Instruction set, Addressing modes, Assembler directives
Instruction set of 8086
The 8086 microprocessor supports 8 types of instructions −
Data Transfer Instructions
Arithmetic Instructions
Bit Manipulation Instructions
String Instructions
Program Execution Transfer Instructions (Branch & Loop Instructions)
Processor Control Instructions
Iteration Control Instructions
Interrupt Instructions
Data Transfer Instructions
These instructions are used to transfer the data from the source operand to the destination
operand. Following are the list of instructions under this group −
Instruction to transfer a word
MOV − Used to copy the byte or word from the provided source to the provided
destination.
PPUSH − Used to put a word at the top of the stack.
POP − Used to get a word from the top of the stack to the provided location.
PUSHA − Used to put all the registers into the stack.
POPA − Used to get words from the stack to all registers.
XCHG − Used to exchange the data from two locations.
XLAT − Used to translate a byte in AL using a table in the memory.
Instructions for input and output port transfer
IN − Used to read a byte or word from the provided port to the accumulator.
OUT − Used to send out a byte or word from the accumulator to the provided port.
Instructions to transfer the address
LEA − Used to load the address of operand into the provided register.
LDS − Used to load DS register and other provided register from the memory
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Instruction set, Addressing modes, Assembler directives
LES − Used to load ES register and other provided register from the memory.
Instructions to transfer flag registers
LAHF − Used to load AH with the low byte of the flag register.
SAHF − Used to store AH register to low byte of the flag register.
PUSHF − Used to copy the flag register at the top of the stack.
POPF − Used to copy a word at the top of the stack to the flag register.
Arithmetic Instructions
These instructions are used to perform arithmetic operations like addition, subtraction,
multiplication, division, etc.
Following is the list of instructions under this group −
Instructions to perform addition
ADD − Used to add the provided byte to byte/word to word.
ADC − Used to add with carry.
INC − Used to increment the provided byte/word by 1.
AAA − Used to adjust ASCII after addition.
DAA − Used to adjust the decimal after the addition/subtraction operation.
Instructions to perform subtraction
SUB − Used to subtract the byte from byte/word from word.
SBB − Used to perform subtraction with borrow.
DEC − Used to decrement the provided byte/word by 1.
NPG − Used to negate each bit of the provided byte/word and add 1/2’s complement.
CMP − Used to compare 2 provided byte/word.
AAS − Used to adjust ASCII codes after subtraction.
DAS − Used to adjust decimal after subtraction.
Instruction to perform multiplication
MUL − Used to multiply unsigned byte by byte/word by word.
IMUL − Used to multiply signed byte by byte/word by word.
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Instruction set, Addressing modes, Assembler directives
AAM − Used to adjust ASCII codes after multiplication.
Instructions to perform division
DIV − Used to divide the unsigned word by byte or unsigned double word by word.
IDIV − Used to divide the signed word by byte or signed double word by word.
AAD − Used to adjust ASCII codes after division.
CBW − Used to fill the upper byte of the word with the copies of sign bit of the lower
byte.
CWD − Used to fill the upper word of the double word with the sign bit of the lower
word.
Bit Manipulation Instructions
These instructions are used to perform operations where data bits are involved, i.e. operations
like logical, shift, etc.
Following is the list of instructions under this group −
Instructions to perform logical operation
NOT − Used to invert each bit of a byte or word.
AND − Used for adding each bit in a byte/word with the corresponding bit in another
byte/word.
OR − Used to multiply each bit in a byte/word with the corresponding bit in another
byte/word.
XOR − Used to perform Exclusive-OR operation over each bit in a byte/word with the
corresponding bit in another byte/word.
TEST − Used to add operands to update flags, without affecting operands.
Instructions to perform shift operations
SHL/SAL − Used to shift bits of a byte/word towards left and put zero(S) in LSBs.
SHR − Used to shift bits of a byte/word towards the right and put zero(S) in MSBs.
SAR − Used to shift bits of a byte/word towards the right and copy the old MSB into the
new MSB.
Instructions to perform rotate operations
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Instruction set, Addressing modes, Assembler directives
ROL − Used to rotate bits of byte/word towards the left, i.e. MSB to LSB and to Carry
Flag [CF].
ROR − Used to rotate bits of byte/word towards the right, i.e. LSB to MSB and to Carry
Flag [CF].
RCR − Used to rotate bits of byte/word towards the right, i.e. LSB to CF and CF to
MSB.
RCL − Used to rotate bits of byte/word towards the left, i.e. MSB to CF and CF to LSB.
String Instructions
String is a group of bytes/words and their memory is always allocated in a sequential order.
Following is the list of instructions under this group −
REP − Used to repeat the given instruction till CX ≠ 0.
REPE/REPZ − Used to repeat the given instruction until CX = 0 or zero flag ZF = 1.
REPNE/REPNZ − Used to repeat the given instruction until CX = 0 or zero flag ZF = 1.
MOVS/MOVSB/MOVSW − Used to move the byte/word from one string to another.
COMS/COMPSB/COMPSW − Used to compare two string bytes/words.
INS/INSB/INSW − Used as an input string/byte/word from the I/O port to the provided
memory location.
OUTS/OUTSB/OUTSW − Used as an output string/byte/word from the provided
memory location to the I/O port.
SCAS/SCASB/SCASW − Used to scan a string and compare its byte with a byte in AL
or string word with a word in AX.
LODS/LODSB/LODSW − Used to store the string byte into AL or string word into AX.
Program Execution Transfer Instructions (Branch and Loop Instructions)
These instructions are used to transfer/branch the instructions during an execution. It includes
the following instructions −
Instructions to transfer the instruction during an execution without any condition −
CALL − Used to call a procedure and save their return address to the stack.
RET − Used to return from the procedure to the main program.
JMP − Used to jump to the provided address to proceed to the next instruction.
Instructions to transfer the instruction during an execution with some conditions −
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Instruction set, Addressing modes, Assembler directives
JA/JNBE − Used to jump if above/not below/equal instruction satisfies.
JAE/JNB − Used to jump if above/not below instruction satisfies.
JBE/JNA − Used to jump if below/equal/ not above instruction satisfies.
JC − Used to jump if carry flag CF = 1
JE/JZ − Used to jump if equal/zero flag ZF = 1
JG/JNLE − Used to jump if greater/not less than/equal instruction satisfies.
JGE/JNL − Used to jump if greater than/equal/not less than instruction satisfies.
JL/JNGE − Used to jump if less than/not greater than/equal instruction satisfies.
JLE/JNG − Used to jump if less than/equal/if not greater than instruction satisfies.
JNC − Used to jump if no carry flag (CF = 0)
JNE/JNZ − Used to jump if not equal/zero flag ZF = 0
JNO − Used to jump if no overflow flag OF = 0
JNP/JPO − Used to jump if not parity/parity odd PF = 0
JNS − Used to jump if not sign SF = 0
JO − Used to jump if overflow flag OF = 1
JP/JPE − Used to jump if parity/parity even PF = 1
JS − Used to jump if sign flag SF = 1
Processor Control Instructions
These instructions are used to control the processor action by setting/resetting the flag values.
Following are the instructions under this group −
STC − Used to set carry flag CF to 1
CLC − Used to clear/reset carry flag CF to 0
CMC − Used to put complement at the state of carry flag CF.
STD − Used to set the direction flag DF to 1
CLD − Used to clear/reset the direction flag DF to 0
STI − Used to set the interrupt enable flag to 1, i.e., enable INTR input.
CLI − Used to clear the interrupt enable flag to 0, i.e., disable INTR input.
Iteration Control Instructions
These instructions are used to execute the given instructions for number of times. Following is
the list of instructions under this group −
LOOP − Used to loop a group of instructions until the condition satisfies, i.e., CX = 0
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Instruction set, Addressing modes, Assembler directives
LOOPE/LOOPZ − Used to loop a group of instructions till it satisfies ZF = 1 & CX = 0
LOOPNE/LOOPNZ − Used to loop a group of instructions till it satisfies ZF = 0 & CX
=0
JCXZ − Used to jump to the provided address if CX = 0
Interrupt Instructions
These instructions are used to call the interrupt during program execution.
INT − Used to interrupt the program during execution and calling service specified.
INTO − Used to interrupt the program during execution if OF = 1
IRET − Used to return from interrupt service to the main program
ADDRESSING MODES OF 8086
The different ways in which a source operand is denoted in an instruction is known
as addressing modes. There are 8 different addressing modes in 8086 programming −
1) Immediate addressing mode
The addressing mode in which the data operand is a part of the instruction itself is known as
immediate addressing mode.
Example
MOV CX, 4929 H, ADD AX, 2387 H, MOV AL, FFH
2) Register addressing mode
It means that the register is the source of an operand for an instruction.
Example
MOV CX, AX ; copies the contents of the 16-bit AX register into
; the 16-bit CX register),
ADD BX, AX
3) Direct addressing mode
The addressing mode in which the effective address of the memory location is written directly
in the instruction.
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Instruction set, Addressing modes, Assembler directives
Example
MOV AX, [1592H], MOV AL, [0300H]
4) Register indirect addressing mode
This addressing mode allows data to be addressed at any memory location through an offset
address held in any of the following registers: BP, BX, DI & SI.
Example
MOV AX, [BX] ; Suppose the register BX contains 4895H, then the contents
; 4895H are moved to AX
ADD CX, {BX}
5) Based addressing mode
In this addressing mode, the offset address of the operand is given by the sum of contents of the
BX/BP registers and 8-bit/16-bit displacement.
Example
MOV DX, [BX+04], ADD CL, [BX+08]
6) Indexed addressing mode
In this addressing mode, the operands offset address is found by adding the contents of SI or DI
register and 8-bit/16-bit displacements.
Example
MOV BX, [SI+16], ADD AL, [DI+16]
7) Based-index addressing mode
In this addressing mode, the offset address of the operand is computed by summing the base
register to the contents of an Index register.
Example
ADD CX, [AX+SI], MOV AX, [AX+DI]
8) Based indexed with displacement mode
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Instruction set, Addressing modes, Assembler directives
In this addressing mode, the operands offset is computed by adding the base register contents.
An Index registers contents and 8 or 16-bit displacement.
Example:
MOV AX, [BX+DI+08], ADD CX, [BX+SI+16]
ASSEMBLER DIRECTIVES
Assembler directives are the directions to the assembler which indicate how an operand or
section of the program is to be processed. These are also called pseudo operations which are not
executable by the microprocessor. The following section explains the basic assembler directives
for 8086.
ASSEMBLER DIRECTIVES:
The various directives are explained below.
1. ASSUME : The ASSUME directive is used to inform the assembler the name of the logical
segment it should use for a specified segment.
Ex: ASSUME DS: DATA tells the assembler that for any program instruction which refers to
the data segment ,it should use the logical segment called DATA.
2.DB -Define byte. It is used to declare a byte variable or set aside one or more storage locations
of type byte in memory.
For example, CURRENT_VALUE DB 36H tells the assembler to reserve 1 byte of memory for
a variable named CURRENT_ VALUE and to put the value 36 H in that memory location when
the program is loaded into RAM .
3. DW -Define word. It tells the assembler to define a variable of type word or to reserve storage
locations of type word in memory.
4. DD(define double word) :This directive is used to declare a variable of type double word or
restore memory locations which can be accessed as type double word.
5.DQ (define quadword) :This directive is used to tell the assembler to declare a variable 4
words in length or to reserve 4 words of storage in memory .
6.DT (define ten bytes):It is used to inform the assembler to define a variable which is 10 bytes
in length or to reserve 10 bytes of storage in memory.
7. EQU –Equate It is used to give a name to some value or symbol. Every time the assembler
finds the given name in the program, it will replace the name with the value or symbol we have
equated with that name
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Instruction set, Addressing modes, Assembler directives
8.ORG -Originate : The ORG statement changes the starting offset address of the data.
It allows setting the location counter to a desired value at any point in the program. For example
the statement ORG 3000H tells the assembler to set the location counter to 3000H.
9 .PROC- Procedures: It is used to identify the start of a procedure or subroutine.
10. END- End program .This directive indicates the assembler that this is the end of the program
module. The assembler ignores any statements after an END directive.
11. ENDP- End procedure: It indicates the end of the procedure (subroutine) to the assembler.
12. ENDS-End Segment: This directive is used with the name of the segment to indicate the end
of that logical segment.
Ex: CODE SEGMENT: Start of logical segment containing code
CODE ENDS : End of the segment named CODE.
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