Programming Language

Loops / Repetition Statements

Loops / Repetition Statements
• Repetition statements allow us to execute a statement multiple
times
• Often they are referred to as loops
• C has three kinds of repetition statements:
▫ the while loop
▫ the for loop
▫ the do while loop
• The programmer should choose the right kind of loop for the
situation
while Loop
• A while statement has the following syntax:
while ( condition ) while ( condition ){
statement; statement1;
statement2;
…
}
• If the condition is true, the statement or a block of statements is
executed
• Then the condition is evaluated again, and if it is still true, the
statement/block is executed again
• The statement/block is executed repeatedly until the condition
becomes false
Example
• Print “The sky is the limit!” n times. n will be user input
scanf(“%d”,&n);
int count = 1;
while (count <= n) {
printf (“The sky is the limit”);
count++;
}
• If the condition of a while loop is false initially, the statement is
never executed
• Therefore, the body of a while loop will execute zero or more times
Example
• Print first n natural numbers.
▫ Upwards
▫ Downwards
• Print odd numbers up to n.
• Print even numbers up to n.
• Print summation of first n numbers.
• Print summation of all odd numbers up to n.
• Print summation of all even numbers up to n.
• Print factorial of n
• Print xn , where x and n are integers.
for Loop
• A for statement has the following syntax:
The statement is executed until the
The initialization is executed once
condition becomes false
before the loop begins

for ( initialization ; condition ; increment )

statement;

The increment portion is executed at

the end of each iteration
for Loop
• An example of a for loop:
for(count=1; count <= 5; count++)
printf (“%d\n”, count);
for(count=5; count >= 1; count--)
printf (“%d\n”, count);
• The initialization section can be used to declare a variable.
• Like a while loop, the condition of a for loop is tested prior to
executing the loop body
• Therefore, the body of a for loop will execute zero or more times
for Loop
• The increment section can perform any calculation

int num;
for(num=100; num > 0; num -= 5)
printf (“%d\n”, num);

• A for loop is well suited for executing statements a specific

number of times that can be calculated or determined in advance
The break and continue Statement
• Sometimes we need:
▫ to skip some statements inside the loop (continue)
▫ or terminate the loop immediately without checking the test
condition (break).
• In such cases, break and continue statements are used.
 The break Statement
• The break statement terminates the loop immediately when it is
encountered
while(testExpression){ do{
// codes // codes
if(condition to break){ if(condition to break){
break; break;
} }
// codes // codes
} }while(testExpression);

for(init; testExpression; update){

// codes
if(condition to break){
break;
}
// codes
}
 The continue Statement
• The continue statement skips statements after it inside the loop.

while(testExpression){ do{
// codes // codes
if(condition to break){ if(condition to break){
continue; continue;
} }
// codes // codes
} }while(testExpression);

for(init; testExpression; update){

// codes
if(condition to break){
continue;
}
// codes
}
Some example problems
• Write down a program to find the summation of the following series:
1  2  3  4  ......  up to n
12  22  32  42  ......up to n2
• Find factorial of n, where n will be input
• Find xn, where x and n both will be input, assume n is integer
• Show all factors of a number n
• Show smallest factor of a number n (other than 1)
• Show largest factor of a number n (other than itself)
• Prime number testing
• Perfect number testing
• GCD of two numbers
• Fibonacci series
Infinite Loops
• An example of an infinite loop:
int count = 1;
while (1 == 1){
printf (“%d\n”, count);
count = count - 1;
}
for( ; ; ){
printf (“%d\n”, count);
count = count - 1;
}
• This loop will continue executing until interrupted (Ctrl-C) or
until an underflow error occurs
do while Loop
• A do statement has the following syntax:
do {
statement1;
statement2;
…
}while ( condition );
• The statement is executed once initially, and then the condition is
evaluated
• The statement is executed repeatedly until the condition becomes
false
do while Loop
• An example of a do while loop:
int count = 1;
do{
printf(“%d\n”, count);
count++;
} while (count <= 5);

• The body of a do while loop is executed at least once

Example: Printing reverse of a
number
• Write down a program that prints the digits of a number in
reverse.
int a, n, reverse = 0;
• For example: scanf(“%d”,&n);
• input: 6457 do{
a = n%10;
• output: 7546
n = n/10;
reverse = reverse*10 + a;
} while (n != 0);
Nested Loop
• Similar to nested if statements, loops can be nested as well
• That is, the body of a loop can contain another loop
• For each iteration of the outer loop, the inner loop iterates
completely

for(i=1; i <= 3; i++){

for(j=1; j <= 2; j++){
printf(“Sky is the limit\n”);
}
printf(“The world is becoming smaller\n”);
}
Some more Examples
• Write a program that prints all prime numbers up to x. The integer
x will be input to your program.
• Write down a program that will take an integer x as input and will
count and print the number of prime numbers up to x.
• Write a program that prints all prime factors of a number x given
as input.
• Write down a program that will take an integer n as input and will
count and print the number of fibonacci numbers.
Example: Star
• Write a program that prints the following. The total number of
lines will be input to your program.
*
**
***
****
*****
******
*******
********
*********
**********