Different ways... the real "old school" way would be with File Control Blocks. That was considered "obsolete" by the time I started learning this stuff, so I never learned it. What you probably want is an example of the "new-fangled" functions that will handle long file names 'n stuff. Decadent! Haven't got one of those, either. Here's an "in between" example. Doesn't check for errors - which we really should!!! Consult Ralf Brown's Interrupt List for more details.
Best,
Frank
org 100h
section .text
; first, lets write to a file that's already open,
; standard output - normally the screen.
mov ah,040h ; the Write-to-a-file function for int 21h
mov bx,1 ; the file handle for standard output
mov cx,[msg_len] ; number of bytes to write
mov dx,msg ; address of our "buffer" to write from
int 021h ; call on Good Old Dos
; now, lets read from a file that's already open,
; standard input - normally the keyboard.
mov ah,03Fh ; the read-from-a-file function for int 21h
mov bx,0 ; the file handle for standard input
mov cx,0FFh ; maximum number of bytes to read
mov dx,textbuf ; address of buffer to read into
int 021h ; call on Good Old Dos
mov [text_len],ax ; returns number of bytes actually read in ax
; store it for future use
; now we've got some text, lets write it to a file
mov ah,03Ch ; the open/create-a-file function
mov cx,020h ; file attribute - normal file
mov dx,filename ; address of a ZERO TERMINATED! filename string
int 021h ; call on Good Old Dos
; jc error_handler!!!
mov [filehndl],ax ; returns a file handle (probably 5)
mov ah,040h ; the Write-to-a-file function for int 21h
mov bx,[filehndl] ; the file handle goes in bx
mov cx,[text_len] ; number of bytes to write
mov dx,textbuf ; address to write from (the text we input)
int 021h ; call on Good Old Dos
mov ah,03Eh ; the close-the-file function
mov bx,[filehndl] ; the file handle
int 021h ; call on Good Old Dos
; pause and wait for a keystroke before continuing
xor ax,ax
int 016h ; call BIOS - wait for a key
; read the file back into a buffer
mov ah,03Dh ; the open-existing-file function
mov al,0 ; open mode 0=read,1=write,2=both
mov dx,filename ; address of zero-terminated string
int 021h ; call on Good Old Dos
mov [filehndl],ax ; we'll reuse the filehndl variable,
; but use a different one if you open
; more than one :)
mov ah,03Fh ; the read-from-a-file function
mov bx,[filehndl] ; our new (same as old, probably) file handle
mov cx,0FFh ; max bytes to read
mov dx,iobuf ; address of a buffer to read into
int 021h ; call on Good Old Dos
mov [read_len],ax ; save the number of bytes read
mov ah,03Eh ; close the file
mov bx,[filehndl] ; yeah, file handle in bx
int 021h ; call on Good Old Dos
; and write it out to already-open standard output
mov ah,040h ; write-to-a-file
mov bx,1 ; file handle for standard output
mov cx,[read_len] ; bytes to write - same number we read :)
mov dx,iobuf ; buffer to write from
int 021h ; call on Good Old Dos
exit:
mov ah,04Ch ; terminate-program function
int 021h ; you guessed it!
;--------------------------------------------------
section .data
msg db 'Please enter some text...',0Dh,0Ah
msg_len dw $-msg ; let assembler count it...
filename db 'testtext.txt',0
;--------------------------------------------------
section .bss
textbuf resb 0100h
iobuf resb 0100h
text_len resw 01h
read_len resw 01h
filehndl resw 01h
