Introduction 

Input and Output in 8086 Assembly Language:

Each microprocessor provides instructions for Input and Output (I/O) with the devices attached to it, such as the keyboard and the screen.

The 8086 provides the instructions IN for input and OUT for output. These instructions are a bit complicated to use, so we usually use the operating system to do I/O for us instead.

In 8086 assembly language, operating system subprograms are called by a software interrupt mechanism. An interrupt signals to the processor to suspend its current activity and to pass control to an interrupt service program.

A software interrupt is an interrupt generated by a program. The 8086 INT instruction generates such software interrupts.

For I/O and some other operations, the interrupt number used is 21h. Thus, the instruction INT 21h transfers control to the operating system, to a subprogram that handles I/O operations.

This subprogram handles a variety of I/O operations by calling appropriate subprograms. This means that a specific I/O operation must be indicated. The I/O operation to be carried out is specified in the AH register. An interrupt call has the following syntax:

	MOV AH, nn	; nn = specific function number
	INT XX		; XX = interrupt number