Arithmetic Instructions in Assembly Language

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

INC destination

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

INC EBX      ; Increments 32-bit register

INC DL       ; Increments 8-bit register

INC [count]  ; Increments the count variable

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.

Syntex:

DEC destination

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. For example, adding or subtracting 8-bit, 16-bit or 32-bit operands, respectively.

Syntex:

ADD/SUB	destination, source

The ADD/SUB instruction can take place between: Register, Memory and constant data But, 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

OUTPUT:

Enter a digit:
3
Please enter a second digit:
4
The sum is:
7

The MUL or IMUL Instruction

T

here 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

MUL/IMUL multiplier

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

OUTPUT

The result is:
6

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: DIV/IDIV              divisor

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 sizes.

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

OUTPUT:
4