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<b>Trail:</b> Learning the Java Language

<br /><b>Lesson:</b> Language Basics

<br /><b>Section:</b> Control Flow Statements

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<div id="PageTitle"><h1>The for Statement</h1></div>

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<p>The <code>for</code> statement provides a compact way to iterate over a range of values. Programmers often refer to it as the &quot;for loop&quot; because of the way in which it repeatedly loops until a particular condition is satisfied. The general form of the <code>for</code> statement can be expressed as follows:</p>

<div class="codeblock"><pre>

for (<em>initialization</em>; <em>termination</em>;

<em>increment</em>) {

<em>statement(s)</em>

}

</pre></div>

<p>When using this version of the <code>for</code> statement, keep in mind that:</p>

<ul>

<li>The <em>initialization</em> expression initializes the loop; it&#39;s executed once, as the loop begins.</li>

<li>When the <em>termination</em> expression evaluates to <code>false</code>, the loop terminates.</li>

<li>The <em>increment</em> expression is invoked after each iteration through the loop; it is perfectly acceptable for this expression to increment <i>or</i> decrement a value.</li>

</ul>

<p>The following program,

<a class="SourceLink" target="_blank" href="examples/ForDemo.java" onclick="showCode('../../displayCode.html', 'examples/ForDemo.java'); return false;"><code>ForDemo</code></a>, uses the general form of the <code>for</code> statement to print the numbers 1 through 10 to standard output:</p>

<div class="codeblock"><pre>

class ForDemo {

public static void main(String[] args){

for(int i=1; i&lt;11; i++){

System.out.println(&quot;Count is: &quot;

+ i);

}

}

}

</pre></div>

<p>The output of this program is:</p>

<div class="codeblock"><pre>

Count is: 1

Count is: 2

Count is: 3

Count is: 4

Count is: 5

Count is: 6

Count is: 7

Count is: 8

Count is: 9

Count is: 10

</pre></div>

<p>Notice how the code declares a variable within the initialization expression. The scope of this variable extends from its declaration to the end of the block governed by the <code>for</code> statement, so it can be used in the termination and increment expressions as well. If the variable that controls a <code>for</code> statement is not needed outside of the loop, it&#39;s best to declare the variable in the initialization expression. The names <code>i</code>, <code>j</code>, and <code>k</code> are often used to control <code>for</code> loops; declaring them within the initialization expression limits their life span and reduces errors.</p>

<p>The three expressions of the <code>for</code> loop are optional; an infinite loop can be created as follows:</p>

<div class="codeblock"><pre>

// infinite loop

for ( ; ; ) {

// your code goes here

}

</pre></div>

<p>The <code>for</code> statement also has another form designed for iteration through

<a class="TutorialLink" target="_top" href="../../collections/index.html">Collections</a> and

<a class="TutorialLink" target="_top" href="arrays.html">arrays</a> This form is sometimes referred to as the <i>enhanced for</i> statement, and can be used to make your loops more compact and easy to read. To demonstrate, consider the following array, which holds the numbers 1 through 10:</p>

<div class="codeblock"><pre>

int[] numbers = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10};

</pre></div>

<p>The following program,

<a class="SourceLink" target="_blank" href="examples/EnhancedForDemo.java" onclick="showCode('../../displayCode.html', 'examples/EnhancedForDemo.java'); return false;"><code>EnhancedForDemo</code></a>, uses the enhanced <code>for</code> to loop through the array:</p>

<div class="codeblock"><pre>

class EnhancedForDemo {

public static void main(String[] args){

int[] numbers =

{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10};

for (int item : numbers) {

System.out.println(&quot;Count is: &quot;

+ item);

}

}

}

</pre></div>

<p>In this example, the variable <code>item</code> holds the current value from the numbers array. The output from this program is the same as before:</p>

<div class="codeblock"><pre>

Count is: 1

Count is: 2

Count is: 3

Count is: 4

Count is: 5

Count is: 6

Count is: 7

Count is: 8

Count is: 9

Count is: 10

</pre></div>

<p>We recommend using this form of the <code>for</code> statement instead of the general form whenever possible.</p>

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