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3.10 Segment Register Instructions

This category actually includes several distinct types of instructions. These various types are grouped together here because, if systems designers choose an unsegmented model of memory organization, none of these instructions is used by applications programmers. The instructions that deal with segment registers are:
  1. Segment-register transfer instructions.
  2. Control transfers to another executable segment.
  3. Data pointer instructions.
Note that the following interrupt-related instructions are different; all are capable of transferring control to another segment, but the use of segmentation is not apparent to the applications programmer.

3.10.1 Segment-Register Transfer Instructions

The MOV, POP, and PUSH instructions also serve to load and store segment registers. These variants operate similarly to their general-register counterparts except that one operand can be a segment register. MOV cannot move segment register to a segment register. Neither POP nor MOV can place a value in the code-segment register CS; only the far control-transfer instructions can change CS.

3.10.2 Far Control Transfer Instructions

The far control-transfer instructions transfer control to a location in another segment by changing the content of the CS register.

Direct far JMP. Direct JMP instructions that specify a target location outside the current code segment contain a far pointer. This pointer consists of a selector for the new code segment and an offset within the new segment.

Indirect far JMP. Indirect JMP instructions that specify a target location outside the current code segment use a 48-bit variable to specify the far pointer.

Far CALL. An intersegment CALL places both the value of EIP and CS on the stack.

Far RET. An intersegment RET restores the values of both CS and EIP which were saved on the stack by the previous intersegment CALL instruction.

3.10.3 Data Pointer Instructions

The data pointer instructions load a pointer (consisting of a segment selector and an offset) to a segment register and a general register.

LDS (Load Pointer Using DS) transfers a pointer variable from the source operand to DS and the destination register. The source operand must be a memory operand, and the destination operand must be a general register. DS receives the segment-selector of the pointer. The destination register receives the offset part of the pointer, which points to a specific location within the segment. Example: 

LDS ESI, STRING_X
Loads DS with the selector identifying the segment pointed to by a STRING_X, and loads the offset of STRING_X into ESI. Specifying ESI as the destination operand is a convenient way to prepare for a string operation on a source string that is not in the current data segment.

LES (Load Pointer Using ES) operates identically to LDS except that ES receives the segment selector rather than DS. Example: 

LES EDI, DESTINATION_X
Loads ES with the selector identifying the segment pointed to by DESTINATION_X, and loads the offset of DESTINATION_X into EDI. This instruction provides a convenient way to select a destination for a string operation if the desired location is not in the current extra segment.

LFS (Load Pointer Using FS) operates identically to LDS except that FS receives the segment selector rather than DS.

LGS (Load Pointer Using GS) operates identically to LDS except that GS receives the segment selector rather than DS.

LSS (Load Pointer Using SS) operates identically to LDS except that SS receives the segment selector rather than DS. This instruction is especially important, because it allows the two registers that identify the stack (SS:ESP) to be changed in one uninterruptible operation. Unlike the other instructions which load SS, interrupts are not inhibited at the end of the LSS instruction. The other instructions (e.g., POP SS) inhibit interrupts to permit the following instruction to load ESP, thereby forming an indivisible load of SS:ESP. Since both SS and ESP can be loaded by LSS, there is no need to inhibit interrupts.

up: Chapter 3 -- Applications Instruction Set
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next: 3.11 Miscellaneous Instructions