AAD--ASCII Adjust AX Before Division

Description

Adjusts two unpacked BCD digits (the least-significant digit in the AL register and the most-significant digit in the AH register) so that a division operation performed on the result will yield a correct unpacked BCD value. The AAD instruction is only useful when it precedes a DIV instruction that divides (binary division) the adjusted value in the AX register by an unpacked BCD value.

The AAD instruction sets the value in the AL register to (AL + (10 * AH)), and then clears the AH register to 00H. The value in the AX register is then equal to the binary equivalent of the original unpacked two-digit (base 10) number in registers AH and AL.

The generalized version of this instruction allows adjustment of two unpacked digits of any number base (see the "Operation" section below), by setting the imm8 byte to the selected number base (for example, 08H for octal, 0AH for decimal, or 0CH for base 12 numbers). The AAD mnemonic is interpreted by all assemblers to mean adjust ASCII (base 10) values. To adjust values in another number base, the instruction must be hand coded in machine code (D5 imm8).

Operation

tempAL AL;
tempAH AH;
AL (tempAL + (tempAH * imm8)) AND FFH; (* imm8 is set to 0AH for the AAD mnemonic *)
AH 0

The immediate value (imm8) is taken from the second byte of the instruction.

Flags Affected

The SF, ZF, and PF flags are set according to the result; the OF, AF, and CF flags are undefined.

Exceptions (All Operating Modes)

None.

For details, see Volume 2A and Volume 2B of the Intel(R) 64 and IA-32 Intel Architecture Software Developer's Manual. For the latest updates on the instruction set information, go to the web site.