Chapter Three

8086 Addressing Modes

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 Chapter Outline

➢ Addressing modes:

▪ Definition and classification.

➢ Data addressing modes.

➢ Program memory addressing modes

➢ Stack memory addressing modes.

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 Addressing Modes: Definition and classification
Addressing Modes:
➢ Addressing mode provide different ways for access an address to given data to a
processor.
➢ When 8086 executes an instruction, it performs the specified function on data.
➢ Operated data is stored in the memory location.
➢ There are various techniques to specify address of data. These techniques are called
Addressing Modes.
Classification of Addressing Modes:
I. Data-Addressing Modes:
➢ This mode is related to data transfer operation, that is, data is transferred either from the
memory to internal registers of 8086 processors or from one register to another register.
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II. Program Memory addressing Modes:

➢ This mode involves program memory addresses during various operations.

➢ Example: JMP AX, in this instruction, the code execution control jumps to the current

code segment location addressed by the contents of AX register.

III. Stack memory addressing Modes:

➢ This mode involves stack registry operations.

➢ Example:
1. PUSH AX, this instruction copies the contents of AX register to the stack
2. POP AX, this instruction move the contents of AX register from the stack
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 I. Data addressing modes
❖ Note: We will use MOV instruction to explain all the data addressing modes.

1. Register addressing
➢ Register addressing transfers a copy of a byte or word from the source register to
destination register.

➢ Register addressing is the most common form of data addressing.

➢ 8-bit register names with register addressing: AH, AL, BH, BL, CH, CL, DH, DL.

➢ 16-bit register names: AX, BX, CX, DX, SP, BP, SI ,DI, IP, CS, SS, DS and ES.

➢ Never mix an 8-bit register with 16-bit, it is not allowed in microprocessor.

➢ Code segment register (CS) is never Compiled

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❖Segment to segment MOV instruction is not allowed.

E.g.,
1. MOV AL, BL ; Copies 8-bit content of BL into AL
2. MOV AX, CX ; Copies 16-bit content of CX into AX
3. MOV ES, DS ; Not allowed (segment to segment)
4. MOV BL, DX ; Not allowed (mixed size)
5. MOV CS, AX ; Not allowed (Code segment register may not be destination register)

2. Immediate addressing: It transfers the source, an immediate byte or word data, into the
destination register.

• Immediate data means constant data, whereas data transferred from a register or
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E.g.,

1. MOV BL, 44 ; Copies 44 decimal (2CH) into BL

2. MOV AX, 44H ; Copies 0044H into AX
3. MOV AL, ‘A’ ; Copies ASCII A into AL

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3. Direct data addressing: It moves a byte or word between a data segment memory
location and register.

❖ The instruction set does not support a memory to memory transfer except with the
MOV instruction.

❖ Direct addressing with a MOV instruction transfers data between a memory location,
located within the data segment, and the AL (8-bit) or, AX (16-bit).
❖ A MOV instruction using this type of addressing is usually a three byte long
instruction.
❖ The effective address is given directly in the source.

E.g., MOV AL, DS:[1234H]

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4. Register Indirect addressing

➢ Register addressing transfers a byte or word between a register and memory

location addressed by an index or base register.

➢ The index and base registers are BP, BX, DI and SI. these registers hold the
offset address of the memory location.

➢ The data segment is used by default with register indirect addressing or any
other addressing modes that uses BX, DI or, SI to address memory.

➢ If BP register addresses memory, the stack segment is used by default.

➢ The [ ] symbol denote indirect addressing in assembly language.

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E.g.,
1. MOV CX, [BX] ; Copies the word contents of the data segment memory location
addressed by BX into CX.

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5. Register Relative addressing/ Base Address mode : It moves a byte or word between a register
and the memory location addressed by an index or base register (BP, BX, DI or SI) plus a
displacement.
➢ Remember that BX, DI or SI addresses data segment and BP addresses the stack segment.
E.g.,
1. MOV AX, [DI+100H] ; Copies the word content of the data segment memory location
addressed by DI plus 100H into AX.
2. MOV ARRAY[SI], BL ; Copies BL into the data segment memory location addressed by
ARRAY plus SI

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6. Base-Plus-Index addressing: it transfer a byte or word between a register and a memory

location addressed by a base register (BP or BX) plus an index register (DI or SI).
➢ The base register often holds the beginning location of a memory array,
➢ Whereas, the index register holds the relative position of an element in the array.
➢ When BP addresses memory, stack segment is selected by default and when BX addresses
memory data segment is selected by default.
E.g.,
1. MOV CX, [BX+DI]; Copies the word content of the data segment memory location addressed by BX plus
DI into CX.
2. MOV [BP+DI], AH ; Copies AH into stack segment memory location addressed by BP plus DI

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7. Base Relative plus Index addressing : it transfers a byte or word between a register
and a memory location addressed by a base and an index register plus displacement.
❖ It is similar to base plus index addressing, but it adds a displacement beside using a
base register and an index register.
❖ This type of addressing mode often addresses a two-dimensional array of memory data.
E.g., 1. MOV DH, [BX+DI+20H] ; Copies the byte content of data segment memory location
addressed by the sum of BX, DI and 20H into DH.
2. MOV LIST[BP+DI], CL ; Copies CL into the stack segment memory location addressed by
the sum of LIST, BP, SI and 4.

➢ Scaled-Index Addressing and RIP Relative Addressing(reading Assignment)

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 II. Program Memory addressing Modes
➢ The Program Memory Addressing mode is used in branch instructions.

➢ These branch instructions are instructions which are responsible for changing the
regular flow of the instruction execution and shifting the control to some other
location.

➢ In 8086 microprocessor, these instructions are usually JMP and CALL instructions.

➢ The Program memory Addressing Mode contains further three addressing modes
within it. They are:
a. Direct Program memory Addressing
b. Indirect Program memory Addressing
c. Relative Program memory Addressing

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 a. Direct Program Memory Addressing
❖ Used for all jumps and calls by early microprocessor; also used in high-level
languages, such as BASIC.
❖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.
❖Often called a far jump because it can jump to any memory location for the next
instruction.
❖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.
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 b. 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.

❖ A JMP [2] instruction. This instruction skips over the 2 bytes of memory that follow
the JMP instruction.

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 c. 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.

❖ 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 intersegment
jump

▪ this type of jump is sometimes called an indirect indirect or double-indirect jump

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 III. 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
❖ 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.
▪ The low-order 8 bits are placed in the location addressed by SP – 2
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E.g., 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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 End of Chapter Three
Any 3.1.8 Scaled-Index Addressing

3.1.9 RIP Relative Addressing Question?

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