DECISION AND LOOP CONTROL STATEMENTS

a. Introduction
b. Objectives
c. Decision Control Statements
i. The if Statement
ii. The switch Statement
d. Loop Control Statements
i. The while Loop
ii. The do-while Statement
iii. The for Loop
iv. The Nested Loop
e. The Goto Statement
f. The Break Statement
g. The Continue Statement

INTRODUCTION
A program consists of a number of statements to be executed by the computer. Not many of the programs execute all
their statements in sequential order from beginning to end as they appear within the program. A C program may require
that a logical test be carried out at some particular point within the program. One of the several possible actions will be
carried out, depending on the outcome of the logical test. This is called Branching. In the Selection process, a set of
statements will be selected for execution, among the several sets available. Suppose, if there is a need of a group of
statements to be executed repeatedly until some logical condition is satisfied, then looping is required in the program.
These can be carried out using various control statements.
These Control statements determine the “flow of control” in a program and enable us to specify the order in which the
various instructions in a program are to be executed by the computer. Normally, high level procedural programming
languages require three basic control statements:

 Sequence instruction
 Selection/decision instruction
 Repetition or Loop instruction
Sequence instruction means executing one instruction after another, in the order in which they occur in the source file. This
is usually built into the language as a default action, as it is with C. If an instruction is not a control statement, then the next
instruction to be executed will simply be the next one in sequence.

Selection means executing different sections of code depending on a specific condition or the value of a variable. This
allows a program to take different courses of action depending on different conditions. C provides three selection
structures.

 if
 if…else
 switch

Repetition/Looping means executing the same section of code more than once. A section of code may either be
executed a fixed number of times, or while some condition is true. C provides three looping statements:
 while
 do…while
 for
 This unit introduces you the decision and loop control statements that are available in C programming language along
with some of the example programs.

DECISION CONTROL STATEMENTS

In a C program, a decision causes a one-time jump to a different part of the program, depending on the value of an
expression. Decisions in C can be made in several ways. The most important is with the if...else statement, which
chooses between two alternatives. This statement can be used without the else, as a simple if statement. Another
decision control statement, switch, creates branches for multiple alternative sections of code, depending on the value of
a single variable.
An Introduction to The if Statement
C
It is used to execute an instruction or sequence/block of instructions only if a condition is fulfilled. In if statements,
expression is evaluated first and then, depending on whether the value of the expression (relation or condition) is
“true” or “false”, it transfers the control to a particular statement or a group of statements.

Different forms of implementation if-statement are:

 Simple if statement
 If-else statement
 Nested if-else statement
 Else if statement

Simple if statement

It is used to execute an instruction or block of instructions only if a condition is fulfilled.

The syntax is as follows:

if(condition) statement;

where condition is the expression that is to be evaluated. If this condition is true, statement is executed. If it is
false, statement is ignored (not executed) and the program continues on the next instruction after the conditional
statement.
This is shown in the Figure 3.1 given below:

Figure 3.1: Simple if statement

 If we want more than one statement to be executed, then we can specify a block of statements within the curly bracets
{ }. The syntax is as follows:

if(condition)
{
block of statements;
}

Example 3.1

Write a program to calculate the net salary of an employee, if a tax of 15% is levied on his gross-salary if it exceeds Rs.
10,000/- per month.

/*Program to calculate the net salary of an employee */ #include<stdio.h>

main()
{
float gross_salary, net_salary;

printf(“Enter gross salary of an employee\n”);

scanf(“%f ”,&gross_salary );

if(gross_salary <10000) net_salary=

gross_salary;
if(gross_salary >= 10000)
net_salary = gross_salary- 0.15*gross_salary;

printf(“\nNet salary is Rs.%.2f\n”, net_salary);

}

OUTPUT
Enter gross salary of an employee
9000
Net salary is Rs.9000.00
Enter gross salary of any employee 10000
Net salary is Rs. 8500.00

If … else statement

If…else statement is used when a different sequence of instructions is to be executed depending on the logical value (True /
False) of the condition evaluated.

Its form used in conjunction with if and the syntax is as follows:

if(condition)
Statement _1;
else
Statement_ 2;
statement_3;
if(condition)
{
Statements_1_Block;
}else
{
Statements_2_Block;
}
Statements _3_Block;
If the condition is true, then the sequence of statements (Statements_1_Block) executes; otherwise the
Statements_2_Block following the else part of if-else statement will get executed. In both the cases, the control is then
transferred to Statements_3 to follow sequential execution of the program.
 This is shown in figure 5.2 given below:

Figure 3.2: If…else statement

Let us consider a program to illustrate if…else statement,
Example 3.2

Write a program to print whether the given number is even or odd.

/* Program to print whether the given number is even or odd*/ #include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int x;
printf(“Enter a number:\n”); scanf("%d",&x);
if(x % 2 == 0)
printf(“\nGiven number is even\n”);else
}
printf(“\nGiven number is odd\n”);
OUTPUT
Enter a number: 6 Given
number is even Enter a
number 7 Given
number is odd
Conditional expression using Ternary Operator (?:)

There is another way to express an if-else statement is by introducing the ?: (ternary operator). In a conditional expression
the ?: operator has only one statement associated with the if and the else. The syntax is

variable = expresssion1 ? expression2: expression3;

Example:

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int x=2; int
y;
y = (x >= 6) ? 6 : x;
 printf(“y = %d”,y);
return 0;
}

OUTPUT : y = 2

Nested if…else statement

In nested if… else statement, an entire if…else construct is written within either the body of the if statement or the
body of an else statement. The syntax is as follows:

Figure 3.3: Nested if…else statement

if(condition_1)
{
f(condition_2)
{
Statements_1_Block;
}

else
{
Statements_2_Block;
}
}

else
{

}
Statement_4_Block;
Here, condition_1 is evaluated. If it is false then Statements_3_Block is executed and is followed by the execution of
Statements_4_Block, otherwise if condition_1 is true, then condition_2 is evaluated. Statements_1_Block is executed
when condition_2 is true otherwise Statements_2_Block is executed and then the control is transferred to
Statements_4_Block.
Statements_3_Block;

This is shown in the figure 3.3 given in the next page:

 Let us consider a program to illustrate Nested if…else statement,

Example 3.3

Write a program to calculate an Air ticket fare after discount, given the following conditions:

 If passenger is below 14 years then there is 50% discount on fare

 If passenger is above 50 years then there is 20% discount on fare
 If passenger is above 14 and below 50 then there is 10% discount on fare.

/* Program to calculate an Air ticket fare after discount */ #include<stdio.h>

main()
{
int age; float fare;
printf("\n Enter the age of passenger:\n"); scanf("%d",&age);
printf("\n Enter the Air ticket fare\n"); scanf("%f",&fare);
if(age<14) fare=fare-0.5*fare; else
if(age<=50)
{fare=fare-0.1*fare;
}
else
{
fare=fare-0.2*fare;
}
printf("\n Air ticket fare to be charged after discount is %.2f",fare); return
0;
}
OUTPUT
Enter the age of passenger 12 Enter
the Air ticket fare 2000.00
Air ticket fare to be charged after discount is 1000.00
Else if statement

To show a multi-way decision based on several conditions, we use the else if statement. This works by cascading of
several comparisons. As soon as one of the conditions is true, the statement or block of statements following them
is executed and no further comparisons are performed.
The syntax is as follows:

if(condition_1)
{
Statements_1_Block;
}
else if(condition_2)
{
Statements_2_Block;
}
else if(condition_n){

else Statements_x;
Statements_n_Block;
}

68
Here, the conditions are evaluated in order from top to bottom. As soon as any condition evaluates to true, then the
statement associated with the given condition is executed and control is transferred to Statements_x skipping the rest
of the conditions following it.

But if all conditions evaluate false, then the statement following final else is executed followed by the execution of
Statements_x.

This is shown in the figure 5.4 given below:

Figure 3.4: Else if statement

Let us consider a program to illustrate Else if statement,

Example 3.4

Write a program to award grades to students depending upon the criteria mentioned below:

 Marks less than or equal to 50 are given “D” grade

 Marks above 50 but below 60 are given “C” grade
 Marks between 60 to 75 are given “B” grade
 Marks greater than 75 are given “A” grade.
/* Program to award grades */ #include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int result;
printf("Enter the total marks of a student:\n"); scanf("%d",&result);
if(result <= 50)
printf("Grade D\n");
else if(result <= 60)
printf("Grade C\n");
 else if(result <= 75)
printf("Grade B\n"); else
printf("Grade A\n");
}

OUTPUT
Enter the total marks of a student: 80
Grade A

Check Your Progress 1

1. Find the output for the following program:

#include<stdio.h> main()
{
int a=1, b=1; if(a==1)
if(b==0)
printf(“Hi”); else
printf(“Bye”);
}Find the output for the following program:
#include<stdio.h> main()
{
int a,b=0; if(a=b=1)
printf("hello");
else
}
printf("world"); return 0;
}
The Switch Statement

Its objective is to check several possible constant values for an expression, something similar to what we had
studied in the earlier sections, with the linking of several if and else if statements. When the actions to be taken
depending on the value of control variable, are large in number, then the use of control structure Nested if…else
makes the program complex. There switch statement can be used. Its form is the following:
switch(expression){
case expression 1:
block of instructions1
break;
case expression 2:
block of instructions2
break;
.
default:
default block of instructions
}

It works in the following way: switch evaluates expression and checks if it is equivalent to expression1. If it is, it
executes block of instructions 1 until it finds the break keyword, moment at finds the control will go to the end of
the switch. If expression was not equal to expression 1 it will check whether expression is equivalent to expression 2.
If it is, it will execute block of instructions 2 until it finds the break keyword.

Finally, if the value of expression has not matched any of the previously specified constants (you may specify as
many case statements as values you want to check), the program will execute the instructions included in the
default: section, if it exists, as it is an optional statement.
Let us consider a program to illustrate Switch statement,

Example 3.5
74
 Write a program that performs the following, depending upon the choice selected by the user.

i). calculate the square of number if choice is 1

ii). calculate the square-root of number if choice is 2 and 4
iii). calculate the cube of the given number if choice is 3
iv). otherwise print the number as it is

main()
{
int choice,n;
printf(“\n Enter any number:\n “);
scanf(“%d”,&n);
printf(“Choice is as follows:\n\n”);
printf(“1. To find square of the number\n”);
printf(“2. To find square-root of the number\n”);
printf(“3. To find cube of a number\n”);
printf(“4. To find the square-root of the number\n\n”);
printf(“Enter your choice:\n”);
scanf(“%d”,&choice);
switch(choice)
{case 1: printf(“The square of the number is %d\n”,n*n); break;
case 2: printf(“The square-root of the given number is %f”,sqrt(n));
break;
case 3: printf(“ The cube of the given number is %d”,n*n*n);
brerak;
case 4:
default: printf(“The number you had given is %d”,n);
break;
}
}

OUTPUT
Enter any number: 4

Choice is as follows:
1. To find square of the number
2. To find square-root of the number
3. To find cube of a number
4. To find the square-root of the number

Enter your choice: 2

The square-root of the given number is 2

In this section we had discussed and understood various decision control statements. Next section explains you the various
loop control statements in C.

An Introduction to
C LOOP CONTROL STATEMENTS

Loop control statements are used when a section of code may either be executed a fixed number of times, or
while some condition is true. C gives you a choice of three types of loop statements, while, do- while and for.

 The while loop keeps repeating an action until an associated condition returns false. This is useful where the
programmer does not know in advance how many times the loop will be traversed.
 The do while loop is similar, but the condition is checked after the loop body is executed. This ensures that the
loop body is run at least once.
 The for loop is frequently used, usually where the loop will be traversed a fixed number of times.

The While Loop

When in a program a single statement or a certain group of statements are to be executed repeatedly depending
upon certain test condition, then while statement is used. The syntax is as follows:

while(test condition)
{
body_of_the_loop;
}

Here, test condition is an expression that controls how long the loop keeps running. Body of the loop is a statement
or group of statements enclosed in braces and are repeatedly executed till the value of test condition evaluates to
true. As soon as the condition evaluates to false, the control jumps to the first statement following the while
statement. If condition initially itself is false, the body of the loop will never be executed. While loop is
sometimes called as entry-control loop, as it controls the execution of the body of the loop depending upon the
value of the test condition. This is shown in the figure 5.5 given below:

76
 Figure 3.5: The while loop statement
Let us consider a program to illustrate while loop,

Example 3.6

Write a program to calculate the factorial of a given input natural number.

/* Program to calculate factorial of given number */ #include<stdio.h>

#include<math.h> main()
{
int x;
long int fact = 1;
printf(“Enter any number to find factorial:\n”); /*read the number*/ scanf(“%d”,&x);
while(x > 0)
{
fact = fact*x; /* factorial calculation*/
x=x-1;
}
printf(“Factorial is %ld”,fact);
}

OUTPUT

Enter any number to find factorial: 4

Factorial is 24

Here, condition in while loop is evaluated and body of loop is repeated until condition evaluates to false i.e., when x
becomes zero. Then the control is jumped to first statement following while loop and print the value of factorial.
The do...while Loop

There is another loop control structure which is very similar to the while statement – called as the do.. while statement.
The only difference is that the expression which determines whether to carry on looping is evaluated at the end of each
loop. The syntax is as follows:

do
{
statement(s);
} while(test condition);

In do-while loop, the body of loop is executed at least once before the condition is evaluated. Then the loop repeats
body as long as condition is true. However, in while loop, the statement doesn’t execute the body of the loop even
once, if condition is false. That is why do-while loop is also called exit-control loop. This is shown in the figure 3.6
given below.
 An Introduction to
C

Figure 3.6: The do…while statement

Let us consider a program to illustrate do..while loop,

Example 3.7

Write a program to print first ten even natural numbers.

/* Program to print first ten even natural numbers */ #include<stdio.h>

main()
{
int i=0; int j=2; do {
printf(“%d”,j); j =j+2;
i=i+1; } while(i<10); }

OUTPUT
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

The for Loop

for statement makes it more convenient to count iterations of a loop and works well where the number of iterations
of the loop is known before the loop is entered. The syntax is as follows:

for(initialization; test condition; increment or decrement)

{
Statement(s);
}
The main purpose is to repeat statement while condition remains true, like the while loop.
But in addition, for provides places to specify an initialization instruction and an increment or decrement of the control
variable instruction. So this loop is specially designed to perform a repetitive action with a counter.

The for loop as shown in figure 5.7, works in the following manner:
78
1. Initialization is executed. Generally it is an initial value setting for a counter variable. This is executed only once.
2. Condition is checked, if it is true the loop continues, otherwise the loop finishes
 and statement is skipped.
3. Statement(s) is/are executed. As usual, it can be either a single instruction or a block of instructions enclosed
within curly brackets { }.
4. Finally, whatever is specified in the increment or decrement of the control variable field is executed and the loop
gets back to step 2.

Figure 3.7: The for statement

Let us consider a program to illustrate for loop,

Example 3.8

Write a program to print first n natural numbers.

/* Program to print first n natural numbers */
#include<stdio.h> main()
{
int i,n;
printf(“Enter value of n \n”);
scanf(“%d”,&n);
printf(“\nThe first %d natural numbers are :\n”, n); for(i=1;i<=n;++i)
{
printf(“%d”,i);
}
}
OUTPUT.
Enter value of n 6
The first 6 natural numbers are:
 123456
The three statements inside the braces of a for loop usually meant for one activity each, however any of them can be left
blank also. More than one control variables can be initialized but should be separated by comma.

Various forms of loop statements can be:

a) for(;condition;increment/decrement) body;
A blank first statement will mean no initialization.
b) for(initialization;condition;) body;
A blank last statement will mean no running increment/decrement.
c) for(initialization;;increment/decrement) body;

A blank second conditional statement means no test condition to control the exit from the loop. So, in the absence
of second statement, it is required to test the condition inside the loop otherwise it results in an infinite loop
where the control never exits from the loop.

d) for(;;increment/decrement) body;
Initialization is required to be done before the loop and test condition is checked inside the loop.
e) for(initialization;;) body;
Test condition and control variable increment/decrement is to be done inside the body of the loop.
(f) for(;condition;) body;
Initialization is required to be done before the loop and control variable increment/decrement is to be done inside
the body of the loop.
g) for(;;;) body;
Initialization is required to be done before the loop, test condition and control variable increment/decrement is to
be done inside the body of the loop.

The Nested Loops

C allows loops to be nested, that is, one loop may be inside another. The program given below illustrates the nesting of
loops.

Let us consider a program to illustrate nested loops,

Example 3.9

Write a program to generate the following pattern given below:

1
1 2
1 2 3
1 2 3 4

/* Program to print the pattern */ #include<stdio.h>

main()
{
int i,j; for(i=1;i<=4;++i)
{
printf("%d\n",i); for(j=1;j<=i;+
+j)
printf("%d\t",j); 80
}
}
 Here, an inner for loop is written inside the outer for loop. For every value of i, j takes the value from 1 to i and then
value of i is incremented and next iteration of outer loop starts ranging j value from 1 to i.

Check Your Progress 2

1. Predict the output

: #include <stdio.h>
main()
{
int i;
for(i=0;i<=10;i++)
printf("%d",i);
return 0;
}
2. What is the output?

#include<stdio.h> main()
{
int i; for(i=0;i<3;i++) printf("%d ",i);
}
3. What is the output for the following program?

#include<stdio.h> main()
{
int i=1; do
{
printf(“%d”,i);
}while(i=i-1);
}

4. Give the output of the following:

#include<stdio.h> main()
{
int i=3; while(i)
{
int x=100; printf(“\n%d..%d”,i,x); x=x+1;
i=i+1;
}
}

THE goto STATEMENT

The goto statement is used to alter the normal sequence of program instructions by transferring the control to some
other portion of the program. The syntax is as follows:
goto label;

Here, label is an identifier that is used to label the statement to which control will be transferred. The targeted
statement must be preceded by the unique label followed by colon.

label: statement;

Although goto statement is used to alter the normal sequence of program execution but its usage in the program should
be avoided. The most common applications are:

i). To branch around statements under certain conditions in place of use of if- else statement,
ii). To jump to the end of the loop under certain conditions bypassing the rest of statements inside the loop in
place of continue statement,
 iii). To jump out of the loop avoiding the use of break statement.

goto can never be used to jump into the loop from outside and it should be preferably used for forward jump.

Situations may arise, however, in which the goto statement can be useful. To the possible extent, the use of the goto
statement should generally be avoided.

Let us consider a program to illustrate goto and label statements.

Example 3.10

Write a program to print first 10 even numbers

/* Program to print 10 even numbers */

#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i=2;
while(1)
{
printf(“%d ”,i);
i=i+2;
if(i>=20)
goto outside;
}
outside : printf(“over”);
}

OUTPUT
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 over
THE break STATEMENT

Sometimes, it is required to jump out of a loop irrespective of the conditional test value. Break statement is used
inside any loop to allow the control jump to the immediate statement following the loop. The syntax is as follows:

break;

When nested loops are used, then break jumps the control from the loop where it has been used. Break
statement can be used inside any loop i.e., while, do-while, for and also in switch statement.

Let us consider a program to illustrate break statement.

Example 3.11

Write a program to calculate the first smallest divisor of a number.

/*Program to calculate smallest divisor of a number */

#include<stdio.h> main()
{
int div,num,i;
printf(“Enter any number:\n”); scanf(“%d”,&num);
for(i=2;i<=num;++i)
{
if((num % i) == 0)
{
printf(“Smallest divisor for number %d is %d”,num,i); break;
} 82
}
}
 OUTPUT
Enter any number:
9
Smallest divisor for number 9 is 3

In the above program, we divide the input number with the integer starting from 2 onwards, and print the
smallest divisor as soon as remainder comes out to be zero. Since we are only interested in first smallest divisor
and not all divisors of a given number, so jump out of the for loop using break statement without further going for
the next iteration of for loop.

Break is different from exit. Former jumps the control out of the loop while exit stops the execution of the entire
program.

THE continue STATEMENT

Unlike break statement, which is used to jump the control out of the loop, it is sometimes required to skip some part
of the loop and to continue the execution with next loop iteration. Continue statement used inside the loop
helps to bypass the section of a loop and passes the control to the beginningof the loop to continue the
execution with the next loop iteration. The syntax is as follows:

continue;

Let us see the program given below to know the working of the continue statement.

Example 3.12

Write a program to print first 20 natural numbers skipping the numbers divisible by 5.

/* Program to print first 20 natural numbers skipping the numbers divisible by 5 */ #include<stdio.h>
main()
{int i; for(i=1;i<=20;++i)
{
if((i % 5) == 0)
continue;
printf(“%d ”,i);
}
}

OUTPUT

1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 16 17 18 19

Here, the printf statement is bypassed each time when value stored in i is divisible by 5.