; 2C ib [8086]
11983 \c SUB AX,imm16 ; o16 2D iw [8086]
11984 \c SUB EAX,imm32 ; o32 2D id [386]
11986 \c{SUB} performs integer subtraction: it subtracts its second
11987 operand from its first, and leaves the result in its destination
11988 (first) operand. The flags are set according to the result of the
11989 operation: in particular, the carry flag is affected and can be used
11990 by a subsequent \c{SBB} instruction (\k{insSBB}).
11992 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
11993 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
11994 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
11995 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
11996 form of the instruction.
11999 \H{insSUBPD} \i\c{SUBPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Subtract
12001 \c SUBPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 5C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12003 \c{SUBPD} subtracts the packed double-precision FP values of
12004 the source operand from those of the destination operand, and
12005 stores the result in the destination operation.
12008 \H{insSUBPS} \i\c{SUBPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Subtract
12010 \c SUBPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 5C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12012 \c{SUBPS} subtracts the packed single-precision FP values of
12013 the source operand from those of the destination operand, and
12014 stores the result in the destination operation.
12017 \H{insSUBSD} \i\c{SUBSD}: Scalar Single-FP Subtract
12019 \c SUBSD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F2 0F 5C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12021 \c{SUBSD} subtracts the low-order double-precision FP value of
12022 the source operand from that of the destination operand, and
12023 stores the result in the destination operation. The high
12024 quadword is unchanged.
12027 \H{insSUBSS} \i\c{SUBSS}: Scalar Single-FP Subtract
12029 \c SUBSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 5C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12031 \c{SUBSS} subtracts the low-order single-precision FP value of
12032 the source operand from that of the destination operand, and
12033 stores the result in the destination operation. The three high
12034 doublewords are unchanged.
12037 \H{insSVDC} \i\c{SVDC}: Save Segment Register and Descriptor
12039 \c SVDC m80,segreg ; 0F 78 /r [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12041 \c{SVDC} saves a segment register (DS, ES, FS, GS, or SS) and its
12042 descriptor to mem80.
12045 \H{insSVLDT} \i\c{SVLDT}: Save LDTR and Descriptor
12047 \c SVLDT m80 ; 0F 7A /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12049 \c{SVLDT} saves the Local Descriptor Table (LDTR) to mem80.
12052 \H{insSVTS} \i\c{SVTS}: Save TSR and Descriptor
12054 \c SVTS m80 ; 0F 7C /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12056 \c{SVTS} saves the Task State Register (TSR) to mem80.
12059 \H{insSYSCALL} \i\c{SYSCALL}: Call Operating System
12061 \c SYSCALL ; 0F 05 [P6,AMD]
12063 \c{SYSCALL} provides a fast method of transfering control to a fixed
12064 entry point in an operating system.
12066 \b The \c{EIP} register is copied into the \c{ECX} register.
12068 \b Bits [31
\960] of the 64-bit SYSCALL/SYSRET Target Address Register
12069 (\c{STAR}) are copied into the \c{EIP} register.
12071 \b Bits [47
\9632] of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is
12072 copied into the \c{CS} register.
12074 \b Bits [47
\9632]+1000b of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that
12075 is copied into the SS register.
12077 The \c{CS} and \c{SS} registers should not be modified by the operating
12078 system between the execution of the \c{SYSCALL} instruction and its
12079 corresponding \c{SYSRET} instruction.
12081 For more information, see the \c{SYSCALL and SYSRET Instruction Specification}
12082 (AMD document number 21086.pdf).
12085 \H{insSYSENTER} \i\c{SYSENTER}: Fast System Call
12087 \c SYSENTER ; 0F 34 [P6]
12089 \c{SYSENTER} executes a fast call to a level 0 system procedure or
12090 routine. Before using this instruction, various MSRs need to be set
12093 \b \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} contains the 32-bit segment selector for the
12094 privilege level 0 code segment. (This value is also used to compute
12095 the segment selector of the privilege level 0 stack segment.)
12097 \b \c{SYSENTER_EIP_MSR} contains the 32-bit offset into the privilege
12098 level 0 code segment to the first instruction of the selected operating
12099 procedure or routine.
12101 \b \c{SYSENTER_ESP_MSR} contains the 32-bit stack pointer for the
12102 privilege level 0 stack.
12104 \c{SYSENTER} performs the following sequence of operations:
12106 \b Loads the segment selector from the \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} into the
12109 \b Loads the instruction pointer from the \c{SYSENTER_EIP_MSR} into
12110 the \c{EIP} register.
12112 \b Adds 8 to the value in \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} and loads it into the
12115 \b Loads the stack pointer from the \c{SYSENTER_ESP_MSR} into the
12118 \b Switches to privilege level 0.
12120 \b Clears the \c{VM} flag in the \c{EFLAGS} register, if the flag
12123 \b Begins executing the selected system procedure.
12125 In particular, note that this instruction des not save the values of
12126 \c{CS} or \c{(E)IP}. If you need to return to the calling code, you
12127 need to write your code to cater for this.
12129 For more information, see the Intel Architecture Software Developer
\92s
12133 \H{insSYSEXIT} \i\c{SYSEXIT}: Fast Return From System Call
12135 \c SYSEXIT ; 0F 35 [P6,PRIV]
12137 \c{SYSEXIT} executes a fast return to privilege level 3 user code.
12138 This instruction is a companion instruction to the \c{SYSENTER}
12139 instruction, and can only be executed by privelege level 0 code.
12140 Various registers need to be set up before calling this instruction:
12142 \b \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} contains the 32-bit segment selector for the
12143 privilege level 0 code segment in which the processor is currently
12144 executing. (This value is used to compute the segment selectors for
12145 the privilege level 3 code and stack segments.)
12147 \b \c{EDX} contains the 32-bit offset into the privilege level 3 code
12148 segment to the first instruction to be executed in the user code.
12150 \b \c{ECX} contains the 32-bit stack pointer for the privilege level 3
12153 \c{SYSEXIT} performs the following sequence of operations:
12155 \b Adds 16 to the value in \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} and loads the sum into
12156 the \c{CS} selector register.
12158 \b Loads the instruction pointer from the \c{EDX} register into the
12161 \b Adds 24 to the value in \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} and loads the sum
12162 into the \c{SS} selector register.
12164 \b Loads the stack pointer from the \c{ECX} register into the \c{ESP}
12167 \b Switches to privilege level 3.
12169 \b Begins executing the user code at the \c{EIP} address.
12171 For more information on the use of the \c{SYSENTER} and \c{SYSEXIT}
12172 instructions, see the Intel Architecture Software Developer
\92s
12176 \H{insSYSRET} \i\c{SYSRET}: Return From Operating System
12178 \c SYSRET ; 0F 07 [P6,AMD,PRIV]
12180 \c{SYSRET} is the return instruction used in conjunction with the
12181 \c{SYSCALL} instruction to provide fast entry/exit to an operating system.
12183 \b The \c{ECX} register, which points to the next sequential instruction
12184 after the corresponding \c{SYSCALL} instruction, is copied into the \c{EIP}
12187 \b Bits [63
\9648] of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is copied
12188 into the \c{CS} register.
12190 \b Bits [63
\9648]+1000b of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is
12191 copied into the \c{SS} register.
12193 \b Bits [1
\960] of the \c{SS} register are set to 11b (RPL of 3) regardless of
12194 the value of bits [49
\9648] of the \c{STAR} register.
12196 The \c{CS} and \c{SS} registers should not be modified by the operating
12197 system between the execution of the \c{SYSCALL} instruction and its
12198 corresponding \c{SYSRET} instruction.
12200 For more information, see the \c{SYSCALL and SYSRET Instruction Specification}
12201 (AMD document number 21086.pdf).
12204 \H{insTEST} \i\c{TEST}: Test Bits (notional bitwise AND)
12206 \c TEST r/m8,reg8 ; 84 /r [8086]
12207 \c TEST r/m16,reg16 ; o16 85 /r [8086]
12208 \c TEST r/m32,reg32 ; o32 85 /r [386]
12210 \c TEST r/m8,imm8 ; F6 /0 ib [8086]
12211 \c TEST r/m16,imm16 ; o16 F7 /0 iw [8086]
12212 \c TEST r/m32,imm32 ; o32 F7 /0 id [386]
12214 \c TEST AL,imm8 ; A8 ib [8086]
12215 \c TEST AX,imm16 ; o16 A9 iw [8086]
12216 \c TEST EAX,imm32 ; o32 A9 id [386]
12218 \c{TEST} performs a `mental' bitwise AND of its two operands, and
12219 affects the flags as if the operation had taken place, but does not
12220 store the result of the operation anywhere.
12223 \H{insUCOMISD} \i\c{UCOMISD}: Unordered Scalar Double-Precision FP
12224 compare and set EFLAGS
12226 \c UCOMISD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 2E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12228 \c{UCOMISD} compares the low-order double-precision FP numbers in the
12229 two operands, and sets the \c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} bits in the
12230 \c{EFLAGS} register. In addition, the \c{OF}, \c{SF} and \c{AF} bits
12231 in the \c{EFLAGS} register are zeroed out. The unordered predicate
12232 (\c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} all set) is returned if either source
12233 operand is a \c{NaN} (\c{qNaN} or \c{sNaN}).
12236 \H{insUCOMISS} \i\c{UCOMISS}: Unordered Scalar Single-Precision FP
12237 compare and set EFLAGS
12239 \c UCOMISS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 2E /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12241 \c{UCOMISS} compares the low-order single-precision FP numbers in the
12242 two operands, and sets the \c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} bits in the
12243 \c{EFLAGS} register. In addition, the \c{OF}, \c{SF} and \c{AF} bits
12244 in the \c{EFLAGS} register are zeroed out. The unordered predicate
12245 (\c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} all set) is returned if either source
12246 operand is a \c{NaN} (\c{qNaN} or \c{sNaN}).
12249 \H{insUD2} \i\c{UD0}, \i\c{UD1}, \i\c{UD2}: Undefined Instruction
12251 \c UD0 ; 0F FF [186,UNDOC]
12252 \c UD1 ; 0F B9 [186,UNDOC]
12253 \c UD2 ; 0F 0B [186]
12255 \c{UDx} can be used to generate an invalid opcode exception, for testing
12258 \c{UD0} is specifically documented by AMD as being reserved for this
12261 \c{UD1} is specifically documented by Intel as being reserved for this
12264 \c{UD2} is mentioned by Intel as being available, but is not mentioned
12267 All these opcodes can be used to generate invalid opcode exceptions on
12268 all processors that are available at the current time.
12271 \H{insUMOV} \i\c{UMOV}: User Move Data
12273 \c UMOV r/m8,reg8 ; 0F 10 /r [386,UNDOC]
12274 \c UMOV r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F 11 /r [386,UNDOC]
12275 \c UMOV r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F 11 /r [386,UNDOC]
12277 \c UMOV reg8,r/m8 ; 0F 12 /r [386,UNDOC]
12278 \c UMOV reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 13 /r [386,UNDOC]
12279 \c UMOV reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 13 /r [386,UNDOC]
12281 This undocumented instruction is used by in-circuit emulators to
12282 access user memory (as opposed to host memory). It is used just like
12283 an ordinary memory/register or register/register \c{MOV}
12284 instruction, but accesses user space.
12286 This instruction is only available on some AMD and IBM 386 and 486
12290 \H{insUNPCKHPD} \i\c{UNPCKHPD}: Unpack and Interleave High Packed
12291 Double-Precision FP Values
12293 \c UNPCKHPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 15 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12295 \c{UNPCKHPD} performs an interleaved unpack of the high-order data
12296 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
12297 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
12299 The operation of this instruction is:
12301 \c dst[63-0] := dst[127-64];
12302 \c dst[127-64] := src[127-64].
12305 \H{insUNPCKHPS} \i\c{UNPCKHPS}: Unpack and Interleave High Packed
12306 Single-Precision FP Values
12308 \c UNPCKHPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 15 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12310 \c{UNPCKHPS} performs an interleaved unpack of the high-order data
12311 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
12312 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
12314 The operation of this instruction is:
12316 \c dst[31-0] := dst[95-64];
12317 \c dst[63-32] := src[95-64];
12318 \c dst[95-64] := dst[127-96];
12319 \c dst[127-96] := src[127-96].
12322 \H{insUNPCKLPD} \i\c{UNPCKLPD}: Unpack and Interleave Low Packed
12323 Double-Precision FP Data
12325 \c UNPCKLPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 14 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12327 \c{UNPCKLPD} performs an interleaved unpack of the low-order data
12328 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
12329 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
12331 The operation of this instruction is:
12333 \c dst[63-0] := dst[63-0];
12334 \c dst[127-64] := src[63-0].
12337 \H{insUNPCKLPS} \i\c{UNPCKLPS}: Unpack and Interleave Low Packed
12338 Single-Precision FP Data
12340 \c UNPCKLPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 14 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12342 \c{UNPCKLPS} performs an interleaved unpack of the low-order data
12343 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
12344 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
12346 The operation of this instruction is:
12348 \c dst[31-0] := dst[31-0];
12349 \c dst[63-32] := src[31-0];
12350 \c dst[95-64] := dst[63-32];
12351 \c dst[127-96] := src[63-32].
12354 \H{insVERR} \i\c{VERR}, \i\c{VERW}: Verify Segment Readability/Writability
12356 \c VERR r/m16 ; 0F 00 /4 [286,PRIV]
12358 \c VERW r/m16 ; 0F 00 /5 [286,PRIV]
12360 \b \c{VERR} sets the zero flag if the segment specified by the selector
12361 in its operand can be read from at the current privilege level.
12362 Otherwise it is cleared.
12364 \b \c{VERW} sets the zero flag if the segment can be written.
12367 \H{insWAIT} \i\c{WAIT}: Wait for Floating-Point Processor
12369 \c WAIT ; 9B [8086]
12370 \c FWAIT ; 9B [8086]
12372 \c{WAIT}, on 8086 systems with a separate 8087 FPU, waits for the
12373 FPU to have finished any operation it is engaged in before
12374 continuing main processor operations, so that (for example) an FPU
12375 store to main memory can be guaranteed to have completed before the
12376 CPU tries to read the result back out.
12378 On higher processors, \c{WAIT} is unnecessary for this purpose, and
12379 it has the alternative purpose of ensuring that any pending unmasked
12380 FPU exceptions have happened before execution continues.
12383 \H{insWBINVD} \i\c{WBINVD}: Write Back and Invalidate Cache
12385 \c WBINVD ; 0F 09 [486]
12387 \c{WBINVD} invalidates and empties the processor's internal caches,
12388 and causes the processor to instruct external caches to do the same.
12389 It writes the contents of the caches back to memory first, so no
12390 data is lost. To flush the caches quickly without bothering to write
12391 the data back first, use \c{INVD} (\k{insINVD}).
12394 \H{insWRMSR} \i\c{WRMSR}: Write Model-Specific Registers
12396 \c WRMSR ; 0F 30 [PENT]
12398 \c{WRMSR} writes the value in \c{EDX:EAX} to the processor
12399 Model-Specific Register (MSR) whose index is stored in \c{ECX}.
12400 See also \c{RDMSR} (\k{insRDMSR}).
12403 \H{insWRSHR} \i\c{WRSHR}: Write SMM Header Pointer Register
12405 \c WRSHR r/m32 ; 0F 37 /0 [386,CYRIX,SMM]
12407 \c{WRSHR} loads the contents of either a 32-bit memory location or a
12408 32-bit register into the SMM header pointer register.
12410 See also \c{RDSHR} (\k{insRDSHR}).
12413 \H{insXADD} \i\c{XADD}: Exchange and Add
12415 \c XADD r/m8,reg8 ; 0F C0 /r [486]
12416 \c XADD r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F C1 /r [486]
12417 \c XADD r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F C1 /r [486]
12419 \c{XADD} exchanges the values in its two operands, and then adds
12420 them together and writes the result into the destination (first)
12421 operand. This instruction can be used with a \c{LOCK} prefix for
12422 multi-processor synchronisation purposes.
12425 \H{insXBTS} \i\c{XBTS}: Extract Bit String
12427 \c XBTS reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F A6 /r [386,UNDOC]
12428 \c XBTS reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F A6 /r [386,UNDOC]
12430 The implied operation of this instruction is:
12432 \c XBTS r/m16,reg16,AX,CL
12433 \c XBTS r/m32,reg32,EAX,CL
12435 Writes a bit string from the source operand to the destination. \c{CL}
12436 indicates the number of bits to be copied, and \c{(E)AX} indicates the
12437 low order bit offset in the source. The bist are written to the low
12438 order bits of the destination register. For example, if \c{CL} is set
12439 to 4 and \c{AX} (for 16-bit code) is set to 5, bits 5-8 of \c{src} will
12440 be copied to bits 0-3 of \c{dst}. This instruction is very poorly
12441 documented, and I have been unable to find any official source of
12442 documentation on it.
12444 \c{XBTS} is supported only on the early Intel 386s, and conflicts with
12445 the opcodes for \c{CMPXCHG486} (on early Intel 486s). NASM supports it
12446 only for completeness. Its counterpart is \c{IBTS} (see \k{insIBTS}).
12449 \H{insXCHG} \i\c{XCHG}: Exchange
12451 \c XCHG reg8,r/m8 ; 86 /r [8086]
12452 \c XCHG reg16,r/m8 ; o16 87 /r [8086]
12453 \c XCHG reg32,r/m32 ; o32 87 /r [386]
12455 \c XCHG r/m8,reg8 ; 86 /r [8086]
12456 \c XCHG r/m16,reg16 ; o16 87 /r [8086]
12457 \c XCHG r/m32,reg32 ; o32 87 /r [386]
12459 \c XCHG AX,reg16 ; o16 90+r [8086]
12460 \c XCHG EAX,reg32 ; o32 90+r [386]
12461 \c XCHG reg16,AX ; o16 90+r [8086]
12462 \c XCHG reg32,EAX ; o32 90+r [386]
12464 \c{XCHG} exchanges the values in its two operands. It can be used
12465 with a \c{LOCK} prefix for purposes of multi-processor
12468 \c{XCHG AX,AX} or \c{XCHG EAX,EAX} (depending on the \c{BITS}
12469 setting) generates the opcode \c{90h}, and so is a synonym for
12470 \c{NOP} (\k{insNOP}).
12473 \H{insXLATB} \i\c{XLATB}: Translate Byte in Lookup Table
12475 \c XLAT ; D7 [8086]
12476 \c XLATB ; D7 [8086]
12478 \c{XLATB} adds the value in \c{AL}, treated as an unsigned byte, to
12479 \c{BX} or \c{EBX}, and loads the byte from the resulting address (in
12480 the segment specified by \c{DS}) back into \c{AL}.
12482 The base register used is \c{BX} if the address size is 16 bits, and
12483 \c{EBX} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
12484 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
12485 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
12487 The segment register used to load from \c{[BX+AL]} or \c{[EBX+AL]}
12488 can be overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
12489 example, \c{es xlatb}).
12492 \H{insXOR} \i\c{XOR}: Bitwise Exclusive OR
12494 \c XOR r/m8,reg8 ; 30 /r [8086]
12495 \c XOR r/m16,reg16 ; o16 31 /r [8086]
12496 \c XOR r/m32,reg32 ; o32 31 /r [386]
12498 \c XOR reg8,r/m8 ; 32 /r [8086]
12499 \c XOR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 33 /r [8086]
12500 \c XOR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 33 /r [386]
12502 \c XOR r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /6 ib [8086]
12503 \c XOR r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /6 iw [8086]
12504 \c XOR r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /6 id [386]
12506 \c XOR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /6 ib [8086]
12507 \c XOR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /6 ib [386]
12509 \c XOR AL,imm8 ; 34 ib [8086]
12510 \c XOR AX,imm16 ; o16 35 iw [8086]
12511 \c XOR EAX,imm32 ; o32 35 id [386]
12513 \c{XOR} performs a bitwise XOR operation between its two operands
12514 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if exactly one of the
12515 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
12516 in the destination (first) operand.
12518 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
12519 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
12520 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
12521 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
12522 form of the instruction.
12524 The \c{MMX} instruction \c{PXOR} (see \k{insPXOR}) performs the same
12525 operation on the 64-bit \c{MMX} registers.
12528 \H{insXORPD} \i\c{XORPD}: Bitwise Logical XOR of Double-Precision FP Values
12530 \c XORPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 57 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12532 \c{XORPD} returns a bit-wise logical XOR between the source and
12533 destination operands, storing the result in the destination operand.
12536 \H{insXORPS} \i\c{XORPS}: Bitwise Logical XOR of Single-Precision FP Values
12538 \c XORPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 57 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12540 \c{XORPS} returns a bit-wise logical XOR between the source and
12541 destination operands, storing the result in the destination operand.