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Loops

2 min read 6 runnable examples Quiz included

for

C
#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++) {
        printf("%d squared is %d\n", i, i * i);
    }
    return 0;
}

A for loop has three parts: start (int i = 1), condition (i <= 5) and step (i++, which adds 1).

while

C
#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    int n = 1234;
    int digits = 0;
    while (n > 0) {
        n = n / 10;
        digits++;
    }
    printf("1234 has %d digits\n", digits);
    return 0;
}

do-while

Runs the body at least once, then checks:

C
#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    int n;
    do {
        printf("Enter a positive number: ");
        scanf("%d", &n);
    } while (n <= 0);
    printf("Thanks, you entered %d\n", n);
    return 0;
}

This "keep asking until the input is valid" pattern is the classic use of do-while.

break and continue

C
#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    for (int i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {
        if (i == 8) break;        // stop the loop
        if (i % 2 == 0) continue; // skip even numbers
        printf("%d ", i);
    }
    printf("\n");
    return 0;
}

Nested loops

C
#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    for (int row = 1; row <= 4; row++) {
        for (int col = 1; col <= row; col++) {
            printf("* ");
        }
        printf("\n");
    }
    return 0;
}

Sum and average

C
#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    int count, value, total = 0;
    scanf("%d", &count);
    for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
        scanf("%d", &value);
        total += value;
    }
    printf("Total %d, average %.2f\n", total, (double)total / count);
    return 0;
}
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