CONTROL STATEMENTS
When we run a program,the statements are executed in the order in which they appear in the
[Link] each statement is executed only [Link] in many cases we may need a statement
or a set of statements to be executed a fixed no of times or until a condition is [Link] we
may want to skip some statements based on testing a [Link] all these we use control
statements .
Control statements are of two types – branching and looping.
BRANCHING
It is to execute one of several possible options depending on the outcome of a logical test ,which
is carried at some particular point within a program.
LOOPING
It is to execute a group of instructions repeatedly,a fixed no of times or until a specified
condition is satisfied.
BRANCHING
1. if else statement
It is used to carry out one of the two possible actions depending on the outcome of a logical
[Link] else portion is optional.
The syntax is
If (expression) statement1 [if there is no else part]
Or
If (expression)
Statement 1
else
Statement 2
Here expression is a logical expression enclosed in [Link]
expression is true ,statement 1 or statement 2 is a group of statements
,they are written as a block using the braces { }
Example: 1. if(x<0) printf(“\n x is negative”);
2. if(x<0)
printf(“\n x is negative”);
else
printf(“\n x is non negative”);
[Link](x<0)
{
x=-x;
s=sqrt(x);
}
else
s=sqrt(x);
2. nested if statement
Within an if block or else block another if – else statement can come. Such statements are called
nested if statements.
The syntax is
If (e1)
s1
if (e2)
s2
else
s3
else
3. Ladder if statement
Inorder to create a situation in which one of several courses of action is executed we use ladder –
if statements.
The syntax is
If (e1) s1
else if (e2) s2
else if (e3) s3
……………….
else sn
Example: if(mark>=90) printf(“\n excellent”);
else if(mark>=80) printf(“\n very good”);
else if(mark>=70) printf(“\n good”);
else if(mark>=60) printf(“\n average”);
else
printf(“\n to be improved”);
SWITCH STATEMENT
It is used to execute a particular group of statements to be chosen from several available options.
The selection is based on the current value of an expression with the switch statement.
The syntax is:
switch(expression)
{
case value1:
s1
break;
case value 2:
s2
break;
…….
……..
default:
sn
}
All the option are embedded in the two braces { }.Within the block each group is written after
the label case followed by the value of the expression and a colon. Each group ends with ‘break’
statement. The last may be labeled ‘default’. This is to avoid error and to execute the group of
statements in default if the value of the expression does not match value1, value2,……..
LOOPING
1. The while statement
This is to carry out a set of statements to be executed repeatedly until some condition is satisfied.
The syntax is:
While (expression) statement
The statement is executed so long as the expression is true. Statement can be simple or
compound.
Example 1:
#include<stdio.h>
while(n > 0)
{
printf("\n");
n = n - 1;
}
Example 2:
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i=1;
while(x<=10)
{
printf(“%d”,i);
++i;
}
}
2. do while statement
This is also to carry out a set of statements to be executed repeatedly so long as a condition is
true.
The syntax is:
do statement while(expression)
Example: #include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i=1;
do
{
printf(“%d”,i);
++i;
}while(i<=10);
}
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN while loop AND do – while loop
1) In the while loop the condition is tested in the beginning whereas
in the other case it is done at the end.
2) In while loop the statements in the loop are executed only if the
condition is [Link] in do – while loop even if the condition is
not true the statements are executed atleast once.
3. for loop
It is the most commonly used looping statement in C. The general
form is
For(expression1;expression2;expression3)statement
Here expression1 is to initialize some parameter that controls the looping action.expression2 is a
condition and it must be true to carry out the
action.expression3 is a unary expression or an assignment expression.
Example: #include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i;
for(i=1;i<=10;++i)
printf(“%d”,i);
}
Here the program prints i starting from 1 to [Link] i is assigned the value 1
and than it checks whether i<=10 If so i is printed and then i is increased by
one. It continues until i<=10.
An example for finding the average of 10 numbers;
#include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int i;
float x,avg=0;
for(i=1;i<=10;++i)
{
scanf(“%f”,&x);
avg += x;
}
avg /= 10;
printf(“\n average=%f”,avg);
}
Note: Within a loop another for loop can come
Example : for(i=1;i<=10;++i)
for(j=1;j<=10;++j);
The break statement
The break statement is used to terminate4 loop or to exit from a switch. It is used in for, while,
do-while and switch statement.
The syntax is break;
Example 1: A program to read the sum of positive numbers only
#include<stdio.h>
27
main()
{
int x, sum=0;
int n=1;
while(n<=10)
{
scanf(“%d”,&x);
if(x<0) break;
sum+=x;
}
printf(“%d”,sum);
}
The continue statement
It is used to bypass the remainder of the current pass through a loop. The loop does not terminate
when continue statement is encountered, but statements after continue are skipped and proceeds
to the next pass through the loop.
In the above example of summing up the non negative numbers when a negative value is input, it
breaks and the execution of the loop ends. In case if we want to sum 10 nonnegative numbers,
we can use continue instead of break
Example : #include<stdio.h>
main()
{
int x, sum=0, n=0;
while(n<10)
{
scanf(“%d”,x);
if(x<0) continue;
sum+=x;
++n;
}
printf(“%d”,sum);
}
GO TO statement
It is used to alter the normal sequence of program execution by transferring control to some other
part of the program .The syntax is goto label ;
Example :
#include<stdio.h>
main( )
{
int n=1,x,sum=0;
while(n<=10)
{
scanf(“%d” ,&x);
if(x<0)goto error;
sum+=x;
++n;
}
error:
printf(“\n the number is non negative”);
}