Chapter Four

Instruction Set of 8086

Microprocessor

By: Gemmachis T.

College of Computing and Informatics

Topics to be covered…..
 Introduction
 Instruction Set Architecture (ISA)
 Instruction Set
 Classifications of Instruction Set
Data Transfer Instructions
Arithmetic Instructions
 Bit Manipulation Instructions
 Program Execution Transfer Instructions
 String Manipulation Instructions
Processor Control Instructions
 Introduction
 Microprocessor is an integrated circuit (IC) that contains all the functions of a
central processing unit of a computer.
 A microprocessor executes a collection of machine instructions that tell the
processor what to do.
 The instruction set architecture (ISA) is the set of basic instructions that a
processor understands.
 The instruction set is a portion of what makes up an architecture.
 Based on the instructions, a microprocessor does three basic things:
 Using its ALU (Arithmetic/Logic Unit), a microprocessor can perform
mathematical operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication and
division. Modern microprocessors contain complete floating point
processors that can perform extremely sophisticated operations on large
floating point numbers.
 A microprocessor can move data from one memory location to another.
 A microprocessor can make decisions and jump to a new set of instructions
based on those decisions.
 Instruction set architecture (ISA)
 ISA is an abstract model of a computer.
 A realization of an ISA is called an implementation.
 An ISA permits multiple implementations that may vary in
performance, physical size, and monetary cost (among other
things); because the ISA serves as the interface between software
and hardware.
 Software that has been written for an ISA can run on different
implementations of the same ISA.
 This has enabled binary compatibility between different
generations of computers to be easily achieved, and the
development of computer families.
 Cont’d…
 Both of these developments have helped to lower the cost of computers and
to increase their applicability.
 For these reasons, the ISA is one of the most important abstractions in
computing today.
 An ISA defines everything a machine language programmer needs to know in
order to program a computer.
 What an ISA defines differs between ISAs. In general ISAs define:
 The supported data types
 What state there is (such as the main memory and registers) and their
semantics (such as the memory consistency and addressing modes),
 The instruction set (the set of machine instructions that comprises a
computer's machine language), and
 The input/output model.
 Cont’d…
 An instruction set architecture is distinguished from a
microarchitecture, which is the set of processor design
techniques used, in a particular processor, to implement the
instruction set.
 Processors with different microarchitectures can share a common
instruction set.
 For example, the Intel Pentium and the Advanced Micro
Devices (AMD) Athlon implement nearly identical versions of
the x86 instruction set, but have radically different internal
designs.
 Classification of ISAs
 An ISA may be classified in a number of different ways.
 A common classification is by architectural complexity.
 Based on architectural complexity, there are two types of ISA:
1. A complex instruction set computer (CISC): this ISA has many
specialized instructions, some of which may only be rarely used in
practical programs.
2. A reduced instruction set computer (RISC: this ISA simplifies the
processor by efficiently implementing only the instructions that are
frequently used in programs, while the less common operations are
implemented as subroutines, having their resulting additional processor
execution time offset by infrequent use.
 Instruction Set

 The instruction set is part of a computer that pertains to programming, which is

basically machine language.
 An instruction is a binary pattern designed inside a microprocessor to perform a
specific function.
 The entire group of instructions that a microprocessor supports is called
Instruction Set.

 The instruction set provides commands to the processor, to tell it what it needs to
do.
 The instruction set consists of addressing modes, instructions, native data types,
registers, memory architecture, interrupt, exception handling, and external I/O.
 8086 Microprocessor has more than 20,000 instructions.
 Hence this microprocessor is called CISC processor
 Cont’d…
Classification of Instruction Set

 Data Transfer Instructions

 Arithmetic Instructions

 Bit Manipulation Instructions

 Program Execution Transfer Instructions

 String Instructions

 Processor Control Instructions

 Data Transfer Instructions
 These instructions are used to transfer data from source (src) to destination
(des).
 The operand can be a constant, memory location, register or I/O port address.
MOV des, src:
 MOV instruction is used to copy the byte or word from the provided source to the
provided destination
 src operand can be register, memory location or immediate operand.
 des can be register or memory operand.
 Both Src and Des cannot be memory location at the same time.
Example:
MOV CX, 037AH;
MOV AL, BL;
MOV BX, [0301H];
 Cont’d…
PUSH Operand:
 PUSH instruction is used to put a word at the top of the stack
 It pushes the operand into top of stack.
Example:
PUSH BX;

POP des:
 POP instruction is used to get a word from the top of the stack to the provided
location.
 It pops the operand from top of stack to Des.
 Des can be a general purpose register, segment register (except CS) or memory
location.
Example:
POP AX;
 Cont’d…
XCHG des, src:
 XCHG is used to exchange the data from two locations.
 This instruction exchanges src with des.
 It cannot exchange two memory locations directly.
Example:
XCHG DX, AX;
IN Accumulator, Port Address:
 IN instruction is used to read a byte or word from the provided port to the
accumulator.
 It transfers the operand from specified port to accumulator register.
Example:
IN AX, 0028 H
 Cont’d…
OUT Port Address, Accumulator:
 OUT instruction is used to send out a byte or word from the accumulator to
the provided port.
 It transfers the operand from accumulator to specified port.
Example:
OUT 0028H, AX;
LEA Register, src:
 LEA (Load Effective Address) instruction is used to load the address of
operand into the provided register.
 It loads a 16-bit register with the offset address of the data specified by the src.
Example:
LEA BX, [DI];
 This instruction loads the contents of DI (offset) into the BX register.
LDS des, src: Cont’d…
 LDS (Load Data Segment) instruction is used to load DS register and other
provided register from the memory
 It loads 32-bit pointer from memory source to destination register and DS.
 The offset is placed in the destination register and the segment is placed in
DS.
 To use this instruction the word at the lower memory address must contain
the offset and the word at the higher address must contain the segment.
Example:
LDS BX, [0301H];
 Cont’d…
LES Des, Src:
 LES (Load Extra Segment) instruction is used to load ES register and other
provided register from the memory.
 It loads 32-bit pointer from memory source to destination register and ES.
 The offset is placed in the destination register and the segment is placed in
ES.
 This instruction is very similar to LDS except that it initializes ES instead of
DS.
Example:
LES BX, [0301H];
 Cont’d…
 The following are instructions to transfer flag registers.
 These instructions do not accept any operands

LAHF: It copies the lower byte of flag register to AH.

SAHF: It copies the contents of AH to lower byte of flag register.

PUSHF: Pushes flag register to top of stack.

POPF: Pops the stack top to flag register.

 Arithmetic Instructions
 These instructions are used to perform arithmetic operations like addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division, etc.
ADD des, src:
 ADD instruction is used to add the provided byte to byte/word to word.
 This instruction affects AF, CF, OF, PF, SF, ZF flags.
Example:
ADD AL, 74H;
ADD DX, AX;
ADC Des, Src: ADD AX, [BX];

 ADC (ADD with Cary) adds the two operands with CF.
 It affects AF, CF, OF, PF, SF, ZF flags. Example:
 ADC AL, 74H;
ADC DX, AX;
 ADC AX, [BX];
 Cont’d…
SUB Des, Src:
 SUB instruction is used subtracts a byte from byte or a word from
word.
 It effects AF, CF, OF, PF, SF, ZF flags. Example:
 SUB AL, 74H;
 For subtraction, CF acts as borrow flag.  SUB DX, AX;
 SUB AX, [BX];
SBB Des, Src:
 SBB (Subtract with Borrow) subtracts the two operands and also
the borrow from the result.
Example:
 It effects AF, CF, OF, PF, SF, ZF flags.  SBB AL, 74H
 SBB DX, AX
 SBB AX, [BX]
 Cont’d…
INC Src:
 It increments the byte or word by one.
 The operand can be a register or memory location.
 It effects AF, OF, PF, SF, ZF flags.
 CF is not effected. Example:
INC AX;
DEC Src:
 It decrements the byte or word by one.
 The operand can be a register or memory location.
 It effects AF, OF, PF, SF, ZF flags.
 CF is not effected. Example:
DEC AX;
 Cont’d…
AAA (ASCII Adjust after Addition):
 The data entered from the terminal is in ASCII format.
 In ASCII, 0 – 9 are represented by 30H – 39H.
 This instruction allows us to add the ASCII codes
 This instruction does not have operands.
Other ASCII Instructions:
 AAS (ASCII Adjust after Subtraction)
 AAM (ASCII Adjust after Multiplication)
 AAD (ASCII Adjust Before Division)
 Cont’d…
DAA (Decimal Adjust after Addition)
 It is used to make sure that the result of adding two BCD numbers
is adjusted to be a correct BCD number.
 It only works on AL register.
DAS (Decimal Adjust after Subtraction)
 It is used to make sure that the result of subtracting two BCD
numbers is adjusted to be a correct BCD number.
 It only works on AL register.
NEG Src:
 It creates 2’s complement of a given number.
Example:
 That means, it changes the sign of a number. NEG AL;
 Cont’d…
CMP des, src:
 It compares two specified bytes or words.
 The src and des can be a constant, register or memory location.
 Both operands cannot be a memory location at the same time.
 The comparison is done simply by internally subtracting the
source from destination.
 The value of source and destination does not change, but the flags
are modified to indicate the result.
 Cont’d…
MUL src:
 It is an unsigned multiplication instruction.
 It used to multiply unsigned byte by byte/word by word.
 It multiplies two bytes to produce a word or two words to
produce a double word.
Example:
AX = AL * Src Src=8-bit register/memory MUL BH;
DX : AX = AX * Src Src=16-bit register/memory MUL CX;

 This instruction assumes one of the operand in AL or AX.

 Src can be a register or memory location.
IMUL Src:
Example:
 It is a signed multiplication instruction. IMUL BH;
IMUL CX;
 Cont’d…
DIV Src:
It is an unsigned division instruction.
 It divides word by byte or double word by word.
 The operand is stored in AX, divisor is Src and the result is
stored as: Example:
 DIV BL;
 AH = remainder AL = quotient AX = AX / 8-bit reg. ; AL = quotient ; AH
= remainder
 DIV CX;
DX AX / 16-bit reg. ; AX = quotient ; DX
= remainder
IDIV Src:
 It is a signed division instruction.
It is used to divide the signed word by byte or signed double
word by word.
 Cont’d…
CBW (Convert Byte to Word):
 This instruction converts byte in AL to word in AX.
The conversion is done by extending the sign bit of AL
throughout AH.
This instruction does not have any operand.
CWD (Convert Word to Double Word):
This instruction converts word in AX to double word in
DX:AX.
The conversion is done by extending the sign bit of AX
throughout DX.
This instruction does not have any operand.
 Bit Manipulation Instructions
 These instructions are used to perform operations where
data bits are involved, i.e. operations like logical, shift,
etc.
 These instructions are used at the bit level.
 These instructions can be used for:
Testing a zero bit
Set or reset a bit
Shift bits across registers
 Cont’d…
NOT Src:
It is used to invert each bit of a byte or word.
It complements each bit of Src to produce 1’s complement
of the specified operand.
The operand can be a register or memory location.
Example:
NOT AL;
NOT DL;
 Cont’d…
AND des, src:
 It is used for adding each bit in a byte/word with the corresponding
bit in another byte/word.
 It performs AND operation of des and src.
 Src can be immediate number, register or memory location.
 Des can be register or memory location.
 Both operands cannot be memory locations at the same time.
 CF and OF become zero after the operation.
 PF, SF and ZF are updated.
Example:
AND AX, 0010H;
AND AH, DH;
 Cont’d…
OR des, Src:
 It is used to multiply each bit in a byte/word with the corresponding
bit in another byte/word.
 It performs OR operation of des and src.
 Src can be immediate number, register or memory location.
 Des can be register or memory location.
 Both operands cannot be memory locations at the same time.
 CF and OF become zero after the operation.
 PF, SF and ZF are updated.
Example:
AND AX, 0010H;
AND AH, DH;
XOR des, src: Cont’d…
 It is used to perform Exclusive-OR operation over each bit in a
byte/word with the corresponding bit in another byte/word.
 It performs XOR operation of des and src.
 Src can be immediate number, register or memory location.
 Des can be register or memory location.
 Both operands cannot be memory locations at the same time.
 CF and OF become zero after the operation.
 PF, SF and ZF are updated.
Example:
XOR AL, BL;
XOR AX, BX;
XOR AX, 0010H;
 Cont’d…
SHL des, count:
 It is used to shift bits of a byte/word towards left and put zero(S)
in LSBs.
 It shift bits of byte or word left, by count.
 It puts zero(s) in LSBs.
 MSB is shifted into carry flag.
 If the number of bits desired to be shifted is 1, then the
immediate number 1 can be written in count.
 However, if the number of bits to be shifted is more than 1, then
the count is put in CL register.
Example:
SHL AX, BL;
 Cont’d…
SHR Des, Count:
 It is used to shift bits of a byte/word towards the right and put
zero(S) in MSBs.
 It shift bits of byte or word right, by count.
 It puts zero(s) in MSBs.
 LSB is shifted into carry flag.
 If the number of bits desired to be shifted is 1, then the immediate
number 1 can be written in Count.
 However, if the number of bits to be shifted is more than 1, then
the count is put in CL register.
Example:
SHR AL, 04;
 Cont’d…
ROL des, count:
 It is used to rotate bits of byte/word towards the left, i.e. MSB to
LSB and to Carry Flag [CF].
 It rotates bits of byte or word left, by count.
 MSB is transferred to LSB and also to CF.
 If the number of bits desired to be shifted is 1, then the immediate
number 1 can be written in count.
 However, if the number of bits to be shifted is more than 1, then the
count is put in CL register.
Example:
ROL BX, 06;
 Cont’d…
ROR des, count:
 It is used to rotate bits of byte/word towards the right, i.e. LSB to
MSB and to Carry Flag [CF].
 It rotates bits of byte or word right, by count.
 LSB is transferred to MSB and also to CF.
 If the number of bits desired to be shifted is 1, then the immediate
number 1 can be written in Count.
 However, if the number of bits to be shifted is more than 1, then the
count is put in CL register.
Example:
ROR BL, CL
 Program Execution Transfer Instructions (Branch and
Loop Instructions)

 These instructions cause change in the sequence of the

execution of instruction.
 These instructions are used to transfer/branch the
instructions during an execution
 This change can be through a condition or sometimes
unconditional.
 The conditions are represented by flags.
 Cont’d…
CALL Des:
 This instruction is used to call a subroutine or function or
procedure.
 The address of next instruction after CALL is saved onto stack.
RET:
 It returns the control from procedure to calling program.
 Every CALL instruction should have a RET.
 JMP des (Unconditional jump):
 This instruction is used for unconditional jump from one place to
another. Example:
Call 2050H;
RET
JMP 2050H;
 Cont’d…
Loop des:
 This is a looping instruction.
 The number of times looping is required is placed in the CX register.
 With each iteration, the contents of CX are
decremented. Example:
 ZF is checked whether to loop again or not. LOOP 2050
Jxx des (Conditional Jump):
 All the conditional jumps follow some conditional statements or any
instruction that affects the flag.
 These instructions only execute when the specified condition is true.
Opcode Operand Explanation Example
JC address jump if CF = 1 JC 2050
JNC address jump if CF = 0 JNC 2050
JZ address jump if ZF = 1 JZ 2050
JNZ address jump if ZF = 0 JNZ 2050
JO address jump if OF = 1 JO 2050
JNO address jump if OF = 0 JNO 2050
JP address jump if PF = 1 JP 2050
JNP address jump if PF = 0 JNP 2050
JPE address jump if PF = 1 JPE 2050
JPO address jump if PF = 0 JPO 2050
JS address jump if SF = 1 JS 2050
JNS address jump if SF = 0 JNS 2050
JA address jump if CF=0 and ZF=0 JA 2050
JNBE address jump if CF=0 and ZF=0 JNBE 2050
Opcode Operand Explanation Example
JAE address jump if CF=0 JAE 2050
JNB address jump if CF=0 JNB 2050
JBE address jump if CF = 1 or ZF = 1 JBE 2050
JNA address jump if CF = 1 or ZF = 1 JNA 2050
JE address jump if ZF = 1 JE 2050
JG address jump if ZF = 0 and SF = OF JG 2050
JNLE address jump if ZF = 0 and SF = OF JNLE 2050
JGE address jump if SF = OF JGE 2050
JNL address jump if SF = OF JNL 2050
JL address jump if SF != OF JL 2050
JNGE address jump if SF != OF JNGE 2050
JLE address jump if ZF = 1 or SF != OF JLE 2050
JNG address jump if ZF = 1 or SF != OF JNG 2050
JCXZ address jump if CX = 0 JCXZ 2050
Opcode Operand Explanation Example
LOOPE address loop while ZF = 1 and CX = 0 LOOPE 2050
LOOPZ address loop while ZF = 1 and CX = 0 LOOPZ 2050
LOOPNE address loop while ZF = 0 and CX = 0 LOOPNE 2050
LOOPNZ address loop while ZF = 0 and CX = 0 LOOPNZ 2050
 String Manipulation Instructions
 String is s series of data byte or word available in memory at consecutive
locations.
 It is either referred as byte string or word string.
 Their memory is always allocated in a sequential order.
 Instructions used to manipulate strings are called string manipulation
instructions.
 String in assembly language is just a sequentially stored bytes or words.
 It is a group of bytes/words and their memory is always allocated in a
sequential order.
 There are very strong set of string instructions in 8086.
 By using these string instructions, the size of the program is considerably
reduced.
 Cont’d…
CMPS/CMPSB/CMPSW des, src:
They compare the string bytes or words.
CMPSB compares byte at ES:DI with byte at DS:SI and sets
flags
CMPSW compares word at ES:DI with word at DS:SI and sets
flags
These instructions do not have operands.

Example:
CMPS
CMPSB
CMPSW
 Cont’d…
SCAS/SCASB/SCASW string:
 These instructions scan a string.
They compare the string with byte in AL or with word in AX.
SCASB compares byte at ES:DI with AL and sets flags
according to result.
SCASW compares word at ES:DI with AX and sets flags.

Example:
SCAS
SCASB
SCASW
 Cont’d…
MOVS / MOVSB / MOVSW:
 These instructions are used to move the byte/word from one string to
another.
 They cause moving of byte or word from one string to another.
 In these instructions, the source string is in data segment and destination
string is in extra segment.
 SI and DI store the offset values for source and destination index.
 MOVSB moves contents of byte given by DS:SI into ES:DI
 MOVSW moves contents of word given by DS:SI into ES:DI

Example:
MOVS
MOVSB
MOVSW
 Cont’d…
REP/REPE/REPZ/REPNE/REPNZ (Repeat):
 These are an instruction prefix.
 REP Used to repeat the given instruction till CX ≠ 0
 REPE repeat the given instruction while CX = 0
 REPZ repeat the given instruction while ZF = 1
 REPNE repeat the given instruction while CX != 0
 REPNZ repeat the given instruction while ZF = 0
Example:
REPE MOVSB STR1, STR2;
 It copies byte by byte contents.
 REP repeats the operation MOVSB until CX becomes zero.
 Processor Control Instructions
 Process control instructions are the instructions which control the
processor’s action by setting(1) or resetting(0) the values of flag
registers.
 These instructions control the processor itself.
 8086 allows to control certain control flags that causes the
processing in a certain direction
 These instructions are used for processor synchronization if more
than one microprocessor attached.
 Cont’d…
STC: It sets the carry flag CF to 1.
CLC: It clears the carry flag CF to 0.
CMC: It complements the carry flag CF.
STD: It sets the direction flag DF to 1.
If it is set, string bytes are accessed from higher memory
address to lower memory address.
CLD: It clears the direction flag DF to 0.
If it is reset, the string bytes are accessed from lower memory
address to higher memory address.
STI: It sets the interrupt flag to 1 .
CLI: It clears/resets the interrupt flag to 0
~~~~~~~ The End ~~~~~~~