Lecture note on

8086 Instruction Description and Assembler Directives

6.1 Instruction Description
AAA – ASCII Adjust for Addition
 8086 allows you to add ASCII codes for two decimal digits without masking of the “3” in
upper nibble of each.
 After the addition, the AAA instruction is used to make sure that the result is the correct
unpacked BCD.
 The AAA instruction works only on AL register.
AAD – BCD to binary convert before Division
 Converts two unpacked BCD digits in AH and AL to the equivalent binary number in
AL.
 After the Division the AL will contain the unpacked BCD quotient and AH will contain
the unpacked BCD remainder.
AAM – BCD Adjust for Multiply
 After the two BCD digits are multiplied the AAM instruction is used to adjust the product
to two unpacked BCD digits in AX.
 Works only on an operand in AL.
 Updates PF, SF and ZF.
AAS – ASCII Adjust for Subtraction
 8086 allows you to subtract ASCII codes for two decimal digits without masking of the
“3” in upper nibble of each.
 After the subtraction, the AAA instruction is used to make sure that the result is the
correct unpacked BCD.
 The AAS instruction leaves the correct unpacked BCD result in the low nibble of AL.
ADC – Add with Carry, ADD – Addition
 ADC source, destination: adds the number from source to the number in destination and
then stores the result in destination and the carry in CF.
 ADD source, destination: Does similar things as the ADC but do not store the carry in
CF. Rather it discards the carry.
AND
 AND destination, source: ANDs each bit in the source byte or word with each bit in the
destination byte or word.
 The result is put into specified destination register/location, the contents of the source
does not change.
CALL – Call a procedure
 Used to transfer the execution to another subprogram or procedure. There are two basic
types:
 NEAR: a call to a procedure which is in the same code segment as the CALL instruction.
 FAR: a call to a procedure which is in different segment then the CALL instruction.
CBW – Convert signed Byte to signed Word
 Copies the sign of a byte in AL to all the bits in the AH.
 AH is then said to be the sign extension of the AL.
 The CBW must be done before a signed byte in AL can be divided by another signed
byte with the IDIV instruction.
CLC, CLD, CLI, CMC
 CLC: Instruction resets the carry flag to 0.
 CLD: resets the direction flag to 0.
 CLI: resets the interrupt flag to 0.
 CMC: complement the carry flag i.e. from 01 and from 10.
CMP – Compare byte or word
 CMP destination, source: this instruction compares the byte from the source to the byte
in the destination or a word from the specified source to the word from the specified
destination.
 Flags AF, OF, SF, ZF, PF and CF flags are updated to show the result of the comparison.
CMPS/CMPSB/CMPSW – Compare String Bytes or String Words
 Used to compare a byte in one string with the byte in another string or a word in one
string with the word in another string.
 SI is used to hold offset of source string and DI is used for the destination string.
CWD – Convert signed Word to signed Double Word
 Copies the sign bit of a word in AX to all the bits in the DX register.
 It must be done before the signed word in AX is divisible by another signed word with
the IDIV instruction.
 It affects no flags.
DAA, DAS
 DAA: used to make sure the result of adding two BCD number is a BCD number.
 DAS: used after subtracting two BCD numbers to make sure the result is correct packed
BCD.
DEC – Decrement Destination register or memory
 DEC destination: subtracts one from the destination word or byte.
 AF, OF, PF, SF and ZF flags are updated.
DIV – Unsigned Divide
 Used to divide unsigned word by a byte or to divide an unsigned double word by a word.
 The word must be present in AX register and divisor must be in register or memory
location.
 After division AL contains the 8-bit result (quotient) and AH will contain the 8-bit
remainder.
ESC – Escape
 Used to pass instructions to the coprocessor such as 8087 math processor shares the
address and data bus with an 8086.
HLT – Halt processing
 It causes 8086 to stop fetching and executing instructions.
 Processor will be in the halt state. The only way it can be resume is by generating
interrupt at the INTR pin.
IDIV – Divide by signed byte or word
 IDIV source: the instruction is used to divide a signed word by a signed byte, or to
divide signed double word by a word.
 The operand must be in AX the divisor may be in register or memory location.
 The final quotient is stored in AL and remainder will be stored in AH.
IMUL – Multiply signed numbers
 IMUL source: multiplies a signed byte from some source times a signed byte in AL or a
signed word from some source times a signed word in AX.
 CF and OF flags are updated.
IN – copy data from a port
 IN Accumulator, port: copy data from a port to the AL or AX register.
 If 8-bit port is read then the data will be read into AL else if 16-bit port is read the data
will go into AX.
INC – Increment
 INC Destination: it adds one to the source word or byte specified in the destination.
 AF, OF, PF, SF and ZF are affected.
INT – Interrupt program execution
 INT Type: type refers to any number between 0 to 255.
 When 8086 executes the INT instruction it does following:
o Decrement the stack pointer by 2 and PUSH the flags onto the stack.
o Decrement the stack pointer by 2 and PUSH the contents of CS onto the stack.
o Decrement the stack pointer by 2 and PUSH the offset of the next instruction after
INT into the stack.
o Get a new value for IP from an absolute memory address of 4 times the type
specified in the instruction.
o Get a new value for CS from an absolute memory address of 4 times the type
specified in the instruction plus 2.
o Reset both IF and TF.

INTO – Interrupt on overflow

 Decrement the stack pointer by 2 and PUSH the flags onto the stack.
 Decrement the stack pointer by 2 and PUSH the contents of CS onto the stack.
 Decrement the stack pointer by 2 and PUSH the offset of the next instruction after INTO
onto the stack.
 Reset TF and IF.
IRET – Interrupt Return
 Use at the end of the interrupt service procedure to return execution to the interrupted
program.
 It reloads the contents of the stack and changes the IP value.
JA/JNBE – Jump if Above/Jump in Not Below or Equal
 After compare or some other instruction the instruction will cause the execution to jump
to a label given in the instruction.
 No flags are affected.
JAE/JNB/JNC – Jump if Above or Equal/Jump if Not Below/Jump in No Carry
 If after a compare or some other instruction the CF is 0 this instruction will cause the
execution to jump on the specified label.
 If CF is 1 the instruction will have no effect.
JB/JC/JNAE – Jump if Below/Jump if Carry/Jump if Not Above or Equal
 If after a compare or some other instruction the CF is 1 this instruction will cause the
execution to jump on the specified label.
 If CF is 0 the instruction will have no effect.
JBE/JNA – Jump if Below or Equal/Jump if Not Above
 If after a compare or some other instruction the CF is 1 this instruction will cause the
execution to jump on the specified label.
 If CF and ZF both are 0 the instruction will have no effect.
JCXZ – Jump if the CX register is 0
JE/JZ – Jump if Equal/Jump if Zero
JG/JNLE – Jump if Greater/Jump if Not Less than or Equal
 After compare the instruction will cause a jump if ZF is 0 and CF is same as the OF.
 The destination must be in the range of -128 bytes to +127 bytes.
JL/JNGE – Jump if Less than/Jump if Not Greater than or Equal
 After compare instruction it will cause the jump if SF is not equal to OF.
 The destination must be in the range of -128 bytes to +127 bytes.
JLE/JNG – Jump if Less than or Equal/Jump if Not Greater
 After compare instruction it will cause the jump if ZF is set or SF is not equal to OF.
 The destination must be in the range of -128 bytes to +127 bytes.
JMP – Unconditional Jump to the Specified Location
 It will always force the 8086 to jump to the specified location.
 The more similar instructions are JNE – Jump if Not equal, JNZ – Jump if Not Zero,
JNO – Jump if No Overflow, JNP – Jump if No Parity, JPO – Jump if Odd Parity, JNS
– Jump if Not Signed, JO – Jump if Overflow, JP – Jump if Parity, JPE – Jump if Parity
Even, JS – Jump if Signed etc.
LAHF – Copy low byte of Flag register to AH
 Lower byte of the 8086 is same as the flag bytes of the 8085.
 Thus it copies the flag bytes of the 8085 to the AH register.
LDS – Load register and DS with the word from memory
 LDS – Register, memory address of first word: it copies the word from two memory
locations into the register specified in the instruction.
  It then copies the word from the next two memory location into DS register.
LEA – Load Effective Address
 LEA register, source: determines offset of the variable or memory location named
source and puts it into 16-bit register.
LES – Load register and ES with the word from memory
 This instruction loads new values into the specified register and ES register from four
successive memory locations.
 The word from the first two memory location will be copied to the specified register and
the word from the next two locations will be copied in to the ES register.
LOCK – Assert Bus lock Signal
 Allows microprocessors to ensure that the other processor can’t take control of the
system bus while it is in critical instruction which uses the system bus.
LODS/LODSB/LODSW – Load String word or byte into AL
 Copies the byte from a string location pointed to by SI to AL or a word to AX.
LOOP – Jump to specified Label if CX! =0 After Auto decrement
 Used to repeat a series of instruction a number of times.
 The number of time the sequence is repeated is stored in CX register
 Variants are LOOPE, LOOPZ, LOOPNE and LOOPNZ.
MOV – Copy a word or byte
 MOV destination, source: copies a word or byte from the source byte to the destination
byte.
 The variants are MOVS/MOVSB/MOVSW – move string, byte or move string word.
MUL – Multiply unsigned bytes or words
 MUL source: multiplies the unsigned byte from source times an unsigned byte in the AL
register or word in the AX register.
NEG – Forms 2’s complement
 NEG Destination: replaces the number in destination with the 2’s complement of that
number
NOP – NO Operation
 It simply uses the 3 clock cycles and increments the instruction pointer to point to the
next instruction.
OR – Logically OR
 OR Destination, Source: ORs each bit in source byte or word with the bit in destination
byte or word.
 The result is put in the specified destination.
OUT – Output a Byte or word to a port
 OUT Port, Accumulator: the Out instruction copies a byte from AL or a word from AX
to the specified port.
 Two types of ports: Fixed and Variable port
POP
 POP destination: copies the word from the stack top location to the destination
specified.
 The stack pointer is automatically incremented by 2.
PUSH
 PUSH Source: decrements the stack pointer by 2 and copies the word specified in the
source to the location pointed by the stack pointer.
 PUSHF: push the flag register onto the stack.
RCL – Rotate operand around to the left through CL
 Rotates all the bits in the specified byte or word to some bits in left.
 It is circular because the MSB of the operand is stored in to the CF and then CF is stored
in to the LSB of the operand.
 Similarly RCR: rotates the operand through right using CF.
REP/REPE/REPNE/REPZ/REPNZ – Repeat String Instruction until specified condition
exists
 REP is the prefix which will cause the CX register to be decremented and the string to be
repeated until CX=0.
 REPE is repeat is equal, REPZ is repeat if zero causes the string to be repeated as long as
the words are equal and ZF=1 respectively.
RET – Return Execution from the procedure call
 Return execution from the procedure to the next instruction after the CALL instruction.
 It do this by restoring the stack contents to the registers and setting IP to point to the next
instruction after the CALL instruction.
ROL – rotate Left, ROR – Rotate Right
  ROL Destination, count: rotate the bits specified in destination to count no of bit
positions.
 Similarly ROR do the same thin but it rotates towards right.
SAHF- Copy AH register to low byte of Flag register
 The lower byte of the 8086 flag register exactly corresponds to the 8085 flag register.
 This instruction replaces this 8085 flag register with the byte from AH register.
SAL/SHL – Shift operand bit in left, put zero in LSBs, SAR – shift right
 SAL/SHL Destination, count: shifts each bits in the specified destination to some
number of bits specified by the count value towards left.
 SAR destination, count: shifts in right.
SBB – Subtract with Borrow, SUB - subtract
 SUB Destination, source: subtracts the number in source from the number in destination
and the final result is stored in destination. It ignores borrow.
 SBB: it does the same thing but do not ignore borrow.
SCAS/SCASB/SCASW – Scans a String or Byte or Word
 Compares a byte in AL or a word in AH with a byte or word pointed to by DI in ES.
Therefore the string to be compared must be in extra segment and the DI must contain the offset
of the byte or word.
STC/STD/STI – set carry flag, set direction flag, set interrupt flag to 1.
STOS/STOSB/STOSW – Stores byte or word in string
 Copies a byte from AL or a word from AX to the memory location in extra segment
pointed by DI.
 After copy DI is automatically incremented or decremented to point to the next string
element in memory.
TEST – AND operands to Update
 ANDs the contents of the source byte with the contents of the destination byte. Flags are
updated but neither operand is changed.
WAIT – Wait for test signal or interrupt signal
 8086 enters in idle condition and does no processing. It will stay in the idle position until
8086 TEST input pin is made low or interrupt signal is received on INTR or NMI pins.
XCHG
 XCHG destination, source: changes the contents of destination with contents of source
and vice versa.
  Destination and Source both must be either byte or word. It can be register or memory
location.
XLAT/XLATB – Translate a byte in AL
 Used to translate a byte from one code to another code.
 Replaces the byte in AL register with the byte pointed to by BX in a lookup table in the
memory. The lookup table must be in the memory before execution of XLAT.
XOR – eXclusive OR
 XOR Destination, Source: instruction exclusive ORs each bit in the source byte or word
with the bit in the destination byte or word.
 The result will follow the truth table of XOR. The answer will be stored in the
destination.

6.2 Assembler Directives

Assume
 Used to tell the assembler the name of the logical segment it should use for a specified
segment.
 You must tell the assembler that what to assume for any segment you use in the program.
 Example, ASSUME: CODE tells the assembler that the instructions for the program are
in segment named CODE.
DB – Defined Byte
 Used to declare a byte type variable or to set aside one or more locations of type byte in
memory.
 Example, PRICES DB 49H, 98H, 29H: Declare array of 3 bytes named PRICES and
initialize 3 bytes as shown.
DD – Define Double Word
 Used to declare a variable of type doubleword or to reserve a memory location which can
be accessed as doubleword.
DQ – Define Quadword
 Used to tell the assembler to declare the variable as 4 words of storage in memory.
DT – Define Ten bytes
 Used to tell the assembler to declare the variable which is 10 bytes in length or reserve 10
bytes of storage in memory.
DW – Define Word
 Used to tell the assembler to define a variable type as word or reserve word in memory.
END – End the program
 To tell the assembler to stop fetching the instruction and end the program execution.
 ENDP – it is used to end the procedure.
 ENDS – used to end the segment.
EQU – Equate
 Used to give name to some value or symbol.
EVEN – Align on Even memory address
 Tells the assembler to increment the location counter to the next even address if it is not
already at an even address.
EXTRN
 Used to tell the assembler that the name or labels following the directive are in some
other assembly module.
GLOBAL – Declares symbols as PUBLIC or EXTRN
 Used to make the symbol available to other modules.
 It can be used in place of EXTRN or PUBLIC keyword.
GROUP – Group related segment
 Used to tell the assembler to group the logical segments named after the directive into
one logical segment.
 This allows the content of all the segments to be accessed from the same group.
INCLUDE – include source code from file
 Used to tell the assembler to insert a block of source code from the named file into the
current source module. This shortens the source code.
LABEL
 Used to give the name to the current value in the location counter.
 The LABEL directive must be followed by a term which specifies the type you want
associated with that name.
LENGTH
 Used to determine the number of items in some data such as string or array.
NAME
  Used to give a specific name to a module when the programs consisting of several
modules.
OFFSET
 It is an operator which tells the assembler to determine the offset or displacement of
named data item or procedure from the start of the segment which contains it.
ORG – Originate
 Tells the assembler to set the location counter value.
 Example, ORG 7000H sets the location counter value to point to 7000H location in
memory.
 $ is often used to symbolically represent the value of the location counter. It is used with
ORG to tell the assembler to change the location according to the current value in the
location counter. E.g. ORG $+100.
PROC – Procedure
 Used to identify the start of the procedure.
PTR – Pointer
 Used to assign a specific type to a variable or a label.
 It is necessary to do this in any instruction where the type of the operand is not clear.
Public
 It is used to tell the assembler that the specified label or variable is accessible by other
modules.
 This is useful in large programs which are generally written in modules.
SEGMENT
 Used to indicate that the start of a logical segment.
 Preceding the segment directive is the name you want to give to the segment.
SHORT
 Used to tell the assembler that only a 1-byte displacement is needed to code a jump
instruction.
 If the jump destination is after the jump instruction in the program, the assembler will
automatically reserve 2 bytes for the displacement.
TYPE
 Tells the assembler to determine the type of a specified variable.
 The TYPE operator can be used in instruction such as ADD BX, TYPE
WORD_ARRAY, where we want to increment BX to point to the next word in an array
of words.