Difference Between for and while loop

In this post, we will understand the difference between the ‘for’ and the ‘while’ loop.

For loop

The initialization, condition checking, and the iteration statements are written at the beginning of the loop.
It is used only when the number of iterations is known beforehand.
If the condition is not mentioned in the 'for' loop, then the loop iterates infinite number of times.
The initialization is done only once, and it is never repeated.
The iteration statement is written at the beginning.
Hence, it executes once all statements in loop have been executed.

for(initialization; condition; iteration){
   //body of the 'for' loop
}

Following is the flowchart of for loop −

The initialization and the condition checking is done at the beginning of the loop.
It is used only when the number of iterations isn’t known.
If the condition is not mentioned in the 'while' loop, it results in a compilation error.
If the initialization is done when the condition is being checked, then initialization occurs every time the loop is iterated through.
The iteration statement can be written within any point inside the loop.

while ( condition) {
   statements;
   //body of the loop
}

Following is the flowchart of while loop −

Updated on 24-Mar-2021 14:07:55