The Odd Loop in C
Uses of Odd Loop
In real life programming one comes across a situation when it is not known beforehand how many times the statements in the loop are to be executed. This situation can be programmed as shown below:
/* Execution of a loop an unknown number of times */
main( )
{
char another ;
int num ;
do
{
printf ( “Enter a number ” ) ;
scanf ( “%d”, &num ) ;
printf ( “square of %d is %d”, num, num * num ) ;
printf ( “\nWant to enter another number y/n ” ) ;
scanf ( ” %c”, &another ) ;
} while ( another == ‘y’ ) ;
}
And here is the sample output…
Enter a number 5
square of 5 is 25
Want to enter another number y/n y
Enter a number 7
square of 7 is 49
Want to enter another number y/n n
This program the do-while loop would keep getting executed till the user continues to answer y. The moment he answers n, the loop terminates, since the condition ( another == ‘y’ ) fails. Note that this loop ensures that statements within it are executed at least once even if n is supplied first time itself.
The same functionality if required, can also be accomplished using for and while loops as shown below:
/* odd loop using a for loop */
main( )
{
char another = ‘y’ ;
int num ;
for ( ; another == ‘y’ ; )
{
printf ( “Enter a number ” ) ;
scanf ( “%d”, &num ) ;
printf ( “square of %d is %d”, num, num * num ) ;
printf ( “\nWant to enter another number y/n ” ) ;
scanf ( ” %c”, &another ) ;
}
}
/* odd loop using a while loop */
main( )
{
char another = ‘y’ ;
int num ;
while ( another == ‘y’ )
{
printf ( “Enter a number ” ) ;
scanf ( “%d”, &num ) ;
printf ( “square of %d is %d”, num, num * num ) ;
printf ( “\nWant to enter another number y/n ” ) ;
scanf ( ” %c”, &another ) ;
}
}
