Loops

Syntax#

for (initialization; condition; final_expression) { }
for (key in object) { }
for (variable of iterable) { }
while (condition) { }
do { } while (condition)
for each (variable in object) { } // ECMAScript for XML

Remarks#

Loops in JavaScript typically help solve problems which involve repeating specific code x amount of times. Say you need to log a message 5 times. You could do this:

console.log("a message");
console.log("a message");
console.log("a message");
console.log("a message");
console.log("a message");

But that’s just time-consuming and kind of ridiculous. Plus, what if you needed to log over 300 messages? You should replace the code with a traditional “for” loop:

for(var i = 0; i < 5; i++){
    console.log("a message");
}

Standard “for” loops

Standard usage

for (var i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
    console.log(i);
}

Expected output:

0
1
…
99

Multiple declarations

Commonly used to cache the length of an array.

var array = ['a', 'b', 'c'];
for (var i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
    console.log(array[i]);
}

Expected output:

‘a’
‘b’
‘c’

Changing the increment

for (var i = 0; i < 100; i += 2 /* Can also be: i = i + 2 */) {
    console.log(i);
}

Expected output:

0
2
4
…
98

Decremented loop

for (var i = 100; i >=0; i--) {
    console.log(i);
}

Expected output:

100
99
98
…
0

“while” Loops

Standard While Loop

A standard while loop will execute until the condition given is false:

var i = 0;
while (i < 100) {
    console.log(i);
    i++;
}

Expected output:

0
1
…
99

Decremented loop

var i = 100;
while (i > 0) {
    console.log(i);
    i--; /* equivalent to i=i-1 */
}

Expected output:

100
99
98
…
1

Do…while Loop

A do…while loop will always execute at least once, regardless of whether the condition is true or false:

var i = 101;
do {
    console.log(i);
} while (i < 100);

Expected output:

101

“Break” out of a loop

Breaking out of a while loop

var i = 0;
while(true) {
    i++;
    if(i === 42) {
        break;
    }
}
console.log(i);

Expected output:

42

Breaking out of a for loop

var i;
for(i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
    if(i === 42) {
        break;
    }
}
console.log(i);

Expected output:

42

“continue” a loop

Continuing a “for” Loop

When you put the continue keyword in a for loop, execution jumps to the update expression (i++ in the example):

for (var i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
    if (i === 1) {
        continue;
    }
    console.log(i);
}

Expected output:

0
2

Continuing a While Loop

When you continue in a while loop, execution jumps to the condition (i < 3 in the example):

var i = 0;
while (i < 3) {
    if (i === 1) {
        i = 2;
        continue;
    }
    console.log(i);
    i++;
}

Expected output:

0
2

“do … while” loop

var availableName;
do {
    availableName = getRandomName();
} while (isNameUsed(name));

A do while loop is guaranteed to run at least once as it’s condition is only checked at the end of an iteration. A traditional while loop may run zero or more times as its condition is checked at the beginning of an iteration.

Break specific nested loops

We can name our loops and break the specific one when necessary.

outerloop:
for (var i = 0;i<3;i++){
    innerloup:
    for (var j = 0;j <3; j++){
        console.log(i);
        console.log(j);
        if (j == 1){
            break outerloop;    
        }
    }
}

Output:

Break and continue labels

Break and continue statements can be followed by an optional label which works like some kind of a goto statement, resumes execution from the label referenced position

for(var i = 0; i < 5; i++){
  nextLoop2Iteration:
  for(var j = 0; j < 5; j++){
    if(i == j) break nextLoop2Iteration;
    console.log(i, j);
  }
}

i=0 j=0 skips rest of j values
1 0
i=1 j=1 skips rest of j values
2 0
2 1 i=2 j=2 skips rest of j values
3 0
3 1
3 2
i=3 j=3 skips rest of j values
4 0
4 1
4 2
4 3
i=4 j=4 does not log and loops are done

“for … of” loop

const iterable = [0, 1, 2];
for (let i of iterable) {
    console.log(i);
}

Expected output:

0
1
2

The advantages from the for…of loop are:

This is the most concise, direct syntax yet for looping through array elements
It avoids all the pitfalls of for…in
Unlike forEach(), it works with break, continue, and return

Support of for…of in other collections

Strings

for…of will treat a string as a sequence of Unicode characters:

const string = "abc";
for (let chr of string) {
  console.log(chr);
}

Expected output:

a b c

Sets

for…of works on Set objects.

Note:

A Set object will eliminate duplicates.
Please check this reference for Set() browser support.

const names = [‘bob’, ‘alejandro’, ‘zandra’, ‘anna’, ‘bob’];

const uniqueNames = new Set(names);

for (let name of uniqueNames) { console.log(name); }

Expected output:

bob
alejandro
zandra
anna

Maps

You can also use for…of loops to iterate over Maps. This works similarly to arrays and sets, except the iteration variable stores both a key and a value.

const map = new Map()
  .set('abc', 1)
  .set('def', 2)

for (const iteration of map) {
  console.log(iteration) //will log ['abc', 1] and then ['def', 2]
}

You can use destructuring assignment to capture the key and the value separately:

const map = new Map()
  .set('abc', 1)
  .set('def', 2)

for (const [key, value] of map) {
  console.log(key + ' is mapped to ' + value)
}
/*Logs:
  abc is mapped to 1
  def is mapped to 2
*/

Objects

for…of loops do not work directly on plain Objects; but, it is possible to iterate over an object’s properties by switching to a for…in loop, or using Object.keys():

const someObject = { name: 'Mike' };

for (let key of Object.keys(someObject)) {
  console.log(key + ": " + someObject[key]);
}

Expected output:

name: Mike

“for … in” loop

Warning
for…in is intended for iterating over object keys, not array indexes. Using it to loop through an array is generally discouraged. It also includes properties from the prototype, so it may be necessary to check if the key is within the object using hasOwnProperty. If any attributes in the object are defined by the defineProperty/defineProperties method and set the param enumerable: false, those attributes will be inaccessible.

var object = {"a":"foo", "b":"bar", "c":"baz"};
// `a` is inaccessible
Object.defineProperty(object , 'a', {
        enumerable: false,
});
for (var key in object) {
    if (object.hasOwnProperty(key)) {
      console.log('object.' + key + ', ' + object[key]);
    }
}

Expected output:

object.b, bar
object.c, baz