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layout: default title: for Loops


Sometimes you need to repeat a section of code, and do so a certain number of times.

The for loop is useful for executing statements, the loop body, a specific number of times.

int i;
for (i = 0; i < 5; i = i + 1) {
  System.out.print(i);
  System.out.print(" squared is ");
  System.out.println(i * i);
}
The program sets the variable i to 0.

Then it checks the condition i < 5 to see if it should execute the statements in the { }.

After executing these statements, this for loop adds 1 to i.

The program then "loops" back to the for statement to check the i < 5 condition to see if it should execute the loop again.

Our example loop runs 5 times, when i has the values 0, 1, 2, 3, 4.

Each time through the loop is an iteration. * We could say the for loop iterates through the code 5 times.

iterate

Do something again and again a certain number of times.

The variable i controls the number of time the three System.out lines are printed. * We call it the loop control variable.

The previous example declares i inside of the loop, but we don't have to. * i could just control the number of times the loop executes. * Below, we declare variables before the loop so we can use them after the loop finishes.

int mult = 0;
int multiplier = 2;
int i;
// Multiplication is just repeated addition.
// This loop adds 2 five times.
for (i = 0; i < 5; i = i + 1) {
  mult = mult + multiplier;
}
System.out.println("mult is now " + mult);

Drill

ForLoops/src/drills/ForLoop.java * Write a for loop to print the numbers 1 to 10 to the screen. * Write the same loop with the loop control variable starting at 0.


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