The branch-on-count instructions on s390x decrement the input
register and then compare its value to 0. If not equal the branch
is taken.
These instructions are useful for implementing loops with a set
number of iterations (which might be in a register).
For example, this for loop:
for i := 0; i < n; i++ {
... // i is not used or modified in the loop
}
Could be implemented using this assembly:
MOVD Rn, Ri
loop:
...
BRCTG Ri, loop
Note that i will count down from n in the assembly whereas in the
original for loop it counted up to n which is why we can't use i
in the loop.
These instructions will only be used in hand-written codegen and
assembly for now since SSA blocks cannot currently modify values.
We could look into this in the future though.