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Comprehensive Explanation - Clearing Upper 4 Bits and String Case Conversion With 'AND'

The document explains two key concepts in assembly language: clearing the upper 4 bits of an 8-bit register using the AND instruction and converting a lowercase string to uppercase by manipulating ASCII values. It provides detailed steps, example code, and explanations for both processes, emphasizing the use of masks in bitwise operations. Additionally, it discusses the practical applications of the AND instruction in data manipulation and validation.

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Daniel Solomon
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8 views8 pages

Comprehensive Explanation - Clearing Upper 4 Bits and String Case Conversion With 'AND'

The document explains two key concepts in assembly language: clearing the upper 4 bits of an 8-bit register using the AND instruction and converting a lowercase string to uppercase by manipulating ASCII values. It provides detailed steps, example code, and explanations for both processes, emphasizing the use of masks in bitwise operations. Additionally, it discusses the practical applications of the AND instruction in data manipulation and validation.

Uploaded by

Daniel Solomon
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Comprehensive Explanation: Clearing Upper 4 Bits and String

Case Conversion with AND


Concept 1: Clearing Upper 4 Bits of an 8-bit Register
1. Objective:
Transform the content of an 8-bit register so that its upper 4 bits are
cleared (set to 0) while retaining the lower 4 bits.

2. Theory:
The AND instruction is a bitwise operation where each bit in the
destination is logically ANDed with the corresponding bit in the source
operand. Mathematically:

Result [ i ] =Destination [ i ] ∧Source [ i ] , ∀ i∈ {0 , 1 ,… , 7 }


Using a mask with the form 0b00001111, only the lower 4 bits are
preserved because ∧0=0 and ∧1=original bit .

3. Steps:

o Load Initial Value: Place an 8-bit value into a register (e.g., AL).

o Apply Mask: Use AND with the mask 0b00001111.

o Result: The upper 4 bits are cleared, and the lower 4 bits remain
unchanged.

4. Example Code:

mov al, 0b11011011 ; Load AL with 8-bit value


and al, 0b00001111 ; Apply mask to clear upper 4 bits
; AL = 0b00001011

5. Explanation of Result:
Initially: AL=0 b 11011011
Mask: 0 b 00001111

Result=0 b 11011011∧ 0 b 00001111=0 b 00001011

Concept 2: Converting a String to Uppercase


1. Objective:
Convert a null-terminated string of lowercase ASCII characters into
uppercase by manipulating individual bits.

2. Theory:

o ASCII Properties:
Lowercase letters (a to z ) have ASCII values {97 , 98 , … ,122 },
represented in binary as 0 b 011 xxxxx .
Uppercase letters ( A to Z ) have ASCII values {65 ,66 , … , 90 },
represented as 0 b 010 xxxxx .

o Key Insight:

Clearing the 5th bit (bit 5, where i=5 ) transforms a lowercase


letter into its uppercase equivalent.

o Mask Design:

To clear bit 5, use the mask 0 b 11011111 because ∧0=0 and


∧1=original bit .

3. Steps:
o Load the String: Use a pointer register (ESI) to traverse the
string and a counter (ECX) for the loop.

o Apply Mask: Use AND to clear bit 5 of each character.

o Loop: Process each character until the null terminator ( 0) is


encountered.

4. Example Code:

section .data
mystring db 'hello, world!', 0 ; Null-terminated string

section .text
global _start

_start:
mov ecx, 13 ; String length
mov esi, mystring ; String address

L1:
and BYTE [esi], 0b11011111 ; Clear bit 5
inc esi ; Move to the next character
loop L1 ; Repeat for all characters

mov eax, 60 ; syscall: exit


xor edi, edi ; status: 0
syscall

5. Explanation of Result:
Initial string: 'hello, world!'
ASCII values: {104 ,101 , 108 , 108 ,111 , 44 , 32 ,119 ,111 , 114 ,108 , 100 , 33}
After clearing bit 5: {72 , 69 , 76 ,76 ,79 , 44 ,32 , 87 , 79 , 82, 76 , 68 , 33 },
which corresponds to 'HELLO, WORLD!'.

Concrete Example: Combining Concepts


Suppose we need to: 1. Clear the upper 4 bits of an 8-bit register AL
initialized with 0xAD. 2. Convert the string "goodbye!" to uppercase.
Code Example:
section .data
mystring db 'goodbye!', 0 ; Null-terminated string

section .text
global _start

_start:
; Clearing upper 4 bits
mov al, 0xAD ; Load AL with 0xAD
and al, 0x0F ; Clear upper 4 bits
; AL = 0x0D

; Converting string to uppercase


mov esi, mystring ; Load string address
L1:
cmp BYTE [esi], 0 ; Check for null terminator
je done ; Exit if null is reached
and BYTE [esi], 0xDF ; Clear bit 5
inc esi ; Next character
jmp L1
done:
mov eax, 60 ; syscall: exit
xor edi, edi ; status: 0
syscall

Expected Outputs:
1. AL=0 x 0 D after clearing upper 4 bits.
2. Transformed string: "GOODBYE!".

Questions or Problems You May Encounter


1. Theoretical:

o Why does clearing bit 5 convert lowercase to uppercase in ASCII?

o What happens if a non-alphabetic character undergoes this


transformation?

2. Practical:
o Write code to reverse the transformation (uppercase to
lowercase).

o Modify the code to process strings of unknown length


dynamically.

3. Optimization:

o How can SIMD or 16-bit operations speed up character


transformations?

o Suggest improvements to reduce the number of instructions.

Detailed Notes on the AND Instruction in Assembly Language

Introduction to the AND Instruction


The AND instruction is a fundamental operation in assembly language
programming, performing bitwise logical AND operations between two
operands. It plays a critical role in low-level programming tasks such as bit
manipulation, masking, toggling, and clearing bits.

Basic Concept of Bitwise AND


The AND operation compares each bit of two binary numbers. For each bit
position, the result is 1 if both corresponding bits in the operands are 1;
otherwise, the result is 0.
Truth Table for Bitwise AND:
Operand Operand A AND
A B B
0 0 0
0 1 0
1 0 0
1 1 1

This behavior makes the AND operation useful for:


1. Clearing Bits: Setting specific bits to 0.
2. Masking: Extracting or isolating specific bits.
3. Validation: Checking if certain bits are set.
Syntax and Operand Combinations
The general syntax for the AND instruction is:
AND destination, source

 Destination: Register or memory location where the result is stored.

 Source: Operand used in the operation, which can be a register,


memory location, or immediate value.

Allowed Operand Combinations:


Destinati
on Source Example
Register Register AND eax, ebx
Register Memory AND eax,
[var]
Register Immedia AND eax, 0xFF
te
Memory Register AND [var],
ebx
Memory Immedia AND [var],
te 0x0F

Note: Both operands must be of the same size (e.g., 8, 16, 32, or 64 bits).

Bitwise Operation Example


Problem Statement: Clear the upper 4 bits of an 8-bit register (AL) while
keeping the lower 4 bits unchanged.
Initial Setup
mov al, 0b11011011 ; Initial value of AL
and al, 0b00001111 ; Clear upper 4 bits

Step-by-Step Execution
 Initial Values:

o AL: 11011011 (binary representation).

o Mask: 00001111.

 AND Operation (bit-by-bit comparison):

AL: 11011011
Mask: 00001111
-----------------
Result:00001011
 Result:

o Upper 4 bits are cleared to 0.

o Lower 4 bits remain unchanged.

 Final State: AL = 00001011.

Practical Insight: This example demonstrates how a mask can selectively


clear bits.

ASCII Case Conversion Using AND


Background on ASCII
ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) assigns a
unique 7-bit binary code to each character. Lowercase letters (‘a’ to ‘z’) and
uppercase letters (‘A’ to ‘Z’) differ only by bit 5:
 For lowercase letters, bit 5 is 1.

 For uppercase letters, bit 5 is 0.

Conversion Logic
To convert a lowercase ASCII character to uppercase:
1. Mask: Use the AND operation with a mask of 11011111 (0xDF in
hexadecimal).
2. Effect: Clears bit 5, leaving other bits unchanged.
Example: Converting a String to Uppercase
Problem Statement: Convert a null-terminated string of lowercase ASCII
characters into uppercase.
Assembly Code
mov ecx, LENGTHOF mystring ; Load string length into ECX
mov esi, OFFSET mystring ; Load string starting address into ESI
L1: and BYTE PTR [esi], 11011111b ; Clear bit 5 of current character
inc esi ; Move to the next character
loop L1 ; Repeat for all characters

Detailed Explanation
1. Initialization:

o Load the string length into the ECX register.

o Load the string’s starting address into the ESI register.

2. Bitwise Operation:
o Perform AND with 11011111b for each byte.

o This clears bit 5 of the current character.

3. Iteration:

o Increment ESI to point to the next character.

o Decrement ECX and repeat until ECX becomes 0.

ASCII Conversion Table


Charact ASCII Binary Mask Resul
er (Before) 11011111b ASCII Binary (After) t
‘a’ 01100001 11011111 01000001 ‘A’
‘b’ 01100010 11011111 01000010 ‘B’
Result
After execution, all lowercase letters in the string are converted to
uppercase.

Practical Applications of AND


1. Masking Specific Bits:

o Extract specific bits from a value.


and eax, 0xF ; Extract lower 4 bits of EAX

2. Clearing Flags:

o Reset specific flags or bits in a status register.


3. Data Validation:

o Check if specific bits are set.


and eax, 0x01 ; Check if least significant bit is set

4. Bitfield Manipulation:

o Operate on compact data structures where individual bits


represent different flags or values.
5. ASCII Manipulation:

o Convert characters between uppercase and lowercase or ensure


uniformity.

o Extend to multibyte encodings like UTF-8 with proper handling.


Conclusion
The AND instruction is a powerful and versatile tool in assembly language,
essential for efficient and precise bitwise operations. Its applications span
across tasks requiring data manipulation, validation, and transformation at
the bit level, making it indispensable in low-level programming.

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