Looping and Repetition

Yongseok Son
Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Chung-Ang University
Repetition Structure
❖ A repetition structure allows the programmer to specify
that an action is to be repeated while some condition
remains true

❖ Repetition statements are called loops, and are used to

repeat the same code multiple times in succession
▪ The number of repetitions is based on criteria defined in
the loop structure, usually a true/false expression

❖ There are three repetition structures in C, the while loop,

the do-while loop, and the for loop

slide 2
 Why is Repetition Needed?
❖ Suppose you want to add five numbers to find their average
▪ From what you have learned so far, you could proceed as
follows (assume that all variables are properly declared)
▪ Example 1
• scanf(“%d, %d, %d, %d, %d”, &num1, &num2, &num3, &num4,
&num5);
• sum = num1 + num2 + num3 + num4 + num5;
• average = sum / 5;

slide 3
While statement
❖ The while statement evaluates expression/condition,
which must return a boolean value
▪ If the expression/condition is true, the statement(s) in the
while block is/are executed

while (expression/condition)
statement(s);

▪ It continues testing the expression/condition and executing

its block until the expression/condition evaluates to false

slide 4
 While statement
❖ In C, while is a reserved word
▪ The expression acts as a decision maker and is usually a logical
expression
▪ The statement can be either a simple or compound statement
❖ The expression provides an entry condition
▪ If it initially evaluates to true, the statement executes
▪ The loop condition is then reevaluated
▪ If it again evaluates to true, the statement executes again
▪ The statement (body of the loop) continues to execute until the
expression is no longer true
▪ A loop that continues to execute endlessly is called an infinite loop
• To avoid an infinite loop, make sure that the loop’s body contains
statement(s) that assure that the exit condition

slide 5
While statement
❖ While statement

while (expression){
statement(s)
}

repetition

true
expression statement

false

slide 6
While statement
❖ While statement
num = 1;
sum = 0;
while (num <= 10){
sum = sum + num;
num = num + 1;
}

num = 1;
sum = 0;

true sum = sum + num;

num <= 10
num = num + 1;

false

slide 7
While statement
❖ Example
#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{ Hello, world! 0
int i = 0; Hello, world! 1
…
while (i < 100) { Hello, world! 97
printf("Hello, world! %d\n", i); Hello, world! 98
i++; Hello, world! 99
}

return 0;
}

slide 8
do-while statement
❖ It is similar to while loops except it first executes the
statement(s) inside the loop, and then evaluates the
expression/condition
▪ If the expression is true, the statement(s) in the do loop
is/are executed again

do
statement(s);
while (expression/condition);

▪ It continues executing the statement until the

expression/condition becomes false
▪ Note that the statement within the do loop is always
executed at least once

slide 9
do-while statement
❖ do-while statement

do{
statement(s);
}while (expression);

statement

true
expression

false

slide 10
do-while statement
❖ The body (block) of do-while statement is executed at
least once

num = 1;
sum = 0;

num = 1;
sum = sum + num;
sum = 0;
num = num + 1;
do {
sum = sum + num;
num = num + 1;
} while (n <= 10)
num <= 10
true

false

slide 11
do-while statement
❖ Example

#include <stdio.h>

int main()
{
Hello, world! 0
int i = 0; //initialization
Hello, world! 1
…
do {
Hello, world! 97
printf("Hello, world! %d\n", i); //repeat
Hello, world! 98
i++; //repeat
Hello, world! 99
} while (i < 100); //condition

return 0;
}

slide 12
For statement
❖ Usually used when a loop will be executed a set number of times
❖ The for looping structure is a specialized form of the while loop
▪ The general form of the for statement is:

for (initial statement; loop condition; update statement){

statement(s);
}

❖ The for loop executes as follow:

▪ The initial statement is executed
▪ The loop expression/condition is evaluated
▪ If it is TRUE, the loop statement is executed followed by the
execution of the update statement
▪ Repeat step until the loop condition evaluates to FALSE

slide 13
For statement
❖ The for loop executes as follows:
▪ (1) The initial statement executes
▪ (2) The loop condition is evaluated
▪ (3) Execute the for loop statement
▪ (4) Execute the update statement

initial statement

loop
statement update statement
condition true
false

slide 14
For statement
❖ Example of for looping

#include <stdio.h> <Result>

value of a: 10
int main () { value of a: 11
value of a: 12
int a; value of a: 13
value of a: 14
/* for loop execution */ value of a: 15
for( a = 10; a < 20; a = a + 1 ){ value of a: 16
printf("value of a: %d\n", a); value of a: 17
} value of a: 18
value of a: 19
return 0;
}

slide 15
Break statement
❖ Break statement
▪ Go out of the loop block and execute next statements
▪ When a break statement is encountered inside a loop, the
loop is immediately terminated and the program control
resumes at the next statement following the loop
▪ If you are using nested loops, the break statement will stop
the execution of the innermost loop and start executing the
next line of code after the block
▪ Example

while(1){
scanf(“%d”, &j);
if (j == 0)
break;
}

slide 16
Continue statement
❖ Continue in loop
▪ The continue statement in C programming works
somewhat like the break statement.
• Instead of forcing termination, continue statement forces the
loop to continue or execute the next iteration
▪ Example

#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
int i;
for (i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {// loop from 1 to 10
if (i == 6) // If i is equals to 6,
Output:
continue; // continue to next iteration
1 2 3 4 5 7 8 9 10
else
printf("%d ", i); // otherwise print the value of i
}
return 0;
}

slide 17
Continue statement
❖ How continue statement works?
while statement do while statement
while (testExpression) { do {
// codes // codes
if (testExpression) { if (testExpression) {
continue; continue;
} }
// codes // codes
} }
while (testExpression);

for statement
for (init; testExpression; update) {
// codes
if (testExpression) {
continue;
}
// codes
}

slide 18
Nested Loop
❖ The placing of one loop inside the body of another loop
is called nesting
❖ When you “nest” two loops, the outer loop takes control
of the number of complete repetitions of the inner loop
❖ While all types of loops may be nested, the most
commonly nested loops are for loops

slide 19
Nested Loop
❖ Nested Loop allows to use one loop inside another loop
❖ When working with nested loops, the outer loop changes
only after the inner loop is completely finished

for(num2 = 0; num2 <=9; num2++)

{
for(num1=0; num1<9; num1++)
outer { inner
printf(“%d, %d\n”, num2, num1);
}
}

slide 20
Nested Loop
❖ Example

int main ()
{
int i, j;

for (i=1; i<10; i++) {

printf ("%d-th iteration\n", i);
for (j = 1; j < 10; j++)
printf("%d X %d = %d\n", i, j, i*j);
printf ("\n", i);
}

return 0;
}

slide 21
Infinite Loop
❖ An infinite loop occurs when a condition always
evaluates to true and continues to execute endlessly
▪ Example

while (1){
i = 0;
i++;
printf(“%d”, i);
}

slide 22