Shift and Rotate Instructions: Sahar Mosleh California State University San Marcos 1

Shift and
Rotate Instructions
Sahar Mosleh California State University San Marcos Page 1

• Along with the bitwise instructions, from the previous lectures,
shift instructions are among the most characteristic of assembly
language.
• Shift means to move bits right and left inside an operand.
• All the following instructions affect the overflow and the carry
flag.
SHL Shift left
SHR Shift right
SAL Shift arithmetic left
SAR Shift arithmetic right
ROL Rotate left
ROR Rotate right
RCL Rotate carry left
RCR Rotate carry right
SHLD double precision shift left
SHRD double precision shift right
Logical Shift vs Arithmetic Shift
• There are two basic ways to shift the bits in a number.
• The first called a logical shift, fills the newly created bit position
with Zero.
• In the following diagram, a byte is logically shifted one position
to the right.
• Note that bit 7 is assigned 0
0
CF
• For example, if we do a single logical right shift on the binary

value 11001111, it becomes 01100111

• The other type of shift is called an arithmetic shift.
• The newly created bit position is filled with a copy of the original
numbers sign bit.
CF
• For example, the binary value 11001111, has a 1 in the sign bit.
• When shifted, arithmetically 1 bit to the right, it becomes

11100111.

SHL Instruction
• The SHL instruction performs a logical left shift on the destination
operand, filling the lowest bit with 0.
• The highest bit is moved to the carry flag, and the bit that was in
the carry flag is lost.
CF
• The first operand is the destination and the second is shift count.
SHL destination, count
• The following lists the types of operands permitted by this

instruction
SHL reg, imm8
SHL mem, imm8
Example
• In the following instructions, BL is shifted once to the left. The

highest bit is copied into the carry flag and the lowest bit position
is cleared.
mov bl, 8FH ; BL = 10001111b

Shl b1, 1 ; BL = 00011110b, CF = 1

Fast Multiplication
• One of the best uses of SHL is for performing high-speed
multiplication by powers of 2.
• Shifting any operand by n bits multiplies the operand by 2^n.
• For example, shifting 5 left 1 bit yields the product 5*2

mov dl, 5
shl d1, 1
Before 00000101 = 5
After 00001010 = 10
• If we shift 10 by 2 bits, the result is the same as multiplying 10
by 2^2.
mov dl, 10
SHL d1, 2 ; ( 10 * 4) = 40
SHR Instruction
• The SHR instruction performs a logical right shift on the
destination operand, filling the highest bit with 0.
• The lowest bit is moved to the carry flag, and the bit that was in
the carry flag is lost.
0
CF
• SHR uses the same instruction format as SHL.

• In the following example, the 0 from the lowest bit in AL is
copied into the carry flag, and the highest bit in AL is cleared.
mov al, 0D0h ; AL = 11010000b

shr al, 1 ; AL = 01101000b
Fast Division
• Logically shifting any unsigned operand right by n bits divides the
operand by 2^n.
• For example, we divide 32 by 2^1, producing 16

mov dl, 32
shr dl, 1
Before 00100000 = 32
After 00010000 = 16
• In the following example, 64 is divided by 2^3.

mov al, 01000000b ; AL = 64
shr al, 3 ; divide by 8, al = 00001000b
• Division of signed numbers by shifting is accomplished using SAR
instruction because it preserves the number’s sign bit.
SAL and SAR instructions
• SAL (Shift Arithmetic Left) is identical to SHL instruction.
• The SAR (Shift Arithmetic Right) instruction performs a right
arithmetic shift on its destination operand.
CF
• The syntax and operands for SHR and SAR are identical to those
for SHL and SHR.
• The shift may be repeated, based on the counter in the second

operand.
SAR destination, count

Example
• The following example, shows how SAR duplicates the sign bit
al is negative before and after it is shifted to the right.
mov al, 0F0h ; al = 11110000b (-16)

sar al, 1 ; al = 11111000b (-8) CF = 0
• Signed Division: You can divide a signed operand by a power of 2

using the SAR instruction.
• In the following example, -128 is divided by 2^3. The quotient is -16
mov dl, -128 ; dl = 10000000b

sar dl, 3 ; dl = 11110000b

ROL Instruction
• The ROL (rotate left instruction) shifts each bit to the left.
• Also, the highest bit is copied both into the carry flag and into the
lowest bit.
• The instruction format is the same as for the SHL instruction
CF
• Bit rotation differs from bit shifting in that the former does not
lose any bits.
• A bit that is rotated of one end of a number appears again at the

other end.
• In the following example, the high bit is copied into both the carry
flag and bit position zero
mov al, 40h ; AL = 01000000b

rol al, 1 ; AL = 10000000b ; CF = 0
rol al, 1 ; AL = 00000001b; CF = 1
rol al, 1 ; AL = 00000010b; CF = 0
• You can use ROL to exchange the upper (4-7 bit) and lower
(bits 0-3) halves of the byte.
mov al, 26h

rol al, 4 ; AL = 62h

ROR Instruction
• The ROR instruction shifts each bit to the right. Also the lowest
bit is copied into the flag and into the highest bit at the same time
• The instruction format is the same as for SHL
CF
• In the following example, the lowest bit is copied into the carry
flag and into the highest bit of the result
mov al, 01h ; AL = 00000001b

ror al, 1 ; AL = 10000000b, CF = 1
ror al, 1 ; AL = 01000000b, CF = 0

RCL and RCR instructions
• The RCL (Rotate Carry left) instruction shifts each bit to the left
copies the carry flag to least significant bit (LSB), and copies the
most significant bit (MSB) into the carry flag.
CF
• If you think of the carry flag as just an extra bit added to the high
end of the number, then RCL becomes a simple rotate left
operation.

• In the following example, the CLC instruction clears the carry
flag.
• The first RCL instruction moves the high bit of bl into the carry
flag and shifts all other bits to the left
• The second RCL instruction moves the carry flag into the lowest
bit position
CLC ; CF = 0
mov bl, 88h ; CF, BL = 0 10001000b
rcl bl, 1 ; CF, BL = 1 00010000b
rcl b1, 1 ; CF, BL = 0 00100001b

Recover a bit from the carry flag
• RCL can recover a bit that has previously been shifted into the
carry flag.
• The following example, checks the lowest bit of testval by

shifting its lowest bit into the carry flag.
• Then RCL restores the number to its original value.
.data
testval byte 01101010b
.code
shr testval, 1 ; shift LSB into the carry flag
jc quit ; exit if carry flag set
rcl testval, 1 ; else restore the number

RCR Instruction
• The RCR (Rotate Carry Right) instruction shifts each bit to the
right, copies the right flag into the most significant bit, and
copies the least significant bit into the carry flag.
CF
• As in the case of RCL, it helps to visualize the integer in this

figure as a 9-bit value, with the carry flag to the right of the least
significant bit

• In the following example, STC sets the carry flag before rotating
the carry flag into the MSB, and rotating the LSB into the carry
flag.
STC ; CF = 1
mov ah, 10h ; CF, Ah = 00010000 1
rcr ah, 1 ; CF, Ah = 10001000 0

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Shift and

Sahar Mosleh California State University San Marcos Page 1

• Shift means to move bits right and left inside an operand.

• For example, if we do a single logical right shift on the binary

Sahar Mosleh California State University San Marcos Page 3

• When shifted, arithmetically 1 bit to the right, it becomes

Sahar Mosleh California State University San Marcos Page 4

• The following lists the types of operands permitted by this

• In the following instructions, BL is shifted once to the left. The

mov bl, 8FH ; BL = 10001111b

Sahar Mosleh California State University San Marcos Page 6

• For example, shifting 5 left 1 bit yields the product 5*2

• SHR uses the same instruction format as SHL.

mov al, 0D0h ; AL = 11010000b

• For example, we divide 32 by 2^1, producing 16

• In the following example, 64 is divided by 2^3.

• The shift may be repeated, based on the counter in the second

SAR destination, count

Sahar Mosleh California State University San Marcos Page 10

mov al, 0F0h ; al = 11110000b (-16)

• Signed Division: You can divide a signed operand by a power of 2

• In the following example, -128 is divided by 2^3. The quotient is -16

mov dl, -128 ; dl = 10000000b

Sahar Mosleh California State University San Marcos Page 11

• The instruction format is the same as for the SHL instruction

• A bit that is rotated of one end of a number appears again at the

mov al, 40h ; AL = 01000000b

mov al, 26h

Sahar Mosleh California State University San Marcos Page 13

• The instruction format is the same as for SHL

mov al, 01h ; AL = 00000001b

Sahar Mosleh California State University San Marcos Page 14

Sahar Mosleh California State University San Marcos Page 15

Sahar Mosleh California State University San Marcos Page 16

• The following example, checks the lowest bit of testval by

• Then RCL restores the number to its original value.

Sahar Mosleh California State University San Marcos Page 17

• As in the case of RCL, it helps to visualize the integer in this

Sahar Mosleh California State University San Marcos Page 18

Sahar Mosleh California State University San Marcos Page 19

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