The Netwide Assembler: NASM

80x86 assembler.
Supports Linux file formats.
 : Byte structure

byte has 8 bits

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

(msb (most significant bit

 :Data storage in memory

.NASM stores data using little endian order

Little endian means that the low-order byte of the number is
stored in memory at the lowest address, and the high-order byte
.at the highest address

:Example
You want to store 0x1AB3 (hex number( in the memory.
This number has two bytes: 1A and B3.
: It would be stored this way B3 0

1A 1 bytes of
memory
memory block 2

.Note: when read a stored data from the memory, it comes in the source order
 :Registers

”.CPU contains a unit called “Register file

This unit contains the registers of the following types:
1. 8-bit general registers: AL, CL, DL, BL, AH, CH, DH, BH
bit general registers: AX, CX, DX, BX, SP, BP, SI, Dl- 16. 2
bit general registers: EAX, ECX, EDX, EBX, ESP, EBP, ESI, EDI-32. 3

Segment registers: ES, CS ,SS, DS, FS, GS. 4

Floating-point registers: ST0, ST1, ST2, ST3, ST4, ST5, ST6, ST7. 5

instruction pointer: IP. 6

.Note: the registers above are the basic. There exist more registers
 :Lets zoom in

IP - instruction pointer: contains offset (address) of the .

next instruction that is going to be executed.
.Exists only in run time. Can’t be reached
AX - 16-bit general register: . high low byte
:contains two 8-bit registers byte
AH AL
EAX - 32-bit general register: you can use it for any .
.purpose
segment registers: we use flat memory model – 32-bit .
4Gb address space, without segments. So for this course
.you can ignore segment registers
ST0 - floating-point registers: we use it to do calculations .
.on floating point numbers
ESP - stack pointer: contains the next free address on a .
.stack
 (Lets zoom in: (2

.Some instructions use only specific registers .

:Examples
For DIV r/m8 instruction, AX is divided by the given. 1
operand;
.the quotient is stored in AL and the remainder in AH
LOOP imm,CX instruction uses CX register as a counter. 2
.register
LAHF instruction sets the AH register according to the. 3
.contents of the low byte of the flags word

.We use ESP and EBP registers to work with stack.

 Example for using
:registers

:instruction content of the register AX after the instruction

:execution
AH AL
mov ax, 0 00000000 00000000

AH AL
mov ah, 0x13 11001000 00000000

AH AL
mov ax, 0x13 00000000 11001000
 :Status Flags
(.Flag is a bit (of the Flags Register.
The status flags provide some information about the result of.
.the last (usually arithmetic) instruction that was executed
This information can be used by conditional instructions (such a
JUPMcc and CMOVcc) as well as by some of the other
(.instructions (such as ADC

:There are 6 status flags

CF - Carry flag: set if an arithmetic operation generates a
carry or a borrow out of the most-significant bit of the result;
cleared otherwise. This flag indicates an overflow condition
.for unsigned-integer arithmetic

PF - Parity flag: set if the least-significant byte of the

result contains an even number of ‘1’ bits; cleared
.otherwise
 (:Status Flags (2
AF - Adjust flag: set if an arithmetic operation generates a
carry or a borrow out of bit 3 of the result; cleared
otherwise. This flag is used in binary-coded decimal (BCD)
.arithmetic

.ZF - Zero flag: set if the result is zero; cleared otherwise

SF - Sign flag: set equal to the most-significant bit of the

result, which is the sign bit of a signed integer. (0 indicates a
(.positive value and 1 indicates a negative value

OF - Overflow flag: set if the integer result is too large a

positive number or too small a negative number
(excluding the sign-bit) to fit in the destination operand;
cleared otherwise. This flag indicates an overflow condition for
.signed-integer (two's complement) arithmetic
 :Instructions on Flags Register

We can’t reach Flags Register but there are few instructions

: that let us get and set its value
LAHF: set the AH register according to the contents of the .1
:low byte of the flags word
7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
:AH SF ZF 0 AF 0 PF 1 CF

SAHF: set the low byte of the flags word according to the .2
.contents of the AH register
SALC: set AL to zero if the carry flag is clear, or to 0xFF if. 3
.it is set
.STC: sets the carry flag. 4
.CLC: clears the carry flag. 5
Note: this is not a complete set of the flag instructions. You can find more in the
.NASM tutorial
 :Basic assembly instructions
Each NASM standard source line contains a combination of the
:4 fields
label: (pseudo) instruction operands ;
comment
Either required or forbidden
optional fields
by an instruction

:Notes
backslash (\) uses as the line continuation character: if a line ends with. 1
backslash, the next line is considered to be a part of the backslash-ended line.
2. no restrictions on white space within a line.
.3. a colon after a label is optional

:Examples
mov ax, 2 ; moves constant 2 to the register ax. 1
2. buffer: resb 64 ; reserves 64 bytes
 :Move instructions
B.4.156: MOV – move data
mov r/m8,reg8
(copies content of 8-bit register (source) to 8-bit register or 8-bit memory
unit (destination) )
mov reg32,imm32
(copies content of 32-bit immediate (constant) to 32-bit register)
* for all the possible variants of operands look at NASM manual, B.4.156

In all forms of the MOV instruction, the two operands are the same size-
Examples:
mov EAX, 0x2334AAFF
mov word [buffer], ax
* Note: NASM don’t remember the types of variables you declare.
Whereas MASM will remember, on seeing var dw 0, that you declared var as a
word-size variable, and will then be able to fill in the ambiguity in the size of the
instruction mov var,2, NASM will deliberately remember nothing about the symbol
.var except where it begins, and so you must explicitly code mov word [var],2
 (:Move instructions (2
B.4.181 MOVSX, MOVZX: move data with sign or zero
extend
movsx reg16,r/m8
(sign-extends its source (second) operand to the length of its
destination (first) operand, and copies the result into the destination
(operand
movzx reg32,r/m8
(does the same, but zero-extends rather than sign-extending)
* for all the possible variants of operands look at NASM manual, B.4.181
1…111 0…100
Examples:
movsx EAX, AX 0…000
(if AX has 10…0b value, EAX would have 0…100
( value

movzx EAX, BL (if AX has 10…0b value, EAX would have

( value
 :Basic arithmetical instructions
B.4.3 ADD: add integers
add r/m16,imm16
(adds its two operands together, and leaves the result in its destination
((first) operand
for all the possible variants of operands look at NASM manual, B.4.3*

Examples:
add AX, BX

B.4.2 ADC: add with carry

adc r/m16,imm8
(adds its two operands together, plus the value of the carry flag,
(and leaves the result in its destination (first) operand
for all the possible variants of operands look at NASM manual, B.4.2* •

Examples:
(add AX, BX (AX gets a value of AX+BX+CF
 (:Basic arithmetical instructions (2

B.4.305 SUB: subtract integers

sub reg16,r/m16
(subtracts its second operand from its first, and leaves the result in its
(destination (first) operand
for all the possible variants of operands look at NASM manual, B.4.305*

Examples:
sub AX, BX

B.4.285 SBB: subtract with borrow

sbb r/m16,imm8
(subtracts its second operand, plus the value of the carry flag, from
(its first, and leaves the result in its destination (first) operand
for all the possible variants of operands look at NASM manual, B.4.285*

Examples:
(sbb AX, BX (AX gets a value of AX-BX-CF
 (:Basic arithmetical instructions (3

B.4.120 INC: increment integer

inc r/m16
((adds 1 to its operand
does not affect the carry flag; affects all the other flags according to the*
result
for all the possible variants of operands look at NASM manual, B.4.120*

Examples:
inc AX
B.4.58 DEC: decrement integer
dec reg16
((subtracts 1 from its operand
does not affect the carry flag; affects all the other flags according to*
the result
for all the possible variants of operands look at NASM manual, B.4.58*

Examples:
[dec byte [buffer
 :Basic logical instructions

B.4.189 NEG, NOT: two's and one's complement

neg r/m16
(replaces the contents of its operand by the two's complement
negation - invert all the bits, and then add one)
not r/m16
((performs one's complement negation- inverts all the bits
for all the possible variants of operands look at NASM manual, B.4.189*

Examples:
((neg AL (if AL = (11111110), it becomes (00000010

((not AL (if AL = (11111110), it becomes (00000001

 (:Basic logical instructions (2

B.4.191 OR: bitwise or

or r/m32,imm32
(each bit of the result is 1 if and only if at least one of the corresponding
bits of the two inputs was 1; stores the result in the destination (first)
(operand
for all the possible variants of operands look at NASM manual, B.4.191*

Example:
((or AL, BL (if AL = (11111100), BL= (00000010) => AL would be (11111110

B.4.8 AND: bitwise and

and r/m32,imm32
(each bit of the result is 1 if and only if the corresponding bits of the two
(inputs were both 1; stores the result in the destination (first) operand
for all the possible variants of operands look at NASM manual, B.4.8*

Example:
((and AL, BL (if AL = (11111100), BL= (00000010) => AL would be (11111100
 :Compare instruction
B.4.24 CMP: compare integers
cmp r/m32,imm8
(performs a ‘mental’ subtraction of its second operand from its first
operand, and affects the flags as if the subtraction had taken place,
(but does not store the result of the subtraction anywhere
for all the possible variants of operands look at NASM manual, B.4.24*

Example:
cmp AL, BL (if AL = (11111100), BL= (00000010) => ZF would be 1)
( (if AL = (11111100), BL= (11111100) => ZF would be 0
 (:Labels definition (basic

Each instruction of the code has its offset (address from the.
(.beginning of the address space
If we want to refer to the specific instruction in the code, we.
should mark it with a label:
my_loop1:
add ax, ax
….
label can be with or without colon-
- an instruction that follows it can be at the same or the next line
- a code can’t contain two different non-local (as above) labels
with the same name
 :Loop definition
B.4.142 LOOP, LOOPE, LOOPZ, LOOPNE, LOOPNZ: loop with
counter
for all the possible variants of operands look at NASM manual, B.4.142*

Example:
mov ax, 1
mov cx, 3
my_ loop:
add ax, ax
loop my_ loop, cx

decrements its counter register. 1 if the counter does not become. 2

((in this case it is CX register zero as a result of this operation,
it jumps to the given label

Note: counter register can be either CX or ECX - if one is not specified explicitly,
.the BITS setting dictates which is used

LOOPE (or its synonym LOOPZ( adds the additional condition that it only jumps if the
counter is nonzero and the zero flag is set. Similarly, LOOPNE (and LOOPNZ( jumps only
.if the counter is nonzero and the zero flag is clear