Patent ID: 8392888

Claim:
A computer implemented method for executing a translate instruction, the translate instruction comprising an opcode field and a test character control field, the method comprising: responsive to the test character control field indicating that a test character comparison is to be performed, performing for successive argument characters of a predetermined number of argument characters: retrieving an argument character; based on the retrieved argument character, identifying a function character in a translation table of function characters; responsive to the identified function character being different than a predetermined test character, placing the identified function character into a first operand; and responsive to the identified function character being equal to the predetermined test character, performing: not placing the identified function character into the first operand; and setting a condition code indicating that a function character was equal to the predetermined test character; and responsive to the test character control field indicating that a test character comparison is not to be performed, performing for successive argument characters of the predetermined number of argument characters: retrieving an argument character; based on the retrieved argument character, identifying a function character in the translation table of function characters; and placing the identified function character into the first operand.