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The difference between mov and movl instruction in X86? and I meet some trouble when reading assembly [duplicate]

Recently, I read some books about computer science. I wrote some C code, and disassembled them, using gcc and objdump.

The following C code:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdbool.h>

int dojob()
{
    static short num[ ][4] = { {2, 9, -1, 5},   {3, 8, 2, -6}};
    static short *pn[ ] = {num[0], num[1]};
    static short s[2] = {0, 0};
    int i, j;

    for (i=0; i<2; i++) {
        for (j=0; j<4; j++){
            s[i] += *pn[i]++;
        }
        printf ("sum of line %d: %d\n", i+1, s[i]);
    }

    return 0;
}

int main ( )
{
    dojob();
}

got the following assembly code (AT&T syntex; only assembly of function dojob and some data is list):

00401350 <_dojob>:
  401350:   55                      push   %ebp
  401351:   89 e5                   mov    %esp,%ebp
  401353:   83 ec 28                sub    $0x28,%esp
  401356:   c7 45 f4 00 00 00 00    movl   $0x0,-0xc(%ebp)
  40135d:   eb 75                   jmp    4013d4 <_dojob+0x84>
  40135f:   c7 45 f0 00 00 00 00    movl   $0x0,-0x10(%ebp)
  401366:   eb 3c                   jmp    4013a4 <_dojob+0x54>
  401368:   8b 45 f4                mov    -0xc(%ebp),%eax
  40136b:   8b 04 85 00 20 40 00    mov    0x402000(,%eax,4),%eax
  401372:   8d 48 02                lea    0x2(%eax),%ecx
  401375:   8b 55 f4                mov    -0xc(%ebp),%edx
  401378:   89 0c 95 00 20 40 00    mov    %ecx,0x402000(,%edx,4)
  40137f:   0f b7 10                movzwl (%eax),%edx
  401382:   8b 45 f4                mov    -0xc(%ebp),%eax
  401385:   0f b7 84 00 08 50 40    movzwl 0x405008(%eax,%eax,1),%eax
  40138c:   00 
  40138d:   89 c1                   mov    %eax,%ecx
  40138f:   89 d0                   mov    %edx,%eax
  401391:   01 c8                   add    %ecx,%eax
  401393:   89 c2                   mov    %eax,%edx
  401395:   8b 45 f4                mov    -0xc(%ebp),%eax
  401398:   66 89 94 00 08 50 40    mov    %dx,0x405008(%eax,%eax,1)
  40139f:   00 
  4013a0:   83 45 f0 01             addl   $0x1,-0x10(%ebp)
  4013a4:   83 7d f0 03             cmpl   $0x3,-0x10(%ebp)
  4013a8:   7e be                   jle    401368 <_dojob+0x18>
  4013aa:   8b 45 f4                mov    -0xc(%ebp),%eax
  4013ad:   0f b7 84 00 08 50 40    movzwl 0x405008(%eax,%eax,1),%eax
  4013b4:   00 
  4013b5:   98                      cwtl   
  4013b6:   8b 55 f4                mov    -0xc(%ebp),%edx
  4013b9:   83 c2 01                add    $0x1,%edx
  4013bc:   89 44 24 08             mov    %eax,0x8(%esp)
  4013c0:   89 54 24 04             mov    %edx,0x4(%esp)
  4013c4:   c7 04 24 24 30 40 00    movl   $0x403024,(%esp)
  4013cb:   e8 50 08 00 00          call   401c20 <_printf>
  4013d0:   83 45 f4 01             addl   $0x1,-0xc(%ebp)
  4013d4:   83 7d f4 01             cmpl   $0x1,-0xc(%ebp)
  4013d8:   7e 85                   jle    40135f <_dojob+0xf>
  4013da:   b8 00 00 00 00          mov    $0x0,%eax
  4013df:   c9                      leave  
  4013e0:   c3                      ret    


Disassembly of section .data:

00402000 <__data_start__>:
  402000:   08 20                   or     %ah,(%eax)
  402002:   40                      inc    %eax
  402003:   00 10                   add    %dl,(%eax)
  402005:   20 40 00                and    %al,0x0(%eax)


Disassembly of section .bss:

...

00405008 <_s.1927>:
  405008:   00 00                   add    %al,(%eax)
    ...

I have two questions:

  1. I don't understand the difference between mov and movl instruction? Why the compiler generate mov for some code, and movl for others?

  2. I completely understand the meaning of the C code, but not the assembly that the compiler generated. Who can make some comments for it for me to understand? I will thank a lot.

like image 720
Ding Xin Avatar asked Jun 05 '18 07:06

Ding Xin


People also ask

What is the difference between mov and LEA instruction?

MOV computes an address, using x86's rather rich set of addressing modes, and then either reads or writes the data at that address. LEA computes an address by the same means, and then stores the address itself in the target register.

What is mov instruction x86?

The mov instruction copies the data item referred to by its second operand (i.e. register contents, memory contents, or a constant value) into the location referred to by its first operand (i.e. a register or memory).

What is Movl instruction?

movl (%ebx, %esi, 4), %eax. Multiply the contents of number register %esi by 4 and add the result to the contents of number register %ebx to produce a memory reference. Move the contents of this memory location into number register %eax.

What is the difference between mov and Movl?

movl is a mov with operand size 32, objdump leaves out the l suffix if the operand size is clear from the operands.


1 Answers

The MOVL instruction was generated because you put two int (i and j variables), MOVL will perform a MOV of 32 bits, and integer' size is 32 bits.

a non exhaustive list of all MOV* exist (like MOVD for doubleword or MOVQ for quadword) to allow to optimize your code and use the better expression to gain most time as possible.

PS: may be the -M intel objdump's argument can help you to have a better comprehension of the disassembly, a lot of man on the Intel syntax can may be find easily.

like image 62
Volonté du Peuple Avatar answered Oct 08 '22 17:10

Volonté du Peuple