Repetition and Loop Statements

Chapter 5

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 Outline
• Repetition in Programs
• Counting loops
• The while statement
• The for statement
• Conditional Loops
• Nested Loops
• The do-while statement
• Common Programming Errors
2
 Recall: Control Structures
• Three kinds of control structures
– Sequence (Compound Statement)
– Selection (if and switch Statements)
– Repetition (discussed in this presentation)
• The repetition of steps in a program is called a loop
• Three loop control structures in C
– The while statement
– The for statement
– The do-while statement
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 Repetition in Programs
• Loop structure
– A control structure that repeats a group of steps in a program
• Loop body
– The statements that are repeated inside the loop
• Three questions to raise:
1. Are there any steps repeated in the problem?
2. If the answer to question 1 is yes, is the number of
repetitions know in advance?
3. If the answer to question 2 is no, then how long to keep
repeating the steps?
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Flowchart of Loop Choice

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 Counting Loop
• Called a Counter-controlled loop
• A loop that can be controlled by a counter variable
• Number of iterations (repetitions) can be
determined before loop execution begins
• General format of a counting loop:
Set loop control variable to an initial value
while (loop control variable < final value) {
/* Do something multiple times */
Increase loop control variable by 1
}
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 The while Statement
• Syntax: Loop Repetition Condition
while (condition) {
statement1 ;
Loop Body:
statement2 ; Can be one statement, or
. . . Compound statement
statementN ;
}
• As long as condition is true, the loop body is executed
• The condition is re-tested after each iteration
• The loop terminates when condition becomes false 7
 Example of a while Loop
• Compute and display the gross pay for 7 employees
– Initialization: count_emp = 0;
– Testing: (count_emp < 7)
– Updating: count_emp = count_emp + 1;

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 Flowchart of a while Loop

Loop repetition condition

Loop body

If count_emp is not updated,

the loop will execute forever.
Such a loop is called infinite loop.
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Total Payroll of a Company

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Enter number of employees> 3
Hours> 50
Rate> $5.25
Pay is $262.50

Hours> 6
Sample
Rate> $5.0
Pay is $ 30.00 Run
Hours> 15
Rate> $7.0
Pay is $105.00

All employees processed

Total payroll is $ 397.50
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 Next . . .
• Repetition in Programs
• Counting loops
• The while statement
• The for statement
• Conditional Loops
• Nested Loops
• The do-while statement
• Common Programming Errors
12
 The for Statement
• Better way to write a counting loop
for (initialization expression;
loop repetition condition;
update expression)
Statement ; /* Can be Compound */
• First, the initialization expression is executed
• Then, the loop repetition condition is tested
– If true, the Statement is executed , the update
expression is computed, and the repetition
condition is re-tested 13
Accumulating a Sum: total_pay

/* initialization */
/* repetition condition */
/* update */

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Compound Assignment Operators
variable op= expression ; is equivalent to
variable = variable op (expression) ;

Statement with Simple Equivalent with Compound

Assignment Operator Assignment Operator
count_emp = count_emp + 1; count_emp += 1;

time = time - 1; time -= 1;

product = product * item; product *= item;

total = total / number; total /= number;

n = n % (x+1); n %= x+1;
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 Increment and Decrement Operators

• counter = counter + 1
count += 1
counter++

• counter = counter - 1
count -= 1
counter—

• side effect
– a change in the value of a variable as a result of
carrying out an operation
© 2016 Pearson Education, Inc., Hob 16
oken, NJ. All rights reserved.
 Prefix and Postfix Increments

C also provides the decrement operator -- that

can be used in either the prefix or postfix position 17
 Example
a, b, c, and d are 4 integers and and a =
3, b = -7, c = 2 What is the value of d
after running
d = a * ++b / c % a - b + c;?

Solution:

d = 3*-6/2%3 – (-6) +2
d = -18/2%3 + 6 +2
d = -9%3 + 6 + 2
d = 0+8
d = 8
© 2016 Pearson Education, Inc., Hob 18
oken, NJ. All rights reserved.
Function to Compute Factorial

19
 Conversion of
Celsius to Fahrenheit
Display a Table of Values

Decrement by 5

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 Next . . .
• Repetition in Programs
• Counting loops
• The while statement
• The for statement
• Conditional Loops
• Nested Loops
• The do-while statement
• Common Programming Errors
21
 Conditional Loops
• Not able to determine the exact number of
loop repetitions before loop execution begins
• Example of a conditional loop: input validation
printf("Enter number of students> ");
scanf("%d", &num_students);
while (num_students < 0) {
printf("Invalid negative number; try again> ");
scanf("%d", &num_students);
}

• while loop rejects invalid (negative) input

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 Sentinel-Controlled Loops
• In many programs, we input a list of data values
• Often, we don’t know the length of the list
• We ask the user to enter a unique data value, called
a sentinel value, after the last data item
• Sentinel Value
– An end marker that follows the last value in a list of data
– For readability, we used #define to name the SENTINEL
• The loop repetition condition terminates a loop
when the sentinel value is read 23
 Sentinel-Controlled while Loop
#include <stdio.h>
#define SENTINEL -1 /* Marking end of input */

int main(void) { /* Compute the sum of test scores */

int sum = 0; /* Sum of test scores */
int score; /* Current input score */

printf("Enter first score (%d to quit)> ", SENTINEL);

scanf("%d", &score);
while (score != SENTINEL) {
sum += score;
printf("Enter next score (%d to quit)> ", SENTINEL);
scanf("%d", &score);
}
printf("\nSum of exam scores is %d\n", sum);
return (0);
} 24
 Sentinel-Controlled for Loop
#include <stdio.h>
#define SENTINEL -1 /* Marking end of input */

int main(void) { /* Compute the sum of test scores */

int sum = 0; /* Sum of test scores */
int score; /* Current input score */

printf("Enter first score (%d to quit)> ", SENTINEL);

for (scanf("%d", &score);
score != SENTINEL;
scanf("%d", &score)) {
sum += score;
printf("Enter next score (%d to quit)> ", SENTINEL);
}
printf("\nSum of exam scores is %d\n", sum);
return (0);
} 25
 Infinite Loop on Faulty Input Data
• Reading faulty data can result in an infinite loop
scanf("%d", &score); /* read integer */
• Suppose the user enters the letter X
Enter next score (-1 to quit)> X
scanf fails to read variable score as letter X
• Variable score is not modified in the program
score != SENTINEL is always true
• Therefore, Infinite Loop
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 Detecting Faulty Input Data
• scanf can detect faulty input as follows:
status = scanf("%d", &score);
• If scanf successfully reads score then status is 1
• If scanf fails to read score then status is 0
• We can test status to detect faulty input
• This can be used to terminate the execution of a loop
• In general, scanf can read multiple variables
• It returns the number of successfully read inputs
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 Terminating Loop on Faulty Input
int main(void) { /* Compute the sum of test scores */
int sum = 0; /* Sum of test scores */
int score; /* Current input score */
int status; /* Input status of scanf */

printf("Enter first score (%d to quit)> ", SENTINEL);

status = scanf("%d", &score);
while (status != 0 && score != SENTINEL) {
sum += score;
printf("Enter next score (%d to quit)> ", SENTINEL);
status = scanf("%d", &score);
}
printf("\nSum of exam scores is %d\n", sum);
return (0);
}
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 Next . . .
• Repetition in Programs
• Counting loops
• The while statement
• The for statement
• Conditional Loops
• Nested Loops
• The do-while statement
• Common Programming Errors
29
 Nested Loops
• Consist of an outer loop with one or more
inner loops
• Each time the outer loop is repeated, the
inner loops are reentered and executed
stars(5);
• Example:
void stars(int n) { *
int i, j; **
inner loop
outer loop

for (i=1; i<=n; i++) { ***

for (j=1; j<=i; j++) {
****
printf("*");
} *****
printf("\n"); 30
 Nested if Statement inside Loop
/* day1: Sun is 1, Mon is 2, ..., Sat is 7 */
/* days: number of days in month */
void display_month(int day1, int days) {
int i;
printf(" Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat\n");
for (i=1; i<day1; i++)
printf(" "); /* spaces before day1 */
for (i=1; i<=days; i++) {
printf("%4d", i); /* print day number */
outer for loop

if ((day1+i-1)%7 == 0){ /* end of week */

nested if

printf("\n");
}
}
printf("\n\n");
} 31
 Displaying a Month
display_month(7, 30); /* function call
*/

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Output
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 32
 The do-while Statement
• The for and while statements evaluate the loop
condition before the execution of the loop body
• The do-while statement evaluates the loop
condition after the execution of the loop body
• Syntax:
do
statement; /* Can be compound */
while (loop repetition condition) ;
• The do-while must execute at least one time
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Using do-while to Repeat Program
int main() {
. . . /* Variable Declarations */
char ch; /* User response [y/n] */

do {
. . . /* Execute program */
printf("Repeat again [y/n]? ");
ch = getch(); /* read from keyboard */
printf("%c\n", ch); /* display character */
} while (ch=='y'|| ch=='Y');
}
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 in /* get integer value between min and max */
g int get_int (int min, int max) {
int inval; /* input value between min and max */
do int status; /* returned by scanf */

- int error;
char ch;
/* error flag for bad input */
/* character input to skip */
wh do {
printf("Enter integer from %d to %d> ", min, max);
il status = scanf("%d", &inval);

e error = 1;
if (status == 0)
/* set error flag */
/* faulty input */
to printf("Invalid character %c\n", getchar());
printf("Skipping rest of line.\n");
Va else if (inval < min || inval > max)

lid printf("Number %d is out of range\n", inval);

else error = 0; /* clear error flag */
at do ch = getchar();
while (ch != '\n'); /* skip to end-of-line */
e } while (error);

In }
return inval;
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 Next . . .
• Repetition in Programs
• Counting loops
• The while statement
• The for statement
• Conditional Loops
• Nested Loops
• The do-while statement
• Common Programming Errors
36
 Off-by-One Loop Errors
• A common logic error
• A loop executes one more time or one less time
• Example:
for (count = 0; count <= n; ++count)
sum += count; Executes n + 1 times

for (count = 1; count < n; ++count)

sum += count; Executes n – 1 times
• Checking loop boundaries
– Initial and final values of the loop control variable
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Common Programming Errors (1/2)
• Do not confuse if and while statements
– if statement implements a decision step
– while statement implements a loop
• for loop: remember to end the initialization step
and the loop repetition condition with semicolon (;)
• Remember to use braces { and } around a loop body
consisting of multiple statements
• Remember to provide a prompt for the user, when
using a sentinel-controlled loop
• Make sure the sentinel value cannot be confused
with a normal data input 38
 Common Programming Errors (2/2)
• Use do-while only when there is no possibility of
zero loop iterations
• Do not use increment, decrement, or compound
assignment as sub-expressions in complex expressions
a *= b + c; /* a = a*(b+c); */
There is no shorter way to write: a = a*b + c;
• Be sure that the operand of an increment/decrement
operator is a variable:
z = ++j * k--; /* ++j; z=j*k; k--; */
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