Iteration Statements (C++)

Iteration statements cause statements (or compound statements) to be executed zero or more times, subject to some loop-termination criteria. When these statements are compound statements, they are executed in order, except when either the break statement or the continue statement is encountered.

C++ provides four iteration statements — while, do, for, and range-based for. Each of these iterates until its termination expression evaluates to zero (false), or until loop termination is forced with a break statement. The following table summarizes these statements and their actions; each is discussed in detail in the sections that follow.

Iteration Statements

Statement	Evaluated At	Initialization	Increment
while	Top of loop	No	No
do	Bottom of loop	No	No
for	Top of loop	Yes	Yes
range-based for	Top of loop	Yes	Yes

The statement part of an iteration statement cannot be a declaration. However, it can be a compound statement containing a declaration.

See also

Overview of C++ Statements