7.3: Addresses and Values
- Page ID
- 19899
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The only way to access memory is with the brackets ([]'s). Omitting the brackets will not access memory and instead obtain the address of the item. For example:
mov rax, qword [var1] ; value of var1 in rax mov rax, var1 ; address of var1 in rax
Since omitting the brackets is not an error, the assembler will not generate error messages or warnings. This can lead to confusion.
In addition, the address of a variable can be obtained with the load effective address, or lea, instruction. The load effective address instruction is summarized as follows:
| Instruction | Explanation |
| lea <reg64>, <mem> | Place address of <mem> into reg64. |
| Examples: |
lea rcx, byte [bvar] lea rsi, dword [dVar] |
A more complete list of the instructions is located in Appendix B.
Additional information and extensive examples are presented in Chapter 8, Addressing Modes.