The list of all interrupts that are currently supported by

the emulator.

Quick reference:

INT 21h
INT 10h/00h INT 21h/35h
INT 21h/01h
INT 10h/01h INT 10h/1003h INT 21h/39h
INT 21h/02h
INT 10h/02h INT 11h INT 21h/3Ah
INT 21h/05h
INT 10h/03h INT 12h INT 21h/3Bh
INT 21h/06h
INT 10h/05h INT 13h/00h INT 21h/3Ch
INT 21h/07h
INT 10h/06h INT 13h/02h INT 21h/3Dh INT 33h/0000h
INT 21h/09h
INT 10h/07h INT 13h/03h INT 21h/3Eh INT 33h/0001h
INT 21h/0Ah
INT 10h/08h INT 15h/86h INT 21h/3Fh INT 33h/0002h
INT 21h/0Bh
INT 10h/09h INT 16h/00h INT 21h/40h INT 33h/0003h
INT 21h/0Ch
INT 10h/0Ah INT 16h/01h INT 21h/41h
INT 21h/0Eh
INT 10h/0Ch INT 19h INT 21h/42h
INT 21h/19h
INT 10h/0Dh INT 1Ah/00h INT 21h/47h
INT 21h/25h
INT 10h/0Eh INT 20h INT 21h/4Ch
INT 21h/2Ah
INT 10h/13h INT 21h/56h
INT 21h/2Ch

the short list of supported interrupts with descriptions:

INT 10h / AH = 0 - set video mode.

input:
AL = desired video mode.

these video modes are supported:

00h - text mode. 40x25. 16 colors. 8 pages.

03h - text mode. 80x25. 16 colors. 8 pages.

13h - graphical mode. 40x25. 256 colors. 320x200 pixels. 1 page.

example:

mov al, 13h

 mov ah, 0
int 10h

INT 10h / AH = 01h - set text-mode cursor shape.

input:
CH = cursor start line (bits 0-4) and options (bits 5-7).
CL = bottom cursor line (bits 0-4).

when bit 5 of CH is set to 0, the cursor is visible. when bit 5 is 1,

the cursor is not visible.

; hide blinking text cursor:

mov ch, 32
mov ah, 1
int 10h

; show standard blinking text cursor:

mov ch, 6
mov cl, 7
mov ah, 1
int 10h

; show box-shaped blinking text cursor:

mov ch, 0
mov cl, 7
mov ah, 1
int 10h

; note: some bioses required CL to be >=7,

; otherwise wrong cursor shapes are displayed.

INT 10h / AH = 2 - set cursor position.

input:
DH = row.
DL = column.
BH = page number (0..7).
example:

mov dh, 10
mov dl, 20
mov bh, 0
mov ah, 2
 int 10h

INT 10h / AH = 03h - get cursor position and size.

input:
BH = page number.
return:
DH = row.
DL = column.
CH = cursor start line.
CL = cursor bottom line.

INT 10h / AH = 05h - select active video page.

input:
AL = new page number (0..7).
the activated page is displayed.

INT 10h / AH = 06h - scroll up window.

INT 10h / AH = 07h - scroll down window.

input:
AL = number of lines by which to scroll (00h = clear entire
window).
BH = attribute used to write blank lines at bottom of window.
CH, CL = row, column of window's upper left corner.
DH, DL = row, column of window's lower right corner.

INT 10h / AH = 08h - read character and attribute at cursor

position.

input:
BH = page number.
return:
AH = attribute.
AL = character.
INT 10h / AH = 09h - write character and attribute at cursor
position.

input:
AL = character to display.
BH = page number.
BL = attribute.
CX = number of times to write character.

INT 10h / AH = 0Ah - write character only at cursor position.

input:
AL = character to display.
BH = page number.
CX = number of times to write character.

INT 10h / AH = 0Ch - change color for a single pixel.

input:
AL = pixel color
CX = column.
DX = row.
example:

mov al, 13h

mov ah, 0
int 10h ; set graphics video mode.
mov al, 1100b
mov cx, 10
mov dx, 20
mov ah, 0ch
int 10h ; set pixel.

INT 10h / AH = 0Dh - get color of a single pixel.

input:
CX = column.
DX = row.
output:
AL = pixel color

INT 10h / AH = 0Eh - teletype output.

input:
AL = character to write.
this functions displays a character on the screen, advancing the
cursor and scrolling the screen as necessary. the printing is
always done to current active page.

example:

mov al, 'a'

mov ah, 0eh
int 10h

; note: on specific systems this

; function may not be supported in graphics mode.

INT 10h / AH = 13h - write string.

input:
AL = write mode:
bit 0: update cursor after writing;
bit 1: string contains attributes.
BH = page number.
BL = attribute if string contains only characters (bit 1 of AL is
zero).
CX = number of characters in string (attributes are not counted).
DL,DH = column, row at which to start writing.
ES:BP points to string to be printed.
example:

mov al, 1
mov bh, 0
mov bl, 0011_1011b
mov cx, msg1end - offset msg1 ; calculate message size.
mov dl, 10
mov dh, 7
 push cs
pop es
mov bp, offset msg1
mov ah, 13h
int 10h
jmp msg1end
msg1 db " hello, world! "
msg1end:

INT 10h / AX = 1003h - toggle intensity/blinking.

input:
BL = write mode:
0: enable intensive colors.
1: enable blinking (not supported by the emulator and windows
command prompt).
BH = 0 (to avoid problems on some adapters).
example:

mov ax, 1003h

mov bx, 0
int 10h

bit color table:

character attribute is 8 bit value, low 4 bits set fore color, high 4
bits set background color.
note: the emulator and windows command line prompt do not
support background blinking, however to make colors look the
same in dos and in full screen mode it is required to turn off the
background blinking.

HEX BIN COLOR

0 0000 black
1 0001 blue
2 0010 green
3 0011 cyan
4 0100 red
5 0101 magenta
6 0110 brown
7 0111 light gray
8 1000 dark gray
9 1001 light blue
A 1010 light green
B 1011 light cyan
C 1100 light red
D 1101 light magenta
E 1110 yellow
F 1111 white
note:

; use this code for compatibility with dos/cmd prompt full

screen mode:
mov ax, 1003h
mov bx, 0 ; disable blinking.
int 10h

INT 11h - get BIOS equipment list.

return:
AX = BIOS equipment list word, actually this call returns the
contents of the word at 0040h:0010h.

Currently this function can be used to determine the number of

installed number of floppy disk drives.
Bit fields for BIOS-detected installed hardware:
bit(s) Description
15-14 Number of parallel devices.
13 Reserved.
12 Game port installed.
11-9 Number of serial devices.
8 Reserved.
7-6 Number of floppy disk drives (minus 1):
00 single floppy disk;
01 two floppy disks;
10 three floppy disks;
11 four floppy disks.
5-4 Initial video mode:
00 EGA,VGA,PGA, or other with on-board video BIOS;
01 40x25 CGA color.
10 80x25 CGA color (emulator default).
11 80x25 mono text.
3 Reserved.
2 PS/2 mouse is installed.
1 Math coprocessor installed.
0 Set when booted from floppy.

INT 12h - get memory size.

return:
AX = kilobytes of contiguous memory starting at absolute
address 00000h, this call returns the contents of the word at
0040h:0013h.

Floppy drives are emulated using FLOPPY_0(..3) files.

INT 13h / AH = 00h - reset disk system.

INT 13h / AH = 02h - read disk sectors into memory.

INT 13h / AH = 03h - write disk sectors.

input:
AL = number of sectors to read/write (must be nonzero)
CH = cylinder number (0..79).
CL = sector number (1..18).
DH = head number (0..1).
DL = drive number (0..3 , for the emulator it depends on quantity
of FLOPPY_ files).
ES:BX points to data buffer.
return:
CF set on error.
CF clear if successful.
AH = status (0 - if successful).
AL = number of sectors transferred.
Note: each sector has 512 bytes.

INT 15h / AH = 86h - BIOS wait function.

input:
CX:DX = interval in microseconds
return:
CF clear if successful (wait interval elapsed),
CF set on error or when wait function is already in progress.
Note:
the resolution of the wait period is 977 microseconds on many
systems (1 million microseconds - 1 second).
Windows XP does not support this interrupt (always sets CF=1).

INT 16h / AH = 00h - get keystroke from keyboard (no echo).

return:
AH = BIOS scan code.
AL = ASCII character.
(if a keystroke is present, it is removed from the keyboard buffer).

INT 16h / AH = 01h - check for keystroke in the keyboard buffer.

return:
ZF = 1 if keystroke is not available.
ZF = 0 if keystroke available.
AH = BIOS scan code.
AL = ASCII character.
(if a keystroke is present, it is not removed from the keyboard
buffer).

INT 19h - system reboot.

Usually, the BIOS will try to read sector 1, head 0, track 0 from
drive A: to 0000h:7C00h. The emulator just stops the execution,
to boot from floppy drive select from the menu: 'virtual drive' ->
'boot from floppy'

INT 1Ah / AH = 00h - get system time.

return:
CX:DX = number of clock ticks since midnight.
AL = midnight counter, advanced each time midnight passes.
notes:
there are approximately 18.20648 clock ticks per second,
and 1800B0h per 24 hours.
AL is not set by the emulator.

INT 20h - exit to operating system.

The short list of emulated MS-DOS interrupts -- INT 21h

DOS file system is emulated in C:\emu8086\vdrive\x (x is a

drive letter)

If no drive letter is specified and current directory is not set,

then C:\emu8086\MyBuild\ path is used by
default. FLOPPY_0,1,2,3 files are emulated independently from
DOS file system.

For the emulator physical drive A: is this file c:\emu8086\

FLOPPY_0 (for BIOS interrupts: INT 13h and boot).

For DOS interrupts (INT 21h) drive A: is emulated in this

subdirectory: C:\emu8086\vdrive\a\
Note: DOS file system limits the file and directory names to 8 characters, extension is limited to 3 characters;
example of a valid file name: myfile.txt (file name = 6 chars, extension - 3 chars). extension is written after the dot,
no other dots are allowed.

INT 21h / AH=1 - read character from standard input, with echo,
result is stored in AL.
if there is no character in the keyboard buffer, the function waits
until any key is pressed.
example:

mov ah, 1
int 21h

INT 21h / AH=2 - write character to standard output.

entry: DL = character to write, after execution AL = DL.

example:

mov ah, 2
mov dl, 'a'
int 21h

INT 21h / AH=5 - output character to printer.

entry: DL = character to print, after execution AL = DL.

example:

mov ah, 5
mov dl, 'a'
int 21h

INT 21h / AH=6 - direct console input or output.

parameters for output: DL = 0..254 (ascii code)

parameters for input: DL = 255

for output returns: AL = DL

for input returns: ZF set if no character available and AL =
00h, ZF clear if character available.
AL = character read; buffer is cleared.
example:

mov ah, 6
mov dl, 'a'
int 21h ; output character.

mov ah, 6
mov dl, 255
int 21h ; get character from keyboard buffer (if
any) or set ZF=1.

INT 21h / AH=7 - character input without echo to AL.

if there is no character in the keyboard buffer, the function waits
until any key is pressed.

example:

mov ah, 7
int 21h

INT 21h / AH=9 - output of a string at DS:DX. String must be

terminated by '$'.

example:

org 100h
mov dx, offset msg
mov ah, 9
int 21h
ret
msg db "hello world $"
INT 21h / AH=0Ah - input of a string to DS:DX, fist byte is buffer
size, second byte is number of chars actually read. this function
does not add '$' in the end of string. to print using INT
21h / AH=9 you must set dollar character at the end of it and
start printing from address DS:DX + 2.

example:

org 100h
mov dx, offset buffer
mov ah, 0ah
int 21h
jmp print
buffer db 10,?, 10 dup(' ')
print:
xor bx, bx
mov bl, buffer[1]
mov buffer[bx+2], '$'
mov dx, offset buffer + 2
mov ah, 9
int 21h
ret
the function does not allow to enter more characters than the
specified buffer size.
see also int21.asm in c:\emu8086\examples

INT 21h / AH=0Bh - get input status;

returns: AL = 00h if no character available, AL = 0FFh if
character is available.

INT 21h / AH=0Ch - flush keyboard buffer and read standard

input.
entry: AL = number of input function to execute after flushing
buffer (can be 01h,06h,07h,08h, or 0Ah - for other values the
buffer is flushed but no input is attempted); other registers as
appropriate for the selected input function.
INT 21h / AH= 0Eh - select default drive.

Entry: DL = new default drive (0=A:, 1=B:, etc)

Return: AL = number of potentially valid drive letters

Notes: the return value is the highest drive present.

INT 21h / AH= 19h - get current default drive.

Return: AL = drive (0=A:, 1=B:, etc)

INT 21h / AH=25h - set interrupt vector;

input: AL = interrupt number. DS:DX -> new interrupt handler.

INT 21h / AH=2Ah - get system date;

return: CX = year (1980-2099). DH = month. DL = day. AL = day
of week (00h=Sunday)

INT 21h / AH=2Ch - get system time;

return: CH = hour. CL = minute. DH = second. DL = 1/100
seconds.

INT 21h / AH=35h - get interrupt vector;

entry: AL = interrupt number;
return: ES:BX -> current interrupt handler.

INT 21h / AH= 39h - make directory.

entry: DS:DX -> ASCIZ pathname; zero terminated string, for
example:

org 100h
mov dx, offset filepath
mov ah, 39h
int 21h

ret

filepath DB "C:\mydir", 0 ; path to be created.

end
the above code creates c:\emu8086\vdrive\C\mydir directory if run by the emulator.

Return: CF clear if successful AX destroyed. CF set on error AX =

error code.
Note: all directories in the given path must exist except the last
one.

INT 21h / AH= 3Ah - remove directory.

Entry: DS:DX -> ASCIZ pathname of directory to be removed.

Return:

CF is clear if successful, AX destroyed CF is set on error AX =

error code.

Notes: directory must be empty (there should be no files inside of

it).

INT 21h / AH= 3Bh - set current directory.

Entry: DS:DX -> ASCIZ pathname to become current directory

(max 64 bytes).

Return:

Carry Flag is clear if successful, AX destroyed.

Carry Flag is set on error AX = error code.
Notes: even if new directory name includes a drive letter, the
default drive is not changed,
only the current directory on that drive.

INT 21h / AH= 3Ch - create or truncate file.

entry:

CX = file attributes:

mov cx, 0 ; normal - no attributes.

mov cx, 1 ; read-only.
mov cx, 2 ; hidden.
mov cx, 4 ; system
mov cx, 7 ; hidden, system and read-only!
mov cx, 16 ; archive
DS:DX -> ASCIZ filename.
returns:

CF clear if successful, AX = file handle.

CF set on error AX = error code.

note: if specified file exists it is deleted without a warning.

example:

org 100h
mov ah, 3ch
mov cx, 0
mov dx, offset filename
mov ah, 3ch
int 21h
jc err
mov handle, ax
jmp k
filename db "myfile.txt", 0
handle dw ?
err:
; ....
k:
ret

INT 21h / AH= 3Dh - open existing file.

Entry:

AL = access and sharing modes:

mov al, 0 ; read

mov al, 1 ; write
mov al, 2 ; read/write

DS:DX -> ASCIZ filename.

Return:

CF clear if successful, AX = file handle.

CF set on error AX = error code.

note 1: file pointer is set to start of file.

note 2: file must exist.

example:

org 100h
mov al, 2
mov dx, offset filename
mov ah, 3dh
int 21h
jc err
mov handle, ax
jmp k
filename db "myfile.txt", 0
handle dw ?
err:
; ....
k:
ret

INT 21h / AH= 3Eh - close file.

Entry: BX = file handle

Return:

CF clear if successful, AX destroyed.

CF set on error, AX = error code (06h).

INT 21h / AH= 3Fh - read from file.

Entry:

BX = file handle.
CX = number of bytes to read.
DS:DX -> buffer for data.

Return:

CF is clear if successful - AX = number of bytes actually read; 0 if

at EOF (end of file) before call.
CF is set on error AX = error code.

Note: data is read beginning at current file position, and the file
position is updated after a successful read the returned AX may
be smaller than the request inCX if a partial read occurred.

INT 21h / AH= 40h - write to file.

entry:

BX = file handle.
CX = number of bytes to write.
DS:DX -> data to write.

return:

CF clear if successful; AX = number of bytes actually written.

CF set on error; AX = error code.

note: if CX is zero, no data is written, and the file is truncated or

extended to the current position data is written beginning at the
current file position, and the file position is updated after a
successful write the usual cause for AX < CX on return is a full
disk.

INT 21h / AH= 41h - delete file (unlink).

Entry:
DS:DX -> ASCIZ filename (no wildcards, but see notes).

return:

CF clear if successful, AX destroyed. AL is the drive of deleted file

(undocumented).
CF set on error AX = error code.

Note: DOS does not erase the file's data; it merely becomes
inaccessible because the FAT chain for the file is cleared deleting
a file which is currently open may lead to filesystem corruption.

INT 21h / AH= 42h - SEEK - set current file position.

Entry:

AL = origin of move: 0 - start of file. 1 - current file position. 2 -

end of file.
BX = file handle.
CX:DX = offset from origin of new file position.

Return:

CF clear if successful, DX:AX = new file position in bytes from

start of file.
CF set on error, AX = error code.

Notes:

for origins 1 and 2, the pointer may be positioned before the start
of the file; no error is returned in that case, but subsequent
attempts to read or write the file will produce errors. If the new
position is beyond the current end of file, the file will be extended
by the next write (see AH=40h).

example:

org 100h
mov ah, 3ch
mov cx, 0
 mov dx, offset filename
mov ah, 3ch
int 21h ; create file...
mov handle, ax

mov bx, handle

mov dx, offset data
mov cx, data_size
mov ah, 40h
int 21h ; write to file...

mov al, 0
mov bx, handle
mov cx, 0
mov dx, 7
mov ah, 42h
int 21h ; seek...

mov bx, handle

mov dx, offset buffer
mov cx, 4
mov ah, 3fh
int 21h ; read from file...

mov bx, handle

mov ah, 3eh
int 21h ; close file...
ret

filename db "myfile.txt", 0
handle dw ?
data db " hello files! "
data_size=$-offset data
buffer db 4 dup(' ')

INT 21h / AH= 47h - get current directory.

Entry:

DL = drive number (00h = default, 01h = A:, etc)

DS:SI -> 64-byte buffer for ASCIZ pathname.

Return:
Carry is clear if successful
Carry is set on error, AX = error code (0Fh)

Notes:

the returned path does not include a drive and the initial
backslash.

INT 21h / AH=4Ch - return control to the operating system (stop

program).

INT 21h / AH= 56h - rename file / move file.

Entry:

DS:DX -> ASCIZ filename of existing file.

ES:DI -> ASCIZ new filename.

Return:

CF clear if successful.
CF set on error, AX = error code.

Note: allows move between directories on same logical drive only;

open files should not be renamed!

mouse driver interrupts -- INT 33h

INT 33h / AX=0000 - mouse ininialization. any previous mouse
pointer is hidden.

returns:
if successful: AX=0FFFFh and BX=number of mouse buttons.
if failed: AX=0
example:

mov ax, 0
int 33h
see also: mouse.asm in examples.

INT 33h / AX=0001 - show mouse pointer.

example:

mov ax, 1
int 33h

INT 33h / AX=0002 - hide visible mouse pointer.

example:

mov ax, 2
int 33h

INT 33h / AX=0003 - get mouse position and status of its

buttons.
returns:
if left button is down: BX=1
if right button is down: BX=2
if both buttons are down: BX=3
CX = x
DX = y
example:

mov ax, 3
int 33h

; note: in graphical 320x200 mode the value of CX is doubled.

; see mouse2.asm in examples.