icp/oer/courses/c-basics/sections/02-basic-language-features/04-loops/content.html

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<p>
Usually algorithms need a way to express iteration, doing somethings multiple times until a condition is met.
In C we have 3 basic types of loops to achieve that. The for-loop, the while loop and the do-while loop.
</p>
<p>
The for-loop consist of the keyword <b>for</b>, followed by 3 expressions and then the statement or block, which should be iterated over.
The first expression is for the initialization. It will only be executed in the beginning. The second one is for the conditional check.
Only if it is evaluated to true, the code will be iterated over. This statement will be checked each time at the beginning of the loop.
The last expression is for everything, which needs to be done after one iteration. Usually the for-loop is used for counted-looping
in combination with a loop counter. But you can use them differently. E.g to iterate over a linked list.
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<p>
The while loop consist of the keyword <b>while</b> followed by an expression for the conditional check and then by the statement or a block.
The while loop will first check, if the expression will evaluate to true. If that is the case, it will execute the code and check again until the
expression is false.
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<p>
The do-while-loop works just like the while-loop, except that it will check the expression at the end of every iteration.
That's why the do-while-loop consist of the <b>do</b> keyword, then the statement or block and then the <b>while</b> keyword
with the expression for the conditional check.
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