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Loop Control Structures in C

Ex: What is meant by looping? Describe two different forms of looping.

OR
What the different loop control statements used in C? Give the
syntax of each.

Solution:
Looping meant, directs a program to perform a set of operations
again and again until a specified condition is achieved. This condition
causes the termination of the loop. Programming language C contains
three statements for looping:
 The while loop
 The do…while loop
 The for loop

while loop: while loop construct contains the condition first. If the
condition is satisfied, the control executes the statements following the
while loop else, it ignores these statements. The general form of while
loop is:

while(condition)
{
statement1;
statement2;
….
}

do-while loop: do-while loop construct is another method used in C

programming. do-while loop ensures that the program is executed atleast
once and checks whether the condition at the end of the do-while loop is
true or false. As long as the test condition is true, the statements will be
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repeated. The control will come out from the loop, only when the test
condition is false.
The do-while loop has the following form:

do
{
statement1;
statement2;
………..
}
while(condition);

The blocks of statements with in double braces { } following the

word do are executed at least once. Then the condition is evaluated. If the
condition is true, the block of statements are executed again until the
value of condition tested is false.

The for loop statement:

for loop construct is used to execute a set of statements for a given
number of times. Thus, it is a shorthand method for executing statements
in a loop.

The syntax is:

for(initial condition; test condition; incrementer or decrementer)
{
statement1;
statement2;
}
for loop construct requires to specify three characteristics. These are:
a. The initial value of the loop counter;
b. Testing the loop counter value to determine whether its
current value has reached the number of repetitions desired.
c. Increasing or decreasing the value of loop counter by a
specified number, each time the program segment is
executed.
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Ex. What is the difference between while and do-while loop?

Solution:
While loop evaluates a test expression before allowing entry into the
loop, whereas do-while loop is executed at least once before it evaluates
the test expression which is available at the end of the loop.
While loop construct contains the condition first. If the condition is
satisfied, the control executes the statements following the while loop
else, it ignores these statements. The general form of while loop is
While(condition)
{
statement1;
statement2;
……
}

do-while loop construct is another method used in C programming. do-

while loop ensures that the program is executed atleast once and checks
whether the condition at the end of the do-while loop is true or false. As
long as the test condition is true, the statements will be repeated. The
control will come out from the loop, only when the test condition is false.
The do-while loop has the following form:
do
{
statement1;
statement2;
………..
}
while(condition);
The blocks of statements with in double braces { } following the
word do are executed at least once. Then the condition is evaluated. If the
condition is true, the block of statements are executed again until the
value of condition tested is true.
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Ex. What is the minimum number of iteration that

a. while loop could make ?
b. do-while loop could make ?

Solution:
a. while loop could make 0 iteration.
b. Do-while loop could make 1 iteration.

Q.6: Write a C program to generate the Fibonacci sequence

0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8,….. upto 100

Solution: The program to generate the Fibonacci sequence is given

below:

/* To print Fibonacci series upto 100 */

#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
main( )
{
int a = 0;
int e = 1;
int b = 1;
int n, c = 1;
clrscr();
printf("The Fibonacci series upto 100 is:\n");
printf("%d",a);
do
{
printf("%5d",b);
b = e+a;
a = e;
e = b;
c = c+1;
}
while(b<=100);
printf("\n\nPress any key to exit...\n");
getch();
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return;
}
The output of the above program will be:
The Fibonacci series upto 100 is:
0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 89

Press any key to exit...

Ex: Write a program to read in value of n and then print the first n
Fibonacci numbers.
OR
th
Write a C program to print the n fibonacci number.

Solution:
/* To print Fibonacci series */
#include<stdio.h>
main( )
{
long int a = 0;
long int e = 1;
long int b = 1;
int n, c = 1;
printf(“How many numbers you want in the Fibonacci series ? ”);
scanf(“%d”,&n);
printf(“%d\n”,n);
do
{
printf(“%d\n”,b);
b = e+a;
a = e;
e = b;
c = c+1;
}
while (n >= c);
}
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Q. Give differences between while and do-while statement.

Solution: The differences between while and do-while statement are

shown below:
while statement do-while statement
1. The statement block in 1. The statement block is
while statement is executed executed at least once
when the values of the irrespective of the value of
condition is true. the condition.
2. The condition is 2. The condition is evaluated
evaluated at the beginning at the end of the loop. The
of the loop. The statement statement block is executed
block is executed if the again if the value of the
value of the condition is condition is true.
true.

Q. List a few unconditional control statement in C.

Solution: Statements, which are used to transfer the control to any part of
the program without checking a condition, are referred as unconditional
statement in C.
Unconditional control statement in C are:
(i) break statement
(ii) continue statement
(iii) goto statement
(iv) exit( ) function.

goto Statement:

The goto statement is an unconditional transfer of control statement. It is

used to transfer the control from one part of the program to another. The
place to which the control is transferred is identified by a statement label.
It has the following form.
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goto label;

Where label is the statement label which is available anywhere in the

program.

Eg.
----------------;
goto display;
----------------;
----------------;
display;
----------------;

When this statement is executed, the control is transferred to the

statement label display which is followed by a comma.

break statement:

The break statement is used to transfer the control to the end of a

statement block in a loop. It is an unavoidable statement to transfer the
control to the end of a switch statement after executing any one statement
block. It can be used within a for, while, do-while, or switch statement. It
has the following form.
break;
Note that a program can be written without this statement other than in a
switch statement.
Eg.
Consider the following example.
for(i = 1; i<= n; i++)
{
-------------
-------------
break;
------------
------------
}
--------------------- control transferred to the end of the statement block.
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continue Statement:

The continue statement is used to transfer the control to thebegining of a

statement block in a loop.It has the following form.
continue;

Eg.
for(i=1; i<= 20; i++)
{ ------------------
Ch= getche();
if (ch= =‟C‟)
{ Control is transferred to the
printf(“\n C for continue is pressed”); beginning of the block
continue;
}
---------------------
}

When this statement is executed, the control is transferred to the

beginning of the loop such that the loop is repeated 20 times irrespective
of the key pressed.

Exit () Function:
The exit () function is used to transfer the control to the end of a program(
i.e. to terminate the program execution). It uses one argument in () and
the value is zero for normal termination or non zero for abnormal
termination.
Eg.

if( n < 0 )
{
printf(“\n Factorial is not available for negative numbers”);
exit(0);
}
------------------;
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Note that the program execution is terminated when the value of the
variable n is negative.

Return statement:

The keyword return is used to return any value from the function called.
This statement terminates the function and returns a value to its caller.
The return statements may also be used to exit from any function
without returning any value. The return statement may or may not
include an expression. The general format of using return statement is
given below:
return; /* without expression */
return(expression) /* with expression */

The above expression can be an integer value, a float or a char, this

depends on the data type of the function declared.

Ex: Explain the functions of the following statements in C.

i) break
ii) return
iii) continue
OR
In what situations will you use a „break‟ statement and a „continue‟
statement? Explain with an example.

Solution: The uses of „return‟, „break‟ and „continue‟ statements are

given below:

Return statement: The keyword return is used to return any value from
the function called. This statement terminates the function and returns a
value to its caller. The return statements may also be used to exit from
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any function without returning any value. The return statement may or
may not include an expression. The general format of using return
statement is given below:
return; /* without expression */
return(expression) /* with expression */

The above expression can be an integer value, a float or a char, this

depends on the data type of the function declared.

break statement: The break statement causes an immediate exit from the
innermost loop structure or to exit from a switch. It can be used within a
for, while, do-while, or switch statement.
 If we need to come out of a running program immediately
without letting it to perform any further operation in a loop,
then we can use break control statement.
The general format of the break statement is:

break; <Enter>
Following program segment is written to explain the use of break with
while loop structure:

#include<stdio.h>
main( )
{
int i, value;
i=0;
while(i<=10)
{
printf(“Enter a number\n”);
scanf(“%d”,&value);
if value = =0 || value<0)
{
printf(“Zero or negative value found.\n”);
break;
}
i++;
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}
}

The above program segment processes only the positive integers.

Whenever the zero or negative value is found the program will display
the message “Zero or negative value found” as an error and it will not
execute the loop further.

continue statement: In some programming situations we want to take the

control to the beginning of the loop, bypassing the statements inside the
loop, which have not yet been executed. The keyword continue allows us
to do this. When the keyword continue is encountered inside any C loop
control automatically passes to the beginning of the loop.
A continue is usually associated with an if. As an example, let‟s
consider the following program.
main( )
{
int i, j;
for(i=1;i<=2;i++)
{
for(j=1;j<=2;j++)
{
if(i= =j)
continue;
printf(“\n%d %d\n”,i,j);
}
}
}
The output of the above program would be:

1 2
2 1
Note that when the value of i equals that of j, the continue statement
takes the control to the for loop(inner) bypassing rest of the statements
pending execution in the for loop(inner).
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Ex: What are the uses of the following in C?

(i) break (ii) continue

Solution:

(i) break: A break statement is used to terminate the execution of

a statement block. The next statement which follows this
statement block will be executed. The keyword is break. When
a break statement is executed in a loop, the repetition of the
loop will be terminated.

(ii) continue: A continue statement is used to transfer the control

to the beginning of a statement block. The keyword is continue.
When a continue statement is executed in a loop, the execution
is transferred to the beginning of the loop.

Ex: What is the similarity between break and continue statements?

Solution: Both break and continue are jump statements.

Ex: What is the function of break statement in a while, do-while or for

loop?

Solution: If a break statement is included in a while, do-while or for

loop, then control will immediately be transferred out of the loop when
the break statement is encountered. This provides a convenient way to
terminate the loop if an error or other irregular condition is detected.

Ex: Why the use of the goto statement should generally be avoided in a
„C‟ program?
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Solution: The structured feature in „C‟ requires that the entire program be
written in an orderly, and sequential manner. For this reason, use of the
goto statement should generally be avoided in a „C‟ program.

Ex: Differentiate between break and exit( ).

Solution: break just terminates the execution of loop or switch in which it

is written, whereas as exit( ) terminates the execution of the program
itself.

Q. Distinguish between the break and continue statements in C.

Solution: The differences between the break and continue statements in

C are listed below:
break statement continue statement
1. A break statement is used 1. A continue statement is
to terminate the execution of used to transfer the control
a statement block. The next to the beginning of a
statement which follows this statement block. The
statement block will be keyword is continue.
executed. The keyword is
break.
2. When a break statement is 2. When a continue
executed in a loop, the statement is executed in a
repetition of the loop will be loop, the execution is
terminated. transferred to the beginning
of the loop.
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Q. What are the differences between break and exit( ) function.

Solution: The differences between break and exit( ) function are shown
below:
break statement exit( ) function
1. A break statement is used 1. An exit( ) function is
to terminate the execution of used to terminate the
a statement block. The next execution of a C program
statement which follows this permanently.
statement block will be
executed.
2. It is used in a program as It is a built-in function and
break; is used/called with
necessary argument as
exit(0);

Q. Write a program to calculate the sum of digits of a given 5 digit

number.

Solution:
/* Sum of digits of a 5 digit number */
#include<stdio.h>
#include<conio.h>
main()
{
int num, a, n;
int sum=0; /*sum initialised to zero as otherwise it will contain a
garbage value */
clrscr();
printf("\nEnter a 5-digit number ");
scanf("%d",&num);
a=num%10; /*last digit extracted as remainder */
n=num/10; /*remaining digits*/
sum=sum+a; /*sum updated with addition of extracted digit */
while(n!=0)
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{
a=n%10; /* 4th digit */
n=n/10;
sum=sum+a;
}
printf("\nThe sum of the 5 digits of %d is %d",num, sum);
printf("\n\n\nPress any key to exit...");
getch();
return;
}

Q. Write a program to print first n prime numbers using while loop.

Solution:
/* Generate first n prime numbers */
#include<stdio.h>
#include<math.h>
main()
{
int n,num,d,t,count;
printf("How many primes are required? ");
scanf("%d",&n);
printf("%d\n",n);
printf("First %d primes are:\n");
printf("%5d",2); /* 2 is the first and only even prime number */
count=1;
num=3; /* now start from 3 and test only odd numbers */
while(count<n)
{
t=sqrt(num);
d=2;
while(d<=t)
{
if(num%d==0)
break;
d++;
}
if(d>t)
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{
printf("%5d",num);
count++;
}
num+=2;
}
}

RUN:
How many primes are required? 50
First 50 primes are:
2 3 5 7 11 13 17 19 23 29 31 37 41 43 47 53
59 61 67 71 73 79 83 89 97 101 103 107 109 113 127 131
137 139 149 151 157 163 167 173 179 181 191 193 197 199 211 223
227 229

Q. Give an alternative for multiple if statement in C.

Solution: A switch statement can be used as an alternative for multiple if

or nested if statements.
Consider the following example:
if(n = = 1)
y = 1+x;
else
if(n = = 2)
y = 1+x/n;
else
if( n = = 3)
y = 1 +pow(x,n);
else
y = 1 + n * x;
The above program can also be written using a switch statement.
switch(n)
{
case 1: y = 1 + x;
break;
case 2: y = 1 + x/n;
break;
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case 3: y = 1 + pow(x,n);
break;
default: y = 1 + n * x;
break;
}

Q. Write a C program, which accepts a number and prints the sum of

digits of this number.

Solution:
/* Accept a number and sum up the digit */
/* for example, 173456=1+7+3+4+5+6=26 */
#include<stdio.h>
main( )
{
int n, rem, quo, sum=0;
printf(“Enter a integer number: \n”);
scanf(“%d”,&n);
while(n>0)
{
rem=n%10;
quo=n/10;
sum=sum+rem;
n=quo;
}
printf(“The sum of digit of digits which you entered is =
%d”,sum);
}

Q. What is the use of break statement?

Solution: A break statement is used to transfer the control to the end of a statement
block. The next statement, which follows this statement block, will be executed.
Consider the following example.
for(i = 1; i<= n; i++)
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{
-------------
-------------
break;
------------
------------
}
--------------------- control transferred to the end of the statement block.

&&&&&&&&&