while

Availability

Flash Lite 1.0.

Usage

while(condition) {
    statement(s);
}

Parameters

condition The expression that is evaluated each time the while statement executes.

statement(s) The instructions to execute when the condition evaluates to true.

Description

Statement; tests an expression and runs a statement or series of statements repeatedly in a loop as long as the expression is true.

Before the statement block is run, the condition is tested; if the test returns true, the statement block is run. If the condition is false, the statement block is skipped and the first statement after the while statement's statement block is executed.

Looping is commonly used to perform an action when a counter variable is less than a specified value. At the end of each loop, the counter is incremented until the specified value is reached. At that point, the condition is no longer true, and the loop ends.

The while statement performs the following series of steps. Each repetition of steps 1 through 4 is called an iteration of the loop. The condition is tested at the beginning of each iteration:

  1. The expression condition is evaluated.
  2. If condition evaluates to true or a value that converts to the Boolean value true, such as a nonzero number, go to step 3.

    Otherwise, the while statement completes and execution resumes at the next statement after the while loop.

  3. Run the statement block statement(s).
  4. Go to step 1.

Example

The following example executes a loop as long as the value of the index variable i is less than 10:

i = 0;
while(i < 10) {
    trace ("i = " add ++i);        // Output: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
}

See also

continue, do..while, for