University

 of  Washington  

Condi3onals  and  Control  Flow  

l A  condi3onal  branch  is  sufficient  to  implement  most  control  
flow  constructs  offered  in  higher  level  languages  
l if  (condi)on)  then  {...}  else  {…}  
l while  (condi)on)  {…}  
l do  {…}  while  (condi)on)  
l for  (ini)aliza)on;  condi)on;  itera)ve)  {...}  
 
l Uncondi3onal  branches  implement  some  related  control  flow  
constructs  
l break,  con)nue  

l In  x86,  we’ll  refer  to  branches  as  “jumps”  (either  condi3onal  

or  uncondi3onal)  

x86  
 University  of  Washington  

Jumping  
¢ jX  Instruc3ons  
§ Jump  to  different  part  of  code  depending  on  condi)on  codes  

jX   Condi3on   Descrip3on  

jmp 1 Uncondi3onal  
je ZF Equal  /  Zero  
jne ~ZF Not  Equal  /  Not  Zero  
js SF Nega3ve  
jns ~SF Nonnega3ve  
jg ~(SF^OF)&~ZF Greater  (Signed)  
jge ~(SF^OF) Greater  or  Equal  (Signed)  
jl (SF^OF) Less  (Signed)  
jle (SF^OF)|ZF Less  or  Equal  (Signed)  
ja ~CF&~ZF Above  (unsigned)  
jb CF Below  (unsigned)  

x86  
 University  of  Washington  

Processor  State  (IA32,  Par3al)  

¢ Informa3on  about   %eax
currently  execu3ng   %ecx
program  
%edx General  purpose  
§ Temporary  data   registers  
(  %eax,  …)   %ebx
§ Loca)on  of  run)me   %esi
stack   %edi
(  %ebp,%esp)  
%esp Current  stack  top  
§ Loca)on  of  current  
code  control  point   %ebp Current  stack  frame  
(  %eip  )  
§ Status  of  recent  tests   %eip Instruc3on  pointer  
(  CF,ZF,SF,OF  )  
CF ZF SF OF Condi3on  codes  
x86  
 University  of  Washington  

Condi3on  Codes  (Implicit  Se[ng)  

¢ Single-­‐bit  registers  
CF    Carry  Flag  (for  unsigned)  SF    Sign  Flag  (for  signed)  
ZF    Zero  Flag    OF    Overflow  Flag  (for  signed)  
¢ Implicitly  set  (think  of  it  as  side  effect)  by  arithme3c  opera3ons
 Example: addl/addq Src,Dest    ↔ t = a+b
§ CF  set  if  carry  out  from  most  significant  bit  (unsigned  overflow)  
§ ZF  set  if  t == 0  
§ SF  set  if  t < 0 (as  signed)  
§ OF  set  if  two’s  complement  (signed)  overflow  
(a>0 && b>0 && t<0) || (a<0 && b<0 && t>=0)  
¢ Not  set  by  lea  instruc3on  (beware!)  
¢ Full  documenta3on  (IA32):  h`p://www.jegerlehner.ch/intel/IntelCodeTable.pdf  

x86  
 University  of  Washington  

Condi3on  Codes  (Explicit  Se[ng:  Compare)  

¢ Single-­‐bit  registers  
CF    Carry  Flag  (for  unsigned)  SF    Sign  Flag  (for  signed)  
ZF    Zero  Flag    OF    Overflow  Flag  (for  signed)  
¢ Explicit  Se[ng  by  Compare  Instruc3on  
cmpl/cmpq Src2,Src1
   cmpl b,a like  compu)ng a-b  without  seRng  des)na)on  
§ CF  set  if  carry  out  from  most  significant  bit  (used  for  unsigned  comparisons)  
§ ZF  set  if  a == b  
§ SF  set  if  (a-b) < 0 (as  signed)  
§ OF  set  if  two’s  complement  (signed)  overflow  
(a>0 && b<0 && (a-b)<0) || (a<0 && b>0 && (a-b)>0)

x86  
 University  of  Washington  

Condi3on  Codes  (Explicit  Se[ng:  Test)  

¢ Single-­‐bit  registers  
CF    Carry  Flag  (for  unsigned)  SF    Sign  Flag  (for  signed)  
ZF    Zero  Flag    OF    Overflow  Flag  (for  signed)  
¢ Explicit  Se[ng  by  Test  instruc3on  
testl/testq Src2,Src1  
testl b,a like  compu)ng a & b without  seRng  des)na)on    
§ Sets  condi)on  codes  based  on  value  of  Src1  &  Src2  
§ Useful  to  have  one  of  the  operands  be  a  mask  
§ ZF  set  if  a&b == 0
§ SF  set  if  a&b < 0

§ testl %eax, %eax

§ Sets  SF  and  ZF,  check  if  eax  is  +,0,-­‐  

x86  
 University  of  Washington  

Reading  Condi3on  Codes  

¢ SetX  Instruc3ons  
§ Set  a  single  byte  to  0  or  1  based  on  combina)ons  of  condi)on  codes  

SetX Condi3on Descrip3on

sete ZF Equal  /  Zero
setne ~ZF Not  Equal  /  Not  Zero
sets SF Nega3ve
setns ~SF Nonnega3ve
setg ~(SF^OF)&~ZF Greater  (Signed)
setge ~(SF^OF) Greater  or  Equal  (Signed)
setl (SF^OF) Less  (Signed)
setle (SF^OF)|ZF Less  or  Equal  (Signed)
seta ~CF&~ZF Above  (unsigned)
setb CF Below  (unsigned)

x86  
 University  of  Washington  

Reading  Condi3on  Codes  (Cont.)  

¢ SetX  Instruc3ons:     %eax %ah %al
Set  single  byte  to  0  or  1  based  on  combina)on  of  
condi)on  codes   %ecx %ch %cl

¢ One  of  8  addressable  byte  registers   %edx %dh %dl

§ Does  not  alter  remaining  3  bytes   %ebx %bh %bl
§ Typically  use  movzbl  to  finish  job   %esi
int gt (int x, int y) %edi
{
return x > y; %esp
} %ebp

Body:  y  at  12(%ebp),  x  at  8(%ebp)  

movl 12(%ebp),%eax # eax = y
cmpl %eax,8(%ebp) What  does  
# Compare x :each  
y of  
setg %al #these  
al = instruc3ons  
x > y do?  
movzbl %al,%eax # Zero rest of %eax
x86  
 University  of  Washington  

Reading  Condi3on  Codes  (Cont.)  

¢ SetX  Instruc3ons:     %eax %ah %al
Set  single  byte  to  0  or  1  based  on  combina)on  of  
condi)on  codes   %ecx %ch %cl

¢ One  of  8  addressable  byte  registers   %edx %dh %dl

§ Does  not  alter  remaining  3  bytes   %ebx %bh %bl
§ Typically  use  movzbl  to  finish  job   %esi
int gt (int x, int y) %edi
{
return x > y; %esp
} %ebp

Body:  y  at  12(%ebp),  x  at  8(%ebp)  

movl 12(%ebp),%eax # eax = y
cmpl %eax,8(%ebp) # Compare x and y (x  –  y)  
setg %al # al = x > y
movzbl %al,%eax # Zero rest of %eax
x86