(42S) challenge: repeat a character N times

[Werner]

Suppose the alpha register contains a single character, and you want it duplicated N times, 0<=N<=44. This will come in handy when drawing lines on the DM-42 ;-)

A simple way would be

Code:

>LBL "$N"
 ASTO ST L
 CLA
 X=0?
 GTO 00
>LBL 02
 ARCL ST L
 DSE ST X
 GTO 02
>LBL 00
 Rv
 END

But that loops 44 times for the longest string. Can you do better & still preserve Y and Z?

So, In:
A: char
Z: z
Y: y
X: N

Out:
A: N times char
Y: z
X: y

My current attempt's worst case is about 2.5 times faster than the above, and still reasonably short at 49 bytes.

Cheers, Werner