Assembly - Basic Syntax

An assembly program can be divided into three sections –

• The data section,

• The bss section, and

• The text section.

The data Section

The data section is used for declaring initialized data or constants. This
data does not change at runtime. You can declare various constant values, file
names, or buffer size, etc., in this section.
The syntax for declaring data section is −

The bss Section

The bss section is used for declaring variables. The syntax for declaring bss
section is −

The text section

The text section is used for keeping the actual code. This section must begin with
the declaration global _start, which tells the kernel where the program
execution begins.
The syntax for declaring text section is –

Comments
Assembly language comment begins with a semicolon (;). It may contain
any printable character including blank. It can appear on a line by itself, like −

or, on the same line along with an instruction, like −

Assembly Language Statements

Assembly language programs consist of three types of statements −
The executable instructions or simply instructions tell the processor what to
do. Each instruction consists of an operation code (opcode). Each executable
instruction generates one machine language instruction.
The assembler directives or pseudo-ops tell the assembler about the
various aspects of the assembly process. These are non-executable and do
not generate machine language instructions.
Macros are basically a text substitution mechanism.

Syntax of Assembly Language Statements

Assembly language statements are entered one statement per line. Each
statement follows the following format –

The fields in the square brackets are optional. A basic instruction has two
parts, the first one is the name of the instruction (or the mnemonic), which is
to be executed, and the second are the operands or the parameters of the
command.
Following are some examples of typical assembly language statements −

The Hello World Program in Assembly

The following assembly language code displays the string 'Hello World' on
the screen −
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result

Assembly - Memory Segments

The three sections of an assembly program discussed represent various
memory segments as well.
If you replace the section keyword with segment, you will get the same result.
Try the following code −
 When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result
–

Memory Segments
A segmented memory model divides the system memory into groups of
independent segments referenced by pointers located in the segment registers.
Each segment is used to contain a specific type of data. One segment is used to
contain instruction codes, another segment stores the data elements, and a third
segment keeps the program stack.
In the light of the above discussion, we can specify various memory segments as –

• Data segment − It is represented by .data section and the .bss. The .data
section is used to declare the memory region, where data elements are
stored for the program. This section cannot be expanded after the data
elements are declared, and it remains static throughout the program.
The .bss section is also a static memory section that contains buffers for data to
be declared later in the program. This buffer memory is zero-filled.

• Code segment − It is represented by .text section. This defines an area in

memory that stores the instruction codes. This is also a fixed area.

• Stack − This segment contains data values passed to functions and

procedures within the program.

Assembly - Registers
Processor operations mostly involve processing data. This data can be
stored in memory and accessed from thereon. However, reading data from and
storing data into memory slows down the processor, as it involves complicated
processes of sending the data request across the control bus and into the
memory storage unit and getting the data through the same channel.
 To speed up the processor operations, the processor includes some
internal memory storage locations, called registers.
The registers store data elements for processing without having to access
the memory. A limited number of registers are built into the processor chip.

Processor Registers
There are ten 32-bit and six 16-bit processor registers in IA-32 architecture.
The registers are grouped into three categories −

The general registers are further divided into the following groups −

Data Registers
Four 32-bit data registers are used for arithmetic, logical, and other
operations. These 32-bit registers can be used in three ways −

• As complete 32-bit data registers: EAX, EBX, ECX, EDX.

• Lower halves of the 32-bit registers can be used as four 16-bit data registers:
AX, BX, CX and DX.

• Lower and higher halves of the above-mentioned four 16-bit registers can be
used as eight 8-bit data registers: AH, AL, BH, BL, CH, CL, DH, and DL.

Some of these data registers have specific use in arithmetical operations.

AX is the primary accumulator; it is used in input/output and most arithmetic
instructions. For example, in multiplication operation, one operand is stored in
EAX or AX or AL register according to the size of the operand.
BX is known as the base register, as it could be used in indexed addressing.
CX is known as the count register, as the ECX, CX registers store the loop
count in iterative operations.
DX is known as the data register. It is also used in input/output operations. It
is also used with AX register along with DX for multiply and divide operations
involving large values.
Pointer Registers
The pointer registers are 32-bit EIP, ESP, and EBP registers and corresponding
16- bit right portions IP, SP, and BP. There are three categories of pointer
registers –

• Instruction Pointer (IP) − The 16-bit IP register stores the offset address of
the next instruction to be executed. IP in association with the CS register
(as CS:IP) gives the complete address of the current instruction in the
code segment.

• Stack Pointer (SP) − The 16-bit SP register provides the offset value within
the program stack. SP in association with the SS register (SS:SP) refers to
be current position of data or address within the program stack.

• Base Pointer (BP) − The 16-bit BP register mainly helps in referencing the
parameter variables passed to a subroutine. The address in SS register is
combined with the offset in BP to get the location of the parameter. BP can
also be combined with DI and SI as base register for special addressing.

Index Registers
The 32-bit index registers, ESI and EDI, and their 16-bit rightmost portions. SI and
DI, are used for indexed addressing and sometimes used in addition and
subtraction. There are two sets of index pointers −

• Source Index (SI) − It is used as source index for string operations. •

Destination Index (DI) − It is used as destination index for string operations.

Control Registers
The 32-bit instruction pointer register and the 32-bit flags register combined are
considered as the control registers.
Many instructions involve comparisons and mathematical calculations and
change the status of the flags and some other conditional instructions test the
value of these status flags to take the control flow to other location.
The common flag bits are:
 • Overflow Flag (OF) − It indicates the overflow of a high-order bit (leftmost
bit) of data after a signed arithmetic operation.

• Direction Flag (DF) − It determines left or right direction for moving or

comparing string data. When the DF value is 0, the string operation takes
left to-right direction and when the value is set to 1, the string operation
takes right-to-left direction.

• Interrupt Flag (IF) − It determines whether the external interrupts like

keyboard entry, etc., are to be ignored or processed. It disables the
external interrupt when the value is 0 and enables interrupts when set to
1.

• Trap Flag (TF) − It allows setting the operation of the processor in single-
step mode. The DEBUG program we used sets the trap flag, so we could
step through the execution one instruction at a time.

• Sign Flag (SF) − It shows the sign of the result of an arithmetic operation.
This flag is set according to the sign of a data item following the arithmetic
operation. The sign is indicated by the high-order of leftmost bit. A positive
result clears the value of SF to 0 and negative result sets it to 1.
• Zero Flag (ZF) − It indicates the result of an arithmetic or comparison
operation. A nonzero result clears the zero flag to 0, and a zero result sets
it to 1.

• Auxiliary Carry Flag (AF) − It contains the carry from bit 3 to bit 4
following an arithmetic operation; used for specialized arithmetic. The AF
is set when a 1-byte arithmetic operation causes a carry from bit 3 into bit
4.

• Parity Flag (PF) − It indicates the total number of 1-bits in the result
obtained from an arithmetic operation. An even number of 1-bits clears
the parity flag to 0 and an odd number of 1-bits sets the parity flag to 1.

• Carry Flag (CF) − It contains the carry of 0 or 1 from a high-order bit

(leftmost) after an arithmetic operation. It also stores the contents of last
bit of a shift or rotate operation.
The following table indicates the position of flag bits in the 16-bit Flags register:

Segment Registers
Segments are specific areas defined in a program for containing data, code and
stack. There are three main segments −

• Code Segment − It contains all the instructions to be executed. A 16-bit

Code Segment register or CS register stores the starting address of the
code segment.

• Data Segment − It contains data, constants and work areas. A 16-bit Data
Segment register or DS register stores the starting address of the data
 segment.

• Stack Segment − It contains data and return addresses of procedures or

subroutines. It is implemented as a 'stack' data structure. The Stack
Segment register or SS register stores the starting address of the stack.
Apart from the DS, CS and SS registers, there are other extra segment registers -
ES (extra segment), FS and GS, which provide additional segments for storing
data.
In assembly programming, a program needs to access the memory locations. All
memory locations within a segment are relative to the starting address of the
segment. A segment begins in an address evenly divisible by 16 or hexadecimal
10. So, the rightmost hex digit in all such memory addresses is 0, which is not
generally stored in the segment registers.
The segment registers stores the starting addresses of a segment. To get the
exact location of data or instruction within a segment, an offset value (or
displacement) is required. To reference any memory location in a segment, the
processor combines the segment address in the segment register with the offset
value of the location.
Example
Look at the following simple program to understand the use of registers in
assembly programming. This program displays 9 stars on the screen along with a
simple message –

section .text
global _start ;must be declared for linker (gcc)

_start: ;tell linker entry point

mov edx,len ;message length
mov ecx,msg ;message to write
mov ebx,1 ;file descriptor (stdout)
mov eax,4 ;system call number (sys_write)
int 0x80 ;call kernel

mov edx,9 ;message length

mov ecx,s2 ;message to write
mov ebx,1 ;file descriptor (stdout)
mov eax,4 ;system call number (sys_write)
int 0x80 ;call kernel

mov eax,1 ;system call number (sys_exit)

int 0x80 ;call kernel

section .data
msg db 'Displaying 9 stars',0xa ;a message
len equ $ - msg ;length of message
s2 times 9 db '*'

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result
−

Assembly - System Calls

System calls are APIs for the interface between the user space and the
kernel space. We have already used the system calls. sys_write and sys_exit, for
writing into the screen and exiting from the program, respectively.
Linux System Calls
You can make use of Linux system calls in your assembly programs. You
need to take the following steps for using Linux system calls in your program –

• Put the system call number in the EAX register.

• Store the arguments to the system call in the registers EBX, ECX, etc.

• Call the relevant interrupt (80h).

• The result is usually returned in the EAX register.

There are six registers that store the arguments of the system call used. These
are the EBX, ECX, EDX, ESI, EDI, and EBP. These registers take the consecutive
arguments, starting with the EBX register. If there are more than six arguments,
then the memory location of the first argument is stored in the EBX register.

The following code snippet shows the use of the system call sys_exit –

The following code snippet shows the use of the system call sys_write −

All the syscalls are listed in /usr/include/asm/unistd.h, together with their

numbers (the value to put in EAX before you call int 80h).
The following table shows some of the system calls used in this tutorial −
Example
The following example reads a number from the keyboard and displays it on the
screen −
section .data ;Data segment
userMsg db 'Please enter a number: ' ;Ask the user to enter a
number lenUserMsg equ $-userMsg ;The length of the message
dispMsg db 'You have entered: '
lenDispMsg equ $-dispMsg

section .bss ;Uninitialized data

num resb 5

section .text ;Code Segment

global _start

_start: ;User prompt

mov eax, 4
mov ebx, 1
mov ecx, userMsg
mov edx, lenUserMsg
int 80h

;Read and store the user input

mov eax, 3
mov ebx, 2
mov ecx, num
mov edx, 5 ;5 bytes (numeric, 1 for sign) of that information int
80h

;Output the message 'The entered number is: '

mov eax, 4
mov ebx, 1
mov ecx, dispMsg
mov edx, lenDispMsg
int 80h

;Output the number entered

mov eax, 4
mov ebx, 1
mov ecx, num
mov edx, 5
int 80h

; Exit code
mov eax, 1
mov ebx, 0
int 80h

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result

Assembly - Addressing Modes

Most assembly language instructions require operands to be processed. An
operand address provides the location, where the data to be processed is stored.
Some instructions do not require an operand, whereas some other instructions
may require one, two, or three operands.
When an instruction requires two operands, the first operand is generally the
destination, which contains data in a register or memory location and the second
operand is the source. Source contains either the data to be delivered (immediate
addressing) or the address (in register or memory) of the data. Generally, the
source data remains unaltered after the operation.
The three basic modes of addressing are −

• Register addressing

• Immediate addressing

• Memory addressing

Register Addressing
In this addressing mode, a register contains the operand. Depending upon the
instruction, the register may be the first operand, the second operand or both.
For example,

As processing data between registers does not involve memory, it provides

fastest processing of data.
Immediate Addressing
An immediate operand has a constant value or an expression. When an
instruction with two operands uses immediate addressing, the first operand may
be a register or memory location, and the second operand is an immediate
constant. The first operand defines the length of the data.
For example,

Direct Memory Addressing

When operands are specified in memory addressing mode, direct access to main
memory, usually to the data segment, is required. This way of addressing results
in slower processing of data. To locate the exact location of data in memory, we
need
the segment start address, which is typically found in the DS register and an
offset value. This offset value is also called effective address.
In direct addressing mode, the offset value is specified directly as part of the
instruction, usually indicated by the variable name. The assembler calculates the
offset value and maintains a symbol table, which stores the offset values of all
the variables used in the program.
In direct memory addressing, one of the operands refers to a memory location
and the other operand references a register.
For example,

Direct-Offset Addressing
This addressing mode uses the arithmetic operators to modify an address. For
example, look at the following definitions that define tables of data −

The following operations access data from the tables in the memory into
registers –

Indirect Memory Addressing

This addressing mode utilizes the computer's ability of Segment:Offset
addressing. Generally, the base registers EBX, EBP (or BX, BP) and the index
registers (DI, SI), coded within square brackets for memory references, are used
for this purpose.
Indirect addressing is generally used for variables containing several elements
like, arrays. Starting address of the array is stored in, say, the EBX register.
The following code snippet shows how to access different elements of the

variable.

The MOV Instruction

 We have already used the MOV instruction that is used for moving data from one
storage space to another. The MOV instruction takes two operands.
Syntax
The syntax of the MOV instruction is −

The MOV instruction may have one of the following five forms –

Please note that −

• Both the operands in MOV operation should be of same size

• The value of source operand remains unchanged

The MOV instruction causes ambiguity at times. For example, look at the
statements:

It is not clear whether you want to move a byte equivalent or word equivalent of
the number 110. In such cases, it is wise to use a type specifier.
Following table shows some of the common type specifiers −

Example
The following program illustrates some of the concepts discussed above. It stores
a name 'Zara Ali' in the data section of the memory, then changes its value to
another name 'Nuha Ali' programmatically and displays both the names.
section .text
global _start ;must be declared for linker (ld)
_start: ;tell linker entry point

;writing the name 'Zara Ali'

mov edx,9 ;message length
mov ecx, name ;message to write
mov ebx,1 ;file descriptor (stdout)
mov eax,4 ;system call number (sys_write)
int 0x80 ;call kernel

mov [name], dword 'Nuha' ; Changed the name to Nuha Ali

;writing the name 'Nuha Ali'

mov edx,8 ;message length
mov ecx,name ;message to write
mov ebx,1 ;file descriptor (stdout)
mov eax,4 ;system call number (sys_write)
int 0x80 ;call kernel

mov eax,1 ;system call number (sys_exit)

int 0x80 ;call kernel

section .data
name db 'Zara Ali '

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result –

Assembly - Variables
NASM provides various define directives for reserving storage space for variables. The define
assembler directive is used for allocation of storage space. It can be used to reserve as well as
initialize one or more bytes.
Allocating Storage Space for Initialized Data
The syntax for storage allocation statement for initialized data is −

Where, variable-name is the identifier for each storage space. The assembler associates an
offset value for each variable name defined in the data segment.
There are five basic forms of the define directive –

Following are some examples of using define directives –

Please note that –

• Each byte of character is stored as its ASCII value in hexadecimal.

• Each decimal value is automatically converted to its 16-bit binary equivalent

and stored as a hexadecimal number.

• Processor uses the little-endian byte ordering.

 • Negative numbers are converted to its 2's complement representation.

• Short and long floating-point numbers are represented using 32 or 64 bits,

respectively.
The following program shows the use of define directive –

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result
–

Allocating Storage Space for Uninitialized Data

The reserve directives are used for reserving space for uninitialized data. The
reserve directives take a single operand that specifies the number of units of
space to be reserved. Each define directive has a related reserve directive.
There are five basic forms of the reserve directive –

Multiple Definitions
You can have multiple data definition statements in a program. For example −
The assembler allocates contiguous memory for multiple variable
definitions. Multiple Initializations

The TIMES directive allows multiple initializations to the same value. For example,
an array named marks of size 9 can be defined and initialized to zero using the
following statement –

The TIMES directive is useful in defining arrays and tables. The following program
displays 9 asterisks on the screen –

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result
–

Assembly - Constants
There are several directives provided by NASM that define constants. We have
already used the EQU directive in previous chapters. We will particularly discuss
three directives −

The EQU Directive

The EQU directive is used for defining constants. The syntax of the EQU directive
is as follows −

For example,

You can then use this constant value in your code, like –

The operand of an EQU statement can be an expression −

Above code segment would define AREA as 200.

Example
The following example illustrates the use of the EQU directive –
SYS_EXIT equ 1
SYS_WRITE equ 4
STDIN equ 0
STDOUT equ 1
section .text
global _start ;must be declared for using gcc

_start: ;tell linker entry point

mov eax, SYS_WRITE
mov ebx, STDOUT
mov ecx, msg1
mov edx, len1
int 0x80

mov eax, SYS_WRITE

mov ebx, STDOUT
mov ecx, msg2
mov edx, len2
int 0x80

mov eax, SYS_WRITE

mov ebx, STDOUT
mov ecx, msg3
mov edx, len3
int 0x80

mov eax,SYS_EXIT ;system call number (sys_exit)

int 0x80 ;call kernel

section .data
msg1 db 'Hello, programmers!',0xA,0xD
len1 equ $ - msg1

msg2 db 'Welcome to the world of,', 0xA,0xD

len2 equ $ - msg2

msg3 db 'Linux assembly programming! '

len3 equ $- msg3

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result

The %assign Directive

The %assign directive can be used to define numeric constants like the EQU
directive. This directive allows redefinition. For example, you may define the
constant TOTAL as −

Later in the code, you can redefine it as –

This directive is case-sensitive.

The %define Directive
The %define directive allows defining both numeric and string constants. This
directive is similar to the #define in C. For example, you may define the constant
PTR as –

The above code replaces PTR by [EBP+4].

This directive also allows redefinition and it is case-sensitive.
Assembly - Arithmetic Instructions
The INC Instruction
The INC instruction is used for incrementing an operand by one. It works on a
single operand that can be either in a register or in memory.
Syntax
The INC instruction has the following syntax –

The operand destination could be an 8-bit, 16-bit or 32-bit operand. Example

The DEC Instruction

The DEC instruction is used for decrementing an operand by one. It works on a
single operand that can be either in a register or in memory.
Syntax
The DEC instruction has the following syntax –

The operand destination could be an 8-bit, 16-bit or 32-bit

operand. Example

The ADD and SUB Instructions

The ADD and SUB instructions are used for performing simple
addition/subtraction of binary data in byte, word and doubleword size, i.e., for
adding or subtracting 8- bit, 16-bit or 32-bit operands, respectively.
Syntax
The ADD and SUB instructions have the following syntax −

The ADD/SUB instruction can take place between –

• Register to register

• Memory to register

• Register to memory

• Register to constant data

• Memory to constant data

However, like other instructions, memory-to-memory operations are not possible

using ADD/SUB instructions. An ADD or SUB operation sets or clears the overflow
and carry flags.
Example
The following example will ask two digits from the user, store the digits in the EAX
and EBX register, respectively, add the values, store the result in a memory
location 'res' and finally display the result.
SYS_EXIT equ 1
SYS_READ equ 3
SYS_WRITE equ 4
STDIN equ 0
STDOUT equ 1

segment .data

msg1 db "Enter a digit ", 0xA,0xD

len1 equ $- msg1

msg2 db "Please enter a second digit", 0xA,0xD

len2 equ $- msg2

msg3 db "The sum is: "

len3 equ $- msg3

segment .bss

num1 resb 2
num2 resb 2
res resb 1

section .text
global _start ;must be declared for using gcc

_start: ;tell linker entry point

mov eax, SYS_WRITE
mov ebx, STDOUT
mov ecx, msg1
mov edx, len1
int 0x80

mov eax, SYS_READ

mov ebx, STDIN
mov ecx, num1
mov edx, 2
int 0x80

mov eax, SYS_WRITE

mov ebx, STDOUT
mov ecx, msg2
mov edx, len2
int 0x80

mov eax, SYS_READ

mov ebx, STDIN
mov ecx, num2
mov edx, 2
int 0x80

mov eax, SYS_WRITE

mov ebx, STDOUT
mov ecx, msg3
mov edx, len3
int 0x80

; moving the first number to eax register and second number to

ebx ; and subtracting ascii '0' to convert it into a decimal number

mov eax, [num1]

sub eax, '0'

mov ebx, [num2]

sub ebx, '0'

; add eax and ebx

add eax, ebx
; add '0' to to convert the sum from decimal to
ASCII add eax, '0'

; storing the sum in memory location res

mov [res], eax
; print the sum
mov eax, SYS_WRITE
mov ebx, STDOUT
mov ecx, res
mov edx, 1
int 0x80

exit:

mov eax, SYS_EXIT

xor ebx, ebx
int 0x80

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following
result –

The MUL/IMUL Instruction

There are two instructions for multiplying binary data. The MUL (Multiply)
instruction handles unsigned data and the IMUL (Integer Multiply) handles signed
data. Both instructions affect the Carry and Overflow flag.

Syntax
The syntax for the MUL/IMUL instructions is as follows –
Multiplicand in both cases will be in an accumulator, depending upon the size of
the multiplicand and the multiplier and the generated product is also stored in
two registers depending upon the size of the operands. Following section
explains MUL instructions with three different cases –

Example

Example
The following example multiplies 3 with 2, and displays the result −

section.text
global _start ;must be declared for using gcc

_start: ;tell linker entry point

mov al,'3'
sub al, '0'

mov bl, '2'

sub bl, '0'
mul bl
add al, '0'

mov [res], al
mov ecx,msg
mov edx, len
mov ebx,1 ;file descriptor (stdout)
mov eax,4 ;system call number (sys_write)
int 0x80 ;call kernel

mov ecx,res
mov edx, 1
mov ebx,1 ;file descriptor (stdout)
mov eax,4 ;system call number (sys_write)
int 0x80 ;call kernel

mov eax,1 ;system call number (sys_exit)

int 0x80 ;call kernel

section .data
msg db "The result is:", 0xA,0xD
len equ $- msg
segment .bss
res resb 1

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result –

The DIV/IDIV Instructions

The division operation generates two elements - a quotient and a remainder. In case of
multiplication, overflow does not occur because double-length registers are used to keep the
product. However, in case of division, overflow may occur. The processor generates an
interrupt if overflow occurs.
The DIV (Divide) instruction is used for unsigned data and the IDIV (Integer Divide) is used for
signed data.

Syntax
The format for the DIV/IDIV instruction –

The dividend is in an accumulator. Both the instructions can work with 8-bit, 16-bit or 32- bit
operands. The operation affects all six status flags. Following section explains three cases of
division with different operand size –
Example
The following example divides 8 with 2. The dividend 8 is stored in the 16-bit AX register
and the divisor 2 is stored in the 8-bit BL register.

section.text
global _start ;must be declared for using gcc

_start: ;tell linker entry point

mov ax,'8'
sub ax, '0'

mov bl, '2'

sub bl, '0'
div bl
add ax, '0'

mov [res], ax
mov ecx,msg
mov edx, len
mov ebx,1 ;file descriptor (stdout)
mov eax,4 ;system call number (sys_write)
int 0x80 ;call kernel

mov ecx,res
mov edx, 1
mov ebx,1 ;file descriptor (stdout)
mov eax,4 ;system call number (sys_write)
int 0x80 ;call kernel

mov eax,1 ;system call number (sys_exit)

int 0x80 ;call kernel

section .data
msg db "The result is:", 0xA,0xD
len equ $- msg
segment .bss
res resb 1

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result –

Assembly - Logical Instructions

The processor instruction set provides the instructions AND, OR, XOR, TEST, and NOT Boolean
logic, which tests, sets, and clears the bits according to the need of the program. The format
for these instructions −

The first operand in all the cases could be either in register or in memory. The second operand could
be either in register/memory or an immediate (constant) value. However, memory-to-memory
operations are not possible. These instructions compare or match bits of the operands and set the
CF, OF, PF, SF and ZF flags.

The AND Instruction

The AND instruction is used for supporting logical expressions by performing bitwise AND operation.
The bitwise AND operation returns 1, if the matching bits from both the operands are 1, otherwise it
returns 0. For example −

The AND operation can be used for clearing one or more bits. For example, say the BL register
contains 0011 1010. If you need to clear the high-order bits to zero, you AND it with 0FH.

Let's take up another example. If you want to check whether a given number is odd or even, a simple
test would be to check the least significant bit of the number. If this is 1, the number is odd, else the
number is even.

Assuming the number is in AL register, we can write −

The following program illustrates this −

Example:
section .text
global _start ;must be declared for using gcc

_start: ;tell linker entry point

mov ax, 8h ;getting 8 in the ax
and ax, 1 ;and ax with 1
jz evnn
mov eax, 4 ;system call number (sys_write)
mov ebx, 1 ;file descriptor (stdout)
mov ecx, odd_msg ;message to write
mov edx, len2 ;length of message
int 0x80 ;call kernel
jmp outprog

evnn:

mov ah, 09h

mov eax, 4 ;system call number (sys_write)
mov ebx, 1 ;file descriptor (stdout)
mov ecx, even_msg ;message to write
mov edx, len1 ;length of message
int 0x80 ;call kernel

outprog:

mov eax,1 ;system call number (sys_exit)

int 0x80 ;call kernel

section .data
even_msg db 'Even Number!' ;message showing even number
len1 equ $ - even_msg

odd_msg db 'Odd Number!' ;message showing odd number

len2 equ $ - odd_msg
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result –

Change the value in the ax register with an odd digit, like –

The program would display:

Similarly to clear the entire register you can AND it with 00H.

The OR Instruction
The OR instruction is used for supporting logical expression by performing bitwise OR operation. The bitwise OR
operator returns 1, if the matching bits from either or both operands are one. It returns 0, if both the bits are zero.
For example,

The OR operation can be used for setting one or more bits. For example, let us assume the AL register contains 0011
1010, you need to set the four low-order bits, you can OR it with a value 0000 1111, i.e., FH.

Example
The following example demonstrates the OR instruction. Let us store the value 5 and 3 in the AL and the BL registers,
respectively, then the instruction,

should store 7 in the AL register –

section .text
global _start ;must be declared for using gcc

_start: ;tell linker entry point

mov al, 5 ;getting 5 in the al
mov bl, 3 ;getting 3 in the bl
or al, bl ;or al and bl registers, result should be 7
add al, byte '0' ;converting decimal to ascii

mov [result], al
mov eax, 4
mov ebx, 1
mov ecx, result
mov edx, 1
int 0x80

outprog:
mov eax,1 ;system call number (sys_exit)
int 0x80 ;call kernel

section .bss
result resb 1

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result –

The XOR Instruction

The XOR instruction implements the bitwise XOR operation. The XOR operation sets the resultant bit to 1, if and only
if the bits from the operands are different. If the bits from the operands are same (both 0 or both 1), the resultant
bit is cleared to 0.
For example,
XORing an operand with itself changes the operand to 0. This is used to clear a register.

The TEST Instruction

The TEST instruction works same as the AND operation, but unlike AND instruction, it does not change the first
operand. So, if we need to check whether a number in a register is even or odd, we can also do this using the TEST
instruction without changing the original number.

The NOT Instruction

The NOT instruction implements the bitwise NOT operation. NOT operation reverses the bits in an operand. The
operand could be either in a register or in the memory.
For example,

Assembly – Conditions

Conditional execution in assembly language is accomplished by several looping and branching instructions. These
instructions can change the flow of control in a program. Conditional execution is observed in two scenarios −

CMP Instruction
The CMP instruction compares two operands. It is generally used in conditional execution. This instruction basically
subtracts one operand from the other for comparing whether the operands are equal or not. It does not disturb the
destination or source operands. It is used along with the conditional jump instruction for decision making.
Syntax
CMP compares two numeric data fields. The destination operand could be either in register or in memory. The
source operand could be a constant (immediate) data, register or memory.

Example:

CMP is often used for comparing whether a counter value has reached the number of times a loop needs to be run.
Consider the following typical condition –

Unconditional Jump
As mentioned earlier, this is performed by the JMP instruction. Conditional execution often involves a transfer of
control to the address of an instruction that does not follow the currently executing instruction. Transfer of control
may be forward, to execute a new set of instructions or backward, to re-execute the same steps.

Syntax
The JMP instruction provides a label name where the flow of control is transferred immediately. The syntax of the
JMP instruction is −

Example:

The following code snippet illustrates the JMP instruction –

Conditional Jump
If some specified condition is satisfied in conditional jump, the control flow is transferred to a target instruction.
There are numerous conditional jump instructions depending upon the condition and data.
Following are the conditional jump instructions used on signed data used for arithmetic operations −
Following are the conditional jump instructions used on unsigned data used for logical operations –

The following conditional jump instructions have special uses and check the value of flags –

The syntax for the J<condition> set of instructions −

Example,

Example:

The following program displays the largest of three variables. The variables are double-digit variables. The three
variables num1, num2 and num3 have values 47, 22 and 31, respectively −

section .text
global _start ;must be declared for using gcc

_start: ;tell linker entry point

mov ecx, [num1]
cmp ecx, [num2]
jg check_third_num
mov ecx, [num2]

check_third_num:

cmp ecx, [num3]

jg _exit
mov ecx, [num3]

_exit:

mov [largest], ecx

mov ecx,msg
mov edx, len
mov ebx,1 ;file descriptor (stdout)
mov eax,4 ;system call number (sys_write)
int 0x80 ;call kernel

mov ecx,largest
mov edx, 2
mov ebx,1 ;file descriptor (stdout)
mov eax,4 ;system call number (sys_write)
int 0x80 ;call kernel

mov eax, 1
int 80h

section .data

msg db "The largest digit is: ", 0xA,0xD

len equ $- msg
num1 dd '47'
num2 dd '22'
num3 dd '31'

segment .bss
largest resb 2
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result –