Scala - for Loop

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A for loop is a repetition control structure that allows you to efficiently write a loop that needs to execute a specific number of times. There are various forms of for loop in Scala which are described below −

Syntax for loop with ranges

The simplest syntax of for loop with ranges in Scala is −

for( var x <- Range ){
   statement(s);
}

Here, the Range could be a range of numbers and that is represented as i to j or sometime like i until j. The left-arrow <- operator is called a generator, so named because it's generating individual values from a range.

Example of Scala for Loop

Try the following example program to understand loop control statements (for statement) in Scala Programming Language:

object Demo {
   def main(args: Array[String]) {
      var a = 0;

      // for loop execution with a range
      for( a <- 1 to 10){
         println( "Value of a: " + a );
      }
   }
}

Save the above program in Demo.scala. The following commands are used to compile and execute this program.

Command

>scalac Demo.scala
>scala Demo

Output

value of a: 1
value of a: 2
value of a: 3
value of a: 4
value of a: 5
value of a: 6
value of a: 7
value of a: 8
value of a: 9
value of a: 10

Scala for Loop with Until

Try the following example program to understand loop control statements (for statement) to print loop with the range i until j in Scala Programming Language.

object Demo {
   def main(args: Array[String]) {
      var a = 0;

      // for loop execution with a range
      for( a <- 1 until 10){
         println( "Value of a: " + a );
      }
   }
}

Save the above program in Demo.scala. The following commands are used to compile and execute this program.

Command

>scalac Demo.scala
>scala Demo

Output

value of a: 1
value of a: 2
value of a: 3
value of a: 4
value of a: 5
value of a: 6
value of a: 7
value of a: 8
value of a: 9

Scala for Loop with Multiple Ranges

You can use multiple ranges separated by semicolon (;) within for loop and in that case, loop will iterate through all the possible computations of the given ranges. Following is an example of using just two ranges, you can use more than two ranges as well.

object Demo {
   def main(args: Array[String]) {
      var a = 0;
      var b = 0;

      // for loop execution with a range
      for( a <- 1 to 3; b <- 1 to 3){
         println( "Value of a: " + a );
         println( "Value of b: " + b );
      }
   }
}

Save the above program in Demo.scala. The following commands are used to compile and execute this program.

Command

>scalac Demo.scala
>scala Demo

Output

Value of a: 1
Value of b: 1
Value of a: 1
Value of b: 2
Value of a: 1
Value of b: 3
Value of a: 2
Value of b: 1
Value of a: 2
Value of b: 2
Value of a: 2
Value of b: 3
Value of a: 3
Value of b: 1
Value of a: 3
Value of b: 2
Value of a: 3
Value of b: 3

Scala for Loop with Collections

You can use for loop to iterate collections.

Syntax

for( var x <- List ){
   statement(s);
}

Here, the List variable is a collection type having a list of elements and for loop iterate through all the elements returning one element in x variable at a time.

Example

object Demo {
   def main(args: Array[String]) {
      var a = 0;
      val numList = List(1,2,3,4,5,6);

      // for loop execution with a collection
      for( a <- numList ){
         println( "Value of a: " + a );
      }
   }
}

Save the above program in Demo.scala. The following commands are used to compile and execute this program.

Command

>scalac Demo.scala
>scala Demo

Output

value of a: 1
value of a: 2
value of a: 3
value of a: 4
value of a: 5
value of a: 6

Scala for Loop with Filters

Scala's for loop allows to filter out some elements using one or more if statement(s). Following is the syntax of for loop along with filters. To add more than one filter to a 'for' expression, separate the filters with semicolons(;).

for( var x <- List
if condition1; if condition2...
){
   statement(s);
}

Example

object Demo {
   def main(args: Array[String]) {
      var a = 0;
      val numList = List(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10);

      // for loop execution with multiple filters
      for( a <- numList
      if a != 3; if a < 8 ){
         println( "Value of a: " + a );
      }
   }
}

Save the above program in Demo.scala. The following commands are used to compile and execute this program.

Command

>scalac Demo.scala
>scala Demo

Output

value of a: 1
value of a: 2
value of a: 4
value of a: 5
value of a: 6
value of a: 7

Scala for Loop with Yield

You can store return values from a "for" loop in a variable or can return through a function. To do so, you prefix the body of the 'for' expression by the keyword yield. The following is the syntax.

var retVal = for{ var x <- List
   if condition1; if condition2...
}
yield x

Note the curly braces have been used to keep the variables and conditions and retVal is a variable where all the values of x will be stored in the form of collection.

Example

object Demo {
   def main(args: Array[String]) {
      var a = 0;
      val numList = List(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10);

      // for loop execution with a yield
      var retVal = for{ a <- numList if a != 3; if a < 8 }yield a

      // Now print returned values using another loop.
      for( a <- retVal){
         println( "Value of a: " + a );
      }
   }
}

Save the above program in Demo.scala. The following commands are used to compile and execute this program.

Command

>scalac Demo.scala
>scala Demo

Output

value of a: 1
value of a: 2
value of a: 4
value of a: 5
value of a: 6
value of a: 7

Scala for Loop with break Statement

The break statement in Scala is used to terminate the loop immediately. While Scala does not have a built-in break keyword like some other languages. But you can achieve similar functionality using the Breaks class provided in scala.util.control package.

import scala.util.control.Breaks._

breakable {
   for (var x <- Range) {
      if (condition) {
         break // terminate the loop
      }
      statement(s)
   }
}

Example

import scala.util.control.Breaks._

object Demo {
   def main(args: Array[String]) = {
      var a = 0;

      // for loop execution with a range and break logic
      breakable {
         for (a <- 1 to 10) {
            if (a == 5) {
               break // terminate the loop
            }
            println("Value of a: " + a)
         }
      }
   }
}

Save the above program in Demo.scala. The following commands are used to compile and execute this program.

Command

>scalac Demo.scala
>scala Demo

Output

Value of a: 1
Value of a: 2
Value of a: 3
Value of a: 4

In the example above, the loop terminates when a is 5, after reaching the break statement.

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