Getting string input and displaying input with DOS interrupts MASM

Question

In MASM, I created a buffer variable to hold the user string input from keyboard. I am stuck on how to hold the string input into that buffer variable. I don't have any libraries linked like the irvine ones and want to do this with DOS interrupts. So far I have something along the lines of

            .model small

            .stack 100h

            .data
buff        db  25 dup(0), 10, 13
lbuff       EQU ($ - buff)              ; bytes in a string

            .code
main:
            mov ax, @data
            mov ds, ax              

            mov ah, 0Ah         ; doesn't work
            mov buff, ah        ; doesn't seem right
            int 21h                 


            mov     ax, 4000h       ; display to screen
            mov     bx, 1           
            mov     cx, lbuff           
            mov     dx, OFFSET buff     
            int     21h 

            mov ah, 4ch
            int 21h

            end main

I assume using 0Ah is correct as it is for reading array of input of buffered characters.

Answer 1

I made some changes to your code. First, the "buff" variable needs the three level format (max number of characters allowed, another byte for the number of characteres entered, and the buffer itself) because that's what service 0AH requires. To use service 0AH I added "offset buff" (as Wolfgang said). Here it is:

            .model small

            .stack 100h

            .data

buff        db  26        ;MAX NUMBER OF CHARACTERS ALLOWED (25).
            db  ?         ;NUMBER OF CHARACTERS ENTERED BY USER.
            db  26 dup(0) ;CHARACTERS ENTERED BY USER.

            .code
main:
            mov ax, @data
            mov ds, ax              

;CAPTURE STRING FROM KEYBOARD.                                    
            mov ah, 0Ah ;SERVICE TO CAPTURE STRING FROM KEYBOARD.
            mov dx, offset buff
            int 21h                 

;CHANGE CHR(13) BY '$'.
            mov si, offset buff + 1 ;NUMBER OF CHARACTERS ENTERED.
            mov cl, [ si ] ;MOVE LENGTH TO CL.
            mov ch, 0      ;CLEAR CH TO USE CX. 
            inc cx ;TO REACH CHR(13).
            add si, cx ;NOW SI POINTS TO CHR(13).
            mov al, '$'
            mov [ si ], al ;REPLACE CHR(13) BY '$'.            

;DISPLAY STRING.                   
            mov ah, 9 ;SERVICE TO DISPLAY STRING.
            mov dx, offset buff + 2 ;MUST END WITH '$'.
            int 21h

            mov ah, 4ch
            int 21h

            end main

When 0AH captures the string from keyboard, it ends with ENTER (character 13), that's why, if you want to capture 25 characters, you must specify 26.

To know how many characters the user entered (length), access the second byte (offset buff + 1). The ENTER is not included, so, if user types 8 characters and ENTER, this second byte will contain the number 8, not 9.

The entered characters start at offset buff + 2, and they end when character 13 appears. We use this to add the length to buff+2 + 1 to replace chr(13) by '$'. Now we can display the string.