An apparatus and method are described for shuffling data elements from source registers to a destination register. For example, a method according to one embodiment includes the following operations: reading each mask bit stored in a mask data structure, the mask data structure containing mask bits associated with data elements of a destination register, the values usable for determining whether a masking operation or a shuffle operation should be performed on data elements stored within a first source register and a second source register; for each data element of the destination register, if a mask bit associated with the data element indicates that a shuffle operation should be performed, then shuffling data elements from the first source register and the second source register to the specified data element within the destination register; and if the mask bit indicates that a masking operation should be performed, then performing a specified masking operation with respect to the data element of the destination register.