3/19/2024

IT372
Microprocessors
Lec04 Addressing Modes

Instructor: Tamer Emara

Introduction

• This lecture presents the microprocessor as a programmable device by first

looking at its internal programming model and then how its memory space is
addressed.
• The architecture of Intel microprocessors is presented, as are the ways that
the family members address the memory system.
• Addressing modes for this powerful family of microprocessors are described
for the real, protected, and flat modes of operation.

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Introduction

• Efficient software development for the microprocessor requires a complete

familiarity with the addressing modes employed by each instruction.
• This lecture explains the operation of the stack memory so that the PUSH and
POP instructions and other stack operations will be understood.

Chapter Objectives
Upon completion of this chapter, you will be able to:
• Explain the operation of each data-addressing mode.
• Use the data-addressing modes to form assembly language statements.
• Explain the operation of each program memory-addressing mode.
• Use the program memory-addressing modes to form assembly and machine
language statements.

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Chapter Objectives (cont.)

Upon completion of this chapter, you will be able to:

• Select the appropriate addressing mode to accomplish a given task.
• Detail the difference between addressing memory data using real mode and
protected mode operation.
• Describe sequence of events that place data onto the stack or remove data
from the stack.
• Explain how a data structure is placed in memory and used with software.

3–1 DATA ADDRESSING MODES

• MOV instruction is a common and flexible instruction.

• provides a basis for explanation of data-addressing modes
• Figure 3–1 illustrates the MOV instruction and defines the direction of data
flow.
• Source is to the right and destination the left, next to the opcode MOV.
• an opcode, or operation code, tells the microprocessor which operation to perform

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Figure 3–1 The MOV instruction showing the source, destination, and
direction of data flow.

• Figure 3–2 shows all possible variations of the data-addressing modes using
MOV.
• These data-addressing modes are found with all versions of the Intel
microprocessor.
• except for the scaled-index-addressing mode, found only in 80386 through Core2
• RIP relative addressing mode is not illustrated.
• only available on the Pentium 4 and Core2
in the 64-bit mode

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Figure 3–2 8086–Core2 data-addressing modes.

Register Addressing

• The most common form of data addressing.

• once register names learned, easiest to apply.
• The microprocessor contains these 8-bit register names used with register
addressing: AH, AL, BH, BL, CH, CL, DH, and DL.
• 16-bit register names: AX, BX, CX, DX, SP, BP, SI, and DI.

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• In 80386 & above, extended 32-bit register names are: EAX, EBX, ECX, EDX,
ESP, EBP, EDI, and ESI.
• 64-bit mode register names are: RAX, RBX, RCX, RDX, RSP, RBP, RDI, RSI, and
R8 through R15.
• Important for instructions to use registers that are the same size.
• never mix an 8-bit \with a 16-bit register, an 8- or a 16-bit register with a 32-bit register
• this is not allowed by the microprocessor and results in an error when assembled

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Figure 3–3 The effect of executing the MOV BX, CX instruction at the point
just before the BX register changes. Note that only the rightmost 16 bits of
register EBX change.

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• Figure 3–3 shows the operation of the MOV BX, CX instruction.

• The source register’s contents do not change.
• the destination register’s contents do change
• The contents of the destination register or destination memory location
change for all instructions except the CMP and TEST instructions.
• The MOV BX, CX instruction does not affect the leftmost 16 bits of register
EBX.

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Immediate Addressing

• Term immediate implies that data immediately follow the hexadecimal

opcode in the memory.
• immediate data are constant data
• data transferred from a register or memory location are variable data
• Immediate addressing operates upon a byte or word of data.
• Figure 3–4 shows the operation of a MOV EAX,13456H instruction.

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Figure 3–4 The operation of the MOV EAX,3456H instruction. This

instruction copies the immediate data (13456H) into EAX.

• As with the MOV instruction illustrated in Figure

3–3, the source data overwrites the destination
data.

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• In symbolic assembly language, the symbol # precedes immediate data in

some assemblers.
• MOV AX,#3456H instruction is an example
• Most assemblers do not use the # symbol, but represent immediate data as
in the MOV AX,3456H instruction.
• an older assembler used with some Hewlett-Packard logic development does, as may
others
• in this text, the # is not used for immediate data

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• The symbolic assembler portrays immediate data in many ways.

• The letter H appends hexadecimal data.
• If hexadecimal data begin with a letter, the assembler requires the data start
with a 0.
• to represent a hexadecimal F2, 0F2H is used in assembly language
• Decimal data are represented as is and require no special codes or
adjustments.
• an example is the 100 decimal in the MOV AL,100 instruction

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• An ASCII-coded character or characters may be depicted in the immediate

form if the ASCII data are enclosed in apostrophes.
• be careful to use the apostrophe (`) for ASCII data and not the single quotation mark (‘)
• Binary data are represented if the binary number is followed by the letter B.
• in some assemblers, the letter Y

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• Each statement in an assembly language program consists of four parts or

fields.
• The leftmost field is called the label.
• used to store a symbolic name for the memory location it represents
• All labels must begin with a letter or one of the following special characters:
@, $, -, or ?.
• a label may any length from 1 to 35 characters
• The label appears in a program to identify the name of a memory location for
storing data and for other purposes.

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• The next field to the right is the opcode field.

• designed to hold the instruction, or opcode
• the MOV part of the move data instruction is an example of an opcode
• Right of the opcode field is the operand field.
• contains information used by the opcode
• the MOV AL,BL instruction has the opcode MOV and operands AL and BL
• The comment field, the final field, contains a comment about the
instruction(s).
• comments always begin with a semicolon (;)

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Direct Data Addressing

• Applied to many instructions in a typical program.

• Two basic forms of direct data addressing:
• direct addressing, which applies to a MOV between a memory location and AL, AX, or EAX
• displacement addressing, which applies to almost any instruction in the instruction set
• Address is formed by adding the displacement to the default data segment
address or an alternate segment address.

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Direct Addressing

• Direct addressing with a MOV instruction transfers data between a memory

location, located within the data segment, and the AL (8-bit), AX (16-bit), or
EAX (32-bit) register.
• usually a 3-byte long instruction
• MOV AL,DATA loads AL from the data segment memory location DATA
(1234H).
• DATA is a symbolic memory location, while 1234H is the actual hexadecimal location

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Figure 3–5 The operation of the MOV AL,[1234H] instruction

when DS=1000H .

• This instruction transfers a copy contents of memory location

11234H into AL.
– the effective address is formed by adding 1234H (the offset address)
and 10000H (the data segment address of 1000H times 10H) in a
system operating in the real mode

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Displacement Addressing

• Almost identical to direct addressing, except the instruction is 4 bytes wide

instead of 3.
• In 80386 through Pentium 4, this instruction can be up to 7 bytes wide if a 32-
bit register and a 32-bit displacement are specified.
• This type of direct data addressing is much more flexible because most
instructions use it.

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Register Indirect Addressing

• Allows data to be addressed at any memory location through an offset

address held in any of the following registers: BP, BX, DI, and SI.
• In addition, 80386 and above allow register indirect addressing with any
extended register except ESP.
• In the 64-bit mode, the segment registers serve no purpose in addressing a
location in the flat model.

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Figure 3–6 The operation of the MOV AX,[BX] instruction when BX =

1000H and DS = 0100H. Note that this instruction is shown after the
contents of memory are transferred to AX.

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• The data segment is used by default with register indirect addressing or any
other mode that uses BX, DI, or SI to address memory.
• If the BP register addresses memory, the stack segment is used by default.
• these settings are considered the default for these four index and base registers
• For the 80386 and above, EBP addresses memory in the stack segment by
default.
• EAX, EBX, ECX, EDX, EDI, and ESI address memory in the data segment by
fault.

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• When using a 32-bit register to address memory in the real mode, contents of
the register must never exceed 0000FFFFH.
• In the protected mode, any value can be used in a 32-bit register that is used
to indirectly address memory.
• as long as it does not access a location outside the segment, dictated by the access
rights byte
• In the 64-bit mode, segment registers are not used in address calculation; the
register contains the actual linear memory address.

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• In some cases, indirect addressing requires specifying the size of the data by
the special assembler directive BYTE PTR, WORD PTR, DWORD PTR, or
QWORD PTR.
• these directives indicate the size of the memory data addressed by the memory pointer
(PTR)
• The directives are with instructions that address a memory location through a
pointer or index register with immediate data.
• With SIMD instructions, the octal OWORD PTR, represents a 128-bit-wide
number.

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• Indirect addressing often allows a program to refer to tabular data located in

memory.
• Figure 3–7 shows the table and the BX register used to sequentially address
each location in the table.
• To accomplish this task, load the starting location of the table into the BX
register with a MOV immediate instruction.
• After initializing the starting address of the table, use register indirect
addressing to store the 50 samples sequentially.

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Figure 3–7 An array (TABLE) containing 50 bytes that are

indirectly addressed through register BX.

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Base-Plus-Index Addressing

• Similar to indirect addressing because it indirectly addresses memory data.

• The base register often holds the beginning location of a memory array.
• the index register holds the relative position of an element in the array
• whenever BP addresses memory data, both the stack segment register and BP generate
the effective address

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Locating Data with Base-Plus-Index Addressing

• Figure 3–8 shows how data are addressed by the MOV DX,[BX + DI]
instruction when the microprocessor operates in the real mode.
• The Intel assembler requires this addressing mode appear as [BX][DI] instead
of [BX + DI].
• The MOV DX,[BX + DI] instruction is MOV DX,[BX][DI] for a program written for
the Intel ASM assembler.

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Figure 3–8 An example showing how the base-plus-index addressing

mode functions for the MOV DX,[BX + DI] instruction. Notice that
memory address 02010H is accessed because DS=0100H, BX=100H
and DI=0010H.

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Locating Array Data Using Base-Plus-Index Addressing

• A major use is to address elements in a memory array.

• To accomplish this, load the BX register (base) with the beginning address of
the array and the DI register (index) with the element number to be accessed.
• Figure 3–9 shows the use of BX and DI to access an element in an array of
data.

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Figure 3–9 An example of the base-plus-index addressing

mode. Here an element (DI) of an ARRAY (BX) is addressed.

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Register Relative Addressing

• Similar to base-plus-index addressing and displacement addressing.

• data in a segment of memory are addressed by adding the displacement to the contents
of a base or an index register (BP, BX, DI, or SI)
• Figure 3–10 shows the operation of the MOV AX,[BX+1000H] instruction.
• A real mode segment is 64K bytes long.

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Figure 3–10 The operation of the MOV AX, [BX+1000H] instruction,

when BX=1000H and DS=0200H .

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Addressing Array Data with Register Relative

• It is possible to address array data with register relative addressing.

• such as with base-plus-index addressing
• In Figure 3–11, register relative addressing is illustrated with the same
example as for base-plus-index addressing.
• this shows how the displacement ARRAY adds to index register DI to generate a reference
to an array element

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Figure 3–11 Register relative addressing used to address an element

of ARRAY. The displacement addresses the start of ARRAY, and DI
accesses an element.

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Base Relative-Plus-Index Addressing

• Similar to base-plus-index addressing.

• adds a displacement
• uses a base register and an index register to form the memory address
• This type of addressing mode often addresses a two-dimensional array of
memory data.

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Addressing Data with Base Relative-Plus-Index

• Least-used addressing mode.

• Figure 3–12 shows how data are referenced if the instruction executed by the
microprocessor is MOV AX,[BX + SI + 100H].
• displacement of 100H adds to BX and SI to form the offset address within the data
segment
• This addressing mode is too complex for frequent use in programming.

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Figure 3–12 An example of base relative-plus-index addressing using

a MOV AX,[BX+SI=1000H] instruction. Note: DS=1000H

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Addressing Arrays with Base Relative-Plus-Index

• Suppose a file of many records exists in memory, each record with many
elements.
• displacement addresses the file, base register addresses a record, the index register
addresses an element of a record
• Figure 3–13 illustrates this very complex form of addressing.

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Figure 3–13 Base relative-plus-index addressing used to access a FILE

that contains multiple records (REC).

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Scaled-Index Addressing

• Unique to 80386 - Core2 microprocessors.

• uses two 32-bit registers (a base register and an index register) to access the memory
• The second register (index) is multiplied by a scaling factor.
• the scaling factor can be 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x
• A scaling factor of is implied and need not be included in the assembly
language instruction (MOV AL,[EBX + ECX]).

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RIP Relative Addressing

• Uses the 64-bit instruction pointer register in the 64-bit mode to address a
linear location in the flat memory model.
• Inline assembler program available to Visual does not contain any way of
using this mode or any other 64-bit addressing mode.
• The Microsoft Visual does not at present support developing 64-bit assembly
code.

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Data Structures

• Used to specify how information is stored in a memory array.

• a template for data
• The start of a structure is identified with the STRUC assembly language
directive and the end with the ENDS statement.

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3–2 PROGRAM MEMORY-ADDRESSING MODES

• Used with the JMP (jump) and CALL instructions.

• Consist of three distinct forms:
• direct, relative, and indirect

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Direct Program Memory Addressing

• Used for all jumps and calls by early microprocessor; also used in high-level
languages, such as BASIC.
• GOTO and GOSUB instructions
• The microprocessor uses this form, but not as often as relative and indirect
program memory addressing.
• The instructions for direct program memory addressing store the address
with the opcode.

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Figure 3–14 The 5-byte machine language version of a JMP [10000H]

instruction.

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• This JMP instruction loads CS with 1000H and IP with 0000H to jump to
memory location 10000H for the next instruction.
• an intersegment jump is a jump to any memory location within the entire memory system
• Often called a far jump because it can jump to any memory location for the
next instruction.
• in real mode, any location within the first 1M byte
• In protected mode operation, the far jump can jump to any location in the 4G-byte
address range in the 80386 - Core2 microprocessors

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• The only other instruction using direct program addressing is the

intersegment or far CALL instruction.
• Usually, the name of a memory address, called a label, refers to the location
that is called or jumped to instead of the actual numeric address.
• When using a label with the CALL or JMP instruction, most assemblers select
the best form of program addressing.

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Relative Program Memory Addressing

• Not available in all early microprocessors, but it is available to this family of

microprocessors.
• The term relative means “relative to the instruction pointer (IP)”.
• The JMP instruction is a 1-byte instruction, with a 1-byte or a 2-byte
displacement that adds to the instruction pointer.
• An example is shown in Figure 3–15.

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Figure 3–15 A JMP [2] instruction. This instruction skips over the 2
bytes of memory that follow the JMP instruction.

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Indirect Program Memory Addressing

• The microprocessor allows several forms of program indirect memory

addressing for the JMP and CALL instructions.
• In 80386 and above, an extended register can be used to hold the address or
indirect address of a relative JMP or CALL.
• for example, the JMP EAX jumps to the location address by register EAX

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• If a relative register holds the address, the jump is considered to be an

indirect jump.
• For example, JMP [BX] refers to the memory location within the data segment
at the offset address contained in BX.
• at this offset address is a 16-bit number used as the offset address in the intrasegment
jump
• this type of jump is sometimes called an indirect-indirect or double-indirect jump
• Figure 3–16 shows a jump table that is stored, beginning at memory location
TABLE.

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Figure 3–16 A jump table that stores addresses of various programs. The
exact address chosen from the TABLE is determined by an index stored with
the jump instruction.

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3–3 STACK MEMORY-ADDRESSING MODES

• The stack plays an important role in all microprocessors.

• holds data temporarily and stores return addresses used by procedures
• Stack memory is LIFO (last-in, first-out) memory
• describes the way data are stored and removed from the stack

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• Data are placed on the stack with a PUSH instruction; removed with a POP
instruction.
• Stack memory is maintained by two registers:
• the stack pointer (SP or ESP)
• the stack segment register (SS)
• Whenever a word of data is pushed onto the stack, the high-order 8 bits are
placed in the location addressed by SP – 1.
• low-order 8 bits are placed in the location addressed by SP – 2

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• The SP is decremented by 2 so the next word is stored in the next available

stack location.
• the SP/ESP register always points to an area of memory located within the stack segment.
• In protected mode operation, the SS register holds a selector that accesses a
descriptor for the base address of the stack segment.
• When data are popped from the stack, the low-order 8 bits are removed from
the location addressed by SP.
• high-order 8 bits are removed; the SP register is incremented by 2

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Figure 3–17 The PUSH

and POP instructions:

(a) PUSH BX places the

contents of BX onto the
stack;
(b) POP CX removes data
from the stack and places
them into CX.

Both instructions are shown

after execution.

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• Note that PUSH and POP store or retrieve words of data—never bytes—in
8086 - 80286.
• 80386 and above allow words or doublewords to be transferred to and from
the stack.
• Data may be pushed onto the stack from any 16-bit register or segment
register.
• in 80386 and above, from any 32-bit extended register
• Data may be popped off the stack into any register or any segment register
except CS.

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• PUSHA and POPA instructions push or pop all except segment registers, on
the stack.
• Not available on early 8086/8088 processors.
• 80386 and above allow extended registers to be pushed or popped.
• 64-bit mode for Pentium and Core2 does not contain a PUSHA or POPA instruction

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SUMMARY

• The MOV instruction copies the contents of the source operand into the
destination operand.
• The source never changes for any instruction.
• Register addressing specifies any 8-bit register (AH, AL, BH, BL, CH, CL, DH,
or DL) or any 16-bit register (AX, BX, CX, DX, SP, BP, SI, or DI).

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(cont.)
SUMMARY

• The segment registers (CS, DS, ES, or SS) are also addressable for moving
data between a segment register and a 16-bit register/memory location or for
PUSH and POP.
• In the 80386 through the Core2 microprocessors, the extended registers also
are used for register addressing; they consist of EAX, EBX, ECX, EDX, ESP,
EBP, EDI, and ESI.

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(cont.)
SUMMARY

• In the 64-bit mode, the registers are RAX, RBX, RCX, RDX, RSP, RBP, RDI, RSI,
and R8 through R15.
• The MOV immediate instruction transfers the byte or word that immediately
follows the opcode into a register or a memory location.
• Immediate addressing manipulates constant data in a program.

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(cont.)
SUMMARY

• In the 80386 and above, doubleword immediate data may also be loaded into
a 32-bit register or memory location.
• The .MODEL statement is used with assembly language to identify the start of
a file and the type of memory model used with the file.
• If the size is TINY, the program exists in the code segment, and assembled as
a command (.COM) program.

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(cont.)
SUMMARY

• If the SMALL model is used, the program uses a code and data segment and
assembles as an execute (.EXE) program.
• Direct addressing occurs in two forms in the microprocessor: direct
addressing and displacement addressing.

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(cont.)
SUMMARY

• Both forms of addressing are identical except that direct addressing is used
to transfer data between EAX, AX, or AL and memory; displacement
addressing is used with any register-memory transfer.
• Direct addressing requires 3 bytes of memory, whereas displacement
addressing requires 4 bytes.

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(cont.)
SUMMARY

• Register indirect addressing allows data to be addressed at the memory

location pointed to by either a base (BP and BX) or index register (DI and SI).
• In the 80386 and above, extended registers EAX, EBX, ECX, EDX, EBP, EDI,
and ESI are used to address memory data.

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(cont.)
SUMMARY

• Base-plus-index addressing often addresses data in an array.

• The memory address for this mode is formed by adding a base register, index
register, and the contents of a segment register times 10H.
• In the 80386 and above, the base and index registers may be any 32-bit
register except EIP and ESP.

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(cont.)
SUMMARY

• Register relative addressing uses a base or index register, plus a

displacement to access memory data.
• Base relative-plus-index addressing is useful for addressing a two-
dimensional memory array.
• The address is formed by adding a base register, an index register,
displacement, and the contents of a segment register times 10H.

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(cont.)
SUMMARY

• Scaled-index addressing is unique to the 80386 through the Core2.

• The second of two registers (index) is scaled by a factor of to access words,
doublewords, or quadwords in memory arrays.
• The MOV AX,[ EBX + 2*ECX] and the MOV [4 * ECX ],EDX are examples of
scaled-index instructions.

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(cont.)
SUMMARY

• Data structures are templates for storing arrays of data and are addressed by
array name and field.
• Direct program memory addressing is allowed with the JMP and CALL
instructions to any location in the memory system.
• With this addressing mode, the off-set address and segment address are
stored with the instruction.

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(cont.)
SUMMARY

• Relative program addressing allows a JMP or CALL instruction to branch for-

ward or backward in the current code segment by bytes.
• In the 80386 and above, the 32-bit displacement allows a branch to any
location in the cur-rent code segment by using a displacement value of
bytes.
• The 32-bit displacement can be used only in protected mode.

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(cont.)
SUMMARY

• Indirect program addressing allows the JMP or CALL instructions to address

another portion of the program or subroutine indirectly through a register or
memory location.
• The PUSH and POP instructions transfer a word between the stack and a
register or memory location.
• A PUSH immediate instruction is available to place immediate data on the
stack.

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SUMMARY

• The PUSHA and POPA instructions transfer AX, CX, DX, BX, BP, SP, SI, and DI
between the stack and these registers.
• In 80386 and above, the extended register and extended flags can also be
transferred between registers and the stack.
• A PUSHFD stores the EFLAGS, whereas a PUSHF stores the FLAGS. POPA and
PUSHA are not available in 64-bit mode.

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