emms

Empty MMX Technology State

EMMS

Clears the FPU tag word to allow FP instructions after MMX.

Details

Sets all tag bits in the x87 FPU tag word to 1 (all entries marked empty), allowing the x87 FPU to be used immediately after MMX instructions without a transition penalty. This instruction clears the MMX state and must be executed before mixing MMX and x87 floating-point operations. No general-purpose flags are affected, but internal x87 state is modified.

Pseudocode Operation

FPU_TAG_WORD[0:15] ← 0xFFFF;

Example

EMMS

Encoding

Binary Layout
0F
+0
77
+1
 
Format MMX
Opcode NP 0F 77
Extension MMX

Operands

Reference (Intel® SDM)

Instruction Forms

Opcode Instruction Op/En 64/32-bit Mode CPUID Description
NP 0F 77 EMMS ZO Valid Valid Set the x87 FPU tag word to empty.

Description

Sets the values of all the tags in the x87 FPU tag word to empty (all 1s). This operation marks the x87 FPU data registers (which are aliased to the MMX technology registers) as available for use by x87 FPU floating-point instructions. (See Figure 8-7 in the Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer’s Manual, Volume 1, for the format of the x87 FPU tag word.) All other MMX instructions (other than the EMMS instruction) set all the tags in x87 FPU tag word to valid (all 0s). The EMMS instruction must be used to clear the MMX technology state at the end of all MMX technology procedures or subroutines and before calling other procedures or subroutines that may execute x87 floating-point instructions. If a floating-point instruction loads one of the registers in the x87 FPU data register stack before the x87 FPU tag word has been reset by the EMMS instruction, an x87 floating-point register stack overflow can occur that will result in an x87 floating-point exception or incorrect result. EMMS operation is the same in non-64-bit modes and 64-bit mode.

Operation

x87FPUTagWord := FFFFH;

Intel C/C++ Compiler Intrinsic Equivalent

void _mm_empty()

Flags Affected

None

Exceptions

Protected Mode Exceptions

#UD If CR0.EM[bit 2] = 1. #NM If CR0.TS[bit 3] = 1. #MF If there is a pending FPU exception. #UD If the LOCK prefix is used.

Real-Address Mode Exceptions

Same exceptions as in protected mode.

Virtual-8086 Mode Exceptions

Same exceptions as in protected mode.

Compatibility Mode Exceptions

Same exceptions as in protected mode.

64-Bit Mode Exceptions

Same exceptions as in protected mode. EMMS—Empty MMX Technology State Vol. 2A 3-282