DA A

DA A
Function: Decimal-adjust Accumulator for Addition
Description: DA A adjusts the eight-bit value in the Accumulator resulting from the earlier addition of two variables (each in
packed-BCD format), producing two four-bit digits. Any ADD or ADDC instruction may have been used to
perform the addition.
If Accumulator bits 3 through 0 are greater than nine (xxxx1010-xxxx1111), or if the AC flag is one, six is added to
the Accumulator producing the proper BCD digit in the low-order nibble. This internal addition sets the carry flag
if a carry-out of the low-order four-bit field propagates through all high-order bits, but it does not clear the carry
flag otherwise.
If the carry flag is now set, or if the four high-order bits now exceed nine (1010xxxx-1111xxxx), these high-order
bits are incremented by six, producing the proper BCD digit in the high-order nibble. Again, this sets the carry
flag if there is a carry-out of the high-order bits, but does not clear the carry. The carry flag thus indicates if the
sum of the original two BCD variables is greater than 100, allowing multiple precision decimal addition. OV is not
affected.
All of this occurs during the one instruction cycle. Essentially, this instruction performs the decimal conversion by
adding 00H, 06H, 60H, or 66H to the Accumulator, depending on initial Accumulator and PSW conditions.
Note: DA A cannot simply convert a hexadecimal number in the Accumulator to BCD notation, nor does DAA
apply to decimal subtraction.
Example: The Accumulator holds the value 56H (01010110B), representing the packed BCD digits of the decimal number
56. Register 3 contains the value 67H (01100111B), representing the packed BCD digits of the decimal number
67. The carry flag is set. The following instruction sequence
ADDC A,R3
DA A
first performs a standard two’s-complement binary addition, resulting in the value 0BEH (10111110) in the
Accumulator. The carry and auxiliary carry flags are cleared.
The Decimal Adjust instruction then alters the Accumulator to the value 24H (00100100B), indicating the packed
BCD digits of the decimal number 24, the low-order two digits of the decimal sum of 56, 67, and the carry-in. The
carry flag is set by the Decimal Adjust instruction, indicating that a decimal overflow occurred. The true sum of
56, 67, and 1 is 124.
BCD variables can be incremented or decremented by adding 01H or 99H. If the Accumulator initially holds 30H
(representing the digits of 30 decimal), then the following instruction sequence,
ADD A, # 99H
DA A
leaves the carry set and 29H in the Accumulator, since 30 + 99 = 129. The low-order byte of the sum can be
interpreted to mean 30 - 1 = 29.