Selecting processing based on expected value of selected character

A computer program product for facilitating processing within a computing environment, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for performing a method comprising:
• obtaining an instruction to be processed, the instruction defined to be a looping instruction, wherein a loop is configured to repeat a plurality of times to perform an operation on up to a defined number of units of data;
• and
• processing the instruction, the processing comprising:
• determining whether an obtained selected character is an expected selected character;
• using, based on the obtained selected character being the expected selected character, an execution process that includes a sequence of operations to perform the operation, the sequence of operations replacing the loop and providing a non-looping sequence to perform the operation on up to the defined number of units of data, and wherein the sequence of operations is configured to repeat one or more times and to terminate based on the obtained selected character;
• and
• choosing, based on the obtained selected character being different than the expected selected character, an alternate execution process, wherein the alternate execution process comprises:
• flushing at least part of the sequence of operations from an instruction pipeline;
• and
• transferring to microcode to perform the operation.