Question

How can I see the assembly code for a C++ program?

What are the popular tools to do this?

Answer 1

Ask the compiler

If you are building the program yourself, you can ask your compiler to emit assembly source. For most UNIX compilers use the -S switch.

• If you are using the GNU assembler, compiling with -g -Wa,-alh will give intermixed source and assembly on stdout (-Wa asks compiler driver to pass options to assembler, -al turns on assembly listing, and -ah adds "high-level source" listing):

  g++ -g -c -Wa,-alh foo.cc

• For Visual Studio, use /FAsc.

Peek into the binary

If you have compiled binary,

• use objdump -d a.out on UNIX (also works for cygwin),
• dumpbin /DISASM foo.exe on Windows.

Use your debugger

Debuggers could also show disassebly.

• Use disas command in GDB.
  Use set disassembly-flavor intel if you prefer Intel syntax.
• or the disassembly window of Visual Studio on Windows.