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[xman954]

CODE

                xor          ebx,ebx  ; start at 0
                xor          edx,edx
                mov          ecx,79  ; set max size
nx_chr.        add          ebx,byte 01   ; inc it   
                mov          dl,byte [eax+ebx]
                loopnz       nx_chr.
                mov          [handle_save],ebx

the string is 02Fh long, but ebx is 04Fh
is there any other way to do this (im sure there is)

[dus]

You should have two end conditions, one when ecx is zero (which you have) and one when the zero flag is set. Try a cmp or similar in the loop to check for the null byte .

CODE

          xor       ebx,ebx
          mov       ecx, 79
next:    cmp       byte [eax+ebx],0
          inc       ebx
          loopnz    next
          mov       [str_length],ebx

Now this also counts the null char at the end. I leave it as an exercise to modify it.