Chapter 5:

Control Structures II (Repetition)

 Objectives
• In this chapter, you will:
– Learn about repetition (looping) control structures
– Explore how to construct and use counter-
controlled, sentinel-controlled, flag-controlled,
and EOF-controlled repetition structures
– Examine break and continue statements
– Discover how to form and use nested control
structures

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 Objectives (cont’d.)
• In this chapter, you will (cont’d.):
– Learn how to avoid bugs by avoiding patches
– Learn how to debug loops

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 Why Is Repetition Needed?
• Repetition allows efficient use of variables
• Can input, add, and average multiple numbers
using a limited number of variables
• For example, to add five numbers:
– Declare a variable for each number, input the
numbers and add the variables together
– Create a loop that reads a number into a variable
and adds it to a variable that contains the sum of
the numbers
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 while Looping (Repetition)
Structure
• Syntax of the while statement:

• statement can be simple or compound

• expression acts as a decision maker and is
usually a logical expression
• statement is called the body of the loop
• The parentheses are part of the syntax

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 while Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont’d.)

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 while Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont’d.)

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 while Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont’d.)
• i in Example 5-1 is called the loop control
variable (LCV)
• Infinite loop: continues to execute endlessly
– Avoided by including statements in loop body that
assure the exit condition is eventually false

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 while Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont’d.)

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Case 1: Counter-Controlled while
Loops
• When you know exactly how many times the
statements need to be executed
– Use a counter-controlled while loop

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 Case 2: Sentinel-Controlled
while Loops
• Sentinel variable is tested in the condition
• Loop ends when sentinel is encountered

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 Example 5-5: Telephone Digits
• Example 5-5 provides an example of a
sentinel-controlled loop
• The program converts uppercase letters to
their corresponding telephone digit

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 Case 3: Flag-Controlled while
Loops
• Flag-controlled while loop: uses a bool
variable to control the loop

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 Programming Example: Fibonacci
Number
• Consider the following sequence of numbers:
– 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, ....
• Called the Fibonacci sequence
• Given the first two numbers of the sequence
(say, a1 and a2)
– nth number an, n >= 3, of this sequence is given by:
an = an-1 + an-2

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 Programming Example: Fibonacci
Number (cont’d.)
• Fibonacci sequence
– nth Fibonacci number
– a2 = 1
– a1 = 1
– Determine the nth number an, n >= 3

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 Programming Example: Fibonacci
Number (cont’d.)
• Suppose a2 = 6 and a1 = 3
– a3 = a2 + a1 = 6 + 3 = 9
– a4 = a3 + a2 = 9 + 6 = 15
• Write a program that determines the nth
Fibonacci number, given the first two numbers

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 Programming Example: Input and
Output
• Input: first two Fibonacci numbers and the
desired Fibonacci number
• Output: nth Fibonacci number

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 Programming Example: Problem
Analysis and Algorithm Design
• Algorithm:
– Get the first two Fibonacci numbers
– Get the desired Fibonacci number
• Get the position, n, of the number in the sequence
– Calculate the next Fibonacci number
• Add the previous two elements of the sequence
– Repeat Step 3 until the nth Fibonacci number is
found
– Output the nth Fibonacci number
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 Programming Example: Variables

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 Programming Example: Main
Algorithm
• Prompt the user for the first two numbers—
that is, previous1 and previous2
• Read (input) the first two numbers into
previous1 and previous2
• Output the first two Fibonacci numbers
• Prompt the user for the position of the
desired Fibonacci number

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 Programming Example: Main
Algorithm (cont’d.)
• Read the position of the desired Fibonacci
number into nthFibonacci
– if (nthFibonacci == 1)
The desired Fibonacci number is the first Fibonacci
number; copy the value of previous1 into
current
– else if (nthFibonacci == 2)
The desired Fibonacci number is the second
Fibonacci number; copy the value of previous2
into current
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 Programming Example: Main
Algorithm (cont’d.)
– else calculate the desired Fibonacci number as
follows:
• Start by determining the third Fibonacci number
• Initialize counter to 3 to keep track of the calculated
Fibonacci numbers.
• Calculate the next Fibonacci number, as follows:
current = previous2 + previous1;

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 Programming Example: Main
Algorithm (cont’d.)
– (cont’d.)
• Assign the value of previous2 to previous1
• Assign the value of current to previous2
• Increment counter
• Repeat until Fibonacci number is calculated:
while (counter <= nthFibonacci)
{
current = previous2 + previous1;
previous1 = previous2;
previous2 = current;
counter++;
}
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 Programming Example: Main
Algorithm (cont’d.)
• Output the nthFibonacci number, which
is current

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 for Looping (Repetition)
Structure
• for loop: called a counted or indexed for
loop
• Syntax of the for statement:

• The initial statement, loop

condition, and update statement are
called for loop control statements
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 for Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont’d.)

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 for Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont’d.)

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 for Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont’d.)

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 for Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont’d.)
• The following is a semantic error:

• The following is a legal (but infinite) for loop:

for (;;)
cout << "Hello" << endl;

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 for Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont’d.)

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 for Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont’d.)

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 do…while Looping (Repetition)
Structure
• Syntax of a do...while loop:

• The statement executes first, and then the

expression is evaluated
– As long as expression is true, loop continues
• To avoid an infinite loop, body must contain a
statement that makes the expression false
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 do…while Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont’d.)
• The statement can be simple or compound
• Loop always iterates at least once

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 do…while Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont’d.)

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 do…while Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont’d.)

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 do…while Looping (Repetition)
Structure (cont’d.)

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 Choosing the Right Looping
Structure
• All three loops have their place in C++
– If you know or can determine in advance the
number of repetitions needed, the for loop is
the correct choice
– If you do not know and cannot determine in
advance the number of repetitions needed, and it
could be zero, use a while loop
– If you do not know and cannot determine in
advance the number of repetitions needed, and it
is at least one, use a do...while loop
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 break and continue
Statements
• break and continue alter the flow of
control
• break statement is used for two purposes:
– To exit early from a loop
• Can eliminate the use of certain (flag) variables
– To skip the remainder of a switch structure
• After break executes, the program continues
with the first statement after the structure

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 break and continue
Statements (cont’d.)
• continue is used in while, for, and
do…while structures
• When executed in a loop
– It skips remaining statements and proceeds with
the next iteration of the loop

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 Nested Control Structures
• To create the following pattern:
*
**
***
****
*****

• We can use the following code:

for (i = 1; i <= 5 ; i++)
{
for (j = 1; j <= i; j++)
cout << "*";
cout << endl;
}
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Nested Control Structures (cont’d.)
• What is the result if we replace the first for
statement with this?
for (i = 5; i >= 1; i--)
• Answer:
*****
****
***
**
*

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Avoiding Bugs by Avoiding Patches
• Software patch
– Piece of code written on top of an existing piece
of code
– Intended to fix a bug in the original code
• Some programmers address the symptom of
the problem by adding a software patch
• Should instead resolve underlying issue

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 Debugging Loops
• Loops are harder to debug than sequence and
selection structures
• Use loop invariant
– Set of statements that remains true each time the
loop body is executed
• Most common error associated with loops is
off-by-one

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 Summary
• C++ has three looping (repetition) structures:
– while, for, and do…while
• while, for, and do are reserved words
• while and for loops are called pretest loops
• do...while loop is called a posttest loop
• while and for may not execute at all, but
do...while always executes at least once

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 Summary (cont’d.)
• while: expression is the decision maker,
and statement is the body of the loop
• A while loop can be:
– Counter-controlled
– Sentinel-controlled
– EOF-controlled
• In the Windows console environment, the
end-of-file marker is entered using Ctrl+z

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 Summary (cont’d.)
• for loop: simplifies the writing of a counter-
controlled while loop
– Putting a semicolon at the end of the for loop is
a semantic error
• Executing a break statement in the body of a
loop immediately terminates the loop
• Executing a continue statement in the body
of a loop skips to the next iteration

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