As Figure 2-5 shows, the low-order word of each of these eight registers has a separate name and can be treated as a unit. This feature is useful for handling 16-bit data items and for compatibility with the 8086 and 80286 processors. The word registers are named AX, BX, CX, DX, BP, SP, SI, and DI.
Figure 2-5 also illustrates that each byte of the 16-bit registers AX, BX, CX, and DX has a separate name and can be treated as a unit. This feature is useful for handling characters and other 8-bit data items. The byte registers are named AH, BH, CH, and DH (high bytes); and AL, BL, CL, and DL (low bytes).
All of the general-purpose registers are available for addressing calculations and for the results of most arithmetic and logical calculations; however, a few functions are dedicated to certain registers. By implicitly choosing registers for these functions, the 80386 architecture can encode instructions more compactly. The instructions that use specific registers include: double-precision multiply and divide, I/O, string instructions, translate, loop, variable shift and rotate, and stack operations.
Complete programs generally consist of many different modules, each consisting of instructions and data. However, at any given time during program execution, only a small subset of a program's modules are actually in use. The 80386 architecture takes advantage of this by providing mechanisms to support direct access to the instructions and data of the current module's environment, with access to additional segments on demand.
At any given instant, six segments of memory may be immediately accessible to an executing 80386 program. The segment registers CS, DS, SS, ES, FS, and GS are used to identify these six current segments. Each of these registers specifies a particular kind of segment, as characterized by the associated mnemonics ("code," "data," or "stack") shown in Figure 2-6 . Each register uniquely determines one particular segment, from among the segments that make up the program, that is to be immediately accessible at highest speed.
The segment containing the currently executing sequence of instructions is known as the current code segment; it is specified by means of the CS register. The 80386 fetches all instructions from this code segment, using as an offset the contents of the instruction pointer. CS is changed implicitly as the result of intersegment control-transfer instructions (for example, CALL and JMP), interrupts, and exceptions.
Subroutine calls, parameters, and procedure activation records usually require that a region of memory be allocated for a stack. All stack operations use the SS register to locate the stack. Unlike CS, the SS register can be loaded explicitly, thereby permitting programmers to define stacks dynamically.
The DS, ES, FS, and GS registers allow the specification of four data segments, each addressable by the currently executing program. Accessibility to four separate data areas helps programs efficiently access different types of data structures; for example, one data segment register can point to the data structures of the current module, another to the exported data of a higher-level module, another to a dynamically created data structure, and another to data shared with another task. An operand within a data segment is addressed by specifying its offset either directly in an instruction or indirectly via general registers.
Depending on the structure of data (e.g., the way data is parceled into one or more segments), a program may require access to more than four data segments. To access additional segments, the DS, ES, FS, and GS registers can be changed under program control during the course of a program's execution. This simply requires that the program execute an instruction to load the appropriate segment register prior to executing instructions that access the data.
The processor associates a base address with each segment selected by a segment register. To address an element within a segment, a 32-bit offset is added to the segment's base address. Once a segment is selected (by loading the segment selector into a segment register), a data manipulation instruction only needs to specify the offset. Simple rules define which segment register is used to form an address when only an offset is specified.
The low-order 16 bits of EFLAGS is named FLAGS and can be treated as a
unit. This feature is useful when executing 8086 and 80286 code, because
this part of EFLAGS is identical to the FLAGS register of the 8086 and the
80286.
The flags may be considered in three groups: the status flags, the control
flags, and the systems flags. Discussion of the systems flags is delayed
until Part II.
As
Figure 2-9
shows, the low-order 16 bits of EIP is named IP and can be
used by the processor as a unit. This feature is useful when executing
instructions designed for the 8086 and 80286 processors.
up:
Chapter 2 -- Basic Programming Model
2.3.3 Stack Implementation
Stack operations are facilitated by three registers:
2.3.4 Flags Register
The flags register is a 32-bit register named EFLAGS.
Figure 2-8
defines
the bits within this register. The flags control certain operations and
indicate the status of the 80386.
2.3.4.1 Status Flags
The status flags of the EFLAGS register allow the results of one
instruction to influence later instructions. The arithmetic instructions use
OF, SF, ZF, AF, PF, and CF. The SCAS (Scan String), CMPS (Compare String),
and LOOP instructions use ZF to signal that their operations are complete.
There are instructions to set, clear, and complement CF before execution of
an arithmetic instruction. Refer to Appendix C for definition of each
status flag.
2.3.4.2 Control Flag
The control flag DF of the EFLAGS register controls string instructions.
DF (Direction Flag, bit 10)
Setting DF causes string instructions to auto-decrement; that is, to
process strings from high addresses to low addresses. Clearing DF causes
string instructions to auto-increment, or to process strings from low
addresses to high addresses.
2.3.4.3 Instruction Pointer
The instruction pointer register (EIP) contains the offset address,
relative to the start of the current code segment, of the next sequential
instruction to be executed. The instruction pointer is not directly visible
to the programmer; it is controlled implicitly by control-transfer
instructions, interrupts, and exceptions.
prev: 2.2 Data Types
next: 2.4 Instruction Format