Addressing Modes

Addressing modes specify the way in which the address of the

operand is given in the instruction. Addressing mode gives the
flexibility of writing programs.
Opcode Operand
eg MVI B, 05 : Here MVI (Move Immediate) is the opcode part
and the rest is the operand part.
MOV A , B : Here MOV is the opcode part and the rest is the
operand part.
ADD B : Here ADD is the opcode part and the rest is the
operand part.
The following are the various addressing modes used very
commonly.
Immediate Addressing Mode
Direct Addressing Mode
Indirect Addressing Mode
Displacement Addressing Mode
Auto increment / Auto Decrement Addressing Mode
Scaled Addressing Mode

Immediate Addressing Mode

InImmediate Addressing mode the operand itself is present in the

instruction. It is generally used for accessing constants.
eg MVI B , 05
The advantage of Immediate Addressing mode is that no extra
memory reference needed since the value of the operand is given
itself in the instruction. So Immediate Addressing mode is the
fastest addressing mode.

Direct Addressing Mode

The format of Direct Addressing Mode is : Opcode
Effective_Address_of_Operand
In Direct Addressing mode the effective address of the operand is
given directly in the instruction. So it require one extra memory
reference to access the operand. The direct addressing mode is slow
compared to immediate addressing mode. It is generally used to
access static variables.

Indirect Addressing Mode

The format of Indirect Addressing Mode is : Opcode
Reference_to_Effective_Address_of_Operand
In Indirect addressing mode the reference for effective address of
the operand is given in the instruction .In indirect addressing mode
the operand part tells where the effective address of the operand is
stored in memory.It is the slowest addressing mode. It is generally
used for accessing local variables(eg: Arrays,Pointers)
The indirection in Indirect Addressing mode can be of varied level,

For example Single Indirection,Double indirection etc.

Single Indirection : The format is Opcode
Reference_to_Effective_Address_of_Operand
Double Indirection: The format is Opcode
Reference_to_Reference_to_Effective_Address_of_Operand

Displacement Addressing Mode

In Displacement addressing mode the Effective address of the
operand is given by
Effective Address = Implicit Processor Register + Displacement
The following addressing modes comes in the category of
Displacement Addressing mode.
Base Addressing mode
Index Addressing mode
Relative Addressing mode
Relative Base Addressing mode
Base Addressing mode : Base addressing mode is used in
relocatable programs. Effective Address =Base Register +
Displacement
Index Addressing mode : Index Addressing mode is used to
stepping through array. Effective Address =Index Register +
Displacement
Relative Addressing mode: Relative Addressing mode is used in
intrasegment branching (Example GOTO).Effective Address

=Program Counter + Displacement

Rlative Base Addressing mode :Effective Address = PC + BR +
displacement . Where PC stands for program counter and BR stands
for base register.

Auto Increment / Auto Decrement Addressing Mode

It is generally used to increment or decrement the array pointer. For
example while executing a loop the processor may require to
increment or decrement the pointer to the adjacent address at each
iteration. So it can be used to increment or decrement file pointers,
or it can be used to implemet stack in which the top can be
incremented (TOP++) or decremented(TOP--).
Also in Auto increment or Auto decrement addressing mode the
contents of the register is automatically incremented or
decremented before or after the execution of the instruction . For
Example MOV (R2)+, R1

Scaled Addressing Mode

It allows the portion of the operand to be extracted for
manipulation depended on the scaling factor . It may access 1st byte
, 2ndbyte , or the entire operand. For example in 8086 , in the
instruction MOV BL , AH . Here the content of A move to B.
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