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NASM Linux Assembly Printing Integers

I am trying to print a single digit integer in nasm assembly on linux. What I currently have compiles fine, but nothing is being written to the screen. Can anyone explain to me what I am doing wrong here?

section .text
    global _start

_start:
    mov ecx, 1          ; stores 1 in rcx
    add edx, ecx        ; stores ecx in edx
    add edx, 30h        ; gets the ascii value in edx
    mov ecx, edx        ; ascii value is now in ecx
    jmp write           ; jumps to write


write:
    mov eax, ecx        ; moves ecx to eax for writing
    mov eax, 4          ; sys call for write
    mov ebx, 1          ; stdout

    int 80h             ; call kernel
    mov eax,1           ; system exit
    mov ebx,0           ; exit 0
    int 80h             ; call the kernel again 
like image 254
finfet Avatar asked Aug 01 '11 19:08

finfet


3 Answers

This is adding, not storing:

add edx, ecx        ; stores ecx in edx

This copies ecx to eax and then overwrites it with 4:

mov eax, ecx        ; moves ecx to eax for writing
mov eax, 4          ; sys call for write

EDIT:

For a 'write' system call:

eax = 4
ebx = file descriptor (1 = screen)
ecx = address of string
edx = length of string
like image 174
MRAB Avatar answered Nov 14 '22 10:11

MRAB


After reviewing the other two answers this is what I finally came up with.

sys_exit        equ     1
sys_write       equ     4
stdout          equ     1

section .bss
    outputBuffer    resb    4       

section .text
    global _start

_start:
    mov  ecx, 1                 ; Number 1
    add  ecx, 0x30              ; Add 30 hex for ascii
    mov  [outputBuffer], ecx    ; Save number in buffer
    mov  ecx, outputBuffer      ; Store address of outputBuffer in ecx

    mov  eax, sys_write         ; sys_write
    mov  ebx, stdout            ; to STDOUT
    mov  edx, 1                 ; length = one byte
    int  0x80                   ; Call the kernel

    mov eax, sys_exit           ; system exit
    mov ebx, 0                  ; exit 0
    int 0x80                    ; call the kernel again
like image 7
Dave Albert Avatar answered Nov 14 '22 11:11

Dave Albert


From man 2 write

ssize_t write(int fd, const void *buf, size_t count);

In addition to the other errors that have been pointed out, write() takes a pointer to the data and a length, not an actual byte itself in a register as you are trying to provide.

So you will have to store your data from a register to memory and use that address (or if it's constant as it currently is, don't load the data into a register but load its address instead).

like image 2
Chris Stratton Avatar answered Nov 14 '22 12:11

Chris Stratton