Simple control structures

A program is usually not limited to a linear sequence of instructions. During its process it may
bifurcate, repeat code or take decisions. For that purpose, C++ provides control structures that
serve to specify what has to be done by our program, when and under which circumstances.

With the introduction of control structures we are going to have to introduce a new concept: the
compound-statement or block. A block is a group of statements which are separated by
semicolons (;) like all C++ statements, but grouped together in a block enclosed in braces: { }:

{ statement1; statement2; statement3; }

Most of the control structures that we will see in this section require a generic statement as part
of its syntax. A statement can be either a simple statement (a simple instruction ending with a
semicolon) or a compound statement (several instructions grouped in a block), like the one just
described. In the case that we want the statement to be a simple statement, we do not need to
enclose it in braces ({}). But in the case that we want the statement to be a compound statement
it must be enclosed between braces ({}), forming a block.

Conditional structure: if and else

The if keyword is used to execute a statement or block only if a condition is fulfilled. Its form
is:

if (condition) statement

Where condition is the expression that is being evaluated. If this condition is true, statement
is executed. If it is false, statement is ignored (not executed) and the program continues right
after this conditional structure.
For example, the following code fragment prints x is 100 only if the value stored in the x
variable is indeed 100:

1 if (x == 100)
2 cout << "x is 100";

If we want more than a single statement to be executed in case that the condition is true we can
specify a block using braces { }:

1 if (x == 100)
2{
3 cout << "x is ";
4 cout << x;
5}
We can additionally specify what we want to happen if the condition is not fulfilled by using the
keyword else. Its form used in conjunction with if is:

if (condition) statement1 else statement2

For example:

1 if (x == 100)
2 cout << "x is 100";
3 else
4 cout << "x is not 100";

prints on the screen x is 100 if indeed x has a value of 100, but if it has not -and only if not- it
prints out x is not 100.

The if + else structures can be concatenated with the intention of verifying a range of values.
The following example shows its use telling if the value currently stored in x is positive, negative
or none of them (i.e. zero):

1 if (x > 0)
2 cout << "x is positive";
3 else if (x < 0)
4 cout << "x is negative";
5 else
6 cout << "x is 0";

Remember that in case that we want more than a single statement to be executed, we must group
them in a block by enclosing them in braces { }.

Iteration structures (loops)

Loops have as purpose to repeat a statement a certain number of times or while a condition is
fulfilled.

The while loop

Its format is:

while (expression) statement

and its functionality is simply to repeat statement while the condition set in expression is true.
For example, we are going to make a program to countdown using a while-loop:

1 // custom countdown using while Enter the starting number > Edit &
2 8 Run
3 #include <iostream> 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,
4 using namespace std; FIRE!
5
6 int main ()
7 {
8 int n;
9 cout << "Enter the starting number >
10 ";
11 cin >> n;
12
13 while (n>0) {
14 cout << n << ", ";
15 --n;
16 }
17
18 cout << "FIRE!\n";
19 return 0;
}

When the program starts the user is prompted to insert a starting number for the countdown.
Then the while loop begins, if the value entered by the user fulfills the condition n>0 (that n is
greater than zero) the block that follows the condition will be executed and repeated while the
condition (n>0) remains being true.

The whole process of the previous program can be interpreted according to the following script
(beginning in main):

1. User assigns a value to n

2. The while condition is checked (n>0). At this point there are two possibilities:
* condition is true: statement is executed (to step 3)
* condition is false: ignore statement and continue after it (to step 5)
3. Execute statement:
cout << n << ", ";
--n;
(prints the value of n on
the screen and decreases n by 1)
4. End of block. Return automatically to step 2
5. Continue the program right after the block: print FIRE! and end program.

When creating a while-loop, we must always consider that it has to end at some point, therefore
we must provide within the block some method to force the condition to become false at some
point, otherwise the loop will continue looping forever. In this case we have included --n; that
decreases the value of the variable that is being evaluated in the condition (n) by one - this will
eventually make the condition (n>0) to become false after a certain number of loop iterations: to
be more specific, when n becomes 0, that is where our while-loop and our countdown end.

Of course this is such a simple action for our computer that the whole countdown is performed
instantly without any practical delay between numbers.
The do-while loop

Its format is:

do statement while (condition);

Its functionality is exactly the same as the while loop, except that condition in the do-while
loop is evaluated after the execution of statement instead of before, granting at least one
execution of statement even if condition is never fulfilled. For example, the following
example program echoes any number you enter until you enter 0.

// number echoer
1
2 #include <iostream>
3 using namespace std;
4
Enter number (0 to end):
5 int main ()
12345
6 {
You entered: 12345
7 unsigned long n;
8 do {
Enter number (0 to end): Edit &
160277 Run
9 cout << "Enter number (0 to end):
You entered: 160277
10 ";
Enter number (0 to end): 0
11 cin >> n;
You entered: 0
12 cout << "You entered: " << n <<
13 "\n";
14 } while (n != 0);
15 return 0;
}

The do-while loop is usually used when the condition that has to determine the end of the loop is
determined within the loop statement itself, like in the previous case, where the user input within
the block is what is used to determine if the loop has to end. In fact if you never enter the value 0
in the previous example you can be prompted for more numbers forever.

The for loop

Its format is:

for (initialization; condition; increase) statement;

and its main function is to repeat statement while condition remains true, like the while loop.
But in addition, the for loop provides specific locations to contain an initialization
statement and an increase statement. So this loop is specially designed to perform a repetitive
action with a counter which is initialized and increased on each iteration.

It works in the following way:

 1. initialization is executed. Generally it is an initial value setting for a counter
variable. This is executed only once.
2. condition is checked. If it is true the loop continues, otherwise the loop ends and
statement is skipped (not executed).
3. statement is executed. As usual, it can be either a single statement or a block enclosed
in braces { }.
4. finally, whatever is specified in the increase field is executed and the loop gets back to
step 2.

Here is an example of countdown using a for loop:

// countdown using a for

1
loop
2
#include <iostream>
3
using namespace std;
4
int main ()
5
6
{ 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Edit &
for (int n=10; n>0; n--) { FIRE! Run
7
cout << n << ", ";
8
}
9
cout << "FIRE!\n";
10
return 0;
11
}

The initialization and increase fields are optional. They can remain empty, but in all cases
the semicolon signs between them must be written. For example we could write: for (;n<10;)
if we wanted to specify no initialization and no increase; or for (;n<10;n++) if we wanted to
include an increase field but no initialization (maybe because the variable was already initialized
before).

Optionally, using the comma operator (,) we can specify more than one expression in any of the
fields included in a for loop, like in initialization, for example. The comma operator (,) is
an expression separator, it serves to separate more than one expression where only one is
generally expected. For example, suppose that we wanted to initialize more than one variable in
our loop:

1 for ( n=0, i=100 ; n!=i ; n++, i-- )

2{
3 // whatever here...
4}

This loop will execute for 50 times if neither n or i are modified within the loop:

n starts with a value of 0, and i with 100, the condition is n!=i (that n is not equal to i). Because
n is increased by one and i decreased by one, the loop's condition will become false after the
50th loop, when both n and i will be equal to 50.

Jump statements.

The break statement

Using break we can leave a loop even if the condition for its end is not fulfilled. It can be used
to end an infinite loop, or to force it to end before its natural end. For example, we are going to
stop the count down before its natural end (maybe because of an engine check failure?):

// break loop example

1
2
#include <iostream>
3
using namespace std;
4
5
int main ()
6
{
7
int n;
8
for (n=10; n>0; n--)
9
10
{ 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, countdown Edit &
cout << n << ", "; aborted! Run
11
if (n==3)
12
{
13
cout << "countdown
14
aborted!";
15
break;
16
}
17
}
18
return 0;
19
}

The continue statement

The continue statement causes the program to skip the rest of the loop in the current iteration as
if the end of the statement block had been reached, causing it to jump to the start of the following
iteration. For example, we are going to skip the number 5 in our countdown:

1 // continue loop example

2 #include <iostream>
3 using namespace std;
4
10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1, FIRE! Edit & Run
5 int main ()
6 {
7 for (int n=10; n>0; n--) {
8 if (n==5) continue;
9 cout << n << ", ";
10 }
11 cout << "FIRE!\n";
12 return 0;
13 }

The goto statement

goto allows to make an absolute jump to another point in the program. You should use this
feature with caution since its execution causes an unconditional jump ignoring any type of
nesting limitations.
The destination point is identified by a label, which is then used as an argument for the goto
statement. A label is made of a valid identifier followed by a colon (:).

Generally speaking, this instruction has no concrete use in structured or object oriented
programming aside from those that low-level programming fans may find for it. For example,
here is our countdown loop using goto:

1 // goto loop example

2
3 #include <iostream>
4 using namespace std;
5
6 int main ()
7 {
8 int n=10; 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, FIRE! Edit & Run
9 loop:
10 cout << n << ", ";
11 n--;
12 if (n>0) goto loop;
13 cout << "FIRE!\n";
14 return 0;
15 }

The exit function

exit is a function defined in the cstdlib library.

The purpose of exit is to terminate the current program with a specific exit code. Its prototype
is:

void exit (int exitcode);

The exitcode is used by some operating systems and may be used by calling programs. By
convention, an exit code of 0 means that the program finished normally and any other value
means that some error or unexpected results happened.

The selective structure: switch.

The syntax of the switch statement is a bit peculiar. Its objective is to check several possible
constant values for an expression. Something similar to what we did at the beginning of this
section with the concatenation of several if and else if instructions. Its form is the following:
switch (expression)
{
case constant1:
group of statements 1;
break;
case constant2:
group of statements 2;
break;
.
.
.
default:
default group of statements
}

It works in the following way: switch evaluates expression and checks if it is equivalent to
constant1, if it is, it executes group of statements 1 until it finds the break statement.
When it finds this break statement the program jumps to the end of the switch selective
structure.

If expression was not equal to constant1 it will be checked against constant2. If it is equal to
this, it will execute group of statements 2 until a break keyword is found, and then will jump
to the end of the switch selective structure.

Finally, if the value of expression did not match any of the previously specified constants (you
can include as many case labels as values you want to check), the program will execute the
statements included after the default: label, if it exists (since it is optional).

Both of the following code fragments have the same behavior:

switch example if-else equivalent

switch (x) { if (x == 1) {
case 1: cout << "x is 1";
cout << "x is 1"; }
break; else if (x == 2) {
case 2: cout << "x is 2";
cout << "x is 2"; }
break; else {
default: cout << "value of x unknown";
cout << "value of x unknown"; }
}
The switch statement is a bit peculiar within the C++ language because it uses labels instead of
blocks. This forces us to put break statements after the group of statements that we want to be
executed for a specific condition. Otherwise the remainder statements -including those
corresponding to other labels- will also be executed until the end of the switch selective block or
a break statement is reached.

For example, if we did not include a break statement after the first group for case one, the
program will not automatically jump to the end of the switch selective block and it would
continue executing the rest of statements until it reaches either a break instruction or the end of
the switch selective block. This makes it unnecessary to include braces { } surrounding the
statements for each of the cases, and it can also be useful to execute the same block of
instructions for different possible values for the expression being evaluated. For example:

1 switch (x) {
2 case 1:
3 case 2:
4 case 3:
5 cout << "x is 1, 2 or 3";
6 break;
7 default:
8 cout << "x is not 1, 2 nor 3";
9 }

Notice that switch can only be used to compare an expression against constants. Therefore we
cannot put variables as labels (for example case n: where n is a variable) or ranges (case
(1..3):) because they are not valid C++ constants.

If you need to check ranges or values that are not constants, use a concatenation of if and else
if statements