A method for electronically executing a vector compress process on an input vector without recourse to vector compress function logic, comprising: in response to a first instruction, the steps of: receiving a condition vector into a condition vector register; and applying the condition vector to a successive priority encoder to perform an index generation function using the condition vector in order to generate a permutation index vector by successively evaluating each different condition value in the condition vector, one at a time, to determine if each respective different condition value is set to a predetermined state so as to provide an index value to the permutation index vector in response to a determination that a respective condition value in the condition vector is set to the predetermined state and so as not to provide an index value to the permutation index vector in response to a determination that a respective condition value in the condition vector is not set to the predetermined state; and in response to a second instruction, using the permutation index vector to form a resultant vector in a resultant vector register, wherein each index value at a location in the permutation index vector identifies a location in the input vector from which a data value is taken and located in a corresponding location in the resultant vector. in response to a first instruction, the steps of: receiving a condition vector into a condition vector register; and applying the condition vector to a successive priority encoder to perform an index generation function using the condition vector in order to generate a permutation index vector by successively evaluating each different condition value in the condition vector, one at a time, to determine if each respective different condition value is set to a predetermined state so as to provide an index value to the permutation index vector in response to a determination that a respective condition value in the condition vector is set to the predetermined state and so as not to provide an index value to the permutation index vector in response to a determination that a respective condition value in the condition vector is not set to the predetermined state; and in response to a second instruction, using the permutation index vector to form a resultant vector in a resultant vector register, wherein each index value at a location in the permutation index vector identifies a location in the input vector from which a data value is taken and located in a corresponding location in the resultant vector. receiving a condition vector into a condition vector register; and applying the condition vector to a successive priority encoder to perform an index generation function using the condition vector in order to generate a permutation index vector by successively evaluating each different condition value in the condition vector, one at a time, to determine if each respective different condition value is set to a predetermined state so as to provide an index value to the permutation index vector in response to a determination that a respective condition value in the condition vector is set to the predetermined state and so as not to provide an index value to the permutation index vector in response to a determination that a respective condition value in the condition vector is not set to the predetermined state; and in response to a second instruction, using the permutation index vector to form a resultant vector in a resultant vector register, wherein each index value at a location in the permutation index vector identifies a location in the input vector from which a data value is taken and located in a corresponding location in the resultant vector.