for Statement (C++)

The latest version of this topic can be found at for Statement (C++).

Executes a statement repeatedly until the condition becomes false. For information on the range-based for statement, see Range-based for Statement (C++).

Syntax

for ( init-expression ; cond-expression ; loop-expression )   
    statement;  

Remarks

Use the for statement to construct loops that must execute a specified number of times.

The for statement consists of three optional parts, as shown in the following table.

for Loop Elements

The following examples show different ways to use the for statement.

#include <iostream>  
using namespace std;  
  
int main() {  
    // The counter variable can be declared in the init-expression.  
    for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++ ){   
       cout << i;  
    }  
    // Output: 01  
    // The counter variable can be declared outside the for loop.  
    int i;  
    for (i = 0; i < 2; i++){  
        cout << i;  
    }  
    // Output: 01  
    // These for loops are the equivalent of a while loop.  
    i = 0;  
    while (i < 2){  
        cout << i++;  
    }  
}  
    // Output: 012  

init-expression and loop-expression can contain multiple statements separated by commas. For example:

#include <iostream>  
using namespace std;  
  
int main(){  
    int i, j;  
    for ( i = 5, j = 10 ; i + j < 20; i++, j++ ) {  
        cout << "i + j = " << (i + j) << '\n';  
    }  
}  
    // Output:  
    i + j = 15  
    i + j = 17  
    i + j = 19  

loop-expression can be incremented or decremented, or modified in other ways.

#include <iostream>  
using namespace std;  
  
int main(){  
for (int i = 10; i > 0; i--) {  
        cout << i << ' ';  
    }  
    // Output: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1  
    for (int i = 10; i < 20; i = i+2) {  
        cout << i << ' ';  
    }  
    // Output: 10 12 14 16 18  

A for loop terminates when a break, return, or goto (to a labeled statement outside the for loop) within statement is executed. A continue statement in a for loop terminates only the current iteration.

If cond-expression is omitted, it is considered true and the for loop will not terminate without a break, return, or goto within statement.

Although the three fields of the for statement are normally used for initialization, testing for termination, and incrementing, they are not restricted to these uses. For example, the following code prints the numbers 0 through 4. In this case, statement is the null statement:

#include <iostream>  
using namespace std;  
  
int main()  
{  
    int i;  
    for( i = 0; i < 5; cout << i << '\n', i++){  
        ;  
    }  
}  

for Loops and the C++ Standard

The C++ standard says that a variable declared in a for loop shall go out of scope after the for loop ends. For example:

for (int i = 0 ; i < 5 ; i++) {  
   // do something  
}  
// i is now out of scope under /Za or /Zc:forScope  

By default, under /Ze, a variable declared in a for loop remains in scope until the for loop's enclosing scope ends.

/Zc:forScope enables standard behavior of variables declared in for loops without needing to specify /Za.

It is also possible to use the scoping differences of the for loop to redeclare variables under /Ze as follows:

// for_statement5.cpp  
int main(){  
   int i = 0;   // hidden by var with same name declared in for loop  
   for ( int i = 0 ; i < 3; i++ ) {}  
  
   for ( int i = 0 ; i < 3; i++ ) {}  
}  

This more closely mimics the standard behavior of a variable declared in a for loop, which requires variables declared in a for loop to go out of scope after the loop is done. When a variable is declared in a for loop, the compiler internally promotes it to a local variable in the for loop's enclosing scope even if there is already a local variable with the same name.

See Also

Iteration Statements
Keywords
while Statement (C++)
do-while Statement (C++)
Range-based for Statement (C++)