Swift Loops: for, repeat and while Examples

Use the for-in loop and the enumerated method. See the while and repeat while loops.

For-loop. Consider this river. The water is aquamarine. It moves around rock. It proceeds forward—in iterations it proceeds across the riverbed.

In a similar way we use a for-in loop to iterate forward. We repeat statements. We access indexes and elements with enumerated. While (and repeat while) are also used.

Example, for-in. This loop is a "for-each" loop. It acts upon a range or a collection like an array. Here we use a range of the numbers 0, 1, 2 and 3.

Underscore: If we do not need to access the iteration variable (like i), we can use an underscore instead of a proper name.

Swift program that uses for in, range // Use a for-loop over the range. // ... The range is inclusive so all numbers are included. for i in 0...3 { print(i) } // An underscore can be used in place of an identifier name. for _ in 0...3 { print("Hello") } Output 0 1 2 3 Hello Hello Hello Hello

Exclusive bound. In Swift 4 the for-in loop is emphasized. Here we see the exclusive bound syntax, where we continue to one minus the maximum.

Tip: An exclusive maximum bound can help us avoid some awkward "minus one" expressions.

Swift program that uses exclusive bound // Use exclusive maximum in for-loop. for i in 0..<3 { print("EXCLUSIVE LOOP:", i) } Output EXCLUSIVE LOOP: 0 EXCLUSIVE LOOP: 1 EXCLUSIVE LOOP: 2

While. The for-loop gets most of the attention in programs. But "while" is also useful. It continues iterating while a condition evaluates to true.

Here: We begin the variable i at 5, and decrement it in each iteration of the while-loop. The loop stops when "i" is -1.

Decrement: This loop is a decrementing loop—it proceeds from 5 to 0. We must be careful to terminate the loop.

Swift program that uses while-loop var i = 5 // Decrement i while it is greater than or equal to 0. while i >= 0 { print(i) i -= 1 } Output 5 4 3 2 1 0

Break. This program uses the break keyword in a while-loop to stop the loop. It tests for even numbers, and after 3 even numbers have been encountered, it breaks.

True: This is a while-true loop. We can use while "true" to continue a loop infinitely until a break (or return) is reached.

Modulo: We use a modulo division to test for even numbers. If a number is evenly divisible by 2, we know it is even.

Swift program that uses break var i = 5 var evenCount = 0 // Break loop when the third even number is encountered. while true { if i % 2 == 0 { print("Even") evenCount += 1 if evenCount == 3 { break } } print(i) i += 1 } Output 5 Even 6 7 Even 8 9 Even

Continue. In a loop, the continue statement stops the current iteration, but does not terminate the entire loop. The next iteration is started.

Here: The program uses "continue" to avoid printing even numbers. Only odd numbers reach the print call.

Swift program that uses for-loop with continue // Loop over the numbers 0 through 10. for i in 0...10 { // If number is even, continue to the next iteration. if (i % 2) == 0 { continue } // Print remaining numbers. print(i) } Output 1 3 5 7 9

Enumerated. The enumerated() func can be used with a for-loop. A tuple of the index and value is returned for use in each iteration of the loop. Here we enumerate a String array.String Array

Swift program that uses enumerated let codes = ["XX", "XY", "YZ"] // Loop over each index and value in the array. for (index, value) in codes.enumerated() { print("\(index) \(value)") } Output 0 XX 1 XY 2 YZ

Nested loop. For more complex algorithms, we can nest loops. In the inner block, we can access both the outer and the inner iteration variables.

Swift program that uses nested for-loop // A for-loop can be nested. for i in 0...2 { for y in 0...2 { // Access both iteration variables in inner block. print("\(i), \(y)") } } Output 0, 0 0, 1 0, 2 1, 0 1, 1 1, 2 2, 0 2, 1 2, 2

Repeat-while. This loop continues iterating over a block while the condition (specified after the block) is true. It is the same as a do-while loop in other languages like C.Repeat

Tip: Sometimes a repeat-while loop can be a performance improvement. If the initial check is expensive and not needed, "repeat" is faster.

Swift program that uses repeat while loop var size = 10 repeat { // Increment. size += 1 // Print the value. print(size) } while size < 16 Output 11 12 13 14 15 16

Range error. A range must go from low (the start index) to high (the end index). The short syntax does not support a decrementing range.

Swift program that causes range error // This will not work: a range must go from low to high. for i in 10...3 { print(i) } Output fatal error: Can't form Range with end < start (lldb)

Adjacent elements. Here is a loop that accesses adjacent elements based on indexes. It uses enumerated() and ensures each index is the start of a pair.

Tip: A for-enumerated() loop is powerful. It can accommodate many requirements (like adjacent accesses).

Swift program that uses adjacent elements, for-loop let positions = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60] // Loop over elements and indexes in array. for (index, element) in positions.enumerated() { // See if index is even and not the last index. if index % 2 == 0 && index + 1 < positions.count { // Get adjacent elements. let next = positions[index + 1] print("\(element), \(next)") } } Output 10, 20 30, 40 50, 60

For C-style. In Swift 3 the C-style for-statement was removed. We must use enumerated() to iterate over the indexes and elements. A while-loop can also be a substitute.

Swift program that causes error // This does not work in Swift 3. for var i = 0; i < 4; i++ { print(i) } Output main.swift:2:1: C-style for statement has been removed in Swift 3 main.swift:2:24: '++' is unavailable: it has been removed in Swift 3

Loop over string chars. To loop over the characters in a string, we must use indexes. We start at startIndex and stop when endIndex is reached. We cannot just access chars with Ints.EndIndex, String For-Loop

A summary. Loops are important in most programs. And most of the time spent in programs is spent in loops. This is a good focus for optimization efforts.

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Swift Loops: for, repeat and while Examples

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