3 \# Source code to NASM documentation
5 \M{category}{Programming}
6 \M{title}{NASM - The Netwide Assembler}
8 \M{author}{The NASM Development Team}
9 \M{license}{All rights reserved. This document is redistributable under the license given in the file "COPYING" distributed in the NASM archive.}
10 \M{summary}{This file documents NASM, the Netwide Assembler: an assembler targetting the Intel x86 series of processors, with portable source.}
13 \M{infotitle}{The Netwide Assembler for x86}
14 \M{epslogo}{nasmlogo.eps}
20 \IR{-On} \c{-On} option
38 \IR{!=} \c{!=} operator
39 \IR{$, here} \c{$}, Here token
40 \IR{$, prefix} \c{$}, prefix
43 \IR{%%} \c{%%} operator
44 \IR{%+1} \c{%+1} and \c{%-1} syntax
46 \IR{%0} \c{%0} parameter count
48 \IR{&&} \c{&&} operator
50 \IR{..@} \c{..@} symbol prefix
52 \IR{//} \c{//} operator
54 \IR{<<} \c{<<} operator
55 \IR{<=} \c{<=} operator
56 \IR{<>} \c{<>} operator
58 \IR{==} \c{==} operator
60 \IR{>=} \c{>=} operator
61 \IR{>>} \c{>>} operator
62 \IR{?} \c{?} MASM syntax
64 \IR{^^} \c{^^} operator
66 \IR{||} \c{||} operator
68 \IR{%$} \c{%$} and \c{%$$} prefixes
70 \IR{+ opaddition} \c{+} operator, binary
71 \IR{+ opunary} \c{+} operator, unary
72 \IR{+ modifier} \c{+} modifier
73 \IR{- opsubtraction} \c{-} operator, binary
74 \IR{- opunary} \c{-} operator, unary
75 \IR{alignment, in bin sections} alignment, in \c{bin} sections
76 \IR{alignment, in elf sections} alignment, in \c{elf} sections
77 \IR{alignment, in win32 sections} alignment, in \c{win32} sections
78 \IR{alignment, of elf common variables} alignment, of \c{elf} common
80 \IR{alignment, in obj sections} alignment, in \c{obj} sections
81 \IR{a.out, bsd version} \c{a.out}, BSD version
82 \IR{a.out, linux version} \c{a.out}, Linux version
83 \IR{autoconf} Autoconf
85 \IR{bitwise and} bitwise AND
86 \IR{bitwise or} bitwise OR
87 \IR{bitwise xor} bitwise XOR
88 \IR{block ifs} block IFs
89 \IR{borland pascal} Borland, Pascal
90 \IR{borland's win32 compilers} Borland, Win32 compilers
91 \IR{braces, after % sign} braces, after \c{%} sign
93 \IR{c calling convention} C calling convention
94 \IR{c symbol names} C symbol names
95 \IA{critical expressions}{critical expression}
96 \IA{command line}{command-line}
97 \IA{case sensitivity}{case sensitive}
98 \IA{case-sensitive}{case sensitive}
99 \IA{case-insensitive}{case sensitive}
100 \IA{character constants}{character constant}
101 \IR{common object file format} Common Object File Format
102 \IR{common variables, alignment in elf} common variables, alignment
104 \IR{common, elf extensions to} \c{COMMON}, \c{elf} extensions to
105 \IR{common, obj extensions to} \c{COMMON}, \c{obj} extensions to
106 \IR{declaring structure} declaring structures
107 \IR{default-wrt mechanism} default-\c{WRT} mechanism
110 \IR{dll symbols, exporting} DLL symbols, exporting
111 \IR{dll symbols, importing} DLL symbols, importing
113 \IR{dos archive} DOS archive
114 \IR{dos source archive} DOS source archive
115 \IA{effective address}{effective addresses}
116 \IA{effective-address}{effective addresses}
118 \IR{elf, 16-bit code and} ELF, 16-bit code and
119 \IR{elf shared libraries} ELF, shared libraries
120 \IR{executable and linkable format} Executable and Linkable Format
121 \IR{extern, obj extensions to} \c{EXTERN}, \c{obj} extensions to
122 \IR{extern, rdf extensions to} \c{EXTERN}, \c{rdf} extensions to
124 \IR{freelink} FreeLink
125 \IR{functions, c calling convention} functions, C calling convention
126 \IR{functions, pascal calling convention} functions, Pascal calling
128 \IR{global, aoutb extensions to} \c{GLOBAL}, \c{aoutb} extensions to
129 \IR{global, elf extensions to} \c{GLOBAL}, \c{elf} extensions to
130 \IR{global, rdf extensions to} \c{GLOBAL}, \c{rdf} extensions to
132 \IR{got relocations} \c{GOT} relocations
133 \IR{gotoff relocation} \c{GOTOFF} relocations
134 \IR{gotpc relocation} \c{GOTPC} relocations
135 \IR{intel number formats} Intel number formats
136 \IR{linux, elf} Linux, ELF
137 \IR{linux, a.out} Linux, \c{a.out}
138 \IR{linux, as86} Linux, \c{as86}
139 \IR{logical and} logical AND
140 \IR{logical or} logical OR
141 \IR{logical xor} logical XOR
143 \IA{memory reference}{memory references}
145 \IA{misc directory}{misc subdirectory}
146 \IR{misc subdirectory} \c{misc} subdirectory
147 \IR{microsoft omf} Microsoft OMF
148 \IR{mmx registers} MMX registers
149 \IA{modr/m}{modr/m byte}
150 \IR{modr/m byte} ModR/M byte
152 \IR{ms-dos device drivers} MS-DOS device drivers
153 \IR{multipush} \c{multipush} macro
154 \IR{nasm version} NASM version
158 \IR{operating system} operating system
160 \IR{pascal calling convention}Pascal calling convention
161 \IR{passes} passes, assembly
166 \IR{plt} \c{PLT} relocations
167 \IA{pre-defining macros}{pre-define}
168 \IA{preprocessor expressions}{preprocessor, expressions}
169 \IA{preprocessor loops}{preprocessor, loops}
170 \IA{preprocessor variables}{preprocessor, variables}
171 \IA{rdoff subdirectory}{rdoff}
172 \IR{rdoff} \c{rdoff} subdirectory
173 \IR{relocatable dynamic object file format} Relocatable Dynamic
175 \IR{relocations, pic-specific} relocations, PIC-specific
176 \IA{repeating}{repeating code}
177 \IR{section alignment, in elf} section alignment, in \c{elf}
178 \IR{section alignment, in bin} section alignment, in \c{bin}
179 \IR{section alignment, in obj} section alignment, in \c{obj}
180 \IR{section alignment, in win32} section alignment, in \c{win32}
181 \IR{section, elf extensions to} \c{SECTION}, \c{elf} extensions to
182 \IR{section, win32 extensions to} \c{SECTION}, \c{win32} extensions to
183 \IR{segment alignment, in bin} segment alignment, in \c{bin}
184 \IR{segment alignment, in obj} segment alignment, in \c{obj}
185 \IR{segment, obj extensions to} \c{SEGMENT}, \c{elf} extensions to
186 \IR{segment names, borland pascal} segment names, Borland Pascal
187 \IR{shift command} \c{shift} command
189 \IR{sib byte} SIB byte
190 \IR{solaris x86} Solaris x86
191 \IA{standard section names}{standardized section names}
192 \IR{symbols, exporting from dlls} symbols, exporting from DLLs
193 \IR{symbols, importing from dlls} symbols, importing from DLLs
194 \IR{test subdirectory} \c{test} subdirectory
196 \IR{underscore, in c symbols} underscore, in C symbols
198 \IA{sco unix}{unix, sco}
199 \IR{unix, sco} Unix, SCO
200 \IA{unix source archive}{unix, source archive}
201 \IR{unix, source archive} Unix, source archive
202 \IA{unix system v}{unix, system v}
203 \IR{unix, system v} Unix, System V
204 \IR{unixware} UnixWare
206 \IR{version number of nasm} version number of NASM
207 \IR{visual c++} Visual C++
208 \IR{www page} WWW page
212 \IR{windows 95} Windows 95
213 \IR{windows nt} Windows NT
214 \# \IC{program entry point}{entry point, program}
215 \# \IC{program entry point}{start point, program}
216 \# \IC{MS-DOS device drivers}{device drivers, MS-DOS}
217 \# \IC{16-bit mode, versus 32-bit mode}{32-bit mode, versus 16-bit mode}
218 \# \IC{c symbol names}{symbol names, in C}
221 \C{intro} Introduction
223 \H{whatsnasm} What Is NASM?
225 The Netwide Assembler, NASM, is an 80x86 and x86-64 assembler designed for
226 portability and modularity. It supports a range of object file
227 formats, including Linux and \c{*BSD} \c{a.out}, \c{ELF}, \c{COFF}, \c{Mach-O},
228 Microsoft 16-bit \c{OBJ}, \c{Win32} and \c{Win64}. It will also output plain
229 binary files. Its syntax is designed to be simple and easy to understand, similar
230 to Intel's but less complex. It supports from the upto and including \c{Pentium},
231 \c{P6}, \c{MMX}, \c{3DNow!}, \c{SSE}, \c{SSE2}, \c{SSE3} and \c{x64} opcodes. NASM has
232 a strong support for macro conventions.
235 \S{yaasm} Why Yet Another Assembler?
237 The Netwide Assembler grew out of an idea on \i\c{comp.lang.asm.x86}
238 (or possibly \i\c{alt.lang.asm} - I forget which), which was
239 essentially that there didn't seem to be a good \e{free} x86-series
240 assembler around, and that maybe someone ought to write one.
242 \b \i\c{a86} is good, but not free, and in particular you don't get any
243 32-bit capability until you pay. It's DOS only, too.
245 \b \i\c{gas} is free, and ports over to DOS and Unix, but it's not
246 very good, since it's designed to be a back end to \i\c{gcc}, which
247 always feeds it correct code. So its error checking is minimal. Also,
248 its syntax is horrible, from the point of view of anyone trying to
249 actually \e{write} anything in it. Plus you can't write 16-bit code in
252 \b \i\c{as86} is specific to Minix and Linux, and (my version at least)
253 doesn't seem to have much (or any) documentation.
255 \b \i\c{MASM} isn't very good, and it's (was) expensive, and it runs only under
258 \b \i\c{TASM} is better, but still strives for MASM compatibility,
259 which means millions of directives and tons of red tape. And its syntax
260 is essentially MASM's, with the contradictions and quirks that
261 entails (although it sorts out some of those by means of Ideal mode.)
262 It's expensive too. And it's DOS-only.
264 So here, for your coding pleasure, is NASM. At present it's
265 still in prototype stage - we don't promise that it can outperform
266 any of these assemblers. But please, \e{please} send us bug reports,
267 fixes, helpful information, and anything else you can get your hands
268 on (and thanks to the many people who've done this already! You all
269 know who you are), and we'll improve it out of all recognition.
273 \S{legal} License Conditions
275 Please see the file \c{COPYING}, supplied as part of any NASM
276 distribution archive, for the \i{license} conditions under which you
277 may use NASM. NASM is now under the so-called GNU Lesser General
278 Public License, LGPL.
281 \H{contact} Contact Information
283 The current version of NASM (since about 0.98.08) is maintained by a
284 team of developers, accessible through the \c{nasm-devel} mailing list
285 (see below for the link).
286 If you want to report a bug, please read \k{bugs} first.
288 NASM has a \i{WWW page} at
289 \W{http://nasm.sourceforge.net}\c{http://nasm.sourceforge.net}. If it's
290 not there, google for us!
293 The original authors are \i{e\-mail}able as
294 \W{mailto:jules@dsf.org.uk}\c{jules@dsf.org.uk} and
295 \W{mailto:anakin@pobox.com}\c{anakin@pobox.com}.
296 The latter is no longer involved in the development team.
298 \i{New releases} of NASM are uploaded to the official sites
299 \W{http://nasm.sourceforge.net}\c{http://nasm.sourceforge.net}
301 \W{ftp://ftp.kernel.org/pub/software/devel/nasm/}\i\c{ftp.kernel.org}
303 \W{ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/devel/lang/assemblers/}\i\c{ibiblio.org}.
305 Announcements are posted to
306 \W{news:comp.lang.asm.x86}\i\c{comp.lang.asm.x86},
307 \W{news:alt.lang.asm}\i\c{alt.lang.asm} and
308 \W{news:comp.os.linux.announce}\i\c{comp.os.linux.announce}
310 If you want information about NASM beta releases, and the current
311 development status, please subscribe to the \i\c{nasm-devel} email list
313 \W{http://sourceforge.net/projects/nasm}\c{http://sourceforge.net/projects/nasm}.
316 \H{install} Installation
318 \S{instdos} \i{Installing} NASM under MS-\i{DOS} or Windows
320 Once you've obtained the \i{DOS archive} for NASM, \i\c{nasmXXX.zip}
321 (where \c{XXX} denotes the version number of NASM contained in the
322 archive), unpack it into its own directory (for example \c{c:\\nasm}).
324 The archive will contain four executable files: the NASM executable
325 files \i\c{nasm.exe} and \i\c{nasmw.exe}, and the NDISASM executable
326 files \i\c{ndisasm.exe} and \i\c{ndisasmw.exe}. In each case, the
327 file whose name ends in \c{w} is a \I{Win32}\c{Win32} executable,
328 designed to run under \I{Windows 95}\c{Windows 95} or \I{Windows NT}
329 \c{Windows NT} Intel, and the other one is a 16-bit \I{DOS}\c{DOS}
332 The only file NASM needs to run is its own executable, so copy
333 (at least) one of \c{nasm.exe} and \c{nasmw.exe} to a directory on
334 your PATH, or alternatively edit \i\c{autoexec.bat} to add the
335 \c{nasm} directory to your \i\c{PATH}. (If you're only installing the
336 \c{Win32} version, you may wish to rename it to \c{nasm.exe}.)
338 That's it - NASM is installed. You don't need the nasm directory
339 to be present to run NASM (unless you've added it to your \c{PATH}),
340 so you can delete it if you need to save space; however, you may
341 want to keep the documentation or test programs.
343 If you've downloaded the \i{DOS source archive}, \i\c{nasmXXXs.zip},
344 the \c{nasm} directory will also contain the full NASM \i{source
345 code}, and a selection of \i{Makefiles} you can (hopefully) use to
346 rebuild your copy of NASM from scratch.
348 Note that the source files \c{insnsa.c}, \c{insnsd.c}, \c{insnsi.h}
349 and \c{insnsn.c} are automatically generated from the master
350 instruction table \c{insns.dat} by a Perl script; the file
351 \c{macros.c} is generated from \c{standard.mac} by another Perl
352 script. Although the NASM source distribution includes these generated
353 files, you will need to rebuild them (and hence, will need a Perl
354 interpreter) if you change insns.dat, standard.mac or the
355 documentation. It is possible future source distributions may not
356 include these files at all. Ports of \i{Perl} for a variety of
357 platforms, including DOS and Windows, are available from
358 \W{http://www.cpan.org/ports/}\i{www.cpan.org}.
361 \S{instdos} Installing NASM under \i{Unix}
363 Once you've obtained the \i{Unix source archive} for NASM,
364 \i\c{nasm-X.XX.tar.gz} (where \c{X.XX} denotes the version number of
365 NASM contained in the archive), unpack it into a directory such
366 as \c{/usr/local/src}. The archive, when unpacked, will create its
367 own subdirectory \c{nasm-X.XX}.
369 NASM is an \I{Autoconf}\I\c{configure}auto-configuring package: once
370 you've unpacked it, \c{cd} to the directory it's been unpacked into
371 and type \c{./configure}. This shell script will find the best C
372 compiler to use for building NASM and set up \i{Makefiles}
375 Once NASM has auto-configured, you can type \i\c{make} to build the
376 \c{nasm} and \c{ndisasm} binaries, and then \c{make install} to
377 install them in \c{/usr/local/bin} and install the \i{man pages}
378 \i\c{nasm.1} and \i\c{ndisasm.1} in \c{/usr/local/man/man1}.
379 Alternatively, you can give options such as \c{--prefix} to the
380 configure script (see the file \i\c{INSTALL} for more details), or
381 install the programs yourself.
383 NASM also comes with a set of utilities for handling the \c{RDOFF}
384 custom object-file format, which are in the \i\c{rdoff} subdirectory
385 of the NASM archive. You can build these with \c{make rdf} and
386 install them with \c{make rdf_install}, if you want them.
388 If NASM fails to auto-configure, you may still be able to make it
389 compile by using the fall-back Unix makefile \i\c{Makefile.unx}.
390 Copy or rename that file to \c{Makefile} and try typing \c{make}.
391 There is also a Makefile.unx file in the \c{rdoff} subdirectory.
394 \C{running} Running NASM
396 \H{syntax} NASM \i{Command-Line} Syntax
398 To assemble a file, you issue a command of the form
400 \c nasm -f <format> <filename> [-o <output>]
404 \c nasm -f elf myfile.asm
406 will assemble \c{myfile.asm} into an \c{ELF} object file \c{myfile.o}. And
408 \c nasm -f bin myfile.asm -o myfile.com
410 will assemble \c{myfile.asm} into a raw binary file \c{myfile.com}.
412 To produce a listing file, with the hex codes output from NASM
413 displayed on the left of the original sources, use the \c{-l} option
414 to give a listing file name, for example:
416 \c nasm -f coff myfile.asm -l myfile.lst
418 To get further usage instructions from NASM, try typing
422 As \c{-hf}, this will also list the available output file formats, and what they
425 If you use Linux but aren't sure whether your system is \c{a.out}
430 (in the directory in which you put the NASM binary when you
431 installed it). If it says something like
433 \c nasm: ELF 32-bit LSB executable i386 (386 and up) Version 1
435 then your system is \c{ELF}, and you should use the option \c{-f elf}
436 when you want NASM to produce Linux object files. If it says
438 \c nasm: Linux/i386 demand-paged executable (QMAGIC)
440 or something similar, your system is \c{a.out}, and you should use
441 \c{-f aout} instead (Linux \c{a.out} systems have long been obsolete,
442 and are rare these days.)
444 Like Unix compilers and assemblers, NASM is silent unless it
445 goes wrong: you won't see any output at all, unless it gives error
449 \S{opt-o} The \i\c{-o} Option: Specifying the Output File Name
451 NASM will normally choose the name of your output file for you;
452 precisely how it does this is dependent on the object file format.
453 For Microsoft object file formats (\i\c{obj} and \i\c{win32}), it
454 will remove the \c{.asm} \i{extension} (or whatever extension you
455 like to use - NASM doesn't care) from your source file name and
456 substitute \c{.obj}. For Unix object file formats (\i\c{aout},
457 \i\c{coff}, \i\c{elf}, \i\c{macho} and \i\c{as86}) it will substitute \c{.o}. For
458 \i\c{rdf}, it will use \c{.rdf}, and for the \i\c{bin} format it
459 will simply remove the extension, so that \c{myfile.asm} produces
460 the output file \c{myfile}.
462 If the output file already exists, NASM will overwrite it, unless it
463 has the same name as the input file, in which case it will give a
464 warning and use \i\c{nasm.out} as the output file name instead.
466 For situations in which this behaviour is unacceptable, NASM
467 provides the \c{-o} command-line option, which allows you to specify
468 your desired output file name. You invoke \c{-o} by following it
469 with the name you wish for the output file, either with or without
470 an intervening space. For example:
472 \c nasm -f bin program.asm -o program.com
473 \c nasm -f bin driver.asm -odriver.sys
475 Note that this is a small o, and is different from a capital O , which
476 is used to specify the number of optimisation passes required. See \k{opt-On}.
479 \S{opt-f} The \i\c{-f} Option: Specifying the \i{Output File Format}
481 If you do not supply the \c{-f} option to NASM, it will choose an
482 output file format for you itself. In the distribution versions of
483 NASM, the default is always \i\c{bin}; if you've compiled your own
484 copy of NASM, you can redefine \i\c{OF_DEFAULT} at compile time and
485 choose what you want the default to be.
487 Like \c{-o}, the intervening space between \c{-f} and the output
488 file format is optional; so \c{-f elf} and \c{-felf} are both valid.
490 A complete list of the available output file formats can be given by
491 issuing the command \i\c{nasm -hf}.
494 \S{opt-l} The \i\c{-l} Option: Generating a \i{Listing File}
496 If you supply the \c{-l} option to NASM, followed (with the usual
497 optional space) by a file name, NASM will generate a
498 \i{source-listing file} for you, in which addresses and generated
499 code are listed on the left, and the actual source code, with
500 expansions of multi-line macros (except those which specifically
501 request no expansion in source listings: see \k{nolist}) on the
504 \c nasm -f elf myfile.asm -l myfile.lst
506 If a list file is selected, you may turn off listing for a
507 section of your source with \c{[list -]}, and turn it back on
508 with \c{[list +]}, (the default, obviously). There is no "user
509 form" (without the brackets). This can be used to list only
510 sections of interest, avoiding excessively long listings.
513 \S{opt-M} The \i\c{-M} Option: Generate \i{Makefile Dependencies}.
515 This option can be used to generate makefile dependencies on stdout.
516 This can be redirected to a file for further processing. For example:
518 \c NASM -M myfile.asm > myfile.dep
521 \S{opt-F} The \i\c{-F} Option: Selecting a \i{Debug Information Format}
523 This option is used to select the format of the debug information emitted
524 into the output file, to be used by a debugger (or \e{will} be). Use
525 of this switch does \e{not} enable output of the selected debug info format.
526 Use \c{-g}, see \k{opt-g}, to enable output.
528 A complete list of the available debug file formats for an output format
529 can be seen by issuing the command \i\c{nasm -f <format> -y}. (only
530 "borland" in "-f obj", as of 0.98.35, but "watch this space")
533 This should not be confused with the "-f dbg" output format option which
534 is not built into NASM by default. For information on how
535 to enable it when building from the sources, see \k{dbgfmt}
538 \S{opt-g} The \i\c{-g} Option: Enabling \i{Debug Information}.
540 This option can be used to generate debugging information in the specified
541 format. See: \k{opt-F}. Using \c{-g} without \c{-F} results in emitting
542 debug info in the default format, if any, for the selected output format.
543 If no debug information is currently implemented in the selected output
544 format, \c{-g} is \e{silently ignored}.
547 \S{opt-X} The \i\c{-X} Option: Selecting an \i{Error Reporting Format}
549 This option can be used to select an error reporting format for any
550 error messages that might be produced by NASM.
552 Currently, two error reporting formats may be selected. They are
553 the \c{-Xvc} option and the \c{-Xgnu} option. The GNU format is
554 the default and looks like this:
556 \c filename.asm:65: error: specific error message
558 where \c{filename.asm} is the name of the source file in which the
559 error was detected, \c{65} is the source file line number on which
560 the error was detected, \c{error} is the severity of the error (this
561 could be \c{warning}), and \c{specific error message} is a more
562 detailed text message which should help pinpoint the exact problem.
564 The other format, specified by \c{-Xvc} is the style used by Microsoft
565 Visual C++ and some other programs. It looks like this:
567 \c filename.asm(65) : error: specific error message
569 where the only difference is that the line number is in parentheses
570 instead of being delimited by colons.
572 See also the \c{Visual C++} output format, \k{win32fmt}.
574 \S{opt-E} The \i\c{-E} Option: Send Errors to a File
576 Under \I{DOS}\c{MS-DOS} it can be difficult (though there are ways) to
577 redirect the standard-error output of a program to a file. Since
578 NASM usually produces its warning and \i{error messages} on
579 \i\c{stderr}, this can make it hard to capture the errors if (for
580 example) you want to load them into an editor.
582 NASM therefore provides the \c{-E} option, taking a filename argument
583 which causes errors to be sent to the specified files rather than
584 standard error. Therefore you can \I{redirecting errors}redirect
585 the errors into a file by typing
587 \c nasm -E myfile.err -f obj myfile.asm
590 \S{opt-s} The \i\c{-s} Option: Send Errors to \i\c{stdout}
592 The \c{-s} option redirects \i{error messages} to \c{stdout} rather
593 than \c{stderr}, so it can be redirected under \I{DOS}\c{MS-DOS}. To
594 assemble the file \c{myfile.asm} and pipe its output to the \c{more}
595 program, you can type:
597 \c nasm -s -f obj myfile.asm | more
599 See also the \c{-E} option, \k{opt-E}.
602 \S{opt-i} The \i\c{-i}\I\c{-I} Option: Include File Search Directories
604 When NASM sees the \i\c{%include} or \i\c{incbin} directive in
605 a source file (see \k{include} or \k{incbin}),
606 it will search for the given file not only in the
607 current directory, but also in any directories specified on the
608 command line by the use of the \c{-i} option. Therefore you can
609 include files from a \i{macro library}, for example, by typing
611 \c nasm -ic:\macrolib\ -f obj myfile.asm
613 (As usual, a space between \c{-i} and the path name is allowed, and
616 NASM, in the interests of complete source-code portability, does not
617 understand the file naming conventions of the OS it is running on;
618 the string you provide as an argument to the \c{-i} option will be
619 prepended exactly as written to the name of the include file.
620 Therefore the trailing backslash in the above example is necessary.
621 Under Unix, a trailing forward slash is similarly necessary.
623 (You can use this to your advantage, if you're really \i{perverse},
624 by noting that the option \c{-ifoo} will cause \c{%include "bar.i"}
625 to search for the file \c{foobar.i}...)
627 If you want to define a \e{standard} \i{include search path},
628 similar to \c{/usr/include} on Unix systems, you should place one or
629 more \c{-i} directives in the \c{NASMENV} environment variable (see
632 For Makefile compatibility with many C compilers, this option can also
633 be specified as \c{-I}.
636 \S{opt-p} The \i\c{-p}\I\c{-P} Option: \I{pre-including files}Pre-Include a File
638 \I\c{%include}NASM allows you to specify files to be
639 \e{pre-included} into your source file, by the use of the \c{-p}
642 \c nasm myfile.asm -p myinc.inc
644 is equivalent to running \c{nasm myfile.asm} and placing the
645 directive \c{%include "myinc.inc"} at the start of the file.
647 For consistency with the \c{-I}, \c{-D} and \c{-U} options, this
648 option can also be specified as \c{-P}.
651 \S{opt-d} The \i\c{-d}\I\c{-D} Option: \I{pre-defining macros}Pre-Define a Macro
653 \I\c{%define}Just as the \c{-p} option gives an alternative to placing
654 \c{%include} directives at the start of a source file, the \c{-d}
655 option gives an alternative to placing a \c{%define} directive. You
658 \c nasm myfile.asm -dFOO=100
660 as an alternative to placing the directive
664 at the start of the file. You can miss off the macro value, as well:
665 the option \c{-dFOO} is equivalent to coding \c{%define FOO}. This
666 form of the directive may be useful for selecting \i{assembly-time
667 options} which are then tested using \c{%ifdef}, for example
670 For Makefile compatibility with many C compilers, this option can also
671 be specified as \c{-D}.
674 \S{opt-u} The \i\c{-u}\I\c{-U} Option: \I{Undefining macros}Undefine a Macro
676 \I\c{%undef}The \c{-u} option undefines a macro that would otherwise
677 have been pre-defined, either automatically or by a \c{-p} or \c{-d}
678 option specified earlier on the command lines.
680 For example, the following command line:
682 \c nasm myfile.asm -dFOO=100 -uFOO
684 would result in \c{FOO} \e{not} being a predefined macro in the
685 program. This is useful to override options specified at a different
688 For Makefile compatibility with many C compilers, this option can also
689 be specified as \c{-U}.
692 \S{opt-e} The \i\c{-e} Option: Preprocess Only
694 NASM allows the \i{preprocessor} to be run on its own, up to a
695 point. Using the \c{-e} option (which requires no arguments) will
696 cause NASM to preprocess its input file, expand all the macro
697 references, remove all the comments and preprocessor directives, and
698 print the resulting file on standard output (or save it to a file,
699 if the \c{-o} option is also used).
701 This option cannot be applied to programs which require the
702 preprocessor to evaluate \I{preprocessor expressions}\i{expressions}
703 which depend on the values of symbols: so code such as
705 \c %assign tablesize ($-tablestart)
707 will cause an error in \i{preprocess-only mode}.
710 \S{opt-a} The \i\c{-a} Option: Don't Preprocess At All
712 If NASM is being used as the back end to a compiler, it might be
713 desirable to \I{suppressing preprocessing}suppress preprocessing
714 completely and assume the compiler has already done it, to save time
715 and increase compilation speeds. The \c{-a} option, requiring no
716 argument, instructs NASM to replace its powerful \i{preprocessor}
717 with a \i{stub preprocessor} which does nothing.
720 \S{opt-On} The \i\c{-On} Option: Specifying \i{Multipass Optimization}.
722 NASM defaults to being a two pass assembler. This means that if you
723 have a complex source file which needs more than 2 passes to assemble
724 optimally, you have to enable extra passes.
726 Using the \c{-O} option, you can tell NASM to carry out multiple passes.
729 \b \c{-O0} strict two-pass assembly, JMP and Jcc are handled more
730 like v0.98, except that backward JMPs are short, if possible.
731 Immediate operands take their long forms if a short form is
734 \b \c{-O1} strict two-pass assembly, but forward branches are assembled
735 with code guaranteed to reach; may produce larger code than
736 -O0, but will produce successful assembly more often if
737 branch offset sizes are not specified.
738 Additionally, immediate operands which will fit in a signed byte
739 are optimized, unless the long form is specified.
741 \b \c{-On} multi-pass optimization, minimize branch offsets; also will
742 minimize signed immediate bytes, overriding size specification
743 unless the \c{strict} keyword has been used (see \k{strict}).
744 The number specifies the maximum number of passes. The more
745 passes, the better the code, but the slower is the assembly.
747 Note that this is a capital O, and is different from a small o, which
748 is used to specify the output format. See \k{opt-o}.
751 \S{opt-t} The \i\c{-t} option: Enable TASM Compatibility Mode
753 NASM includes a limited form of compatibility with Borland's \i\c{TASM}.
754 When NASM's \c{-t} option is used, the following changes are made:
756 \b local labels may be prefixed with \c{@@} instead of \c{.}
758 \b TASM-style response files beginning with \c{@} may be specified on
759 the command line. This is different from the \c{-@resp} style that NASM
762 \b size override is supported within brackets. In TASM compatible mode,
763 a size override inside square brackets changes the size of the operand,
764 and not the address type of the operand as it does in NASM syntax. E.g.
765 \c{mov eax,[DWORD val]} is valid syntax in TASM compatibility mode.
766 Note that you lose the ability to override the default address type for
769 \b \c{%arg} preprocessor directive is supported which is similar to
770 TASM's \c{ARG} directive.
772 \b \c{%local} preprocessor directive
774 \b \c{%stacksize} preprocessor directive
776 \b unprefixed forms of some directives supported (\c{arg}, \c{elif},
777 \c{else}, \c{endif}, \c{if}, \c{ifdef}, \c{ifdifi}, \c{ifndef},
778 \c{include}, \c{local})
782 For more information on the directives, see the section on TASM
783 Compatiblity preprocessor directives in \k{tasmcompat}.
786 \S{opt-w} The \i\c{-w} Option: Enable or Disable Assembly \i{Warnings}
788 NASM can observe many conditions during the course of assembly which
789 are worth mentioning to the user, but not a sufficiently severe
790 error to justify NASM refusing to generate an output file. These
791 conditions are reported like errors, but come up with the word
792 `warning' before the message. Warnings do not prevent NASM from
793 generating an output file and returning a success status to the
796 Some conditions are even less severe than that: they are only
797 sometimes worth mentioning to the user. Therefore NASM supports the
798 \c{-w} command-line option, which enables or disables certain
799 classes of assembly warning. Such warning classes are described by a
800 name, for example \c{orphan-labels}; you can enable warnings of
801 this class by the command-line option \c{-w+orphan-labels} and
802 disable it by \c{-w-orphan-labels}.
804 The \i{suppressible warning} classes are:
806 \b \i\c{macro-params} covers warnings about \i{multi-line macros}
807 being invoked with the wrong number of parameters. This warning
808 class is enabled by default; see \k{mlmacover} for an example of why
809 you might want to disable it.
811 \b \i\c{macro-selfref} warns if a macro references itself. This
812 warning class is enabled by default.
814 \b \i\c{orphan-labels} covers warnings about source lines which
815 contain no instruction but define a label without a trailing colon.
816 NASM does not warn about this somewhat obscure condition by default;
817 see \k{syntax} for an example of why you might want it to.
819 \b \i\c{number-overflow} covers warnings about numeric constants which
820 don't fit in 32 bits (for example, it's easy to type one too many Fs
821 and produce \c{0x7ffffffff} by mistake). This warning class is
824 \b \i\c{gnu-elf-extensions} warns if 8-bit or 16-bit relocations
825 are used in \c{-f elf} format. The GNU extensions allow this.
826 This warning class is enabled by default.
828 \b In addition, warning classes may be enabled or disabled across
829 sections of source code with \i\c{[warning +warning-name]} or
830 \i\c{[warning -warning-name]}. No "user form" (without the
834 \S{opt-v} The \i\c{-v} Option: Display \i{Version} Info
836 Typing \c{NASM -v} will display the version of NASM which you are using,
837 and the date on which it was compiled. This replaces the deprecated
840 You will need the version number if you report a bug.
842 \S{opt-y} The \i\c{-y} Option: Display Available Debug Info Formats
844 Typing \c{nasm -f <option> -y} will display a list of the available
845 debug info formats for the given output format. The default format
846 is indicated by an asterisk. E.g. \c{nasm -f obj -y} yields \c{* borland}.
847 (as of 0.98.35, the \e{only} debug info format implemented).
850 \S{opt-pfix} The \i\c{--prefix} and \i\c{--postfix} Options.
852 The \c{--prefix} and \c{--postfix} options prepend or append
853 (respectively) the given argument to all \c{global} or
854 \c{extern} variables. E.g. \c{--prefix_} will prepend the
855 underscore to all global and external variables, as C sometimes
856 (but not always) likes it.
859 \S{nasmenv} The \c{NASMENV} \i{Environment} Variable
861 If you define an environment variable called \c{NASMENV}, the program
862 will interpret it as a list of extra command-line options, which are
863 processed before the real command line. You can use this to define
864 standard search directories for include files, by putting \c{-i}
865 options in the \c{NASMENV} variable.
867 The value of the variable is split up at white space, so that the
868 value \c{-s -ic:\\nasmlib} will be treated as two separate options.
869 However, that means that the value \c{-dNAME="my name"} won't do
870 what you might want, because it will be split at the space and the
871 NASM command-line processing will get confused by the two
872 nonsensical words \c{-dNAME="my} and \c{name"}.
874 To get round this, NASM provides a feature whereby, if you begin the
875 \c{NASMENV} environment variable with some character that isn't a minus
876 sign, then NASM will treat this character as the \i{separator
877 character} for options. So setting the \c{NASMENV} variable to the
878 value \c{!-s!-ic:\\nasmlib} is equivalent to setting it to \c{-s
879 -ic:\\nasmlib}, but \c{!-dNAME="my name"} will work.
881 This environment variable was previously called \c{NASM}. This was
882 changed with version 0.98.31.
885 \H{qstart} \i{Quick Start} for \i{MASM} Users
887 If you're used to writing programs with MASM, or with \i{TASM} in
888 MASM-compatible (non-Ideal) mode, or with \i\c{a86}, this section
889 attempts to outline the major differences between MASM's syntax and
890 NASM's. If you're not already used to MASM, it's probably worth
891 skipping this section.
894 \S{qscs} NASM Is \I{case sensitivity}Case-Sensitive
896 One simple difference is that NASM is case-sensitive. It makes a
897 difference whether you call your label \c{foo}, \c{Foo} or \c{FOO}.
898 If you're assembling to \c{DOS} or \c{OS/2} \c{.OBJ} files, you can
899 invoke the \i\c{UPPERCASE} directive (documented in \k{objfmt}) to
900 ensure that all symbols exported to other code modules are forced
901 to be upper case; but even then, \e{within} a single module, NASM
902 will distinguish between labels differing only in case.
905 \S{qsbrackets} NASM Requires \i{Square Brackets} For \i{Memory References}
907 NASM was designed with simplicity of syntax in mind. One of the
908 \i{design goals} of NASM is that it should be possible, as far as is
909 practical, for the user to look at a single line of NASM code
910 and tell what opcode is generated by it. You can't do this in MASM:
911 if you declare, for example,
916 then the two lines of code
921 generate completely different opcodes, despite having
922 identical-looking syntaxes.
924 NASM avoids this undesirable situation by having a much simpler
925 syntax for memory references. The rule is simply that any access to
926 the \e{contents} of a memory location requires square brackets
927 around the address, and any access to the \e{address} of a variable
928 doesn't. So an instruction of the form \c{mov ax,foo} will
929 \e{always} refer to a compile-time constant, whether it's an \c{EQU}
930 or the address of a variable; and to access the \e{contents} of the
931 variable \c{bar}, you must code \c{mov ax,[bar]}.
933 This also means that NASM has no need for MASM's \i\c{OFFSET}
934 keyword, since the MASM code \c{mov ax,offset bar} means exactly the
935 same thing as NASM's \c{mov ax,bar}. If you're trying to get
936 large amounts of MASM code to assemble sensibly under NASM, you
937 can always code \c{%idefine offset} to make the preprocessor treat
938 the \c{OFFSET} keyword as a no-op.
940 This issue is even more confusing in \i\c{a86}, where declaring a
941 label with a trailing colon defines it to be a `label' as opposed to
942 a `variable' and causes \c{a86} to adopt NASM-style semantics; so in
943 \c{a86}, \c{mov ax,var} has different behaviour depending on whether
944 \c{var} was declared as \c{var: dw 0} (a label) or \c{var dw 0} (a
945 word-size variable). NASM is very simple by comparison:
946 \e{everything} is a label.
948 NASM, in the interests of simplicity, also does not support the
949 \i{hybrid syntaxes} supported by MASM and its clones, such as
950 \c{mov ax,table[bx]}, where a memory reference is denoted by one
951 portion outside square brackets and another portion inside. The
952 correct syntax for the above is \c{mov ax,[table+bx]}. Likewise,
953 \c{mov ax,es:[di]} is wrong and \c{mov ax,[es:di]} is right.
956 \S{qstypes} NASM Doesn't Store \i{Variable Types}
958 NASM, by design, chooses not to remember the types of variables you
959 declare. Whereas MASM will remember, on seeing \c{var dw 0}, that
960 you declared \c{var} as a word-size variable, and will then be able
961 to fill in the \i{ambiguity} in the size of the instruction \c{mov
962 var,2}, NASM will deliberately remember nothing about the symbol
963 \c{var} except where it begins, and so you must explicitly code
964 \c{mov word [var],2}.
966 For this reason, NASM doesn't support the \c{LODS}, \c{MOVS},
967 \c{STOS}, \c{SCAS}, \c{CMPS}, \c{INS}, or \c{OUTS} instructions,
968 but only supports the forms such as \c{LODSB}, \c{MOVSW}, and
969 \c{SCASD}, which explicitly specify the size of the components of
970 the strings being manipulated.
973 \S{qsassume} NASM Doesn't \i\c{ASSUME}
975 As part of NASM's drive for simplicity, it also does not support the
976 \c{ASSUME} directive. NASM will not keep track of what values you
977 choose to put in your segment registers, and will never
978 \e{automatically} generate a \i{segment override} prefix.
981 \S{qsmodel} NASM Doesn't Support \i{Memory Models}
983 NASM also does not have any directives to support different 16-bit
984 memory models. The programmer has to keep track of which functions
985 are supposed to be called with a \i{far call} and which with a
986 \i{near call}, and is responsible for putting the correct form of
987 \c{RET} instruction (\c{RETN} or \c{RETF}; NASM accepts \c{RET}
988 itself as an alternate form for \c{RETN}); in addition, the
989 programmer is responsible for coding CALL FAR instructions where
990 necessary when calling \e{external} functions, and must also keep
991 track of which external variable definitions are far and which are
995 \S{qsfpu} \i{Floating-Point} Differences
997 NASM uses different names to refer to floating-point registers from
998 MASM: where MASM would call them \c{ST(0)}, \c{ST(1)} and so on, and
999 \i\c{a86} would call them simply \c{0}, \c{1} and so on, NASM
1000 chooses to call them \c{st0}, \c{st1} etc.
1002 As of version 0.96, NASM now treats the instructions with
1003 \i{`nowait'} forms in the same way as MASM-compatible assemblers.
1004 The idiosyncratic treatment employed by 0.95 and earlier was based
1005 on a misunderstanding by the authors.
1008 \S{qsother} Other Differences
1010 For historical reasons, NASM uses the keyword \i\c{TWORD} where MASM
1011 and compatible assemblers use \i\c{TBYTE}.
1013 NASM does not declare \i{uninitialized storage} in the same way as
1014 MASM: where a MASM programmer might use \c{stack db 64 dup (?)},
1015 NASM requires \c{stack resb 64}, intended to be read as `reserve 64
1016 bytes'. For a limited amount of compatibility, since NASM treats
1017 \c{?} as a valid character in symbol names, you can code \c{? equ 0}
1018 and then writing \c{dw ?} will at least do something vaguely useful.
1019 \I\c{RESB}\i\c{DUP} is still not a supported syntax, however.
1021 In addition to all of this, macros and directives work completely
1022 differently to MASM. See \k{preproc} and \k{directive} for further
1026 \C{lang} The NASM Language
1028 \H{syntax} Layout of a NASM Source Line
1030 Like most assemblers, each NASM source line contains (unless it
1031 is a macro, a preprocessor directive or an assembler directive: see
1032 \k{preproc} and \k{directive}) some combination of the four fields
1034 \c label: instruction operands ; comment
1036 As usual, most of these fields are optional; the presence or absence
1037 of any combination of a label, an instruction and a comment is allowed.
1038 Of course, the operand field is either required or forbidden by the
1039 presence and nature of the instruction field.
1041 NASM uses backslash (\\) as the line continuation character; if a line
1042 ends with backslash, the next line is considered to be a part of the
1043 backslash-ended line.
1045 NASM places no restrictions on white space within a line: labels may
1046 have white space before them, or instructions may have no space
1047 before them, or anything. The \i{colon} after a label is also
1048 optional. (Note that this means that if you intend to code \c{lodsb}
1049 alone on a line, and type \c{lodab} by accident, then that's still a
1050 valid source line which does nothing but define a label. Running
1051 NASM with the command-line option
1052 \I{orphan-labels}\c{-w+orphan-labels} will cause it to warn you if
1053 you define a label alone on a line without a \i{trailing colon}.)
1055 \i{Valid characters} in labels are letters, numbers, \c{_}, \c{$},
1056 \c{#}, \c{@}, \c{~}, \c{.}, and \c{?}. The only characters which may
1057 be used as the \e{first} character of an identifier are letters,
1058 \c{.} (with special meaning: see \k{locallab}), \c{_} and \c{?}.
1059 An identifier may also be prefixed with a \I{$, prefix}\c{$} to
1060 indicate that it is intended to be read as an identifier and not a
1061 reserved word; thus, if some other module you are linking with
1062 defines a symbol called \c{eax}, you can refer to \c{$eax} in NASM
1063 code to distinguish the symbol from the register. Maximum length of
1064 an identifier is 4095 characters.
1066 The instruction field may contain any machine instruction: Pentium
1067 and P6 instructions, FPU instructions, MMX instructions and even
1068 undocumented instructions are all supported. The instruction may be
1069 prefixed by \c{LOCK}, \c{REP}, \c{REPE}/\c{REPZ} or
1070 \c{REPNE}/\c{REPNZ}, in the usual way. Explicit \I{address-size
1071 prefixes}address-size and \i{operand-size prefixes} \c{A16},
1072 \c{A32}, \c{O16} and \c{O32} are provided - one example of their use
1073 is given in \k{mixsize}. You can also use the name of a \I{segment
1074 override}segment register as an instruction prefix: coding
1075 \c{es mov [bx],ax} is equivalent to coding \c{mov [es:bx],ax}. We
1076 recommend the latter syntax, since it is consistent with other
1077 syntactic features of the language, but for instructions such as
1078 \c{LODSB}, which has no operands and yet can require a segment
1079 override, there is no clean syntactic way to proceed apart from
1082 An instruction is not required to use a prefix: prefixes such as
1083 \c{CS}, \c{A32}, \c{LOCK} or \c{REPE} can appear on a line by
1084 themselves, and NASM will just generate the prefix bytes.
1086 In addition to actual machine instructions, NASM also supports a
1087 number of pseudo-instructions, described in \k{pseudop}.
1089 Instruction \i{operands} may take a number of forms: they can be
1090 registers, described simply by the register name (e.g. \c{ax},
1091 \c{bp}, \c{ebx}, \c{cr0}: NASM does not use the \c{gas}-style
1092 syntax in which register names must be prefixed by a \c{%} sign), or
1093 they can be \i{effective addresses} (see \k{effaddr}), constants
1094 (\k{const}) or expressions (\k{expr}).
1096 For \i{floating-point} instructions, NASM accepts a wide range of
1097 syntaxes: you can use two-operand forms like MASM supports, or you
1098 can use NASM's native single-operand forms in most cases. Details of
1099 all forms of each supported instruction are given in
1100 \k{iref}. For example, you can code:
1102 \c fadd st1 ; this sets st0 := st0 + st1
1103 \c fadd st0,st1 ; so does this
1105 \c fadd st1,st0 ; this sets st1 := st1 + st0
1106 \c fadd to st1 ; so does this
1108 Almost any floating-point instruction that references memory must
1109 use one of the prefixes \i\c{DWORD}, \i\c{QWORD} or \i\c{TWORD} to
1110 indicate what size of \i{memory operand} it refers to.
1113 \H{pseudop} \i{Pseudo-Instructions}
1115 Pseudo-instructions are things which, though not real x86 machine
1116 instructions, are used in the instruction field anyway because
1117 that's the most convenient place to put them. The current
1118 pseudo-instructions are \i\c{DB}, \i\c{DW}, \i\c{DD}, \i\c{DQ} and
1119 \i\c{DT}, their \i{uninitialized} counterparts \i\c{RESB},
1120 \i\c{RESW}, \i\c{RESD}, \i\c{RESQ} and \i\c{REST}, the \i\c{INCBIN}
1121 command, the \i\c{EQU} command, and the \i\c{TIMES} prefix.
1124 \S{db} \c{DB} and friends: Declaring initialized Data
1126 \i\c{DB}, \i\c{DW}, \i\c{DD}, \i\c{DQ} and \i\c{DT} are used, much
1127 as in MASM, to declare initialized data in the output file. They can
1128 be invoked in a wide range of ways:
1129 \I{floating-point}\I{character constant}\I{string constant}
1131 \c db 0x55 ; just the byte 0x55
1132 \c db 0x55,0x56,0x57 ; three bytes in succession
1133 \c db 'a',0x55 ; character constants are OK
1134 \c db 'hello',13,10,'$' ; so are string constants
1135 \c dw 0x1234 ; 0x34 0x12
1136 \c dw 'a' ; 0x61 0x00 (it's just a number)
1137 \c dw 'ab' ; 0x61 0x62 (character constant)
1138 \c dw 'abc' ; 0x61 0x62 0x63 0x00 (string)
1139 \c dd 0x12345678 ; 0x78 0x56 0x34 0x12
1140 \c dd 1.234567e20 ; floating-point constant
1141 \c dq 1.234567e20 ; double-precision float
1142 \c dt 1.234567e20 ; extended-precision float
1144 \c{DQ} and \c{DT} do not accept \i{numeric constants} or string
1145 constants as operands.
1148 \S{resb} \c{RESB} and friends: Declaring \i{Uninitialized} Data
1150 \i\c{RESB}, \i\c{RESW}, \i\c{RESD}, \i\c{RESQ} and \i\c{REST} are
1151 designed to be used in the BSS section of a module: they declare
1152 \e{uninitialized} storage space. Each takes a single operand, which
1153 is the number of bytes, words, doublewords or whatever to reserve.
1154 As stated in \k{qsother}, NASM does not support the MASM/TASM syntax
1155 of reserving uninitialized space by writing \I\c{?}\c{DW ?} or
1156 similar things: this is what it does instead. The operand to a
1157 \c{RESB}-type pseudo-instruction is a \i\e{critical expression}: see
1162 \c buffer: resb 64 ; reserve 64 bytes
1163 \c wordvar: resw 1 ; reserve a word
1164 \c realarray resq 10 ; array of ten reals
1167 \S{incbin} \i\c{INCBIN}: Including External \i{Binary Files}
1169 \c{INCBIN} is borrowed from the old Amiga assembler \i{DevPac}: it
1170 includes a binary file verbatim into the output file. This can be
1171 handy for (for example) including \i{graphics} and \i{sound} data
1172 directly into a game executable file. It can be called in one of
1175 \c incbin "file.dat" ; include the whole file
1176 \c incbin "file.dat",1024 ; skip the first 1024 bytes
1177 \c incbin "file.dat",1024,512 ; skip the first 1024, and
1178 \c ; actually include at most 512
1181 \S{equ} \i\c{EQU}: Defining Constants
1183 \c{EQU} defines a symbol to a given constant value: when \c{EQU} is
1184 used, the source line must contain a label. The action of \c{EQU} is
1185 to define the given label name to the value of its (only) operand.
1186 This definition is absolute, and cannot change later. So, for
1189 \c message db 'hello, world'
1190 \c msglen equ $-message
1192 defines \c{msglen} to be the constant 12. \c{msglen} may not then be
1193 redefined later. This is not a \i{preprocessor} definition either:
1194 the value of \c{msglen} is evaluated \e{once}, using the value of
1195 \c{$} (see \k{expr} for an explanation of \c{$}) at the point of
1196 definition, rather than being evaluated wherever it is referenced
1197 and using the value of \c{$} at the point of reference. Note that
1198 the operand to an \c{EQU} is also a \i{critical expression}
1202 \S{times} \i\c{TIMES}: \i{Repeating} Instructions or Data
1204 The \c{TIMES} prefix causes the instruction to be assembled multiple
1205 times. This is partly present as NASM's equivalent of the \i\c{DUP}
1206 syntax supported by \i{MASM}-compatible assemblers, in that you can
1209 \c zerobuf: times 64 db 0
1211 or similar things; but \c{TIMES} is more versatile than that. The
1212 argument to \c{TIMES} is not just a numeric constant, but a numeric
1213 \e{expression}, so you can do things like
1215 \c buffer: db 'hello, world'
1216 \c times 64-$+buffer db ' '
1218 which will store exactly enough spaces to make the total length of
1219 \c{buffer} up to 64. Finally, \c{TIMES} can be applied to ordinary
1220 instructions, so you can code trivial \i{unrolled loops} in it:
1224 Note that there is no effective difference between \c{times 100 resb
1225 1} and \c{resb 100}, except that the latter will be assembled about
1226 100 times faster due to the internal structure of the assembler.
1228 The operand to \c{TIMES}, like that of \c{EQU} and those of \c{RESB}
1229 and friends, is a critical expression (\k{crit}).
1231 Note also that \c{TIMES} can't be applied to \i{macros}: the reason
1232 for this is that \c{TIMES} is processed after the macro phase, which
1233 allows the argument to \c{TIMES} to contain expressions such as
1234 \c{64-$+buffer} as above. To repeat more than one line of code, or a
1235 complex macro, use the preprocessor \i\c{%rep} directive.
1238 \H{effaddr} Effective Addresses
1240 An \i{effective address} is any operand to an instruction which
1241 \I{memory reference}references memory. Effective addresses, in NASM,
1242 have a very simple syntax: they consist of an expression evaluating
1243 to the desired address, enclosed in \i{square brackets}. For
1248 \c mov ax,[wordvar+1]
1249 \c mov ax,[es:wordvar+bx]
1251 Anything not conforming to this simple system is not a valid memory
1252 reference in NASM, for example \c{es:wordvar[bx]}.
1254 More complicated effective addresses, such as those involving more
1255 than one register, work in exactly the same way:
1257 \c mov eax,[ebx*2+ecx+offset]
1260 NASM is capable of doing \i{algebra} on these effective addresses,
1261 so that things which don't necessarily \e{look} legal are perfectly
1264 \c mov eax,[ebx*5] ; assembles as [ebx*4+ebx]
1265 \c mov eax,[label1*2-label2] ; ie [label1+(label1-label2)]
1267 Some forms of effective address have more than one assembled form;
1268 in most such cases NASM will generate the smallest form it can. For
1269 example, there are distinct assembled forms for the 32-bit effective
1270 addresses \c{[eax*2+0]} and \c{[eax+eax]}, and NASM will generally
1271 generate the latter on the grounds that the former requires four
1272 bytes to store a zero offset.
1274 NASM has a hinting mechanism which will cause \c{[eax+ebx]} and
1275 \c{[ebx+eax]} to generate different opcodes; this is occasionally
1276 useful because \c{[esi+ebp]} and \c{[ebp+esi]} have different
1277 default segment registers.
1279 However, you can force NASM to generate an effective address in a
1280 particular form by the use of the keywords \c{BYTE}, \c{WORD},
1281 \c{DWORD} and \c{NOSPLIT}. If you need \c{[eax+3]} to be assembled
1282 using a double-word offset field instead of the one byte NASM will
1283 normally generate, you can code \c{[dword eax+3]}. Similarly, you
1284 can force NASM to use a byte offset for a small value which it
1285 hasn't seen on the first pass (see \k{crit} for an example of such a
1286 code fragment) by using \c{[byte eax+offset]}. As special cases,
1287 \c{[byte eax]} will code \c{[eax+0]} with a byte offset of zero, and
1288 \c{[dword eax]} will code it with a double-word offset of zero. The
1289 normal form, \c{[eax]}, will be coded with no offset field.
1291 The form described in the previous paragraph is also useful if you
1292 are trying to access data in a 32-bit segment from within 16 bit code.
1293 For more information on this see the section on mixed-size addressing
1294 (\k{mixaddr}). In particular, if you need to access data with a known
1295 offset that is larger than will fit in a 16-bit value, if you don't
1296 specify that it is a dword offset, nasm will cause the high word of
1297 the offset to be lost.
1299 Similarly, NASM will split \c{[eax*2]} into \c{[eax+eax]} because
1300 that allows the offset field to be absent and space to be saved; in
1301 fact, it will also split \c{[eax*2+offset]} into
1302 \c{[eax+eax+offset]}. You can combat this behaviour by the use of
1303 the \c{NOSPLIT} keyword: \c{[nosplit eax*2]} will force
1304 \c{[eax*2+0]} to be generated literally.
1307 \H{const} \i{Constants}
1309 NASM understands four different types of constant: numeric,
1310 character, string and floating-point.
1313 \S{numconst} \i{Numeric Constants}
1315 A numeric constant is simply a number. NASM allows you to specify
1316 numbers in a variety of number bases, in a variety of ways: you can
1317 suffix \c{H}, \c{Q} or \c{O}, and \c{B} for \i{hex}, \i{octal} and \i{binary},
1318 or you can prefix \c{0x} for hex in the style of C, or you can
1319 prefix \c{$} for hex in the style of Borland Pascal. Note, though,
1320 that the \I{$, prefix}\c{$} prefix does double duty as a prefix on
1321 identifiers (see \k{syntax}), so a hex number prefixed with a \c{$}
1322 sign must have a digit after the \c{$} rather than a letter.
1326 \c mov ax,100 ; decimal
1327 \c mov ax,0a2h ; hex
1328 \c mov ax,$0a2 ; hex again: the 0 is required
1329 \c mov ax,0xa2 ; hex yet again
1330 \c mov ax,777q ; octal
1331 \c mov ax,777o ; octal again
1332 \c mov ax,10010011b ; binary
1335 \S{chrconst} \i{Character Constants}
1337 A character constant consists of up to four characters enclosed in
1338 either single or double quotes. The type of quote makes no
1339 difference to NASM, except of course that surrounding the constant
1340 with single quotes allows double quotes to appear within it and vice
1343 A character constant with more than one character will be arranged
1344 with \i{little-endian} order in mind: if you code
1348 then the constant generated is not \c{0x61626364}, but
1349 \c{0x64636261}, so that if you were then to store the value into
1350 memory, it would read \c{abcd} rather than \c{dcba}. This is also
1351 the sense of character constants understood by the Pentium's
1352 \i\c{CPUID} instruction (see \k{insCPUID}).
1355 \S{strconst} String Constants
1357 String constants are only acceptable to some pseudo-instructions,
1358 namely the \I\c{DW}\I\c{DD}\I\c{DQ}\I\c{DT}\i\c{DB} family and
1361 A string constant looks like a character constant, only longer. It
1362 is treated as a concatenation of maximum-size character constants
1363 for the conditions. So the following are equivalent:
1365 \c db 'hello' ; string constant
1366 \c db 'h','e','l','l','o' ; equivalent character constants
1368 And the following are also equivalent:
1370 \c dd 'ninechars' ; doubleword string constant
1371 \c dd 'nine','char','s' ; becomes three doublewords
1372 \c db 'ninechars',0,0,0 ; and really looks like this
1374 Note that when used as an operand to \c{db}, a constant like
1375 \c{'ab'} is treated as a string constant despite being short enough
1376 to be a character constant, because otherwise \c{db 'ab'} would have
1377 the same effect as \c{db 'a'}, which would be silly. Similarly,
1378 three-character or four-character constants are treated as strings
1379 when they are operands to \c{dw}.
1382 \S{fltconst} \I{floating-point, constants}Floating-Point Constants
1384 \i{Floating-point} constants are acceptable only as arguments to
1385 \i\c{DD}, \i\c{DQ} and \i\c{DT}. They are expressed in the
1386 traditional form: digits, then a period, then optionally more
1387 digits, then optionally an \c{E} followed by an exponent. The period
1388 is mandatory, so that NASM can distinguish between \c{dd 1}, which
1389 declares an integer constant, and \c{dd 1.0} which declares a
1390 floating-point constant.
1394 \c dd 1.2 ; an easy one
1395 \c dq 1.e10 ; 10,000,000,000
1396 \c dq 1.e+10 ; synonymous with 1.e10
1397 \c dq 1.e-10 ; 0.000 000 000 1
1398 \c dt 3.141592653589793238462 ; pi
1400 NASM cannot do compile-time arithmetic on floating-point constants.
1401 This is because NASM is designed to be portable - although it always
1402 generates code to run on x86 processors, the assembler itself can
1403 run on any system with an ANSI C compiler. Therefore, the assembler
1404 cannot guarantee the presence of a floating-point unit capable of
1405 handling the \i{Intel number formats}, and so for NASM to be able to
1406 do floating arithmetic it would have to include its own complete set
1407 of floating-point routines, which would significantly increase the
1408 size of the assembler for very little benefit.
1411 \H{expr} \i{Expressions}
1413 Expressions in NASM are similar in syntax to those in C.
1415 NASM does not guarantee the size of the integers used to evaluate
1416 expressions at compile time: since NASM can compile and run on
1417 64-bit systems quite happily, don't assume that expressions are
1418 evaluated in 32-bit registers and so try to make deliberate use of
1419 \i{integer overflow}. It might not always work. The only thing NASM
1420 will guarantee is what's guaranteed by ANSI C: you always have \e{at
1421 least} 32 bits to work in.
1423 NASM supports two special tokens in expressions, allowing
1424 calculations to involve the current assembly position: the
1425 \I{$, here}\c{$} and \i\c{$$} tokens. \c{$} evaluates to the assembly
1426 position at the beginning of the line containing the expression; so
1427 you can code an \i{infinite loop} using \c{JMP $}. \c{$$} evaluates
1428 to the beginning of the current section; so you can tell how far
1429 into the section you are by using \c{($-$$)}.
1431 The arithmetic \i{operators} provided by NASM are listed here, in
1432 increasing order of \i{precedence}.
1435 \S{expor} \i\c{|}: \i{Bitwise OR} Operator
1437 The \c{|} operator gives a bitwise OR, exactly as performed by the
1438 \c{OR} machine instruction. Bitwise OR is the lowest-priority
1439 arithmetic operator supported by NASM.
1442 \S{expxor} \i\c{^}: \i{Bitwise XOR} Operator
1444 \c{^} provides the bitwise XOR operation.
1447 \S{expand} \i\c{&}: \i{Bitwise AND} Operator
1449 \c{&} provides the bitwise AND operation.
1452 \S{expshift} \i\c{<<} and \i\c{>>}: \i{Bit Shift} Operators
1454 \c{<<} gives a bit-shift to the left, just as it does in C. So \c{5<<3}
1455 evaluates to 5 times 8, or 40. \c{>>} gives a bit-shift to the
1456 right; in NASM, such a shift is \e{always} unsigned, so that
1457 the bits shifted in from the left-hand end are filled with zero
1458 rather than a sign-extension of the previous highest bit.
1461 \S{expplmi} \I{+ opaddition}\c{+} and \I{- opsubtraction}\c{-}:
1462 \i{Addition} and \i{Subtraction} Operators
1464 The \c{+} and \c{-} operators do perfectly ordinary addition and
1468 \S{expmul} \i\c{*}, \i\c{/}, \i\c{//}, \i\c{%} and \i\c{%%}:
1469 \i{Multiplication} and \i{Division}
1471 \c{*} is the multiplication operator. \c{/} and \c{//} are both
1472 division operators: \c{/} is \i{unsigned division} and \c{//} is
1473 \i{signed division}. Similarly, \c{%} and \c{%%} provide \I{unsigned
1474 modulo}\I{modulo operators}unsigned and
1475 \i{signed modulo} operators respectively.
1477 NASM, like ANSI C, provides no guarantees about the sensible
1478 operation of the signed modulo operator.
1480 Since the \c{%} character is used extensively by the macro
1481 \i{preprocessor}, you should ensure that both the signed and unsigned
1482 modulo operators are followed by white space wherever they appear.
1485 \S{expmul} \i{Unary Operators}: \I{+ opunary}\c{+}, \I{- opunary}\c{-},
1486 \i\c{~} and \i\c{SEG}
1488 The highest-priority operators in NASM's expression grammar are
1489 those which only apply to one argument. \c{-} negates its operand,
1490 \c{+} does nothing (it's provided for symmetry with \c{-}), \c{~}
1491 computes the \i{one's complement} of its operand, and \c{SEG}
1492 provides the \i{segment address} of its operand (explained in more
1493 detail in \k{segwrt}).
1496 \H{segwrt} \i\c{SEG} and \i\c{WRT}
1498 When writing large 16-bit programs, which must be split into
1499 multiple \i{segments}, it is often necessary to be able to refer to
1500 the \I{segment address}segment part of the address of a symbol. NASM
1501 supports the \c{SEG} operator to perform this function.
1503 The \c{SEG} operator returns the \i\e{preferred} segment base of a
1504 symbol, defined as the segment base relative to which the offset of
1505 the symbol makes sense. So the code
1507 \c mov ax,seg symbol
1511 will load \c{ES:BX} with a valid pointer to the symbol \c{symbol}.
1513 Things can be more complex than this: since 16-bit segments and
1514 \i{groups} may \I{overlapping segments}overlap, you might occasionally
1515 want to refer to some symbol using a different segment base from the
1516 preferred one. NASM lets you do this, by the use of the \c{WRT}
1517 (With Reference To) keyword. So you can do things like
1519 \c mov ax,weird_seg ; weird_seg is a segment base
1521 \c mov bx,symbol wrt weird_seg
1523 to load \c{ES:BX} with a different, but functionally equivalent,
1524 pointer to the symbol \c{symbol}.
1526 NASM supports far (inter-segment) calls and jumps by means of the
1527 syntax \c{call segment:offset}, where \c{segment} and \c{offset}
1528 both represent immediate values. So to call a far procedure, you
1529 could code either of
1531 \c call (seg procedure):procedure
1532 \c call weird_seg:(procedure wrt weird_seg)
1534 (The parentheses are included for clarity, to show the intended
1535 parsing of the above instructions. They are not necessary in
1538 NASM supports the syntax \I\c{CALL FAR}\c{call far procedure} as a
1539 synonym for the first of the above usages. \c{JMP} works identically
1540 to \c{CALL} in these examples.
1542 To declare a \i{far pointer} to a data item in a data segment, you
1545 \c dw symbol, seg symbol
1547 NASM supports no convenient synonym for this, though you can always
1548 invent one using the macro processor.
1551 \H{strict} \i\c{STRICT}: Inhibiting Optimization
1553 When assembling with the optimizer set to level 2 or higher (see
1554 \k{opt-On}), NASM will use size specifiers (\c{BYTE}, \c{WORD},
1555 \c{DWORD}, \c{QWORD}, or \c{TWORD}), but will give them the smallest
1556 possible size. The keyword \c{STRICT} can be used to inhibit
1557 optimization and force a particular operand to be emitted in the
1558 specified size. For example, with the optimizer on, and in
1563 is encoded in three bytes \c{66 6A 21}, whereas
1565 \c push strict dword 33
1567 is encoded in six bytes, with a full dword immediate operand \c{66 68
1570 With the optimizer off, the same code (six bytes) is generated whether
1571 the \c{STRICT} keyword was used or not.
1574 \H{crit} \i{Critical Expressions}
1576 A limitation of NASM is that it is a \i{two-pass assembler}; unlike
1577 TASM and others, it will always do exactly two \I{passes}\i{assembly
1578 passes}. Therefore it is unable to cope with source files that are
1579 complex enough to require three or more passes.
1581 The first pass is used to determine the size of all the assembled
1582 code and data, so that the second pass, when generating all the
1583 code, knows all the symbol addresses the code refers to. So one
1584 thing NASM can't handle is code whose size depends on the value of a
1585 symbol declared after the code in question. For example,
1587 \c times (label-$) db 0
1588 \c label: db 'Where am I?'
1590 The argument to \i\c{TIMES} in this case could equally legally
1591 evaluate to anything at all; NASM will reject this example because
1592 it cannot tell the size of the \c{TIMES} line when it first sees it.
1593 It will just as firmly reject the slightly \I{paradox}paradoxical
1596 \c times (label-$+1) db 0
1597 \c label: db 'NOW where am I?'
1599 in which \e{any} value for the \c{TIMES} argument is by definition
1602 NASM rejects these examples by means of a concept called a
1603 \e{critical expression}, which is defined to be an expression whose
1604 value is required to be computable in the first pass, and which must
1605 therefore depend only on symbols defined before it. The argument to
1606 the \c{TIMES} prefix is a critical expression; for the same reason,
1607 the arguments to the \i\c{RESB} family of pseudo-instructions are
1608 also critical expressions.
1610 Critical expressions can crop up in other contexts as well: consider
1614 \c symbol1 equ symbol2
1617 On the first pass, NASM cannot determine the value of \c{symbol1},
1618 because \c{symbol1} is defined to be equal to \c{symbol2} which NASM
1619 hasn't seen yet. On the second pass, therefore, when it encounters
1620 the line \c{mov ax,symbol1}, it is unable to generate the code for
1621 it because it still doesn't know the value of \c{symbol1}. On the
1622 next line, it would see the \i\c{EQU} again and be able to determine
1623 the value of \c{symbol1}, but by then it would be too late.
1625 NASM avoids this problem by defining the right-hand side of an
1626 \c{EQU} statement to be a critical expression, so the definition of
1627 \c{symbol1} would be rejected in the first pass.
1629 There is a related issue involving \i{forward references}: consider
1632 \c mov eax,[ebx+offset]
1635 NASM, on pass one, must calculate the size of the instruction \c{mov
1636 eax,[ebx+offset]} without knowing the value of \c{offset}. It has no
1637 way of knowing that \c{offset} is small enough to fit into a
1638 one-byte offset field and that it could therefore get away with
1639 generating a shorter form of the \i{effective-address} encoding; for
1640 all it knows, in pass one, \c{offset} could be a symbol in the code
1641 segment, and it might need the full four-byte form. So it is forced
1642 to compute the size of the instruction to accommodate a four-byte
1643 address part. In pass two, having made this decision, it is now
1644 forced to honour it and keep the instruction large, so the code
1645 generated in this case is not as small as it could have been. This
1646 problem can be solved by defining \c{offset} before using it, or by
1647 forcing byte size in the effective address by coding \c{[byte
1650 Note that use of the \c{-On} switch (with n>=2) makes some of the above
1651 no longer true (see \k{opt-On}).
1653 \H{locallab} \i{Local Labels}
1655 NASM gives special treatment to symbols beginning with a \i{period}.
1656 A label beginning with a single period is treated as a \e{local}
1657 label, which means that it is associated with the previous non-local
1658 label. So, for example:
1660 \c label1 ; some code
1668 \c label2 ; some code
1676 In the above code fragment, each \c{JNE} instruction jumps to the
1677 line immediately before it, because the two definitions of \c{.loop}
1678 are kept separate by virtue of each being associated with the
1679 previous non-local label.
1681 This form of local label handling is borrowed from the old Amiga
1682 assembler \i{DevPac}; however, NASM goes one step further, in
1683 allowing access to local labels from other parts of the code. This
1684 is achieved by means of \e{defining} a local label in terms of the
1685 previous non-local label: the first definition of \c{.loop} above is
1686 really defining a symbol called \c{label1.loop}, and the second
1687 defines a symbol called \c{label2.loop}. So, if you really needed
1690 \c label3 ; some more code
1695 Sometimes it is useful - in a macro, for instance - to be able to
1696 define a label which can be referenced from anywhere but which
1697 doesn't interfere with the normal local-label mechanism. Such a
1698 label can't be non-local because it would interfere with subsequent
1699 definitions of, and references to, local labels; and it can't be
1700 local because the macro that defined it wouldn't know the label's
1701 full name. NASM therefore introduces a third type of label, which is
1702 probably only useful in macro definitions: if a label begins with
1703 the \I{label prefix}special prefix \i\c{..@}, then it does nothing
1704 to the local label mechanism. So you could code
1706 \c label1: ; a non-local label
1707 \c .local: ; this is really label1.local
1708 \c ..@foo: ; this is a special symbol
1709 \c label2: ; another non-local label
1710 \c .local: ; this is really label2.local
1712 \c jmp ..@foo ; this will jump three lines up
1714 NASM has the capacity to define other special symbols beginning with
1715 a double period: for example, \c{..start} is used to specify the
1716 entry point in the \c{obj} output format (see \k{dotdotstart}).
1719 \C{preproc} The NASM \i{Preprocessor}
1721 NASM contains a powerful \i{macro processor}, which supports
1722 conditional assembly, multi-level file inclusion, two forms of macro
1723 (single-line and multi-line), and a `context stack' mechanism for
1724 extra macro power. Preprocessor directives all begin with a \c{%}
1727 The preprocessor collapses all lines which end with a backslash (\\)
1728 character into a single line. Thus:
1730 \c %define THIS_VERY_LONG_MACRO_NAME_IS_DEFINED_TO \\
1733 will work like a single-line macro without the backslash-newline
1736 \H{slmacro} \i{Single-Line Macros}
1738 \S{define} The Normal Way: \I\c{%idefine}\i\c{%define}
1740 Single-line macros are defined using the \c{%define} preprocessor
1741 directive. The definitions work in a similar way to C; so you can do
1744 \c %define ctrl 0x1F &
1745 \c %define param(a,b) ((a)+(a)*(b))
1747 \c mov byte [param(2,ebx)], ctrl 'D'
1749 which will expand to
1751 \c mov byte [(2)+(2)*(ebx)], 0x1F & 'D'
1753 When the expansion of a single-line macro contains tokens which
1754 invoke another macro, the expansion is performed at invocation time,
1755 not at definition time. Thus the code
1757 \c %define a(x) 1+b(x)
1762 will evaluate in the expected way to \c{mov ax,1+2*8}, even though
1763 the macro \c{b} wasn't defined at the time of definition of \c{a}.
1765 Macros defined with \c{%define} are \i{case sensitive}: after
1766 \c{%define foo bar}, only \c{foo} will expand to \c{bar}: \c{Foo} or
1767 \c{FOO} will not. By using \c{%idefine} instead of \c{%define} (the
1768 `i' stands for `insensitive') you can define all the case variants
1769 of a macro at once, so that \c{%idefine foo bar} would cause
1770 \c{foo}, \c{Foo}, \c{FOO}, \c{fOO} and so on all to expand to
1773 There is a mechanism which detects when a macro call has occurred as
1774 a result of a previous expansion of the same macro, to guard against
1775 \i{circular references} and infinite loops. If this happens, the
1776 preprocessor will only expand the first occurrence of the macro.
1779 \c %define a(x) 1+a(x)
1783 the macro \c{a(3)} will expand once, becoming \c{1+a(3)}, and will
1784 then expand no further. This behaviour can be useful: see \k{32c}
1785 for an example of its use.
1787 You can \I{overloading, single-line macros}overload single-line
1788 macros: if you write
1790 \c %define foo(x) 1+x
1791 \c %define foo(x,y) 1+x*y
1793 the preprocessor will be able to handle both types of macro call,
1794 by counting the parameters you pass; so \c{foo(3)} will become
1795 \c{1+3} whereas \c{foo(ebx,2)} will become \c{1+ebx*2}. However, if
1800 then no other definition of \c{foo} will be accepted: a macro with
1801 no parameters prohibits the definition of the same name as a macro
1802 \e{with} parameters, and vice versa.
1804 This doesn't prevent single-line macros being \e{redefined}: you can
1805 perfectly well define a macro with
1809 and then re-define it later in the same source file with
1813 Then everywhere the macro \c{foo} is invoked, it will be expanded
1814 according to the most recent definition. This is particularly useful
1815 when defining single-line macros with \c{%assign} (see \k{assign}).
1817 You can \i{pre-define} single-line macros using the `-d' option on
1818 the NASM command line: see \k{opt-d}.
1821 \S{xdefine} Enhancing %define: \I\c{%xidefine}\i\c{%xdefine}
1823 To have a reference to an embedded single-line macro resolved at the
1824 time that it is embedded, as opposed to when the calling macro is
1825 expanded, you need a different mechanism to the one offered by
1826 \c{%define}. The solution is to use \c{%xdefine}, or it's
1827 \I{case sensitive}case-insensitive counterpart \c{%xidefine}.
1829 Suppose you have the following code:
1832 \c %define isFalse isTrue
1841 In this case, \c{val1} is equal to 0, and \c{val2} is equal to 1.
1842 This is because, when a single-line macro is defined using
1843 \c{%define}, it is expanded only when it is called. As \c{isFalse}
1844 expands to \c{isTrue}, the expansion will be the current value of
1845 \c{isTrue}. The first time it is called that is 0, and the second
1848 If you wanted \c{isFalse} to expand to the value assigned to the
1849 embedded macro \c{isTrue} at the time that \c{isFalse} was defined,
1850 you need to change the above code to use \c{%xdefine}.
1852 \c %xdefine isTrue 1
1853 \c %xdefine isFalse isTrue
1854 \c %xdefine isTrue 0
1858 \c %xdefine isTrue 1
1862 Now, each time that \c{isFalse} is called, it expands to 1,
1863 as that is what the embedded macro \c{isTrue} expanded to at
1864 the time that \c{isFalse} was defined.
1867 \S{concat%+} Concatenating Single Line Macro Tokens: \i\c{%+}
1869 Individual tokens in single line macros can be concatenated, to produce
1870 longer tokens for later processing. This can be useful if there are
1871 several similar macros that perform similar functions.
1873 As an example, consider the following:
1875 \c %define BDASTART 400h ; Start of BIOS data area
1877 \c struc tBIOSDA ; its structure
1883 Now, if we need to access the elements of tBIOSDA in different places,
1886 \c mov ax,BDASTART + tBIOSDA.COM1addr
1887 \c mov bx,BDASTART + tBIOSDA.COM2addr
1889 This will become pretty ugly (and tedious) if used in many places, and
1890 can be reduced in size significantly by using the following macro:
1892 \c ; Macro to access BIOS variables by their names (from tBDA):
1894 \c %define BDA(x) BDASTART + tBIOSDA. %+ x
1896 Now the above code can be written as:
1898 \c mov ax,BDA(COM1addr)
1899 \c mov bx,BDA(COM2addr)
1901 Using this feature, we can simplify references to a lot of macros (and,
1902 in turn, reduce typing errors).
1905 \S{undef} Undefining macros: \i\c{%undef}
1907 Single-line macros can be removed with the \c{%undef} command. For
1908 example, the following sequence:
1915 will expand to the instruction \c{mov eax, foo}, since after
1916 \c{%undef} the macro \c{foo} is no longer defined.
1918 Macros that would otherwise be pre-defined can be undefined on the
1919 command-line using the `-u' option on the NASM command line: see
1923 \S{assign} \i{Preprocessor Variables}: \i\c{%assign}
1925 An alternative way to define single-line macros is by means of the
1926 \c{%assign} command (and its \I{case sensitive}case-insensitive
1927 counterpart \i\c{%iassign}, which differs from \c{%assign} in
1928 exactly the same way that \c{%idefine} differs from \c{%define}).
1930 \c{%assign} is used to define single-line macros which take no
1931 parameters and have a numeric value. This value can be specified in
1932 the form of an expression, and it will be evaluated once, when the
1933 \c{%assign} directive is processed.
1935 Like \c{%define}, macros defined using \c{%assign} can be re-defined
1936 later, so you can do things like
1940 to increment the numeric value of a macro.
1942 \c{%assign} is useful for controlling the termination of \c{%rep}
1943 preprocessor loops: see \k{rep} for an example of this. Another
1944 use for \c{%assign} is given in \k{16c} and \k{32c}.
1946 The expression passed to \c{%assign} is a \i{critical expression}
1947 (see \k{crit}), and must also evaluate to a pure number (rather than
1948 a relocatable reference such as a code or data address, or anything
1949 involving a register).
1952 \H{strlen} \i{String Handling in Macros}: \i\c{%strlen} and \i\c{%substr}
1954 It's often useful to be able to handle strings in macros. NASM
1955 supports two simple string handling macro operators from which
1956 more complex operations can be constructed.
1959 \S{strlen} \i{String Length}: \i\c{%strlen}
1961 The \c{%strlen} macro is like \c{%assign} macro in that it creates
1962 (or redefines) a numeric value to a macro. The difference is that
1963 with \c{%strlen}, the numeric value is the length of a string. An
1964 example of the use of this would be:
1966 \c %strlen charcnt 'my string'
1968 In this example, \c{charcnt} would receive the value 8, just as
1969 if an \c{%assign} had been used. In this example, \c{'my string'}
1970 was a literal string but it could also have been a single-line
1971 macro that expands to a string, as in the following example:
1973 \c %define sometext 'my string'
1974 \c %strlen charcnt sometext
1976 As in the first case, this would result in \c{charcnt} being
1977 assigned the value of 8.
1980 \S{substr} \i{Sub-strings}: \i\c{%substr}
1982 Individual letters in strings can be extracted using \c{%substr}.
1983 An example of its use is probably more useful than the description:
1985 \c %substr mychar 'xyz' 1 ; equivalent to %define mychar 'x'
1986 \c %substr mychar 'xyz' 2 ; equivalent to %define mychar 'y'
1987 \c %substr mychar 'xyz' 3 ; equivalent to %define mychar 'z'
1989 In this example, mychar gets the value of 'y'. As with \c{%strlen}
1990 (see \k{strlen}), the first parameter is the single-line macro to
1991 be created and the second is the string. The third parameter
1992 specifies which character is to be selected. Note that the first
1993 index is 1, not 0 and the last index is equal to the value that
1994 \c{%strlen} would assign given the same string. Index values out
1995 of range result in an empty string.
1998 \H{mlmacro} \i{Multi-Line Macros}: \I\c{%imacro}\i\c{%macro}
2000 Multi-line macros are much more like the type of macro seen in MASM
2001 and TASM: a multi-line macro definition in NASM looks something like
2004 \c %macro prologue 1
2012 This defines a C-like function prologue as a macro: so you would
2013 invoke the macro with a call such as
2015 \c myfunc: prologue 12
2017 which would expand to the three lines of code
2023 The number \c{1} after the macro name in the \c{%macro} line defines
2024 the number of parameters the macro \c{prologue} expects to receive.
2025 The use of \c{%1} inside the macro definition refers to the first
2026 parameter to the macro call. With a macro taking more than one
2027 parameter, subsequent parameters would be referred to as \c{%2},
2030 Multi-line macros, like single-line macros, are \i{case-sensitive},
2031 unless you define them using the alternative directive \c{%imacro}.
2033 If you need to pass a comma as \e{part} of a parameter to a
2034 multi-line macro, you can do that by enclosing the entire parameter
2035 in \I{braces, around macro parameters}braces. So you could code
2044 \c silly 'a', letter_a ; letter_a: db 'a'
2045 \c silly 'ab', string_ab ; string_ab: db 'ab'
2046 \c silly {13,10}, crlf ; crlf: db 13,10
2049 \S{mlmacover} Overloading Multi-Line Macros\I{overloading, multi-line macros}
2051 As with single-line macros, multi-line macros can be overloaded by
2052 defining the same macro name several times with different numbers of
2053 parameters. This time, no exception is made for macros with no
2054 parameters at all. So you could define
2056 \c %macro prologue 0
2063 to define an alternative form of the function prologue which
2064 allocates no local stack space.
2066 Sometimes, however, you might want to `overload' a machine
2067 instruction; for example, you might want to define
2076 so that you could code
2078 \c push ebx ; this line is not a macro call
2079 \c push eax,ecx ; but this one is
2081 Ordinarily, NASM will give a warning for the first of the above two
2082 lines, since \c{push} is now defined to be a macro, and is being
2083 invoked with a number of parameters for which no definition has been
2084 given. The correct code will still be generated, but the assembler
2085 will give a warning. This warning can be disabled by the use of the
2086 \c{-w-macro-params} command-line option (see \k{opt-w}).
2089 \S{maclocal} \i{Macro-Local Labels}
2091 NASM allows you to define labels within a multi-line macro
2092 definition in such a way as to make them local to the macro call: so
2093 calling the same macro multiple times will use a different label
2094 each time. You do this by prefixing \i\c{%%} to the label name. So
2095 you can invent an instruction which executes a \c{RET} if the \c{Z}
2096 flag is set by doing this:
2106 You can call this macro as many times as you want, and every time
2107 you call it NASM will make up a different `real' name to substitute
2108 for the label \c{%%skip}. The names NASM invents are of the form
2109 \c{..@2345.skip}, where the number 2345 changes with every macro
2110 call. The \i\c{..@} prefix prevents macro-local labels from
2111 interfering with the local label mechanism, as described in
2112 \k{locallab}. You should avoid defining your own labels in this form
2113 (the \c{..@} prefix, then a number, then another period) in case
2114 they interfere with macro-local labels.
2117 \S{mlmacgre} \i{Greedy Macro Parameters}
2119 Occasionally it is useful to define a macro which lumps its entire
2120 command line into one parameter definition, possibly after
2121 extracting one or two smaller parameters from the front. An example
2122 might be a macro to write a text string to a file in MS-DOS, where
2123 you might want to be able to write
2125 \c writefile [filehandle],"hello, world",13,10
2127 NASM allows you to define the last parameter of a macro to be
2128 \e{greedy}, meaning that if you invoke the macro with more
2129 parameters than it expects, all the spare parameters get lumped into
2130 the last defined one along with the separating commas. So if you
2133 \c %macro writefile 2+
2139 \c mov cx,%%endstr-%%str
2146 then the example call to \c{writefile} above will work as expected:
2147 the text before the first comma, \c{[filehandle]}, is used as the
2148 first macro parameter and expanded when \c{%1} is referred to, and
2149 all the subsequent text is lumped into \c{%2} and placed after the
2152 The greedy nature of the macro is indicated to NASM by the use of
2153 the \I{+ modifier}\c{+} sign after the parameter count on the
2156 If you define a greedy macro, you are effectively telling NASM how
2157 it should expand the macro given \e{any} number of parameters from
2158 the actual number specified up to infinity; in this case, for
2159 example, NASM now knows what to do when it sees a call to
2160 \c{writefile} with 2, 3, 4 or more parameters. NASM will take this
2161 into account when overloading macros, and will not allow you to
2162 define another form of \c{writefile} taking 4 parameters (for
2165 Of course, the above macro could have been implemented as a
2166 non-greedy macro, in which case the call to it would have had to
2169 \c writefile [filehandle], {"hello, world",13,10}
2171 NASM provides both mechanisms for putting \i{commas in macro
2172 parameters}, and you choose which one you prefer for each macro
2175 See \k{sectmac} for a better way to write the above macro.
2178 \S{mlmacdef} \i{Default Macro Parameters}
2180 NASM also allows you to define a multi-line macro with a \e{range}
2181 of allowable parameter counts. If you do this, you can specify
2182 defaults for \i{omitted parameters}. So, for example:
2184 \c %macro die 0-1 "Painful program death has occurred."
2192 This macro (which makes use of the \c{writefile} macro defined in
2193 \k{mlmacgre}) can be called with an explicit error message, which it
2194 will display on the error output stream before exiting, or it can be
2195 called with no parameters, in which case it will use the default
2196 error message supplied in the macro definition.
2198 In general, you supply a minimum and maximum number of parameters
2199 for a macro of this type; the minimum number of parameters are then
2200 required in the macro call, and then you provide defaults for the
2201 optional ones. So if a macro definition began with the line
2203 \c %macro foobar 1-3 eax,[ebx+2]
2205 then it could be called with between one and three parameters, and
2206 \c{%1} would always be taken from the macro call. \c{%2}, if not
2207 specified by the macro call, would default to \c{eax}, and \c{%3} if
2208 not specified would default to \c{[ebx+2]}.
2210 You may omit parameter defaults from the macro definition, in which
2211 case the parameter default is taken to be blank. This can be useful
2212 for macros which can take a variable number of parameters, since the
2213 \i\c{%0} token (see \k{percent0}) allows you to determine how many
2214 parameters were really passed to the macro call.
2216 This defaulting mechanism can be combined with the greedy-parameter
2217 mechanism; so the \c{die} macro above could be made more powerful,
2218 and more useful, by changing the first line of the definition to
2220 \c %macro die 0-1+ "Painful program death has occurred.",13,10
2222 The maximum parameter count can be infinite, denoted by \c{*}. In
2223 this case, of course, it is impossible to provide a \e{full} set of
2224 default parameters. Examples of this usage are shown in \k{rotate}.
2227 \S{percent0} \i\c{%0}: \I{counting macro parameters}Macro Parameter Counter
2229 For a macro which can take a variable number of parameters, the
2230 parameter reference \c{%0} will return a numeric constant giving the
2231 number of parameters passed to the macro. This can be used as an
2232 argument to \c{%rep} (see \k{rep}) in order to iterate through all
2233 the parameters of a macro. Examples are given in \k{rotate}.
2236 \S{rotate} \i\c{%rotate}: \i{Rotating Macro Parameters}
2238 Unix shell programmers will be familiar with the \I{shift
2239 command}\c{shift} shell command, which allows the arguments passed
2240 to a shell script (referenced as \c{$1}, \c{$2} and so on) to be
2241 moved left by one place, so that the argument previously referenced
2242 as \c{$2} becomes available as \c{$1}, and the argument previously
2243 referenced as \c{$1} is no longer available at all.
2245 NASM provides a similar mechanism, in the form of \c{%rotate}. As
2246 its name suggests, it differs from the Unix \c{shift} in that no
2247 parameters are lost: parameters rotated off the left end of the
2248 argument list reappear on the right, and vice versa.
2250 \c{%rotate} is invoked with a single numeric argument (which may be
2251 an expression). The macro parameters are rotated to the left by that
2252 many places. If the argument to \c{%rotate} is negative, the macro
2253 parameters are rotated to the right.
2255 \I{iterating over macro parameters}So a pair of macros to save and
2256 restore a set of registers might work as follows:
2258 \c %macro multipush 1-*
2267 This macro invokes the \c{PUSH} instruction on each of its arguments
2268 in turn, from left to right. It begins by pushing its first
2269 argument, \c{%1}, then invokes \c{%rotate} to move all the arguments
2270 one place to the left, so that the original second argument is now
2271 available as \c{%1}. Repeating this procedure as many times as there
2272 were arguments (achieved by supplying \c{%0} as the argument to
2273 \c{%rep}) causes each argument in turn to be pushed.
2275 Note also the use of \c{*} as the maximum parameter count,
2276 indicating that there is no upper limit on the number of parameters
2277 you may supply to the \i\c{multipush} macro.
2279 It would be convenient, when using this macro, to have a \c{POP}
2280 equivalent, which \e{didn't} require the arguments to be given in
2281 reverse order. Ideally, you would write the \c{multipush} macro
2282 call, then cut-and-paste the line to where the pop needed to be
2283 done, and change the name of the called macro to \c{multipop}, and
2284 the macro would take care of popping the registers in the opposite
2285 order from the one in which they were pushed.
2287 This can be done by the following definition:
2289 \c %macro multipop 1-*
2298 This macro begins by rotating its arguments one place to the
2299 \e{right}, so that the original \e{last} argument appears as \c{%1}.
2300 This is then popped, and the arguments are rotated right again, so
2301 the second-to-last argument becomes \c{%1}. Thus the arguments are
2302 iterated through in reverse order.
2305 \S{concat} \i{Concatenating Macro Parameters}
2307 NASM can concatenate macro parameters on to other text surrounding
2308 them. This allows you to declare a family of symbols, for example,
2309 in a macro definition. If, for example, you wanted to generate a
2310 table of key codes along with offsets into the table, you could code
2313 \c %macro keytab_entry 2
2315 \c keypos%1 equ $-keytab
2321 \c keytab_entry F1,128+1
2322 \c keytab_entry F2,128+2
2323 \c keytab_entry Return,13
2325 which would expand to
2328 \c keyposF1 equ $-keytab
2330 \c keyposF2 equ $-keytab
2332 \c keyposReturn equ $-keytab
2335 You can just as easily concatenate text on to the other end of a
2336 macro parameter, by writing \c{%1foo}.
2338 If you need to append a \e{digit} to a macro parameter, for example
2339 defining labels \c{foo1} and \c{foo2} when passed the parameter
2340 \c{foo}, you can't code \c{%11} because that would be taken as the
2341 eleventh macro parameter. Instead, you must code
2342 \I{braces, after % sign}\c{%\{1\}1}, which will separate the first
2343 \c{1} (giving the number of the macro parameter) from the second
2344 (literal text to be concatenated to the parameter).
2346 This concatenation can also be applied to other preprocessor in-line
2347 objects, such as macro-local labels (\k{maclocal}) and context-local
2348 labels (\k{ctxlocal}). In all cases, ambiguities in syntax can be
2349 resolved by enclosing everything after the \c{%} sign and before the
2350 literal text in braces: so \c{%\{%foo\}bar} concatenates the text
2351 \c{bar} to the end of the real name of the macro-local label
2352 \c{%%foo}. (This is unnecessary, since the form NASM uses for the
2353 real names of macro-local labels means that the two usages
2354 \c{%\{%foo\}bar} and \c{%%foobar} would both expand to the same
2355 thing anyway; nevertheless, the capability is there.)
2358 \S{mlmaccc} \i{Condition Codes as Macro Parameters}
2360 NASM can give special treatment to a macro parameter which contains
2361 a condition code. For a start, you can refer to the macro parameter
2362 \c{%1} by means of the alternative syntax \i\c{%+1}, which informs
2363 NASM that this macro parameter is supposed to contain a condition
2364 code, and will cause the preprocessor to report an error message if
2365 the macro is called with a parameter which is \e{not} a valid
2368 Far more usefully, though, you can refer to the macro parameter by
2369 means of \i\c{%-1}, which NASM will expand as the \e{inverse}
2370 condition code. So the \c{retz} macro defined in \k{maclocal} can be
2371 replaced by a general \i{conditional-return macro} like this:
2381 This macro can now be invoked using calls like \c{retc ne}, which
2382 will cause the conditional-jump instruction in the macro expansion
2383 to come out as \c{JE}, or \c{retc po} which will make the jump a
2386 The \c{%+1} macro-parameter reference is quite happy to interpret
2387 the arguments \c{CXZ} and \c{ECXZ} as valid condition codes;
2388 however, \c{%-1} will report an error if passed either of these,
2389 because no inverse condition code exists.
2392 \S{nolist} \i{Disabling Listing Expansion}\I\c{.nolist}
2394 When NASM is generating a listing file from your program, it will
2395 generally expand multi-line macros by means of writing the macro
2396 call and then listing each line of the expansion. This allows you to
2397 see which instructions in the macro expansion are generating what
2398 code; however, for some macros this clutters the listing up
2401 NASM therefore provides the \c{.nolist} qualifier, which you can
2402 include in a macro definition to inhibit the expansion of the macro
2403 in the listing file. The \c{.nolist} qualifier comes directly after
2404 the number of parameters, like this:
2406 \c %macro foo 1.nolist
2410 \c %macro bar 1-5+.nolist a,b,c,d,e,f,g,h
2412 \H{condasm} \i{Conditional Assembly}\I\c{%if}
2414 Similarly to the C preprocessor, NASM allows sections of a source
2415 file to be assembled only if certain conditions are met. The general
2416 syntax of this feature looks like this:
2419 \c ; some code which only appears if <condition> is met
2420 \c %elif<condition2>
2421 \c ; only appears if <condition> is not met but <condition2> is
2423 \c ; this appears if neither <condition> nor <condition2> was met
2426 The \i\c{%else} clause is optional, as is the \i\c{%elif} clause.
2427 You can have more than one \c{%elif} clause as well.
2430 \S{ifdef} \i\c{%ifdef}: Testing Single-Line Macro Existence\I{testing,
2431 single-line macro existence}
2433 Beginning a conditional-assembly block with the line \c{%ifdef
2434 MACRO} will assemble the subsequent code if, and only if, a
2435 single-line macro called \c{MACRO} is defined. If not, then the
2436 \c{%elif} and \c{%else} blocks (if any) will be processed instead.
2438 For example, when debugging a program, you might want to write code
2441 \c ; perform some function
2443 \c writefile 2,"Function performed successfully",13,10
2445 \c ; go and do something else
2447 Then you could use the command-line option \c{-dDEBUG} to create a
2448 version of the program which produced debugging messages, and remove
2449 the option to generate the final release version of the program.
2451 You can test for a macro \e{not} being defined by using
2452 \i\c{%ifndef} instead of \c{%ifdef}. You can also test for macro
2453 definitions in \c{%elif} blocks by using \i\c{%elifdef} and
2457 \S{ifmacro} \i\c{ifmacro}: Testing Multi-Line Macro
2458 Existence\I{testing, multi-line macro existence}
2460 The \c{%ifmacro} directive operates in the same way as the \c{%ifdef}
2461 directive, except that it checks for the existence of a multi-line macro.
2463 For example, you may be working with a large project and not have control
2464 over the macros in a library. You may want to create a macro with one
2465 name if it doesn't already exist, and another name if one with that name
2468 The \c{%ifmacro} is considered true if defining a macro with the given name
2469 and number of arguments would cause a definitions conflict. For example:
2471 \c %ifmacro MyMacro 1-3
2473 \c %error "MyMacro 1-3" causes a conflict with an existing macro.
2477 \c %macro MyMacro 1-3
2479 \c ; insert code to define the macro
2485 This will create the macro "MyMacro 1-3" if no macro already exists which
2486 would conflict with it, and emits a warning if there would be a definition
2489 You can test for the macro not existing by using the \i\c{%ifnmacro} instead
2490 of \c{%ifmacro}. Additional tests can be performed in \c{%elif} blocks by using
2491 \i\c{%elifmacro} and \i\c{%elifnmacro}.
2494 \S{ifctx} \i\c{%ifctx}: Testing the Context Stack\I{testing, context
2497 The conditional-assembly construct \c{%ifctx ctxname} will cause the
2498 subsequent code to be assembled if and only if the top context on
2499 the preprocessor's context stack has the name \c{ctxname}. As with
2500 \c{%ifdef}, the inverse and \c{%elif} forms \i\c{%ifnctx},
2501 \i\c{%elifctx} and \i\c{%elifnctx} are also supported.
2503 For more details of the context stack, see \k{ctxstack}. For a
2504 sample use of \c{%ifctx}, see \k{blockif}.
2507 \S{if} \i\c{%if}: Testing Arbitrary Numeric Expressions\I{testing,
2508 arbitrary numeric expressions}
2510 The conditional-assembly construct \c{%if expr} will cause the
2511 subsequent code to be assembled if and only if the value of the
2512 numeric expression \c{expr} is non-zero. An example of the use of
2513 this feature is in deciding when to break out of a \c{%rep}
2514 preprocessor loop: see \k{rep} for a detailed example.
2516 The expression given to \c{%if}, and its counterpart \i\c{%elif}, is
2517 a critical expression (see \k{crit}).
2519 \c{%if} extends the normal NASM expression syntax, by providing a
2520 set of \i{relational operators} which are not normally available in
2521 expressions. The operators \i\c{=}, \i\c{<}, \i\c{>}, \i\c{<=},
2522 \i\c{>=} and \i\c{<>} test equality, less-than, greater-than,
2523 less-or-equal, greater-or-equal and not-equal respectively. The
2524 C-like forms \i\c{==} and \i\c{!=} are supported as alternative
2525 forms of \c{=} and \c{<>}. In addition, low-priority logical
2526 operators \i\c{&&}, \i\c{^^} and \i\c{||} are provided, supplying
2527 \i{logical AND}, \i{logical XOR} and \i{logical OR}. These work like
2528 the C logical operators (although C has no logical XOR), in that
2529 they always return either 0 or 1, and treat any non-zero input as 1
2530 (so that \c{^^}, for example, returns 1 if exactly one of its inputs
2531 is zero, and 0 otherwise). The relational operators also return 1
2532 for true and 0 for false.
2535 \S{ifidn} \i\c{%ifidn} and \i\c{%ifidni}: Testing Exact Text
2536 Identity\I{testing, exact text identity}
2538 The construct \c{%ifidn text1,text2} will cause the subsequent code
2539 to be assembled if and only if \c{text1} and \c{text2}, after
2540 expanding single-line macros, are identical pieces of text.
2541 Differences in white space are not counted.
2543 \c{%ifidni} is similar to \c{%ifidn}, but is \i{case-insensitive}.
2545 For example, the following macro pushes a register or number on the
2546 stack, and allows you to treat \c{IP} as a real register:
2548 \c %macro pushparam 1
2559 Like most other \c{%if} constructs, \c{%ifidn} has a counterpart
2560 \i\c{%elifidn}, and negative forms \i\c{%ifnidn} and \i\c{%elifnidn}.
2561 Similarly, \c{%ifidni} has counterparts \i\c{%elifidni},
2562 \i\c{%ifnidni} and \i\c{%elifnidni}.
2565 \S{iftyp} \i\c{%ifid}, \i\c{%ifnum}, \i\c{%ifstr}: Testing Token
2566 Types\I{testing, token types}
2568 Some macros will want to perform different tasks depending on
2569 whether they are passed a number, a string, or an identifier. For
2570 example, a string output macro might want to be able to cope with
2571 being passed either a string constant or a pointer to an existing
2574 The conditional assembly construct \c{%ifid}, taking one parameter
2575 (which may be blank), assembles the subsequent code if and only if
2576 the first token in the parameter exists and is an identifier.
2577 \c{%ifnum} works similarly, but tests for the token being a numeric
2578 constant; \c{%ifstr} tests for it being a string.
2580 For example, the \c{writefile} macro defined in \k{mlmacgre} can be
2581 extended to take advantage of \c{%ifstr} in the following fashion:
2583 \c %macro writefile 2-3+
2592 \c %%endstr: mov dx,%%str
2593 \c mov cx,%%endstr-%%str
2604 Then the \c{writefile} macro can cope with being called in either of
2605 the following two ways:
2607 \c writefile [file], strpointer, length
2608 \c writefile [file], "hello", 13, 10
2610 In the first, \c{strpointer} is used as the address of an
2611 already-declared string, and \c{length} is used as its length; in
2612 the second, a string is given to the macro, which therefore declares
2613 it itself and works out the address and length for itself.
2615 Note the use of \c{%if} inside the \c{%ifstr}: this is to detect
2616 whether the macro was passed two arguments (so the string would be a
2617 single string constant, and \c{db %2} would be adequate) or more (in
2618 which case, all but the first two would be lumped together into
2619 \c{%3}, and \c{db %2,%3} would be required).
2621 \I\c{%ifnid}\I\c{%elifid}\I\c{%elifnid}\I\c{%ifnnum}\I\c{%elifnum}
2622 \I\c{%elifnnum}\I\c{%ifnstr}\I\c{%elifstr}\I\c{%elifnstr}
2623 The usual \c{%elifXXX}, \c{%ifnXXX} and \c{%elifnXXX} versions exist
2624 for each of \c{%ifid}, \c{%ifnum} and \c{%ifstr}.
2627 \S{pperror} \i\c{%error}: Reporting \i{User-Defined Errors}
2629 The preprocessor directive \c{%error} will cause NASM to report an
2630 error if it occurs in assembled code. So if other users are going to
2631 try to assemble your source files, you can ensure that they define
2632 the right macros by means of code like this:
2634 \c %ifdef SOME_MACRO
2636 \c %elifdef SOME_OTHER_MACRO
2637 \c ; do some different setup
2639 \c %error Neither SOME_MACRO nor SOME_OTHER_MACRO was defined.
2642 Then any user who fails to understand the way your code is supposed
2643 to be assembled will be quickly warned of their mistake, rather than
2644 having to wait until the program crashes on being run and then not
2645 knowing what went wrong.
2648 \H{rep} \i{Preprocessor Loops}\I{repeating code}: \i\c{%rep}
2650 NASM's \c{TIMES} prefix, though useful, cannot be used to invoke a
2651 multi-line macro multiple times, because it is processed by NASM
2652 after macros have already been expanded. Therefore NASM provides
2653 another form of loop, this time at the preprocessor level: \c{%rep}.
2655 The directives \c{%rep} and \i\c{%endrep} (\c{%rep} takes a numeric
2656 argument, which can be an expression; \c{%endrep} takes no
2657 arguments) can be used to enclose a chunk of code, which is then
2658 replicated as many times as specified by the preprocessor:
2662 \c inc word [table+2*i]
2666 This will generate a sequence of 64 \c{INC} instructions,
2667 incrementing every word of memory from \c{[table]} to
2670 For more complex termination conditions, or to break out of a repeat
2671 loop part way along, you can use the \i\c{%exitrep} directive to
2672 terminate the loop, like this:
2687 \c fib_number equ ($-fibonacci)/2
2689 This produces a list of all the Fibonacci numbers that will fit in
2690 16 bits. Note that a maximum repeat count must still be given to
2691 \c{%rep}. This is to prevent the possibility of NASM getting into an
2692 infinite loop in the preprocessor, which (on multitasking or
2693 multi-user systems) would typically cause all the system memory to
2694 be gradually used up and other applications to start crashing.
2697 \H{include} \i{Including Other Files}
2699 Using, once again, a very similar syntax to the C preprocessor,
2700 NASM's preprocessor lets you include other source files into your
2701 code. This is done by the use of the \i\c{%include} directive:
2703 \c %include "macros.mac"
2705 will include the contents of the file \c{macros.mac} into the source
2706 file containing the \c{%include} directive.
2708 Include files are \I{searching for include files}searched for in the
2709 current directory (the directory you're in when you run NASM, as
2710 opposed to the location of the NASM executable or the location of
2711 the source file), plus any directories specified on the NASM command
2712 line using the \c{-i} option.
2714 The standard C idiom for preventing a file being included more than
2715 once is just as applicable in NASM: if the file \c{macros.mac} has
2718 \c %ifndef MACROS_MAC
2719 \c %define MACROS_MAC
2720 \c ; now define some macros
2723 then including the file more than once will not cause errors,
2724 because the second time the file is included nothing will happen
2725 because the macro \c{MACROS_MAC} will already be defined.
2727 You can force a file to be included even if there is no \c{%include}
2728 directive that explicitly includes it, by using the \i\c{-p} option
2729 on the NASM command line (see \k{opt-p}).
2732 \H{ctxstack} The \i{Context Stack}
2734 Having labels that are local to a macro definition is sometimes not
2735 quite powerful enough: sometimes you want to be able to share labels
2736 between several macro calls. An example might be a \c{REPEAT} ...
2737 \c{UNTIL} loop, in which the expansion of the \c{REPEAT} macro
2738 would need to be able to refer to a label which the \c{UNTIL} macro
2739 had defined. However, for such a macro you would also want to be
2740 able to nest these loops.
2742 NASM provides this level of power by means of a \e{context stack}.
2743 The preprocessor maintains a stack of \e{contexts}, each of which is
2744 characterized by a name. You add a new context to the stack using
2745 the \i\c{%push} directive, and remove one using \i\c{%pop}. You can
2746 define labels that are local to a particular context on the stack.
2749 \S{pushpop} \i\c{%push} and \i\c{%pop}: \I{creating
2750 contexts}\I{removing contexts}Creating and Removing Contexts
2752 The \c{%push} directive is used to create a new context and place it
2753 on the top of the context stack. \c{%push} requires one argument,
2754 which is the name of the context. For example:
2758 This pushes a new context called \c{foobar} on the stack. You can
2759 have several contexts on the stack with the same name: they can
2760 still be distinguished.
2762 The directive \c{%pop}, requiring no arguments, removes the top
2763 context from the context stack and destroys it, along with any
2764 labels associated with it.
2767 \S{ctxlocal} \i{Context-Local Labels}
2769 Just as the usage \c{%%foo} defines a label which is local to the
2770 particular macro call in which it is used, the usage \I{%$}\c{%$foo}
2771 is used to define a label which is local to the context on the top
2772 of the context stack. So the \c{REPEAT} and \c{UNTIL} example given
2773 above could be implemented by means of:
2789 and invoked by means of, for example,
2797 which would scan every fourth byte of a string in search of the byte
2800 If you need to define, or access, labels local to the context
2801 \e{below} the top one on the stack, you can use \I{%$$}\c{%$$foo}, or
2802 \c{%$$$foo} for the context below that, and so on.
2805 \S{ctxdefine} \i{Context-Local Single-Line Macros}
2807 NASM also allows you to define single-line macros which are local to
2808 a particular context, in just the same way:
2810 \c %define %$localmac 3
2812 will define the single-line macro \c{%$localmac} to be local to the
2813 top context on the stack. Of course, after a subsequent \c{%push},
2814 it can then still be accessed by the name \c{%$$localmac}.
2817 \S{ctxrepl} \i\c{%repl}: \I{renaming contexts}Renaming a Context
2819 If you need to change the name of the top context on the stack (in
2820 order, for example, to have it respond differently to \c{%ifctx}),
2821 you can execute a \c{%pop} followed by a \c{%push}; but this will
2822 have the side effect of destroying all context-local labels and
2823 macros associated with the context that was just popped.
2825 NASM provides the directive \c{%repl}, which \e{replaces} a context
2826 with a different name, without touching the associated macros and
2827 labels. So you could replace the destructive code
2832 with the non-destructive version \c{%repl newname}.
2835 \S{blockif} Example Use of the \i{Context Stack}: \i{Block IFs}
2837 This example makes use of almost all the context-stack features,
2838 including the conditional-assembly construct \i\c{%ifctx}, to
2839 implement a block IF statement as a set of macros.
2855 \c %error "expected `if' before `else'"
2869 \c %error "expected `if' or `else' before `endif'"
2874 This code is more robust than the \c{REPEAT} and \c{UNTIL} macros
2875 given in \k{ctxlocal}, because it uses conditional assembly to check
2876 that the macros are issued in the right order (for example, not
2877 calling \c{endif} before \c{if}) and issues a \c{%error} if they're
2880 In addition, the \c{endif} macro has to be able to cope with the two
2881 distinct cases of either directly following an \c{if}, or following
2882 an \c{else}. It achieves this, again, by using conditional assembly
2883 to do different things depending on whether the context on top of
2884 the stack is \c{if} or \c{else}.
2886 The \c{else} macro has to preserve the context on the stack, in
2887 order to have the \c{%$ifnot} referred to by the \c{if} macro be the
2888 same as the one defined by the \c{endif} macro, but has to change
2889 the context's name so that \c{endif} will know there was an
2890 intervening \c{else}. It does this by the use of \c{%repl}.
2892 A sample usage of these macros might look like:
2914 The block-\c{IF} macros handle nesting quite happily, by means of
2915 pushing another context, describing the inner \c{if}, on top of the
2916 one describing the outer \c{if}; thus \c{else} and \c{endif} always
2917 refer to the last unmatched \c{if} or \c{else}.
2920 \H{stdmac} \i{Standard Macros}
2922 NASM defines a set of standard macros, which are already defined
2923 when it starts to process any source file. If you really need a
2924 program to be assembled with no pre-defined macros, you can use the
2925 \i\c{%clear} directive to empty the preprocessor of everything but
2926 context-local preprocessor variables and single-line macros.
2928 Most \i{user-level assembler directives} (see \k{directive}) are
2929 implemented as macros which invoke primitive directives; these are
2930 described in \k{directive}. The rest of the standard macro set is
2934 \S{stdmacver} \i\c{__NASM_MAJOR__}, \i\c{__NASM_MINOR__},
2935 \i\c{__NASM_SUBMINOR__} and \i\c{___NASM_PATCHLEVEL__}: \i{NASM Version}
2937 The single-line macros \c{__NASM_MAJOR__}, \c{__NASM_MINOR__},
2938 \c{__NASM_SUBMINOR__} and \c{___NASM_PATCHLEVEL__} expand to the
2939 major, minor, subminor and patch level parts of the \i{version
2940 number of NASM} being used. So, under NASM 0.98.32p1 for
2941 example, \c{__NASM_MAJOR__} would be defined to be 0, \c{__NASM_MINOR__}
2942 would be defined as 98, \c{__NASM_SUBMINOR__} would be defined to 32,
2943 and \c{___NASM_PATCHLEVEL__} would be defined as 1.
2946 \S{stdmacverid} \i\c{__NASM_VERSION_ID__}: \i{NASM Version ID}
2948 The single-line macro \c{__NASM_VERSION_ID__} expands to a dword integer
2949 representing the full version number of the version of nasm being used.
2950 The value is the equivalent to \c{__NASM_MAJOR__}, \c{__NASM_MINOR__},
2951 \c{__NASM_SUBMINOR__} and \c{___NASM_PATCHLEVEL__} concatenated to
2952 produce a single doubleword. Hence, for 0.98.32p1, the returned number
2953 would be equivalent to:
2961 Note that the above lines are generate exactly the same code, the second
2962 line is used just to give an indication of the order that the separate
2963 values will be present in memory.
2966 \S{stdmacverstr} \i\c{__NASM_VER__}: \i{NASM Version string}
2968 The single-line macro \c{__NASM_VER__} expands to a string which defines
2969 the version number of nasm being used. So, under NASM 0.98.32 for example,
2978 \S{fileline} \i\c{__FILE__} and \i\c{__LINE__}: File Name and Line Number
2980 Like the C preprocessor, NASM allows the user to find out the file
2981 name and line number containing the current instruction. The macro
2982 \c{__FILE__} expands to a string constant giving the name of the
2983 current input file (which may change through the course of assembly
2984 if \c{%include} directives are used), and \c{__LINE__} expands to a
2985 numeric constant giving the current line number in the input file.
2987 These macros could be used, for example, to communicate debugging
2988 information to a macro, since invoking \c{__LINE__} inside a macro
2989 definition (either single-line or multi-line) will return the line
2990 number of the macro \e{call}, rather than \e{definition}. So to
2991 determine where in a piece of code a crash is occurring, for
2992 example, one could write a routine \c{stillhere}, which is passed a
2993 line number in \c{EAX} and outputs something like `line 155: still
2994 here'. You could then write a macro
2996 \c %macro notdeadyet 0
3005 and then pepper your code with calls to \c{notdeadyet} until you
3006 find the crash point.
3008 \S{bitsm} \i\c{__BITS__}: Current BITS Mode
3010 The \c{__BITS__} standard macro is updated every time that the BITS mode is
3011 set using the \c{BITS XX} or \c{[BITS XX]} directive, where XX is a valid mode
3012 number of 16, 32 or 64. \c{__BITS__} receives the specified mode number and
3013 makes it globally available. This can be very useful for those who utilize
3014 mode-dependent macros.
3017 \S{struc} \i\c{STRUC} and \i\c{ENDSTRUC}: \i{Declaring Structure} Data Types
3019 The core of NASM contains no intrinsic means of defining data
3020 structures; instead, the preprocessor is sufficiently powerful that
3021 data structures can be implemented as a set of macros. The macros
3022 \c{STRUC} and \c{ENDSTRUC} are used to define a structure data type.
3024 \c{STRUC} takes one parameter, which is the name of the data type.
3025 This name is defined as a symbol with the value zero, and also has
3026 the suffix \c{_size} appended to it and is then defined as an
3027 \c{EQU} giving the size of the structure. Once \c{STRUC} has been
3028 issued, you are defining the structure, and should define fields
3029 using the \c{RESB} family of pseudo-instructions, and then invoke
3030 \c{ENDSTRUC} to finish the definition.
3032 For example, to define a structure called \c{mytype} containing a
3033 longword, a word, a byte and a string of bytes, you might code
3044 The above code defines six symbols: \c{mt_long} as 0 (the offset
3045 from the beginning of a \c{mytype} structure to the longword field),
3046 \c{mt_word} as 4, \c{mt_byte} as 6, \c{mt_str} as 7, \c{mytype_size}
3047 as 39, and \c{mytype} itself as zero.
3049 The reason why the structure type name is defined at zero is a side
3050 effect of allowing structures to work with the local label
3051 mechanism: if your structure members tend to have the same names in
3052 more than one structure, you can define the above structure like this:
3063 This defines the offsets to the structure fields as \c{mytype.long},
3064 \c{mytype.word}, \c{mytype.byte} and \c{mytype.str}.
3066 NASM, since it has no \e{intrinsic} structure support, does not
3067 support any form of period notation to refer to the elements of a
3068 structure once you have one (except the above local-label notation),
3069 so code such as \c{mov ax,[mystruc.mt_word]} is not valid.
3070 \c{mt_word} is a constant just like any other constant, so the
3071 correct syntax is \c{mov ax,[mystruc+mt_word]} or \c{mov
3072 ax,[mystruc+mytype.word]}.
3075 \S{istruc} \i\c{ISTRUC}, \i\c{AT} and \i\c{IEND}: Declaring
3076 \i{Instances of Structures}
3078 Having defined a structure type, the next thing you typically want
3079 to do is to declare instances of that structure in your data
3080 segment. NASM provides an easy way to do this in the \c{ISTRUC}
3081 mechanism. To declare a structure of type \c{mytype} in a program,
3082 you code something like this:
3087 \c at mt_long, dd 123456
3088 \c at mt_word, dw 1024
3089 \c at mt_byte, db 'x'
3090 \c at mt_str, db 'hello, world', 13, 10, 0
3094 The function of the \c{AT} macro is to make use of the \c{TIMES}
3095 prefix to advance the assembly position to the correct point for the
3096 specified structure field, and then to declare the specified data.
3097 Therefore the structure fields must be declared in the same order as
3098 they were specified in the structure definition.
3100 If the data to go in a structure field requires more than one source
3101 line to specify, the remaining source lines can easily come after
3102 the \c{AT} line. For example:
3104 \c at mt_str, db 123,134,145,156,167,178,189
3107 Depending on personal taste, you can also omit the code part of the
3108 \c{AT} line completely, and start the structure field on the next
3112 \c db 'hello, world'
3116 \S{align} \i\c{ALIGN} and \i\c{ALIGNB}: Data Alignment
3118 The \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB} macros provides a convenient way to
3119 align code or data on a word, longword, paragraph or other boundary.
3120 (Some assemblers call this directive \i\c{EVEN}.) The syntax of the
3121 \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB} macros is
3123 \c align 4 ; align on 4-byte boundary
3124 \c align 16 ; align on 16-byte boundary
3125 \c align 8,db 0 ; pad with 0s rather than NOPs
3126 \c align 4,resb 1 ; align to 4 in the BSS
3127 \c alignb 4 ; equivalent to previous line
3129 Both macros require their first argument to be a power of two; they
3130 both compute the number of additional bytes required to bring the
3131 length of the current section up to a multiple of that power of two,
3132 and then apply the \c{TIMES} prefix to their second argument to
3133 perform the alignment.
3135 If the second argument is not specified, the default for \c{ALIGN}
3136 is \c{NOP}, and the default for \c{ALIGNB} is \c{RESB 1}. So if the
3137 second argument is specified, the two macros are equivalent.
3138 Normally, you can just use \c{ALIGN} in code and data sections and
3139 \c{ALIGNB} in BSS sections, and never need the second argument
3140 except for special purposes.
3142 \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB}, being simple macros, perform no error
3143 checking: they cannot warn you if their first argument fails to be a
3144 power of two, or if their second argument generates more than one
3145 byte of code. In each of these cases they will silently do the wrong
3148 \c{ALIGNB} (or \c{ALIGN} with a second argument of \c{RESB 1}) can
3149 be used within structure definitions:
3166 This will ensure that the structure members are sensibly aligned
3167 relative to the base of the structure.
3169 A final caveat: \c{ALIGN} and \c{ALIGNB} work relative to the
3170 beginning of the \e{section}, not the beginning of the address space
3171 in the final executable. Aligning to a 16-byte boundary when the
3172 section you're in is only guaranteed to be aligned to a 4-byte
3173 boundary, for example, is a waste of effort. Again, NASM does not
3174 check that the section's alignment characteristics are sensible for
3175 the use of \c{ALIGN} or \c{ALIGNB}.
3178 \H{tasmcompat} \i{TASM Compatible Preprocessor Directives}
3180 The following preprocessor directives may only be used when TASM
3181 compatibility is turned on using the \c{-t} command line switch
3182 (This switch is described in \k{opt-t}.)
3184 \b\c{%arg} (see \k{arg})
3186 \b\c{%stacksize} (see \k{stacksize})
3188 \b\c{%local} (see \k{local})
3191 \S{arg} \i\c{%arg} Directive
3193 The \c{%arg} directive is used to simplify the handling of
3194 parameters passed on the stack. Stack based parameter passing
3195 is used by many high level languages, including C, C++ and Pascal.
3197 While NASM comes with macros which attempt to duplicate this
3198 functionality (see \k{16cmacro}), the syntax is not particularly
3199 convenient to use and is not TASM compatible. Here is an example
3200 which shows the use of \c{%arg} without any external macros:
3204 \c %push mycontext ; save the current context
3205 \c %stacksize large ; tell NASM to use bp
3206 \c %arg i:word, j_ptr:word
3213 \c %pop ; restore original context
3215 This is similar to the procedure defined in \k{16cmacro} and adds
3216 the value in i to the value pointed to by j_ptr and returns the
3217 sum in the ax register. See \k{pushpop} for an explanation of
3218 \c{push} and \c{pop} and the use of context stacks.
3221 \S{stacksize} \i\c{%stacksize} Directive
3223 The \c{%stacksize} directive is used in conjunction with the
3224 \c{%arg} (see \k{arg}) and the \c{%local} (see \k{local}) directives.
3225 It tells NASM the default size to use for subsequent \c{%arg} and
3226 \c{%local} directives. The \c{%stacksize} directive takes one
3227 required argument which is one of \c{flat}, \c{large} or \c{small}.
3231 This form causes NASM to use stack-based parameter addressing
3232 relative to \c{ebp} and it assumes that a near form of call was used
3233 to get to this label (i.e. that \c{eip} is on the stack).
3237 This form uses \c{bp} to do stack-based parameter addressing and
3238 assumes that a far form of call was used to get to this address
3239 (i.e. that \c{ip} and \c{cs} are on the stack).
3243 This form also uses \c{bp} to address stack parameters, but it is
3244 different from \c{large} because it also assumes that the old value
3245 of bp is pushed onto the stack (i.e. it expects an \c{ENTER}
3246 instruction). In other words, it expects that \c{bp}, \c{ip} and
3247 \c{cs} are on the top of the stack, underneath any local space which
3248 may have been allocated by \c{ENTER}. This form is probably most
3249 useful when used in combination with the \c{%local} directive
3253 \S{local} \i\c{%local} Directive
3255 The \c{%local} directive is used to simplify the use of local
3256 temporary stack variables allocated in a stack frame. Automatic
3257 local variables in C are an example of this kind of variable. The
3258 \c{%local} directive is most useful when used with the \c{%stacksize}
3259 (see \k{stacksize} and is also compatible with the \c{%arg} directive
3260 (see \k{arg}). It allows simplified reference to variables on the
3261 stack which have been allocated typically by using the \c{ENTER}
3262 instruction (see \k{insENTER} for a description of that instruction).
3263 An example of its use is the following:
3267 \c %push mycontext ; save the current context
3268 \c %stacksize small ; tell NASM to use bp
3269 \c %assign %$localsize 0 ; see text for explanation
3270 \c %local old_ax:word, old_dx:word
3272 \c enter %$localsize,0 ; see text for explanation
3273 \c mov [old_ax],ax ; swap ax & bx
3274 \c mov [old_dx],dx ; and swap dx & cx
3279 \c leave ; restore old bp
3282 \c %pop ; restore original context
3284 The \c{%$localsize} variable is used internally by the
3285 \c{%local} directive and \e{must} be defined within the
3286 current context before the \c{%local} directive may be used.
3287 Failure to do so will result in one expression syntax error for
3288 each \c{%local} variable declared. It then may be used in
3289 the construction of an appropriately sized ENTER instruction
3290 as shown in the example.
3292 \H{otherpreproc} \i{Other Preprocessor Directives}
3294 NASM also has preprocessor directives which allow access to
3295 information from external sources. Currently they include:
3297 The following preprocessor directive is supported to allow NASM to
3298 correctly handle output of the cpp C language preprocessor.
3300 \b\c{%line} enables NAsM to correctly handle the output of the cpp
3301 C language preprocessor (see \k{line}).
3303 \b\c{%!} enables NASM to read in the value of an environment variable,
3304 which can then be used in your program (see \k{getenv}).
3306 \S{line} \i\c{%line} Directive
3308 The \c{%line} directive is used to notify NASM that the input line
3309 corresponds to a specific line number in another file. Typically
3310 this other file would be an original source file, with the current
3311 NASM input being the output of a pre-processor. The \c{%line}
3312 directive allows NASM to output messages which indicate the line
3313 number of the original source file, instead of the file that is being
3316 This preprocessor directive is not generally of use to programmers,
3317 by may be of interest to preprocessor authors. The usage of the
3318 \c{%line} preprocessor directive is as follows:
3320 \c %line nnn[+mmm] [filename]
3322 In this directive, \c{nnn} indentifies the line of the original source
3323 file which this line corresponds to. \c{mmm} is an optional parameter
3324 which specifies a line increment value; each line of the input file
3325 read in is considered to correspond to \c{mmm} lines of the original
3326 source file. Finally, \c{filename} is an optional parameter which
3327 specifies the file name of the original source file.
3329 After reading a \c{%line} preprocessor directive, NASM will report
3330 all file name and line numbers relative to the values specified
3334 \S{getenv} \i\c{%!}\c{<env>}: Read an environment variable.
3336 The \c{%!<env>} directive makes it possible to read the value of an
3337 environment variable at assembly time. This could, for example, be used
3338 to store the contents of an environment variable into a string, which
3339 could be used at some other point in your code.
3341 For example, suppose that you have an environment variable \c{FOO}, and
3342 you want the contents of \c{FOO} to be embedded in your program. You
3343 could do that as follows:
3345 \c %define FOO %!FOO
3348 \c tmpstr db quote FOO quote
3350 At the time of writing, this will generate an "unterminated string"
3351 warning at the time of defining "quote", and it will add a space
3352 before and after the string that is read in. I was unable to find
3353 a simple workaround (although a workaround can be created using a
3354 multi-line macro), so I believe that you will need to either learn how
3355 to create more complex macros, or allow for the extra spaces if you
3356 make use of this feature in that way.
3359 \C{directive} \i{Assembler Directives}
3361 NASM, though it attempts to avoid the bureaucracy of assemblers like
3362 MASM and TASM, is nevertheless forced to support a \e{few}
3363 directives. These are described in this chapter.
3365 NASM's directives come in two types: \I{user-level
3366 directives}\e{user-level} directives and \I{primitive
3367 directives}\e{primitive} directives. Typically, each directive has a
3368 user-level form and a primitive form. In almost all cases, we
3369 recommend that users use the user-level forms of the directives,
3370 which are implemented as macros which call the primitive forms.
3372 Primitive directives are enclosed in square brackets; user-level
3375 In addition to the universal directives described in this chapter,
3376 each object file format can optionally supply extra directives in
3377 order to control particular features of that file format. These
3378 \I{format-specific directives}\e{format-specific} directives are
3379 documented along with the formats that implement them, in \k{outfmt}.
3382 \H{bits} \i\c{BITS}: Specifying Target \i{Processor Mode}
3384 The \c{BITS} directive specifies whether NASM should generate code
3385 \I{16-bit mode, versus 32-bit mode}designed to run on a processor
3386 operating in 16-bit mode, 32-bit mode or 64-bit mode. The syntax is
3387 \c{BITS XX}, where XX is 16, 32 or 64.
3389 In most cases, you should not need to use \c{BITS} explicitly. The
3390 \c{aout}, \c{coff}, \c{elf}, \c{macho}, \c{win32} and \c{win64}
3391 object formats, which are designed for use in 32-bit or 64-bit
3392 operating systems, all cause NASM to select 32-bit or 64-bit mode,
3393 respectively, by default. The \c{obj} object format allows you
3394 to specify each segment you define as either \c{USE16} or \c{USE32},
3395 and NASM will set its operating mode accordingly, so the use of the
3396 \c{BITS} directive is once again unnecessary.
3398 The most likely reason for using the \c{BITS} directive is to write
3399 32-bit or 64-bit code in a flat binary file; this is because the \c{bin}
3400 output format defaults to 16-bit mode in anticipation of it being
3401 used most frequently to write DOS \c{.COM} programs, DOS \c{.SYS}
3402 device drivers and boot loader software.
3404 You do \e{not} need to specify \c{BITS 32} merely in order to use
3405 32-bit instructions in a 16-bit DOS program; if you do, the
3406 assembler will generate incorrect code because it will be writing
3407 code targeted at a 32-bit platform, to be run on a 16-bit one.
3409 When NASM is in \c{BITS 16} mode, instructions which use 32-bit
3410 data are prefixed with an 0x66 byte, and those referring to 32-bit
3411 addresses have an 0x67 prefix. In \c{BITS 32} mode, the reverse is
3412 true: 32-bit instructions require no prefixes, whereas instructions
3413 using 16-bit data need an 0x66 and those working on 16-bit addresses
3416 When NASM is in \c{BITS 64} mode, most instructions operate the same
3417 as they do for \c{BITS 32} mode. However, 16-bit addresses are depreciated
3418 in the x86-64 architecture extension and the 0x67 prefix is used for 32-bit
3419 addressing. This is due to the default of 64-bit addressing. When the \c{REX}
3420 prefix is used, the processor does not know how to address the AH, BH, CH or
3421 DH (high 8-bit legacy) registers. This because the x86-64 has added a new
3422 set of registers and the capability to address the low 8-bits of the SP, BP
3423 SI and DI registers as SPL, BPL, SIL and DIL, respectively; but only when
3424 the REX prefix is used. In summary, the \c{REX} prefix causes the addressing
3425 of AH, BH, CH and DH to be replaced by SPL, BPL, SIL and DIL.
3427 The \c{BITS} directive has an exactly equivalent primitive form,
3428 \c{[BITS 16]}, \c{[BITS 32]} and \c{BITS 64]}. The user-level form is
3429 a macro which has no function other than to call the primitive form.
3431 Note that the space is neccessary, e.g. \c{BITS32} will \e{not} work!
3433 \S{USE16 & USE32} \i\c{USE16} & \i\c{USE32}: Aliases for BITS
3435 The `\c{USE16}' and `\c{USE32}' directives can be used in place of
3436 `\c{BITS 16}' and `\c{BITS 32}', for compatibility with other assemblers.
3439 \H{section} \i\c{SECTION} or \i\c{SEGMENT}: Changing and \i{Defining
3442 \I{changing sections}\I{switching between sections}The \c{SECTION}
3443 directive (\c{SEGMENT} is an exactly equivalent synonym) changes
3444 which section of the output file the code you write will be
3445 assembled into. In some object file formats, the number and names of
3446 sections are fixed; in others, the user may make up as many as they
3447 wish. Hence \c{SECTION} may sometimes give an error message, or may
3448 define a new section, if you try to switch to a section that does
3451 The Unix object formats, and the \c{bin} object format (but see
3452 \k{multisec}, all support
3453 the \i{standardized section names} \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss}
3454 for the code, data and uninitialized-data sections. The \c{obj}
3455 format, by contrast, does not recognize these section names as being
3456 special, and indeed will strip off the leading period of any section
3460 \S{sectmac} The \i\c{__SECT__} Macro
3462 The \c{SECTION} directive is unusual in that its user-level form
3463 functions differently from its primitive form. The primitive form,
3464 \c{[SECTION xyz]}, simply switches the current target section to the
3465 one given. The user-level form, \c{SECTION xyz}, however, first
3466 defines the single-line macro \c{__SECT__} to be the primitive
3467 \c{[SECTION]} directive which it is about to issue, and then issues
3468 it. So the user-level directive
3472 expands to the two lines
3474 \c %define __SECT__ [SECTION .text]
3477 Users may find it useful to make use of this in their own macros.
3478 For example, the \c{writefile} macro defined in \k{mlmacgre} can be
3479 usefully rewritten in the following more sophisticated form:
3481 \c %macro writefile 2+
3491 \c mov cx,%%endstr-%%str
3498 This form of the macro, once passed a string to output, first
3499 switches temporarily to the data section of the file, using the
3500 primitive form of the \c{SECTION} directive so as not to modify
3501 \c{__SECT__}. It then declares its string in the data section, and
3502 then invokes \c{__SECT__} to switch back to \e{whichever} section
3503 the user was previously working in. It thus avoids the need, in the
3504 previous version of the macro, to include a \c{JMP} instruction to
3505 jump over the data, and also does not fail if, in a complicated
3506 \c{OBJ} format module, the user could potentially be assembling the
3507 code in any of several separate code sections.
3510 \H{absolute} \i\c{ABSOLUTE}: Defining Absolute Labels
3512 The \c{ABSOLUTE} directive can be thought of as an alternative form
3513 of \c{SECTION}: it causes the subsequent code to be directed at no
3514 physical section, but at the hypothetical section starting at the
3515 given absolute address. The only instructions you can use in this
3516 mode are the \c{RESB} family.
3518 \c{ABSOLUTE} is used as follows:
3526 This example describes a section of the PC BIOS data area, at
3527 segment address 0x40: the above code defines \c{kbuf_chr} to be
3528 0x1A, \c{kbuf_free} to be 0x1C, and \c{kbuf} to be 0x1E.
3530 The user-level form of \c{ABSOLUTE}, like that of \c{SECTION},
3531 redefines the \i\c{__SECT__} macro when it is invoked.
3533 \i\c{STRUC} and \i\c{ENDSTRUC} are defined as macros which use
3534 \c{ABSOLUTE} (and also \c{__SECT__}).
3536 \c{ABSOLUTE} doesn't have to take an absolute constant as an
3537 argument: it can take an expression (actually, a \i{critical
3538 expression}: see \k{crit}) and it can be a value in a segment. For
3539 example, a TSR can re-use its setup code as run-time BSS like this:
3541 \c org 100h ; it's a .COM program
3543 \c jmp setup ; setup code comes last
3545 \c ; the resident part of the TSR goes here
3547 \c ; now write the code that installs the TSR here
3551 \c runtimevar1 resw 1
3552 \c runtimevar2 resd 20
3556 This defines some variables `on top of' the setup code, so that
3557 after the setup has finished running, the space it took up can be
3558 re-used as data storage for the running TSR. The symbol `tsr_end'
3559 can be used to calculate the total size of the part of the TSR that
3560 needs to be made resident.
3563 \H{extern} \i\c{EXTERN}: \i{Importing Symbols} from Other Modules
3565 \c{EXTERN} is similar to the MASM directive \c{EXTRN} and the C
3566 keyword \c{extern}: it is used to declare a symbol which is not
3567 defined anywhere in the module being assembled, but is assumed to be
3568 defined in some other module and needs to be referred to by this
3569 one. Not every object-file format can support external variables:
3570 the \c{bin} format cannot.
3572 The \c{EXTERN} directive takes as many arguments as you like. Each
3573 argument is the name of a symbol:
3576 \c extern _sscanf,_fscanf
3578 Some object-file formats provide extra features to the \c{EXTERN}
3579 directive. In all cases, the extra features are used by suffixing a
3580 colon to the symbol name followed by object-format specific text.
3581 For example, the \c{obj} format allows you to declare that the
3582 default segment base of an external should be the group \c{dgroup}
3583 by means of the directive
3585 \c extern _variable:wrt dgroup
3587 The primitive form of \c{EXTERN} differs from the user-level form
3588 only in that it can take only one argument at a time: the support
3589 for multiple arguments is implemented at the preprocessor level.
3591 You can declare the same variable as \c{EXTERN} more than once: NASM
3592 will quietly ignore the second and later redeclarations. You can't
3593 declare a variable as \c{EXTERN} as well as something else, though.
3596 \H{global} \i\c{GLOBAL}: \i{Exporting Symbols} to Other Modules
3598 \c{GLOBAL} is the other end of \c{EXTERN}: if one module declares a
3599 symbol as \c{EXTERN} and refers to it, then in order to prevent
3600 linker errors, some other module must actually \e{define} the
3601 symbol and declare it as \c{GLOBAL}. Some assemblers use the name
3602 \i\c{PUBLIC} for this purpose.
3604 The \c{GLOBAL} directive applying to a symbol must appear \e{before}
3605 the definition of the symbol.
3607 \c{GLOBAL} uses the same syntax as \c{EXTERN}, except that it must
3608 refer to symbols which \e{are} defined in the same module as the
3609 \c{GLOBAL} directive. For example:
3615 \c{GLOBAL}, like \c{EXTERN}, allows object formats to define private
3616 extensions by means of a colon. The \c{elf} object format, for
3617 example, lets you specify whether global data items are functions or
3620 \c global hashlookup:function, hashtable:data
3622 Like \c{EXTERN}, the primitive form of \c{GLOBAL} differs from the
3623 user-level form only in that it can take only one argument at a
3627 \H{common} \i\c{COMMON}: Defining Common Data Areas
3629 The \c{COMMON} directive is used to declare \i\e{common variables}.
3630 A common variable is much like a global variable declared in the
3631 uninitialized data section, so that
3635 is similar in function to
3642 The difference is that if more than one module defines the same
3643 common variable, then at link time those variables will be
3644 \e{merged}, and references to \c{intvar} in all modules will point
3645 at the same piece of memory.
3647 Like \c{GLOBAL} and \c{EXTERN}, \c{COMMON} supports object-format
3648 specific extensions. For example, the \c{obj} format allows common
3649 variables to be NEAR or FAR, and the \c{elf} format allows you to
3650 specify the alignment requirements of a common variable:
3652 \c common commvar 4:near ; works in OBJ
3653 \c common intarray 100:4 ; works in ELF: 4 byte aligned
3655 Once again, like \c{EXTERN} and \c{GLOBAL}, the primitive form of
3656 \c{COMMON} differs from the user-level form only in that it can take
3657 only one argument at a time.
3660 \H{CPU} \i\c{CPU}: Defining CPU Dependencies
3662 The \i\c{CPU} directive restricts assembly to those instructions which
3663 are available on the specified CPU.
3667 \b\c{CPU 8086} Assemble only 8086 instruction set
3669 \b\c{CPU 186} Assemble instructions up to the 80186 instruction set
3671 \b\c{CPU 286} Assemble instructions up to the 286 instruction set
3673 \b\c{CPU 386} Assemble instructions up to the 386 instruction set
3675 \b\c{CPU 486} 486 instruction set
3677 \b\c{CPU 586} Pentium instruction set
3679 \b\c{CPU PENTIUM} Same as 586
3681 \b\c{CPU 686} P6 instruction set
3683 \b\c{CPU PPRO} Same as 686
3685 \b\c{CPU P2} Same as 686
3687 \b\c{CPU P3} Pentium III (Katmai) instruction sets
3689 \b\c{CPU KATMAI} Same as P3
3691 \b\c{CPU P4} Pentium 4 (Willamette) instruction set
3693 \b\c{CPU WILLAMETTE} Same as P4
3695 \b\c{CPU PRESCOTT} Prescott instruction set
3697 \b\c{CPU X64} x86-64 (x64/AMD64/EM64T) instruction set
3699 \b\c{CPU IA64} IA64 CPU (in x86 mode) instruction set
3701 All options are case insensitive. All instructions will be selected
3702 only if they apply to the selected CPU or lower. By default, all
3703 instructions are available.
3706 \C{outfmt} \i{Output Formats}
3708 NASM is a portable assembler, designed to be able to compile on any
3709 ANSI C-supporting platform and produce output to run on a variety of
3710 Intel x86 operating systems. For this reason, it has a large number
3711 of available output formats, selected using the \i\c{-f} option on
3712 the NASM \i{command line}. Each of these formats, along with its
3713 extensions to the base NASM syntax, is detailed in this chapter.
3715 As stated in \k{opt-o}, NASM chooses a \i{default name} for your
3716 output file based on the input file name and the chosen output
3717 format. This will be generated by removing the \i{extension}
3718 (\c{.asm}, \c{.s}, or whatever you like to use) from the input file
3719 name, and substituting an extension defined by the output format.
3720 The extensions are given with each format below.
3723 \H{binfmt} \i\c{bin}: \i{Flat-Form Binary}\I{pure binary} Output
3725 The \c{bin} format does not produce object files: it generates
3726 nothing in the output file except the code you wrote. Such `pure
3727 binary' files are used by \i{MS-DOS}: \i\c{.COM} executables and
3728 \i\c{.SYS} device drivers are pure binary files. Pure binary output
3729 is also useful for \i{operating system} and \i{boot loader}
3732 The \c{bin} format supports \i{multiple section names}. For details of
3733 how nasm handles sections in the \c{bin} format, see \k{multisec}.
3735 Using the \c{bin} format puts NASM by default into 16-bit mode (see
3736 \k{bits}). In order to use \c{bin} to write 32-bit or 64-bit code,
3737 such as an OS kernel, you need to explicitly issue the \I\c{BITS}\c{BITS 32}
3738 or \I\c{BITS}\c{BITS 64} directive.
3740 \c{bin} has no default output file name extension: instead, it
3741 leaves your file name as it is once the original extension has been
3742 removed. Thus, the default is for NASM to assemble \c{binprog.asm}
3743 into a binary file called \c{binprog}.
3746 \S{org} \i\c{ORG}: Binary File \i{Program Origin}
3748 The \c{bin} format provides an additional directive to the list
3749 given in \k{directive}: \c{ORG}. The function of the \c{ORG}
3750 directive is to specify the origin address which NASM will assume
3751 the program begins at when it is loaded into memory.
3753 For example, the following code will generate the longword
3760 Unlike the \c{ORG} directive provided by MASM-compatible assemblers,
3761 which allows you to jump around in the object file and overwrite
3762 code you have already generated, NASM's \c{ORG} does exactly what
3763 the directive says: \e{origin}. Its sole function is to specify one
3764 offset which is added to all internal address references within the
3765 section; it does not permit any of the trickery that MASM's version
3766 does. See \k{proborg} for further comments.
3769 \S{binseg} \c{bin} Extensions to the \c{SECTION}
3770 Directive\I{SECTION, bin extensions to}
3772 The \c{bin} output format extends the \c{SECTION} (or \c{SEGMENT})
3773 directive to allow you to specify the alignment requirements of
3774 segments. This is done by appending the \i\c{ALIGN} qualifier to the
3775 end of the section-definition line. For example,
3777 \c section .data align=16
3779 switches to the section \c{.data} and also specifies that it must be
3780 aligned on a 16-byte boundary.
3782 The parameter to \c{ALIGN} specifies how many low bits of the
3783 section start address must be forced to zero. The alignment value
3784 given may be any power of two.\I{section alignment, in
3785 bin}\I{segment alignment, in bin}\I{alignment, in bin sections}
3788 \S{multisec} \i\c{Multisection}\I{bin, multisection} support for the BIN format.
3790 The \c{bin} format allows the use of multiple sections, of arbitrary names,
3791 besides the "known" \c{.text}, \c{.data}, and \c{.bss} names.
3793 \b Sections may be designated \i\c{progbits} or \i\c{nobits}. Default
3794 is \c{progbits} (except \c{.bss}, which defaults to \c{nobits},
3797 \b Sections can be aligned at a specified boundary following the previous
3798 section with \c{align=}, or at an arbitrary byte-granular position with
3801 \b Sections can be given a virtual start address, which will be used
3802 for the calculation of all memory references within that section
3805 \b Sections can be ordered using \i\c{follows=}\c{<section>} or
3806 \i\c{vfollows=}\c{<section>} as an alternative to specifying an explicit
3809 \b Arguments to \c{org}, \c{start}, \c{vstart}, and \c{align=} are
3810 critical expressions. See \k{crit}. E.g. \c{align=(1 << ALIGN_SHIFT)}
3811 - \c{ALIGN_SHIFT} must be defined before it is used here.
3813 \b Any code which comes before an explicit \c{SECTION} directive
3814 is directed by default into the \c{.text} section.
3816 \b If an \c{ORG} statement is not given, \c{ORG 0} is used
3819 \b The \c{.bss} section will be placed after the last \c{progbits}
3820 section, unless \c{start=}, \c{vstart=}, \c{follows=}, or \c{vfollows=}
3823 \b All sections are aligned on dword boundaries, unless a different
3824 alignment has been specified.
3826 \b Sections may not overlap.
3828 \b Nasm creates the \c{section.<secname>.start} for each section,
3829 which may be used in your code.
3831 \S{map}\i{Map files}
3833 Map files can be generated in \c{-f bin} format by means of the \c{[map]}
3834 option. Map types of \c{all} (default), \c{brief}, \c{sections}, \c{segments},
3835 or \c{symbols} may be specified. Output may be directed to \c{stdout}
3836 (default), \c{stderr}, or a specified file. E.g.
3837 \c{[map symbols myfile.map]}. No "user form" exists, the square
3838 brackets must be used.
3841 \H{objfmt} \i\c{obj}: \i{Microsoft OMF}\I{OMF} Object Files
3843 The \c{obj} file format (NASM calls it \c{obj} rather than \c{omf}
3844 for historical reasons) is the one produced by \i{MASM} and
3845 \i{TASM}, which is typically fed to 16-bit DOS linkers to produce
3846 \i\c{.EXE} files. It is also the format used by \i{OS/2}.
3848 \c{obj} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.obj}.
3850 \c{obj} is not exclusively a 16-bit format, though: NASM has full
3851 support for the 32-bit extensions to the format. In particular,
3852 32-bit \c{obj} format files are used by \i{Borland's Win32
3853 compilers}, instead of using Microsoft's newer \i\c{win32} object
3856 The \c{obj} format does not define any special segment names: you
3857 can call your segments anything you like. Typical names for segments
3858 in \c{obj} format files are \c{CODE}, \c{DATA} and \c{BSS}.
3860 If your source file contains code before specifying an explicit
3861 \c{SEGMENT} directive, then NASM will invent its own segment called
3862 \i\c{__NASMDEFSEG} for you.
3864 When you define a segment in an \c{obj} file, NASM defines the
3865 segment name as a symbol as well, so that you can access the segment
3866 address of the segment. So, for example:
3875 \c mov ax,data ; get segment address of data
3876 \c mov ds,ax ; and move it into DS
3877 \c inc word [dvar] ; now this reference will work
3880 The \c{obj} format also enables the use of the \i\c{SEG} and
3881 \i\c{WRT} operators, so that you can write code which does things
3886 \c mov ax,seg foo ; get preferred segment of foo
3888 \c mov ax,data ; a different segment
3890 \c mov ax,[ds:foo] ; this accesses `foo'
3891 \c mov [es:foo wrt data],bx ; so does this
3894 \S{objseg} \c{obj} Extensions to the \c{SEGMENT}
3895 Directive\I{SEGMENT, obj extensions to}
3897 The \c{obj} output format extends the \c{SEGMENT} (or \c{SECTION})
3898 directive to allow you to specify various properties of the segment
3899 you are defining. This is done by appending extra qualifiers to the
3900 end of the segment-definition line. For example,
3902 \c segment code private align=16
3904 defines the segment \c{code}, but also declares it to be a private
3905 segment, and requires that the portion of it described in this code
3906 module must be aligned on a 16-byte boundary.
3908 The available qualifiers are:
3910 \b \i\c{PRIVATE}, \i\c{PUBLIC}, \i\c{COMMON} and \i\c{STACK} specify
3911 the combination characteristics of the segment. \c{PRIVATE} segments
3912 do not get combined with any others by the linker; \c{PUBLIC} and
3913 \c{STACK} segments get concatenated together at link time; and
3914 \c{COMMON} segments all get overlaid on top of each other rather
3915 than stuck end-to-end.
3917 \b \i\c{ALIGN} is used, as shown above, to specify how many low bits
3918 of the segment start address must be forced to zero. The alignment
3919 value given may be any power of two from 1 to 4096; in reality, the
3920 only values supported are 1, 2, 4, 16, 256 and 4096, so if 8 is
3921 specified it will be rounded up to 16, and 32, 64 and 128 will all
3922 be rounded up to 256, and so on. Note that alignment to 4096-byte
3923 boundaries is a \i{PharLap} extension to the format and may not be
3924 supported by all linkers.\I{section alignment, in OBJ}\I{segment
3925 alignment, in OBJ}\I{alignment, in OBJ sections}
3927 \b \i\c{CLASS} can be used to specify the segment class; this feature
3928 indicates to the linker that segments of the same class should be
3929 placed near each other in the output file. The class name can be any
3930 word, e.g. \c{CLASS=CODE}.
3932 \b \i\c{OVERLAY}, like \c{CLASS}, is specified with an arbitrary word
3933 as an argument, and provides overlay information to an
3934 overlay-capable linker.
3936 \b Segments can be declared as \i\c{USE16} or \i\c{USE32}, which has
3937 the effect of recording the choice in the object file and also
3938 ensuring that NASM's default assembly mode when assembling in that
3939 segment is 16-bit or 32-bit respectively.
3941 \b When writing \i{OS/2} object files, you should declare 32-bit
3942 segments as \i\c{FLAT}, which causes the default segment base for
3943 anything in the segment to be the special group \c{FLAT}, and also
3944 defines the group if it is not already defined.
3946 \b The \c{obj} file format also allows segments to be declared as
3947 having a pre-defined absolute segment address, although no linkers
3948 are currently known to make sensible use of this feature;
3949 nevertheless, NASM allows you to declare a segment such as
3950 \c{SEGMENT SCREEN ABSOLUTE=0xB800} if you need to. The \i\c{ABSOLUTE}
3951 and \c{ALIGN} keywords are mutually exclusive.
3953 NASM's default segment attributes are \c{PUBLIC}, \c{ALIGN=1}, no
3954 class, no overlay, and \c{USE16}.
3957 \S{group} \i\c{GROUP}: Defining Groups of Segments\I{segments, groups of}
3959 The \c{obj} format also allows segments to be grouped, so that a
3960 single segment register can be used to refer to all the segments in
3961 a group. NASM therefore supplies the \c{GROUP} directive, whereby
3970 \c ; some uninitialized data
3972 \c group dgroup data bss
3974 which will define a group called \c{dgroup} to contain the segments
3975 \c{data} and \c{bss}. Like \c{SEGMENT}, \c{GROUP} causes the group
3976 name to be defined as a symbol, so that you can refer to a variable
3977 \c{var} in the \c{data} segment as \c{var wrt data} or as \c{var wrt
3978 dgroup}, depending on which segment value is currently in your
3981 If you just refer to \c{var}, however, and \c{var} is declared in a
3982 segment which is part of a group, then NASM will default to giving
3983 you the offset of \c{var} from the beginning of the \e{group}, not
3984 the \e{segment}. Therefore \c{SEG var}, also, will return the group
3985 base rather than the segment base.
3987 NASM will allow a segment to be part of more than one group, but
3988 will generate a warning if you do this. Variables declared in a
3989 segment which is part of more than one group will default to being
3990 relative to the first group that was defined to contain the segment.
3992 A group does not have to contain any segments; you can still make
3993 \c{WRT} references to a group which does not contain the variable
3994 you are referring to. OS/2, for example, defines the special group
3995 \c{FLAT} with no segments in it.
3998 \S{uppercase} \i\c{UPPERCASE}: Disabling Case Sensitivity in Output
4000 Although NASM itself is \i{case sensitive}, some OMF linkers are
4001 not; therefore it can be useful for NASM to output single-case
4002 object files. The \c{UPPERCASE} format-specific directive causes all
4003 segment, group and symbol names that are written to the object file
4004 to be forced to upper case just before being written. Within a
4005 source file, NASM is still case-sensitive; but the object file can
4006 be written entirely in upper case if desired.
4008 \c{UPPERCASE} is used alone on a line; it requires no parameters.
4011 \S{import} \i\c{IMPORT}: Importing DLL Symbols\I{DLL symbols,
4012 importing}\I{symbols, importing from DLLs}
4014 The \c{IMPORT} format-specific directive defines a symbol to be
4015 imported from a DLL, for use if you are writing a DLL's \i{import
4016 library} in NASM. You still need to declare the symbol as \c{EXTERN}
4017 as well as using the \c{IMPORT} directive.
4019 The \c{IMPORT} directive takes two required parameters, separated by
4020 white space, which are (respectively) the name of the symbol you
4021 wish to import and the name of the library you wish to import it
4024 \c import WSAStartup wsock32.dll
4026 A third optional parameter gives the name by which the symbol is
4027 known in the library you are importing it from, in case this is not
4028 the same as the name you wish the symbol to be known by to your code
4029 once you have imported it. For example:
4031 \c import asyncsel wsock32.dll WSAAsyncSelect
4034 \S{export} \i\c{EXPORT}: Exporting DLL Symbols\I{DLL symbols,
4035 exporting}\I{symbols, exporting from DLLs}
4037 The \c{EXPORT} format-specific directive defines a global symbol to
4038 be exported as a DLL symbol, for use if you are writing a DLL in
4039 NASM. You still need to declare the symbol as \c{GLOBAL} as well as
4040 using the \c{EXPORT} directive.
4042 \c{EXPORT} takes one required parameter, which is the name of the
4043 symbol you wish to export, as it was defined in your source file. An
4044 optional second parameter (separated by white space from the first)
4045 gives the \e{external} name of the symbol: the name by which you
4046 wish the symbol to be known to programs using the DLL. If this name
4047 is the same as the internal name, you may leave the second parameter
4050 Further parameters can be given to define attributes of the exported
4051 symbol. These parameters, like the second, are separated by white
4052 space. If further parameters are given, the external name must also
4053 be specified, even if it is the same as the internal name. The
4054 available attributes are:
4056 \b \c{resident} indicates that the exported name is to be kept
4057 resident by the system loader. This is an optimisation for
4058 frequently used symbols imported by name.
4060 \b \c{nodata} indicates that the exported symbol is a function which
4061 does not make use of any initialized data.
4063 \b \c{parm=NNN}, where \c{NNN} is an integer, sets the number of
4064 parameter words for the case in which the symbol is a call gate
4065 between 32-bit and 16-bit segments.
4067 \b An attribute which is just a number indicates that the symbol
4068 should be exported with an identifying number (ordinal), and gives
4074 \c export myfunc TheRealMoreFormalLookingFunctionName
4075 \c export myfunc myfunc 1234 ; export by ordinal
4076 \c export myfunc myfunc resident parm=23 nodata
4079 \S{dotdotstart} \i\c{..start}: Defining the \i{Program Entry
4082 \c{OMF} linkers require exactly one of the object files being linked to
4083 define the program entry point, where execution will begin when the
4084 program is run. If the object file that defines the entry point is
4085 assembled using NASM, you specify the entry point by declaring the
4086 special symbol \c{..start} at the point where you wish execution to
4090 \S{objextern} \c{obj} Extensions to the \c{EXTERN}
4091 Directive\I{EXTERN, obj extensions to}
4093 If you declare an external symbol with the directive
4097 then references such as \c{mov ax,foo} will give you the offset of
4098 \c{foo} from its preferred segment base (as specified in whichever
4099 module \c{foo} is actually defined in). So to access the contents of
4100 \c{foo} you will usually need to do something like
4102 \c mov ax,seg foo ; get preferred segment base
4103 \c mov es,ax ; move it into ES
4104 \c mov ax,[es:foo] ; and use offset `foo' from it
4106 This is a little unwieldy, particularly if you know that an external
4107 is going to be accessible from a given segment or group, say
4108 \c{dgroup}. So if \c{DS} already contained \c{dgroup}, you could
4111 \c mov ax,[foo wrt dgroup]
4113 However, having to type this every time you want to access \c{foo}
4114 can be a pain; so NASM allows you to declare \c{foo} in the
4117 \c extern foo:wrt dgroup
4119 This form causes NASM to pretend that the preferred segment base of
4120 \c{foo} is in fact \c{dgroup}; so the expression \c{seg foo} will
4121 now return \c{dgroup}, and the expression \c{foo} is equivalent to
4124 This \I{default-WRT mechanism}default-\c{WRT} mechanism can be used
4125 to make externals appear to be relative to any group or segment in
4126 your program. It can also be applied to common variables: see
4130 \S{objcommon} \c{obj} Extensions to the \c{COMMON}
4131 Directive\I{COMMON, obj extensions to}
4133 The \c{obj} format allows common variables to be either near\I{near
4134 common variables} or far\I{far common variables}; NASM allows you to
4135 specify which your variables should be by the use of the syntax
4137 \c common nearvar 2:near ; `nearvar' is a near common
4138 \c common farvar 10:far ; and `farvar' is far
4140 Far common variables may be greater in size than 64Kb, and so the
4141 OMF specification says that they are declared as a number of
4142 \e{elements} of a given size. So a 10-byte far common variable could
4143 be declared as ten one-byte elements, five two-byte elements, two
4144 five-byte elements or one ten-byte element.
4146 Some \c{OMF} linkers require the \I{element size, in common
4147 variables}\I{common variables, element size}element size, as well as
4148 the variable size, to match when resolving common variables declared
4149 in more than one module. Therefore NASM must allow you to specify
4150 the element size on your far common variables. This is done by the
4153 \c common c_5by2 10:far 5 ; two five-byte elements
4154 \c common c_2by5 10:far 2 ; five two-byte elements
4156 If no element size is specified, the default is 1. Also, the \c{FAR}
4157 keyword is not required when an element size is specified, since
4158 only far commons may have element sizes at all. So the above
4159 declarations could equivalently be
4161 \c common c_5by2 10:5 ; two five-byte elements
4162 \c common c_2by5 10:2 ; five two-byte elements
4164 In addition to these extensions, the \c{COMMON} directive in \c{obj}
4165 also supports default-\c{WRT} specification like \c{EXTERN} does
4166 (explained in \k{objextern}). So you can also declare things like
4168 \c common foo 10:wrt dgroup
4169 \c common bar 16:far 2:wrt data
4170 \c common baz 24:wrt data:6
4173 \H{win32fmt} \i\c{win32}: Microsoft Win32 Object Files
4175 The \c{win32} output format generates Microsoft Win32 object files,
4176 suitable for passing to Microsoft linkers such as \i{Visual C++}.
4177 Note that Borland Win32 compilers do not use this format, but use
4178 \c{obj} instead (see \k{objfmt}).
4180 \c{win32} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.obj}.
4182 Note that although Microsoft say that Win32 object files follow the
4183 \c{COFF} (Common Object File Format) standard, the object files produced
4184 by Microsoft Win32 compilers are not compatible with COFF linkers
4185 such as DJGPP's, and vice versa. This is due to a difference of
4186 opinion over the precise semantics of PC-relative relocations. To
4187 produce COFF files suitable for DJGPP, use NASM's \c{coff} output
4188 format; conversely, the \c{coff} format does not produce object
4189 files that Win32 linkers can generate correct output from.
4192 \S{win32sect} \c{win32} Extensions to the \c{SECTION}
4193 Directive\I{SECTION, win32 extensions to}
4195 Like the \c{obj} format, \c{win32} allows you to specify additional
4196 information on the \c{SECTION} directive line, to control the type
4197 and properties of sections you declare. Section types and properties
4198 are generated automatically by NASM for the \i{standard section names}
4199 \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss}, but may still be overridden by
4202 The available qualifiers are:
4204 \b \c{code}, or equivalently \c{text}, defines the section to be a
4205 code section. This marks the section as readable and executable, but
4206 not writable, and also indicates to the linker that the type of the
4209 \b \c{data} and \c{bss} define the section to be a data section,
4210 analogously to \c{code}. Data sections are marked as readable and
4211 writable, but not executable. \c{data} declares an initialized data
4212 section, whereas \c{bss} declares an uninitialized data section.
4214 \b \c{rdata} declares an initialized data section that is readable
4215 but not writable. Microsoft compilers use this section to place
4218 \b \c{info} defines the section to be an \i{informational section},
4219 which is not included in the executable file by the linker, but may
4220 (for example) pass information \e{to} the linker. For example,
4221 declaring an \c{info}-type section called \i\c{.drectve} causes the
4222 linker to interpret the contents of the section as command-line
4225 \b \c{align=}, used with a trailing number as in \c{obj}, gives the
4226 \I{section alignment, in win32}\I{alignment, in win32
4227 sections}alignment requirements of the section. The maximum you may
4228 specify is 64: the Win32 object file format contains no means to
4229 request a greater section alignment than this. If alignment is not
4230 explicitly specified, the defaults are 16-byte alignment for code
4231 sections, 8-byte alignment for rdata sections and 4-byte alignment
4232 for data (and BSS) sections.
4233 Informational sections get a default alignment of 1 byte (no
4234 alignment), though the value does not matter.
4236 The defaults assumed by NASM if you do not specify the above
4239 \c section .text code align=16
4240 \c section .data data align=4
4241 \c section .rdata rdata align=8
4242 \c section .bss bss align=4
4244 Any other section name is treated by default like \c{.text}.
4247 \H{win64fmt} \i\c{win64}: Microsoft Win64 Object Files
4249 The \c{win64} output format generates Microsoft Win64 object files,
4250 which is nearly 100% indentical to the \c{win32} object format (\k{win32fmt})
4251 with the exception that it is meant to target 64-bit code and the x86-64
4252 platform altogether. This object file is used exactly the same as the \c{win32}
4253 object format (\k{win32fmt}), in NASM, with regard to this exception.
4256 \H{cofffmt} \i\c{coff}: \i{Common Object File Format}
4258 The \c{coff} output type produces \c{COFF} object files suitable for
4259 linking with the \i{DJGPP} linker.
4261 \c{coff} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
4263 The \c{coff} format supports the same extensions to the \c{SECTION}
4264 directive as \c{win32} does, except that the \c{align} qualifier and
4265 the \c{info} section type are not supported.
4267 \H{machofmt} \i\c{macho}: \i{Mach Object File Format}
4269 The \c{macho} output type produces \c{Mach-O} object files suitable for
4270 linking with the \i{Mac OSX} linker.
4272 \c{macho} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
4274 \H{elffmt} \i\c{elf}: \I{ELF}\I{linux, elf}\i{Executable and Linkable
4275 Format} Object Files
4277 The \c{elf} output format generates \c{ELF32} (Executable and Linkable
4278 Format) object files, as used by Linux as well as \i{Unix System V},
4279 including \i{Solaris x86}, \i{UnixWare} and \i{SCO Unix}. \c{elf}
4280 provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
4283 \S{elfsect} \c{elf} Extensions to the \c{SECTION}
4284 Directive\I{SECTION, elf extensions to}
4286 Like the \c{obj} format, \c{elf} allows you to specify additional
4287 information on the \c{SECTION} directive line, to control the type
4288 and properties of sections you declare. Section types and properties
4289 are generated automatically by NASM for the \i{standard section
4290 names} \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}, but may still be
4291 overridden by these qualifiers.
4293 The available qualifiers are:
4295 \b \i\c{alloc} defines the section to be one which is loaded into
4296 memory when the program is run. \i\c{noalloc} defines it to be one
4297 which is not, such as an informational or comment section.
4299 \b \i\c{exec} defines the section to be one which should have execute
4300 permission when the program is run. \i\c{noexec} defines it as one
4303 \b \i\c{write} defines the section to be one which should be writable
4304 when the program is run. \i\c{nowrite} defines it as one which should
4307 \b \i\c{progbits} defines the section to be one with explicit contents
4308 stored in the object file: an ordinary code or data section, for
4309 example, \i\c{nobits} defines the section to be one with no explicit
4310 contents given, such as a BSS section.
4312 \b \c{align=}, used with a trailing number as in \c{obj}, gives the
4313 \I{section alignment, in elf}\I{alignment, in elf sections}alignment
4314 requirements of the section.
4316 The defaults assumed by NASM if you do not specify the above
4319 \c section .text progbits alloc exec nowrite align=16
4320 \c section .rodata progbits alloc noexec nowrite align=4
4321 \c section .data progbits alloc noexec write align=4
4322 \c section .bss nobits alloc noexec write align=4
4323 \c section other progbits alloc noexec nowrite align=1
4325 (Any section name other than \c{.text}, \c{.rodata}, \c{.data} and
4326 \c{.bss} is treated by default like \c{other} in the above code.)
4329 \S{elfwrt} \i{Position-Independent Code}\I{PIC}: \c{elf} Special
4330 Symbols and \i\c{WRT}
4332 The \c{ELF} specification contains enough features to allow
4333 position-independent code (PIC) to be written, which makes \i{ELF
4334 shared libraries} very flexible. However, it also means NASM has to
4335 be able to generate a variety of strange relocation types in ELF
4336 object files, if it is to be an assembler which can write PIC.
4338 Since \c{ELF} does not support segment-base references, the \c{WRT}
4339 operator is not used for its normal purpose; therefore NASM's
4340 \c{elf} output format makes use of \c{WRT} for a different purpose,
4341 namely the PIC-specific \I{relocations, PIC-specific}relocation
4344 \c{elf} defines five special symbols which you can use as the
4345 right-hand side of the \c{WRT} operator to obtain PIC relocation
4346 types. They are \i\c{..gotpc}, \i\c{..gotoff}, \i\c{..got},
4347 \i\c{..plt} and \i\c{..sym}. Their functions are summarized here:
4349 \b Referring to the symbol marking the global offset table base
4350 using \c{wrt ..gotpc} will end up giving the distance from the
4351 beginning of the current section to the global offset table.
4352 (\i\c{_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_} is the standard symbol name used to
4353 refer to the \i{GOT}.) So you would then need to add \i\c{$$} to the
4354 result to get the real address of the GOT.
4356 \b Referring to a location in one of your own sections using \c{wrt
4357 ..gotoff} will give the distance from the beginning of the GOT to
4358 the specified location, so that adding on the address of the GOT
4359 would give the real address of the location you wanted.
4361 \b Referring to an external or global symbol using \c{wrt ..got}
4362 causes the linker to build an entry \e{in} the GOT containing the
4363 address of the symbol, and the reference gives the distance from the
4364 beginning of the GOT to the entry; so you can add on the address of
4365 the GOT, load from the resulting address, and end up with the
4366 address of the symbol.
4368 \b Referring to a procedure name using \c{wrt ..plt} causes the
4369 linker to build a \i{procedure linkage table} entry for the symbol,
4370 and the reference gives the address of the \i{PLT} entry. You can
4371 only use this in contexts which would generate a PC-relative
4372 relocation normally (i.e. as the destination for \c{CALL} or
4373 \c{JMP}), since ELF contains no relocation type to refer to PLT
4376 \b Referring to a symbol name using \c{wrt ..sym} causes NASM to
4377 write an ordinary relocation, but instead of making the relocation
4378 relative to the start of the section and then adding on the offset
4379 to the symbol, it will write a relocation record aimed directly at
4380 the symbol in question. The distinction is a necessary one due to a
4381 peculiarity of the dynamic linker.
4383 A fuller explanation of how to use these relocation types to write
4384 shared libraries entirely in NASM is given in \k{picdll}.
4387 \S{elfglob} \c{elf} Extensions to the \c{GLOBAL} Directive\I{GLOBAL,
4388 elf extensions to}\I{GLOBAL, aoutb extensions to}
4390 \c{ELF} object files can contain more information about a global symbol
4391 than just its address: they can contain the \I{symbol sizes,
4392 specifying}\I{size, of symbols}size of the symbol and its \I{symbol
4393 types, specifying}\I{type, of symbols}type as well. These are not
4394 merely debugger conveniences, but are actually necessary when the
4395 program being written is a \i{shared library}. NASM therefore
4396 supports some extensions to the \c{GLOBAL} directive, allowing you
4397 to specify these features.
4399 You can specify whether a global variable is a function or a data
4400 object by suffixing the name with a colon and the word
4401 \i\c{function} or \i\c{data}. (\i\c{object} is a synonym for
4402 \c{data}.) For example:
4404 \c global hashlookup:function, hashtable:data
4406 exports the global symbol \c{hashlookup} as a function and
4407 \c{hashtable} as a data object.
4409 You can also specify the size of the data associated with the
4410 symbol, as a numeric expression (which may involve labels, and even
4411 forward references) after the type specifier. Like this:
4413 \c global hashtable:data (hashtable.end - hashtable)
4416 \c db this,that,theother ; some data here
4419 This makes NASM automatically calculate the length of the table and
4420 place that information into the \c{ELF} symbol table.
4422 Declaring the type and size of global symbols is necessary when
4423 writing shared library code. For more information, see
4427 \S{elfcomm} \c{elf} Extensions to the \c{COMMON} Directive
4428 \I{COMMON, elf extensions to}
4430 \c{ELF} also allows you to specify alignment requirements \I{common
4431 variables, alignment in elf}\I{alignment, of elf common variables}on
4432 common variables. This is done by putting a number (which must be a
4433 power of two) after the name and size of the common variable,
4434 separated (as usual) by a colon. For example, an array of
4435 doublewords would benefit from 4-byte alignment:
4437 \c common dwordarray 128:4
4439 This declares the total size of the array to be 128 bytes, and
4440 requires that it be aligned on a 4-byte boundary.
4443 \S{elf16} 16-bit code and ELF
4444 \I{ELF, 16-bit code and}
4446 The \c{ELF32} specification doesn't provide relocations for 8- and
4447 16-bit values, but the GNU \c{ld} linker adds these as an extension.
4448 NASM can generate GNU-compatible relocations, to allow 16-bit code to
4449 be linked as ELF using GNU \c{ld}. If NASM is used with the
4450 \c{-w+gnu-elf-extensions} option, a warning is issued when one of
4451 these relocations is generated.
4453 \H{aoutfmt} \i\c{aout}: Linux \I{a.out, Linux version}\I{linux, a.out}\c{a.out} Object Files
4455 The \c{aout} format generates \c{a.out} object files, in the form used
4456 by early Linux systems (current Linux systems use ELF, see
4457 \k{elffmt}.) These differ from other \c{a.out} object files in that
4458 the magic number in the first four bytes of the file is
4459 different; also, some implementations of \c{a.out}, for example
4460 NetBSD's, support position-independent code, which Linux's
4461 implementation does not.
4463 \c{a.out} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
4465 \c{a.out} is a very simple object format. It supports no special
4466 directives, no special symbols, no use of \c{SEG} or \c{WRT}, and no
4467 extensions to any standard directives. It supports only the three
4468 \i{standard section names} \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}.
4471 \H{aoutfmt} \i\c{aoutb}: \i{NetBSD}/\i{FreeBSD}/\i{OpenBSD}
4472 \I{a.out, BSD version}\c{a.out} Object Files
4474 The \c{aoutb} format generates \c{a.out} object files, in the form
4475 used by the various free \c{BSD Unix} clones, \c{NetBSD}, \c{FreeBSD}
4476 and \c{OpenBSD}. For simple object files, this object format is exactly
4477 the same as \c{aout} except for the magic number in the first four bytes
4478 of the file. However, the \c{aoutb} format supports
4479 \I{PIC}\i{position-independent code} in the same way as the \c{elf}
4480 format, so you can use it to write \c{BSD} \i{shared libraries}.
4482 \c{aoutb} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
4484 \c{aoutb} supports no special directives, no special symbols, and
4485 only the three \i{standard section names} \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data}
4486 and \i\c{.bss}. However, it also supports the same use of \i\c{WRT} as
4487 \c{elf} does, to provide position-independent code relocation types.
4488 See \k{elfwrt} for full documentation of this feature.
4490 \c{aoutb} also supports the same extensions to the \c{GLOBAL}
4491 directive as \c{elf} does: see \k{elfglob} for documentation of
4495 \H{as86fmt} \c{as86}: \i{Minix}/Linux\I{linux, as86} \i\c{as86} Object Files
4497 The Minix/Linux 16-bit assembler \c{as86} has its own non-standard
4498 object file format. Although its companion linker \i\c{ld86} produces
4499 something close to ordinary \c{a.out} binaries as output, the object
4500 file format used to communicate between \c{as86} and \c{ld86} is not
4503 NASM supports this format, just in case it is useful, as \c{as86}.
4504 \c{as86} provides a default output file-name extension of \c{.o}.
4506 \c{as86} is a very simple object format (from the NASM user's point
4507 of view). It supports no special directives, no special symbols, no
4508 use of \c{SEG} or \c{WRT}, and no extensions to any standard
4509 directives. It supports only the three \i{standard section names}
4510 \i\c{.text}, \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}.
4513 \H{rdffmt} \I{RDOFF}\i\c{rdf}: \i{Relocatable Dynamic Object File
4516 The \c{rdf} output format produces \c{RDOFF} object files. \c{RDOFF}
4517 (Relocatable Dynamic Object File Format) is a home-grown object-file
4518 format, designed alongside NASM itself and reflecting in its file
4519 format the internal structure of the assembler.
4521 \c{RDOFF} is not used by any well-known operating systems. Those
4522 writing their own systems, however, may well wish to use \c{RDOFF}
4523 as their object format, on the grounds that it is designed primarily
4524 for simplicity and contains very little file-header bureaucracy.
4526 The Unix NASM archive, and the DOS archive which includes sources,
4527 both contain an \I{rdoff subdirectory}\c{rdoff} subdirectory holding
4528 a set of RDOFF utilities: an RDF linker, an \c{RDF} static-library
4529 manager, an RDF file dump utility, and a program which will load and
4530 execute an RDF executable under Linux.
4532 \c{rdf} supports only the \i{standard section names} \i\c{.text},
4533 \i\c{.data} and \i\c{.bss}.
4536 \S{rdflib} Requiring a Library: The \i\c{LIBRARY} Directive
4538 \c{RDOFF} contains a mechanism for an object file to demand a given
4539 library to be linked to the module, either at load time or run time.
4540 This is done by the \c{LIBRARY} directive, which takes one argument
4541 which is the name of the module:
4543 \c library mylib.rdl
4546 \S{rdfmod} Specifying a Module Name: The \i\c{MODULE} Directive
4548 Special \c{RDOFF} header record is used to store the name of the module.
4549 It can be used, for example, by run-time loader to perform dynamic
4550 linking. \c{MODULE} directive takes one argument which is the name
4555 Note that when you statically link modules and tell linker to strip
4556 the symbols from output file, all module names will be stripped too.
4557 To avoid it, you should start module names with \I{$, prefix}\c{$}, like:
4559 \c module $kernel.core
4562 \S{rdfglob} \c{rdf} Extensions to the \c{GLOBAL} directive\I{GLOBAL,
4565 \c{RDOFF} global symbols can contain additional information needed by
4566 the static linker. You can mark a global symbol as exported, thus
4567 telling the linker do not strip it from target executable or library
4568 file. Like in \c{ELF}, you can also specify whether an exported symbol
4569 is a procedure (function) or data object.
4571 Suffixing the name with a colon and the word \i\c{export} you make the
4574 \c global sys_open:export
4576 To specify that exported symbol is a procedure (function), you add the
4577 word \i\c{proc} or \i\c{function} after declaration:
4579 \c global sys_open:export proc
4581 Similarly, to specify exported data object, add the word \i\c{data}
4582 or \i\c{object} to the directive:
4584 \c global kernel_ticks:export data
4587 \S{rdfimpt} \c{rdf} Extensions to the \c{EXTERN} directive\I{EXTERN,
4590 By default the \c{EXTERN} directive in \c{RDOFF} declares a "pure external"
4591 symbol (i.e. the static linker will complain if such a symbol is not resolved).
4592 To declare an "imported" symbol, which must be resolved later during a dynamic
4593 linking phase, \c{RDOFF} offers an additional \c{import} modifier. As in
4594 \c{GLOBAL}, you can also specify whether an imported symbol is a procedure
4595 (function) or data object. For example:
4598 \c extern _open:import
4599 \c extern _printf:import proc
4600 \c extern _errno:import data
4602 Here the directive \c{LIBRARY} is also included, which gives the dynamic linker
4603 a hint as to where to find requested symbols.
4606 \H{dbgfmt} \i\c{dbg}: Debugging Format
4608 The \c{dbg} output format is not built into NASM in the default
4609 configuration. If you are building your own NASM executable from the
4610 sources, you can define \i\c{OF_DBG} in \c{outform.h} or on the
4611 compiler command line, and obtain the \c{dbg} output format.
4613 The \c{dbg} format does not output an object file as such; instead,
4614 it outputs a text file which contains a complete list of all the
4615 transactions between the main body of NASM and the output-format
4616 back end module. It is primarily intended to aid people who want to
4617 write their own output drivers, so that they can get a clearer idea
4618 of the various requests the main program makes of the output driver,
4619 and in what order they happen.
4621 For simple files, one can easily use the \c{dbg} format like this:
4623 \c nasm -f dbg filename.asm
4625 which will generate a diagnostic file called \c{filename.dbg}.
4626 However, this will not work well on files which were designed for a
4627 different object format, because each object format defines its own
4628 macros (usually user-level forms of directives), and those macros
4629 will not be defined in the \c{dbg} format. Therefore it can be
4630 useful to run NASM twice, in order to do the preprocessing with the
4631 native object format selected:
4633 \c nasm -e -f rdf -o rdfprog.i rdfprog.asm
4634 \c nasm -a -f dbg rdfprog.i
4636 This preprocesses \c{rdfprog.asm} into \c{rdfprog.i}, keeping the
4637 \c{rdf} object format selected in order to make sure RDF special
4638 directives are converted into primitive form correctly. Then the
4639 preprocessed source is fed through the \c{dbg} format to generate
4640 the final diagnostic output.
4642 This workaround will still typically not work for programs intended
4643 for \c{obj} format, because the \c{obj} \c{SEGMENT} and \c{GROUP}
4644 directives have side effects of defining the segment and group names
4645 as symbols; \c{dbg} will not do this, so the program will not
4646 assemble. You will have to work around that by defining the symbols
4647 yourself (using \c{EXTERN}, for example) if you really need to get a
4648 \c{dbg} trace of an \c{obj}-specific source file.
4650 \c{dbg} accepts any section name and any directives at all, and logs
4651 them all to its output file.
4654 \C{16bit} Writing 16-bit Code (DOS, Windows 3/3.1)
4656 This chapter attempts to cover some of the common issues encountered
4657 when writing 16-bit code to run under \c{MS-DOS} or \c{Windows 3.x}. It
4658 covers how to link programs to produce \c{.EXE} or \c{.COM} files,
4659 how to write \c{.SYS} device drivers, and how to interface assembly
4660 language code with 16-bit C compilers and with Borland Pascal.
4663 \H{exefiles} Producing \i\c{.EXE} Files
4665 Any large program written under DOS needs to be built as a \c{.EXE}
4666 file: only \c{.EXE} files have the necessary internal structure
4667 required to span more than one 64K segment. \i{Windows} programs,
4668 also, have to be built as \c{.EXE} files, since Windows does not
4669 support the \c{.COM} format.
4671 In general, you generate \c{.EXE} files by using the \c{obj} output
4672 format to produce one or more \i\c{.OBJ} files, and then linking
4673 them together using a linker. However, NASM also supports the direct
4674 generation of simple DOS \c{.EXE} files using the \c{bin} output
4675 format (by using \c{DB} and \c{DW} to construct the \c{.EXE} file
4676 header), and a macro package is supplied to do this. Thanks to
4677 Yann Guidon for contributing the code for this.
4679 NASM may also support \c{.EXE} natively as another output format in
4683 \S{objexe} Using the \c{obj} Format To Generate \c{.EXE} Files
4685 This section describes the usual method of generating \c{.EXE} files
4686 by linking \c{.OBJ} files together.
4688 Most 16-bit programming language packages come with a suitable
4689 linker; if you have none of these, there is a free linker called
4690 \i{VAL}\I{linker, free}, available in \c{LZH} archive format from
4691 \W{ftp://x2ftp.oulu.fi/pub/msdos/programming/lang/}\i\c{x2ftp.oulu.fi}.
4692 An LZH archiver can be found at
4693 \W{ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/arcers}\i\c{ftp.simtel.net}.
4694 There is another `free' linker (though this one doesn't come with
4695 sources) called \i{FREELINK}, available from
4696 \W{http://www.pcorner.com/tpc/old/3-101.html}\i\c{www.pcorner.com}.
4697 A third, \i\c{djlink}, written by DJ Delorie, is available at
4698 \W{http://www.delorie.com/djgpp/16bit/djlink/}\i\c{www.delorie.com}.
4699 A fourth linker, \i\c{ALINK}, written by Anthony A.J. Williams, is
4700 available at \W{http://alink.sourceforge.net}\i\c{alink.sourceforge.net}.
4702 When linking several \c{.OBJ} files into a \c{.EXE} file, you should
4703 ensure that exactly one of them has a start point defined (using the
4704 \I{program entry point}\i\c{..start} special symbol defined by the
4705 \c{obj} format: see \k{dotdotstart}). If no module defines a start
4706 point, the linker will not know what value to give the entry-point
4707 field in the output file header; if more than one defines a start
4708 point, the linker will not know \e{which} value to use.
4710 An example of a NASM source file which can be assembled to a
4711 \c{.OBJ} file and linked on its own to a \c{.EXE} is given here. It
4712 demonstrates the basic principles of defining a stack, initialising
4713 the segment registers, and declaring a start point. This file is
4714 also provided in the \I{test subdirectory}\c{test} subdirectory of
4715 the NASM archives, under the name \c{objexe.asm}.
4726 This initial piece of code sets up \c{DS} to point to the data
4727 segment, and initializes \c{SS} and \c{SP} to point to the top of
4728 the provided stack. Notice that interrupts are implicitly disabled
4729 for one instruction after a move into \c{SS}, precisely for this
4730 situation, so that there's no chance of an interrupt occurring
4731 between the loads of \c{SS} and \c{SP} and not having a stack to
4734 Note also that the special symbol \c{..start} is defined at the
4735 beginning of this code, which means that will be the entry point
4736 into the resulting executable file.
4742 The above is the main program: load \c{DS:DX} with a pointer to the
4743 greeting message (\c{hello} is implicitly relative to the segment
4744 \c{data}, which was loaded into \c{DS} in the setup code, so the
4745 full pointer is valid), and call the DOS print-string function.
4750 This terminates the program using another DOS system call.
4754 \c hello: db 'hello, world', 13, 10, '$'
4756 The data segment contains the string we want to display.
4758 \c segment stack stack
4762 The above code declares a stack segment containing 64 bytes of
4763 uninitialized stack space, and points \c{stacktop} at the top of it.
4764 The directive \c{segment stack stack} defines a segment \e{called}
4765 \c{stack}, and also of \e{type} \c{STACK}. The latter is not
4766 necessary to the correct running of the program, but linkers are
4767 likely to issue warnings or errors if your program has no segment of
4770 The above file, when assembled into a \c{.OBJ} file, will link on
4771 its own to a valid \c{.EXE} file, which when run will print `hello,
4772 world' and then exit.
4775 \S{binexe} Using the \c{bin} Format To Generate \c{.EXE} Files
4777 The \c{.EXE} file format is simple enough that it's possible to
4778 build a \c{.EXE} file by writing a pure-binary program and sticking
4779 a 32-byte header on the front. This header is simple enough that it
4780 can be generated using \c{DB} and \c{DW} commands by NASM itself, so
4781 that you can use the \c{bin} output format to directly generate
4784 Included in the NASM archives, in the \I{misc subdirectory}\c{misc}
4785 subdirectory, is a file \i\c{exebin.mac} of macros. It defines three
4786 macros: \i\c{EXE_begin}, \i\c{EXE_stack} and \i\c{EXE_end}.
4788 To produce a \c{.EXE} file using this method, you should start by
4789 using \c{%include} to load the \c{exebin.mac} macro package into
4790 your source file. You should then issue the \c{EXE_begin} macro call
4791 (which takes no arguments) to generate the file header data. Then
4792 write code as normal for the \c{bin} format - you can use all three
4793 standard sections \c{.text}, \c{.data} and \c{.bss}. At the end of
4794 the file you should call the \c{EXE_end} macro (again, no arguments),
4795 which defines some symbols to mark section sizes, and these symbols
4796 are referred to in the header code generated by \c{EXE_begin}.
4798 In this model, the code you end up writing starts at \c{0x100}, just
4799 like a \c{.COM} file - in fact, if you strip off the 32-byte header
4800 from the resulting \c{.EXE} file, you will have a valid \c{.COM}
4801 program. All the segment bases are the same, so you are limited to a
4802 64K program, again just like a \c{.COM} file. Note that an \c{ORG}
4803 directive is issued by the \c{EXE_begin} macro, so you should not
4804 explicitly issue one of your own.
4806 You can't directly refer to your segment base value, unfortunately,
4807 since this would require a relocation in the header, and things
4808 would get a lot more complicated. So you should get your segment
4809 base by copying it out of \c{CS} instead.
4811 On entry to your \c{.EXE} file, \c{SS:SP} are already set up to
4812 point to the top of a 2Kb stack. You can adjust the default stack
4813 size of 2Kb by calling the \c{EXE_stack} macro. For example, to
4814 change the stack size of your program to 64 bytes, you would call
4817 A sample program which generates a \c{.EXE} file in this way is
4818 given in the \c{test} subdirectory of the NASM archive, as
4822 \H{comfiles} Producing \i\c{.COM} Files
4824 While large DOS programs must be written as \c{.EXE} files, small
4825 ones are often better written as \c{.COM} files. \c{.COM} files are
4826 pure binary, and therefore most easily produced using the \c{bin}
4830 \S{combinfmt} Using the \c{bin} Format To Generate \c{.COM} Files
4832 \c{.COM} files expect to be loaded at offset \c{100h} into their
4833 segment (though the segment may change). Execution then begins at
4834 \I\c{ORG}\c{100h}, i.e. right at the start of the program. So to
4835 write a \c{.COM} program, you would create a source file looking
4843 \c ; put your code here
4847 \c ; put data items here
4851 \c ; put uninitialized data here
4853 The \c{bin} format puts the \c{.text} section first in the file, so
4854 you can declare data or BSS items before beginning to write code if
4855 you want to and the code will still end up at the front of the file
4858 The BSS (uninitialized data) section does not take up space in the
4859 \c{.COM} file itself: instead, addresses of BSS items are resolved
4860 to point at space beyond the end of the file, on the grounds that
4861 this will be free memory when the program is run. Therefore you
4862 should not rely on your BSS being initialized to all zeros when you
4865 To assemble the above program, you should use a command line like
4867 \c nasm myprog.asm -fbin -o myprog.com
4869 The \c{bin} format would produce a file called \c{myprog} if no
4870 explicit output file name were specified, so you have to override it
4871 and give the desired file name.
4874 \S{comobjfmt} Using the \c{obj} Format To Generate \c{.COM} Files
4876 If you are writing a \c{.COM} program as more than one module, you
4877 may wish to assemble several \c{.OBJ} files and link them together
4878 into a \c{.COM} program. You can do this, provided you have a linker
4879 capable of outputting \c{.COM} files directly (\i{TLINK} does this),
4880 or alternatively a converter program such as \i\c{EXE2BIN} to
4881 transform the \c{.EXE} file output from the linker into a \c{.COM}
4884 If you do this, you need to take care of several things:
4886 \b The first object file containing code should start its code
4887 segment with a line like \c{RESB 100h}. This is to ensure that the
4888 code begins at offset \c{100h} relative to the beginning of the code
4889 segment, so that the linker or converter program does not have to
4890 adjust address references within the file when generating the
4891 \c{.COM} file. Other assemblers use an \i\c{ORG} directive for this
4892 purpose, but \c{ORG} in NASM is a format-specific directive to the
4893 \c{bin} output format, and does not mean the same thing as it does
4894 in MASM-compatible assemblers.
4896 \b You don't need to define a stack segment.
4898 \b All your segments should be in the same group, so that every time
4899 your code or data references a symbol offset, all offsets are
4900 relative to the same segment base. This is because, when a \c{.COM}
4901 file is loaded, all the segment registers contain the same value.
4904 \H{sysfiles} Producing \i\c{.SYS} Files
4906 \i{MS-DOS device drivers} - \c{.SYS} files - are pure binary files,
4907 similar to \c{.COM} files, except that they start at origin zero
4908 rather than \c{100h}. Therefore, if you are writing a device driver
4909 using the \c{bin} format, you do not need the \c{ORG} directive,
4910 since the default origin for \c{bin} is zero. Similarly, if you are
4911 using \c{obj}, you do not need the \c{RESB 100h} at the start of
4914 \c{.SYS} files start with a header structure, containing pointers to
4915 the various routines inside the driver which do the work. This
4916 structure should be defined at the start of the code segment, even
4917 though it is not actually code.
4919 For more information on the format of \c{.SYS} files, and the data
4920 which has to go in the header structure, a list of books is given in
4921 the Frequently Asked Questions list for the newsgroup
4922 \W{news:comp.os.msdos.programmer}\i\c{comp.os.msdos.programmer}.
4925 \H{16c} Interfacing to 16-bit C Programs
4927 This section covers the basics of writing assembly routines that
4928 call, or are called from, C programs. To do this, you would
4929 typically write an assembly module as a \c{.OBJ} file, and link it
4930 with your C modules to produce a \i{mixed-language program}.
4933 \S{16cunder} External Symbol Names
4935 \I{C symbol names}\I{underscore, in C symbols}C compilers have the
4936 convention that the names of all global symbols (functions or data)
4937 they define are formed by prefixing an underscore to the name as it
4938 appears in the C program. So, for example, the function a C
4939 programmer thinks of as \c{printf} appears to an assembly language
4940 programmer as \c{_printf}. This means that in your assembly
4941 programs, you can define symbols without a leading underscore, and
4942 not have to worry about name clashes with C symbols.
4944 If you find the underscores inconvenient, you can define macros to
4945 replace the \c{GLOBAL} and \c{EXTERN} directives as follows:
4961 (These forms of the macros only take one argument at a time; a
4962 \c{%rep} construct could solve this.)
4964 If you then declare an external like this:
4968 then the macro will expand it as
4971 \c %define printf _printf
4973 Thereafter, you can reference \c{printf} as if it was a symbol, and
4974 the preprocessor will put the leading underscore on where necessary.
4976 The \c{cglobal} macro works similarly. You must use \c{cglobal}
4977 before defining the symbol in question, but you would have had to do
4978 that anyway if you used \c{GLOBAL}.
4980 Also see \k{opt-pfix}.
4982 \S{16cmodels} \i{Memory Models}
4984 NASM contains no mechanism to support the various C memory models
4985 directly; you have to keep track yourself of which one you are
4986 writing for. This means you have to keep track of the following
4989 \b In models using a single code segment (tiny, small and compact),
4990 functions are near. This means that function pointers, when stored
4991 in data segments or pushed on the stack as function arguments, are
4992 16 bits long and contain only an offset field (the \c{CS} register
4993 never changes its value, and always gives the segment part of the
4994 full function address), and that functions are called using ordinary
4995 near \c{CALL} instructions and return using \c{RETN} (which, in
4996 NASM, is synonymous with \c{RET} anyway). This means both that you
4997 should write your own routines to return with \c{RETN}, and that you
4998 should call external C routines with near \c{CALL} instructions.
5000 \b In models using more than one code segment (medium, large and
5001 huge), functions are far. This means that function pointers are 32
5002 bits long (consisting of a 16-bit offset followed by a 16-bit
5003 segment), and that functions are called using \c{CALL FAR} (or
5004 \c{CALL seg:offset}) and return using \c{RETF}. Again, you should
5005 therefore write your own routines to return with \c{RETF} and use
5006 \c{CALL FAR} to call external routines.
5008 \b In models using a single data segment (tiny, small and medium),
5009 data pointers are 16 bits long, containing only an offset field (the
5010 \c{DS} register doesn't change its value, and always gives the
5011 segment part of the full data item address).
5013 \b In models using more than one data segment (compact, large and
5014 huge), data pointers are 32 bits long, consisting of a 16-bit offset
5015 followed by a 16-bit segment. You should still be careful not to
5016 modify \c{DS} in your routines without restoring it afterwards, but
5017 \c{ES} is free for you to use to access the contents of 32-bit data
5018 pointers you are passed.
5020 \b The huge memory model allows single data items to exceed 64K in
5021 size. In all other memory models, you can access the whole of a data
5022 item just by doing arithmetic on the offset field of the pointer you
5023 are given, whether a segment field is present or not; in huge model,
5024 you have to be more careful of your pointer arithmetic.
5026 \b In most memory models, there is a \e{default} data segment, whose
5027 segment address is kept in \c{DS} throughout the program. This data
5028 segment is typically the same segment as the stack, kept in \c{SS},
5029 so that functions' local variables (which are stored on the stack)
5030 and global data items can both be accessed easily without changing
5031 \c{DS}. Particularly large data items are typically stored in other
5032 segments. However, some memory models (though not the standard
5033 ones, usually) allow the assumption that \c{SS} and \c{DS} hold the
5034 same value to be removed. Be careful about functions' local
5035 variables in this latter case.
5037 In models with a single code segment, the segment is called
5038 \i\c{_TEXT}, so your code segment must also go by this name in order
5039 to be linked into the same place as the main code segment. In models
5040 with a single data segment, or with a default data segment, it is
5044 \S{16cfunc} Function Definitions and Function Calls
5046 \I{functions, C calling convention}The \i{C calling convention} in
5047 16-bit programs is as follows. In the following description, the
5048 words \e{caller} and \e{callee} are used to denote the function
5049 doing the calling and the function which gets called.
5051 \b The caller pushes the function's parameters on the stack, one
5052 after another, in reverse order (right to left, so that the first
5053 argument specified to the function is pushed last).
5055 \b The caller then executes a \c{CALL} instruction to pass control
5056 to the callee. This \c{CALL} is either near or far depending on the
5059 \b The callee receives control, and typically (although this is not
5060 actually necessary, in functions which do not need to access their
5061 parameters) starts by saving the value of \c{SP} in \c{BP} so as to
5062 be able to use \c{BP} as a base pointer to find its parameters on
5063 the stack. However, the caller was probably doing this too, so part
5064 of the calling convention states that \c{BP} must be preserved by
5065 any C function. Hence the callee, if it is going to set up \c{BP} as
5066 a \i\e{frame pointer}, must push the previous value first.
5068 \b The callee may then access its parameters relative to \c{BP}.
5069 The word at \c{[BP]} holds the previous value of \c{BP} as it was
5070 pushed; the next word, at \c{[BP+2]}, holds the offset part of the
5071 return address, pushed implicitly by \c{CALL}. In a small-model
5072 (near) function, the parameters start after that, at \c{[BP+4]}; in
5073 a large-model (far) function, the segment part of the return address
5074 lives at \c{[BP+4]}, and the parameters begin at \c{[BP+6]}. The
5075 leftmost parameter of the function, since it was pushed last, is
5076 accessible at this offset from \c{BP}; the others follow, at
5077 successively greater offsets. Thus, in a function such as \c{printf}
5078 which takes a variable number of parameters, the pushing of the
5079 parameters in reverse order means that the function knows where to
5080 find its first parameter, which tells it the number and type of the
5083 \b The callee may also wish to decrease \c{SP} further, so as to
5084 allocate space on the stack for local variables, which will then be
5085 accessible at negative offsets from \c{BP}.
5087 \b The callee, if it wishes to return a value to the caller, should
5088 leave the value in \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{DX:AX} depending on the size
5089 of the value. Floating-point results are sometimes (depending on the
5090 compiler) returned in \c{ST0}.
5092 \b Once the callee has finished processing, it restores \c{SP} from
5093 \c{BP} if it had allocated local stack space, then pops the previous
5094 value of \c{BP}, and returns via \c{RETN} or \c{RETF} depending on
5097 \b When the caller regains control from the callee, the function
5098 parameters are still on the stack, so it typically adds an immediate
5099 constant to \c{SP} to remove them (instead of executing a number of
5100 slow \c{POP} instructions). Thus, if a function is accidentally
5101 called with the wrong number of parameters due to a prototype
5102 mismatch, the stack will still be returned to a sensible state since
5103 the caller, which \e{knows} how many parameters it pushed, does the
5106 It is instructive to compare this calling convention with that for
5107 Pascal programs (described in \k{16bpfunc}). Pascal has a simpler
5108 convention, since no functions have variable numbers of parameters.
5109 Therefore the callee knows how many parameters it should have been
5110 passed, and is able to deallocate them from the stack itself by
5111 passing an immediate argument to the \c{RET} or \c{RETF}
5112 instruction, so the caller does not have to do it. Also, the
5113 parameters are pushed in left-to-right order, not right-to-left,
5114 which means that a compiler can give better guarantees about
5115 sequence points without performance suffering.
5117 Thus, you would define a function in C style in the following way.
5118 The following example is for small model:
5125 \c sub sp,0x40 ; 64 bytes of local stack space
5126 \c mov bx,[bp+4] ; first parameter to function
5130 \c mov sp,bp ; undo "sub sp,0x40" above
5134 For a large-model function, you would replace \c{RET} by \c{RETF},
5135 and look for the first parameter at \c{[BP+6]} instead of
5136 \c{[BP+4]}. Of course, if one of the parameters is a pointer, then
5137 the offsets of \e{subsequent} parameters will change depending on
5138 the memory model as well: far pointers take up four bytes on the
5139 stack when passed as a parameter, whereas near pointers take up two.
5141 At the other end of the process, to call a C function from your
5142 assembly code, you would do something like this:
5146 \c ; and then, further down...
5148 \c push word [myint] ; one of my integer variables
5149 \c push word mystring ; pointer into my data segment
5151 \c add sp,byte 4 ; `byte' saves space
5153 \c ; then those data items...
5158 \c mystring db 'This number -> %d <- should be 1234',10,0
5160 This piece of code is the small-model assembly equivalent of the C
5163 \c int myint = 1234;
5164 \c printf("This number -> %d <- should be 1234\n", myint);
5166 In large model, the function-call code might look more like this. In
5167 this example, it is assumed that \c{DS} already holds the segment
5168 base of the segment \c{_DATA}. If not, you would have to initialize
5171 \c push word [myint]
5172 \c push word seg mystring ; Now push the segment, and...
5173 \c push word mystring ; ... offset of "mystring"
5177 The integer value still takes up one word on the stack, since large
5178 model does not affect the size of the \c{int} data type. The first
5179 argument (pushed last) to \c{printf}, however, is a data pointer,
5180 and therefore has to contain a segment and offset part. The segment
5181 should be stored second in memory, and therefore must be pushed
5182 first. (Of course, \c{PUSH DS} would have been a shorter instruction
5183 than \c{PUSH WORD SEG mystring}, if \c{DS} was set up as the above
5184 example assumed.) Then the actual call becomes a far call, since
5185 functions expect far calls in large model; and \c{SP} has to be
5186 increased by 6 rather than 4 afterwards to make up for the extra
5190 \S{16cdata} Accessing Data Items
5192 To get at the contents of C variables, or to declare variables which
5193 C can access, you need only declare the names as \c{GLOBAL} or
5194 \c{EXTERN}. (Again, the names require leading underscores, as stated
5195 in \k{16cunder}.) Thus, a C variable declared as \c{int i} can be
5196 accessed from assembler as
5202 And to declare your own integer variable which C programs can access
5203 as \c{extern int j}, you do this (making sure you are assembling in
5204 the \c{_DATA} segment, if necessary):
5210 To access a C array, you need to know the size of the components of
5211 the array. For example, \c{int} variables are two bytes long, so if
5212 a C program declares an array as \c{int a[10]}, you can access
5213 \c{a[3]} by coding \c{mov ax,[_a+6]}. (The byte offset 6 is obtained
5214 by multiplying the desired array index, 3, by the size of the array
5215 element, 2.) The sizes of the C base types in 16-bit compilers are:
5216 1 for \c{char}, 2 for \c{short} and \c{int}, 4 for \c{long} and
5217 \c{float}, and 8 for \c{double}.
5219 To access a C \i{data structure}, you need to know the offset from
5220 the base of the structure to the field you are interested in. You
5221 can either do this by converting the C structure definition into a
5222 NASM structure definition (using \i\c{STRUC}), or by calculating the
5223 one offset and using just that.
5225 To do either of these, you should read your C compiler's manual to
5226 find out how it organizes data structures. NASM gives no special
5227 alignment to structure members in its own \c{STRUC} macro, so you
5228 have to specify alignment yourself if the C compiler generates it.
5229 Typically, you might find that a structure like
5236 might be four bytes long rather than three, since the \c{int} field
5237 would be aligned to a two-byte boundary. However, this sort of
5238 feature tends to be a configurable option in the C compiler, either
5239 using command-line options or \c{#pragma} lines, so you have to find
5240 out how your own compiler does it.
5243 \S{16cmacro} \i\c{c16.mac}: Helper Macros for the 16-bit C Interface
5245 Included in the NASM archives, in the \I{misc subdirectory}\c{misc}
5246 directory, is a file \c{c16.mac} of macros. It defines three macros:
5247 \i\c{proc}, \i\c{arg} and \i\c{endproc}. These are intended to be
5248 used for C-style procedure definitions, and they automate a lot of
5249 the work involved in keeping track of the calling convention.
5251 (An alternative, TASM compatible form of \c{arg} is also now built
5252 into NASM's preprocessor. See \k{tasmcompat} for details.)
5254 An example of an assembly function using the macro set is given
5261 \c mov ax,[bp + %$i]
5262 \c mov bx,[bp + %$j]
5267 This defines \c{_nearproc} to be a procedure taking two arguments,
5268 the first (\c{i}) an integer and the second (\c{j}) a pointer to an
5269 integer. It returns \c{i + *j}.
5271 Note that the \c{arg} macro has an \c{EQU} as the first line of its
5272 expansion, and since the label before the macro call gets prepended
5273 to the first line of the expanded macro, the \c{EQU} works, defining
5274 \c{%$i} to be an offset from \c{BP}. A context-local variable is
5275 used, local to the context pushed by the \c{proc} macro and popped
5276 by the \c{endproc} macro, so that the same argument name can be used
5277 in later procedures. Of course, you don't \e{have} to do that.
5279 The macro set produces code for near functions (tiny, small and
5280 compact-model code) by default. You can have it generate far
5281 functions (medium, large and huge-model code) by means of coding
5282 \I\c{FARCODE}\c{%define FARCODE}. This changes the kind of return
5283 instruction generated by \c{endproc}, and also changes the starting
5284 point for the argument offsets. The macro set contains no intrinsic
5285 dependency on whether data pointers are far or not.
5287 \c{arg} can take an optional parameter, giving the size of the
5288 argument. If no size is given, 2 is assumed, since it is likely that
5289 many function parameters will be of type \c{int}.
5291 The large-model equivalent of the above function would look like this:
5299 \c mov ax,[bp + %$i]
5300 \c mov bx,[bp + %$j]
5301 \c mov es,[bp + %$j + 2]
5306 This makes use of the argument to the \c{arg} macro to define a
5307 parameter of size 4, because \c{j} is now a far pointer. When we
5308 load from \c{j}, we must load a segment and an offset.
5311 \H{16bp} Interfacing to \i{Borland Pascal} Programs
5313 Interfacing to Borland Pascal programs is similar in concept to
5314 interfacing to 16-bit C programs. The differences are:
5316 \b The leading underscore required for interfacing to C programs is
5317 not required for Pascal.
5319 \b The memory model is always large: functions are far, data
5320 pointers are far, and no data item can be more than 64K long.
5321 (Actually, some functions are near, but only those functions that
5322 are local to a Pascal unit and never called from outside it. All
5323 assembly functions that Pascal calls, and all Pascal functions that
5324 assembly routines are able to call, are far.) However, all static
5325 data declared in a Pascal program goes into the default data
5326 segment, which is the one whose segment address will be in \c{DS}
5327 when control is passed to your assembly code. The only things that
5328 do not live in the default data segment are local variables (they
5329 live in the stack segment) and dynamically allocated variables. All
5330 data \e{pointers}, however, are far.
5332 \b The function calling convention is different - described below.
5334 \b Some data types, such as strings, are stored differently.
5336 \b There are restrictions on the segment names you are allowed to
5337 use - Borland Pascal will ignore code or data declared in a segment
5338 it doesn't like the name of. The restrictions are described below.
5341 \S{16bpfunc} The Pascal Calling Convention
5343 \I{functions, Pascal calling convention}\I{Pascal calling
5344 convention}The 16-bit Pascal calling convention is as follows. In
5345 the following description, the words \e{caller} and \e{callee} are
5346 used to denote the function doing the calling and the function which
5349 \b The caller pushes the function's parameters on the stack, one
5350 after another, in normal order (left to right, so that the first
5351 argument specified to the function is pushed first).
5353 \b The caller then executes a far \c{CALL} instruction to pass
5354 control to the callee.
5356 \b The callee receives control, and typically (although this is not
5357 actually necessary, in functions which do not need to access their
5358 parameters) starts by saving the value of \c{SP} in \c{BP} so as to
5359 be able to use \c{BP} as a base pointer to find its parameters on
5360 the stack. However, the caller was probably doing this too, so part
5361 of the calling convention states that \c{BP} must be preserved by
5362 any function. Hence the callee, if it is going to set up \c{BP} as a
5363 \i{frame pointer}, must push the previous value first.
5365 \b The callee may then access its parameters relative to \c{BP}.
5366 The word at \c{[BP]} holds the previous value of \c{BP} as it was
5367 pushed. The next word, at \c{[BP+2]}, holds the offset part of the
5368 return address, and the next one at \c{[BP+4]} the segment part. The
5369 parameters begin at \c{[BP+6]}. The rightmost parameter of the
5370 function, since it was pushed last, is accessible at this offset
5371 from \c{BP}; the others follow, at successively greater offsets.
5373 \b The callee may also wish to decrease \c{SP} further, so as to
5374 allocate space on the stack for local variables, which will then be
5375 accessible at negative offsets from \c{BP}.
5377 \b The callee, if it wishes to return a value to the caller, should
5378 leave the value in \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{DX:AX} depending on the size
5379 of the value. Floating-point results are returned in \c{ST0}.
5380 Results of type \c{Real} (Borland's own custom floating-point data
5381 type, not handled directly by the FPU) are returned in \c{DX:BX:AX}.
5382 To return a result of type \c{String}, the caller pushes a pointer
5383 to a temporary string before pushing the parameters, and the callee
5384 places the returned string value at that location. The pointer is
5385 not a parameter, and should not be removed from the stack by the
5386 \c{RETF} instruction.
5388 \b Once the callee has finished processing, it restores \c{SP} from
5389 \c{BP} if it had allocated local stack space, then pops the previous
5390 value of \c{BP}, and returns via \c{RETF}. It uses the form of
5391 \c{RETF} with an immediate parameter, giving the number of bytes
5392 taken up by the parameters on the stack. This causes the parameters
5393 to be removed from the stack as a side effect of the return
5396 \b When the caller regains control from the callee, the function
5397 parameters have already been removed from the stack, so it needs to
5400 Thus, you would define a function in Pascal style, taking two
5401 \c{Integer}-type parameters, in the following way:
5407 \c sub sp,0x40 ; 64 bytes of local stack space
5408 \c mov bx,[bp+8] ; first parameter to function
5409 \c mov bx,[bp+6] ; second parameter to function
5413 \c mov sp,bp ; undo "sub sp,0x40" above
5415 \c retf 4 ; total size of params is 4
5417 At the other end of the process, to call a Pascal function from your
5418 assembly code, you would do something like this:
5422 \c ; and then, further down...
5424 \c push word seg mystring ; Now push the segment, and...
5425 \c push word mystring ; ... offset of "mystring"
5426 \c push word [myint] ; one of my variables
5427 \c call far SomeFunc
5429 This is equivalent to the Pascal code
5431 \c procedure SomeFunc(String: PChar; Int: Integer);
5432 \c SomeFunc(@mystring, myint);
5435 \S{16bpseg} Borland Pascal \I{segment names, Borland Pascal}Segment
5438 Since Borland Pascal's internal unit file format is completely
5439 different from \c{OBJ}, it only makes a very sketchy job of actually
5440 reading and understanding the various information contained in a
5441 real \c{OBJ} file when it links that in. Therefore an object file
5442 intended to be linked to a Pascal program must obey a number of
5445 \b Procedures and functions must be in a segment whose name is
5446 either \c{CODE}, \c{CSEG}, or something ending in \c{_TEXT}.
5448 \b initialized data must be in a segment whose name is either
5449 \c{CONST} or something ending in \c{_DATA}.
5451 \b Uninitialized data must be in a segment whose name is either
5452 \c{DATA}, \c{DSEG}, or something ending in \c{_BSS}.
5454 \b Any other segments in the object file are completely ignored.
5455 \c{GROUP} directives and segment attributes are also ignored.
5458 \S{16bpmacro} Using \i\c{c16.mac} With Pascal Programs
5460 The \c{c16.mac} macro package, described in \k{16cmacro}, can also
5461 be used to simplify writing functions to be called from Pascal
5462 programs, if you code \I\c{PASCAL}\c{%define PASCAL}. This
5463 definition ensures that functions are far (it implies
5464 \i\c{FARCODE}), and also causes procedure return instructions to be
5465 generated with an operand.
5467 Defining \c{PASCAL} does not change the code which calculates the
5468 argument offsets; you must declare your function's arguments in
5469 reverse order. For example:
5477 \c mov ax,[bp + %$i]
5478 \c mov bx,[bp + %$j]
5479 \c mov es,[bp + %$j + 2]
5484 This defines the same routine, conceptually, as the example in
5485 \k{16cmacro}: it defines a function taking two arguments, an integer
5486 and a pointer to an integer, which returns the sum of the integer
5487 and the contents of the pointer. The only difference between this
5488 code and the large-model C version is that \c{PASCAL} is defined
5489 instead of \c{FARCODE}, and that the arguments are declared in
5493 \C{32bit} Writing 32-bit Code (Unix, Win32, DJGPP)
5495 This chapter attempts to cover some of the common issues involved
5496 when writing 32-bit code, to run under \i{Win32} or Unix, or to be
5497 linked with C code generated by a Unix-style C compiler such as
5498 \i{DJGPP}. It covers how to write assembly code to interface with
5499 32-bit C routines, and how to write position-independent code for
5502 Almost all 32-bit code, and in particular all code running under
5503 \c{Win32}, \c{DJGPP} or any of the PC Unix variants, runs in \I{flat
5504 memory model}\e{flat} memory model. This means that the segment registers
5505 and paging have already been set up to give you the same 32-bit 4Gb
5506 address space no matter what segment you work relative to, and that
5507 you should ignore all segment registers completely. When writing
5508 flat-model application code, you never need to use a segment
5509 override or modify any segment register, and the code-section
5510 addresses you pass to \c{CALL} and \c{JMP} live in the same address
5511 space as the data-section addresses you access your variables by and
5512 the stack-section addresses you access local variables and procedure
5513 parameters by. Every address is 32 bits long and contains only an
5517 \H{32c} Interfacing to 32-bit C Programs
5519 A lot of the discussion in \k{16c}, about interfacing to 16-bit C
5520 programs, still applies when working in 32 bits. The absence of
5521 memory models or segmentation worries simplifies things a lot.
5524 \S{32cunder} External Symbol Names
5526 Most 32-bit C compilers share the convention used by 16-bit
5527 compilers, that the names of all global symbols (functions or data)
5528 they define are formed by prefixing an underscore to the name as it
5529 appears in the C program. However, not all of them do: the \c{ELF}
5530 specification states that C symbols do \e{not} have a leading
5531 underscore on their assembly-language names.
5533 The older Linux \c{a.out} C compiler, all \c{Win32} compilers,
5534 \c{DJGPP}, and \c{NetBSD} and \c{FreeBSD}, all use the leading
5535 underscore; for these compilers, the macros \c{cextern} and
5536 \c{cglobal}, as given in \k{16cunder}, will still work. For \c{ELF},
5537 though, the leading underscore should not be used.
5539 See also \k{opt-pfix}.
5541 \S{32cfunc} Function Definitions and Function Calls
5543 \I{functions, C calling convention}The \i{C calling convention}The C
5544 calling convention in 32-bit programs is as follows. In the
5545 following description, the words \e{caller} and \e{callee} are used
5546 to denote the function doing the calling and the function which gets
5549 \b The caller pushes the function's parameters on the stack, one
5550 after another, in reverse order (right to left, so that the first
5551 argument specified to the function is pushed last).
5553 \b The caller then executes a near \c{CALL} instruction to pass
5554 control to the callee.
5556 \b The callee receives control, and typically (although this is not
5557 actually necessary, in functions which do not need to access their
5558 parameters) starts by saving the value of \c{ESP} in \c{EBP} so as
5559 to be able to use \c{EBP} as a base pointer to find its parameters
5560 on the stack. However, the caller was probably doing this too, so
5561 part of the calling convention states that \c{EBP} must be preserved
5562 by any C function. Hence the callee, if it is going to set up
5563 \c{EBP} as a \i{frame pointer}, must push the previous value first.
5565 \b The callee may then access its parameters relative to \c{EBP}.
5566 The doubleword at \c{[EBP]} holds the previous value of \c{EBP} as
5567 it was pushed; the next doubleword, at \c{[EBP+4]}, holds the return
5568 address, pushed implicitly by \c{CALL}. The parameters start after
5569 that, at \c{[EBP+8]}. The leftmost parameter of the function, since
5570 it was pushed last, is accessible at this offset from \c{EBP}; the
5571 others follow, at successively greater offsets. Thus, in a function
5572 such as \c{printf} which takes a variable number of parameters, the
5573 pushing of the parameters in reverse order means that the function
5574 knows where to find its first parameter, which tells it the number
5575 and type of the remaining ones.
5577 \b The callee may also wish to decrease \c{ESP} further, so as to
5578 allocate space on the stack for local variables, which will then be
5579 accessible at negative offsets from \c{EBP}.
5581 \b The callee, if it wishes to return a value to the caller, should
5582 leave the value in \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{EAX} depending on the size
5583 of the value. Floating-point results are typically returned in
5586 \b Once the callee has finished processing, it restores \c{ESP} from
5587 \c{EBP} if it had allocated local stack space, then pops the previous
5588 value of \c{EBP}, and returns via \c{RET} (equivalently, \c{RETN}).
5590 \b When the caller regains control from the callee, the function
5591 parameters are still on the stack, so it typically adds an immediate
5592 constant to \c{ESP} to remove them (instead of executing a number of
5593 slow \c{POP} instructions). Thus, if a function is accidentally
5594 called with the wrong number of parameters due to a prototype
5595 mismatch, the stack will still be returned to a sensible state since
5596 the caller, which \e{knows} how many parameters it pushed, does the
5599 There is an alternative calling convention used by Win32 programs
5600 for Windows API calls, and also for functions called \e{by} the
5601 Windows API such as window procedures: they follow what Microsoft
5602 calls the \c{__stdcall} convention. This is slightly closer to the
5603 Pascal convention, in that the callee clears the stack by passing a
5604 parameter to the \c{RET} instruction. However, the parameters are
5605 still pushed in right-to-left order.
5607 Thus, you would define a function in C style in the following way:
5614 \c sub esp,0x40 ; 64 bytes of local stack space
5615 \c mov ebx,[ebp+8] ; first parameter to function
5619 \c leave ; mov esp,ebp / pop ebp
5622 At the other end of the process, to call a C function from your
5623 assembly code, you would do something like this:
5627 \c ; and then, further down...
5629 \c push dword [myint] ; one of my integer variables
5630 \c push dword mystring ; pointer into my data segment
5632 \c add esp,byte 8 ; `byte' saves space
5634 \c ; then those data items...
5639 \c mystring db 'This number -> %d <- should be 1234',10,0
5641 This piece of code is the assembly equivalent of the C code
5643 \c int myint = 1234;
5644 \c printf("This number -> %d <- should be 1234\n", myint);
5647 \S{32cdata} Accessing Data Items
5649 To get at the contents of C variables, or to declare variables which
5650 C can access, you need only declare the names as \c{GLOBAL} or
5651 \c{EXTERN}. (Again, the names require leading underscores, as stated
5652 in \k{32cunder}.) Thus, a C variable declared as \c{int i} can be
5653 accessed from assembler as
5658 And to declare your own integer variable which C programs can access
5659 as \c{extern int j}, you do this (making sure you are assembling in
5660 the \c{_DATA} segment, if necessary):
5665 To access a C array, you need to know the size of the components of
5666 the array. For example, \c{int} variables are four bytes long, so if
5667 a C program declares an array as \c{int a[10]}, you can access
5668 \c{a[3]} by coding \c{mov ax,[_a+12]}. (The byte offset 12 is obtained
5669 by multiplying the desired array index, 3, by the size of the array
5670 element, 4.) The sizes of the C base types in 32-bit compilers are:
5671 1 for \c{char}, 2 for \c{short}, 4 for \c{int}, \c{long} and
5672 \c{float}, and 8 for \c{double}. Pointers, being 32-bit addresses,
5673 are also 4 bytes long.
5675 To access a C \i{data structure}, you need to know the offset from
5676 the base of the structure to the field you are interested in. You
5677 can either do this by converting the C structure definition into a
5678 NASM structure definition (using \c{STRUC}), or by calculating the
5679 one offset and using just that.
5681 To do either of these, you should read your C compiler's manual to
5682 find out how it organizes data structures. NASM gives no special
5683 alignment to structure members in its own \i\c{STRUC} macro, so you
5684 have to specify alignment yourself if the C compiler generates it.
5685 Typically, you might find that a structure like
5692 might be eight bytes long rather than five, since the \c{int} field
5693 would be aligned to a four-byte boundary. However, this sort of
5694 feature is sometimes a configurable option in the C compiler, either
5695 using command-line options or \c{#pragma} lines, so you have to find
5696 out how your own compiler does it.
5699 \S{32cmacro} \i\c{c32.mac}: Helper Macros for the 32-bit C Interface
5701 Included in the NASM archives, in the \I{misc directory}\c{misc}
5702 directory, is a file \c{c32.mac} of macros. It defines three macros:
5703 \i\c{proc}, \i\c{arg} and \i\c{endproc}. These are intended to be
5704 used for C-style procedure definitions, and they automate a lot of
5705 the work involved in keeping track of the calling convention.
5707 An example of an assembly function using the macro set is given
5714 \c mov eax,[ebp + %$i]
5715 \c mov ebx,[ebp + %$j]
5720 This defines \c{_proc32} to be a procedure taking two arguments, the
5721 first (\c{i}) an integer and the second (\c{j}) a pointer to an
5722 integer. It returns \c{i + *j}.
5724 Note that the \c{arg} macro has an \c{EQU} as the first line of its
5725 expansion, and since the label before the macro call gets prepended
5726 to the first line of the expanded macro, the \c{EQU} works, defining
5727 \c{%$i} to be an offset from \c{BP}. A context-local variable is
5728 used, local to the context pushed by the \c{proc} macro and popped
5729 by the \c{endproc} macro, so that the same argument name can be used
5730 in later procedures. Of course, you don't \e{have} to do that.
5732 \c{arg} can take an optional parameter, giving the size of the
5733 argument. If no size is given, 4 is assumed, since it is likely that
5734 many function parameters will be of type \c{int} or pointers.
5737 \H{picdll} Writing NetBSD/FreeBSD/OpenBSD and Linux/ELF \i{Shared
5740 \c{ELF} replaced the older \c{a.out} object file format under Linux
5741 because it contains support for \i{position-independent code}
5742 (\i{PIC}), which makes writing shared libraries much easier. NASM
5743 supports the \c{ELF} position-independent code features, so you can
5744 write Linux \c{ELF} shared libraries in NASM.
5746 \i{NetBSD}, and its close cousins \i{FreeBSD} and \i{OpenBSD}, take
5747 a different approach by hacking PIC support into the \c{a.out}
5748 format. NASM supports this as the \i\c{aoutb} output format, so you
5749 can write \i{BSD} shared libraries in NASM too.
5751 The operating system loads a PIC shared library by memory-mapping
5752 the library file at an arbitrarily chosen point in the address space
5753 of the running process. The contents of the library's code section
5754 must therefore not depend on where it is loaded in memory.
5756 Therefore, you cannot get at your variables by writing code like
5759 \c mov eax,[myvar] ; WRONG
5761 Instead, the linker provides an area of memory called the
5762 \i\e{global offset table}, or \i{GOT}; the GOT is situated at a
5763 constant distance from your library's code, so if you can find out
5764 where your library is loaded (which is typically done using a
5765 \c{CALL} and \c{POP} combination), you can obtain the address of the
5766 GOT, and you can then load the addresses of your variables out of
5767 linker-generated entries in the GOT.
5769 The \e{data} section of a PIC shared library does not have these
5770 restrictions: since the data section is writable, it has to be
5771 copied into memory anyway rather than just paged in from the library
5772 file, so as long as it's being copied it can be relocated too. So
5773 you can put ordinary types of relocation in the data section without
5774 too much worry (but see \k{picglobal} for a caveat).
5777 \S{picgot} Obtaining the Address of the GOT
5779 Each code module in your shared library should define the GOT as an
5782 \c extern _GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_ ; in ELF
5783 \c extern __GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_ ; in BSD a.out
5785 At the beginning of any function in your shared library which plans
5786 to access your data or BSS sections, you must first calculate the
5787 address of the GOT. This is typically done by writing the function
5796 \c add ebx,_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_+$$-.get_GOT wrt ..gotpc
5798 \c ; the function body comes here
5805 (For BSD, again, the symbol \c{_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE} requires a
5806 second leading underscore.)
5808 The first two lines of this function are simply the standard C
5809 prologue to set up a stack frame, and the last three lines are
5810 standard C function epilogue. The third line, and the fourth to last
5811 line, save and restore the \c{EBX} register, because PIC shared
5812 libraries use this register to store the address of the GOT.
5814 The interesting bit is the \c{CALL} instruction and the following
5815 two lines. The \c{CALL} and \c{POP} combination obtains the address
5816 of the label \c{.get_GOT}, without having to know in advance where
5817 the program was loaded (since the \c{CALL} instruction is encoded
5818 relative to the current position). The \c{ADD} instruction makes use
5819 of one of the special PIC relocation types: \i{GOTPC relocation}.
5820 With the \i\c{WRT ..gotpc} qualifier specified, the symbol
5821 referenced (here \c{_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_}, the special symbol
5822 assigned to the GOT) is given as an offset from the beginning of the
5823 section. (Actually, \c{ELF} encodes it as the offset from the operand
5824 field of the \c{ADD} instruction, but NASM simplifies this
5825 deliberately, so you do things the same way for both \c{ELF} and
5826 \c{BSD}.) So the instruction then \e{adds} the beginning of the section,
5827 to get the real address of the GOT, and subtracts the value of
5828 \c{.get_GOT} which it knows is in \c{EBX}. Therefore, by the time
5829 that instruction has finished, \c{EBX} contains the address of the GOT.
5831 If you didn't follow that, don't worry: it's never necessary to
5832 obtain the address of the GOT by any other means, so you can put
5833 those three instructions into a macro and safely ignore them:
5840 \c add ebx,_GLOBAL_OFFSET_TABLE_+$$-%%getgot wrt ..gotpc
5844 \S{piclocal} Finding Your Local Data Items
5846 Having got the GOT, you can then use it to obtain the addresses of
5847 your data items. Most variables will reside in the sections you have
5848 declared; they can be accessed using the \I{GOTOFF
5849 relocation}\c{..gotoff} special \I\c{WRT ..gotoff}\c{WRT} type. The
5850 way this works is like this:
5852 \c lea eax,[ebx+myvar wrt ..gotoff]
5854 The expression \c{myvar wrt ..gotoff} is calculated, when the shared
5855 library is linked, to be the offset to the local variable \c{myvar}
5856 from the beginning of the GOT. Therefore, adding it to \c{EBX} as
5857 above will place the real address of \c{myvar} in \c{EAX}.
5859 If you declare variables as \c{GLOBAL} without specifying a size for
5860 them, they are shared between code modules in the library, but do
5861 not get exported from the library to the program that loaded it.
5862 They will still be in your ordinary data and BSS sections, so you
5863 can access them in the same way as local variables, using the above
5864 \c{..gotoff} mechanism.
5866 Note that due to a peculiarity of the way BSD \c{a.out} format
5867 handles this relocation type, there must be at least one non-local
5868 symbol in the same section as the address you're trying to access.
5871 \S{picextern} Finding External and Common Data Items
5873 If your library needs to get at an external variable (external to
5874 the \e{library}, not just to one of the modules within it), you must
5875 use the \I{GOT relocations}\I\c{WRT ..got}\c{..got} type to get at
5876 it. The \c{..got} type, instead of giving you the offset from the
5877 GOT base to the variable, gives you the offset from the GOT base to
5878 a GOT \e{entry} containing the address of the variable. The linker
5879 will set up this GOT entry when it builds the library, and the
5880 dynamic linker will place the correct address in it at load time. So
5881 to obtain the address of an external variable \c{extvar} in \c{EAX},
5884 \c mov eax,[ebx+extvar wrt ..got]
5886 This loads the address of \c{extvar} out of an entry in the GOT. The
5887 linker, when it builds the shared library, collects together every
5888 relocation of type \c{..got}, and builds the GOT so as to ensure it
5889 has every necessary entry present.
5891 Common variables must also be accessed in this way.
5894 \S{picglobal} Exporting Symbols to the Library User
5896 If you want to export symbols to the user of the library, you have
5897 to declare whether they are functions or data, and if they are data,
5898 you have to give the size of the data item. This is because the
5899 dynamic linker has to build \I{PLT}\i{procedure linkage table}
5900 entries for any exported functions, and also moves exported data
5901 items away from the library's data section in which they were
5904 So to export a function to users of the library, you must use
5906 \c global func:function ; declare it as a function
5912 And to export a data item such as an array, you would have to code
5914 \c global array:data array.end-array ; give the size too
5919 Be careful: If you export a variable to the library user, by
5920 declaring it as \c{GLOBAL} and supplying a size, the variable will
5921 end up living in the data section of the main program, rather than
5922 in your library's data section, where you declared it. So you will
5923 have to access your own global variable with the \c{..got} mechanism
5924 rather than \c{..gotoff}, as if it were external (which,
5925 effectively, it has become).
5927 Equally, if you need to store the address of an exported global in
5928 one of your data sections, you can't do it by means of the standard
5931 \c dataptr: dd global_data_item ; WRONG
5933 NASM will interpret this code as an ordinary relocation, in which
5934 \c{global_data_item} is merely an offset from the beginning of the
5935 \c{.data} section (or whatever); so this reference will end up
5936 pointing at your data section instead of at the exported global
5937 which resides elsewhere.
5939 Instead of the above code, then, you must write
5941 \c dataptr: dd global_data_item wrt ..sym
5943 which makes use of the special \c{WRT} type \I\c{WRT ..sym}\c{..sym}
5944 to instruct NASM to search the symbol table for a particular symbol
5945 at that address, rather than just relocating by section base.
5947 Either method will work for functions: referring to one of your
5948 functions by means of
5950 \c funcptr: dd my_function
5952 will give the user the address of the code you wrote, whereas
5954 \c funcptr: dd my_function wrt .sym
5956 will give the address of the procedure linkage table for the
5957 function, which is where the calling program will \e{believe} the
5958 function lives. Either address is a valid way to call the function.
5961 \S{picproc} Calling Procedures Outside the Library
5963 Calling procedures outside your shared library has to be done by
5964 means of a \i\e{procedure linkage table}, or \i{PLT}. The PLT is
5965 placed at a known offset from where the library is loaded, so the
5966 library code can make calls to the PLT in a position-independent
5967 way. Within the PLT there is code to jump to offsets contained in
5968 the GOT, so function calls to other shared libraries or to routines
5969 in the main program can be transparently passed off to their real
5972 To call an external routine, you must use another special PIC
5973 relocation type, \I{PLT relocations}\i\c{WRT ..plt}. This is much
5974 easier than the GOT-based ones: you simply replace calls such as
5975 \c{CALL printf} with the PLT-relative version \c{CALL printf WRT
5979 \S{link} Generating the Library File
5981 Having written some code modules and assembled them to \c{.o} files,
5982 you then generate your shared library with a command such as
5984 \c ld -shared -o library.so module1.o module2.o # for ELF
5985 \c ld -Bshareable -o library.so module1.o module2.o # for BSD
5987 For ELF, if your shared library is going to reside in system
5988 directories such as \c{/usr/lib} or \c{/lib}, it is usually worth
5989 using the \i\c{-soname} flag to the linker, to store the final
5990 library file name, with a version number, into the library:
5992 \c ld -shared -soname library.so.1 -o library.so.1.2 *.o
5994 You would then copy \c{library.so.1.2} into the library directory,
5995 and create \c{library.so.1} as a symbolic link to it.
5998 \C{mixsize} Mixing 16 and 32 Bit Code
6000 This chapter tries to cover some of the issues, largely related to
6001 unusual forms of addressing and jump instructions, encountered when
6002 writing operating system code such as protected-mode initialisation
6003 routines, which require code that operates in mixed segment sizes,
6004 such as code in a 16-bit segment trying to modify data in a 32-bit
6005 one, or jumps between different-size segments.
6008 \H{mixjump} Mixed-Size Jumps\I{jumps, mixed-size}
6010 \I{operating system, writing}\I{writing operating systems}The most
6011 common form of \i{mixed-size instruction} is the one used when
6012 writing a 32-bit OS: having done your setup in 16-bit mode, such as
6013 loading the kernel, you then have to boot it by switching into
6014 protected mode and jumping to the 32-bit kernel start address. In a
6015 fully 32-bit OS, this tends to be the \e{only} mixed-size
6016 instruction you need, since everything before it can be done in pure
6017 16-bit code, and everything after it can be pure 32-bit.
6019 This jump must specify a 48-bit far address, since the target
6020 segment is a 32-bit one. However, it must be assembled in a 16-bit
6021 segment, so just coding, for example,
6023 \c jmp 0x1234:0x56789ABC ; wrong!
6025 will not work, since the offset part of the address will be
6026 truncated to \c{0x9ABC} and the jump will be an ordinary 16-bit far
6029 The Linux kernel setup code gets round the inability of \c{as86} to
6030 generate the required instruction by coding it manually, using
6031 \c{DB} instructions. NASM can go one better than that, by actually
6032 generating the right instruction itself. Here's how to do it right:
6034 \c jmp dword 0x1234:0x56789ABC ; right
6036 \I\c{JMP DWORD}The \c{DWORD} prefix (strictly speaking, it should
6037 come \e{after} the colon, since it is declaring the \e{offset} field
6038 to be a doubleword; but NASM will accept either form, since both are
6039 unambiguous) forces the offset part to be treated as far, in the
6040 assumption that you are deliberately writing a jump from a 16-bit
6041 segment to a 32-bit one.
6043 You can do the reverse operation, jumping from a 32-bit segment to a
6044 16-bit one, by means of the \c{WORD} prefix:
6046 \c jmp word 0x8765:0x4321 ; 32 to 16 bit
6048 If the \c{WORD} prefix is specified in 16-bit mode, or the \c{DWORD}
6049 prefix in 32-bit mode, they will be ignored, since each is
6050 explicitly forcing NASM into a mode it was in anyway.
6053 \H{mixaddr} Addressing Between Different-Size Segments\I{addressing,
6054 mixed-size}\I{mixed-size addressing}
6056 If your OS is mixed 16 and 32-bit, or if you are writing a DOS
6057 extender, you are likely to have to deal with some 16-bit segments
6058 and some 32-bit ones. At some point, you will probably end up
6059 writing code in a 16-bit segment which has to access data in a
6060 32-bit segment, or vice versa.
6062 If the data you are trying to access in a 32-bit segment lies within
6063 the first 64K of the segment, you may be able to get away with using
6064 an ordinary 16-bit addressing operation for the purpose; but sooner
6065 or later, you will want to do 32-bit addressing from 16-bit mode.
6067 The easiest way to do this is to make sure you use a register for
6068 the address, since any effective address containing a 32-bit
6069 register is forced to be a 32-bit address. So you can do
6071 \c mov eax,offset_into_32_bit_segment_specified_by_fs
6072 \c mov dword [fs:eax],0x11223344
6074 This is fine, but slightly cumbersome (since it wastes an
6075 instruction and a register) if you already know the precise offset
6076 you are aiming at. The x86 architecture does allow 32-bit effective
6077 addresses to specify nothing but a 4-byte offset, so why shouldn't
6078 NASM be able to generate the best instruction for the purpose?
6080 It can. As in \k{mixjump}, you need only prefix the address with the
6081 \c{DWORD} keyword, and it will be forced to be a 32-bit address:
6083 \c mov dword [fs:dword my_offset],0x11223344
6085 Also as in \k{mixjump}, NASM is not fussy about whether the
6086 \c{DWORD} prefix comes before or after the segment override, so
6087 arguably a nicer-looking way to code the above instruction is
6089 \c mov dword [dword fs:my_offset],0x11223344
6091 Don't confuse the \c{DWORD} prefix \e{outside} the square brackets,
6092 which controls the size of the data stored at the address, with the
6093 one \c{inside} the square brackets which controls the length of the
6094 address itself. The two can quite easily be different:
6096 \c mov word [dword 0x12345678],0x9ABC
6098 This moves 16 bits of data to an address specified by a 32-bit
6101 You can also specify \c{WORD} or \c{DWORD} prefixes along with the
6102 \c{FAR} prefix to indirect far jumps or calls. For example:
6104 \c call dword far [fs:word 0x4321]
6106 This instruction contains an address specified by a 16-bit offset;
6107 it loads a 48-bit far pointer from that (16-bit segment and 32-bit
6108 offset), and calls that address.
6111 \H{mixother} Other Mixed-Size Instructions
6113 The other way you might want to access data might be using the
6114 string instructions (\c{LODSx}, \c{STOSx} and so on) or the
6115 \c{XLATB} instruction. These instructions, since they take no
6116 parameters, might seem to have no easy way to make them perform
6117 32-bit addressing when assembled in a 16-bit segment.
6119 This is the purpose of NASM's \i\c{a16} and \i\c{a32} prefixes. If
6120 you are coding \c{LODSB} in a 16-bit segment but it is supposed to
6121 be accessing a string in a 32-bit segment, you should load the
6122 desired address into \c{ESI} and then code
6126 The prefix forces the addressing size to 32 bits, meaning that
6127 \c{LODSB} loads from \c{[DS:ESI]} instead of \c{[DS:SI]}. To access
6128 a string in a 16-bit segment when coding in a 32-bit one, the
6129 corresponding \c{a16} prefix can be used.
6131 The \c{a16} and \c{a32} prefixes can be applied to any instruction
6132 in NASM's instruction table, but most of them can generate all the
6133 useful forms without them. The prefixes are necessary only for
6134 instructions with implicit addressing: \c{CMPSx} (\k{insCMPSB}),
6135 \c{SCASx} (\k{insSCASB}), \c{LODSx} (\k{insLODSB}), \c{STOSx}
6136 (\k{insSTOSB}), \c{MOVSx} (\k{insMOVSB}), \c{INSx} (\k{insINSB}),
6137 \c{OUTSx} (\k{insOUTSB}), and \c{XLATB} (\k{insXLATB}). Also, the
6138 various push and pop instructions (\c{PUSHA} and \c{POPF} as well as
6139 the more usual \c{PUSH} and \c{POP}) can accept \c{a16} or \c{a32}
6140 prefixes to force a particular one of \c{SP} or \c{ESP} to be used
6141 as a stack pointer, in case the stack segment in use is a different
6142 size from the code segment.
6144 \c{PUSH} and \c{POP}, when applied to segment registers in 32-bit
6145 mode, also have the slightly odd behaviour that they push and pop 4
6146 bytes at a time, of which the top two are ignored and the bottom two
6147 give the value of the segment register being manipulated. To force
6148 the 16-bit behaviour of segment-register push and pop instructions,
6149 you can use the operand-size prefix \i\c{o16}:
6154 This code saves a doubleword of stack space by fitting two segment
6155 registers into the space which would normally be consumed by pushing
6158 (You can also use the \i\c{o32} prefix to force the 32-bit behaviour
6159 when in 16-bit mode, but this seems less useful.)
6162 \C{trouble} Troubleshooting
6164 This chapter describes some of the common problems that users have
6165 been known to encounter with NASM, and answers them. It also gives
6166 instructions for reporting bugs in NASM if you find a difficulty
6167 that isn't listed here.
6170 \H{problems} Common Problems
6172 \S{inefficient} NASM Generates \i{Inefficient Code}
6174 We sometimes get `bug' reports about NASM generating inefficient, or
6175 even `wrong', code on instructions such as \c{ADD ESP,8}. This is a
6176 deliberate design feature, connected to predictability of output:
6177 NASM, on seeing \c{ADD ESP,8}, will generate the form of the
6178 instruction which leaves room for a 32-bit offset. You need to code
6179 \I\c{BYTE}\c{ADD ESP,BYTE 8} if you want the space-efficient form of
6180 the instruction. This isn't a bug, it's user error: if you prefer to
6181 have NASM produce the more efficient code automatically enable
6182 optimization with the \c{-On} option (see \k{opt-On}).
6185 \S{jmprange} My Jumps are Out of Range\I{out of range, jumps}
6187 Similarly, people complain that when they issue \i{conditional
6188 jumps} (which are \c{SHORT} by default) that try to jump too far,
6189 NASM reports `short jump out of range' instead of making the jumps
6192 This, again, is partly a predictability issue, but in fact has a
6193 more practical reason as well. NASM has no means of being told what
6194 type of processor the code it is generating will be run on; so it
6195 cannot decide for itself that it should generate \i\c{Jcc NEAR} type
6196 instructions, because it doesn't know that it's working for a 386 or
6197 above. Alternatively, it could replace the out-of-range short
6198 \c{JNE} instruction with a very short \c{JE} instruction that jumps
6199 over a \c{JMP NEAR}; this is a sensible solution for processors
6200 below a 386, but hardly efficient on processors which have good
6201 branch prediction \e{and} could have used \c{JNE NEAR} instead. So,
6202 once again, it's up to the user, not the assembler, to decide what
6203 instructions should be generated. See \k{opt-On}.
6206 \S{proborg} \i\c{ORG} Doesn't Work
6208 People writing \i{boot sector} programs in the \c{bin} format often
6209 complain that \c{ORG} doesn't work the way they'd like: in order to
6210 place the \c{0xAA55} signature word at the end of a 512-byte boot
6211 sector, people who are used to MASM tend to code
6215 \c ; some boot sector code
6220 This is not the intended use of the \c{ORG} directive in NASM, and
6221 will not work. The correct way to solve this problem in NASM is to
6222 use the \i\c{TIMES} directive, like this:
6226 \c ; some boot sector code
6228 \c TIMES 510-($-$$) DB 0
6231 The \c{TIMES} directive will insert exactly enough zero bytes into
6232 the output to move the assembly point up to 510. This method also
6233 has the advantage that if you accidentally fill your boot sector too
6234 full, NASM will catch the problem at assembly time and report it, so
6235 you won't end up with a boot sector that you have to disassemble to
6236 find out what's wrong with it.
6239 \S{probtimes} \i\c{TIMES} Doesn't Work
6241 The other common problem with the above code is people who write the
6246 by reasoning that \c{$} should be a pure number, just like 510, so
6247 the difference between them is also a pure number and can happily be
6250 NASM is a \e{modular} assembler: the various component parts are
6251 designed to be easily separable for re-use, so they don't exchange
6252 information unnecessarily. In consequence, the \c{bin} output
6253 format, even though it has been told by the \c{ORG} directive that
6254 the \c{.text} section should start at 0, does not pass that
6255 information back to the expression evaluator. So from the
6256 evaluator's point of view, \c{$} isn't a pure number: it's an offset
6257 from a section base. Therefore the difference between \c{$} and 510
6258 is also not a pure number, but involves a section base. Values
6259 involving section bases cannot be passed as arguments to \c{TIMES}.
6261 The solution, as in the previous section, is to code the \c{TIMES}
6264 \c TIMES 510-($-$$) DB 0
6266 in which \c{$} and \c{$$} are offsets from the same section base,
6267 and so their difference is a pure number. This will solve the
6268 problem and generate sensible code.
6271 \H{bugs} \i{Bugs}\I{reporting bugs}
6273 We have never yet released a version of NASM with any \e{known}
6274 bugs. That doesn't usually stop there being plenty we didn't know
6275 about, though. Any that you find should be reported firstly via the
6277 \W{https://sourceforge.net/projects/nasm/}\c{https://sourceforge.net/projects/nasm/}
6278 (click on "Bugs"), or if that fails then through one of the
6279 contacts in \k{contact}.
6281 Please read \k{qstart} first, and don't report the bug if it's
6282 listed in there as a deliberate feature. (If you think the feature
6283 is badly thought out, feel free to send us reasons why you think it
6284 should be changed, but don't just send us mail saying `This is a
6285 bug' if the documentation says we did it on purpose.) Then read
6286 \k{problems}, and don't bother reporting the bug if it's listed
6289 If you do report a bug, \e{please} give us all of the following
6292 \b What operating system you're running NASM under. DOS, Linux,
6293 NetBSD, Win16, Win32, VMS (I'd be impressed), whatever.
6295 \b If you're running NASM under DOS or Win32, tell us whether you've
6296 compiled your own executable from the DOS source archive, or whether
6297 you were using the standard distribution binaries out of the
6298 archive. If you were using a locally built executable, try to
6299 reproduce the problem using one of the standard binaries, as this
6300 will make it easier for us to reproduce your problem prior to fixing
6303 \b Which version of NASM you're using, and exactly how you invoked
6304 it. Give us the precise command line, and the contents of the
6305 \c{NASMENV} environment variable if any.
6307 \b Which versions of any supplementary programs you're using, and
6308 how you invoked them. If the problem only becomes visible at link
6309 time, tell us what linker you're using, what version of it you've
6310 got, and the exact linker command line. If the problem involves
6311 linking against object files generated by a compiler, tell us what
6312 compiler, what version, and what command line or options you used.
6313 (If you're compiling in an IDE, please try to reproduce the problem
6314 with the command-line version of the compiler.)
6316 \b If at all possible, send us a NASM source file which exhibits the
6317 problem. If this causes copyright problems (e.g. you can only
6318 reproduce the bug in restricted-distribution code) then bear in mind
6319 the following two points: firstly, we guarantee that any source code
6320 sent to us for the purposes of debugging NASM will be used \e{only}
6321 for the purposes of debugging NASM, and that we will delete all our
6322 copies of it as soon as we have found and fixed the bug or bugs in
6323 question; and secondly, we would prefer \e{not} to be mailed large
6324 chunks of code anyway. The smaller the file, the better. A
6325 three-line sample file that does nothing useful \e{except}
6326 demonstrate the problem is much easier to work with than a
6327 fully fledged ten-thousand-line program. (Of course, some errors
6328 \e{do} only crop up in large files, so this may not be possible.)
6330 \b A description of what the problem actually \e{is}. `It doesn't
6331 work' is \e{not} a helpful description! Please describe exactly what
6332 is happening that shouldn't be, or what isn't happening that should.
6333 Examples might be: `NASM generates an error message saying Line 3
6334 for an error that's actually on Line 5'; `NASM generates an error
6335 message that I believe it shouldn't be generating at all'; `NASM
6336 fails to generate an error message that I believe it \e{should} be
6337 generating'; `the object file produced from this source code crashes
6338 my linker'; `the ninth byte of the output file is 66 and I think it
6339 should be 77 instead'.
6341 \b If you believe the output file from NASM to be faulty, send it to
6342 us. That allows us to determine whether our own copy of NASM
6343 generates the same file, or whether the problem is related to
6344 portability issues between our development platforms and yours. We
6345 can handle binary files mailed to us as MIME attachments, uuencoded,
6346 and even BinHex. Alternatively, we may be able to provide an FTP
6347 site you can upload the suspect files to; but mailing them is easier
6350 \b Any other information or data files that might be helpful. If,
6351 for example, the problem involves NASM failing to generate an object
6352 file while TASM can generate an equivalent file without trouble,
6353 then send us \e{both} object files, so we can see what TASM is doing
6354 differently from us.
6357 \A{ndisasm} \i{Ndisasm}
6359 The Netwide Disassembler, NDISASM
6361 \H{ndisintro} Introduction
6364 The Netwide Disassembler is a small companion program to the Netwide
6365 Assembler, NASM. It seemed a shame to have an x86 assembler,
6366 complete with a full instruction table, and not make as much use of
6367 it as possible, so here's a disassembler which shares the
6368 instruction table (and some other bits of code) with NASM.
6370 The Netwide Disassembler does nothing except to produce
6371 disassemblies of \e{binary} source files. NDISASM does not have any
6372 understanding of object file formats, like \c{objdump}, and it will
6373 not understand \c{DOS .EXE} files like \c{debug} will. It just
6377 \H{ndisstart} Getting Started: Installation
6379 See \k{install} for installation instructions. NDISASM, like NASM,
6380 has a \c{man page} which you may want to put somewhere useful, if you
6381 are on a Unix system.
6384 \H{ndisrun} Running NDISASM
6386 To disassemble a file, you will typically use a command of the form
6388 \c ndisasm [-b16 | -b32] filename
6390 NDISASM can disassemble 16-bit code or 32-bit code equally easily,
6391 provided of course that you remember to specify which it is to work
6392 with. If no \i\c{-b} switch is present, NDISASM works in 16-bit mode by
6393 default. The \i\c{-u} switch (for USE32) also invokes 32-bit mode.
6395 Two more command line options are \i\c{-r} which reports the version
6396 number of NDISASM you are running, and \i\c{-h} which gives a short
6397 summary of command line options.
6400 \S{ndiscom} COM Files: Specifying an Origin
6402 To disassemble a \c{DOS .COM} file correctly, a disassembler must assume
6403 that the first instruction in the file is loaded at address \c{0x100},
6404 rather than at zero. NDISASM, which assumes by default that any file
6405 you give it is loaded at zero, will therefore need to be informed of
6408 The \i\c{-o} option allows you to declare a different origin for the
6409 file you are disassembling. Its argument may be expressed in any of
6410 the NASM numeric formats: decimal by default, if it begins with `\c{$}'
6411 or `\c{0x}' or ends in `\c{H}' it's \c{hex}, if it ends in `\c{Q}' it's
6412 \c{octal}, and if it ends in `\c{B}' it's \c{binary}.
6414 Hence, to disassemble a \c{.COM} file:
6416 \c ndisasm -o100h filename.com
6421 \S{ndissync} Code Following Data: Synchronisation
6423 Suppose you are disassembling a file which contains some data which
6424 isn't machine code, and \e{then} contains some machine code. NDISASM
6425 will faithfully plough through the data section, producing machine
6426 instructions wherever it can (although most of them will look
6427 bizarre, and some may have unusual prefixes, e.g. `\c{FS OR AX,0x240A}'),
6428 and generating `DB' instructions ever so often if it's totally stumped.
6429 Then it will reach the code section.
6431 Supposing NDISASM has just finished generating a strange machine
6432 instruction from part of the data section, and its file position is
6433 now one byte \e{before} the beginning of the code section. It's
6434 entirely possible that another spurious instruction will get
6435 generated, starting with the final byte of the data section, and
6436 then the correct first instruction in the code section will not be
6437 seen because the starting point skipped over it. This isn't really
6440 To avoid this, you can specify a `\i\c{synchronisation}' point, or indeed
6441 as many synchronisation points as you like (although NDISASM can
6442 only handle 8192 sync points internally). The definition of a sync
6443 point is this: NDISASM guarantees to hit sync points exactly during
6444 disassembly. If it is thinking about generating an instruction which
6445 would cause it to jump over a sync point, it will discard that
6446 instruction and output a `\c{db}' instead. So it \e{will} start
6447 disassembly exactly from the sync point, and so you \e{will} see all
6448 the instructions in your code section.
6450 Sync points are specified using the \i\c{-s} option: they are measured
6451 in terms of the program origin, not the file position. So if you
6452 want to synchronize after 32 bytes of a \c{.COM} file, you would have to
6455 \c ndisasm -o100h -s120h file.com
6459 \c ndisasm -o100h -s20h file.com
6461 As stated above, you can specify multiple sync markers if you need
6462 to, just by repeating the \c{-s} option.
6465 \S{ndisisync} Mixed Code and Data: Automatic (Intelligent) Synchronisation
6468 Suppose you are disassembling the boot sector of a \c{DOS} floppy (maybe
6469 it has a virus, and you need to understand the virus so that you
6470 know what kinds of damage it might have done you). Typically, this
6471 will contain a \c{JMP} instruction, then some data, then the rest of the
6472 code. So there is a very good chance of NDISASM being \e{misaligned}
6473 when the data ends and the code begins. Hence a sync point is
6476 On the other hand, why should you have to specify the sync point
6477 manually? What you'd do in order to find where the sync point would
6478 be, surely, would be to read the \c{JMP} instruction, and then to use
6479 its target address as a sync point. So can NDISASM do that for you?
6481 The answer, of course, is yes: using either of the synonymous
6482 switches \i\c{-a} (for automatic sync) or \i\c{-i} (for intelligent
6483 sync) will enable \c{auto-sync} mode. Auto-sync mode automatically
6484 generates a sync point for any forward-referring PC-relative jump or
6485 call instruction that NDISASM encounters. (Since NDISASM is one-pass,
6486 if it encounters a PC-relative jump whose target has already been
6487 processed, there isn't much it can do about it...)
6489 Only PC-relative jumps are processed, since an absolute jump is
6490 either through a register (in which case NDISASM doesn't know what
6491 the register contains) or involves a segment address (in which case
6492 the target code isn't in the same segment that NDISASM is working
6493 in, and so the sync point can't be placed anywhere useful).
6495 For some kinds of file, this mechanism will automatically put sync
6496 points in all the right places, and save you from having to place
6497 any sync points manually. However, it should be stressed that
6498 auto-sync mode is \e{not} guaranteed to catch all the sync points, and
6499 you may still have to place some manually.
6501 Auto-sync mode doesn't prevent you from declaring manual sync
6502 points: it just adds automatically generated ones to the ones you
6503 provide. It's perfectly feasible to specify \c{-i} \e{and} some \c{-s}
6506 Another caveat with auto-sync mode is that if, by some unpleasant
6507 fluke, something in your data section should disassemble to a
6508 PC-relative call or jump instruction, NDISASM may obediently place a
6509 sync point in a totally random place, for example in the middle of
6510 one of the instructions in your code section. So you may end up with
6511 a wrong disassembly even if you use auto-sync. Again, there isn't
6512 much I can do about this. If you have problems, you'll have to use
6513 manual sync points, or use the \c{-k} option (documented below) to
6514 suppress disassembly of the data area.
6517 \S{ndisother} Other Options
6519 The \i\c{-e} option skips a header on the file, by ignoring the first N
6520 bytes. This means that the header is \e{not} counted towards the
6521 disassembly offset: if you give \c{-e10 -o10}, disassembly will start
6522 at byte 10 in the file, and this will be given offset 10, not 20.
6524 The \i\c{-k} option is provided with two comma-separated numeric
6525 arguments, the first of which is an assembly offset and the second
6526 is a number of bytes to skip. This \e{will} count the skipped bytes
6527 towards the assembly offset: its use is to suppress disassembly of a
6528 data section which wouldn't contain anything you wanted to see
6532 \H{ndisbugs} Bugs and Improvements
6534 There are no known bugs. However, any you find, with patches if
6535 possible, should be sent to \W{mailto:jules@dsf.org.uk}\c{jules@dsf.org.uk}
6536 or \W{mailto:anakin@pobox.com}\c{anakin@pobox.com}, or to the
6538 \W{https://sourceforge.net/projects/nasm/}\c{https://sourceforge.net/projects/nasm/}
6539 and we'll try to fix them. Feel free to send contributions and
6540 new features as well.
6542 Future plans include awareness of which processors certain
6543 instructions will run on, and marking of instructions that are too
6544 advanced for some processor (or are \c{FPU} instructions, or are
6545 undocumented opcodes, or are privileged protected-mode instructions,
6550 I hope NDISASM is of some use to somebody. Including me. :-)
6552 I don't recommend taking NDISASM apart to see how an efficient
6553 disassembler works, because as far as I know, it isn't an efficient
6554 one anyway. You have been warned.
6557 \A{iref} x86 Instruction Reference
6559 This appendix provides a complete list of the machine instructions
6560 which NASM will assemble, and a short description of the function of
6563 It is not intended to be an exhaustive documentation on the fine
6564 details of the instructions' function, such as which exceptions they
6565 can trigger: for such documentation, you should go to Intel's Web
6566 site, \W{http://developer.intel.com/design/Pentium4/manuals/}\c{http://developer.intel.com/design/Pentium4/manuals/}.
6568 Instead, this appendix is intended primarily to provide
6569 documentation on the way the instructions may be used within NASM.
6570 For example, looking up \c{LOOP} will tell you that NASM allows
6571 \c{CX} or \c{ECX} to be specified as an optional second argument to
6572 the \c{LOOP} instruction, to enforce which of the two possible
6573 counter registers should be used if the default is not the one
6576 The instructions are not quite listed in alphabetical order, since
6577 groups of instructions with similar functions are lumped together in
6578 the same entry. Most of them don't move very far from their
6579 alphabetic position because of this.
6582 \H{iref-opr} Key to Operand Specifications
6584 The instruction descriptions in this appendix specify their operands
6585 using the following notation:
6587 \b Registers: \c{reg8} denotes an 8-bit \i{general purpose
6588 register}, \c{reg16} denotes a 16-bit general purpose register,
6589 \c{reg32} a 32-bit one and \c{reg64} a 64-bit one. \c{fpureg} denotes
6590 one of the eight FPU stack registers, \c{mmxreg} denotes one of the
6591 eight 64-bit MMX registers, and \c{segreg} denotes a segment register.
6592 \c{xmmreg} denotes one of the 8, or 16 in x64 long mode, SSE XMM registers.
6593 In addition, some registers (such as \c{AL}, \c{DX}, \c{ECX} or \c{RAX})
6594 may be specified explicitly.
6596 \b Immediate operands: \c{imm} denotes a generic \i{immediate operand}.
6597 \c{imm8}, \c{imm16} and \c{imm32} are used when the operand is
6598 intended to be a specific size. For some of these instructions, NASM
6599 needs an explicit specifier: for example, \c{ADD ESP,16} could be
6600 interpreted as either \c{ADD r/m32,imm32} or \c{ADD r/m32,imm8}.
6601 NASM chooses the former by default, and so you must specify \c{ADD
6602 ESP,BYTE 16} for the latter. There is a special case of the allowance
6603 of an \c{imm64} for particular x64 versions of the MOV instruction.
6605 \b Memory references: \c{mem} denotes a generic \i{memory reference};
6606 \c{mem8}, \c{mem16}, \c{mem32}, \c{mem64} and \c{mem80} are used
6607 when the operand needs to be a specific size. Again, a specifier is
6608 needed in some cases: \c{DEC [address]} is ambiguous and will be
6609 rejected by NASM. You must specify \c{DEC BYTE [address]}, \c{DEC
6610 WORD [address]} or \c{DEC DWORD [address]} instead.
6612 \b \i{Restricted memory references}: one form of the \c{MOV}
6613 instruction allows a memory address to be specified \e{without}
6614 allowing the normal range of register combinations and effective
6615 address processing. This is denoted by \c{memoffs8}, \c{memoffs16},
6616 \c{memoffs32} or \c{memoffs64}.
6618 \b Register or memory choices: many instructions can accept either a
6619 register \e{or} a memory reference as an operand. \c{r/m8} is
6620 shorthand for \c{reg8/mem8}; similarly \c{r/m16} and \c{r/m32}.
6621 On legacy x86 modes, \c{r/m64} is MMX-related, and is shorthand for
6622 \c{mmxreg/mem64}. When utilizing the x86-64 architecture extension,
6623 \c{r/m64} denotes use of a 64-bit GPR as well, and is shorthand for
6627 \H{iref-opc} Key to Opcode Descriptions
6629 This appendix also provides the opcodes which NASM will generate for
6630 each form of each instruction. The opcodes are listed in the
6633 \b A hex number, such as \c{3F}, indicates a fixed byte containing
6636 \b A hex number followed by \c{+r}, such as \c{C8+r}, indicates that
6637 one of the operands to the instruction is a register, and the
6638 `register value' of that register should be added to the hex number
6639 to produce the generated byte. For example, EDX has register value
6640 2, so the code \c{C8+r}, when the register operand is EDX, generates
6641 the hex byte \c{CA}. Register values for specific registers are
6642 given in \k{iref-rv}.
6644 \b A hex number followed by \c{+cc}, such as \c{40+cc}, indicates
6645 that the instruction name has a condition code suffix, and the
6646 numeric representation of the condition code should be added to the
6647 hex number to produce the generated byte. For example, the code
6648 \c{40+cc}, when the instruction contains the \c{NE} condition,
6649 generates the hex byte \c{45}. Condition codes and their numeric
6650 representations are given in \k{iref-cc}.
6652 \b A slash followed by a digit, such as \c{/2}, indicates that one
6653 of the operands to the instruction is a memory address or register
6654 (denoted \c{mem} or \c{r/m}, with an optional size). This is to be
6655 encoded as an effective address, with a \i{ModR/M byte}, an optional
6656 \i{SIB byte}, and an optional displacement, and the spare (register)
6657 field of the ModR/M byte should be the digit given (which will be
6658 from 0 to 7, so it fits in three bits). The encoding of effective
6659 addresses is given in \k{iref-ea}.
6661 \b The code \c{/r} combines the above two: it indicates that one of
6662 the operands is a memory address or \c{r/m}, and another is a
6663 register, and that an effective address should be generated with the
6664 spare (register) field in the ModR/M byte being equal to the
6665 `register value' of the register operand. The encoding of effective
6666 addresses is given in \k{iref-ea}; register values are given in
6669 \b The codes \c{ib}, \c{iw} and \c{id} indicate that one of the
6670 operands to the instruction is an immediate value, and that this is
6671 to be encoded as a byte, little-endian word or little-endian
6672 doubleword respectively.
6674 \b The codes \c{rb}, \c{rw} and \c{rd} indicate that one of the
6675 operands to the instruction is an immediate value, and that the
6676 \e{difference} between this value and the address of the end of the
6677 instruction is to be encoded as a byte, word or doubleword
6678 respectively. Where the form \c{rw/rd} appears, it indicates that
6679 either \c{rw} or \c{rd} should be used according to whether assembly
6680 is being performed in \c{BITS 16} or \c{BITS 32} state respectively.
6682 \b The codes \c{ow} and \c{od} indicate that one of the operands to
6683 the instruction is a reference to the contents of a memory address
6684 specified as an immediate value: this encoding is used in some forms
6685 of the \c{MOV} instruction in place of the standard
6686 effective-address mechanism. The displacement is encoded as a word
6687 or doubleword. Again, \c{ow/od} denotes that \c{ow} or \c{od} should
6688 be chosen according to the \c{BITS} setting.
6690 \b The codes \c{o16} and \c{o32} indicate that the given form of the
6691 instruction should be assembled with operand size 16 or 32 bits. In
6692 other words, \c{o16} indicates a \c{66} prefix in \c{BITS 32} state,
6693 but generates no code in \c{BITS 16} state; and \c{o32} indicates a
6694 \c{66} prefix in \c{BITS 16} state but generates nothing in \c{BITS
6697 \b The codes \c{a16} and \c{a32}, similarly to \c{o16} and \c{o32},
6698 indicate the address size of the given form of the instruction.
6699 Where this does not match the \c{BITS} setting, a \c{67} prefix is
6700 required. Please note that \c{a16} is useless in long mode as
6701 16-bit addressing is depreciated on the x86-64 architecture extension.
6704 \S{iref-rv} Register Values
6706 Where an instruction requires a register value, it is already
6707 implicit in the encoding of the rest of the instruction what type of
6708 register is intended: an 8-bit general-purpose register, a segment
6709 register, a debug register, an MMX register, or whatever. Therefore
6710 there is no problem with registers of different types sharing an
6713 Please note that for the register classes listed below, the register
6714 extensions (REX) classes require the use of the REX prefix, in which
6715 is only available when in long mode on the x86-64 processor. This
6716 pretty much goes for any register that has a number higher than 7.
6718 The encodings for the various classes of register are:
6720 \b 8-bit general registers: \c{AL} is 0, \c{CL} is 1, \c{DL} is 2,
6721 \c{BL} is 3, \c{AH} is 4, \c{CH} is 5, \c{DH} is 6 and \c{BH} is
6722 7. Please note that \c{AH}, \c{BH}, \c{CH} and \c{DH} are not
6723 addressable when using the REX prefix in long mode.
6725 \b 8-bit general register extensions (REX): \c{SPL} is 4, \c{BPL} is 5,
6726 \c{SIL} is 6, \c{DIL} is 7, \c{R8B} is 8, \c{R9B} is 9, \c{R10B} is 10,
6727 \c{R11B} is 11, \c{R12B} is 12, \c{R13B} is 13, \c{R14B} is 14 and
6730 \b 16-bit general registers: \c{AX} is 0, \c{CX} is 1, \c{DX} is 2,
6731 \c{BX} is 3, \c{SP} is 4, \c{BP} is 5, \c{SI} is 6, and \c{DI} is 7.
6733 \b 16-bit general register extensions (REX): \c{R8W} is 8, \c{R9W} is 9,
6734 \c{R10w} is 10, \c{R11W} is 11, \c{R12W} is 12, \c{R13W} is 13, \c{R14W}
6735 is 14 and \c{R15W} is 15.
6737 \b 32-bit general registers: \c{EAX} is 0, \c{ECX} is 1, \c{EDX} is
6738 2, \c{EBX} is 3, \c{ESP} is 4, \c{EBP} is 5, \c{ESI} is 6, and
6741 \b 32-bit general register extensions (REX): \c{R8D} is 8, \c{R9D} is 9,
6742 \c{R10D} is 10, \c{R11D} is 11, \c{R12D} is 12, \c{R13D} is 13, \c{R14D}
6743 is 14 and \c{R15D} is 15.
6745 \b 64-bit general register extensions (REX): \c{RAX} is 0, \c{RCX} is 1,
6746 \c{RDX} is 2, \c{RBX} is 3, \c{RSP} is 4, \c{RBP} is 5, \c{RSI} is 6,
6747 \c{RDI} is 7, \c{R8} is 8, \c{R9} is 9, \c{R10} is 10, \c{R11} is 11,
6748 \c{R12} is 12, \c{R13} is 13, \c{R14} is 14 and \c{R15} is 15.
6750 \b \i{Segment registers}: \c{ES} is 0, \c{CS} is 1, \c{SS} is 2, \c{DS}
6751 is 3, \c{FS} is 4, and \c{GS} is 5.
6753 \b \I{floating-point, registers}Floating-point registers: \c{ST0}
6754 is 0, \c{ST1} is 1, \c{ST2} is 2, \c{ST3} is 3, \c{ST4} is 4,
6755 \c{ST5} is 5, \c{ST6} is 6, and \c{ST7} is 7.
6757 \b 64-bit \i{MMX registers}: \c{MM0} is 0, \c{MM1} is 1, \c{MM2} is 2,
6758 \c{MM3} is 3, \c{MM4} is 4, \c{MM5} is 5, \c{MM6} is 6, and \c{MM7}
6761 \b 128-bit \i{XMM (SSE) registers}: \c{XMM0} is 0, \c{XMM1} is 1,
6762 \c{XMM2} is 2, \c{XMM3} is 3, \c{XMM4} is 4, \c{XMM5} is 5, \c{XMM6} is
6763 6 and \c{XMM7} is 7.
6765 \b 128-bit \i{XMM (SSE) register} extensions (REX): \c{XMM8} is 8,
6766 \c{XMM9} is 9, \c{XMM10} is 10, \c{XMM11} is 11, \c{XMM12} is 12,
6767 \c{XMM13} is 13, \c{XMM14} is 14 and \c{XMM15} is 15.
6769 \b \i{Control registers}: \c{CR0} is 0, \c{CR2} is 2, \c{CR3} is 3,
6772 \b \i{Control register} extensions: \c{CR8} is 8.
6774 \b \i{Debug registers}: \c{DR0} is 0, \c{DR1} is 1, \c{DR2} is 2,
6775 \c{DR3} is 3, \c{DR6} is 6, and \c{DR7} is 7.
6777 \b \i{Test registers}: \c{TR3} is 3, \c{TR4} is 4, \c{TR5} is 5,
6778 \c{TR6} is 6, and \c{TR7} is 7.
6780 (Note that wherever a register name contains a number, that number
6781 is also the register value for that register.)
6784 \S{iref-cc} \i{Condition Codes}
6786 The available condition codes are given here, along with their
6787 numeric representations as part of opcodes. Many of these condition
6788 codes have synonyms, so several will be listed at a time.
6790 In the following descriptions, the word `either', when applied to two
6791 possible trigger conditions, is used to mean `either or both'. If
6792 `either but not both' is meant, the phrase `exactly one of' is used.
6794 \b \c{O} is 0 (trigger if the overflow flag is set); \c{NO} is 1.
6796 \b \c{B}, \c{C} and \c{NAE} are 2 (trigger if the carry flag is
6797 set); \c{AE}, \c{NB} and \c{NC} are 3.
6799 \b \c{E} and \c{Z} are 4 (trigger if the zero flag is set); \c{NE}
6802 \b \c{BE} and \c{NA} are 6 (trigger if either of the carry or zero
6803 flags is set); \c{A} and \c{NBE} are 7.
6805 \b \c{S} is 8 (trigger if the sign flag is set); \c{NS} is 9.
6807 \b \c{P} and \c{PE} are 10 (trigger if the parity flag is set);
6808 \c{NP} and \c{PO} are 11.
6810 \b \c{L} and \c{NGE} are 12 (trigger if exactly one of the sign and
6811 overflow flags is set); \c{GE} and \c{NL} are 13.
6813 \b \c{LE} and \c{NG} are 14 (trigger if either the zero flag is set,
6814 or exactly one of the sign and overflow flags is set); \c{G} and
6817 Note that in all cases, the sense of a condition code may be
6818 reversed by changing the low bit of the numeric representation.
6820 For details of when an instruction sets each of the status flags,
6821 see the individual instruction, plus the Status Flags reference
6825 \S{iref-SSE-cc} \i{SSE Condition Predicates}
6827 The condition predicates for SSE comparison instructions are the
6828 codes used as part of the opcode, to determine what form of
6829 comparison is being carried out. In each case, the imm8 value is
6830 the final byte of the opcode encoding, and the predicate is the
6831 code used as part of the mnemonic for the instruction (equivalent
6832 to the "cc" in an integer instruction that used a condition code).
6833 The instructions that use this will give details of what the various
6834 mnemonics are, this table is used to help you work out details of what
6837 \c Predi- imm8 Description Relation where: Emula- Result QNaN
6838 \c cate Encod- A Is 1st Operand tion if NaN Signal
6839 \c ing B Is 2nd Operand Operand Invalid
6841 \c EQ 000B equal A = B False No
6843 \c LT 001B less-than A < B False Yes
6845 \c LE 010B less-than- A <= B False Yes
6848 \c --- ---- greater A > B Swap False Yes
6852 \c --- ---- greater- A >= B Swap False Yes
6853 \c than-or-equal Operands,
6856 \c UNORD 011B unordered A, B = Unordered True No
6858 \c NEQ 100B not-equal A != B True No
6860 \c NLT 101B not-less- NOT(A < B) True Yes
6863 \c NLE 110B not-less- NOT(A <= B) True Yes
6867 \c --- ---- not-greater NOT(A > B) Swap True Yes
6871 \c --- ---- not-greater NOT(A >= B) Swap True Yes
6875 \c ORD 111B ordered A , B = Ordered False No
6877 The unordered relationship is true when at least one of the two
6878 values being compared is a NaN or in an unsupported format.
6880 Note that the comparisons which are listed as not having a predicate
6881 or encoding can only be achieved through software emulation, as
6882 described in the "emulation" column. Note in particular that an
6883 instruction such as \c{greater-than} is not the same as \c{NLE}, as,
6884 unlike with the \c{CMP} instruction, it has to take into account the
6885 possibility of one operand containing a NaN or an unsupported numeric
6889 \S{iref-Flags} \i{Status Flags}
6891 The status flags provide some information about the result of the
6892 arithmetic instructions. This information can be used by conditional
6893 instructions (such a \c{Jcc} and \c{CMOVcc}) as well as by some of
6894 the other instructions (such as \c{ADC} and \c{INTO}).
6896 There are 6 status flags:
6900 Set if an arithmetic operation generates a
6901 carry or a borrow out of the most-significant bit of the result;
6902 cleared otherwise. This flag indicates an overflow condition for
6903 unsigned-integer arithmetic. It is also used in multiple-precision
6906 \c PF - Parity flag.
6908 Set if the least-significant byte of the result contains an even
6909 number of 1 bits; cleared otherwise.
6911 \c AF - Adjust flag.
6913 Set if an arithmetic operation generates a carry or a borrow
6914 out of bit 3 of the result; cleared otherwise. This flag is used
6915 in binary-coded decimal (BCD) arithmetic.
6919 Set if the result is zero; cleared otherwise.
6923 Set equal to the most-significant bit of the result, which is the
6924 sign bit of a signed integer. (0 indicates a positive value and 1
6925 indicates a negative value.)
6927 \c OF - Overflow flag.
6929 Set if the integer result is too large a positive number or too
6930 small a negative number (excluding the sign-bit) to fit in the
6931 destination operand; cleared otherwise. This flag indicates an
6932 overflow condition for signed-integer (two's complement) arithmetic.
6935 \S{iref-ea} Effective Address Encoding: \i{ModR/M} and \i{SIB}
6937 An \i{effective address} is encoded in up to three parts: a ModR/M
6938 byte, an optional SIB byte, and an optional byte, word or doubleword
6941 The ModR/M byte consists of three fields: the \c{mod} field, ranging
6942 from 0 to 3, in the upper two bits of the byte, the \c{r/m} field,
6943 ranging from 0 to 7, in the lower three bits, and the spare
6944 (register) field in the middle (bit 3 to bit 5). The spare field is
6945 not relevant to the effective address being encoded, and either
6946 contains an extension to the instruction opcode or the register
6947 value of another operand.
6949 The ModR/M system can be used to encode a direct register reference
6950 rather than a memory access. This is always done by setting the
6951 \c{mod} field to 3 and the \c{r/m} field to the register value of
6952 the register in question (it must be a general-purpose register, and
6953 the size of the register must already be implicit in the encoding of
6954 the rest of the instruction). In this case, the SIB byte and
6955 displacement field are both absent.
6957 In 16-bit addressing mode (either \c{BITS 16} with no \c{67} prefix,
6958 or \c{BITS 32} with a \c{67} prefix), the SIB byte is never used.
6959 The general rules for \c{mod} and \c{r/m} (there is an exception,
6962 \b The \c{mod} field gives the length of the displacement field: 0
6963 means no displacement, 1 means one byte, and 2 means two bytes.
6965 \b The \c{r/m} field encodes the combination of registers to be
6966 added to the displacement to give the accessed address: 0 means
6967 \c{BX+SI}, 1 means \c{BX+DI}, 2 means \c{BP+SI}, 3 means \c{BP+DI},
6968 4 means \c{SI} only, 5 means \c{DI} only, 6 means \c{BP} only, and 7
6971 However, there is a special case:
6973 \b If \c{mod} is 0 and \c{r/m} is 6, the effective address encoded
6974 is not \c{[BP]} as the above rules would suggest, but instead
6975 \c{[disp16]}: the displacement field is present and is two bytes
6976 long, and no registers are added to the displacement.
6978 Therefore the effective address \c{[BP]} cannot be encoded as
6979 efficiently as \c{[BX]}; so if you code \c{[BP]} in a program, NASM
6980 adds a notional 8-bit zero displacement, and sets \c{mod} to 1,
6981 \c{r/m} to 6, and the one-byte displacement field to 0.
6983 In 32-bit addressing mode (either \c{BITS 16} with a \c{67} prefix,
6984 or \c{BITS 32} with no \c{67} prefix) the general rules (again,
6985 there are exceptions) for \c{mod} and \c{r/m} are:
6987 \b The \c{mod} field gives the length of the displacement field: 0
6988 means no displacement, 1 means one byte, and 2 means four bytes.
6990 \b If only one register is to be added to the displacement, and it
6991 is not \c{ESP}, the \c{r/m} field gives its register value, and the
6992 SIB byte is absent. If the \c{r/m} field is 4 (which would encode
6993 \c{ESP}), the SIB byte is present and gives the combination and
6994 scaling of registers to be added to the displacement.
6996 If the SIB byte is present, it describes the combination of
6997 registers (an optional base register, and an optional index register
6998 scaled by multiplication by 1, 2, 4 or 8) to be added to the
6999 displacement. The SIB byte is divided into the \c{scale} field, in
7000 the top two bits, the \c{index} field in the next three, and the
7001 \c{base} field in the bottom three. The general rules are:
7003 \b The \c{base} field encodes the register value of the base
7006 \b The \c{index} field encodes the register value of the index
7007 register, unless it is 4, in which case no index register is used
7008 (so \c{ESP} cannot be used as an index register).
7010 \b The \c{scale} field encodes the multiplier by which the index
7011 register is scaled before adding it to the base and displacement: 0
7012 encodes a multiplier of 1, 1 encodes 2, 2 encodes 4 and 3 encodes 8.
7014 The exceptions to the 32-bit encoding rules are:
7016 \b If \c{mod} is 0 and \c{r/m} is 5, the effective address encoded
7017 is not \c{[EBP]} as the above rules would suggest, but instead
7018 \c{[disp32]}: the displacement field is present and is four bytes
7019 long, and no registers are added to the displacement.
7021 \b If \c{mod} is 0, \c{r/m} is 4 (meaning the SIB byte is present)
7022 and \c{base} is 5, the effective address encoded is not
7023 \c{[EBP+index]} as the above rules would suggest, but instead
7024 \c{[disp32+index]}: the displacement field is present and is four
7025 bytes long, and there is no base register (but the index register is
7026 still processed in the normal way).
7029 \S{iref-rex} Register Extensions: The \i{REX} Prefix
7031 The Register Extensions, or \i{REX} for short, prefix is the means
7032 of accessing extended registers on the x86-64 architecture. \i{REX}
7033 is considered an instruction prefix, but is required to be after
7034 all other prefixes and thus immediately before the first instruction
7035 opcode itself. So overall, \i{REX} can be thought of as an "Opcode
7036 Prefix" instead. The \i{REX} prefix itself is indicated by a value
7037 of 0x4X, where X is one of 16 different combinations of the actual
7040 The \i{REX} prefix flags consist of four 1-bit extensions fields.
7041 These flags are found in the lower nibble of the actual \i{REX}
7042 prefix opcode. Below is the list of \i{REX} prefix flags, from
7043 high bit to low bit.
7045 \c{REX.W}: When set, this flag indicates the use of a 64-bit operand,
7046 as opposed to the default of using 32-bit operands as found in 32-bit
7049 \c{REX.R}: When set, this flag extends the \c{reg (spare)} field of
7050 the \c{ModRM} byte. Overall, this raises the amount of addressable
7051 registers in this field from 8 to 16.
7053 \c{REX.X}: When set, this flag extends the \c{index} field of the
7054 \c{SIB} byte. Overall, this raises the amount of addressable
7055 registers in this field from 8 to 16.
7057 \c{REX.B}: When set, this flag extends the \c{r/m} field of the
7058 \c{ModRM} byte. This flag can also represent an extension to the
7059 opcode register \c{(/r)} field. The determination of which is used
7060 varies depending on which instruction is used. Overall, this raises
7061 the amount of addressable registers in these fields from 8 to 16.
7063 Interal use of the \i{REX} prefix by the processor is consistent,
7064 yet non-trivial. Most instructions use the \i{REX} prefix as
7065 indicated by the above flags. Some instructions require the \i{REX}
7066 prefix to be present even if the flags are empty. Some instructions
7067 default to a 64-bit operand and require the \i{REX} prefix only for
7068 actual register extensions, and thus ignores the \c{REX.W} field
7071 At any rate, NASM is designed to handle, and fully supports, the
7072 \i{REX} prefix internally. Please read the appropriate processor
7073 documentation for further information on the \i{REX} prefix.
7075 You may have noticed that opcodes 0x40 through 0x4F are actually
7076 opcodes for the INC/DEC instructions for each General Purpose
7077 Register. This is, of course, correct... for legacy x86. While
7078 in long mode, opcodes 0x40 through 0x4F are reserved for use as
7079 the REX prefix. The other opcode forms of the INC/DEC instructions
7083 \H{iref-flg} Key to Instruction Flags
7085 Given along with each instruction in this appendix is a set of
7086 flags, denoting the type of the instruction. The types are as follows:
7088 \b \c{8086}, \c{186}, \c{286}, \c{386}, \c{486}, \c{PENT} and \c{P6}
7089 denote the lowest processor type that supports the instruction. Most
7090 instructions run on all processors above the given type; those that
7091 do not are documented. The Pentium II contains no additional
7092 instructions beyond the P6 (Pentium Pro); from the point of view of
7093 its instruction set, it can be thought of as a P6 with MMX
7096 \b \c{3DNOW} indicates that the instruction is a 3DNow! one, and will
7097 run on the AMD K6-2 and later processors. ATHLON extensions to the
7098 3DNow! instruction set are documented as such.
7100 \b \c{CYRIX} indicates that the instruction is specific to Cyrix
7101 processors, for example the extra MMX instructions in the Cyrix
7102 extended MMX instruction set.
7104 \b \c{FPU} indicates that the instruction is a floating-point one,
7105 and will only run on machines with a coprocessor (automatically
7106 including 486DX, Pentium and above).
7108 \b \c{KATMAI} indicates that the instruction was introduced as part
7109 of the Katmai New Instruction set. These instructions are available
7110 on the Pentium III and later processors. Those which are not
7111 specifically SSE instructions are also available on the AMD Athlon.
7113 \b \c{MMX} indicates that the instruction is an MMX one, and will
7114 run on MMX-capable Pentium processors and the Pentium II.
7116 \b \c{PRIV} indicates that the instruction is a protected-mode
7117 management instruction. Many of these may only be used in protected
7118 mode, or only at privilege level zero.
7120 \b \c{SSE} and \c{SSE2} indicate that the instruction is a Streaming
7121 SIMD Extension instruction. These instructions operate on multiple
7122 values in a single operation. SSE was introduced with the Pentium III
7123 and SSE2 was introduced with the Pentium 4.
7125 \b \c{UNDOC} indicates that the instruction is an undocumented one,
7126 and not part of the official Intel Architecture; it may or may not
7127 be supported on any given machine.
7129 \b \c{WILLAMETTE} indicates that the instruction was introduced as
7130 part of the new instruction set in the Pentium 4 and Intel Xeon
7131 processors. These instructions are also known as SSE2 instructions.
7133 \b \c{X64} indicates that the instruction was introduced as part of
7134 the new instruction set in the x86-64 architecture extension,
7135 commonly referred to as x64, AMD64 or EM64T.
7138 \H{iref-inst} x86 Instruction Set
7141 \S{insAAA} \i\c{AAA}, \i\c{AAS}, \i\c{AAM}, \i\c{AAD}: ASCII
7148 \c AAD ; D5 0A [8086]
7149 \c AAD imm ; D5 ib [8086]
7151 \c AAM ; D4 0A [8086]
7152 \c AAM imm ; D4 ib [8086]
7154 These instructions are used in conjunction with the add, subtract,
7155 multiply and divide instructions to perform binary-coded decimal
7156 arithmetic in \e{unpacked} (one BCD digit per byte - easy to
7157 translate to and from \c{ASCII}, hence the instruction names) form.
7158 There are also packed BCD instructions \c{DAA} and \c{DAS}: see
7161 \b \c{AAA} (ASCII Adjust After Addition) should be used after a
7162 one-byte \c{ADD} instruction whose destination was the \c{AL}
7163 register: by means of examining the value in the low nibble of
7164 \c{AL} and also the auxiliary carry flag \c{AF}, it determines
7165 whether the addition has overflowed, and adjusts it (and sets
7166 the carry flag) if so. You can add long BCD strings together
7167 by doing \c{ADD}/\c{AAA} on the low digits, then doing
7168 \c{ADC}/\c{AAA} on each subsequent digit.
7170 \b \c{AAS} (ASCII Adjust AL After Subtraction) works similarly to
7171 \c{AAA}, but is for use after \c{SUB} instructions rather than
7174 \b \c{AAM} (ASCII Adjust AX After Multiply) is for use after you
7175 have multiplied two decimal digits together and left the result
7176 in \c{AL}: it divides \c{AL} by ten and stores the quotient in
7177 \c{AH}, leaving the remainder in \c{AL}. The divisor 10 can be
7178 changed by specifying an operand to the instruction: a particularly
7179 handy use of this is \c{AAM 16}, causing the two nibbles in \c{AL}
7180 to be separated into \c{AH} and \c{AL}.
7182 \b \c{AAD} (ASCII Adjust AX Before Division) performs the inverse
7183 operation to \c{AAM}: it multiplies \c{AH} by ten, adds it to
7184 \c{AL}, and sets \c{AH} to zero. Again, the multiplier 10 can
7188 \S{insADC} \i\c{ADC}: Add with Carry
7190 \c ADC r/m8,reg8 ; 10 /r [8086]
7191 \c ADC r/m16,reg16 ; o16 11 /r [8086]
7192 \c ADC r/m32,reg32 ; o32 11 /r [386]
7194 \c ADC reg8,r/m8 ; 12 /r [8086]
7195 \c ADC reg16,r/m16 ; o16 13 /r [8086]
7196 \c ADC reg32,r/m32 ; o32 13 /r [386]
7198 \c ADC r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /2 ib [8086]
7199 \c ADC r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /2 iw [8086]
7200 \c ADC r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /2 id [386]
7202 \c ADC r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /2 ib [8086]
7203 \c ADC r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /2 ib [386]
7205 \c ADC AL,imm8 ; 14 ib [8086]
7206 \c ADC AX,imm16 ; o16 15 iw [8086]
7207 \c ADC EAX,imm32 ; o32 15 id [386]
7209 \c{ADC} performs integer addition: it adds its two operands
7210 together, plus the value of the carry flag, and leaves the result in
7211 its destination (first) operand. The destination operand can be a
7212 register or a memory location. The source operand can be a register,
7213 a memory location or an immediate value.
7215 The flags are set according to the result of the operation: in
7216 particular, the carry flag is affected and can be used by a
7217 subsequent \c{ADC} instruction.
7219 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
7220 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
7221 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
7222 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
7223 form of the instruction.
7225 To add two numbers without also adding the contents of the carry
7226 flag, use \c{ADD} (\k{insADD}).
7229 \S{insADD} \i\c{ADD}: Add Integers
7231 \c ADD r/m8,reg8 ; 00 /r [8086]
7232 \c ADD r/m16,reg16 ; o16 01 /r [8086]
7233 \c ADD r/m32,reg32 ; o32 01 /r [386]
7235 \c ADD reg8,r/m8 ; 02 /r [8086]
7236 \c ADD reg16,r/m16 ; o16 03 /r [8086]
7237 \c ADD reg32,r/m32 ; o32 03 /r [386]
7239 \c ADD r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /7 ib [8086]
7240 \c ADD r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /7 iw [8086]
7241 \c ADD r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /7 id [386]
7243 \c ADD r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /7 ib [8086]
7244 \c ADD r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /7 ib [386]
7246 \c ADD AL,imm8 ; 04 ib [8086]
7247 \c ADD AX,imm16 ; o16 05 iw [8086]
7248 \c ADD EAX,imm32 ; o32 05 id [386]
7250 \c{ADD} performs integer addition: it adds its two operands
7251 together, and leaves the result in its destination (first) operand.
7252 The destination operand can be a register or a memory location.
7253 The source operand can be a register, a memory location or an
7256 The flags are set according to the result of the operation: in
7257 particular, the carry flag is affected and can be used by a
7258 subsequent \c{ADC} instruction.
7260 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
7261 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
7262 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
7263 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
7264 form of the instruction.
7267 \S{insADDPD} \i\c{ADDPD}: ADD Packed Double-Precision FP Values
7269 \c ADDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 58 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7271 \c{ADDPD} performs addition on each of two packed double-precision
7274 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] + src[0-63],
7275 \c dst[64-127] := dst[64-127] + src[64-127].
7277 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7278 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7281 \S{insADDPS} \i\c{ADDPS}: ADD Packed Single-Precision FP Values
7283 \c ADDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 58 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7285 \c{ADDPS} performs addition on each of four packed single-precision
7288 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + src[0-31],
7289 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] + src[32-63],
7290 \c dst[64-95] := dst[64-95] + src[64-95],
7291 \c dst[96-127] := dst[96-127] + src[96-127].
7293 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7294 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7297 \S{insADDSD} \i\c{ADDSD}: ADD Scalar Double-Precision FP Values
7299 \c ADDSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F 58 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7301 \c{ADDSD} adds the low double-precision FP values from the source
7302 and destination operands and stores the double-precision FP result
7303 in the destination operand.
7305 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] + src[0-63],
7306 \c dst[64-127) remains unchanged.
7308 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7309 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location.
7312 \S{insADDSS} \i\c{ADDSS}: ADD Scalar Single-Precision FP Values
7314 \c ADDSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 58 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7316 \c{ADDSS} adds the low single-precision FP values from the source
7317 and destination operands and stores the single-precision FP result
7318 in the destination operand.
7320 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + src[0-31],
7321 \c dst[32-127] remains unchanged.
7323 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7324 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location.
7327 \S{insAND} \i\c{AND}: Bitwise AND
7329 \c AND r/m8,reg8 ; 20 /r [8086]
7330 \c AND r/m16,reg16 ; o16 21 /r [8086]
7331 \c AND r/m32,reg32 ; o32 21 /r [386]
7333 \c AND reg8,r/m8 ; 22 /r [8086]
7334 \c AND reg16,r/m16 ; o16 23 /r [8086]
7335 \c AND reg32,r/m32 ; o32 23 /r [386]
7337 \c AND r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /4 ib [8086]
7338 \c AND r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /4 iw [8086]
7339 \c AND r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /4 id [386]
7341 \c AND r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /4 ib [8086]
7342 \c AND r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /4 ib [386]
7344 \c AND AL,imm8 ; 24 ib [8086]
7345 \c AND AX,imm16 ; o16 25 iw [8086]
7346 \c AND EAX,imm32 ; o32 25 id [386]
7348 \c{AND} performs a bitwise AND operation between its two operands
7349 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if the corresponding
7350 bits of the two inputs were both 1), and stores the result in the
7351 destination (first) operand. The destination operand can be a
7352 register or a memory location. The source operand can be a register,
7353 a memory location or an immediate value.
7355 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
7356 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
7357 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
7358 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
7359 form of the instruction.
7361 The \c{MMX} instruction \c{PAND} (see \k{insPAND}) performs the same
7362 operation on the 64-bit \c{MMX} registers.
7365 \S{insANDNPD} \i\c{ANDNPD}: Bitwise Logical AND NOT of
7366 Packed Double-Precision FP Values
7368 \c ANDNPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 55 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7370 \c{ANDNPD} inverts the bits of the two double-precision
7371 floating-point values in the destination register, and then
7372 performs a logical AND between the two double-precision
7373 floating-point values in the source operand and the temporary
7374 inverted result, storing the result in the destination register.
7376 \c dst[0-63] := src[0-63] AND NOT dst[0-63],
7377 \c dst[64-127] := src[64-127] AND NOT dst[64-127].
7379 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7380 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7383 \S{insANDNPS} \i\c{ANDNPS}: Bitwise Logical AND NOT of
7384 Packed Single-Precision FP Values
7386 \c ANDNPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 55 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7388 \c{ANDNPS} inverts the bits of the four single-precision
7389 floating-point values in the destination register, and then
7390 performs a logical AND between the four single-precision
7391 floating-point values in the source operand and the temporary
7392 inverted result, storing the result in the destination register.
7394 \c dst[0-31] := src[0-31] AND NOT dst[0-31],
7395 \c dst[32-63] := src[32-63] AND NOT dst[32-63],
7396 \c dst[64-95] := src[64-95] AND NOT dst[64-95],
7397 \c dst[96-127] := src[96-127] AND NOT dst[96-127].
7399 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7400 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7403 \S{insANDPD} \i\c{ANDPD}: Bitwise Logical AND For Single FP
7405 \c ANDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 54 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7407 \c{ANDPD} performs a bitwise logical AND of the two double-precision
7408 floating point values in the source and destination operand, and
7409 stores the result in the destination register.
7411 \c dst[0-63] := src[0-63] AND dst[0-63],
7412 \c dst[64-127] := src[64-127] AND dst[64-127].
7414 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7415 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7418 \S{insANDPS} \i\c{ANDPS}: Bitwise Logical AND For Single FP
7420 \c ANDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 54 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7422 \c{ANDPS} performs a bitwise logical AND of the four single-precision
7423 floating point values in the source and destination operand, and
7424 stores the result in the destination register.
7426 \c dst[0-31] := src[0-31] AND dst[0-31],
7427 \c dst[32-63] := src[32-63] AND dst[32-63],
7428 \c dst[64-95] := src[64-95] AND dst[64-95],
7429 \c dst[96-127] := src[96-127] AND dst[96-127].
7431 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
7432 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7435 \S{insARPL} \i\c{ARPL}: Adjust RPL Field of Selector
7437 \c ARPL r/m16,reg16 ; 63 /r [286,PRIV]
7439 \c{ARPL} expects its two word operands to be segment selectors. It
7440 adjusts the \i\c{RPL} (requested privilege level - stored in the bottom
7441 two bits of the selector) field of the destination (first) operand
7442 to ensure that it is no less (i.e. no more privileged than) the \c{RPL}
7443 field of the source operand. The zero flag is set if and only if a
7444 change had to be made.
7447 \S{insBOUND} \i\c{BOUND}: Check Array Index against Bounds
7449 \c BOUND reg16,mem ; o16 62 /r [186]
7450 \c BOUND reg32,mem ; o32 62 /r [386]
7452 \c{BOUND} expects its second operand to point to an area of memory
7453 containing two signed values of the same size as its first operand
7454 (i.e. two words for the 16-bit form; two doublewords for the 32-bit
7455 form). It performs two signed comparisons: if the value in the
7456 register passed as its first operand is less than the first of the
7457 in-memory values, or is greater than or equal to the second, it
7458 throws a \c{BR} exception. Otherwise, it does nothing.
7461 \S{insBSF} \i\c{BSF}, \i\c{BSR}: Bit Scan
7463 \c BSF reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F BC /r [386]
7464 \c BSF reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F BC /r [386]
7466 \c BSR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F BD /r [386]
7467 \c BSR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F BD /r [386]
7469 \b \c{BSF} searches for the least significant set bit in its source
7470 (second) operand, and if it finds one, stores the index in
7471 its destination (first) operand. If no set bit is found, the
7472 contents of the destination operand are undefined. If the source
7473 operand is zero, the zero flag is set.
7475 \b \c{BSR} performs the same function, but searches from the top
7476 instead, so it finds the most significant set bit.
7478 Bit indices are from 0 (least significant) to 15 or 31 (most
7479 significant). The destination operand can only be a register.
7480 The source operand can be a register or a memory location.
7483 \S{insBSWAP} \i\c{BSWAP}: Byte Swap
7485 \c BSWAP reg32 ; o32 0F C8+r [486]
7487 \c{BSWAP} swaps the order of the four bytes of a 32-bit register:
7488 bits 0-7 exchange places with bits 24-31, and bits 8-15 swap with
7489 bits 16-23. There is no explicit 16-bit equivalent: to byte-swap
7490 \c{AX}, \c{BX}, \c{CX} or \c{DX}, \c{XCHG} can be used. When \c{BSWAP}
7491 is used with a 16-bit register, the result is undefined.
7494 \S{insBT} \i\c{BT}, \i\c{BTC}, \i\c{BTR}, \i\c{BTS}: Bit Test
7496 \c BT r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F A3 /r [386]
7497 \c BT r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F A3 /r [386]
7498 \c BT r/m16,imm8 ; o16 0F BA /4 ib [386]
7499 \c BT r/m32,imm8 ; o32 0F BA /4 ib [386]
7501 \c BTC r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F BB /r [386]
7502 \c BTC r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F BB /r [386]
7503 \c BTC r/m16,imm8 ; o16 0F BA /7 ib [386]
7504 \c BTC r/m32,imm8 ; o32 0F BA /7 ib [386]
7506 \c BTR r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F B3 /r [386]
7507 \c BTR r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F B3 /r [386]
7508 \c BTR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 0F BA /6 ib [386]
7509 \c BTR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 0F BA /6 ib [386]
7511 \c BTS r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F AB /r [386]
7512 \c BTS r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F AB /r [386]
7513 \c BTS r/m16,imm ; o16 0F BA /5 ib [386]
7514 \c BTS r/m32,imm ; o32 0F BA /5 ib [386]
7516 These instructions all test one bit of their first operand, whose
7517 index is given by the second operand, and store the value of that
7518 bit into the carry flag. Bit indices are from 0 (least significant)
7519 to 15 or 31 (most significant).
7521 In addition to storing the original value of the bit into the carry
7522 flag, \c{BTR} also resets (clears) the bit in the operand itself.
7523 \c{BTS} sets the bit, and \c{BTC} complements the bit. \c{BT} does
7524 not modify its operands.
7526 The destination can be a register or a memory location. The source can
7527 be a register or an immediate value.
7529 If the destination operand is a register, the bit offset should be
7530 in the range 0-15 (for 16-bit operands) or 0-31 (for 32-bit operands).
7531 An immediate value outside these ranges will be taken modulo 16/32
7534 If the destination operand is a memory location, then an immediate
7535 bit offset follows the same rules as for a register. If the bit offset
7536 is in a register, then it can be anything within the signed range of
7537 the register used (ie, for a 32-bit operand, it can be (-2^31) to (2^31 - 1)
7540 \S{insCALL} \i\c{CALL}: Call Subroutine
7542 \c CALL imm ; E8 rw/rd [8086]
7543 \c CALL imm:imm16 ; o16 9A iw iw [8086]
7544 \c CALL imm:imm32 ; o32 9A id iw [386]
7545 \c CALL FAR mem16 ; o16 FF /3 [8086]
7546 \c CALL FAR mem32 ; o32 FF /3 [386]
7547 \c CALL r/m16 ; o16 FF /2 [8086]
7548 \c CALL r/m32 ; o32 FF /2 [386]
7550 \c{CALL} calls a subroutine, by means of pushing the current
7551 instruction pointer (\c{IP}) and optionally \c{CS} as well on the
7552 stack, and then jumping to a given address.
7554 \c{CS} is pushed as well as \c{IP} if and only if the call is a far
7555 call, i.e. a destination segment address is specified in the
7556 instruction. The forms involving two colon-separated arguments are
7557 far calls; so are the \c{CALL FAR mem} forms.
7559 The immediate \i{near call} takes one of two forms (\c{call imm16/imm32},
7560 determined by the current segment size limit. For 16-bit operands,
7561 you would use \c{CALL 0x1234}, and for 32-bit operands you would use
7562 \c{CALL 0x12345678}. The value passed as an operand is a relative offset.
7564 You can choose between the two immediate \i{far call} forms
7565 (\c{CALL imm:imm}) by the use of the \c{WORD} and \c{DWORD} keywords:
7566 \c{CALL WORD 0x1234:0x5678}) or \c{CALL DWORD 0x1234:0x56789abc}.
7568 The \c{CALL FAR mem} forms execute a far call by loading the
7569 destination address out of memory. The address loaded consists of 16
7570 or 32 bits of offset (depending on the operand size), and 16 bits of
7571 segment. The operand size may be overridden using \c{CALL WORD FAR
7572 mem} or \c{CALL DWORD FAR mem}.
7574 The \c{CALL r/m} forms execute a \i{near call} (within the same
7575 segment), loading the destination address out of memory or out of a
7576 register. The keyword \c{NEAR} may be specified, for clarity, in
7577 these forms, but is not necessary. Again, operand size can be
7578 overridden using \c{CALL WORD mem} or \c{CALL DWORD mem}.
7580 As a convenience, NASM does not require you to call a far procedure
7581 symbol by coding the cumbersome \c{CALL SEG routine:routine}, but
7582 instead allows the easier synonym \c{CALL FAR routine}.
7584 The \c{CALL r/m} forms given above are near calls; NASM will accept
7585 the \c{NEAR} keyword (e.g. \c{CALL NEAR [address]}), even though it
7586 is not strictly necessary.
7589 \S{insCBW} \i\c{CBW}, \i\c{CWD}, \i\c{CDQ}, \i\c{CWDE}: Sign Extensions
7591 \c CBW ; o16 98 [8086]
7592 \c CWDE ; o32 98 [386]
7594 \c CWD ; o16 99 [8086]
7595 \c CDQ ; o32 99 [386]
7597 All these instructions sign-extend a short value into a longer one,
7598 by replicating the top bit of the original value to fill the
7601 \c{CBW} extends \c{AL} into \c{AX} by repeating the top bit of
7602 \c{AL} in every bit of \c{AH}. \c{CWDE} extends \c{AX} into
7603 \c{EAX}. \c{CWD} extends \c{AX} into \c{DX:AX} by repeating
7604 the top bit of \c{AX} throughout \c{DX}, and \c{CDQ} extends
7605 \c{EAX} into \c{EDX:EAX}.
7608 \S{insCLC} \i\c{CLC}, \i\c{CLD}, \i\c{CLI}, \i\c{CLTS}: Clear Flags
7613 \c CLTS ; 0F 06 [286,PRIV]
7615 These instructions clear various flags. \c{CLC} clears the carry
7616 flag; \c{CLD} clears the direction flag; \c{CLI} clears the
7617 interrupt flag (thus disabling interrupts); and \c{CLTS} clears the
7618 task-switched (\c{TS}) flag in \c{CR0}.
7620 To set the carry, direction, or interrupt flags, use the \c{STC},
7621 \c{STD} and \c{STI} instructions (\k{insSTC}). To invert the carry
7622 flag, use \c{CMC} (\k{insCMC}).
7625 \S{insCLFLUSH} \i\c{CLFLUSH}: Flush Cache Line
7627 \c CLFLUSH mem ; 0F AE /7 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7629 \c{CLFLUSH} invalidates the cache line that contains the linear address
7630 specified by the source operand from all levels of the processor cache
7631 hierarchy (data and instruction). If, at any level of the cache
7632 hierarchy, the line is inconsistent with memory (dirty) it is written
7633 to memory before invalidation. The source operand points to a
7634 byte-sized memory location.
7636 Although \c{CLFLUSH} is flagged \c{SSE2} and above, it may not be
7637 present on all processors which have \c{SSE2} support, and it may be
7638 supported on other processors; the \c{CPUID} instruction (\k{insCPUID})
7639 will return a bit which indicates support for the \c{CLFLUSH} instruction.
7642 \S{insCMC} \i\c{CMC}: Complement Carry Flag
7646 \c{CMC} changes the value of the carry flag: if it was 0, it sets it
7647 to 1, and vice versa.
7650 \S{insCMOVcc} \i\c{CMOVcc}: Conditional Move
7652 \c CMOVcc reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 40+cc /r [P6]
7653 \c CMOVcc reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 40+cc /r [P6]
7655 \c{CMOV} moves its source (second) operand into its destination
7656 (first) operand if the given condition code is satisfied; otherwise
7659 For a list of condition codes, see \k{iref-cc}.
7661 Although the \c{CMOV} instructions are flagged \c{P6} and above, they
7662 may not be supported by all Pentium Pro processors; the \c{CPUID}
7663 instruction (\k{insCPUID}) will return a bit which indicates whether
7664 conditional moves are supported.
7667 \S{insCMP} \i\c{CMP}: Compare Integers
7669 \c CMP r/m8,reg8 ; 38 /r [8086]
7670 \c CMP r/m16,reg16 ; o16 39 /r [8086]
7671 \c CMP r/m32,reg32 ; o32 39 /r [386]
7673 \c CMP reg8,r/m8 ; 3A /r [8086]
7674 \c CMP reg16,r/m16 ; o16 3B /r [8086]
7675 \c CMP reg32,r/m32 ; o32 3B /r [386]
7677 \c CMP r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /7 ib [8086]
7678 \c CMP r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /7 iw [8086]
7679 \c CMP r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /7 id [386]
7681 \c CMP r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /7 ib [8086]
7682 \c CMP r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /7 ib [386]
7684 \c CMP AL,imm8 ; 3C ib [8086]
7685 \c CMP AX,imm16 ; o16 3D iw [8086]
7686 \c CMP EAX,imm32 ; o32 3D id [386]
7688 \c{CMP} performs a `mental' subtraction of its second operand from
7689 its first operand, and affects the flags as if the subtraction had
7690 taken place, but does not store the result of the subtraction
7693 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
7694 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
7695 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
7696 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
7697 form of the instruction.
7699 The destination operand can be a register or a memory location. The
7700 source can be a register, memory location or an immediate value of
7701 the same size as the destination.
7704 \S{insCMPccPD} \i\c{CMPccPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Compare
7705 \I\c{CMPEQPD} \I\c{CMPLTPD} \I\c{CMPLEPD} \I\c{CMPUNORDPD}
7706 \I\c{CMPNEQPD} \I\c{CMPNLTPD} \I\c{CMPNLEPD} \I\c{CMPORDPD}
7708 \c CMPPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128,imm8 ; 66 0F C2 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7710 \c CMPEQPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 00 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7711 \c CMPLTPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 01 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7712 \c CMPLEPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 02 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7713 \c CMPUNORDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 03 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7714 \c CMPNEQPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 04 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7715 \c CMPNLTPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 05 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7716 \c CMPNLEPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 06 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7717 \c CMPORDPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F C2 /r 07 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7719 The \c{CMPccPD} instructions compare the two packed double-precision
7720 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
7721 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
7722 each comparison is a quadword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
7723 all 0s (comparison false).
7725 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
7726 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7728 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
7729 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
7730 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
7731 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
7732 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
7736 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
7737 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
7739 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
7740 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
7743 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
7744 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7747 \S{insCMPccPS} \i\c{CMPccPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Compare
7748 \I\c{CMPEQPS} \I\c{CMPLTPS} \I\c{CMPLEPS} \I\c{CMPUNORDPS}
7749 \I\c{CMPNEQPS} \I\c{CMPNLTPS} \I\c{CMPNLEPS} \I\c{CMPORDPS}
7751 \c CMPPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128,imm8 ; 0F C2 /r ib [KATMAI,SSE]
7753 \c CMPEQPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 00 [KATMAI,SSE]
7754 \c CMPLTPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 01 [KATMAI,SSE]
7755 \c CMPLEPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 02 [KATMAI,SSE]
7756 \c CMPUNORDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 03 [KATMAI,SSE]
7757 \c CMPNEQPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 04 [KATMAI,SSE]
7758 \c CMPNLTPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 05 [KATMAI,SSE]
7759 \c CMPNLEPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 06 [KATMAI,SSE]
7760 \c CMPORDPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F C2 /r 07 [KATMAI,SSE]
7762 The \c{CMPccPS} instructions compare the two packed single-precision
7763 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
7764 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
7765 each comparison is a doubleword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
7766 all 0s (comparison false).
7768 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
7769 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7771 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
7772 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
7773 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
7774 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
7775 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
7779 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
7780 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
7782 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
7783 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
7786 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
7787 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7790 \S{insCMPSB} \i\c{CMPSB}, \i\c{CMPSW}, \i\c{CMPSD}: Compare Strings
7792 \c CMPSB ; A6 [8086]
7793 \c CMPSW ; o16 A7 [8086]
7794 \c CMPSD ; o32 A7 [386]
7796 \c{CMPSB} compares the byte at \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} with the
7797 byte at \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]}, and sets the flags accordingly.
7798 It then increments or decrements (depending on the direction flag:
7799 increments if the flag is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{SI} and
7800 \c{DI} (or \c{ESI} and \c{EDI}).
7802 The registers used are \c{SI} and \c{DI} if the address size is 16
7803 bits, and \c{ESI} and \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use
7804 an address size not equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can
7805 use an explicit \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
7807 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
7808 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
7809 example, \c{ES CMPSB}). The use of \c{ES} for the load from \c{[DI]}
7810 or \c{[EDI]} cannot be overridden.
7812 \c{CMPSW} and \c{CMPSD} work in the same way, but they compare a
7813 word or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement
7814 the addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
7816 The \c{REPE} and \c{REPNE} prefixes (equivalently, \c{REPZ} and
7817 \c{REPNZ}) may be used to repeat the instruction up to \c{CX} (or
7818 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times until the
7819 first unequal or equal byte is found.
7822 \S{insCMPccSD} \i\c{CMPccSD}: Scalar Double-Precision FP Compare
7823 \I\c{CMPEQSD} \I\c{CMPLTSD} \I\c{CMPLESD} \I\c{CMPUNORDSD}
7824 \I\c{CMPNEQSD} \I\c{CMPNLTSD} \I\c{CMPNLESD} \I\c{CMPORDSD}
7826 \c CMPSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64,imm8 ; F2 0F C2 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7828 \c CMPEQSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 00 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7829 \c CMPLTSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 01 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7830 \c CMPLESD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 02 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7831 \c CMPUNORDSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 03 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7832 \c CMPNEQSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 04 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7833 \c CMPNLTSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 05 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7834 \c CMPNLESD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 06 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7835 \c CMPORDSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F C2 /r 07 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7837 The \c{CMPccSD} instructions compare the low-order double-precision
7838 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
7839 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
7840 each comparison is a quadword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
7841 all 0s (comparison false).
7843 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
7844 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7846 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
7847 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
7848 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
7849 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
7850 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
7854 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
7855 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
7857 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
7858 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
7861 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
7862 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7865 \S{insCMPccSS} \i\c{CMPccSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Compare
7866 \I\c{CMPEQSS} \I\c{CMPLTSS} \I\c{CMPLESS} \I\c{CMPUNORDSS}
7867 \I\c{CMPNEQSS} \I\c{CMPNLTSS} \I\c{CMPNLESS} \I\c{CMPORDSS}
7869 \c CMPSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32,imm8 ; F3 0F C2 /r ib [KATMAI,SSE]
7871 \c CMPEQSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 00 [KATMAI,SSE]
7872 \c CMPLTSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 01 [KATMAI,SSE]
7873 \c CMPLESS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 02 [KATMAI,SSE]
7874 \c CMPUNORDSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 03 [KATMAI,SSE]
7875 \c CMPNEQSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 04 [KATMAI,SSE]
7876 \c CMPNLTSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 05 [KATMAI,SSE]
7877 \c CMPNLESS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 06 [KATMAI,SSE]
7878 \c CMPORDSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F C2 /r 07 [KATMAI,SSE]
7880 The \c{CMPccSS} instructions compare the low-order single-precision
7881 FP values in the source and destination operands, and returns the
7882 result of the comparison in the destination register. The result of
7883 each comparison is a doubleword mask of all 1s (comparison true) or
7884 all 0s (comparison false).
7886 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either an
7887 \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
7889 The third operand is an 8-bit immediate value, of which the low 3
7890 bits define the type of comparison. For ease of programming, the
7891 8 two-operand pseudo-instructions are provided, with the third
7892 operand already filled in. The \I{Condition Predicates}
7893 \c{Condition Predicates} are:
7897 \c LE 2 Less-than-or-equal
7898 \c UNORD 3 Unordered
7900 \c NLT 5 Not-less-than
7901 \c NLE 6 Not-less-than-or-equal
7904 For more details of the comparison predicates, and details of how
7905 to emulate the "greater-than" equivalents, see \k{iref-SSE-cc}
7908 \S{insCMPXCHG} \i\c{CMPXCHG}, \i\c{CMPXCHG486}: Compare and Exchange
7910 \c CMPXCHG r/m8,reg8 ; 0F B0 /r [PENT]
7911 \c CMPXCHG r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F B1 /r [PENT]
7912 \c CMPXCHG r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F B1 /r [PENT]
7914 \c CMPXCHG486 r/m8,reg8 ; 0F A6 /r [486,UNDOC]
7915 \c CMPXCHG486 r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F A7 /r [486,UNDOC]
7916 \c CMPXCHG486 r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F A7 /r [486,UNDOC]
7918 These two instructions perform exactly the same operation; however,
7919 apparently some (not all) 486 processors support it under a
7920 non-standard opcode, so NASM provides the undocumented
7921 \c{CMPXCHG486} form to generate the non-standard opcode.
7923 \c{CMPXCHG} compares its destination (first) operand to the value in
7924 \c{AL}, \c{AX} or \c{EAX} (depending on the operand size of the
7925 instruction). If they are equal, it copies its source (second)
7926 operand into the destination and sets the zero flag. Otherwise, it
7927 clears the zero flag and copies the destination register to AL, AX or EAX.
7929 The destination can be either a register or a memory location. The
7930 source is a register.
7932 \c{CMPXCHG} is intended to be used for atomic operations in
7933 multitasking or multiprocessor environments. To safely update a
7934 value in shared memory, for example, you might load the value into
7935 \c{EAX}, load the updated value into \c{EBX}, and then execute the
7936 instruction \c{LOCK CMPXCHG [value],EBX}. If \c{value} has not
7937 changed since being loaded, it is updated with your desired new
7938 value, and the zero flag is set to let you know it has worked. (The
7939 \c{LOCK} prefix prevents another processor doing anything in the
7940 middle of this operation: it guarantees atomicity.) However, if
7941 another processor has modified the value in between your load and
7942 your attempted store, the store does not happen, and you are
7943 notified of the failure by a cleared zero flag, so you can go round
7947 \S{insCMPXCHG8B} \i\c{CMPXCHG8B}: Compare and Exchange Eight Bytes
7949 \c CMPXCHG8B mem ; 0F C7 /1 [PENT]
7951 This is a larger and more unwieldy version of \c{CMPXCHG}: it
7952 compares the 64-bit (eight-byte) value stored at \c{[mem]} with the
7953 value in \c{EDX:EAX}. If they are equal, it sets the zero flag and
7954 stores \c{ECX:EBX} into the memory area. If they are unequal, it
7955 clears the zero flag and stores the memory contents into \c{EDX:EAX}.
7957 \c{CMPXCHG8B} can be used with the \c{LOCK} prefix, to allow atomic
7958 execution. This is useful in multi-processor and multi-tasking
7962 \S{insCOMISD} \i\c{COMISD}: Scalar Ordered Double-Precision FP Compare and Set EFLAGS
7964 \c COMISD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; 66 0F 2F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
7966 \c{COMISD} compares the low-order double-precision FP value in the
7967 two source operands. ZF, PF and CF are set according to the result.
7968 OF, AF and AF are cleared. The unordered result is returned if either
7969 source is a NaN (QNaN or SNaN).
7971 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7972 an \c{XMM} register or a memory location.
7974 The flags are set according to the following rules:
7976 \c Result Flags Values
7978 \c UNORDERED: ZF,PF,CF <-- 111;
7979 \c GREATER_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 000;
7980 \c LESS_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 001;
7981 \c EQUAL: ZF,PF,CF <-- 100;
7984 \S{insCOMISS} \i\c{COMISS}: Scalar Ordered Single-Precision FP Compare and Set EFLAGS
7986 \c COMISS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; 66 0F 2F /r [KATMAI,SSE]
7988 \c{COMISS} compares the low-order single-precision FP value in the
7989 two source operands. ZF, PF and CF are set according to the result.
7990 OF, AF and AF are cleared. The unordered result is returned if either
7991 source is a NaN (QNaN or SNaN).
7993 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
7994 an \c{XMM} register or a memory location.
7996 The flags are set according to the following rules:
7998 \c Result Flags Values
8000 \c UNORDERED: ZF,PF,CF <-- 111;
8001 \c GREATER_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 000;
8002 \c LESS_THAN: ZF,PF,CF <-- 001;
8003 \c EQUAL: ZF,PF,CF <-- 100;
8006 \S{insCPUID} \i\c{CPUID}: Get CPU Identification Code
8008 \c CPUID ; 0F A2 [PENT]
8010 \c{CPUID} returns various information about the processor it is
8011 being executed on. It fills the four registers \c{EAX}, \c{EBX},
8012 \c{ECX} and \c{EDX} with information, which varies depending on the
8013 input contents of \c{EAX}.
8015 \c{CPUID} also acts as a barrier to serialize instruction execution:
8016 executing the \c{CPUID} instruction guarantees that all the effects
8017 (memory modification, flag modification, register modification) of
8018 previous instructions have been completed before the next
8019 instruction gets fetched.
8021 The information returned is as follows:
8023 \b If \c{EAX} is zero on input, \c{EAX} on output holds the maximum
8024 acceptable input value of \c{EAX}, and \c{EBX:EDX:ECX} contain the
8025 string \c{"GenuineIntel"} (or not, if you have a clone processor).
8026 That is to say, \c{EBX} contains \c{"Genu"} (in NASM's own sense of
8027 character constants, described in \k{chrconst}), \c{EDX} contains
8028 \c{"ineI"} and \c{ECX} contains \c{"ntel"}.
8030 \b If \c{EAX} is one on input, \c{EAX} on output contains version
8031 information about the processor, and \c{EDX} contains a set of
8032 feature flags, showing the presence and absence of various features.
8033 For example, bit 8 is set if the \c{CMPXCHG8B} instruction
8034 (\k{insCMPXCHG8B}) is supported, bit 15 is set if the conditional
8035 move instructions (\k{insCMOVcc} and \k{insFCMOVB}) are supported,
8036 and bit 23 is set if \c{MMX} instructions are supported.
8038 \b If \c{EAX} is two on input, \c{EAX}, \c{EBX}, \c{ECX} and \c{EDX}
8039 all contain information about caches and TLBs (Translation Lookahead
8042 For more information on the data returned from \c{CPUID}, see the
8043 documentation from Intel and other processor manufacturers.
8046 \S{insCVTDQ2PD} \i\c{CVTDQ2PD}:
8047 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Double-Precision FP Conversion
8049 \c CVTDQ2PD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F3 0F E6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
8051 \c{CVTDQ2PD} converts two packed signed doublewords from the source
8052 operand to two packed double-precision FP values in the destination
8055 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
8056 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
8057 source is a register, the packed integers are in the low quadword.
8060 \S{insCVTDQ2PS} \i\c{CVTDQ2PS}:
8061 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Single-Precision FP Conversion
8063 \c CVTDQ2PS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 5B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
8065 \c{CVTDQ2PS} converts four packed signed doublewords from the source
8066 operand to four packed single-precision FP values in the destination
8069 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
8070 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
8072 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8075 \S{insCVTPD2DQ} \i\c{CVTPD2DQ}:
8076 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
8078 \c CVTPD2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; F2 0F E6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
8080 \c{CVTPD2DQ} converts two packed double-precision FP values from the
8081 source operand to two packed signed doublewords in the low quadword
8082 of the destination operand. The high quadword of the destination is
8085 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
8086 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
8088 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8091 \S{insCVTPD2PI} \i\c{CVTPD2PI}:
8092 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
8094 \c CVTPD2PI mm,xmm/mem128 ; 66 0F 2D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
8096 \c{CVTPD2PI} converts two packed double-precision FP values from the
8097 source operand to two packed signed doublewords in the destination
8100 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
8101 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
8103 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8106 \S{insCVTPD2PS} \i\c{CVTPD2PS}:
8107 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Single-Precision FP Conversion
8109 \c CVTPD2PS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 5A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
8111 \c{CVTPD2PS} converts two packed double-precision FP values from the
8112 source operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the low
8113 quadword of the destination operand. The high quadword of the
8114 destination is set to all 0s.
8116 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
8117 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
8119 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8122 \S{insCVTPI2PD} \i\c{CVTPI2PD}:
8123 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Double-Precision FP Conversion
8125 \c CVTPI2PD xmm,mm/mem64 ; 66 0F 2A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
8127 \c{CVTPI2PD} converts two packed signed doublewords from the source
8128 operand to two packed double-precision FP values in the destination
8131 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
8132 either an \c{MMX} register or a 64-bit memory location.
8134 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8137 \S{insCVTPI2PS} \i\c{CVTPI2PS}:
8138 Packed Signed INT32 to Packed Single-FP Conversion
8140 \c CVTPI2PS xmm,mm/mem64 ; 0F 2A /r [KATMAI,SSE]
8142 \c{CVTPI2PS} converts two packed signed doublewords from the source
8143 operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the low quadword
8144 of the destination operand. The high quadword of the destination
8147 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
8148 either an \c{MMX} register or a 64-bit memory location.
8150 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8153 \S{insCVTPS2DQ} \i\c{CVTPS2DQ}:
8154 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
8156 \c CVTPS2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 5B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
8158 \c{CVTPS2DQ} converts four packed single-precision FP values from the
8159 source operand to four packed signed doublewords in the destination operand.
8161 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
8162 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
8164 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8167 \S{insCVTPS2PD} \i\c{CVTPS2PD}:
8168 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Double-Precision FP Conversion
8170 \c CVTPS2PD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; 0F 5A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
8172 \c{CVTPS2PD} converts two packed single-precision FP values from the
8173 source operand to two packed double-precision FP values in the destination
8176 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
8177 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the source
8178 is a register, the input values are in the low quadword.
8180 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8183 \S{insCVTPS2PI} \i\c{CVTPS2PI}:
8184 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion
8186 \c CVTPS2PI mm,xmm/mem64 ; 0F 2D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
8188 \c{CVTPS2PI} converts two packed single-precision FP values from
8189 the source operand to two packed signed doublewords in the destination
8192 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
8193 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
8194 source is a register, the input values are in the low quadword.
8196 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8199 \S{insCVTSD2SI} \i\c{CVTSD2SI}:
8200 Scalar Double-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion
8202 \c CVTSD2SI reg32,xmm/mem64 ; F2 0F 2D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
8204 \c{CVTSD2SI} converts a double-precision FP value from the source
8205 operand to a signed doubleword in the destination operand.
8207 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
8208 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
8209 source is a register, the input value is in the low quadword.
8211 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8214 \S{insCVTSD2SS} \i\c{CVTSD2SS}:
8215 Scalar Double-Precision FP to Scalar Single-Precision FP Conversion
8217 \c CVTSD2SS xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F 5A /r [KATMAI,SSE]
8219 \c{CVTSD2SS} converts a double-precision FP value from the source
8220 operand to a single-precision FP value in the low doubleword of the
8221 destination operand. The upper 3 doublewords are left unchanged.
8223 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
8224 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the
8225 source is a register, the input value is in the low quadword.
8227 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8230 \S{insCVTSI2SD} \i\c{CVTSI2SD}:
8231 Signed INT32 to Scalar Double-Precision FP Conversion
8233 \c CVTSI2SD xmm,r/m32 ; F2 0F 2A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
8235 \c{CVTSI2SD} converts a signed doubleword from the source operand to
8236 a double-precision FP value in the low quadword of the destination
8237 operand. The high quadword is left unchanged.
8239 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
8240 a general purpose register or a 32-bit memory location.
8242 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8245 \S{insCVTSI2SS} \i\c{CVTSI2SS}:
8246 Signed INT32 to Scalar Single-Precision FP Conversion
8248 \c CVTSI2SS xmm,r/m32 ; F3 0F 2A /r [KATMAI,SSE]
8250 \c{CVTSI2SS} converts a signed doubleword from the source operand to a
8251 single-precision FP value in the low doubleword of the destination operand.
8252 The upper 3 doublewords are left unchanged.
8254 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
8255 a general purpose register or a 32-bit memory location.
8257 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8260 \S{insCVTSS2SD} \i\c{CVTSS2SD}:
8261 Scalar Single-Precision FP to Scalar Double-Precision FP Conversion
8263 \c CVTSS2SD xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 5A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
8265 \c{CVTSS2SD} converts a single-precision FP value from the source operand
8266 to a double-precision FP value in the low quadword of the destination
8267 operand. The upper quadword is left unchanged.
8269 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be either
8270 an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location. If the source is a
8271 register, the input value is contained in the low doubleword.
8273 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8276 \S{insCVTSS2SI} \i\c{CVTSS2SI}:
8277 Scalar Single-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion
8279 \c CVTSS2SI reg32,xmm/mem32 ; F3 0F 2D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
8281 \c{CVTSS2SI} converts a single-precision FP value from the source
8282 operand to a signed doubleword in the destination operand.
8284 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
8285 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location. If the
8286 source is a register, the input value is in the low doubleword.
8288 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8291 \S{insCVTTPD2DQ} \i\c{CVTTPD2DQ}:
8292 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
8294 \c CVTTPD2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F E6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
8296 \c{CVTTPD2DQ} converts two packed double-precision FP values in the source
8297 operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the destination operand.
8298 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero). The high
8299 quadword is set to all 0s.
8301 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
8302 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
8304 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8307 \S{insCVTTPD2PI} \i\c{CVTTPD2PI}:
8308 Packed Double-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
8310 \c CVTTPD2PI mm,xmm/mem128 ; 66 0F 2C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
8312 \c{CVTTPD2PI} converts two packed double-precision FP values in the source
8313 operand to two packed single-precision FP values in the destination operand.
8314 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
8316 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
8317 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
8319 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8322 \S{insCVTTPS2DQ} \i\c{CVTTPS2DQ}:
8323 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
8325 \c CVTTPS2DQ xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; F3 0F 5B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
8327 \c{CVTTPS2DQ} converts four packed single-precision FP values in the source
8328 operand to four packed signed doublewords in the destination operand.
8329 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
8331 The destination operand is an \c{XMM} register. The source can be
8332 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
8334 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8337 \S{insCVTTPS2PI} \i\c{CVTTPS2PI}:
8338 Packed Single-Precision FP to Packed Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
8340 \c CVTTPS2PI mm,xmm/mem64 ; 0F 2C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
8342 \c{CVTTPS2PI} converts two packed single-precision FP values in the source
8343 operand to two packed signed doublewords in the destination operand.
8344 If the result is inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero). If
8345 the source is a register, the input values are in the low quadword.
8347 The destination operand is an \c{MMX} register. The source can be
8348 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the source
8349 is a register, the input value is in the low quadword.
8351 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8354 \S{insCVTTSD2SI} \i\c{CVTTSD2SI}:
8355 Scalar Double-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
8357 \c CVTTSD2SI reg32,xmm/mem64 ; F2 0F 2C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
8359 \c{CVTTSD2SI} converts a double-precision FP value in the source operand
8360 to a signed doubleword in the destination operand. If the result is
8361 inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
8363 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
8364 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location. If the source is a
8365 register, the input value is in the low quadword.
8367 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8370 \S{insCVTTSS2SI} \i\c{CVTTSS2SI}:
8371 Scalar Single-Precision FP to Signed INT32 Conversion with Truncation
8373 \c CVTTSD2SI reg32,xmm/mem32 ; F3 0F 2C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
8375 \c{CVTTSS2SI} converts a single-precision FP value in the source operand
8376 to a signed doubleword in the destination operand. If the result is
8377 inexact, it is truncated (rounded toward zero).
8379 The destination operand is a general purpose register. The source can be
8380 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location. If the source is a
8381 register, the input value is in the low doubleword.
8383 For more details of this instruction, see the Intel Processor manuals.
8386 \S{insDAA} \i\c{DAA}, \i\c{DAS}: Decimal Adjustments
8391 These instructions are used in conjunction with the add and subtract
8392 instructions to perform binary-coded decimal arithmetic in
8393 \e{packed} (one BCD digit per nibble) form. For the unpacked
8394 equivalents, see \k{insAAA}.
8396 \c{DAA} should be used after a one-byte \c{ADD} instruction whose
8397 destination was the \c{AL} register: by means of examining the value
8398 in the \c{AL} and also the auxiliary carry flag \c{AF}, it
8399 determines whether either digit of the addition has overflowed, and
8400 adjusts it (and sets the carry and auxiliary-carry flags) if so. You
8401 can add long BCD strings together by doing \c{ADD}/\c{DAA} on the
8402 low two digits, then doing \c{ADC}/\c{DAA} on each subsequent pair
8405 \c{DAS} works similarly to \c{DAA}, but is for use after \c{SUB}
8406 instructions rather than \c{ADD}.
8409 \S{insDEC} \i\c{DEC}: Decrement Integer
8411 \c DEC reg16 ; o16 48+r [8086]
8412 \c DEC reg32 ; o32 48+r [386]
8413 \c DEC r/m8 ; FE /1 [8086]
8414 \c DEC r/m16 ; o16 FF /1 [8086]
8415 \c DEC r/m32 ; o32 FF /1 [386]
8417 \c{DEC} subtracts 1 from its operand. It does \e{not} affect the
8418 carry flag: to affect the carry flag, use \c{SUB something,1} (see
8419 \k{insSUB}). \c{DEC} affects all the other flags according to the result.
8421 This instruction can be used with a \c{LOCK} prefix to allow atomic
8424 See also \c{INC} (\k{insINC}).
8427 \S{insDIV} \i\c{DIV}: Unsigned Integer Divide
8429 \c DIV r/m8 ; F6 /6 [8086]
8430 \c DIV r/m16 ; o16 F7 /6 [8086]
8431 \c DIV r/m32 ; o32 F7 /6 [386]
8433 \c{DIV} performs unsigned integer division. The explicit operand
8434 provided is the divisor; the dividend and destination operands are
8435 implicit, in the following way:
8437 \b For \c{DIV r/m8}, \c{AX} is divided by the given operand; the
8438 quotient is stored in \c{AL} and the remainder in \c{AH}.
8440 \b For \c{DIV r/m16}, \c{DX:AX} is divided by the given operand; the
8441 quotient is stored in \c{AX} and the remainder in \c{DX}.
8443 \b For \c{DIV r/m32}, \c{EDX:EAX} is divided by the given operand;
8444 the quotient is stored in \c{EAX} and the remainder in \c{EDX}.
8446 Signed integer division is performed by the \c{IDIV} instruction:
8450 \S{insDIVPD} \i\c{DIVPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Divide
8452 \c DIVPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 5E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
8454 \c{DIVPD} divides the two packed double-precision FP values in
8455 the destination operand by the two packed double-precision FP
8456 values in the source operand, and stores the packed double-precision
8457 results in the destination register.
8459 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
8460 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
8462 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] / src[0-63],
8463 \c dst[64-127] := dst[64-127] / src[64-127].
8466 \S{insDIVPS} \i\c{DIVPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Divide
8468 \c DIVPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 5E /r [KATMAI,SSE]
8470 \c{DIVPS} divides the four packed single-precision FP values in
8471 the destination operand by the four packed single-precision FP
8472 values in the source operand, and stores the packed single-precision
8473 results in the destination register.
8475 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
8476 either an \c{XMM} register or a 128-bit memory location.
8478 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] / src[0-31],
8479 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] / src[32-63],
8480 \c dst[64-95] := dst[64-95] / src[64-95],
8481 \c dst[96-127] := dst[96-127] / src[96-127].
8484 \S{insDIVSD} \i\c{DIVSD}: Scalar Double-Precision FP Divide
8486 \c DIVSD xmm1,xmm2/mem64 ; F2 0F 5E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
8488 \c{DIVSD} divides the low-order double-precision FP value in the
8489 destination operand by the low-order double-precision FP value in
8490 the source operand, and stores the double-precision result in the
8491 destination register.
8493 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
8494 either an \c{XMM} register or a 64-bit memory location.
8496 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-63] / src[0-63],
8497 \c dst[64-127] remains unchanged.
8500 \S{insDIVSS} \i\c{DIVSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Divide
8502 \c DIVSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 5E /r [KATMAI,SSE]
8504 \c{DIVSS} divides the low-order single-precision FP value in the
8505 destination operand by the low-order single-precision FP value in
8506 the source operand, and stores the single-precision result in the
8507 destination register.
8509 The destination is an \c{XMM} register. The source operand can be
8510 either an \c{XMM} register or a 32-bit memory location.
8512 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] / src[0-31],
8513 \c dst[32-127] remains unchanged.
8516 \S{insEMMS} \i\c{EMMS}: Empty MMX State
8518 \c EMMS ; 0F 77 [PENT,MMX]
8520 \c{EMMS} sets the FPU tag word (marking which floating-point registers
8521 are available) to all ones, meaning all registers are available for
8522 the FPU to use. It should be used after executing \c{MMX} instructions
8523 and before executing any subsequent floating-point operations.
8526 \S{insENTER} \i\c{ENTER}: Create Stack Frame
8528 \c ENTER imm,imm ; C8 iw ib [186]
8530 \c{ENTER} constructs a \i\c{stack frame} for a high-level language
8531 procedure call. The first operand (the \c{iw} in the opcode
8532 definition above refers to the first operand) gives the amount of
8533 stack space to allocate for local variables; the second (the \c{ib}
8534 above) gives the nesting level of the procedure (for languages like
8535 Pascal, with nested procedures).
8537 The function of \c{ENTER}, with a nesting level of zero, is
8540 \c PUSH EBP ; or PUSH BP in 16 bits
8541 \c MOV EBP,ESP ; or MOV BP,SP in 16 bits
8542 \c SUB ESP,operand1 ; or SUB SP,operand1 in 16 bits
8544 This creates a stack frame with the procedure parameters accessible
8545 upwards from \c{EBP}, and local variables accessible downwards from
8548 With a nesting level of one, the stack frame created is 4 (or 2)
8549 bytes bigger, and the value of the final frame pointer \c{EBP} is
8550 accessible in memory at \c{[EBP-4]}.
8552 This allows \c{ENTER}, when called with a nesting level of two, to
8553 look at the stack frame described by the \e{previous} value of
8554 \c{EBP}, find the frame pointer at offset -4 from that, and push it
8555 along with its new frame pointer, so that when a level-two procedure
8556 is called from within a level-one procedure, \c{[EBP-4]} holds the
8557 frame pointer of the most recent level-one procedure call and
8558 \c{[EBP-8]} holds that of the most recent level-two call. And so on,
8559 for nesting levels up to 31.
8561 Stack frames created by \c{ENTER} can be destroyed by the \c{LEAVE}
8562 instruction: see \k{insLEAVE}.
8565 \S{insF2XM1} \i\c{F2XM1}: Calculate 2**X-1
8567 \c F2XM1 ; D9 F0 [8086,FPU]
8569 \c{F2XM1} raises 2 to the power of \c{ST0}, subtracts one, and
8570 stores the result back into \c{ST0}. The initial contents of \c{ST0}
8571 must be a number in the range -1.0 to +1.0.
8574 \S{insFABS} \i\c{FABS}: Floating-Point Absolute Value
8576 \c FABS ; D9 E1 [8086,FPU]
8578 \c{FABS} computes the absolute value of \c{ST0},by clearing the sign
8579 bit, and stores the result back in \c{ST0}.
8582 \S{insFADD} \i\c{FADD}, \i\c{FADDP}: Floating-Point Addition
8584 \c FADD mem32 ; D8 /0 [8086,FPU]
8585 \c FADD mem64 ; DC /0 [8086,FPU]
8587 \c FADD fpureg ; D8 C0+r [8086,FPU]
8588 \c FADD ST0,fpureg ; D8 C0+r [8086,FPU]
8590 \c FADD TO fpureg ; DC C0+r [8086,FPU]
8591 \c FADD fpureg,ST0 ; DC C0+r [8086,FPU]
8593 \c FADDP fpureg ; DE C0+r [8086,FPU]
8594 \c FADDP fpureg,ST0 ; DE C0+r [8086,FPU]
8596 \b \c{FADD}, given one operand, adds the operand to \c{ST0} and stores
8597 the result back in \c{ST0}. If the operand has the \c{TO} modifier,
8598 the result is stored in the register given rather than in \c{ST0}.
8600 \b \c{FADDP} performs the same function as \c{FADD TO}, but pops the
8601 register stack after storing the result.
8603 The given two-operand forms are synonyms for the one-operand forms.
8605 To add an integer value to \c{ST0}, use the c{FIADD} instruction
8609 \S{insFBLD} \i\c{FBLD}, \i\c{FBSTP}: BCD Floating-Point Load and Store
8611 \c FBLD mem80 ; DF /4 [8086,FPU]
8612 \c FBSTP mem80 ; DF /6 [8086,FPU]
8614 \c{FBLD} loads an 80-bit (ten-byte) packed binary-coded decimal
8615 number from the given memory address, converts it to a real, and
8616 pushes it on the register stack. \c{FBSTP} stores the value of
8617 \c{ST0}, in packed BCD, at the given address and then pops the
8621 \S{insFCHS} \i\c{FCHS}: Floating-Point Change Sign
8623 \c FCHS ; D9 E0 [8086,FPU]
8625 \c{FCHS} negates the number in \c{ST0}, by inverting the sign bit:
8626 negative numbers become positive, and vice versa.
8629 \S{insFCLEX} \i\c{FCLEX}, \c{FNCLEX}: Clear Floating-Point Exceptions
8631 \c FCLEX ; 9B DB E2 [8086,FPU]
8632 \c FNCLEX ; DB E2 [8086,FPU]
8634 \c{FCLEX} clears any floating-point exceptions which may be pending.
8635 \c{FNCLEX} does the same thing but doesn't wait for previous
8636 floating-point operations (including the \e{handling} of pending
8637 exceptions) to finish first.
8640 \S{insFCMOVB} \i\c{FCMOVcc}: Floating-Point Conditional Move
8642 \c FCMOVB fpureg ; DA C0+r [P6,FPU]
8643 \c FCMOVB ST0,fpureg ; DA C0+r [P6,FPU]
8645 \c FCMOVE fpureg ; DA C8+r [P6,FPU]
8646 \c FCMOVE ST0,fpureg ; DA C8+r [P6,FPU]
8648 \c FCMOVBE fpureg ; DA D0+r [P6,FPU]
8649 \c FCMOVBE ST0,fpureg ; DA D0+r [P6,FPU]
8651 \c FCMOVU fpureg ; DA D8+r [P6,FPU]
8652 \c FCMOVU ST0,fpureg ; DA D8+r [P6,FPU]
8654 \c FCMOVNB fpureg ; DB C0+r [P6,FPU]
8655 \c FCMOVNB ST0,fpureg ; DB C0+r [P6,FPU]
8657 \c FCMOVNE fpureg ; DB C8+r [P6,FPU]
8658 \c FCMOVNE ST0,fpureg ; DB C8+r [P6,FPU]
8660 \c FCMOVNBE fpureg ; DB D0+r [P6,FPU]
8661 \c FCMOVNBE ST0,fpureg ; DB D0+r [P6,FPU]
8663 \c FCMOVNU fpureg ; DB D8+r [P6,FPU]
8664 \c FCMOVNU ST0,fpureg ; DB D8+r [P6,FPU]
8666 The \c{FCMOV} instructions perform conditional move operations: each
8667 of them moves the contents of the given register into \c{ST0} if its
8668 condition is satisfied, and does nothing if not.
8670 The conditions are not the same as the standard condition codes used
8671 with conditional jump instructions. The conditions \c{B}, \c{BE},
8672 \c{NB}, \c{NBE}, \c{E} and \c{NE} are exactly as normal, but none of
8673 the other standard ones are supported. Instead, the condition \c{U}
8674 and its counterpart \c{NU} are provided; the \c{U} condition is
8675 satisfied if the last two floating-point numbers compared were
8676 \e{unordered}, i.e. they were not equal but neither one could be
8677 said to be greater than the other, for example if they were NaNs.
8678 (The flag state which signals this is the setting of the parity
8679 flag: so the \c{U} condition is notionally equivalent to \c{PE}, and
8680 \c{NU} is equivalent to \c{PO}.)
8682 The \c{FCMOV} conditions test the main processor's status flags, not
8683 the FPU status flags, so using \c{FCMOV} directly after \c{FCOM}
8684 will not work. Instead, you should either use \c{FCOMI} which writes
8685 directly to the main CPU flags word, or use \c{FSTSW} to extract the
8688 Although the \c{FCMOV} instructions are flagged \c{P6} above, they
8689 may not be supported by all Pentium Pro processors; the \c{CPUID}
8690 instruction (\k{insCPUID}) will return a bit which indicates whether
8691 conditional moves are supported.
8694 \S{insFCOM} \i\c{FCOM}, \i\c{FCOMP}, \i\c{FCOMPP}, \i\c{FCOMI},
8695 \i\c{FCOMIP}: Floating-Point Compare
8697 \c FCOM mem32 ; D8 /2 [8086,FPU]
8698 \c FCOM mem64 ; DC /2 [8086,FPU]
8699 \c FCOM fpureg ; D8 D0+r [8086,FPU]
8700 \c FCOM ST0,fpureg ; D8 D0+r [8086,FPU]
8702 \c FCOMP mem32 ; D8 /3 [8086,FPU]
8703 \c FCOMP mem64 ; DC /3 [8086,FPU]
8704 \c FCOMP fpureg ; D8 D8+r [8086,FPU]
8705 \c FCOMP ST0,fpureg ; D8 D8+r [8086,FPU]
8707 \c FCOMPP ; DE D9 [8086,FPU]
8709 \c FCOMI fpureg ; DB F0+r [P6,FPU]
8710 \c FCOMI ST0,fpureg ; DB F0+r [P6,FPU]
8712 \c FCOMIP fpureg ; DF F0+r [P6,FPU]
8713 \c FCOMIP ST0,fpureg ; DF F0+r [P6,FPU]
8715 \c{FCOM} compares \c{ST0} with the given operand, and sets the FPU
8716 flags accordingly. \c{ST0} is treated as the left-hand side of the
8717 comparison, so that the carry flag is set (for a `less-than' result)
8718 if \c{ST0} is less than the given operand.
8720 \c{FCOMP} does the same as \c{FCOM}, but pops the register stack
8721 afterwards. \c{FCOMPP} compares \c{ST0} with \c{ST1} and then pops
8722 the register stack twice.
8724 \c{FCOMI} and \c{FCOMIP} work like the corresponding forms of
8725 \c{FCOM} and \c{FCOMP}, but write their results directly to the CPU
8726 flags register rather than the FPU status word, so they can be
8727 immediately followed by conditional jump or conditional move
8730 The \c{FCOM} instructions differ from the \c{FUCOM} instructions
8731 (\k{insFUCOM}) only in the way they handle quiet NaNs: \c{FUCOM}
8732 will handle them silently and set the condition code flags to an
8733 `unordered' result, whereas \c{FCOM} will generate an exception.
8736 \S{insFCOS} \i\c{FCOS}: Cosine
8738 \c FCOS ; D9 FF [386,FPU]
8740 \c{FCOS} computes the cosine of \c{ST0} (in radians), and stores the
8741 result in \c{ST0}. The absolute value of \c{ST0} must be less than 2**63.
8743 See also \c{FSINCOS} (\k{insFSIN}).
8746 \S{insFDECSTP} \i\c{FDECSTP}: Decrement Floating-Point Stack Pointer
8748 \c FDECSTP ; D9 F6 [8086,FPU]
8750 \c{FDECSTP} decrements the `top' field in the floating-point status
8751 word. This has the effect of rotating the FPU register stack by one,
8752 as if the contents of \c{ST7} had been pushed on the stack. See also
8753 \c{FINCSTP} (\k{insFINCSTP}).
8756 \S{insFDISI} \i\c{FxDISI}, \i\c{FxENI}: Disable and Enable Floating-Point Interrupts
8758 \c FDISI ; 9B DB E1 [8086,FPU]
8759 \c FNDISI ; DB E1 [8086,FPU]
8761 \c FENI ; 9B DB E0 [8086,FPU]
8762 \c FNENI ; DB E0 [8086,FPU]
8764 \c{FDISI} and \c{FENI} disable and enable floating-point interrupts.
8765 These instructions are only meaningful on original 8087 processors:
8766 the 287 and above treat them as no-operation instructions.
8768 \c{FNDISI} and \c{FNENI} do the same thing as \c{FDISI} and \c{FENI}
8769 respectively, but without waiting for the floating-point processor
8770 to finish what it was doing first.
8773 \S{insFDIV} \i\c{FDIV}, \i\c{FDIVP}, \i\c{FDIVR}, \i\c{FDIVRP}: Floating-Point Division
8775 \c FDIV mem32 ; D8 /6 [8086,FPU]
8776 \c FDIV mem64 ; DC /6 [8086,FPU]
8778 \c FDIV fpureg ; D8 F0+r [8086,FPU]
8779 \c FDIV ST0,fpureg ; D8 F0+r [8086,FPU]
8781 \c FDIV TO fpureg ; DC F8+r [8086,FPU]
8782 \c FDIV fpureg,ST0 ; DC F8+r [8086,FPU]
8784 \c FDIVR mem32 ; D8 /7 [8086,FPU]
8785 \c FDIVR mem64 ; DC /7 [8086,FPU]
8787 \c FDIVR fpureg ; D8 F8+r [8086,FPU]
8788 \c FDIVR ST0,fpureg ; D8 F8+r [8086,FPU]
8790 \c FDIVR TO fpureg ; DC F0+r [8086,FPU]
8791 \c FDIVR fpureg,ST0 ; DC F0+r [8086,FPU]
8793 \c FDIVP fpureg ; DE F8+r [8086,FPU]
8794 \c FDIVP fpureg,ST0 ; DE F8+r [8086,FPU]
8796 \c FDIVRP fpureg ; DE F0+r [8086,FPU]
8797 \c FDIVRP fpureg,ST0 ; DE F0+r [8086,FPU]
8799 \b \c{FDIV} divides \c{ST0} by the given operand and stores the result
8800 back in \c{ST0}, unless the \c{TO} qualifier is given, in which case
8801 it divides the given operand by \c{ST0} and stores the result in the
8804 \b \c{FDIVR} does the same thing, but does the division the other way
8805 up: so if \c{TO} is not given, it divides the given operand by
8806 \c{ST0} and stores the result in \c{ST0}, whereas if \c{TO} is given
8807 it divides \c{ST0} by its operand and stores the result in the
8810 \b \c{FDIVP} operates like \c{FDIV TO}, but pops the register stack
8811 once it has finished.
8813 \b \c{FDIVRP} operates like \c{FDIVR TO}, but pops the register stack
8814 once it has finished.
8816 For FP/Integer divisions, see \c{FIDIV} (\k{insFIDIV}).
8819 \S{insFEMMS} \i\c{FEMMS}: Faster Enter/Exit of the MMX or floating-point state
8821 \c FEMMS ; 0F 0E [PENT,3DNOW]
8823 \c{FEMMS} can be used in place of the \c{EMMS} instruction on
8824 processors which support the 3DNow! instruction set. Following
8825 execution of \c{FEMMS}, the state of the \c{MMX/FP} registers
8826 is undefined, and this allows a faster context switch between
8827 \c{FP} and \c{MMX} instructions. The \c{FEMMS} instruction can
8828 also be used \e{before} executing \c{MMX} instructions
8831 \S{insFFREE} \i\c{FFREE}: Flag Floating-Point Register as Unused
8833 \c FFREE fpureg ; DD C0+r [8086,FPU]
8834 \c FFREEP fpureg ; DF C0+r [286,FPU,UNDOC]
8836 \c{FFREE} marks the given register as being empty.
8838 \c{FFREEP} marks the given register as being empty, and then
8839 pops the register stack.
8842 \S{insFIADD} \i\c{FIADD}: Floating-Point/Integer Addition
8844 \c FIADD mem16 ; DE /0 [8086,FPU]
8845 \c FIADD mem32 ; DA /0 [8086,FPU]
8847 \c{FIADD} adds the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored in the given
8848 memory location to \c{ST0}, storing the result in \c{ST0}.
8851 \S{insFICOM} \i\c{FICOM}, \i\c{FICOMP}: Floating-Point/Integer Compare
8853 \c FICOM mem16 ; DE /2 [8086,FPU]
8854 \c FICOM mem32 ; DA /2 [8086,FPU]
8856 \c FICOMP mem16 ; DE /3 [8086,FPU]
8857 \c FICOMP mem32 ; DA /3 [8086,FPU]
8859 \c{FICOM} compares \c{ST0} with the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored
8860 in the given memory location, and sets the FPU flags accordingly.
8861 \c{FICOMP} does the same, but pops the register stack afterwards.
8864 \S{insFIDIV} \i\c{FIDIV}, \i\c{FIDIVR}: Floating-Point/Integer Division
8866 \c FIDIV mem16 ; DE /6 [8086,FPU]
8867 \c FIDIV mem32 ; DA /6 [8086,FPU]
8869 \c FIDIVR mem16 ; DE /7 [8086,FPU]
8870 \c FIDIVR mem32 ; DA /7 [8086,FPU]
8872 \c{FIDIV} divides \c{ST0} by the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored in
8873 the given memory location, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8874 \c{FIDIVR} does the division the other way up: it divides the
8875 integer by \c{ST0}, but still stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8878 \S{insFILD} \i\c{FILD}, \i\c{FIST}, \i\c{FISTP}: Floating-Point/Integer Conversion
8880 \c FILD mem16 ; DF /0 [8086,FPU]
8881 \c FILD mem32 ; DB /0 [8086,FPU]
8882 \c FILD mem64 ; DF /5 [8086,FPU]
8884 \c FIST mem16 ; DF /2 [8086,FPU]
8885 \c FIST mem32 ; DB /2 [8086,FPU]
8887 \c FISTP mem16 ; DF /3 [8086,FPU]
8888 \c FISTP mem32 ; DB /3 [8086,FPU]
8889 \c FISTP mem64 ; DF /7 [8086,FPU]
8891 \c{FILD} loads an integer out of a memory location, converts it to a
8892 real, and pushes it on the FPU register stack. \c{FIST} converts
8893 \c{ST0} to an integer and stores that in memory; \c{FISTP} does the
8894 same as \c{FIST}, but pops the register stack afterwards.
8897 \S{insFIMUL} \i\c{FIMUL}: Floating-Point/Integer Multiplication
8899 \c FIMUL mem16 ; DE /1 [8086,FPU]
8900 \c FIMUL mem32 ; DA /1 [8086,FPU]
8902 \c{FIMUL} multiplies \c{ST0} by the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored
8903 in the given memory location, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8906 \S{insFINCSTP} \i\c{FINCSTP}: Increment Floating-Point Stack Pointer
8908 \c FINCSTP ; D9 F7 [8086,FPU]
8910 \c{FINCSTP} increments the `top' field in the floating-point status
8911 word. This has the effect of rotating the FPU register stack by one,
8912 as if the register stack had been popped; however, unlike the
8913 popping of the stack performed by many FPU instructions, it does not
8914 flag the new \c{ST7} (previously \c{ST0}) as empty. See also
8915 \c{FDECSTP} (\k{insFDECSTP}).
8918 \S{insFINIT} \i\c{FINIT}, \i\c{FNINIT}: initialize Floating-Point Unit
8920 \c FINIT ; 9B DB E3 [8086,FPU]
8921 \c FNINIT ; DB E3 [8086,FPU]
8923 \c{FINIT} initializes the FPU to its default state. It flags all
8924 registers as empty, without actually change their values, clears
8925 the top of stack pointer. \c{FNINIT} does the same, without first
8926 waiting for pending exceptions to clear.
8929 \S{insFISUB} \i\c{FISUB}: Floating-Point/Integer Subtraction
8931 \c FISUB mem16 ; DE /4 [8086,FPU]
8932 \c FISUB mem32 ; DA /4 [8086,FPU]
8934 \c FISUBR mem16 ; DE /5 [8086,FPU]
8935 \c FISUBR mem32 ; DA /5 [8086,FPU]
8937 \c{FISUB} subtracts the 16-bit or 32-bit integer stored in the given
8938 memory location from \c{ST0}, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
8939 \c{FISUBR} does the subtraction the other way round, i.e. it
8940 subtracts \c{ST0} from the given integer, but still stores the
8944 \S{insFLD} \i\c{FLD}: Floating-Point Load
8946 \c FLD mem32 ; D9 /0 [8086,FPU]
8947 \c FLD mem64 ; DD /0 [8086,FPU]
8948 \c FLD mem80 ; DB /5 [8086,FPU]
8949 \c FLD fpureg ; D9 C0+r [8086,FPU]
8951 \c{FLD} loads a floating-point value out of the given register or
8952 memory location, and pushes it on the FPU register stack.
8955 \S{insFLD1} \i\c{FLDxx}: Floating-Point Load Constants
8957 \c FLD1 ; D9 E8 [8086,FPU]
8958 \c FLDL2E ; D9 EA [8086,FPU]
8959 \c FLDL2T ; D9 E9 [8086,FPU]
8960 \c FLDLG2 ; D9 EC [8086,FPU]
8961 \c FLDLN2 ; D9 ED [8086,FPU]
8962 \c FLDPI ; D9 EB [8086,FPU]
8963 \c FLDZ ; D9 EE [8086,FPU]
8965 These instructions push specific standard constants on the FPU
8968 \c Instruction Constant pushed
8971 \c FLDL2E base-2 logarithm of e
8972 \c FLDL2T base-2 log of 10
8973 \c FLDLG2 base-10 log of 2
8974 \c FLDLN2 base-e log of 2
8979 \S{insFLDCW} \i\c{FLDCW}: Load Floating-Point Control Word
8981 \c FLDCW mem16 ; D9 /5 [8086,FPU]
8983 \c{FLDCW} loads a 16-bit value out of memory and stores it into the
8984 FPU control word (governing things like the rounding mode, the
8985 precision, and the exception masks). See also \c{FSTCW}
8986 (\k{insFSTCW}). If exceptions are enabled and you don't want to
8987 generate one, use \c{FCLEX} or \c{FNCLEX} (\k{insFCLEX}) before
8988 loading the new control word.
8991 \S{insFLDENV} \i\c{FLDENV}: Load Floating-Point Environment
8993 \c FLDENV mem ; D9 /4 [8086,FPU]
8995 \c{FLDENV} loads the FPU operating environment (control word, status
8996 word, tag word, instruction pointer, data pointer and last opcode)
8997 from memory. The memory area is 14 or 28 bytes long, depending on
8998 the CPU mode at the time. See also \c{FSTENV} (\k{insFSTENV}).
9001 \S{insFMUL} \i\c{FMUL}, \i\c{FMULP}: Floating-Point Multiply
9003 \c FMUL mem32 ; D8 /1 [8086,FPU]
9004 \c FMUL mem64 ; DC /1 [8086,FPU]
9006 \c FMUL fpureg ; D8 C8+r [8086,FPU]
9007 \c FMUL ST0,fpureg ; D8 C8+r [8086,FPU]
9009 \c FMUL TO fpureg ; DC C8+r [8086,FPU]
9010 \c FMUL fpureg,ST0 ; DC C8+r [8086,FPU]
9012 \c FMULP fpureg ; DE C8+r [8086,FPU]
9013 \c FMULP fpureg,ST0 ; DE C8+r [8086,FPU]
9015 \c{FMUL} multiplies \c{ST0} by the given operand, and stores the
9016 result in \c{ST0}, unless the \c{TO} qualifier is used in which case
9017 it stores the result in the operand. \c{FMULP} performs the same
9018 operation as \c{FMUL TO}, and then pops the register stack.
9021 \S{insFNOP} \i\c{FNOP}: Floating-Point No Operation
9023 \c FNOP ; D9 D0 [8086,FPU]
9025 \c{FNOP} does nothing.
9028 \S{insFPATAN} \i\c{FPATAN}, \i\c{FPTAN}: Arctangent and Tangent
9030 \c FPATAN ; D9 F3 [8086,FPU]
9031 \c FPTAN ; D9 F2 [8086,FPU]
9033 \c{FPATAN} computes the arctangent, in radians, of the result of
9034 dividing \c{ST1} by \c{ST0}, stores the result in \c{ST1}, and pops
9035 the register stack. It works like the C \c{atan2} function, in that
9036 changing the sign of both \c{ST0} and \c{ST1} changes the output
9037 value by pi (so it performs true rectangular-to-polar coordinate
9038 conversion, with \c{ST1} being the Y coordinate and \c{ST0} being
9039 the X coordinate, not merely an arctangent).
9041 \c{FPTAN} computes the tangent of the value in \c{ST0} (in radians),
9042 and stores the result back into \c{ST0}.
9044 The absolute value of \c{ST0} must be less than 2**63.
9047 \S{insFPREM} \i\c{FPREM}, \i\c{FPREM1}: Floating-Point Partial Remainder
9049 \c FPREM ; D9 F8 [8086,FPU]
9050 \c FPREM1 ; D9 F5 [386,FPU]
9052 These instructions both produce the remainder obtained by dividing
9053 \c{ST0} by \c{ST1}. This is calculated, notionally, by dividing
9054 \c{ST0} by \c{ST1}, rounding the result to an integer, multiplying
9055 by \c{ST1} again, and computing the value which would need to be
9056 added back on to the result to get back to the original value in
9059 The two instructions differ in the way the notional round-to-integer
9060 operation is performed. \c{FPREM} does it by rounding towards zero,
9061 so that the remainder it returns always has the same sign as the
9062 original value in \c{ST0}; \c{FPREM1} does it by rounding to the
9063 nearest integer, so that the remainder always has at most half the
9064 magnitude of \c{ST1}.
9066 Both instructions calculate \e{partial} remainders, meaning that
9067 they may not manage to provide the final result, but might leave
9068 intermediate results in \c{ST0} instead. If this happens, they will
9069 set the C2 flag in the FPU status word; therefore, to calculate a
9070 remainder, you should repeatedly execute \c{FPREM} or \c{FPREM1}
9071 until C2 becomes clear.
9074 \S{insFRNDINT} \i\c{FRNDINT}: Floating-Point Round to Integer
9076 \c FRNDINT ; D9 FC [8086,FPU]
9078 \c{FRNDINT} rounds the contents of \c{ST0} to an integer, according
9079 to the current rounding mode set in the FPU control word, and stores
9080 the result back in \c{ST0}.
9083 \S{insFRSTOR} \i\c{FSAVE}, \i\c{FRSTOR}: Save/Restore Floating-Point State
9085 \c FSAVE mem ; 9B DD /6 [8086,FPU]
9086 \c FNSAVE mem ; DD /6 [8086,FPU]
9088 \c FRSTOR mem ; DD /4 [8086,FPU]
9090 \c{FSAVE} saves the entire floating-point unit state, including all
9091 the information saved by \c{FSTENV} (\k{insFSTENV}) plus the
9092 contents of all the registers, to a 94 or 108 byte area of memory
9093 (depending on the CPU mode). \c{FRSTOR} restores the floating-point
9094 state from the same area of memory.
9096 \c{FNSAVE} does the same as \c{FSAVE}, without first waiting for
9097 pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
9100 \S{insFSCALE} \i\c{FSCALE}: Scale Floating-Point Value by Power of Two
9102 \c FSCALE ; D9 FD [8086,FPU]
9104 \c{FSCALE} scales a number by a power of two: it rounds \c{ST1}
9105 towards zero to obtain an integer, then multiplies \c{ST0} by two to
9106 the power of that integer, and stores the result in \c{ST0}.
9109 \S{insFSETPM} \i\c{FSETPM}: Set Protected Mode
9111 \c FSETPM ; DB E4 [286,FPU]
9113 This instruction initializes protected mode on the 287 floating-point
9114 coprocessor. It is only meaningful on that processor: the 387 and
9115 above treat the instruction as a no-operation.
9118 \S{insFSIN} \i\c{FSIN}, \i\c{FSINCOS}: Sine and Cosine
9120 \c FSIN ; D9 FE [386,FPU]
9121 \c FSINCOS ; D9 FB [386,FPU]
9123 \c{FSIN} calculates the sine of \c{ST0} (in radians) and stores the
9124 result in \c{ST0}. \c{FSINCOS} does the same, but then pushes the
9125 cosine of the same value on the register stack, so that the sine
9126 ends up in \c{ST1} and the cosine in \c{ST0}. \c{FSINCOS} is faster
9127 than executing \c{FSIN} and \c{FCOS} (see \k{insFCOS}) in succession.
9129 The absolute value of \c{ST0} must be less than 2**63.
9132 \S{insFSQRT} \i\c{FSQRT}: Floating-Point Square Root
9134 \c FSQRT ; D9 FA [8086,FPU]
9136 \c{FSQRT} calculates the square root of \c{ST0} and stores the
9140 \S{insFST} \i\c{FST}, \i\c{FSTP}: Floating-Point Store
9142 \c FST mem32 ; D9 /2 [8086,FPU]
9143 \c FST mem64 ; DD /2 [8086,FPU]
9144 \c FST fpureg ; DD D0+r [8086,FPU]
9146 \c FSTP mem32 ; D9 /3 [8086,FPU]
9147 \c FSTP mem64 ; DD /3 [8086,FPU]
9148 \c FSTP mem80 ; DB /7 [8086,FPU]
9149 \c FSTP fpureg ; DD D8+r [8086,FPU]
9151 \c{FST} stores the value in \c{ST0} into the given memory location
9152 or other FPU register. \c{FSTP} does the same, but then pops the
9156 \S{insFSTCW} \i\c{FSTCW}: Store Floating-Point Control Word
9158 \c FSTCW mem16 ; 9B D9 /7 [8086,FPU]
9159 \c FNSTCW mem16 ; D9 /7 [8086,FPU]
9161 \c{FSTCW} stores the \c{FPU} control word (governing things like the
9162 rounding mode, the precision, and the exception masks) into a 2-byte
9163 memory area. See also \c{FLDCW} (\k{insFLDCW}).
9165 \c{FNSTCW} does the same thing as \c{FSTCW}, without first waiting
9166 for pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
9169 \S{insFSTENV} \i\c{FSTENV}: Store Floating-Point Environment
9171 \c FSTENV mem ; 9B D9 /6 [8086,FPU]
9172 \c FNSTENV mem ; D9 /6 [8086,FPU]
9174 \c{FSTENV} stores the \c{FPU} operating environment (control word,
9175 status word, tag word, instruction pointer, data pointer and last
9176 opcode) into memory. The memory area is 14 or 28 bytes long,
9177 depending on the CPU mode at the time. See also \c{FLDENV}
9180 \c{FNSTENV} does the same thing as \c{FSTENV}, without first waiting
9181 for pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
9184 \S{insFSTSW} \i\c{FSTSW}: Store Floating-Point Status Word
9186 \c FSTSW mem16 ; 9B DD /7 [8086,FPU]
9187 \c FSTSW AX ; 9B DF E0 [286,FPU]
9189 \c FNSTSW mem16 ; DD /7 [8086,FPU]
9190 \c FNSTSW AX ; DF E0 [286,FPU]
9192 \c{FSTSW} stores the \c{FPU} status word into \c{AX} or into a 2-byte
9195 \c{FNSTSW} does the same thing as \c{FSTSW}, without first waiting
9196 for pending floating-point exceptions to clear.
9199 \S{insFSUB} \i\c{FSUB}, \i\c{FSUBP}, \i\c{FSUBR}, \i\c{FSUBRP}: Floating-Point Subtract
9201 \c FSUB mem32 ; D8 /4 [8086,FPU]
9202 \c FSUB mem64 ; DC /4 [8086,FPU]
9204 \c FSUB fpureg ; D8 E0+r [8086,FPU]
9205 \c FSUB ST0,fpureg ; D8 E0+r [8086,FPU]
9207 \c FSUB TO fpureg ; DC E8+r [8086,FPU]
9208 \c FSUB fpureg,ST0 ; DC E8+r [8086,FPU]
9210 \c FSUBR mem32 ; D8 /5 [8086,FPU]
9211 \c FSUBR mem64 ; DC /5 [8086,FPU]
9213 \c FSUBR fpureg ; D8 E8+r [8086,FPU]
9214 \c FSUBR ST0,fpureg ; D8 E8+r [8086,FPU]
9216 \c FSUBR TO fpureg ; DC E0+r [8086,FPU]
9217 \c FSUBR fpureg,ST0 ; DC E0+r [8086,FPU]
9219 \c FSUBP fpureg ; DE E8+r [8086,FPU]
9220 \c FSUBP fpureg,ST0 ; DE E8+r [8086,FPU]
9222 \c FSUBRP fpureg ; DE E0+r [8086,FPU]
9223 \c FSUBRP fpureg,ST0 ; DE E0+r [8086,FPU]
9225 \b \c{FSUB} subtracts the given operand from \c{ST0} and stores the
9226 result back in \c{ST0}, unless the \c{TO} qualifier is given, in
9227 which case it subtracts \c{ST0} from the given operand and stores
9228 the result in the operand.
9230 \b \c{FSUBR} does the same thing, but does the subtraction the other
9231 way up: so if \c{TO} is not given, it subtracts \c{ST0} from the given
9232 operand and stores the result in \c{ST0}, whereas if \c{TO} is given
9233 it subtracts its operand from \c{ST0} and stores the result in the
9236 \b \c{FSUBP} operates like \c{FSUB TO}, but pops the register stack
9237 once it has finished.
9239 \b \c{FSUBRP} operates like \c{FSUBR TO}, but pops the register stack
9240 once it has finished.
9243 \S{insFTST} \i\c{FTST}: Test \c{ST0} Against Zero
9245 \c FTST ; D9 E4 [8086,FPU]
9247 \c{FTST} compares \c{ST0} with zero and sets the FPU flags
9248 accordingly. \c{ST0} is treated as the left-hand side of the
9249 comparison, so that a `less-than' result is generated if \c{ST0} is
9253 \S{insFUCOM} \i\c{FUCOMxx}: Floating-Point Unordered Compare
9255 \c FUCOM fpureg ; DD E0+r [386,FPU]
9256 \c FUCOM ST0,fpureg ; DD E0+r [386,FPU]
9258 \c FUCOMP fpureg ; DD E8+r [386,FPU]
9259 \c FUCOMP ST0,fpureg ; DD E8+r [386,FPU]
9261 \c FUCOMPP ; DA E9 [386,FPU]
9263 \c FUCOMI fpureg ; DB E8+r [P6,FPU]
9264 \c FUCOMI ST0,fpureg ; DB E8+r [P6,FPU]
9266 \c FUCOMIP fpureg ; DF E8+r [P6,FPU]
9267 \c FUCOMIP ST0,fpureg ; DF E8+r [P6,FPU]
9269 \b \c{FUCOM} compares \c{ST0} with the given operand, and sets the
9270 FPU flags accordingly. \c{ST0} is treated as the left-hand side of
9271 the comparison, so that the carry flag is set (for a `less-than'
9272 result) if \c{ST0} is less than the given operand.
9274 \b \c{FUCOMP} does the same as \c{FUCOM}, but pops the register stack
9275 afterwards. \c{FUCOMPP} compares \c{ST0} with \c{ST1} and then pops
9276 the register stack twice.
9278 \b \c{FUCOMI} and \c{FUCOMIP} work like the corresponding forms of
9279 \c{FUCOM} and \c{FUCOMP}, but write their results directly to the CPU
9280 flags register rather than the FPU status word, so they can be
9281 immediately followed by conditional jump or conditional move
9284 The \c{FUCOM} instructions differ from the \c{FCOM} instructions
9285 (\k{insFCOM}) only in the way they handle quiet NaNs: \c{FUCOM} will
9286 handle them silently and set the condition code flags to an
9287 `unordered' result, whereas \c{FCOM} will generate an exception.
9290 \S{insFXAM} \i\c{FXAM}: Examine Class of Value in \c{ST0}
9292 \c FXAM ; D9 E5 [8086,FPU]
9294 \c{FXAM} sets the FPU flags \c{C3}, \c{C2} and \c{C0} depending on
9295 the type of value stored in \c{ST0}:
9297 \c Register contents Flags
9299 \c Unsupported format 000
9301 \c Finite number 010
9304 \c Empty register 101
9307 Additionally, the \c{C1} flag is set to the sign of the number.
9310 \S{insFXCH} \i\c{FXCH}: Floating-Point Exchange
9312 \c FXCH ; D9 C9 [8086,FPU]
9313 \c FXCH fpureg ; D9 C8+r [8086,FPU]
9314 \c FXCH fpureg,ST0 ; D9 C8+r [8086,FPU]
9315 \c FXCH ST0,fpureg ; D9 C8+r [8086,FPU]
9317 \c{FXCH} exchanges \c{ST0} with a given FPU register. The no-operand
9318 form exchanges \c{ST0} with \c{ST1}.
9321 \S{insFXRSTOR} \i\c{FXRSTOR}: Restore \c{FP}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE} State
9323 \c FXRSTOR memory ; 0F AE /1 [P6,SSE,FPU]
9325 The \c{FXRSTOR} instruction reloads the \c{FPU}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE}
9326 state (environment and registers), from the 512 byte memory area defined
9327 by the source operand. This data should have been written by a previous
9331 \S{insFXSAVE} \i\c{FXSAVE}: Store \c{FP}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE} State
9333 \c FXSAVE memory ; 0F AE /0 [P6,SSE,FPU]
9335 \c{FXSAVE}The FXSAVE instruction writes the current \c{FPU}, \c{MMX}
9336 and \c{SSE} technology states (environment and registers), to the
9337 512 byte memory area defined by the destination operand. It does this
9338 without checking for pending unmasked floating-point exceptions
9339 (similar to the operation of \c{FNSAVE}).
9341 Unlike the \c{FSAVE/FNSAVE} instructions, the processor retains the
9342 contents of the \c{FPU}, \c{MMX} and \c{SSE} state in the processor
9343 after the state has been saved. This instruction has been optimized
9344 to maximize floating-point save performance.
9347 \S{insFXTRACT} \i\c{FXTRACT}: Extract Exponent and Significand
9349 \c FXTRACT ; D9 F4 [8086,FPU]
9351 \c{FXTRACT} separates the number in \c{ST0} into its exponent and
9352 significand (mantissa), stores the exponent back into \c{ST0}, and
9353 then pushes the significand on the register stack (so that the
9354 significand ends up in \c{ST0}, and the exponent in \c{ST1}).
9357 \S{insFYL2X} \i\c{FYL2X}, \i\c{FYL2XP1}: Compute Y times Log2(X) or Log2(X+1)
9359 \c FYL2X ; D9 F1 [8086,FPU]
9360 \c FYL2XP1 ; D9 F9 [8086,FPU]
9362 \c{FYL2X} multiplies \c{ST1} by the base-2 logarithm of \c{ST0},
9363 stores the result in \c{ST1}, and pops the register stack (so that
9364 the result ends up in \c{ST0}). \c{ST0} must be non-zero and
9367 \c{FYL2XP1} works the same way, but replacing the base-2 log of
9368 \c{ST0} with that of \c{ST0} plus one. This time, \c{ST0} must have
9369 magnitude no greater than 1 minus half the square root of two.
9372 \S{insHLT} \i\c{HLT}: Halt Processor
9374 \c HLT ; F4 [8086,PRIV]
9376 \c{HLT} puts the processor into a halted state, where it will
9377 perform no more operations until restarted by an interrupt or a
9380 On the 286 and later processors, this is a privileged instruction.
9383 \S{insIBTS} \i\c{IBTS}: Insert Bit String
9385 \c IBTS r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F A7 /r [386,UNDOC]
9386 \c IBTS r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F A7 /r [386,UNDOC]
9388 The implied operation of this instruction is:
9390 \c IBTS r/m16,AX,CL,reg16
9391 \c IBTS r/m32,EAX,CL,reg32
9393 Writes a bit string from the source operand to the destination.
9394 \c{CL} indicates the number of bits to be copied, from the low bits
9395 of the source. \c{(E)AX} indicates the low order bit offset in the
9396 destination that is written to. For example, if \c{CL} is set to 4
9397 and \c{AX} (for 16-bit code) is set to 5, bits 0-3 of \c{src} will
9398 be copied to bits 5-8 of \c{dst}. This instruction is very poorly
9399 documented, and I have been unable to find any official source of
9400 documentation on it.
9402 \c{IBTS} is supported only on the early Intel 386s, and conflicts
9403 with the opcodes for \c{CMPXCHG486} (on early Intel 486s). NASM
9404 supports it only for completeness. Its counterpart is \c{XBTS}
9408 \S{insIDIV} \i\c{IDIV}: Signed Integer Divide
9410 \c IDIV r/m8 ; F6 /7 [8086]
9411 \c IDIV r/m16 ; o16 F7 /7 [8086]
9412 \c IDIV r/m32 ; o32 F7 /7 [386]
9414 \c{IDIV} performs signed integer division. The explicit operand
9415 provided is the divisor; the dividend and destination operands
9416 are implicit, in the following way:
9418 \b For \c{IDIV r/m8}, \c{AX} is divided by the given operand;
9419 the quotient is stored in \c{AL} and the remainder in \c{AH}.
9421 \b For \c{IDIV r/m16}, \c{DX:AX} is divided by the given operand;
9422 the quotient is stored in \c{AX} and the remainder in \c{DX}.
9424 \b For \c{IDIV r/m32}, \c{EDX:EAX} is divided by the given operand;
9425 the quotient is stored in \c{EAX} and the remainder in \c{EDX}.
9427 Unsigned integer division is performed by the \c{DIV} instruction:
9431 \S{insIMUL} \i\c{IMUL}: Signed Integer Multiply
9433 \c IMUL r/m8 ; F6 /5 [8086]
9434 \c IMUL r/m16 ; o16 F7 /5 [8086]
9435 \c IMUL r/m32 ; o32 F7 /5 [386]
9437 \c IMUL reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F AF /r [386]
9438 \c IMUL reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F AF /r [386]
9440 \c IMUL reg16,imm8 ; o16 6B /r ib [186]
9441 \c IMUL reg16,imm16 ; o16 69 /r iw [186]
9442 \c IMUL reg32,imm8 ; o32 6B /r ib [386]
9443 \c IMUL reg32,imm32 ; o32 69 /r id [386]
9445 \c IMUL reg16,r/m16,imm8 ; o16 6B /r ib [186]
9446 \c IMUL reg16,r/m16,imm16 ; o16 69 /r iw [186]
9447 \c IMUL reg32,r/m32,imm8 ; o32 6B /r ib [386]
9448 \c IMUL reg32,r/m32,imm32 ; o32 69 /r id [386]
9450 \c{IMUL} performs signed integer multiplication. For the
9451 single-operand form, the other operand and destination are
9452 implicit, in the following way:
9454 \b For \c{IMUL r/m8}, \c{AL} is multiplied by the given operand;
9455 the product is stored in \c{AX}.
9457 \b For \c{IMUL r/m16}, \c{AX} is multiplied by the given operand;
9458 the product is stored in \c{DX:AX}.
9460 \b For \c{IMUL r/m32}, \c{EAX} is multiplied by the given operand;
9461 the product is stored in \c{EDX:EAX}.
9463 The two-operand form multiplies its two operands and stores the
9464 result in the destination (first) operand. The three-operand
9465 form multiplies its last two operands and stores the result in
9468 The two-operand form with an immediate second operand is in
9469 fact a shorthand for the three-operand form, as can be seen by
9470 examining the opcode descriptions: in the two-operand form, the
9471 code \c{/r} takes both its register and \c{r/m} parts from the
9472 same operand (the first one).
9474 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate operand and another longer
9475 source operand, the immediate operand is considered to be signed,
9476 and is sign-extended to the length of the other source operand.
9477 In these cases, the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force
9478 NASM to generate this form of the instruction.
9480 Unsigned integer multiplication is performed by the \c{MUL}
9481 instruction: see \k{insMUL}.
9484 \S{insIN} \i\c{IN}: Input from I/O Port
9486 \c IN AL,imm8 ; E4 ib [8086]
9487 \c IN AX,imm8 ; o16 E5 ib [8086]
9488 \c IN EAX,imm8 ; o32 E5 ib [386]
9489 \c IN AL,DX ; EC [8086]
9490 \c IN AX,DX ; o16 ED [8086]
9491 \c IN EAX,DX ; o32 ED [386]
9493 \c{IN} reads a byte, word or doubleword from the specified I/O port,
9494 and stores it in the given destination register. The port number may
9495 be specified as an immediate value if it is between 0 and 255, and
9496 otherwise must be stored in \c{DX}. See also \c{OUT} (\k{insOUT}).
9499 \S{insINC} \i\c{INC}: Increment Integer
9501 \c INC reg16 ; o16 40+r [8086]
9502 \c INC reg32 ; o32 40+r [386]
9503 \c INC r/m8 ; FE /0 [8086]
9504 \c INC r/m16 ; o16 FF /0 [8086]
9505 \c INC r/m32 ; o32 FF /0 [386]
9507 \c{INC} adds 1 to its operand. It does \e{not} affect the carry
9508 flag: to affect the carry flag, use \c{ADD something,1} (see
9509 \k{insADD}). \c{INC} affects all the other flags according to the result.
9511 This instruction can be used with a \c{LOCK} prefix to allow atomic execution.
9513 See also \c{DEC} (\k{insDEC}).
9516 \S{insINSB} \i\c{INSB}, \i\c{INSW}, \i\c{INSD}: Input String from I/O Port
9519 \c INSW ; o16 6D [186]
9520 \c INSD ; o32 6D [386]
9522 \c{INSB} inputs a byte from the I/O port specified in \c{DX} and
9523 stores it at \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]}. It then increments or
9524 decrements (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag
9525 is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{DI} or \c{EDI}.
9527 The register used is \c{DI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
9528 \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
9529 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
9530 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
9532 Segment override prefixes have no effect for this instruction: the
9533 use of \c{ES} for the load from \c{[DI]} or \c{[EDI]} cannot be
9536 \c{INSW} and \c{INSD} work in the same way, but they input a word or
9537 a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement the
9538 addressing register by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
9540 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
9541 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
9543 See also \c{OUTSB}, \c{OUTSW} and \c{OUTSD} (\k{insOUTSB}).
9546 \S{insINT} \i\c{INT}: Software Interrupt
9548 \c INT imm8 ; CD ib [8086]
9550 \c{INT} causes a software interrupt through a specified vector
9551 number from 0 to 255.
9553 The code generated by the \c{INT} instruction is always two bytes
9554 long: although there are short forms for some \c{INT} instructions,
9555 NASM does not generate them when it sees the \c{INT} mnemonic. In
9556 order to generate single-byte breakpoint instructions, use the
9557 \c{INT3} or \c{INT1} instructions (see \k{insINT1}) instead.
9560 \S{insINT1} \i\c{INT3}, \i\c{INT1}, \i\c{ICEBP}, \i\c{INT01}: Breakpoints
9567 \c INT03 ; CC [8086]
9569 \c{INT1} and \c{INT3} are short one-byte forms of the instructions
9570 \c{INT 1} and \c{INT 3} (see \k{insINT}). They perform a similar
9571 function to their longer counterparts, but take up less code space.
9572 They are used as breakpoints by debuggers.
9574 \b \c{INT1}, and its alternative synonyms \c{INT01} and \c{ICEBP}, is
9575 an instruction used by in-circuit emulators (ICEs). It is present,
9576 though not documented, on some processors down to the 286, but is
9577 only documented for the Pentium Pro. \c{INT3} is the instruction
9578 normally used as a breakpoint by debuggers.
9580 \b \c{INT3}, and its synonym \c{INT03}, is not precisely equivalent to
9581 \c{INT 3}: the short form, since it is designed to be used as a
9582 breakpoint, bypasses the normal \c{IOPL} checks in virtual-8086 mode,
9583 and also does not go through interrupt redirection.
9586 \S{insINTO} \i\c{INTO}: Interrupt if Overflow
9590 \c{INTO} performs an \c{INT 4} software interrupt (see \k{insINT})
9591 if and only if the overflow flag is set.
9594 \S{insINVD} \i\c{INVD}: Invalidate Internal Caches
9596 \c INVD ; 0F 08 [486]
9598 \c{INVD} invalidates and empties the processor's internal caches,
9599 and causes the processor to instruct external caches to do the same.
9600 It does not write the contents of the caches back to memory first:
9601 any modified data held in the caches will be lost. To write the data
9602 back first, use \c{WBINVD} (\k{insWBINVD}).
9605 \S{insINVLPG} \i\c{INVLPG}: Invalidate TLB Entry
9607 \c INVLPG mem ; 0F 01 /7 [486]
9609 \c{INVLPG} invalidates the translation lookahead buffer (TLB) entry
9610 associated with the supplied memory address.
9613 \S{insIRET} \i\c{IRET}, \i\c{IRETW}, \i\c{IRETD}: Return from Interrupt
9616 \c IRETW ; o16 CF [8086]
9617 \c IRETD ; o32 CF [386]
9619 \c{IRET} returns from an interrupt (hardware or software) by means
9620 of popping \c{IP} (or \c{EIP}), \c{CS} and the flags off the stack
9621 and then continuing execution from the new \c{CS:IP}.
9623 \c{IRETW} pops \c{IP}, \c{CS} and the flags as 2 bytes each, taking
9624 6 bytes off the stack in total. \c{IRETD} pops \c{EIP} as 4 bytes,
9625 pops a further 4 bytes of which the top two are discarded and the
9626 bottom two go into \c{CS}, and pops the flags as 4 bytes as well,
9627 taking 12 bytes off the stack.
9629 \c{IRET} is a shorthand for either \c{IRETW} or \c{IRETD}, depending
9630 on the default \c{BITS} setting at the time.
9633 \S{insJcc} \i\c{Jcc}: Conditional Branch
9635 \c Jcc imm ; 70+cc rb [8086]
9636 \c Jcc NEAR imm ; 0F 80+cc rw/rd [386]
9638 The \i{conditional jump} instructions execute a near (same segment)
9639 jump if and only if their conditions are satisfied. For example,
9640 \c{JNZ} jumps only if the zero flag is not set.
9642 The ordinary form of the instructions has only a 128-byte range; the
9643 \c{NEAR} form is a 386 extension to the instruction set, and can
9644 span the full size of a segment. NASM will not override your choice
9645 of jump instruction: if you want \c{Jcc NEAR}, you have to use the
9648 The \c{SHORT} keyword is allowed on the first form of the
9649 instruction, for clarity, but is not necessary.
9651 For details of the condition codes, see \k{iref-cc}.
9654 \S{insJCXZ} \i\c{JCXZ}, \i\c{JECXZ}: Jump if CX/ECX Zero
9656 \c JCXZ imm ; a16 E3 rb [8086]
9657 \c JECXZ imm ; a32 E3 rb [386]
9659 \c{JCXZ} performs a short jump (with maximum range 128 bytes) if and
9660 only if the contents of the \c{CX} register is 0. \c{JECXZ} does the
9661 same thing, but with \c{ECX}.
9664 \S{insJMP} \i\c{JMP}: Jump
9666 \c JMP imm ; E9 rw/rd [8086]
9667 \c JMP SHORT imm ; EB rb [8086]
9668 \c JMP imm:imm16 ; o16 EA iw iw [8086]
9669 \c JMP imm:imm32 ; o32 EA id iw [386]
9670 \c JMP FAR mem ; o16 FF /5 [8086]
9671 \c JMP FAR mem32 ; o32 FF /5 [386]
9672 \c JMP r/m16 ; o16 FF /4 [8086]
9673 \c JMP r/m32 ; o32 FF /4 [386]
9675 \c{JMP} jumps to a given address. The address may be specified as an
9676 absolute segment and offset, or as a relative jump within the
9679 \c{JMP SHORT imm} has a maximum range of 128 bytes, since the
9680 displacement is specified as only 8 bits, but takes up less code
9681 space. NASM does not choose when to generate \c{JMP SHORT} for you:
9682 you must explicitly code \c{SHORT} every time you want a short jump.
9684 You can choose between the two immediate \i{far jump} forms (\c{JMP
9685 imm:imm}) by the use of the \c{WORD} and \c{DWORD} keywords: \c{JMP
9686 WORD 0x1234:0x5678}) or \c{JMP DWORD 0x1234:0x56789abc}.
9688 The \c{JMP FAR mem} forms execute a far jump by loading the
9689 destination address out of memory. The address loaded consists of 16
9690 or 32 bits of offset (depending on the operand size), and 16 bits of
9691 segment. The operand size may be overridden using \c{JMP WORD FAR
9692 mem} or \c{JMP DWORD FAR mem}.
9694 The \c{JMP r/m} forms execute a \i{near jump} (within the same
9695 segment), loading the destination address out of memory or out of a
9696 register. The keyword \c{NEAR} may be specified, for clarity, in
9697 these forms, but is not necessary. Again, operand size can be
9698 overridden using \c{JMP WORD mem} or \c{JMP DWORD mem}.
9700 As a convenience, NASM does not require you to jump to a far symbol
9701 by coding the cumbersome \c{JMP SEG routine:routine}, but instead
9702 allows the easier synonym \c{JMP FAR routine}.
9704 The \c{JMP r/m} forms given above are near calls; NASM will accept
9705 the \c{NEAR} keyword (e.g. \c{JMP NEAR [address]}), even though it
9706 is not strictly necessary.
9709 \S{insLAHF} \i\c{LAHF}: Load AH from Flags
9713 \c{LAHF} sets the \c{AH} register according to the contents of the
9714 low byte of the flags word.
9716 The operation of \c{LAHF} is:
9718 \c AH <-- SF:ZF:0:AF:0:PF:1:CF
9720 See also \c{SAHF} (\k{insSAHF}).
9723 \S{insLAR} \i\c{LAR}: Load Access Rights
9725 \c LAR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 02 /r [286,PRIV]
9726 \c LAR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 02 /r [286,PRIV]
9728 \c{LAR} takes the segment selector specified by its source (second)
9729 operand, finds the corresponding segment descriptor in the GDT or
9730 LDT, and loads the access-rights byte of the descriptor into its
9731 destination (first) operand.
9734 \S{insLDMXCSR} \i\c{LDMXCSR}: Load Streaming SIMD Extension
9737 \c LDMXCSR mem32 ; 0F AE /2 [KATMAI,SSE]
9739 \c{LDMXCSR} loads 32-bits of data from the specified memory location
9740 into the \c{MXCSR} control/status register. \c{MXCSR} is used to
9741 enable masked/unmasked exception handling, to set rounding modes,
9742 to set flush-to-zero mode, and to view exception status flags.
9744 For details of the \c{MXCSR} register, see the Intel processor docs.
9746 See also \c{STMXCSR} (\k{insSTMXCSR}
9749 \S{insLDS} \i\c{LDS}, \i\c{LES}, \i\c{LFS}, \i\c{LGS}, \i\c{LSS}: Load Far Pointer
9751 \c LDS reg16,mem ; o16 C5 /r [8086]
9752 \c LDS reg32,mem ; o32 C5 /r [386]
9754 \c LES reg16,mem ; o16 C4 /r [8086]
9755 \c LES reg32,mem ; o32 C4 /r [386]
9757 \c LFS reg16,mem ; o16 0F B4 /r [386]
9758 \c LFS reg32,mem ; o32 0F B4 /r [386]
9760 \c LGS reg16,mem ; o16 0F B5 /r [386]
9761 \c LGS reg32,mem ; o32 0F B5 /r [386]
9763 \c LSS reg16,mem ; o16 0F B2 /r [386]
9764 \c LSS reg32,mem ; o32 0F B2 /r [386]
9766 These instructions load an entire far pointer (16 or 32 bits of
9767 offset, plus 16 bits of segment) out of memory in one go. \c{LDS},
9768 for example, loads 16 or 32 bits from the given memory address into
9769 the given register (depending on the size of the register), then
9770 loads the \e{next} 16 bits from memory into \c{DS}. \c{LES},
9771 \c{LFS}, \c{LGS} and \c{LSS} work in the same way but use the other
9775 \S{insLEA} \i\c{LEA}: Load Effective Address
9777 \c LEA reg16,mem ; o16 8D /r [8086]
9778 \c LEA reg32,mem ; o32 8D /r [386]
9780 \c{LEA}, despite its syntax, does not access memory. It calculates
9781 the effective address specified by its second operand as if it were
9782 going to load or store data from it, but instead it stores the
9783 calculated address into the register specified by its first operand.
9784 This can be used to perform quite complex calculations (e.g. \c{LEA
9785 EAX,[EBX+ECX*4+100]}) in one instruction.
9787 \c{LEA}, despite being a purely arithmetic instruction which
9788 accesses no memory, still requires square brackets around its second
9789 operand, as if it were a memory reference.
9791 The size of the calculation is the current \e{address} size, and the
9792 size that the result is stored as is the current \e{operand} size.
9793 If the address and operand size are not the same, then if the
9794 addressing mode was 32-bits, the low 16-bits are stored, and if the
9795 address was 16-bits, it is zero-extended to 32-bits before storing.
9798 \S{insLEAVE} \i\c{LEAVE}: Destroy Stack Frame
9802 \c{LEAVE} destroys a stack frame of the form created by the
9803 \c{ENTER} instruction (see \k{insENTER}). It is functionally
9804 equivalent to \c{MOV ESP,EBP} followed by \c{POP EBP} (or \c{MOV
9805 SP,BP} followed by \c{POP BP} in 16-bit mode).
9808 \S{insLFENCE} \i\c{LFENCE}: Load Fence
9810 \c LFENCE ; 0F AE /5 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9812 \c{LFENCE} performs a serialising operation on all loads from memory
9813 that were issued before the \c{LFENCE} instruction. This guarantees that
9814 all memory reads before the \c{LFENCE} instruction are visible before any
9815 reads after the \c{LFENCE} instruction.
9817 \c{LFENCE} is ordered respective to other \c{LFENCE} instruction, \c{MFENCE},
9818 any memory read and any other serialising instruction (such as \c{CPUID}).
9820 Weakly ordered memory types can be used to achieve higher processor
9821 performance through such techniques as out-of-order issue and
9822 speculative reads. The degree to which a consumer of data recognizes
9823 or knows that the data is weakly ordered varies among applications
9824 and may be unknown to the producer of this data. The \c{LFENCE}
9825 instruction provides a performance-efficient way of ensuring load
9826 ordering between routines that produce weakly-ordered results and
9827 routines that consume that data.
9829 \c{LFENCE} uses the following ModRM encoding:
9832 \c Reg/Opcode (5:3) = 101B
9835 All other ModRM encodings are defined to be reserved, and use
9836 of these encodings risks incompatibility with future processors.
9838 See also \c{SFENCE} (\k{insSFENCE}) and \c{MFENCE} (\k{insMFENCE}).
9841 \S{insLGDT} \i\c{LGDT}, \i\c{LIDT}, \i\c{LLDT}: Load Descriptor Tables
9843 \c LGDT mem ; 0F 01 /2 [286,PRIV]
9844 \c LIDT mem ; 0F 01 /3 [286,PRIV]
9845 \c LLDT r/m16 ; 0F 00 /2 [286,PRIV]
9847 \c{LGDT} and \c{LIDT} both take a 6-byte memory area as an operand:
9848 they load a 16-bit size limit and a 32-bit linear address from that
9849 area (in the opposite order) into the \c{GDTR} (global descriptor table
9850 register) or \c{IDTR} (interrupt descriptor table register). These are
9851 the only instructions which directly use \e{linear} addresses, rather
9852 than segment/offset pairs.
9854 \c{LLDT} takes a segment selector as an operand. The processor looks
9855 up that selector in the GDT and stores the limit and base address
9856 given there into the \c{LDTR} (local descriptor table register).
9858 See also \c{SGDT}, \c{SIDT} and \c{SLDT} (\k{insSGDT}).
9861 \S{insLMSW} \i\c{LMSW}: Load/Store Machine Status Word
9863 \c LMSW r/m16 ; 0F 01 /6 [286,PRIV]
9865 \c{LMSW} loads the bottom four bits of the source operand into the
9866 bottom four bits of the \c{CR0} control register (or the Machine
9867 Status Word, on 286 processors). See also \c{SMSW} (\k{insSMSW}).
9870 \S{insLOADALL} \i\c{LOADALL}, \i\c{LOADALL286}: Load Processor State
9872 \c LOADALL ; 0F 07 [386,UNDOC]
9873 \c LOADALL286 ; 0F 05 [286,UNDOC]
9875 This instruction, in its two different-opcode forms, is apparently
9876 supported on most 286 processors, some 386 and possibly some 486.
9877 The opcode differs between the 286 and the 386.
9879 The function of the instruction is to load all information relating
9880 to the state of the processor out of a block of memory: on the 286,
9881 this block is located implicitly at absolute address \c{0x800}, and
9882 on the 386 and 486 it is at \c{[ES:EDI]}.
9885 \S{insLODSB} \i\c{LODSB}, \i\c{LODSW}, \i\c{LODSD}: Load from String
9887 \c LODSB ; AC [8086]
9888 \c LODSW ; o16 AD [8086]
9889 \c LODSD ; o32 AD [386]
9891 \c{LODSB} loads a byte from \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} into \c{AL}.
9892 It then increments or decrements (depending on the direction flag:
9893 increments if the flag is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{SI} or
9896 The register used is \c{SI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
9897 \c{ESI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
9898 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
9899 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
9901 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
9902 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
9903 example, \c{ES LODSB}).
9905 \c{LODSW} and \c{LODSD} work in the same way, but they load a
9906 word or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement
9907 the addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
9910 \S{insLOOP} \i\c{LOOP}, \i\c{LOOPE}, \i\c{LOOPZ}, \i\c{LOOPNE}, \i\c{LOOPNZ}: Loop with Counter
9912 \c LOOP imm ; E2 rb [8086]
9913 \c LOOP imm,CX ; a16 E2 rb [8086]
9914 \c LOOP imm,ECX ; a32 E2 rb [386]
9916 \c LOOPE imm ; E1 rb [8086]
9917 \c LOOPE imm,CX ; a16 E1 rb [8086]
9918 \c LOOPE imm,ECX ; a32 E1 rb [386]
9919 \c LOOPZ imm ; E1 rb [8086]
9920 \c LOOPZ imm,CX ; a16 E1 rb [8086]
9921 \c LOOPZ imm,ECX ; a32 E1 rb [386]
9923 \c LOOPNE imm ; E0 rb [8086]
9924 \c LOOPNE imm,CX ; a16 E0 rb [8086]
9925 \c LOOPNE imm,ECX ; a32 E0 rb [386]
9926 \c LOOPNZ imm ; E0 rb [8086]
9927 \c LOOPNZ imm,CX ; a16 E0 rb [8086]
9928 \c LOOPNZ imm,ECX ; a32 E0 rb [386]
9930 \c{LOOP} decrements its counter register (either \c{CX} or \c{ECX} -
9931 if one is not specified explicitly, the \c{BITS} setting dictates
9932 which is used) by one, and if the counter does not become zero as a
9933 result of this operation, it jumps to the given label. The jump has
9934 a range of 128 bytes.
9936 \c{LOOPE} (or its synonym \c{LOOPZ}) adds the additional condition
9937 that it only jumps if the counter is nonzero \e{and} the zero flag
9938 is set. Similarly, \c{LOOPNE} (and \c{LOOPNZ}) jumps only if the
9939 counter is nonzero and the zero flag is clear.
9942 \S{insLSL} \i\c{LSL}: Load Segment Limit
9944 \c LSL reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 03 /r [286,PRIV]
9945 \c LSL reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 03 /r [286,PRIV]
9947 \c{LSL} is given a segment selector in its source (second) operand;
9948 it computes the segment limit value by loading the segment limit
9949 field from the associated segment descriptor in the \c{GDT} or \c{LDT}.
9950 (This involves shifting left by 12 bits if the segment limit is
9951 page-granular, and not if it is byte-granular; so you end up with a
9952 byte limit in either case.) The segment limit obtained is then
9953 loaded into the destination (first) operand.
9956 \S{insLTR} \i\c{LTR}: Load Task Register
9958 \c LTR r/m16 ; 0F 00 /3 [286,PRIV]
9960 \c{LTR} looks up the segment base and limit in the GDT or LDT
9961 descriptor specified by the segment selector given as its operand,
9962 and loads them into the Task Register.
9965 \S{insMASKMOVDQU} \i\c{MASKMOVDQU}: Byte Mask Write
9967 \c MASKMOVDQU xmm1,xmm2 ; 66 0F F7 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9969 \c{MASKMOVDQU} stores data from xmm1 to the location specified by
9970 \c{ES:(E)DI}. The size of the store depends on the address-size
9971 attribute. The most significant bit in each byte of the mask
9972 register xmm2 is used to selectively write the data (0 = no write,
9973 1 = write) on a per-byte basis.
9976 \S{insMASKMOVQ} \i\c{MASKMOVQ}: Byte Mask Write
9978 \c MASKMOVQ mm1,mm2 ; 0F F7 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
9980 \c{MASKMOVQ} stores data from mm1 to the location specified by
9981 \c{ES:(E)DI}. The size of the store depends on the address-size
9982 attribute. The most significant bit in each byte of the mask
9983 register mm2 is used to selectively write the data (0 = no write,
9984 1 = write) on a per-byte basis.
9987 \S{insMAXPD} \i\c{MAXPD}: Return Packed Double-Precision FP Maximum
9989 \c MAXPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 5F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
9991 \c{MAXPD} performs a SIMD compare of the packed double-precision
9992 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum values
9993 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
9994 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
9995 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
9996 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
9999 \S{insMAXPS} \i\c{MAXPS}: Return Packed Single-Precision FP Maximum
10001 \c MAXPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 5F /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10003 \c{MAXPS} performs a SIMD compare of the packed single-precision
10004 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum values
10005 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
10006 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
10007 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
10008 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
10011 \S{insMAXSD} \i\c{MAXSD}: Return Scalar Double-Precision FP Maximum
10013 \c MAXSD xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F2 0F 5F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10015 \c{MAXSD} compares the low-order double-precision FP numbers from
10016 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum value in xmm1. If the
10017 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m64) would
10018 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m64) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
10019 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
10020 the SNaN is not returned). The high quadword of the destination
10024 \S{insMAXSS} \i\c{MAXSS}: Return Scalar Single-Precision FP Maximum
10026 \c MAXSS xmm1,xmm2/m32 ; F3 0F 5F /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10028 \c{MAXSS} compares the low-order single-precision FP numbers from
10029 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the maximum value in xmm1. If the
10030 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m32) would
10031 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m32) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
10032 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
10033 the SNaN is not returned). The high three doublewords of the
10034 destination are left unchanged.
10037 \S{insMFENCE} \i\c{MFENCE}: Memory Fence
10039 \c MFENCE ; 0F AE /6 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10041 \c{MFENCE} performs a serialising operation on all loads from memory
10042 and writes to memory that were issued before the \c{MFENCE} instruction.
10043 This guarantees that all memory reads and writes before the \c{MFENCE}
10044 instruction are completed before any reads and writes after the
10045 \c{MFENCE} instruction.
10047 \c{MFENCE} is ordered respective to other \c{MFENCE} instructions,
10048 \c{LFENCE}, \c{SFENCE}, any memory read and any other serialising
10049 instruction (such as \c{CPUID}).
10051 Weakly ordered memory types can be used to achieve higher processor
10052 performance through such techniques as out-of-order issue, speculative
10053 reads, write-combining, and write-collapsing. The degree to which a
10054 consumer of data recognizes or knows that the data is weakly ordered
10055 varies among applications and may be unknown to the producer of this
10056 data. The \c{MFENCE} instruction provides a performance-efficient way
10057 of ensuring load and store ordering between routines that produce
10058 weakly-ordered results and routines that consume that data.
10060 \c{MFENCE} uses the following ModRM encoding:
10063 \c Reg/Opcode (5:3) = 110B
10064 \c R/M (2:0) = 000B
10066 All other ModRM encodings are defined to be reserved, and use
10067 of these encodings risks incompatibility with future processors.
10069 See also \c{LFENCE} (\k{insLFENCE}) and \c{SFENCE} (\k{insSFENCE}).
10072 \S{insMINPD} \i\c{MINPD}: Return Packed Double-Precision FP Minimum
10074 \c MINPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 5D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10076 \c{MINPD} performs a SIMD compare of the packed double-precision
10077 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum values
10078 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
10079 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
10080 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
10081 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
10084 \S{insMINPS} \i\c{MINPS}: Return Packed Single-Precision FP Minimum
10086 \c MINPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 5D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10088 \c{MINPS} performs a SIMD compare of the packed single-precision
10089 FP numbers from xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum values
10090 of each pair of values in xmm1. If the values being compared are
10091 both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m128) would be returned. If source2
10092 (xmm2/m128) is an SNaN, this SNaN is forwarded unchanged to the
10093 destination (i.e., a QNaN version of the SNaN is not returned).
10096 \S{insMINSD} \i\c{MINSD}: Return Scalar Double-Precision FP Minimum
10098 \c MINSD xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F2 0F 5D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10100 \c{MINSD} compares the low-order double-precision FP numbers from
10101 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum value in xmm1. If the
10102 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m64) would
10103 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m64) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
10104 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
10105 the SNaN is not returned). The high quadword of the destination
10109 \S{insMINSS} \i\c{MINSS}: Return Scalar Single-Precision FP Minimum
10111 \c MINSS xmm1,xmm2/m32 ; F3 0F 5D /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10113 \c{MINSS} compares the low-order single-precision FP numbers from
10114 xmm1 and xmm2/mem, and stores the minimum value in xmm1. If the
10115 values being compared are both zeroes, source2 (xmm2/m32) would
10116 be returned. If source2 (xmm2/m32) is an SNaN, this SNaN is
10117 forwarded unchanged to the destination (i.e., a QNaN version of
10118 the SNaN is not returned). The high three doublewords of the
10119 destination are left unchanged.
10122 \S{insMOV} \i\c{MOV}: Move Data
10124 \c MOV r/m8,reg8 ; 88 /r [8086]
10125 \c MOV r/m16,reg16 ; o16 89 /r [8086]
10126 \c MOV r/m32,reg32 ; o32 89 /r [386]
10127 \c MOV reg8,r/m8 ; 8A /r [8086]
10128 \c MOV reg16,r/m16 ; o16 8B /r [8086]
10129 \c MOV reg32,r/m32 ; o32 8B /r [386]
10131 \c MOV reg8,imm8 ; B0+r ib [8086]
10132 \c MOV reg16,imm16 ; o16 B8+r iw [8086]
10133 \c MOV reg32,imm32 ; o32 B8+r id [386]
10134 \c MOV r/m8,imm8 ; C6 /0 ib [8086]
10135 \c MOV r/m16,imm16 ; o16 C7 /0 iw [8086]
10136 \c MOV r/m32,imm32 ; o32 C7 /0 id [386]
10138 \c MOV AL,memoffs8 ; A0 ow/od [8086]
10139 \c MOV AX,memoffs16 ; o16 A1 ow/od [8086]
10140 \c MOV EAX,memoffs32 ; o32 A1 ow/od [386]
10141 \c MOV memoffs8,AL ; A2 ow/od [8086]
10142 \c MOV memoffs16,AX ; o16 A3 ow/od [8086]
10143 \c MOV memoffs32,EAX ; o32 A3 ow/od [386]
10145 \c MOV r/m16,segreg ; o16 8C /r [8086]
10146 \c MOV r/m32,segreg ; o32 8C /r [386]
10147 \c MOV segreg,r/m16 ; o16 8E /r [8086]
10148 \c MOV segreg,r/m32 ; o32 8E /r [386]
10150 \c MOV reg32,CR0/2/3/4 ; 0F 20 /r [386]
10151 \c MOV reg32,DR0/1/2/3/6/7 ; 0F 21 /r [386]
10152 \c MOV reg32,TR3/4/5/6/7 ; 0F 24 /r [386]
10153 \c MOV CR0/2/3/4,reg32 ; 0F 22 /r [386]
10154 \c MOV DR0/1/2/3/6/7,reg32 ; 0F 23 /r [386]
10155 \c MOV TR3/4/5/6/7,reg32 ; 0F 26 /r [386]
10157 \c{MOV} copies the contents of its source (second) operand into its
10158 destination (first) operand.
10160 In all forms of the \c{MOV} instruction, the two operands are the
10161 same size, except for moving between a segment register and an
10162 \c{r/m32} operand. These instructions are treated exactly like the
10163 corresponding 16-bit equivalent (so that, for example, \c{MOV
10164 DS,EAX} functions identically to \c{MOV DS,AX} but saves a prefix
10165 when in 32-bit mode), except that when a segment register is moved
10166 into a 32-bit destination, the top two bytes of the result are
10169 \c{MOV} may not use \c{CS} as a destination.
10171 \c{CR4} is only a supported register on the Pentium and above.
10173 Test registers are supported on 386/486 processors and on some
10174 non-Intel Pentium class processors.
10177 \S{insMOVAPD} \i\c{MOVAPD}: Move Aligned Packed Double-Precision FP Values
10179 \c MOVAPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 28 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10180 \c MOVAPD xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 66 0F 29 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10182 \c{MOVAPD} moves a double quadword containing 2 packed double-precision
10183 FP values from the source operand to the destination. When the source
10184 or destination operand is a memory location, it must be aligned on a
10187 To move data in and out of memory locations that are not known to be on
10188 16-byte boundaries, use the \c{MOVUPD} instruction (\k{insMOVUPD}).
10191 \S{insMOVAPS} \i\c{MOVAPS}: Move Aligned Packed Single-Precision FP Values
10193 \c MOVAPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 28 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10194 \c MOVAPS xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 0F 29 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10196 \c{MOVAPS} moves a double quadword containing 4 packed single-precision
10197 FP values from the source operand to the destination. When the source
10198 or destination operand is a memory location, it must be aligned on a
10201 To move data in and out of memory locations that are not known to be on
10202 16-byte boundaries, use the \c{MOVUPS} instruction (\k{insMOVUPS}).
10205 \S{insMOVD} \i\c{MOVD}: Move Doubleword to/from MMX Register
10207 \c MOVD mm,r/m32 ; 0F 6E /r [PENT,MMX]
10208 \c MOVD r/m32,mm ; 0F 7E /r [PENT,MMX]
10209 \c MOVD xmm,r/m32 ; 66 0F 6E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10210 \c MOVD r/m32,xmm ; 66 0F 7E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10212 \c{MOVD} copies 32 bits from its source (second) operand into its
10213 destination (first) operand. When the destination is a 64-bit \c{MMX}
10214 register or a 128-bit \c{XMM} register, the input value is zero-extended
10215 to fill the destination register.
10218 \S{insMOVDQ2Q} \i\c{MOVDQ2Q}: Move Quadword from XMM to MMX register.
10220 \c MOVDQ2Q mm,xmm ; F2 OF D6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10222 \c{MOVDQ2Q} moves the low quadword from the source operand to the
10223 destination operand.
10226 \S{insMOVDQA} \i\c{MOVDQA}: Move Aligned Double Quadword
10228 \c MOVDQA xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 OF 6F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10229 \c MOVDQA xmm1/m128,xmm2 ; 66 OF 7F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10231 \c{MOVDQA} moves a double quadword from the source operand to the
10232 destination operand. When the source or destination operand is a
10233 memory location, it must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
10235 To move a double quadword to or from unaligned memory locations,
10236 use the \c{MOVDQU} instruction (\k{insMOVDQU}).
10239 \S{insMOVDQU} \i\c{MOVDQU}: Move Unaligned Double Quadword
10241 \c MOVDQU xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 OF 6F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10242 \c MOVDQU xmm1/m128,xmm2 ; F3 OF 7F /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10244 \c{MOVDQU} moves a double quadword from the source operand to the
10245 destination operand. When the source or destination operand is a
10246 memory location, the memory may be unaligned.
10248 To move a double quadword to or from known aligned memory locations,
10249 use the \c{MOVDQA} instruction (\k{insMOVDQA}).
10252 \S{insMOVHLPS} \i\c{MOVHLPS}: Move Packed Single-Precision FP High to Low
10254 \c MOVHLPS xmm1,xmm2 ; OF 12 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10256 \c{MOVHLPS} moves the two packed single-precision FP values from the
10257 high quadword of the source register xmm2 to the low quadword of the
10258 destination register, xmm2. The upper quadword of xmm1 is left unchanged.
10260 The operation of this instruction is:
10262 \c dst[0-63] := src[64-127],
10263 \c dst[64-127] remains unchanged.
10266 \S{insMOVHPD} \i\c{MOVHPD}: Move High Packed Double-Precision FP
10268 \c MOVHPD xmm,m64 ; 66 OF 16 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10269 \c MOVHPD m64,xmm ; 66 OF 17 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10271 \c{MOVHPD} moves a double-precision FP value between the source and
10272 destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
10273 the other is the high quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
10275 The operation of this instruction is:
10277 \c mem[0-63] := xmm[64-127];
10281 \c xmm[0-63] remains unchanged;
10282 \c xmm[64-127] := mem[0-63].
10285 \S{insMOVHPS} \i\c{MOVHPS}: Move High Packed Single-Precision FP
10287 \c MOVHPS xmm,m64 ; 0F 16 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10288 \c MOVHPS m64,xmm ; 0F 17 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10290 \c{MOVHPS} moves two packed single-precision FP values between the source
10291 and destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
10292 the other is the high quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
10294 The operation of this instruction is:
10296 \c mem[0-63] := xmm[64-127];
10300 \c xmm[0-63] remains unchanged;
10301 \c xmm[64-127] := mem[0-63].
10304 \S{insMOVLHPS} \i\c{MOVLHPS}: Move Packed Single-Precision FP Low to High
10306 \c MOVLHPS xmm1,xmm2 ; OF 16 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10308 \c{MOVLHPS} moves the two packed single-precision FP values from the
10309 low quadword of the source register xmm2 to the high quadword of the
10310 destination register, xmm2. The low quadword of xmm1 is left unchanged.
10312 The operation of this instruction is:
10314 \c dst[0-63] remains unchanged;
10315 \c dst[64-127] := src[0-63].
10317 \S{insMOVLPD} \i\c{MOVLPD}: Move Low Packed Double-Precision FP
10319 \c MOVLPD xmm,m64 ; 66 OF 12 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10320 \c MOVLPD m64,xmm ; 66 OF 13 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10322 \c{MOVLPD} moves a double-precision FP value between the source and
10323 destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
10324 the other is the low quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
10326 The operation of this instruction is:
10328 \c mem(0-63) := xmm(0-63);
10332 \c xmm(0-63) := mem(0-63);
10333 \c xmm(64-127) remains unchanged.
10335 \S{insMOVLPS} \i\c{MOVLPS}: Move Low Packed Single-Precision FP
10337 \c MOVLPS xmm,m64 ; OF 12 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10338 \c MOVLPS m64,xmm ; OF 13 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10340 \c{MOVLPS} moves two packed single-precision FP values between the source
10341 and destination operands. One of the operands is a 64-bit memory location,
10342 the other is the low quadword of an \c{XMM} register.
10344 The operation of this instruction is:
10346 \c mem(0-63) := xmm(0-63);
10350 \c xmm(0-63) := mem(0-63);
10351 \c xmm(64-127) remains unchanged.
10354 \S{insMOVMSKPD} \i\c{MOVMSKPD}: Extract Packed Double-Precision FP Sign Mask
10356 \c MOVMSKPD reg32,xmm ; 66 0F 50 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10358 \c{MOVMSKPD} inserts a 2-bit mask in r32, formed of the most significant
10359 bits of each double-precision FP number of the source operand.
10362 \S{insMOVMSKPS} \i\c{MOVMSKPS}: Extract Packed Single-Precision FP Sign Mask
10364 \c MOVMSKPS reg32,xmm ; 0F 50 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10366 \c{MOVMSKPS} inserts a 4-bit mask in r32, formed of the most significant
10367 bits of each single-precision FP number of the source operand.
10370 \S{insMOVNTDQ} \i\c{MOVNTDQ}: Move Double Quadword Non Temporal
10372 \c MOVNTDQ m128,xmm ; 66 0F E7 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10374 \c{MOVNTDQ} moves the double quadword from the \c{XMM} source
10375 register to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
10376 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution.
10379 \S{insMOVNTI} \i\c{MOVNTI}: Move Doubleword Non Temporal
10381 \c MOVNTI m32,reg32 ; 0F C3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10383 \c{MOVNTI} moves the doubleword in the source register
10384 to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
10385 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution.
10388 \S{insMOVNTPD} \i\c{MOVNTPD}: Move Aligned Four Packed Single-Precision
10389 FP Values Non Temporal
10391 \c MOVNTPD m128,xmm ; 66 0F 2B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10393 \c{MOVNTPD} moves the double quadword from the \c{XMM} source
10394 register to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
10395 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution. The memory
10396 location must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
10399 \S{insMOVNTPS} \i\c{MOVNTPS}: Move Aligned Four Packed Single-Precision
10400 FP Values Non Temporal
10402 \c MOVNTPS m128,xmm ; 0F 2B /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10404 \c{MOVNTPS} moves the double quadword from the \c{XMM} source
10405 register to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
10406 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution. The memory
10407 location must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
10410 \S{insMOVNTQ} \i\c{MOVNTQ}: Move Quadword Non Temporal
10412 \c MOVNTQ m64,mm ; 0F E7 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10414 \c{MOVNTQ} moves the quadword in the \c{MMX} source register
10415 to the destination memory location, using a non-temporal
10416 hint. This store instruction minimizes cache pollution.
10419 \S{insMOVQ} \i\c{MOVQ}: Move Quadword to/from MMX Register
10421 \c MOVQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 6F /r [PENT,MMX]
10422 \c MOVQ mm1/m64,mm2 ; 0F 7F /r [PENT,MMX]
10424 \c MOVQ xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F3 0F 7E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10425 \c MOVQ xmm1/m64,xmm2 ; 66 0F D6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10427 \c{MOVQ} copies 64 bits from its source (second) operand into its
10428 destination (first) operand. When the source is an \c{XMM} register,
10429 the low quadword is moved. When the destination is an \c{XMM} register,
10430 the destination is the low quadword, and the high quadword is cleared.
10433 \S{insMOVQ2DQ} \i\c{MOVQ2DQ}: Move Quadword from MMX to XMM register.
10435 \c MOVQ2DQ xmm,mm ; F3 OF D6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10437 \c{MOVQ2DQ} moves the quadword from the source operand to the low
10438 quadword of the destination operand, and clears the high quadword.
10441 \S{insMOVSB} \i\c{MOVSB}, \i\c{MOVSW}, \i\c{MOVSD}: Move String
10443 \c MOVSB ; A4 [8086]
10444 \c MOVSW ; o16 A5 [8086]
10445 \c MOVSD ; o32 A5 [386]
10447 \c{MOVSB} copies the byte at \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} to
10448 \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]}. It then increments or decrements
10449 (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag is clear,
10450 decrements if it is set) \c{SI} and \c{DI} (or \c{ESI} and \c{EDI}).
10452 The registers used are \c{SI} and \c{DI} if the address size is 16
10453 bits, and \c{ESI} and \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use
10454 an address size not equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can
10455 use an explicit \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
10457 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
10458 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
10459 example, \c{es movsb}). The use of \c{ES} for the store to \c{[DI]}
10460 or \c{[EDI]} cannot be overridden.
10462 \c{MOVSW} and \c{MOVSD} work in the same way, but they copy a word
10463 or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement the
10464 addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
10466 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
10467 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
10470 \S{insMOVSD} \i\c{MOVSD}: Move Scalar Double-Precision FP Value
10472 \c MOVSD xmm1,xmm2/m64 ; F2 0F 10 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10473 \c MOVSD xmm1/m64,xmm2 ; F2 0F 11 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10475 \c{MOVSD} moves a double-precision FP value from the source operand
10476 to the destination operand. When the source or destination is a
10477 register, the low-order FP value is read or written.
10480 \S{insMOVSS} \i\c{MOVSS}: Move Scalar Single-Precision FP Value
10482 \c MOVSS xmm1,xmm2/m32 ; F3 0F 10 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10483 \c MOVSS xmm1/m32,xmm2 ; F3 0F 11 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10485 \c{MOVSS} moves a single-precision FP value from the source operand
10486 to the destination operand. When the source or destination is a
10487 register, the low-order FP value is read or written.
10490 \S{insMOVSX} \i\c{MOVSX}, \i\c{MOVZX}: Move Data with Sign or Zero Extend
10492 \c MOVSX reg16,r/m8 ; o16 0F BE /r [386]
10493 \c MOVSX reg32,r/m8 ; o32 0F BE /r [386]
10494 \c MOVSX reg32,r/m16 ; o32 0F BF /r [386]
10496 \c MOVZX reg16,r/m8 ; o16 0F B6 /r [386]
10497 \c MOVZX reg32,r/m8 ; o32 0F B6 /r [386]
10498 \c MOVZX reg32,r/m16 ; o32 0F B7 /r [386]
10500 \c{MOVSX} sign-extends its source (second) operand to the length of
10501 its destination (first) operand, and copies the result into the
10502 destination operand. \c{MOVZX} does the same, but zero-extends
10503 rather than sign-extending.
10506 \S{insMOVUPD} \i\c{MOVUPD}: Move Unaligned Packed Double-Precision FP Values
10508 \c MOVUPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 10 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10509 \c MOVUPD xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 66 0F 11 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10511 \c{MOVUPD} moves a double quadword containing 2 packed double-precision
10512 FP values from the source operand to the destination. This instruction
10513 makes no assumptions about alignment of memory operands.
10515 To move data in and out of memory locations that are known to be on 16-byte
10516 boundaries, use the \c{MOVAPD} instruction (\k{insMOVAPD}).
10519 \S{insMOVUPS} \i\c{MOVUPS}: Move Unaligned Packed Single-Precision FP Values
10521 \c MOVUPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 10 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10522 \c MOVUPS xmm1/mem128,xmm2 ; 0F 11 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10524 \c{MOVUPS} moves a double quadword containing 4 packed single-precision
10525 FP values from the source operand to the destination. This instruction
10526 makes no assumptions about alignment of memory operands.
10528 To move data in and out of memory locations that are known to be on 16-byte
10529 boundaries, use the \c{MOVAPS} instruction (\k{insMOVAPS}).
10532 \S{insMUL} \i\c{MUL}: Unsigned Integer Multiply
10534 \c MUL r/m8 ; F6 /4 [8086]
10535 \c MUL r/m16 ; o16 F7 /4 [8086]
10536 \c MUL r/m32 ; o32 F7 /4 [386]
10538 \c{MUL} performs unsigned integer multiplication. The other operand
10539 to the multiplication, and the destination operand, are implicit, in
10542 \b For \c{MUL r/m8}, \c{AL} is multiplied by the given operand; the
10543 product is stored in \c{AX}.
10545 \b For \c{MUL r/m16}, \c{AX} is multiplied by the given operand;
10546 the product is stored in \c{DX:AX}.
10548 \b For \c{MUL r/m32}, \c{EAX} is multiplied by the given operand;
10549 the product is stored in \c{EDX:EAX}.
10551 Signed integer multiplication is performed by the \c{IMUL}
10552 instruction: see \k{insIMUL}.
10555 \S{insMULPD} \i\c{MULPD}: Packed Single-FP Multiply
10557 \c MULPD xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 66 0F 59 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10559 \c{MULPD} performs a SIMD multiply of the packed double-precision FP
10560 values in both operands, and stores the results in the destination register.
10563 \S{insMULPS} \i\c{MULPS}: Packed Single-FP Multiply
10565 \c MULPS xmm1,xmm2/mem128 ; 0F 59 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10567 \c{MULPS} performs a SIMD multiply of the packed single-precision FP
10568 values in both operands, and stores the results in the destination register.
10571 \S{insMULSD} \i\c{MULSD}: Scalar Single-FP Multiply
10573 \c MULSD xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F2 0F 59 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10575 \c{MULSD} multiplies the lowest double-precision FP values of both
10576 operands, and stores the result in the low quadword of xmm1.
10579 \S{insMULSS} \i\c{MULSS}: Scalar Single-FP Multiply
10581 \c MULSS xmm1,xmm2/mem32 ; F3 0F 59 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10583 \c{MULSS} multiplies the lowest single-precision FP values of both
10584 operands, and stores the result in the low doubleword of xmm1.
10587 \S{insNEG} \i\c{NEG}, \i\c{NOT}: Two's and One's Complement
10589 \c NEG r/m8 ; F6 /3 [8086]
10590 \c NEG r/m16 ; o16 F7 /3 [8086]
10591 \c NEG r/m32 ; o32 F7 /3 [386]
10593 \c NOT r/m8 ; F6 /2 [8086]
10594 \c NOT r/m16 ; o16 F7 /2 [8086]
10595 \c NOT r/m32 ; o32 F7 /2 [386]
10597 \c{NEG} replaces the contents of its operand by the two's complement
10598 negation (invert all the bits and then add one) of the original
10599 value. \c{NOT}, similarly, performs one's complement (inverts all
10603 \S{insNOP} \i\c{NOP}: No Operation
10607 \c{NOP} performs no operation. Its opcode is the same as that
10608 generated by \c{XCHG AX,AX} or \c{XCHG EAX,EAX} (depending on the
10609 processor mode; see \k{insXCHG}).
10612 \S{insOR} \i\c{OR}: Bitwise OR
10614 \c OR r/m8,reg8 ; 08 /r [8086]
10615 \c OR r/m16,reg16 ; o16 09 /r [8086]
10616 \c OR r/m32,reg32 ; o32 09 /r [386]
10618 \c OR reg8,r/m8 ; 0A /r [8086]
10619 \c OR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0B /r [8086]
10620 \c OR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0B /r [386]
10622 \c OR r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /1 ib [8086]
10623 \c OR r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /1 iw [8086]
10624 \c OR r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /1 id [386]
10626 \c OR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /1 ib [8086]
10627 \c OR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /1 ib [386]
10629 \c OR AL,imm8 ; 0C ib [8086]
10630 \c OR AX,imm16 ; o16 0D iw [8086]
10631 \c OR EAX,imm32 ; o32 0D id [386]
10633 \c{OR} performs a bitwise OR operation between its two operands
10634 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if at least one of the
10635 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
10636 in the destination (first) operand.
10638 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
10639 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
10640 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
10641 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
10642 form of the instruction.
10644 The MMX instruction \c{POR} (see \k{insPOR}) performs the same
10645 operation on the 64-bit MMX registers.
10648 \S{insORPD} \i\c{ORPD}: Bit-wise Logical OR of Double-Precision FP Data
10650 \c ORPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 56 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10652 \c{ORPD} return a bit-wise logical OR between xmm1 and xmm2/mem,
10653 and stores the result in xmm1. If the source operand is a memory
10654 location, it must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
10657 \S{insORPS} \i\c{ORPS}: Bit-wise Logical OR of Single-Precision FP Data
10659 \c ORPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 56 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
10661 \c{ORPS} return a bit-wise logical OR between xmm1 and xmm2/mem,
10662 and stores the result in xmm1. If the source operand is a memory
10663 location, it must be aligned to a 16-byte boundary.
10666 \S{insOUT} \i\c{OUT}: Output Data to I/O Port
10668 \c OUT imm8,AL ; E6 ib [8086]
10669 \c OUT imm8,AX ; o16 E7 ib [8086]
10670 \c OUT imm8,EAX ; o32 E7 ib [386]
10671 \c OUT DX,AL ; EE [8086]
10672 \c OUT DX,AX ; o16 EF [8086]
10673 \c OUT DX,EAX ; o32 EF [386]
10675 \c{OUT} writes the contents of the given source register to the
10676 specified I/O port. The port number may be specified as an immediate
10677 value if it is between 0 and 255, and otherwise must be stored in
10678 \c{DX}. See also \c{IN} (\k{insIN}).
10681 \S{insOUTSB} \i\c{OUTSB}, \i\c{OUTSW}, \i\c{OUTSD}: Output String to I/O Port
10683 \c OUTSB ; 6E [186]
10684 \c OUTSW ; o16 6F [186]
10685 \c OUTSD ; o32 6F [386]
10687 \c{OUTSB} loads a byte from \c{[DS:SI]} or \c{[DS:ESI]} and writes
10688 it to the I/O port specified in \c{DX}. It then increments or
10689 decrements (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag
10690 is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{SI} or \c{ESI}.
10692 The register used is \c{SI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
10693 \c{ESI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
10694 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
10695 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
10697 The segment register used to load from \c{[SI]} or \c{[ESI]} can be
10698 overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
10699 example, \c{es outsb}).
10701 \c{OUTSW} and \c{OUTSD} work in the same way, but they output a
10702 word or a doubleword instead of a byte, and increment or decrement
10703 the addressing registers by 2 or 4 instead of 1.
10705 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
10706 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
10709 \S{insPACKSSDW} \i\c{PACKSSDW}, \i\c{PACKSSWB}, \i\c{PACKUSWB}: Pack Data
10711 \c PACKSSDW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 6B /r [PENT,MMX]
10712 \c PACKSSWB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 63 /r [PENT,MMX]
10713 \c PACKUSWB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 67 /r [PENT,MMX]
10715 \c PACKSSDW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6B /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10716 \c PACKSSWB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 63 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10717 \c PACKUSWB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 67 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10719 All these instructions start by combining the source and destination
10720 operands, and then splitting the result in smaller sections which it
10721 then packs into the destination register. The \c{MMX} versions pack
10722 two 64-bit operands into one 64-bit register, while the \c{SSE}
10723 versions pack two 128-bit operands into one 128-bit register.
10725 \b \c{PACKSSWB} splits the combined value into words, and then reduces
10726 the words to bytes, using signed saturation. It then packs the bytes
10727 into the destination register in the same order the words were in.
10729 \b \c{PACKSSDW} performs the same operation as \c{PACKSSWB}, except that
10730 it reduces doublewords to words, then packs them into the destination
10733 \b \c{PACKUSWB} performs the same operation as \c{PACKSSWB}, except that
10734 it uses unsigned saturation when reducing the size of the elements.
10736 To perform signed saturation on a number, it is replaced by the largest
10737 signed number (\c{7FFFh} or \c{7Fh}) that \e{will} fit, and if it is too
10738 small it is replaced by the smallest signed number (\c{8000h} or
10739 \c{80h}) that will fit. To perform unsigned saturation, the input is
10740 treated as unsigned, and the input is replaced by the largest unsigned
10741 number that will fit.
10744 \S{insPADDB} \i\c{PADDB}, \i\c{PADDW}, \i\c{PADDD}: Add Packed Integers
10746 \c PADDB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FC /r [PENT,MMX]
10747 \c PADDW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FD /r [PENT,MMX]
10748 \c PADDD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FE /r [PENT,MMX]
10750 \c PADDB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FC /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10751 \c PADDW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FD /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10752 \c PADDD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FE /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10754 \c{PADDx} performs packed addition of the two operands, storing the
10755 result in the destination (first) operand.
10757 \b \c{PADDB} treats the operands as packed bytes, and adds each byte
10760 \b \c{PADDW} treats the operands as packed words;
10762 \b \c{PADDD} treats its operands as packed doublewords.
10764 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, it
10765 is wrapped around and the low bits are stored, with the carry bit
10769 \S{insPADDQ} \i\c{PADDQ}: Add Packed Quadword Integers
10771 \c PADDQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D4 /r [PENT,MMX]
10773 \c PADDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10775 \c{PADDQ} adds the quadwords in the source and destination operands, and
10776 stores the result in the destination register.
10778 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, it
10779 is wrapped around and the low bits are stored, with the carry bit
10783 \S{insPADDSB} \i\c{PADDSB}, \i\c{PADDSW}: Add Packed Signed Integers With Saturation
10785 \c PADDSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EC /r [PENT,MMX]
10786 \c PADDSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F ED /r [PENT,MMX]
10788 \c PADDSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EC /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10789 \c PADDSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F ED /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10791 \c{PADDSx} performs packed addition of the two operands, storing the
10792 result in the destination (first) operand.
10793 \c{PADDSB} treats the operands as packed bytes, and adds each byte
10794 individually; and \c{PADDSW} treats the operands as packed words.
10796 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, a
10797 saturated value is stored. The resulting value is the value with the
10798 largest magnitude of the same sign as the result which will fit in
10799 the available space.
10802 \S{insPADDSIW} \i\c{PADDSIW}: MMX Packed Addition to Implicit Destination
10804 \c PADDSIW mmxreg,r/m64 ; 0F 51 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10806 \c{PADDSIW}, specific to the Cyrix extensions to the MMX instruction
10807 set, performs the same function as \c{PADDSW}, except that the result
10808 is placed in an implied register.
10810 To work out the implied register, invert the lowest bit in the register
10811 number. So \c{PADDSIW MM0,MM2} would put the result in \c{MM1}, but
10812 \c{PADDSIW MM1,MM2} would put the result in \c{MM0}.
10815 \S{insPADDUSB} \i\c{PADDUSB}, \i\c{PADDUSW}: Add Packed Unsigned Integers With Saturation
10817 \c PADDUSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DC /r [PENT,MMX]
10818 \c PADDUSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DD /r [PENT,MMX]
10820 \c PADDUSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DC /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10821 \c PADDUSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DD /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10823 \c{PADDUSx} performs packed addition of the two operands, storing the
10824 result in the destination (first) operand.
10825 \c{PADDUSB} treats the operands as packed bytes, and adds each byte
10826 individually; and \c{PADDUSW} treats the operands as packed words.
10828 When an individual result is too large to fit in its destination, a
10829 saturated value is stored. The resulting value is the maximum value
10830 that will fit in the available space.
10833 \S{insPAND} \i\c{PAND}, \i\c{PANDN}: MMX Bitwise AND and AND-NOT
10835 \c PAND mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DB /r [PENT,MMX]
10836 \c PANDN mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DF /r [PENT,MMX]
10838 \c PAND xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10839 \c PANDN xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DF /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10842 \c{PAND} performs a bitwise AND operation between its two operands
10843 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if the corresponding
10844 bits of the two inputs were both 1), and stores the result in the
10845 destination (first) operand.
10847 \c{PANDN} performs the same operation, but performs a one's
10848 complement operation on the destination (first) operand first.
10851 \S{insPAUSE} \i\c{PAUSE}: Spin Loop Hint
10853 \c PAUSE ; F3 90 [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10855 \c{PAUSE} provides a hint to the processor that the following code
10856 is a spin loop. This improves processor performance by bypassing
10857 possible memory order violations. On older processors, this instruction
10858 operates as a \c{NOP}.
10861 \S{insPAVEB} \i\c{PAVEB}: MMX Packed Average
10863 \c PAVEB mmxreg,r/m64 ; 0F 50 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10865 \c{PAVEB}, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, treats its two
10866 operands as vectors of eight unsigned bytes, and calculates the
10867 average of the corresponding bytes in the operands. The resulting
10868 vector of eight averages is stored in the first operand.
10870 This opcode maps to \c{MOVMSKPS r32, xmm} on processors that support
10871 the SSE instruction set.
10874 \S{insPAVGB} \i\c{PAVGB} \i\c{PAVGW}: Average Packed Integers
10876 \c PAVGB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E0 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
10877 \c PAVGW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E3 /r [KATMAI,MMX,SM]
10879 \c PAVGB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E0 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10880 \c PAVGW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10882 \c{PAVGB} and \c{PAVGW} add the unsigned data elements of the source
10883 operand to the unsigned data elements of the destination register,
10884 then adds 1 to the temporary results. The results of the add are then
10885 each independently right-shifted by one bit position. The high order
10886 bits of each element are filled with the carry bits of the corresponding
10889 \b \c{PAVGB} operates on packed unsigned bytes, and
10891 \b \c{PAVGW} operates on packed unsigned words.
10894 \S{insPAVGUSB} \i\c{PAVGUSB}: Average of unsigned packed 8-bit values
10896 \c PAVGUSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r BF [PENT,3DNOW]
10898 \c{PAVGUSB} adds the unsigned data elements of the source operand to
10899 the unsigned data elements of the destination register, then adds 1
10900 to the temporary results. The results of the add are then each
10901 independently right-shifted by one bit position. The high order bits
10902 of each element are filled with the carry bits of the corresponding
10905 This instruction performs exactly the same operations as the \c{PAVGB}
10906 \c{MMX} instruction (\k{insPAVGB}).
10909 \S{insPCMPEQB} \i\c{PCMPxx}: Compare Packed Integers.
10911 \c PCMPEQB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 74 /r [PENT,MMX]
10912 \c PCMPEQW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 75 /r [PENT,MMX]
10913 \c PCMPEQD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 76 /r [PENT,MMX]
10915 \c PCMPGTB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 64 /r [PENT,MMX]
10916 \c PCMPGTW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 65 /r [PENT,MMX]
10917 \c PCMPGTD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 66 /r [PENT,MMX]
10919 \c PCMPEQB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 74 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10920 \c PCMPEQW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 75 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10921 \c PCMPEQD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 76 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10923 \c PCMPGTB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 64 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10924 \c PCMPGTW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 65 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10925 \c PCMPGTD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 66 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10927 The \c{PCMPxx} instructions all treat their operands as vectors of
10928 bytes, words, or doublewords; corresponding elements of the source
10929 and destination are compared, and the corresponding element of the
10930 destination (first) operand is set to all zeros or all ones
10931 depending on the result of the comparison.
10933 \b \c{PCMPxxB} treats the operands as vectors of bytes;
10935 \b \c{PCMPxxW} treats the operands as vectors of words;
10937 \b \c{PCMPxxD} treats the operands as vectors of doublewords;
10939 \b \c{PCMPEQx} sets the corresponding element of the destination
10940 operand to all ones if the two elements compared are equal;
10942 \b \c{PCMPGTx} sets the destination element to all ones if the element
10943 of the first (destination) operand is greater (treated as a signed
10944 integer) than that of the second (source) operand.
10947 \S{insPDISTIB} \i\c{PDISTIB}: MMX Packed Distance and Accumulate
10948 with Implied Register
10950 \c PDISTIB mm,m64 ; 0F 54 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
10952 \c{PDISTIB}, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, treats its two
10953 input operands as vectors of eight unsigned bytes. For each byte
10954 position, it finds the absolute difference between the bytes in that
10955 position in the two input operands, and adds that value to the byte
10956 in the same position in the implied output register. The addition is
10957 saturated to an unsigned byte in the same way as \c{PADDUSB}.
10959 To work out the implied register, invert the lowest bit in the register
10960 number. So \c{PDISTIB MM0,M64} would put the result in \c{MM1}, but
10961 \c{PDISTIB MM1,M64} would put the result in \c{MM0}.
10963 Note that \c{PDISTIB} cannot take a register as its second source
10968 \c dstI[0-7] := dstI[0-7] + ABS(src0[0-7] - src1[0-7]),
10969 \c dstI[8-15] := dstI[8-15] + ABS(src0[8-15] - src1[8-15]),
10972 \c dstI[56-63] := dstI[56-63] + ABS(src0[56-63] - src1[56-63]).
10975 \S{insPEXTRW} \i\c{PEXTRW}: Extract Word
10977 \c PEXTRW reg32,mm,imm8 ; 0F C5 /r ib [KATMAI,MMX]
10978 \c PEXTRW reg32,xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F C5 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
10980 \c{PEXTRW} moves the word in the source register (second operand)
10981 that is pointed to by the count operand (third operand), into the
10982 lower half of a 32-bit general purpose register. The upper half of
10983 the register is cleared to all 0s.
10985 When the source operand is an \c{MMX} register, the two least
10986 significant bits of the count specify the source word. When it is
10987 an \c{SSE} register, the three least significant bits specify the
10991 \S{insPF2ID} \i\c{PF2ID}: Packed Single-Precision FP to Integer Convert
10993 \c PF2ID mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 1D [PENT,3DNOW]
10995 \c{PF2ID} converts two single-precision FP values in the source operand
10996 to signed 32-bit integers, using truncation, and stores them in the
10997 destination operand. Source values that are outside the range supported
10998 by the destination are saturated to the largest absolute value of the
11002 \S{insPF2IW} \i\c{PF2IW}: Packed Single-Precision FP to Integer Word Convert
11004 \c PF2IW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 1C [PENT,3DNOW]
11006 \c{PF2IW} converts two single-precision FP values in the source operand
11007 to signed 16-bit integers, using truncation, and stores them in the
11008 destination operand. Source values that are outside the range supported
11009 by the destination are saturated to the largest absolute value of the
11012 \b In the K6-2 and K6-III, the 16-bit value is zero-extended to 32-bits
11015 \b In the K6-2+, K6-III+ and Athlon processors, the value is sign-extended
11016 to 32-bits before storing.
11019 \S{insPFACC} \i\c{PFACC}: Packed Single-Precision FP Accumulate
11021 \c PFACC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r AE [PENT,3DNOW]
11023 \c{PFACC} adds the two single-precision FP values from the destination
11024 operand together, then adds the two single-precision FP values from the
11025 source operand, and places the results in the low and high doublewords
11026 of the destination operand.
11030 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + dst[32-63],
11031 \c dst[32-63] := src[0-31] + src[32-63].
11034 \S{insPFADD} \i\c{PFADD}: Packed Single-Precision FP Addition
11036 \c PFADD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 9E [PENT,3DNOW]
11038 \c{PFADD} performs addition on each of two packed single-precision
11041 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] + src[0-31],
11042 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] + src[32-63].
11045 \S{insPFCMP} \i\c{PFCMPxx}: Packed Single-Precision FP Compare
11046 \I\c{PFCMPEQ} \I\c{PFCMPGE} \I\c{PFCMPGT}
11048 \c PFCMPEQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B0 [PENT,3DNOW]
11049 \c PFCMPGE mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 90 [PENT,3DNOW]
11050 \c PFCMPGT mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A0 [PENT,3DNOW]
11052 The \c{PFCMPxx} instructions compare the packed single-point FP values
11053 in the source and destination operands, and set the destination
11054 according to the result. If the condition is true, the destination is
11055 set to all 1s, otherwise it's set to all 0s.
11057 \b \c{PFCMPEQ} tests whether dst == src;
11059 \b \c{PFCMPGE} tests whether dst >= src;
11061 \b \c{PFCMPGT} tests whether dst > src.
11064 \S{insPFMAX} \i\c{PFMAX}: Packed Single-Precision FP Maximum
11066 \c PFMAX mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A4 [PENT,3DNOW]
11068 \c{PFMAX} returns the higher of each pair of single-precision FP values.
11069 If the higher value is zero, it is returned as positive zero.
11072 \S{insPFMIN} \i\c{PFMIN}: Packed Single-Precision FP Minimum
11074 \c PFMIN mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 94 [PENT,3DNOW]
11076 \c{PFMIN} returns the lower of each pair of single-precision FP values.
11077 If the lower value is zero, it is returned as positive zero.
11080 \S{insPFMUL} \i\c{PFMUL}: Packed Single-Precision FP Multiply
11082 \c PFMUL mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B4 [PENT,3DNOW]
11084 \c{PFMUL} returns the product of each pair of single-precision FP values.
11086 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] * src[0-31],
11087 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] * src[32-63].
11090 \S{insPFNACC} \i\c{PFNACC}: Packed Single-Precision FP Negative Accumulate
11092 \c PFNACC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 8A [PENT,3DNOW]
11094 \c{PFNACC} performs a negative accumulate of the two single-precision
11095 FP values in the source and destination registers. The result of the
11096 accumulate from the destination register is stored in the low doubleword
11097 of the destination, and the result of the source accumulate is stored in
11098 the high doubleword of the destination register.
11102 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] - dst[32-63],
11103 \c dst[32-63] := src[0-31] - src[32-63].
11106 \S{insPFPNACC} \i\c{PFPNACC}: Packed Single-Precision FP Mixed Accumulate
11108 \c PFPNACC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 8E [PENT,3DNOW]
11110 \c{PFPNACC} performs a positive accumulate of the two single-precision
11111 FP values in the source register and a negative accumulate of the
11112 destination register. The result of the accumulate from the destination
11113 register is stored in the low doubleword of the destination, and the
11114 result of the source accumulate is stored in the high doubleword of the
11115 destination register.
11119 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] - dst[32-63],
11120 \c dst[32-63] := src[0-31] + src[32-63].
11123 \S{insPFRCP} \i\c{PFRCP}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal Approximation
11125 \c PFRCP mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 96 [PENT,3DNOW]
11127 \c{PFRCP} performs a low precision estimate of the reciprocal of the
11128 low-order single-precision FP value in the source operand, storing the
11129 result in both halves of the destination register. The result is accurate
11132 For higher precision reciprocals, this instruction should be followed by
11133 two more instructions: \c{PFRCPIT1} (\k{insPFRCPIT1}) and \c{PFRCPIT2}
11134 (\k{insPFRCPIT1}). This will result in a 24-bit accuracy. For more details,
11135 see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
11138 \S{insPFRCPIT1} \i\c{PFRCPIT1}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal,
11139 First Iteration Step
11141 \c PFRCPIT1 mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A6 [PENT,3DNOW]
11143 \c{PFRCPIT1} performs the first intermediate step in the calculation of
11144 the reciprocal of a single-precision FP value. The first source value
11145 (\c{mm1} is the original value, and the second source value (\c{mm2/m64}
11146 is the result of a \c{PFRCP} instruction.
11148 For the final step in a reciprocal, returning the full 24-bit accuracy
11149 of a single-precision FP value, see \c{PFRCPIT2} (\k{insPFRCPIT2}). For
11150 more details, see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
11153 \S{insPFRCPIT2} \i\c{PFRCPIT2}: Packed Single-Precision FP
11154 Reciprocal/ Reciprocal Square Root, Second Iteration Step
11156 \c PFRCPIT2 mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B6 [PENT,3DNOW]
11158 \c{PFRCPIT2} performs the second and final intermediate step in the
11159 calculation of a reciprocal or reciprocal square root, refining the
11160 values returned by the \c{PFRCP} and \c{PFRSQRT} instructions,
11163 The first source value (\c{mm1}) is the output of either a \c{PFRCPIT1}
11164 or a \c{PFRSQIT1} instruction, and the second source is the output of
11165 either the \c{PFRCP} or the \c{PFRSQRT} instruction. For more details,
11166 see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
11169 \S{insPFRSQIT1} \i\c{PFRSQIT1}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
11170 Square Root, First Iteration Step
11172 \c PFRSQIT1 mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r A7 [PENT,3DNOW]
11174 \c{PFRSQIT1} performs the first intermediate step in the calculation of
11175 the reciprocal square root of a single-precision FP value. The first
11176 source value (\c{mm1} is the square of the result of a \c{PFRSQRT}
11177 instruction, and the second source value (\c{mm2/m64} is the original
11180 For the final step in a calculation, returning the full 24-bit accuracy
11181 of a single-precision FP value, see \c{PFRCPIT2} (\k{insPFRCPIT2}). For
11182 more details, see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
11185 \S{insPFRSQRT} \i\c{PFRSQRT}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
11186 Square Root Approximation
11188 \c PFRSQRT mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 97 [PENT,3DNOW]
11190 \c{PFRSQRT} performs a low precision estimate of the reciprocal square
11191 root of the low-order single-precision FP value in the source operand,
11192 storing the result in both halves of the destination register. The result
11193 is accurate to 15 bits.
11195 For higher precision reciprocals, this instruction should be followed by
11196 two more instructions: \c{PFRSQIT1} (\k{insPFRSQIT1}) and \c{PFRCPIT2}
11197 (\k{insPFRCPIT1}). This will result in a 24-bit accuracy. For more details,
11198 see the AMD 3DNow! technology manual.
11201 \S{insPFSUB} \i\c{PFSUB}: Packed Single-Precision FP Subtract
11203 \c PFSUB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 9A [PENT,3DNOW]
11205 \c{PFSUB} subtracts the single-precision FP values in the source from
11206 those in the destination, and stores the result in the destination
11209 \c dst[0-31] := dst[0-31] - src[0-31],
11210 \c dst[32-63] := dst[32-63] - src[32-63].
11213 \S{insPFSUBR} \i\c{PFSUBR}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reverse Subtract
11215 \c PFSUBR mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r AA [PENT,3DNOW]
11217 \c{PFSUBR} subtracts the single-precision FP values in the destination
11218 from those in the source, and stores the result in the destination
11221 \c dst[0-31] := src[0-31] - dst[0-31],
11222 \c dst[32-63] := src[32-63] - dst[32-63].
11225 \S{insPI2FD} \i\c{PI2FD}: Packed Doubleword Integer to Single-Precision FP Convert
11227 \c PI2FD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 0D [PENT,3DNOW]
11229 \c{PF2ID} converts two signed 32-bit integers in the source operand
11230 to single-precision FP values, using truncation of significant digits,
11231 and stores them in the destination operand.
11234 \S{insPF2IW} \i\c{PF2IW}: Packed Word Integer to Single-Precision FP Convert
11236 \c PI2FW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r 0C [PENT,3DNOW]
11238 \c{PF2IW} converts two signed 16-bit integers in the source operand
11239 to single-precision FP values, and stores them in the destination
11240 operand. The input values are in the low word of each doubleword.
11243 \S{insPINSRW} \i\c{PINSRW}: Insert Word
11245 \c PINSRW mm,r16/r32/m16,imm8 ;0F C4 /r ib [KATMAI,MMX]
11246 \c PINSRW xmm,r16/r32/m16,imm8 ;66 0F C4 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11248 \c{PINSRW} loads a word from a 16-bit register (or the low half of a
11249 32-bit register), or from memory, and loads it to the word position
11250 in the destination register, pointed at by the count operand (third
11251 operand). If the destination is an \c{MMX} register, the low two bits
11252 of the count byte are used, if it is an \c{XMM} register the low 3
11253 bits are used. The insertion is done in such a way that the other
11254 words from the destination register are left untouched.
11257 \S{insPMACHRIW} \i\c{PMACHRIW}: Packed Multiply and Accumulate with Rounding
11259 \c PMACHRIW mm,m64 ; 0F 5E /r [CYRIX,MMX]
11261 \c{PMACHRIW} takes two packed 16-bit integer inputs, multiplies the
11262 values in the inputs, rounds on bit 15 of each result, then adds bits
11263 15-30 of each result to the corresponding position of the \e{implied}
11264 destination register.
11266 The operation of this instruction is:
11268 \c dstI[0-15] := dstI[0-15] + (mm[0-15] *m64[0-15]
11269 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30],
11270 \c dstI[16-31] := dstI[16-31] + (mm[16-31]*m64[16-31]
11271 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30],
11272 \c dstI[32-47] := dstI[32-47] + (mm[32-47]*m64[32-47]
11273 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30],
11274 \c dstI[48-63] := dstI[48-63] + (mm[48-63]*m64[48-63]
11275 \c + 0x00004000)[15-30].
11277 Note that \c{PMACHRIW} cannot take a register as its second source
11281 \S{insPMADDWD} \i\c{PMADDWD}: MMX Packed Multiply and Add
11283 \c PMADDWD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F5 /r [PENT,MMX]
11284 \c PMADDWD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F5 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11286 \c{PMADDWD} treats its two inputs as vectors of signed words. It
11287 multiplies corresponding elements of the two operands, giving doubleword
11288 results. These are then added together in pairs and stored in the
11289 destination operand.
11291 The operation of this instruction is:
11293 \c dst[0-31] := (dst[0-15] * src[0-15])
11294 \c + (dst[16-31] * src[16-31]);
11295 \c dst[32-63] := (dst[32-47] * src[32-47])
11296 \c + (dst[48-63] * src[48-63]);
11298 The following apply to the \c{SSE} version of the instruction:
11300 \c dst[64-95] := (dst[64-79] * src[64-79])
11301 \c + (dst[80-95] * src[80-95]);
11302 \c dst[96-127] := (dst[96-111] * src[96-111])
11303 \c + (dst[112-127] * src[112-127]).
11306 \S{insPMAGW} \i\c{PMAGW}: MMX Packed Magnitude
11308 \c PMAGW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 52 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
11310 \c{PMAGW}, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, treats both its
11311 operands as vectors of four signed words. It compares the absolute
11312 values of the words in corresponding positions, and sets each word
11313 of the destination (first) operand to whichever of the two words in
11314 that position had the larger absolute value.
11317 \S{insPMAXSW} \i\c{PMAXSW}: Packed Signed Integer Word Maximum
11319 \c PMAXSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EE /r [KATMAI,MMX]
11320 \c PMAXSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EE /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11322 \c{PMAXSW} compares each pair of words in the two source operands, and
11323 for each pair it stores the maximum value in the destination register.
11326 \S{insPMAXUB} \i\c{PMAXUB}: Packed Unsigned Integer Byte Maximum
11328 \c PMAXUB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DE /r [KATMAI,MMX]
11329 \c PMAXUB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DE /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11331 \c{PMAXUB} compares each pair of bytes in the two source operands, and
11332 for each pair it stores the maximum value in the destination register.
11335 \S{insPMINSW} \i\c{PMINSW}: Packed Signed Integer Word Minimum
11337 \c PMINSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EA /r [KATMAI,MMX]
11338 \c PMINSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EA /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11340 \c{PMINSW} compares each pair of words in the two source operands, and
11341 for each pair it stores the minimum value in the destination register.
11344 \S{insPMINUB} \i\c{PMINUB}: Packed Unsigned Integer Byte Minimum
11346 \c PMINUB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F DA /r [KATMAI,MMX]
11347 \c PMINUB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F DA /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11349 \c{PMINUB} compares each pair of bytes in the two source operands, and
11350 for each pair it stores the minimum value in the destination register.
11353 \S{insPMOVMSKB} \i\c{PMOVMSKB}: Move Byte Mask To Integer
11355 \c PMOVMSKB reg32,mm ; 0F D7 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
11356 \c PMOVMSKB reg32,xmm ; 66 0F D7 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11358 \c{PMOVMSKB} returns an 8-bit or 16-bit mask formed of the most
11359 significant bits of each byte of source operand (8-bits for an
11360 \c{MMX} register, 16-bits for an \c{XMM} register).
11363 \S{insPMULHRW} \i\c{PMULHRWC}, \i\c{PMULHRIW}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers
11364 With Rounding, and Store High Word
11366 \c PMULHRWC mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 59 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
11367 \c PMULHRIW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 5D /r [CYRIX,MMX]
11369 These instructions take two packed 16-bit integer inputs, multiply the
11370 values in the inputs, round on bit 15 of each result, then store bits
11371 15-30 of each result to the corresponding position of the destination
11374 \b For \c{PMULHRWC}, the destination is the first source operand.
11376 \b For \c{PMULHRIW}, the destination is an implied register (worked out
11377 as described for \c{PADDSIW} (\k{insPADDSIW})).
11379 The operation of this instruction is:
11381 \c dst[0-15] := (src1[0-15] *src2[0-15] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
11382 \c dst[16-31] := (src1[16-31]*src2[16-31] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
11383 \c dst[32-47] := (src1[32-47]*src2[32-47] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
11384 \c dst[48-63] := (src1[48-63]*src2[48-63] + 0x00004000)[15-30]
11386 See also \c{PMULHRWA} (\k{insPMULHRWA}) for a 3DNow! version of this
11390 \S{insPMULHRWA} \i\c{PMULHRWA}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers
11391 With Rounding, and Store High Word
11393 \c PMULHRWA mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r B7 [PENT,3DNOW]
11395 \c{PMULHRWA} takes two packed 16-bit integer inputs, multiplies
11396 the values in the inputs, rounds on bit 16 of each result, then
11397 stores bits 16-31 of each result to the corresponding position
11398 of the destination register.
11400 The operation of this instruction is:
11402 \c dst[0-15] := (src1[0-15] *src2[0-15] + 0x00008000)[16-31];
11403 \c dst[16-31] := (src1[16-31]*src2[16-31] + 0x00008000)[16-31];
11404 \c dst[32-47] := (src1[32-47]*src2[32-47] + 0x00008000)[16-31];
11405 \c dst[48-63] := (src1[48-63]*src2[48-63] + 0x00008000)[16-31].
11407 See also \c{PMULHRWC} (\k{insPMULHRW}) for a Cyrix version of this
11411 \S{insPMULHUW} \i\c{PMULHUW}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers,
11412 and Store High Word
11414 \c PMULHUW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E4 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
11415 \c PMULHUW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11417 \c{PMULHUW} takes two packed unsigned 16-bit integer inputs, multiplies
11418 the values in the inputs, then stores bits 16-31 of each result to the
11419 corresponding position of the destination register.
11422 \S{insPMULHW} \i\c{PMULHW}, \i\c{PMULLW}: Multiply Packed 16-bit Integers,
11425 \c PMULHW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E5 /r [PENT,MMX]
11426 \c PMULLW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D5 /r [PENT,MMX]
11428 \c PMULHW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E5 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11429 \c PMULLW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D5 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11431 \c{PMULxW} takes two packed unsigned 16-bit integer inputs, and
11432 multiplies the values in the inputs, forming doubleword results.
11434 \b \c{PMULHW} then stores the top 16 bits of each doubleword in the
11435 destination (first) operand;
11437 \b \c{PMULLW} stores the bottom 16 bits of each doubleword in the
11438 destination operand.
11441 \S{insPMULUDQ} \i\c{PMULUDQ}: Multiply Packed Unsigned
11442 32-bit Integers, and Store.
11444 \c PMULUDQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11445 \c PMULUDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F4 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11447 \c{PMULUDQ} takes two packed unsigned 32-bit integer inputs, and
11448 multiplies the values in the inputs, forming quadword results. The
11449 source is either an unsigned doubleword in the low doubleword of a
11450 64-bit operand, or it's two unsigned doublewords in the first and
11451 third doublewords of a 128-bit operand. This produces either one or
11452 two 64-bit results, which are stored in the respective quadword
11453 locations of the destination register.
11457 \c dst[0-63] := dst[0-31] * src[0-31];
11458 \c dst[64-127] := dst[64-95] * src[64-95].
11461 \S{insPMVccZB} \i\c{PMVccZB}: MMX Packed Conditional Move
11463 \c PMVZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 58 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
11464 \c PMVNZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 5A /r [CYRIX,MMX]
11465 \c PMVLZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 5B /r [CYRIX,MMX]
11466 \c PMVGEZB mmxreg,mem64 ; 0F 5C /r [CYRIX,MMX]
11468 These instructions, specific to the Cyrix MMX extensions, perform
11469 parallel conditional moves. The two input operands are treated as
11470 vectors of eight bytes. Each byte of the destination (first) operand
11471 is either written from the corresponding byte of the source (second)
11472 operand, or left alone, depending on the value of the byte in the
11473 \e{implied} operand (specified in the same way as \c{PADDSIW}, in
11476 \b \c{PMVZB} performs each move if the corresponding byte in the
11477 implied operand is zero;
11479 \b \c{PMVNZB} moves if the byte is non-zero;
11481 \b \c{PMVLZB} moves if the byte is less than zero;
11483 \b \c{PMVGEZB} moves if the byte is greater than or equal to zero.
11485 Note that these instructions cannot take a register as their second
11489 \S{insPOP} \i\c{POP}: Pop Data from Stack
11491 \c POP reg16 ; o16 58+r [8086]
11492 \c POP reg32 ; o32 58+r [386]
11494 \c POP r/m16 ; o16 8F /0 [8086]
11495 \c POP r/m32 ; o32 8F /0 [386]
11497 \c POP CS ; 0F [8086,UNDOC]
11498 \c POP DS ; 1F [8086]
11499 \c POP ES ; 07 [8086]
11500 \c POP SS ; 17 [8086]
11501 \c POP FS ; 0F A1 [386]
11502 \c POP GS ; 0F A9 [386]
11504 \c{POP} loads a value from the stack (from \c{[SS:SP]} or
11505 \c{[SS:ESP]}) and then increments the stack pointer.
11507 The address-size attribute of the instruction determines whether
11508 \c{SP} or \c{ESP} is used as the stack pointer: to deliberately
11509 override the default given by the \c{BITS} setting, you can use an
11510 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
11512 The operand-size attribute of the instruction determines whether the
11513 stack pointer is incremented by 2 or 4: this means that segment
11514 register pops in \c{BITS 32} mode will pop 4 bytes off the stack and
11515 discard the upper two of them. If you need to override that, you can
11516 use an \i\c{o16} or \i\c{o32} prefix.
11518 The above opcode listings give two forms for general-purpose
11519 register pop instructions: for example, \c{POP BX} has the two forms
11520 \c{5B} and \c{8F C3}. NASM will always generate the shorter form
11521 when given \c{POP BX}. NDISASM will disassemble both.
11523 \c{POP CS} is not a documented instruction, and is not supported on
11524 any processor above the 8086 (since they use \c{0Fh} as an opcode
11525 prefix for instruction set extensions). However, at least some 8086
11526 processors do support it, and so NASM generates it for completeness.
11529 \S{insPOPA} \i\c{POPAx}: Pop All General-Purpose Registers
11532 \c POPAW ; o16 61 [186]
11533 \c POPAD ; o32 61 [386]
11535 \b \c{POPAW} pops a word from the stack into each of, successively,
11536 \c{DI}, \c{SI}, \c{BP}, nothing (it discards a word from the stack
11537 which was a placeholder for \c{SP}), \c{BX}, \c{DX}, \c{CX} and
11538 \c{AX}. It is intended to reverse the operation of \c{PUSHAW} (see
11539 \k{insPUSHA}), but it ignores the value for \c{SP} that was pushed
11540 on the stack by \c{PUSHAW}.
11542 \b \c{POPAD} pops twice as much data, and places the results in
11543 \c{EDI}, \c{ESI}, \c{EBP}, nothing (placeholder for \c{ESP}),
11544 \c{EBX}, \c{EDX}, \c{ECX} and \c{EAX}. It reverses the operation of
11547 \c{POPA} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{POPAW} or \c{POPAD},
11548 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
11550 Note that the registers are popped in reverse order of their numeric
11551 values in opcodes (see \k{iref-rv}).
11554 \S{insPOPF} \i\c{POPFx}: Pop Flags Register
11556 \c POPF ; 9D [8086]
11557 \c POPFW ; o16 9D [8086]
11558 \c POPFD ; o32 9D [386]
11560 \b \c{POPFW} pops a word from the stack and stores it in the bottom 16
11561 bits of the flags register (or the whole flags register, on
11562 processors below a 386).
11564 \b \c{POPFD} pops a doubleword and stores it in the entire flags register.
11566 \c{POPF} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{POPFW} or \c{POPFD},
11567 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
11569 See also \c{PUSHF} (\k{insPUSHF}).
11572 \S{insPOR} \i\c{POR}: MMX Bitwise OR
11574 \c POR mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EB /r [PENT,MMX]
11575 \c POR xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11577 \c{POR} performs a bitwise OR operation between its two operands
11578 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if at least one of the
11579 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
11580 in the destination (first) operand.
11583 \S{insPREFETCH} \i\c{PREFETCH}: Prefetch Data Into Caches
11585 \c PREFETCH mem8 ; 0F 0D /0 [PENT,3DNOW]
11586 \c PREFETCHW mem8 ; 0F 0D /1 [PENT,3DNOW]
11588 \c{PREFETCH} and \c{PREFETCHW} fetch the line of data from memory that
11589 contains the specified byte. \c{PREFETCHW} performs differently on the
11590 Athlon to earlier processors.
11592 For more details, see the 3DNow! Technology Manual.
11595 \S{insPREFETCHh} \i\c{PREFETCHh}: Prefetch Data Into Caches
11596 \I\c{PREFETCHNTA} \I\c{PREFETCHT0} \I\c{PREFETCHT1} \I\c{PREFETCHT2}
11598 \c PREFETCHNTA m8 ; 0F 18 /0 [KATMAI]
11599 \c PREFETCHT0 m8 ; 0F 18 /1 [KATMAI]
11600 \c PREFETCHT1 m8 ; 0F 18 /2 [KATMAI]
11601 \c PREFETCHT2 m8 ; 0F 18 /3 [KATMAI]
11603 The \c{PREFETCHh} instructions fetch the line of data from memory
11604 that contains the specified byte. It is placed in the cache
11605 according to rules specified by locality hints \c{h}:
11609 \b \c{T0} (temporal data) - prefetch data into all levels of the
11612 \b \c{T1} (temporal data with respect to first level cache) -
11613 prefetch data into level 2 cache and higher.
11615 \b \c{T2} (temporal data with respect to second level cache) -
11616 prefetch data into level 2 cache and higher.
11618 \b \c{NTA} (non-temporal data with respect to all cache levels) -
11619 prefetch data into non-temporal cache structure and into a
11620 location close to the processor, minimizing cache pollution.
11622 Note that this group of instructions doesn't provide a guarantee
11623 that the data will be in the cache when it is needed. For more
11624 details, see the Intel IA32 Software Developer Manual, Volume 2.
11627 \S{insPSADBW} \i\c{PSADBW}: Packed Sum of Absolute Differences
11629 \c PSADBW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F6 /r [KATMAI,MMX]
11630 \c PSADBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F6 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11632 \c{PSADBW} The PSADBW instruction computes the absolute value of the
11633 difference of the packed unsigned bytes in the two source operands.
11634 These differences are then summed to produce a word result in the lower
11635 16-bit field of the destination register; the rest of the register is
11636 cleared. The destination operand is an \c{MMX} or an \c{XMM} register.
11637 The source operand can either be a register or a memory operand.
11640 \S{insPSHUFD} \i\c{PSHUFD}: Shuffle Packed Doublewords
11642 \c PSHUFD xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; 66 0F 70 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11644 \c{PSHUFD} shuffles the doublewords in the source (second) operand
11645 according to the encoding specified by imm8, and stores the result
11646 in the destination (first) operand.
11648 Bits 0 and 1 of imm8 encode the source position of the doubleword to
11649 be copied to position 0 in the destination operand. Bits 2 and 3
11650 encode for position 1, bits 4 and 5 encode for position 2, and bits
11651 6 and 7 encode for position 3. For example, an encoding of 10 in
11652 bits 0 and 1 of imm8 indicates that the doubleword at bits 64-95 of
11653 the source operand will be copied to bits 0-31 of the destination.
11656 \S{insPSHUFHW} \i\c{PSHUFHW}: Shuffle Packed High Words
11658 \c PSHUFHW xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; F3 0F 70 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11660 \c{PSHUFW} shuffles the words in the high quadword of the source
11661 (second) operand according to the encoding specified by imm8, and
11662 stores the result in the high quadword of the destination (first)
11665 The operation of this instruction is similar to the \c{PSHUFW}
11666 instruction, except that the source and destination are the top
11667 quadword of a 128-bit operand, instead of being 64-bit operands.
11668 The low quadword is copied from the source to the destination
11669 without any changes.
11672 \S{insPSHUFLW} \i\c{PSHUFLW}: Shuffle Packed Low Words
11674 \c PSHUFLW xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; F2 0F 70 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11676 \c{PSHUFLW} shuffles the words in the low quadword of the source
11677 (second) operand according to the encoding specified by imm8, and
11678 stores the result in the low quadword of the destination (first)
11681 The operation of this instruction is similar to the \c{PSHUFW}
11682 instruction, except that the source and destination are the low
11683 quadword of a 128-bit operand, instead of being 64-bit operands.
11684 The high quadword is copied from the source to the destination
11685 without any changes.
11688 \S{insPSHUFW} \i\c{PSHUFW}: Shuffle Packed Words
11690 \c PSHUFW mm1,mm2/m64,imm8 ; 0F 70 /r ib [KATMAI,MMX]
11692 \c{PSHUFW} shuffles the words in the source (second) operand
11693 according to the encoding specified by imm8, and stores the result
11694 in the destination (first) operand.
11696 Bits 0 and 1 of imm8 encode the source position of the word to be
11697 copied to position 0 in the destination operand. Bits 2 and 3 encode
11698 for position 1, bits 4 and 5 encode for position 2, and bits 6 and 7
11699 encode for position 3. For example, an encoding of 10 in bits 0 and 1
11700 of imm8 indicates that the word at bits 32-47 of the source operand
11701 will be copied to bits 0-15 of the destination.
11704 \S{insPSLLD} \i\c{PSLLx}: Packed Data Bit Shift Left Logical
11706 \c PSLLW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F1 /r [PENT,MMX]
11707 \c PSLLW mm,imm8 ; 0F 71 /6 ib [PENT,MMX]
11709 \c PSLLW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F1 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11710 \c PSLLW xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 71 /6 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11712 \c PSLLD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F2 /r [PENT,MMX]
11713 \c PSLLD mm,imm8 ; 0F 72 /6 ib [PENT,MMX]
11715 \c PSLLD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F2 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11716 \c PSLLD xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 72 /6 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11718 \c PSLLQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F3 /r [PENT,MMX]
11719 \c PSLLQ mm,imm8 ; 0F 73 /6 ib [PENT,MMX]
11721 \c PSLLQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11722 \c PSLLQ xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /6 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11724 \c PSLLDQ xmm1,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /7 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11726 \c{PSLLx} performs logical left shifts of the data elements in the
11727 destination (first) operand, moving each bit in the separate elements
11728 left by the number of bits specified in the source (second) operand,
11729 clearing the low-order bits as they are vacated. \c{PSLLDQ}
11730 shifts bytes, not bits.
11732 \b \c{PSLLW} shifts word sized elements.
11734 \b \c{PSLLD} shifts doubleword sized elements.
11736 \b \c{PSLLQ} shifts quadword sized elements.
11738 \b \c{PSLLDQ} shifts double quadword sized elements.
11741 \S{insPSRAD} \i\c{PSRAx}: Packed Data Bit Shift Right Arithmetic
11743 \c PSRAW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E1 /r [PENT,MMX]
11744 \c PSRAW mm,imm8 ; 0F 71 /4 ib [PENT,MMX]
11746 \c PSRAW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E1 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11747 \c PSRAW xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 71 /4 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11749 \c PSRAD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E2 /r [PENT,MMX]
11750 \c PSRAD mm,imm8 ; 0F 72 /4 ib [PENT,MMX]
11752 \c PSRAD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E2 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11753 \c PSRAD xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 72 /4 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11755 \c{PSRAx} performs arithmetic right shifts of the data elements in the
11756 destination (first) operand, moving each bit in the separate elements
11757 right by the number of bits specified in the source (second) operand,
11758 setting the high-order bits to the value of the original sign bit.
11760 \b \c{PSRAW} shifts word sized elements.
11762 \b \c{PSRAD} shifts doubleword sized elements.
11765 \S{insPSRLD} \i\c{PSRLx}: Packed Data Bit Shift Right Logical
11767 \c PSRLW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D1 /r [PENT,MMX]
11768 \c PSRLW mm,imm8 ; 0F 71 /2 ib [PENT,MMX]
11770 \c PSRLW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D1 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11771 \c PSRLW xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 71 /2 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11773 \c PSRLD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D2 /r [PENT,MMX]
11774 \c PSRLD mm,imm8 ; 0F 72 /2 ib [PENT,MMX]
11776 \c PSRLD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D2 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11777 \c PSRLD xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 72 /2 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11779 \c PSRLQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D3 /r [PENT,MMX]
11780 \c PSRLQ mm,imm8 ; 0F 73 /2 ib [PENT,MMX]
11782 \c PSRLQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D3 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11783 \c PSRLQ xmm,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /2 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11785 \c PSRLDQ xmm1,imm8 ; 66 0F 73 /3 ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11787 \c{PSRLx} performs logical right shifts of the data elements in the
11788 destination (first) operand, moving each bit in the separate elements
11789 right by the number of bits specified in the source (second) operand,
11790 clearing the high-order bits as they are vacated. \c{PSRLDQ}
11791 shifts bytes, not bits.
11793 \b \c{PSRLW} shifts word sized elements.
11795 \b \c{PSRLD} shifts doubleword sized elements.
11797 \b \c{PSRLQ} shifts quadword sized elements.
11799 \b \c{PSRLDQ} shifts double quadword sized elements.
11802 \S{insPSUBB} \i\c{PSUBx}: Subtract Packed Integers
11804 \c PSUBB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F8 /r [PENT,MMX]
11805 \c PSUBW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F F9 /r [PENT,MMX]
11806 \c PSUBD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FA /r [PENT,MMX]
11807 \c PSUBQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F FB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11809 \c PSUBB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F8 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11810 \c PSUBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F F9 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11811 \c PSUBD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FA /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11812 \c PSUBQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F FB /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11814 \c{PSUBx} subtracts packed integers in the source operand from those
11815 in the destination operand. It doesn't differentiate between signed
11816 and unsigned integers, and doesn't set any of the flags.
11818 \b \c{PSUBB} operates on byte sized elements.
11820 \b \c{PSUBW} operates on word sized elements.
11822 \b \c{PSUBD} operates on doubleword sized elements.
11824 \b \c{PSUBQ} operates on quadword sized elements.
11827 \S{insPSUBSB} \i\c{PSUBSxx}, \i\c{PSUBUSx}: Subtract Packed Integers With Saturation
11829 \c PSUBSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E8 /r [PENT,MMX]
11830 \c PSUBSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F E9 /r [PENT,MMX]
11832 \c PSUBSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E8 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11833 \c PSUBSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F E9 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11835 \c PSUBUSB mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D8 /r [PENT,MMX]
11836 \c PSUBUSW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F D9 /r [PENT,MMX]
11838 \c PSUBUSB xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D8 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11839 \c PSUBUSW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F D9 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11841 \c{PSUBSx} and \c{PSUBUSx} subtracts packed integers in the source
11842 operand from those in the destination operand, and use saturation for
11843 results that are outside the range supported by the destination operand.
11845 \b \c{PSUBSB} operates on signed bytes, and uses signed saturation on the
11848 \b \c{PSUBSW} operates on signed words, and uses signed saturation on the
11851 \b \c{PSUBUSB} operates on unsigned bytes, and uses signed saturation on
11854 \b \c{PSUBUSW} operates on unsigned words, and uses signed saturation on
11858 \S{insPSUBSIW} \i\c{PSUBSIW}: MMX Packed Subtract with Saturation to
11859 Implied Destination
11861 \c PSUBSIW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 55 /r [CYRIX,MMX]
11863 \c{PSUBSIW}, specific to the Cyrix extensions to the MMX instruction
11864 set, performs the same function as \c{PSUBSW}, except that the
11865 result is not placed in the register specified by the first operand,
11866 but instead in the implied destination register, specified as for
11867 \c{PADDSIW} (\k{insPADDSIW}).
11870 \S{insPSWAPD} \i\c{PSWAPD}: Swap Packed Data
11873 \c PSWAPD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 0F /r BB [PENT,3DNOW]
11875 \c{PSWAPD} swaps the packed doublewords in the source operand, and
11876 stores the result in the destination operand.
11878 In the \c{K6-2} and \c{K6-III} processors, this opcode uses the
11879 mnemonic \c{PSWAPW}, and it swaps the order of words when copying
11880 from the source to the destination.
11882 The operation in the \c{K6-2} and \c{K6-III} processors is
11884 \c dst[0-15] = src[48-63];
11885 \c dst[16-31] = src[32-47];
11886 \c dst[32-47] = src[16-31];
11887 \c dst[48-63] = src[0-15].
11889 The operation in the \c{K6-x+}, \c{ATHLON} and later processors is:
11891 \c dst[0-31] = src[32-63];
11892 \c dst[32-63] = src[0-31].
11895 \S{insPUNPCKHBW} \i\c{PUNPCKxxx}: Unpack and Interleave Data
11897 \c PUNPCKHBW mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 68 /r [PENT,MMX]
11898 \c PUNPCKHWD mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 69 /r [PENT,MMX]
11899 \c PUNPCKHDQ mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F 6A /r [PENT,MMX]
11901 \c PUNPCKHBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 68 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11902 \c PUNPCKHWD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 69 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11903 \c PUNPCKHDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6A /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11904 \c PUNPCKHQDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6D /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11906 \c PUNPCKLBW mm1,mm2/m32 ; 0F 60 /r [PENT,MMX]
11907 \c PUNPCKLWD mm1,mm2/m32 ; 0F 61 /r [PENT,MMX]
11908 \c PUNPCKLDQ mm1,mm2/m32 ; 0F 62 /r [PENT,MMX]
11910 \c PUNPCKLBW xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 60 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11911 \c PUNPCKLWD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 61 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11912 \c PUNPCKLDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 62 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11913 \c PUNPCKLQDQ xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 6C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
11915 \c{PUNPCKxx} all treat their operands as vectors, and produce a new
11916 vector generated by interleaving elements from the two inputs. The
11917 \c{PUNPCKHxx} instructions start by throwing away the bottom half of
11918 each input operand, and the \c{PUNPCKLxx} instructions throw away
11921 The remaining elements, are then interleaved into the destination,
11922 alternating elements from the second (source) operand and the first
11923 (destination) operand: so the leftmost part of each element in the
11924 result always comes from the second operand, and the rightmost from
11927 \b \c{PUNPCKxBW} works a byte at a time, producing word sized output
11930 \b \c{PUNPCKxWD} works a word at a time, producing doubleword sized
11933 \b \c{PUNPCKxDQ} works a doubleword at a time, producing quadword sized
11936 \b \c{PUNPCKxQDQ} works a quadword at a time, producing double quadword
11937 sized output elements.
11939 So, for example, for \c{MMX} operands, if the first operand held
11940 \c{0x7A6A5A4A3A2A1A0A} and the second held \c{0x7B6B5B4B3B2B1B0B},
11943 \b \c{PUNPCKHBW} would return \c{0x7B7A6B6A5B5A4B4A}.
11945 \b \c{PUNPCKHWD} would return \c{0x7B6B7A6A5B4B5A4A}.
11947 \b \c{PUNPCKHDQ} would return \c{0x7B6B5B4B7A6A5A4A}.
11949 \b \c{PUNPCKLBW} would return \c{0x3B3A2B2A1B1A0B0A}.
11951 \b \c{PUNPCKLWD} would return \c{0x3B2B3A2A1B0B1A0A}.
11953 \b \c{PUNPCKLDQ} would return \c{0x3B2B1B0B3A2A1A0A}.
11956 \S{insPUSH} \i\c{PUSH}: Push Data on Stack
11958 \c PUSH reg16 ; o16 50+r [8086]
11959 \c PUSH reg32 ; o32 50+r [386]
11961 \c PUSH r/m16 ; o16 FF /6 [8086]
11962 \c PUSH r/m32 ; o32 FF /6 [386]
11964 \c PUSH CS ; 0E [8086]
11965 \c PUSH DS ; 1E [8086]
11966 \c PUSH ES ; 06 [8086]
11967 \c PUSH SS ; 16 [8086]
11968 \c PUSH FS ; 0F A0 [386]
11969 \c PUSH GS ; 0F A8 [386]
11971 \c PUSH imm8 ; 6A ib [186]
11972 \c PUSH imm16 ; o16 68 iw [186]
11973 \c PUSH imm32 ; o32 68 id [386]
11975 \c{PUSH} decrements the stack pointer (\c{SP} or \c{ESP}) by 2 or 4,
11976 and then stores the given value at \c{[SS:SP]} or \c{[SS:ESP]}.
11978 The address-size attribute of the instruction determines whether
11979 \c{SP} or \c{ESP} is used as the stack pointer: to deliberately
11980 override the default given by the \c{BITS} setting, you can use an
11981 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
11983 The operand-size attribute of the instruction determines whether the
11984 stack pointer is decremented by 2 or 4: this means that segment
11985 register pushes in \c{BITS 32} mode will push 4 bytes on the stack,
11986 of which the upper two are undefined. If you need to override that,
11987 you can use an \i\c{o16} or \i\c{o32} prefix.
11989 The above opcode listings give two forms for general-purpose
11990 \i{register push} instructions: for example, \c{PUSH BX} has the two
11991 forms \c{53} and \c{FF F3}. NASM will always generate the shorter
11992 form when given \c{PUSH BX}. NDISASM will disassemble both.
11994 Unlike the undocumented and barely supported \c{POP CS}, \c{PUSH CS}
11995 is a perfectly valid and sensible instruction, supported on all
11998 The instruction \c{PUSH SP} may be used to distinguish an 8086 from
11999 later processors: on an 8086, the value of \c{SP} stored is the
12000 value it has \e{after} the push instruction, whereas on later
12001 processors it is the value \e{before} the push instruction.
12004 \S{insPUSHA} \i\c{PUSHAx}: Push All General-Purpose Registers
12006 \c PUSHA ; 60 [186]
12007 \c PUSHAD ; o32 60 [386]
12008 \c PUSHAW ; o16 60 [186]
12010 \c{PUSHAW} pushes, in succession, \c{AX}, \c{CX}, \c{DX}, \c{BX},
12011 \c{SP}, \c{BP}, \c{SI} and \c{DI} on the stack, decrementing the
12012 stack pointer by a total of 16.
12014 \c{PUSHAD} pushes, in succession, \c{EAX}, \c{ECX}, \c{EDX},
12015 \c{EBX}, \c{ESP}, \c{EBP}, \c{ESI} and \c{EDI} on the stack,
12016 decrementing the stack pointer by a total of 32.
12018 In both cases, the value of \c{SP} or \c{ESP} pushed is its
12019 \e{original} value, as it had before the instruction was executed.
12021 \c{PUSHA} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{PUSHAW} or \c{PUSHAD},
12022 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
12024 Note that the registers are pushed in order of their numeric values
12025 in opcodes (see \k{iref-rv}).
12027 See also \c{POPA} (\k{insPOPA}).
12030 \S{insPUSHF} \i\c{PUSHFx}: Push Flags Register
12032 \c PUSHF ; 9C [8086]
12033 \c PUSHFD ; o32 9C [386]
12034 \c PUSHFW ; o16 9C [8086]
12036 \b \c{PUSHFW} pushes the bottom 16 bits of the flags register
12037 (or the whole flags register, on processors below a 386) onto
12040 \b \c{PUSHFD} pushes the entire flags register onto the stack.
12042 \c{PUSHF} is an alias mnemonic for either \c{PUSHFW} or \c{PUSHFD},
12043 depending on the current \c{BITS} setting.
12045 See also \c{POPF} (\k{insPOPF}).
12048 \S{insPXOR} \i\c{PXOR}: MMX Bitwise XOR
12050 \c PXOR mm1,mm2/m64 ; 0F EF /r [PENT,MMX]
12051 \c PXOR xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F EF /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12053 \c{PXOR} performs a bitwise XOR operation between its two operands
12054 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if exactly one of the
12055 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
12056 in the destination (first) operand.
12059 \S{insRCL} \i\c{RCL}, \i\c{RCR}: Bitwise Rotate through Carry Bit
12061 \c RCL r/m8,1 ; D0 /2 [8086]
12062 \c RCL r/m8,CL ; D2 /2 [8086]
12063 \c RCL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /2 ib [186]
12064 \c RCL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /2 [8086]
12065 \c RCL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /2 [8086]
12066 \c RCL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /2 ib [186]
12067 \c RCL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /2 [386]
12068 \c RCL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /2 [386]
12069 \c RCL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /2 ib [386]
12071 \c RCR r/m8,1 ; D0 /3 [8086]
12072 \c RCR r/m8,CL ; D2 /3 [8086]
12073 \c RCR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /3 ib [186]
12074 \c RCR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /3 [8086]
12075 \c RCR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /3 [8086]
12076 \c RCR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /3 ib [186]
12077 \c RCR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /3 [386]
12078 \c RCR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /3 [386]
12079 \c RCR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /3 ib [386]
12081 \c{RCL} and \c{RCR} perform a 9-bit, 17-bit or 33-bit bitwise
12082 rotation operation, involving the given source/destination (first)
12083 operand and the carry bit. Thus, for example, in the operation
12084 \c{RCL AL,1}, a 9-bit rotation is performed in which \c{AL} is
12085 shifted left by 1, the top bit of \c{AL} moves into the carry flag,
12086 and the original value of the carry flag is placed in the low bit of
12089 The number of bits to rotate by is given by the second operand. Only
12090 the bottom five bits of the rotation count are considered by
12091 processors above the 8086.
12093 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
12094 byte) form of \c{RCL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{RCL
12095 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{RCR}.
12098 \S{insRCPPS} \i\c{RCPPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
12100 \c RCPPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 53 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12102 \c{RCPPS} returns an approximation of the reciprocal of the packed
12103 single-precision FP values from xmm2/m128. The maximum error for this
12104 approximation is: |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
12107 \S{insRCPSS} \i\c{RCPSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Reciprocal
12109 \c RCPSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 53 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12111 \c{RCPSS} returns an approximation of the reciprocal of the lower
12112 single-precision FP value from xmm2/m32; the upper three fields are
12113 passed through from xmm1. The maximum error for this approximation is:
12114 |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
12117 \S{insRDMSR} \i\c{RDMSR}: Read Model-Specific Registers
12119 \c RDMSR ; 0F 32 [PENT,PRIV]
12121 \c{RDMSR} reads the processor Model-Specific Register (MSR) whose
12122 index is stored in \c{ECX}, and stores the result in \c{EDX:EAX}.
12123 See also \c{WRMSR} (\k{insWRMSR}).
12126 \S{insRDPMC} \i\c{RDPMC}: Read Performance-Monitoring Counters
12128 \c RDPMC ; 0F 33 [P6]
12130 \c{RDPMC} reads the processor performance-monitoring counter whose
12131 index is stored in \c{ECX}, and stores the result in \c{EDX:EAX}.
12133 This instruction is available on P6 and later processors and on MMX
12137 \S{insRDSHR} \i\c{RDSHR}: Read SMM Header Pointer Register
12139 \c RDSHR r/m32 ; 0F 36 /0 [386,CYRIX,SMM]
12141 \c{RDSHR} reads the contents of the SMM header pointer register and
12142 saves it to the destination operand, which can be either a 32 bit
12143 memory location or a 32 bit register.
12145 See also \c{WRSHR} (\k{insWRSHR}).
12148 \S{insRDTSC} \i\c{RDTSC}: Read Time-Stamp Counter
12150 \c RDTSC ; 0F 31 [PENT]
12152 \c{RDTSC} reads the processor's time-stamp counter into \c{EDX:EAX}.
12155 \S{insRET} \i\c{RET}, \i\c{RETF}, \i\c{RETN}: Return from Procedure Call
12158 \c RET imm16 ; C2 iw [8086]
12160 \c RETF ; CB [8086]
12161 \c RETF imm16 ; CA iw [8086]
12163 \c RETN ; C3 [8086]
12164 \c RETN imm16 ; C2 iw [8086]
12166 \b \c{RET}, and its exact synonym \c{RETN}, pop \c{IP} or \c{EIP} from
12167 the stack and transfer control to the new address. Optionally, if a
12168 numeric second operand is provided, they increment the stack pointer
12169 by a further \c{imm16} bytes after popping the return address.
12171 \b \c{RETF} executes a far return: after popping \c{IP}/\c{EIP}, it
12172 then pops \c{CS}, and \e{then} increments the stack pointer by the
12173 optional argument if present.
12176 \S{insROL} \i\c{ROL}, \i\c{ROR}: Bitwise Rotate
12178 \c ROL r/m8,1 ; D0 /0 [8086]
12179 \c ROL r/m8,CL ; D2 /0 [8086]
12180 \c ROL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /0 ib [186]
12181 \c ROL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /0 [8086]
12182 \c ROL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /0 [8086]
12183 \c ROL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /0 ib [186]
12184 \c ROL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /0 [386]
12185 \c ROL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /0 [386]
12186 \c ROL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /0 ib [386]
12188 \c ROR r/m8,1 ; D0 /1 [8086]
12189 \c ROR r/m8,CL ; D2 /1 [8086]
12190 \c ROR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /1 ib [186]
12191 \c ROR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /1 [8086]
12192 \c ROR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /1 [8086]
12193 \c ROR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /1 ib [186]
12194 \c ROR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /1 [386]
12195 \c ROR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /1 [386]
12196 \c ROR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /1 ib [386]
12198 \c{ROL} and \c{ROR} perform a bitwise rotation operation on the given
12199 source/destination (first) operand. Thus, for example, in the
12200 operation \c{ROL AL,1}, an 8-bit rotation is performed in which
12201 \c{AL} is shifted left by 1 and the original top bit of \c{AL} moves
12202 round into the low bit.
12204 The number of bits to rotate by is given by the second operand. Only
12205 the bottom five bits of the rotation count are considered by processors
12208 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
12209 byte) form of \c{ROL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{ROL
12210 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{ROR}.
12213 \S{insRSDC} \i\c{RSDC}: Restore Segment Register and Descriptor
12215 \c RSDC segreg,m80 ; 0F 79 /r [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12217 \c{RSDC} restores a segment register (DS, ES, FS, GS, or SS) from mem80,
12218 and sets up its descriptor.
12221 \S{insRSLDT} \i\c{RSLDT}: Restore Segment Register and Descriptor
12223 \c RSLDT m80 ; 0F 7B /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12225 \c{RSLDT} restores the Local Descriptor Table (LDTR) from mem80.
12228 \S{insRSM} \i\c{RSM}: Resume from System-Management Mode
12230 \c RSM ; 0F AA [PENT]
12232 \c{RSM} returns the processor to its normal operating mode when it
12233 was in System-Management Mode.
12236 \S{insRSQRTPS} \i\c{RSQRTPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Square Root Reciprocal
12238 \c RSQRTPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 52 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12240 \c{RSQRTPS} computes the approximate reciprocals of the square
12241 roots of the packed single-precision floating-point values in the
12242 source and stores the results in xmm1. The maximum error for this
12243 approximation is: |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
12246 \S{insRSQRTSS} \i\c{RSQRTSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Square Root Reciprocal
12248 \c RSQRTSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 52 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12250 \c{RSQRTSS} returns an approximation of the reciprocal of the
12251 square root of the lowest order single-precision FP value from
12252 the source, and stores it in the low doubleword of the destination
12253 register. The upper three fields of xmm1 are preserved. The maximum
12254 error for this approximation is: |Error| <= 1.5 x 2^-12
12257 \S{insRSTS} \i\c{RSTS}: Restore TSR and Descriptor
12259 \c RSTS m80 ; 0F 7D /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12261 \c{RSTS} restores Task State Register (TSR) from mem80.
12264 \S{insSAHF} \i\c{SAHF}: Store AH to Flags
12266 \c SAHF ; 9E [8086]
12268 \c{SAHF} sets the low byte of the flags word according to the
12269 contents of the \c{AH} register.
12271 The operation of \c{SAHF} is:
12273 \c AH --> SF:ZF:0:AF:0:PF:1:CF
12275 See also \c{LAHF} (\k{insLAHF}).
12278 \S{insSAL} \i\c{SAL}, \i\c{SAR}: Bitwise Arithmetic Shifts
12280 \c SAL r/m8,1 ; D0 /4 [8086]
12281 \c SAL r/m8,CL ; D2 /4 [8086]
12282 \c SAL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /4 ib [186]
12283 \c SAL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /4 [8086]
12284 \c SAL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /4 [8086]
12285 \c SAL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /4 ib [186]
12286 \c SAL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /4 [386]
12287 \c SAL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /4 [386]
12288 \c SAL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /4 ib [386]
12290 \c SAR r/m8,1 ; D0 /7 [8086]
12291 \c SAR r/m8,CL ; D2 /7 [8086]
12292 \c SAR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /7 ib [186]
12293 \c SAR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /7 [8086]
12294 \c SAR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /7 [8086]
12295 \c SAR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /7 ib [186]
12296 \c SAR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /7 [386]
12297 \c SAR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /7 [386]
12298 \c SAR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /7 ib [386]
12300 \c{SAL} and \c{SAR} perform an arithmetic shift operation on the given
12301 source/destination (first) operand. The vacated bits are filled with
12302 zero for \c{SAL}, and with copies of the original high bit of the
12303 source operand for \c{SAR}.
12305 \c{SAL} is a synonym for \c{SHL} (see \k{insSHL}). NASM will
12306 assemble either one to the same code, but NDISASM will always
12307 disassemble that code as \c{SHL}.
12309 The number of bits to shift by is given by the second operand. Only
12310 the bottom five bits of the shift count are considered by processors
12313 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
12314 byte) form of \c{SAL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{SAL
12315 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{SAR}.
12318 \S{insSALC} \i\c{SALC}: Set AL from Carry Flag
12320 \c SALC ; D6 [8086,UNDOC]
12322 \c{SALC} is an early undocumented instruction similar in concept to
12323 \c{SETcc} (\k{insSETcc}). Its function is to set \c{AL} to zero if
12324 the carry flag is clear, or to \c{0xFF} if it is set.
12327 \S{insSBB} \i\c{SBB}: Subtract with Borrow
12329 \c SBB r/m8,reg8 ; 18 /r [8086]
12330 \c SBB r/m16,reg16 ; o16 19 /r [8086]
12331 \c SBB r/m32,reg32 ; o32 19 /r [386]
12333 \c SBB reg8,r/m8 ; 1A /r [8086]
12334 \c SBB reg16,r/m16 ; o16 1B /r [8086]
12335 \c SBB reg32,r/m32 ; o32 1B /r [386]
12337 \c SBB r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /3 ib [8086]
12338 \c SBB r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /3 iw [8086]
12339 \c SBB r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /3 id [386]
12341 \c SBB r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /3 ib [8086]
12342 \c SBB r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /3 ib [386]
12344 \c SBB AL,imm8 ; 1C ib [8086]
12345 \c SBB AX,imm16 ; o16 1D iw [8086]
12346 \c SBB EAX,imm32 ; o32 1D id [386]
12348 \c{SBB} performs integer subtraction: it subtracts its second
12349 operand, plus the value of the carry flag, from its first, and
12350 leaves the result in its destination (first) operand. The flags are
12351 set according to the result of the operation: in particular, the
12352 carry flag is affected and can be used by a subsequent \c{SBB}
12355 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
12356 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
12357 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
12358 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
12359 form of the instruction.
12361 To subtract one number from another without also subtracting the
12362 contents of the carry flag, use \c{SUB} (\k{insSUB}).
12365 \S{insSCASB} \i\c{SCASB}, \i\c{SCASW}, \i\c{SCASD}: Scan String
12367 \c SCASB ; AE [8086]
12368 \c SCASW ; o16 AF [8086]
12369 \c SCASD ; o32 AF [386]
12371 \c{SCASB} compares the byte in \c{AL} with the byte at \c{[ES:DI]}
12372 or \c{[ES:EDI]}, and sets the flags accordingly. It then increments
12373 or decrements (depending on the direction flag: increments if the
12374 flag is clear, decrements if it is set) \c{DI} (or \c{EDI}).
12376 The register used is \c{DI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
12377 \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
12378 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
12379 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
12381 Segment override prefixes have no effect for this instruction: the
12382 use of \c{ES} for the load from \c{[DI]} or \c{[EDI]} cannot be
12385 \c{SCASW} and \c{SCASD} work in the same way, but they compare a
12386 word to \c{AX} or a doubleword to \c{EAX} instead of a byte to
12387 \c{AL}, and increment or decrement the addressing registers by 2 or
12390 The \c{REPE} and \c{REPNE} prefixes (equivalently, \c{REPZ} and
12391 \c{REPNZ}) may be used to repeat the instruction up to \c{CX} (or
12392 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times until the
12393 first unequal or equal byte is found.
12396 \S{insSETcc} \i\c{SETcc}: Set Register from Condition
12398 \c SETcc r/m8 ; 0F 90+cc /2 [386]
12400 \c{SETcc} sets the given 8-bit operand to zero if its condition is
12401 not satisfied, and to 1 if it is.
12404 \S{insSFENCE} \i\c{SFENCE}: Store Fence
12406 \c SFENCE ; 0F AE /7 [KATMAI]
12408 \c{SFENCE} performs a serialising operation on all writes to memory
12409 that were issued before the \c{SFENCE} instruction. This guarantees that
12410 all memory writes before the \c{SFENCE} instruction are visible before any
12411 writes after the \c{SFENCE} instruction.
12413 \c{SFENCE} is ordered respective to other \c{SFENCE} instruction, \c{MFENCE},
12414 any memory write and any other serialising instruction (such as \c{CPUID}).
12416 Weakly ordered memory types can be used to achieve higher processor
12417 performance through such techniques as out-of-order issue,
12418 write-combining, and write-collapsing. The degree to which a consumer
12419 of data recognizes or knows that the data is weakly ordered varies
12420 among applications and may be unknown to the producer of this data.
12421 The \c{SFENCE} instruction provides a performance-efficient way of
12422 insuring store ordering between routines that produce weakly-ordered
12423 results and routines that consume this data.
12425 \c{SFENCE} uses the following ModRM encoding:
12428 \c Reg/Opcode (5:3) = 111B
12429 \c R/M (2:0) = 000B
12431 All other ModRM encodings are defined to be reserved, and use
12432 of these encodings risks incompatibility with future processors.
12434 See also \c{LFENCE} (\k{insLFENCE}) and \c{MFENCE} (\k{insMFENCE}).
12437 \S{insSGDT} \i\c{SGDT}, \i\c{SIDT}, \i\c{SLDT}: Store Descriptor Table Pointers
12439 \c SGDT mem ; 0F 01 /0 [286,PRIV]
12440 \c SIDT mem ; 0F 01 /1 [286,PRIV]
12441 \c SLDT r/m16 ; 0F 00 /0 [286,PRIV]
12443 \c{SGDT} and \c{SIDT} both take a 6-byte memory area as an operand:
12444 they store the contents of the GDTR (global descriptor table
12445 register) or IDTR (interrupt descriptor table register) into that
12446 area as a 32-bit linear address and a 16-bit size limit from that
12447 area (in that order). These are the only instructions which directly
12448 use \e{linear} addresses, rather than segment/offset pairs.
12450 \c{SLDT} stores the segment selector corresponding to the LDT (local
12451 descriptor table) into the given operand.
12453 See also \c{LGDT}, \c{LIDT} and \c{LLDT} (\k{insLGDT}).
12456 \S{insSHL} \i\c{SHL}, \i\c{SHR}: Bitwise Logical Shifts
12458 \c SHL r/m8,1 ; D0 /4 [8086]
12459 \c SHL r/m8,CL ; D2 /4 [8086]
12460 \c SHL r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /4 ib [186]
12461 \c SHL r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /4 [8086]
12462 \c SHL r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /4 [8086]
12463 \c SHL r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /4 ib [186]
12464 \c SHL r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /4 [386]
12465 \c SHL r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /4 [386]
12466 \c SHL r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /4 ib [386]
12468 \c SHR r/m8,1 ; D0 /5 [8086]
12469 \c SHR r/m8,CL ; D2 /5 [8086]
12470 \c SHR r/m8,imm8 ; C0 /5 ib [186]
12471 \c SHR r/m16,1 ; o16 D1 /5 [8086]
12472 \c SHR r/m16,CL ; o16 D3 /5 [8086]
12473 \c SHR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 C1 /5 ib [186]
12474 \c SHR r/m32,1 ; o32 D1 /5 [386]
12475 \c SHR r/m32,CL ; o32 D3 /5 [386]
12476 \c SHR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 C1 /5 ib [386]
12478 \c{SHL} and \c{SHR} perform a logical shift operation on the given
12479 source/destination (first) operand. The vacated bits are filled with
12482 A synonym for \c{SHL} is \c{SAL} (see \k{insSAL}). NASM will
12483 assemble either one to the same code, but NDISASM will always
12484 disassemble that code as \c{SHL}.
12486 The number of bits to shift by is given by the second operand. Only
12487 the bottom five bits of the shift count are considered by processors
12490 You can force the longer (286 and upwards, beginning with a \c{C1}
12491 byte) form of \c{SHL foo,1} by using a \c{BYTE} prefix: \c{SHL
12492 foo,BYTE 1}. Similarly with \c{SHR}.
12495 \S{insSHLD} \i\c{SHLD}, \i\c{SHRD}: Bitwise Double-Precision Shifts
12497 \c SHLD r/m16,reg16,imm8 ; o16 0F A4 /r ib [386]
12498 \c SHLD r/m16,reg32,imm8 ; o32 0F A4 /r ib [386]
12499 \c SHLD r/m16,reg16,CL ; o16 0F A5 /r [386]
12500 \c SHLD r/m16,reg32,CL ; o32 0F A5 /r [386]
12502 \c SHRD r/m16,reg16,imm8 ; o16 0F AC /r ib [386]
12503 \c SHRD r/m32,reg32,imm8 ; o32 0F AC /r ib [386]
12504 \c SHRD r/m16,reg16,CL ; o16 0F AD /r [386]
12505 \c SHRD r/m32,reg32,CL ; o32 0F AD /r [386]
12507 \b \c{SHLD} performs a double-precision left shift. It notionally
12508 places its second operand to the right of its first, then shifts
12509 the entire bit string thus generated to the left by a number of
12510 bits specified in the third operand. It then updates only the
12511 \e{first} operand according to the result of this. The second
12512 operand is not modified.
12514 \b \c{SHRD} performs the corresponding right shift: it notionally
12515 places the second operand to the \e{left} of the first, shifts the
12516 whole bit string right, and updates only the first operand.
12518 For example, if \c{EAX} holds \c{0x01234567} and \c{EBX} holds
12519 \c{0x89ABCDEF}, then the instruction \c{SHLD EAX,EBX,4} would update
12520 \c{EAX} to hold \c{0x12345678}. Under the same conditions, \c{SHRD
12521 EAX,EBX,4} would update \c{EAX} to hold \c{0xF0123456}.
12523 The number of bits to shift by is given by the third operand. Only
12524 the bottom five bits of the shift count are considered.
12527 \S{insSHUFPD} \i\c{SHUFPD}: Shuffle Packed Double-Precision FP Values
12529 \c SHUFPD xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; 66 0F C6 /r ib [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12531 \c{SHUFPD} moves one of the packed double-precision FP values from
12532 the destination operand into the low quadword of the destination
12533 operand; the upper quadword is generated by moving one of the
12534 double-precision FP values from the source operand into the
12535 destination. The select (third) operand selects which of the values
12536 are moved to the destination register.
12538 The select operand is an 8-bit immediate: bit 0 selects which value
12539 is moved from the destination operand to the result (where 0 selects
12540 the low quadword and 1 selects the high quadword) and bit 1 selects
12541 which value is moved from the source operand to the result.
12542 Bits 2 through 7 of the shuffle operand are reserved.
12545 \S{insSHUFPS} \i\c{SHUFPS}: Shuffle Packed Single-Precision FP Values
12547 \c SHUFPS xmm1,xmm2/m128,imm8 ; 0F C6 /r ib [KATMAI,SSE]
12549 \c{SHUFPS} moves two of the packed single-precision FP values from
12550 the destination operand into the low quadword of the destination
12551 operand; the upper quadword is generated by moving two of the
12552 single-precision FP values from the source operand into the
12553 destination. The select (third) operand selects which of the
12554 values are moved to the destination register.
12556 The select operand is an 8-bit immediate: bits 0 and 1 select the
12557 value to be moved from the destination operand the low doubleword of
12558 the result, bits 2 and 3 select the value to be moved from the
12559 destination operand the second doubleword of the result, bits 4 and
12560 5 select the value to be moved from the source operand the third
12561 doubleword of the result, and bits 6 and 7 select the value to be
12562 moved from the source operand to the high doubleword of the result.
12565 \S{insSMI} \i\c{SMI}: System Management Interrupt
12567 \c SMI ; F1 [386,UNDOC]
12569 \c{SMI} puts some AMD processors into SMM mode. It is available on some
12570 386 and 486 processors, and is only available when DR7 bit 12 is set,
12571 otherwise it generates an Int 1.
12574 \S{insSMINT} \i\c{SMINT}, \i\c{SMINTOLD}: Software SMM Entry (CYRIX)
12576 \c SMINT ; 0F 38 [PENT,CYRIX]
12577 \c SMINTOLD ; 0F 7E [486,CYRIX]
12579 \c{SMINT} puts the processor into SMM mode. The CPU state information is
12580 saved in the SMM memory header, and then execution begins at the SMM base
12583 \c{SMINTOLD} is the same as \c{SMINT}, but was the opcode used on the 486.
12585 This pair of opcodes are specific to the Cyrix and compatible range of
12586 processors (Cyrix, IBM, Via).
12589 \S{insSMSW} \i\c{SMSW}: Store Machine Status Word
12591 \c SMSW r/m16 ; 0F 01 /4 [286,PRIV]
12593 \c{SMSW} stores the bottom half of the \c{CR0} control register (or
12594 the Machine Status Word, on 286 processors) into the destination
12595 operand. See also \c{LMSW} (\k{insLMSW}).
12597 For 32-bit code, this would store all of \c{CR0} in the specified
12598 register (or the bottom 16 bits if the destination is a memory location),
12599 without needing an operand size override byte.
12602 \S{insSQRTPD} \i\c{SQRTPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Square Root
12604 \c SQRTPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 51 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12606 \c{SQRTPD} calculates the square root of the packed double-precision
12607 FP value from the source operand, and stores the double-precision
12608 results in the destination register.
12611 \S{insSQRTPS} \i\c{SQRTPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Square Root
12613 \c SQRTPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 51 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12615 \c{SQRTPS} calculates the square root of the packed single-precision
12616 FP value from the source operand, and stores the single-precision
12617 results in the destination register.
12620 \S{insSQRTSD} \i\c{SQRTSD}: Scalar Double-Precision FP Square Root
12622 \c SQRTSD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F2 0F 51 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12624 \c{SQRTSD} calculates the square root of the low-order double-precision
12625 FP value from the source operand, and stores the double-precision
12626 result in the destination register. The high-quadword remains unchanged.
12629 \S{insSQRTSS} \i\c{SQRTSS}: Scalar Single-Precision FP Square Root
12631 \c SQRTSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 51 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12633 \c{SQRTSS} calculates the square root of the low-order single-precision
12634 FP value from the source operand, and stores the single-precision
12635 result in the destination register. The three high doublewords remain
12639 \S{insSTC} \i\c{STC}, \i\c{STD}, \i\c{STI}: Set Flags
12645 These instructions set various flags. \c{STC} sets the carry flag;
12646 \c{STD} sets the direction flag; and \c{STI} sets the interrupt flag
12647 (thus enabling interrupts).
12649 To clear the carry, direction, or interrupt flags, use the \c{CLC},
12650 \c{CLD} and \c{CLI} instructions (\k{insCLC}). To invert the carry
12651 flag, use \c{CMC} (\k{insCMC}).
12654 \S{insSTMXCSR} \i\c{STMXCSR}: Store Streaming SIMD Extension
12657 \c STMXCSR m32 ; 0F AE /3 [KATMAI,SSE]
12659 \c{STMXCSR} stores the contents of the \c{MXCSR} control/status
12660 register to the specified memory location. \c{MXCSR} is used to
12661 enable masked/unmasked exception handling, to set rounding modes,
12662 to set flush-to-zero mode, and to view exception status flags.
12663 The reserved bits in the \c{MXCSR} register are stored as 0s.
12665 For details of the \c{MXCSR} register, see the Intel processor docs.
12667 See also \c{LDMXCSR} (\k{insLDMXCSR}).
12670 \S{insSTOSB} \i\c{STOSB}, \i\c{STOSW}, \i\c{STOSD}: Store Byte to String
12672 \c STOSB ; AA [8086]
12673 \c STOSW ; o16 AB [8086]
12674 \c STOSD ; o32 AB [386]
12676 \c{STOSB} stores the byte in \c{AL} at \c{[ES:DI]} or \c{[ES:EDI]},
12677 and sets the flags accordingly. It then increments or decrements
12678 (depending on the direction flag: increments if the flag is clear,
12679 decrements if it is set) \c{DI} (or \c{EDI}).
12681 The register used is \c{DI} if the address size is 16 bits, and
12682 \c{EDI} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
12683 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
12684 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
12686 Segment override prefixes have no effect for this instruction: the
12687 use of \c{ES} for the store to \c{[DI]} or \c{[EDI]} cannot be
12690 \c{STOSW} and \c{STOSD} work in the same way, but they store the
12691 word in \c{AX} or the doubleword in \c{EAX} instead of the byte in
12692 \c{AL}, and increment or decrement the addressing registers by 2 or
12695 The \c{REP} prefix may be used to repeat the instruction \c{CX} (or
12696 \c{ECX} - again, the address size chooses which) times.
12699 \S{insSTR} \i\c{STR}: Store Task Register
12701 \c STR r/m16 ; 0F 00 /1 [286,PRIV]
12703 \c{STR} stores the segment selector corresponding to the contents of
12704 the Task Register into its operand. When the operand size is 32 bit and
12705 the destination is a register, the upper 16-bits are cleared to 0s.
12706 When the destination operand is a memory location, 16 bits are
12707 written regardless of the operand size.
12710 \S{insSUB} \i\c{SUB}: Subtract Integers
12712 \c SUB r/m8,reg8 ; 28 /r [8086]
12713 \c SUB r/m16,reg16 ; o16 29 /r [8086]
12714 \c SUB r/m32,reg32 ; o32 29 /r [386]
12716 \c SUB reg8,r/m8 ; 2A /r [8086]
12717 \c SUB reg16,r/m16 ; o16 2B /r [8086]
12718 \c SUB reg32,r/m32 ; o32 2B /r [386]
12720 \c SUB r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /5 ib [8086]
12721 \c SUB r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /5 iw [8086]
12722 \c SUB r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /5 id [386]
12724 \c SUB r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /5 ib [8086]
12725 \c SUB r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /5 ib [386]
12727 \c SUB AL,imm8 ; 2C ib [8086]
12728 \c SUB AX,imm16 ; o16 2D iw [8086]
12729 \c SUB EAX,imm32 ; o32 2D id [386]
12731 \c{SUB} performs integer subtraction: it subtracts its second
12732 operand from its first, and leaves the result in its destination
12733 (first) operand. The flags are set according to the result of the
12734 operation: in particular, the carry flag is affected and can be used
12735 by a subsequent \c{SBB} instruction (\k{insSBB}).
12737 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
12738 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
12739 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
12740 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
12741 form of the instruction.
12744 \S{insSUBPD} \i\c{SUBPD}: Packed Double-Precision FP Subtract
12746 \c SUBPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 5C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12748 \c{SUBPD} subtracts the packed double-precision FP values of
12749 the source operand from those of the destination operand, and
12750 stores the result in the destination operation.
12753 \S{insSUBPS} \i\c{SUBPS}: Packed Single-Precision FP Subtract
12755 \c SUBPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 5C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12757 \c{SUBPS} subtracts the packed single-precision FP values of
12758 the source operand from those of the destination operand, and
12759 stores the result in the destination operation.
12762 \S{insSUBSD} \i\c{SUBSD}: Scalar Single-FP Subtract
12764 \c SUBSD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F2 0F 5C /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12766 \c{SUBSD} subtracts the low-order double-precision FP value of
12767 the source operand from that of the destination operand, and
12768 stores the result in the destination operation. The high
12769 quadword is unchanged.
12772 \S{insSUBSS} \i\c{SUBSS}: Scalar Single-FP Subtract
12774 \c SUBSS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; F3 0F 5C /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12776 \c{SUBSS} subtracts the low-order single-precision FP value of
12777 the source operand from that of the destination operand, and
12778 stores the result in the destination operation. The three high
12779 doublewords are unchanged.
12782 \S{insSVDC} \i\c{SVDC}: Save Segment Register and Descriptor
12784 \c SVDC m80,segreg ; 0F 78 /r [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12786 \c{SVDC} saves a segment register (DS, ES, FS, GS, or SS) and its
12787 descriptor to mem80.
12790 \S{insSVLDT} \i\c{SVLDT}: Save LDTR and Descriptor
12792 \c SVLDT m80 ; 0F 7A /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12794 \c{SVLDT} saves the Local Descriptor Table (LDTR) to mem80.
12797 \S{insSVTS} \i\c{SVTS}: Save TSR and Descriptor
12799 \c SVTS m80 ; 0F 7C /0 [486,CYRIX,SMM]
12801 \c{SVTS} saves the Task State Register (TSR) to mem80.
12804 \S{insSYSCALL} \i\c{SYSCALL}: Call Operating System
12806 \c SYSCALL ; 0F 05 [P6,AMD]
12808 \c{SYSCALL} provides a fast method of transferring control to a fixed
12809 entry point in an operating system.
12811 \b The \c{EIP} register is copied into the \c{ECX} register.
12813 \b Bits [31-0] of the 64-bit SYSCALL/SYSRET Target Address Register
12814 (\c{STAR}) are copied into the \c{EIP} register.
12816 \b Bits [47-32] of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is
12817 copied into the \c{CS} register.
12819 \b Bits [47-32]+1000b of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that
12820 is copied into the SS register.
12822 The \c{CS} and \c{SS} registers should not be modified by the operating
12823 system between the execution of the \c{SYSCALL} instruction and its
12824 corresponding \c{SYSRET} instruction.
12826 For more information, see the \c{SYSCALL and SYSRET Instruction Specification}
12827 (AMD document number 21086.pdf).
12830 \S{insSYSENTER} \i\c{SYSENTER}: Fast System Call
12832 \c SYSENTER ; 0F 34 [P6]
12834 \c{SYSENTER} executes a fast call to a level 0 system procedure or
12835 routine. Before using this instruction, various MSRs need to be set
12838 \b \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} contains the 32-bit segment selector for the
12839 privilege level 0 code segment. (This value is also used to compute
12840 the segment selector of the privilege level 0 stack segment.)
12842 \b \c{SYSENTER_EIP_MSR} contains the 32-bit offset into the privilege
12843 level 0 code segment to the first instruction of the selected operating
12844 procedure or routine.
12846 \b \c{SYSENTER_ESP_MSR} contains the 32-bit stack pointer for the
12847 privilege level 0 stack.
12849 \c{SYSENTER} performs the following sequence of operations:
12851 \b Loads the segment selector from the \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} into the
12854 \b Loads the instruction pointer from the \c{SYSENTER_EIP_MSR} into
12855 the \c{EIP} register.
12857 \b Adds 8 to the value in \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} and loads it into the
12860 \b Loads the stack pointer from the \c{SYSENTER_ESP_MSR} into the
12863 \b Switches to privilege level 0.
12865 \b Clears the \c{VM} flag in the \c{EFLAGS} register, if the flag
12868 \b Begins executing the selected system procedure.
12870 In particular, note that this instruction des not save the values of
12871 \c{CS} or \c{(E)IP}. If you need to return to the calling code, you
12872 need to write your code to cater for this.
12874 For more information, see the Intel Architecture Software Developer's
12878 \S{insSYSEXIT} \i\c{SYSEXIT}: Fast Return From System Call
12880 \c SYSEXIT ; 0F 35 [P6,PRIV]
12882 \c{SYSEXIT} executes a fast return to privilege level 3 user code.
12883 This instruction is a companion instruction to the \c{SYSENTER}
12884 instruction, and can only be executed by privilege level 0 code.
12885 Various registers need to be set up before calling this instruction:
12887 \b \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} contains the 32-bit segment selector for the
12888 privilege level 0 code segment in which the processor is currently
12889 executing. (This value is used to compute the segment selectors for
12890 the privilege level 3 code and stack segments.)
12892 \b \c{EDX} contains the 32-bit offset into the privilege level 3 code
12893 segment to the first instruction to be executed in the user code.
12895 \b \c{ECX} contains the 32-bit stack pointer for the privilege level 3
12898 \c{SYSEXIT} performs the following sequence of operations:
12900 \b Adds 16 to the value in \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} and loads the sum into
12901 the \c{CS} selector register.
12903 \b Loads the instruction pointer from the \c{EDX} register into the
12906 \b Adds 24 to the value in \c{SYSENTER_CS_MSR} and loads the sum
12907 into the \c{SS} selector register.
12909 \b Loads the stack pointer from the \c{ECX} register into the \c{ESP}
12912 \b Switches to privilege level 3.
12914 \b Begins executing the user code at the \c{EIP} address.
12916 For more information on the use of the \c{SYSENTER} and \c{SYSEXIT}
12917 instructions, see the Intel Architecture Software Developer's
12921 \S{insSYSRET} \i\c{SYSRET}: Return From Operating System
12923 \c SYSRET ; 0F 07 [P6,AMD,PRIV]
12925 \c{SYSRET} is the return instruction used in conjunction with the
12926 \c{SYSCALL} instruction to provide fast entry/exit to an operating system.
12928 \b The \c{ECX} register, which points to the next sequential instruction
12929 after the corresponding \c{SYSCALL} instruction, is copied into the \c{EIP}
12932 \b Bits [63-48] of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is copied
12933 into the \c{CS} register.
12935 \b Bits [63-48]+1000b of the \c{STAR} register specify the selector that is
12936 copied into the \c{SS} register.
12938 \b Bits [1-0] of the \c{SS} register are set to 11b (RPL of 3) regardless of
12939 the value of bits [49-48] of the \c{STAR} register.
12941 The \c{CS} and \c{SS} registers should not be modified by the operating
12942 system between the execution of the \c{SYSCALL} instruction and its
12943 corresponding \c{SYSRET} instruction.
12945 For more information, see the \c{SYSCALL and SYSRET Instruction Specification}
12946 (AMD document number 21086.pdf).
12949 \S{insTEST} \i\c{TEST}: Test Bits (notional bitwise AND)
12951 \c TEST r/m8,reg8 ; 84 /r [8086]
12952 \c TEST r/m16,reg16 ; o16 85 /r [8086]
12953 \c TEST r/m32,reg32 ; o32 85 /r [386]
12955 \c TEST r/m8,imm8 ; F6 /0 ib [8086]
12956 \c TEST r/m16,imm16 ; o16 F7 /0 iw [8086]
12957 \c TEST r/m32,imm32 ; o32 F7 /0 id [386]
12959 \c TEST AL,imm8 ; A8 ib [8086]
12960 \c TEST AX,imm16 ; o16 A9 iw [8086]
12961 \c TEST EAX,imm32 ; o32 A9 id [386]
12963 \c{TEST} performs a `mental' bitwise AND of its two operands, and
12964 affects the flags as if the operation had taken place, but does not
12965 store the result of the operation anywhere.
12968 \S{insUCOMISD} \i\c{UCOMISD}: Unordered Scalar Double-Precision FP
12969 compare and set EFLAGS
12971 \c UCOMISD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 2E /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
12973 \c{UCOMISD} compares the low-order double-precision FP numbers in the
12974 two operands, and sets the \c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} bits in the
12975 \c{EFLAGS} register. In addition, the \c{OF}, \c{SF} and \c{AF} bits
12976 in the \c{EFLAGS} register are zeroed out. The unordered predicate
12977 (\c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} all set) is returned if either source
12978 operand is a \c{NaN} (\c{qNaN} or \c{sNaN}).
12981 \S{insUCOMISS} \i\c{UCOMISS}: Unordered Scalar Single-Precision FP
12982 compare and set EFLAGS
12984 \c UCOMISS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 2E /r [KATMAI,SSE]
12986 \c{UCOMISS} compares the low-order single-precision FP numbers in the
12987 two operands, and sets the \c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} bits in the
12988 \c{EFLAGS} register. In addition, the \c{OF}, \c{SF} and \c{AF} bits
12989 in the \c{EFLAGS} register are zeroed out. The unordered predicate
12990 (\c{ZF}, \c{PF} and \c{CF} all set) is returned if either source
12991 operand is a \c{NaN} (\c{qNaN} or \c{sNaN}).
12994 \S{insUD2} \i\c{UD0}, \i\c{UD1}, \i\c{UD2}: Undefined Instruction
12996 \c UD0 ; 0F FF [186,UNDOC]
12997 \c UD1 ; 0F B9 [186,UNDOC]
12998 \c UD2 ; 0F 0B [186]
13000 \c{UDx} can be used to generate an invalid opcode exception, for testing
13003 \c{UD0} is specifically documented by AMD as being reserved for this
13006 \c{UD1} is documented by Intel as being available for this purpose.
13008 \c{UD2} is specifically documented by Intel as being reserved for this
13009 purpose. Intel document this as the preferred method of generating an
13010 invalid opcode exception.
13012 All these opcodes can be used to generate invalid opcode exceptions on
13013 all currently available processors.
13016 \S{insUMOV} \i\c{UMOV}: User Move Data
13018 \c UMOV r/m8,reg8 ; 0F 10 /r [386,UNDOC]
13019 \c UMOV r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F 11 /r [386,UNDOC]
13020 \c UMOV r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F 11 /r [386,UNDOC]
13022 \c UMOV reg8,r/m8 ; 0F 12 /r [386,UNDOC]
13023 \c UMOV reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F 13 /r [386,UNDOC]
13024 \c UMOV reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F 13 /r [386,UNDOC]
13026 This undocumented instruction is used by in-circuit emulators to
13027 access user memory (as opposed to host memory). It is used just like
13028 an ordinary memory/register or register/register \c{MOV}
13029 instruction, but accesses user space.
13031 This instruction is only available on some AMD and IBM 386 and 486
13035 \S{insUNPCKHPD} \i\c{UNPCKHPD}: Unpack and Interleave High Packed
13036 Double-Precision FP Values
13038 \c UNPCKHPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 15 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
13040 \c{UNPCKHPD} performs an interleaved unpack of the high-order data
13041 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
13042 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
13044 The operation of this instruction is:
13046 \c dst[63-0] := dst[127-64];
13047 \c dst[127-64] := src[127-64].
13050 \S{insUNPCKHPS} \i\c{UNPCKHPS}: Unpack and Interleave High Packed
13051 Single-Precision FP Values
13053 \c UNPCKHPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 15 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
13055 \c{UNPCKHPS} performs an interleaved unpack of the high-order data
13056 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
13057 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
13059 The operation of this instruction is:
13061 \c dst[31-0] := dst[95-64];
13062 \c dst[63-32] := src[95-64];
13063 \c dst[95-64] := dst[127-96];
13064 \c dst[127-96] := src[127-96].
13067 \S{insUNPCKLPD} \i\c{UNPCKLPD}: Unpack and Interleave Low Packed
13068 Double-Precision FP Data
13070 \c UNPCKLPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 14 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
13072 \c{UNPCKLPD} performs an interleaved unpack of the low-order data
13073 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
13074 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
13076 The operation of this instruction is:
13078 \c dst[63-0] := dst[63-0];
13079 \c dst[127-64] := src[63-0].
13082 \S{insUNPCKLPS} \i\c{UNPCKLPS}: Unpack and Interleave Low Packed
13083 Single-Precision FP Data
13085 \c UNPCKLPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 14 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
13087 \c{UNPCKLPS} performs an interleaved unpack of the low-order data
13088 elements of the source and destination operands, saving the result
13089 in \c{xmm1}. It ignores the lower half of the sources.
13091 The operation of this instruction is:
13093 \c dst[31-0] := dst[31-0];
13094 \c dst[63-32] := src[31-0];
13095 \c dst[95-64] := dst[63-32];
13096 \c dst[127-96] := src[63-32].
13099 \S{insVERR} \i\c{VERR}, \i\c{VERW}: Verify Segment Readability/Writability
13101 \c VERR r/m16 ; 0F 00 /4 [286,PRIV]
13103 \c VERW r/m16 ; 0F 00 /5 [286,PRIV]
13105 \b \c{VERR} sets the zero flag if the segment specified by the selector
13106 in its operand can be read from at the current privilege level.
13107 Otherwise it is cleared.
13109 \b \c{VERW} sets the zero flag if the segment can be written.
13112 \S{insWAIT} \i\c{WAIT}: Wait for Floating-Point Processor
13114 \c WAIT ; 9B [8086]
13115 \c FWAIT ; 9B [8086]
13117 \c{WAIT}, on 8086 systems with a separate 8087 FPU, waits for the
13118 FPU to have finished any operation it is engaged in before
13119 continuing main processor operations, so that (for example) an FPU
13120 store to main memory can be guaranteed to have completed before the
13121 CPU tries to read the result back out.
13123 On higher processors, \c{WAIT} is unnecessary for this purpose, and
13124 it has the alternative purpose of ensuring that any pending unmasked
13125 FPU exceptions have happened before execution continues.
13128 \S{insWBINVD} \i\c{WBINVD}: Write Back and Invalidate Cache
13130 \c WBINVD ; 0F 09 [486]
13132 \c{WBINVD} invalidates and empties the processor's internal caches,
13133 and causes the processor to instruct external caches to do the same.
13134 It writes the contents of the caches back to memory first, so no
13135 data is lost. To flush the caches quickly without bothering to write
13136 the data back first, use \c{INVD} (\k{insINVD}).
13139 \S{insWRMSR} \i\c{WRMSR}: Write Model-Specific Registers
13141 \c WRMSR ; 0F 30 [PENT]
13143 \c{WRMSR} writes the value in \c{EDX:EAX} to the processor
13144 Model-Specific Register (MSR) whose index is stored in \c{ECX}.
13145 See also \c{RDMSR} (\k{insRDMSR}).
13148 \S{insWRSHR} \i\c{WRSHR}: Write SMM Header Pointer Register
13150 \c WRSHR r/m32 ; 0F 37 /0 [386,CYRIX,SMM]
13152 \c{WRSHR} loads the contents of either a 32-bit memory location or a
13153 32-bit register into the SMM header pointer register.
13155 See also \c{RDSHR} (\k{insRDSHR}).
13158 \S{insXADD} \i\c{XADD}: Exchange and Add
13160 \c XADD r/m8,reg8 ; 0F C0 /r [486]
13161 \c XADD r/m16,reg16 ; o16 0F C1 /r [486]
13162 \c XADD r/m32,reg32 ; o32 0F C1 /r [486]
13164 \c{XADD} exchanges the values in its two operands, and then adds
13165 them together and writes the result into the destination (first)
13166 operand. This instruction can be used with a \c{LOCK} prefix for
13167 multi-processor synchronisation purposes.
13170 \S{insXBTS} \i\c{XBTS}: Extract Bit String
13172 \c XBTS reg16,r/m16 ; o16 0F A6 /r [386,UNDOC]
13173 \c XBTS reg32,r/m32 ; o32 0F A6 /r [386,UNDOC]
13175 The implied operation of this instruction is:
13177 \c XBTS r/m16,reg16,AX,CL
13178 \c XBTS r/m32,reg32,EAX,CL
13180 Writes a bit string from the source operand to the destination. \c{CL}
13181 indicates the number of bits to be copied, and \c{(E)AX} indicates the
13182 low order bit offset in the source. The bits are written to the low
13183 order bits of the destination register. For example, if \c{CL} is set
13184 to 4 and \c{AX} (for 16-bit code) is set to 5, bits 5-8 of \c{src} will
13185 be copied to bits 0-3 of \c{dst}. This instruction is very poorly
13186 documented, and I have been unable to find any official source of
13187 documentation on it.
13189 \c{XBTS} is supported only on the early Intel 386s, and conflicts with
13190 the opcodes for \c{CMPXCHG486} (on early Intel 486s). NASM supports it
13191 only for completeness. Its counterpart is \c{IBTS} (see \k{insIBTS}).
13194 \S{insXCHG} \i\c{XCHG}: Exchange
13196 \c XCHG reg8,r/m8 ; 86 /r [8086]
13197 \c XCHG reg16,r/m8 ; o16 87 /r [8086]
13198 \c XCHG reg32,r/m32 ; o32 87 /r [386]
13200 \c XCHG r/m8,reg8 ; 86 /r [8086]
13201 \c XCHG r/m16,reg16 ; o16 87 /r [8086]
13202 \c XCHG r/m32,reg32 ; o32 87 /r [386]
13204 \c XCHG AX,reg16 ; o16 90+r [8086]
13205 \c XCHG EAX,reg32 ; o32 90+r [386]
13206 \c XCHG reg16,AX ; o16 90+r [8086]
13207 \c XCHG reg32,EAX ; o32 90+r [386]
13209 \c{XCHG} exchanges the values in its two operands. It can be used
13210 with a \c{LOCK} prefix for purposes of multi-processor
13213 \c{XCHG AX,AX} or \c{XCHG EAX,EAX} (depending on the \c{BITS}
13214 setting) generates the opcode \c{90h}, and so is a synonym for
13215 \c{NOP} (\k{insNOP}).
13218 \S{insXLATB} \i\c{XLATB}: Translate Byte in Lookup Table
13220 \c XLAT ; D7 [8086]
13221 \c XLATB ; D7 [8086]
13223 \c{XLATB} adds the value in \c{AL}, treated as an unsigned byte, to
13224 \c{BX} or \c{EBX}, and loads the byte from the resulting address (in
13225 the segment specified by \c{DS}) back into \c{AL}.
13227 The base register used is \c{BX} if the address size is 16 bits, and
13228 \c{EBX} if it is 32 bits. If you need to use an address size not
13229 equal to the current \c{BITS} setting, you can use an explicit
13230 \i\c{a16} or \i\c{a32} prefix.
13232 The segment register used to load from \c{[BX+AL]} or \c{[EBX+AL]}
13233 can be overridden by using a segment register name as a prefix (for
13234 example, \c{es xlatb}).
13237 \S{insXOR} \i\c{XOR}: Bitwise Exclusive OR
13239 \c XOR r/m8,reg8 ; 30 /r [8086]
13240 \c XOR r/m16,reg16 ; o16 31 /r [8086]
13241 \c XOR r/m32,reg32 ; o32 31 /r [386]
13243 \c XOR reg8,r/m8 ; 32 /r [8086]
13244 \c XOR reg16,r/m16 ; o16 33 /r [8086]
13245 \c XOR reg32,r/m32 ; o32 33 /r [386]
13247 \c XOR r/m8,imm8 ; 80 /6 ib [8086]
13248 \c XOR r/m16,imm16 ; o16 81 /6 iw [8086]
13249 \c XOR r/m32,imm32 ; o32 81 /6 id [386]
13251 \c XOR r/m16,imm8 ; o16 83 /6 ib [8086]
13252 \c XOR r/m32,imm8 ; o32 83 /6 ib [386]
13254 \c XOR AL,imm8 ; 34 ib [8086]
13255 \c XOR AX,imm16 ; o16 35 iw [8086]
13256 \c XOR EAX,imm32 ; o32 35 id [386]
13258 \c{XOR} performs a bitwise XOR operation between its two operands
13259 (i.e. each bit of the result is 1 if and only if exactly one of the
13260 corresponding bits of the two inputs was 1), and stores the result
13261 in the destination (first) operand.
13263 In the forms with an 8-bit immediate second operand and a longer
13264 first operand, the second operand is considered to be signed, and is
13265 sign-extended to the length of the first operand. In these cases,
13266 the \c{BYTE} qualifier is necessary to force NASM to generate this
13267 form of the instruction.
13269 The \c{MMX} instruction \c{PXOR} (see \k{insPXOR}) performs the same
13270 operation on the 64-bit \c{MMX} registers.
13273 \S{insXORPD} \i\c{XORPD}: Bitwise Logical XOR of Double-Precision FP Values
13275 \c XORPD xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 66 0F 57 /r [WILLAMETTE,SSE2]
13277 \c{XORPD} returns a bit-wise logical XOR between the source and
13278 destination operands, storing the result in the destination operand.
13281 \S{insXORPS} \i\c{XORPS}: Bitwise Logical XOR of Single-Precision FP Values
13283 \c XORPS xmm1,xmm2/m128 ; 0F 57 /r [KATMAI,SSE]
13285 \c{XORPS} returns a bit-wise logical XOR between the source and
13286 destination operands, storing the result in the destination operand.