Faculty of Engineering

Computer Engineering Department

Islamic University of Gaza

Assembly Language Lab # 6

Boolean Instruction and conditional
structured

Eng. Alaa.I.Haniya
 Assembly Language Fundamentals

Objective:
To know more about Assembly Language Boolean Instructions and Conditional Structured.

 Boolean Instructions:
1. NOT Instruction:
The NOT instruction toggles (inverts) all bits in an operand. The result is called the one’s
complement.
• Syntax:

NOT reg
NOT mem
Boolean Instruction and conditional structured

• Example:
mov al, 00111011b
not al

Flags: No flags are affected by the NOT instruction.

2. AND Instruction:
The AND instruction performs a Boolean (bitwise) AND operation between each pair of
matching bits in two operands and places the result in the destination operand.

• Syntax:
AND destination, source
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The following operand combinations are permitted:

AND reg,reg
AND reg,mem
AND reg,imm
AND mem,reg
AND mem,imm

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The operands can be 8, 16, or 32 bits, and they must be the same size.

• Example:

mov al, 00111011b

and al, 00001111b

 Applications:
1.Task: Convert the character in AL to upper case.
Solution: Use the AND instruction to clear bit 5.

Boolean Instruction and conditional structured | 2/20/2013

mov al, 'a' ; al = 0110 0001b
and al, 11011111b ;al = 0100 0001b

2.Task: Jump to a label if an integer is even.

Solution: AND the lowest bit with a 1. If the result is Zero, the number was even.

mov ax,wordVal
and ax,1 ; low bit set?
jz EvenValue ; jump if Zero flag
set

3.Task: Convert an ASCII digit to binary?

Solution: Use the AND instruction to clear bits 4 to 7

mov al,36h ;al = 0011 0110b

and al,0Fh ;al = 0000 0110b = 6
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3. OR Instruction:
The OR instruction performs a Boolean OR operation between each pair of matching bits in two
operands and places the result in the destination operand.
• Syntax:
OR destination, source
 The operand combinations are same as AND.
 The operands can be 8, 16, or 32 bits, and they must be the same size.

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 • Example:
mov dl, 00111011b
or dl, 11110000b

 Applications:

1.Task: Convert the character in AL to lower case.

Solution: Use the OR instruction to set bit 5.

mov al, 'A' ;al = 0100 0001b

or al, 00100000b ;al = 0110 0001b

2.Task: Convert a binary decimal byte into its equivalent ASCII decimal digit.
Solution: Use the OR instruction to set bits 4 and 5.
Boolean Instruction and conditional structured

mov al,6 ;al = 0000 0110b

or al,00110000b ;al = 0011 0110b

3.Task: Jump to a label if the value in AL is not zero.

Solution: OR the byte with itself, then use the JNZ (jump if not zero) instruction.

or al,al
jnz IsNotZero ; jump if not zero

4. XOR Instruction:

XOR destination, source

The XOR instruction uses the same operand combinations and sizes as the AND and OR
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instructions.

• Example:
mov dl, 00111011b
xor dl, 11110000b

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The XOR instruction performs a Boolean exclusive-OR operation between each pair of matching bits in
two operands and stores the result in the destination operand.

• Example:
mov dl, 00111011b
xor dl, 11110000b

 Application:
1.Task: Reverse the case (Convert upper case to lower case and convert lower case to upper case)
Solution: Use the XOR instruction with 00100000b

mov al, 'A' ;al = 0100 0001b

Boolean Instruction and conditional structured | 2/20/2013

xor al, 00100000b ;al = 0110 0001b = 'a'
xor al, 00100000b ;al = 0100 0001b = 'A'

5. Test Instruction:
Performs a nondestructive AND operation between each pair of matching bits in two operands.
No operands are modified, but the flags are affected.

• Example: jump to a label if either bit 0 or bit 1 in AL is set.

test al,00000011b
jnz ValueFound

• Example: jump to a label if neither bit 0 nor bit 1 in AL is set.

test al,00000011b
jz ValueNotFound

The six status flags are affected

 Carry Flag: Cleared by AND, OR, XOR and Test
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 Overflow Flag: Cleared by AND, OR, XOR and Test

 Sign Flag: Copy of the sign bit in result
 Zero Flag: Set when result is zero
 Parity Flag: Set when parity in least-significant byte is even
 Auxiliary Flag: Undefined by AND, OR, XOR and Test

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 6. CMP Instruction:
 Compares the destination operand to the source operand.
 CMP (Compare) instruction performs a subtraction.

Syntax:
CMP destination, source

Computes :
 destination – source
 Destination operand is NOT modified.
 To check for equality, it is enough to check ZF flag

Flags: All six flags: OF, CF, SF, ZF, AF, and PF are affected.

7. BT (Bit Test) Instruction:

Copies bit n from an operand into the Carry flag
Syntax
BT bitBase, n
Boolean Instruction and conditional structured

Example (jump to label L1 if bit 9 is set in the AX register)

bt AX,9 ; CF = bit 9
jc L1 ; jump if Carry set

8.Conditional structures:

Jcond Instruction:
A conditional jump instruction branches to a label when specific register or flag conditions are
met.

• Examples:
 JC jump to a label if the Carry flag is set.
 JE, JZ jump to a label if the Zero flag is set.
 JS jumps to a label if the Sign flag is set.
 JNE, JNZ jump to a label if the Zero flag is clear.
 JECXZ jumps to a label if ECX equals 0.
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The conditional jump instructions are divided into four groups:
1. Jump Based on flags values

Boolean Instruction and conditional structured | 2/20/2013

2. Jump Based on Equality and value of CX:

3.Jump Based on unsigned comparison:

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 4.Jump Based on signed comparison:

Notes:
Assembly language programmers can easily translate logical statements written in C++/Java into
Boolean Instruction and conditional structured

assembly language. For example:

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- Implement the following pseudocode in assembly language. All values are 32- bit signed
integers:

Boolean Instruction and conditional structured | 2/20/2013

Compound expression with AND:

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 Lab work:
Excercise1: Boolean Calculator

Create a program that functions as a simple Boolean calculator for 32-bit integers.
The program Do the following functions:

Solution:
Boolean Instruction and conditional structured
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 Boolean Instruction and conditional structured | 2/20/2013
Note:
The number you entered will be stored in al using this service:
Service 01h: DOS get character function
mov ah,01h ; returns ASCII code of character to AL
int 21h

Excercise2:

Write an assembly language that compares the values x and y in memory and prints a message if
the value in x is greater than y, less than y, or equal to y.

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Boolean Instruction and conditional structured

Excercise3:

Write an assembly language program that allow user to input one digit number and determine if it
is even or odd.
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 Assembly Language Lab # 6 Boolean Instruction and conditional structured | 2/20/2013

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 Homework:
1. Write an assembly code that output a letter grade for 10 numbered grades according to the
following table:

The grades are 74, 109, 91, 86, 40, 76, 72, -6, 65, 94.

2. Write an assembly code to read a character from console and echo it.
Boolean Instruction and conditional structured

3. Write an assembly language program that allow the user to input a character, if it is small
letter; convert it to capital and print it, otherwise print it as the same as it was entered.
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