Lecture 8

Repetition
(also known as Looping)
 Repetition Statement
• A repetition statement allows you to specify
that an action is to be repeated while some
condition remains true.

 While there are more items on my shopping list

Purchase next item and cross it off my list
Loops
• The main idea of a loop is to repeat an action or a series of actions.

The concept of a loop

Loops
• But, when to stop looping?
• In the following flowchart, the action is executed over and over again.
It never stop – This is called an infinite loop
• Solution – put a condition to tell the loop either continue looping or
stop.
 Loops
• A loop has two parts – body
and condition

• Body – a statement or a block

True
of statements that will be Body
repeated.

• Condition – is used to control

the iteration – either to
Condition
continue or stop iterating.

False
 Loop statements
• C provides three loop statements:
 The while Statement in C
• The syntax of while statement in C:
while (loop repetition condition)
condition
statement;
• Loop repetition condition is the condition
which controls the loop.
• The statement is repeated as long as the loop
repetition condition is true.
true
• A loop is called an infinite loop if the loop
repetition condition is always true.
5-7
 while statement
while flowchart

while(Condition)
Condition
{
Statements;
} True

Repeated_Actions False
 while statement
Example: This while statement prints numbers 10 down to 1
Note that, the first line (n=10) is
actually not a part of the loop statement.

n=10
n=10;
while (n>0)
{
printf(“%d “, n); is n>0?

n=n-1;
} True

Print
n

False

n = n -1

Output:

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 The for Statement in C
• The syntax of for statement in C:
for (initialization expression;
expression
loop repetition condition;
condition
update expression)
expression
statement;
• The initialization expression set the initial value of the
loop control variable.
• The loop repetition condition test the value of the
loop control variable.
• The update expression update the loop control
variable.
5-10
 for statement
for flowchart

Initialization

for (Initialization; Condition; Updating )

{
Condition
Repeated_Actions;
} True

Repeated_Actions

False

Updating
 for statement
Example: This for statement prints numbers 10 down to 1

for (n=10;n>0;n=n-1)
n=10
{
printf(“%d “, n);
}
is n>0?

True
Output: Print
n

False
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
n = n -1
 Nested Loops
• Nested loops consist of an outer loop with one
or more inner loops.
loops
• e.g.,
Outer loop
for (i=1;i<=100;i++){
for(j=1;j<=50;j++){
… Inner loop

}
}
• The above loop will run for 100*50 iterations.
5-13
for vs. while statements

Comparing for and while loops

 The do-while Statement in C
• The syntax of do-while statement in C:
do
statement
while (loop repetition condition);
condition
• The statement is first executed.
• If the loop repetition condition is true, the
statement is repeated.
• Otherwise, the loop is exited.
5-15
 do…while statement

do True Repeated_Actions
{
Repeated_Actions;
} while (Condition);

Condition

False
do-while loop is used to ensure that the statements within the
loop are executed at least once.
 do…while statement
Example: This do…while statement prints numbers 10 down to 1

Note that, the first line (n=10) is

actually not a part of the loop statement.

n=10

n=10;
do
{ Print
n
printf(“%d “, n); True

n=n-1;
n = n -1
} while (n>0);

is n>0?

Output:
False

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
 Loop statements
• If the body part has only one statement, then the bracket
symbols, { } may be omitted.

• Example: These two for statments are equivalent.

for (n=10; n>0; n=n-1) for (n=10; n>0; n=n-1)

{ printf(“%d “, n);
printf(“%d ”, n);
}
 Jump statements
• You h ave le ar n th at, t he r ep e tition o f a lo op is con tr olled b y th e loo p co n dit io n.
• C p ro vid es a no th e r wa y to co n tro l t h e loo p , b y usin g ju mp sta te men ts.
• The re a re f ou r ju mp sta te men ts:
 break statement
• It causes a loop to terminate

Example:

for (n=10; n>0; n=n-1) Output:

{
if (n<8) break; 10 9 8
printf(“%d “, n);
}

Break statement takes the execution control out of the loop. The break
statement, when executed in a while, for, do…while or switch statement,
causes an immediate exit from that statement.
 continue statement
• In while and do…while loops, the continue statement transfers the control to the loop
condition.

• In for loop, the continue statement transfers the control to the updating part.

The continue statement

 continue statement
Example:

for (n=10; n>0; n=n-1) Output:

{
if (n%2==1) continue; 10 8 6 4 2
printf(“%d “, n);
}

Continue statement skips the execution of the statements after it and takes the
control to the beginning of the loop.
 continue statement
Example:

n = 10; Output:
while (n>0)
{ 10 9 9 9 9 9 …………
printf(“%d “, n);
The loop then prints number 9 over
if (n%2==1) continue; and over again. It never stops.
n = n –1;
}
 Return statement
• Exits the function.
• return exits immediately from the currently
executing function to the calling routine,
optionally returning a value. The syntax is:
• return [expression];
• For example,
int sqr (int x) { return (x*x);}
 goto
• Unconditionally transfer control.
• goto may be used for transfering control from
one place to another. The syntax is:
• goto identifier; Control is unconditionally
transferred to the location of a local label
specified by identifier. For example,
• Again:
• ...
• goto Again;
 goto statement
• It is used to translate connector symbols – jump to another part inside a program.
• But, it is not recommended to use - it may cause unstructured programs.
Example:

n=10;

A:
n=10 printf(“%d “, n);
n = n -1;
A

Print
n
if (n>0) goto A;

n = n -1

Output:
is n>0? True A

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
False