An instruction to perform a comparison of a first value and a second value is executed. Based on a control of the instruction, a compare function to be performed is determined. The compare function is one of a plurality of compare functions configured for the instruction, and the compare function has a plurality of options for comparison. A compare option based on the first value and the second value is selected from the plurality of options defined for the compare function, and used to compare the first value and the second value. A result of the comparison is then placed in a select location, the result to be used in processing within a computing environment.