Chapter 3 Addressing Modes

Asst. Prof. Dr. Gazi Erkan BOSTANCI

Slides are mainly based on The Intel Microprocessors by Barry B. Brey, 2008
• Efficient software development for the MP requires a complete
familiarity with the addressing modes employed by each instruction.
• MOV (move data) instruction will be used to describe the data
addressing modes.
• CALL and JUMP instructions will be used to describe program memory
addressing modes.
• PUSH and POP instructions will be used to describe the operation of
the stack memory.
Data Addressing Modes
• Because the MOV instruction is a very common and flexible
instruction, it provides a basis for the explanation of the data-
addressing modes.
• Figure below illustrates the MOV instruction and defines the direction
of data flow.
• The source is to the right and the destination is to the left, next to the
opcode MOV. (An opcode, or operation code, tells the microprocessor
which operation to perform.)
• This direction of flow, which is applied to all instructions, is awkward
at first.
• We naturally assume that things move from left to right, whereas here they
move from right to left.
• The MOV AX, BX instruction transfers the word contents of the source
register (BX) into the destination register (AX). The source never
changes, but the destination always changes.
• It is crucial to remember that a MOV instruction always copies the
source data into the destination. The MOV never actually picks up the
data and moves it.
• Also, note the flag register remains unaffected by most data transfer
instructions. The source and destination are often called operands.
• Figure below shows all possible variations of the data-addressing
modes using the MOV instruction. This illustration helps to show how
each data-addressing mode is formulated with the MOV instruction
and also serves as a reference on data-addressing modes.
• Register addressing: Register addressing transfers a copy of a byte or
word from the source register or contents of a memory location to
the destination register or memory location.
• Example: The MOV CX, DX instruction copies the word-sized contents of
register DX into register CX.
• Immediate addressing: Immediate addressing transfers the source, an
immediate byte, word, doubleword, or quadword of data, into the
destination register or memory location.
• Example: The MOV AL, 22H instruction copies a byte-sized 22H into register
AL
• Direct addressing: Direct addressing moves a byte or word between a
memory location and a register. The instruction set does not support
a memory-to memory transfer, except with the MOVS instruction.
• Example: The MOV CX, LIST instruction copies the word-sized contents of
memory location LIST into register CX.
• Register indirect addressing: Register indirect addressing transfers a
byte or word between a register and a memory location addressed by
an index or base register. The index and base registers are BP, BX, DI,
and SI.
• Example: The MOV AX, [BX] instruction copies the word-sized data from the
data segment offset address indexed by BX into register AX.
• Base-plus-index addressing: Base-plus-index addressing transfers a
byte or word between a register and the memory location addressed
by a base register (BP or BX) plus an index register (DI or SI).
• Example: The MOV [BX+DI], CL instruction copies the byte-sized contents of
register CL into the data segment memory location addressed by BX plus DI.
• Register relative addressing: Register relative addressing moves a byte or
word between a register and the memory location addressed by an index
or base register plus a displacement.
• Example: MOV AX,[BX+4] or MOV AX, ARRAY[BX].
• The first instruction loads AX from the data segment address formed by BX plus 4.
The second instruction loads AX from the data segment memory location in ARRAY
plus the contents of BX.
• Base relative-plus-index addressing Base relative-plus-index addressing
transfers a byte or word between a register and the memory location
addressed by a base and an index register plus a displacement.
• Example: MOV AX, ARRAY[BX+DI] or MOV AX, [BX+DI+4].
• These instructions load AX from a data segment memory location. The first
instruction uses an address formed by adding ARRAY, BX, and DI and the second by
adding BX, DI, and 4.
Program Memory Addressing Modes
• Program memory-addressing modes, used with the JMP (jump) and
CALL instructions, consist of three distinct forms:
• direct,
• relative,
• and indirect.
• This section introduces these three addressing forms, using the JMP
instruction to illustrate their operation.
Direct Program Memory Addressing
• Direct program memory addressing is what many early microprocessors
used for all jumps and calls.
• Direct program memory addressing is also used in high-level languages,
such as the GOTO instruction.
• The microprocessor uses this form of addressing, but not as often as
relative and indirect program memory addressing are used.
• The instructions for direct program memory addressing store the address
with the opcode. For example, if a program jumps to memory location
10000H for the next instruction, the address (10000H) is stored following
the opcode in the memory.
• Figure shows the direct intersegment JMP instruction and the 4 bytes required to
store the address 10000H.
• This JMP instruction loads CS with 1000H and IP with 0000H to jump to memory
location 10000H for the next instruction.

• An intersegment jump is a jump to any memory location within the

entire memory system.) The direct jump is often called a far jump
because it can jump to any memory location for the next instruction.
Relative Program Memory Addressing
• Relative program memory addressing is not available in all early
microprocessors, but it is available to this family of microprocessors.
The term relative means “relative to the instruction pointer (IP)”.
• For example, if a JMP instruction skips the next 2 bytes of memory,
the address in relation to the instruction pointer is a 2 that adds to
the instruction pointer. This develops the address of the next program
instruction.
• An example of the relative JMP instruction is shown below.

• Note that the JMP instruction is a 1-byte instruction, with a 1-byte or

a 2-byte displacement that adds to the instruction pointer. A 1-byte
displacement is used in short jumps, and a 2-byte displacement is
used with near jumps and calls. Both types are considered to be
intrasegment jumps.
• An intrasegment jump is a jump anywhere within the current code
segment.
Indirect Program Memory Addressing
• The microprocessor allows several forms of program indirect memory
addressing for the JMP and CALL instructions.
Stack Memory Addressing Modes
• The stack plays an important role in all microprocessors. It holds data
temporarily and stores the return addresses used by procedures. The
stack memory is an LIFO (last-in, first-out) memory, which describes the
way that data are stored and removed from the stack.
• Data are placed onto the stack with a PUSH instruction and removed with
a POP instruction.
• The CALL instruction also uses the stack to hold the return address for
procedures and a RET (return) instruction to remove the return address
from the stack.
• The stack memory is maintained by two registers: the stack pointer (SP)
and the stack segment register (SS). Whenever a word of data is pushed
onto the stack, the high-order 8 bits are placed in the location addressed
by SP – 1. The low-order 8 bits are placed in the location addressed by SP
– 2. The SP is then decremented by 2 so that the next word of data is
stored in the next available stack memory location.

• The SP register always points to an area of memory located within the

stack segment. The SP register adds to SS x 10h to form the stack memory
address in the real mode.
• Whenever data are popped from the stack, the low-order 8 bits are
removed from the location addressed by SP. The high-order 8 bits are
removed from the location addressed by SP+1. The SP register is then
incremented by 2.

• Note that PUSH and POP store or retrieve words of data—never

bytes—in the 8086 microprocessors.
• Data may be popped off the stack into any register or any segment
register except CS. The reason that data may not be popped from the
stack into CS is that this only changes part of the address of the next
instruction.
• Example Swap operation using stack
mov ax, 1000h
mov bx, 2000h
push ax; 1000h to stack
push bx; 2000h to stack
pop ax; 2000h to ax
pop bx; 1000h to bx