Basic Pascal Tutorial/Chapter 3/REPEAT..UNTIL: what changed
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Title: Basic Pascal Tutorial/Chapter 3/REPEAT..UNTIL
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| 1 | + | REPEAT...UNTIL | |
| 2 | + | ||
| 3 | + | The repeat .. until construct is termed a *post*-test loop, because the controlling condition is tested *after* each iteration of the loop. | |
| 4 | + | ||
| 5 | + | It has the following syntax: | |
| 6 | + | ||
| 7 | + | ``` pascal | |
| 8 | + | repeat | |
| 9 | + | statement1; | |
| 10 | + | // statement2; | |
| 11 | + | // further statements... | |
| 12 | + | until BooleanExpression; | |
| 13 | + | ``` | |
| 14 | + | ||
| 15 | + | A `repeat` loop encloses its executed statements, which means they do not need to be further enclosed in a <tt>begin ... end<tt> block. Note that a repeat loop continues until its controlling Boolean expression is `True`; whereas the `while` loop continues until its Boolean expression is `False`. | |
| 16 | + | ||
| 17 | + | For instance, the following `repeat` loop executes at least once: | |
| 18 | + | ||
| 19 | + | ``` pascal | |
| 20 | + | repeat | |
| 21 | + | WriteLn(Node.Text); | |
| 22 | + | Node := GetNextNode; | |
| 23 | + | until not Assigned(Node); | |
| 24 | + | ``` | |
| 25 | + | ||
| 26 | + | It assumes that Node is not Nil at the outset. If this assumption is incorrect, the code will fail, and the program may crash. | |
| 27 | + | ||
| 28 | + | A `while` loop is more defensive, since the needed check is performed before any loop statements are executed: | |
| 29 | + | ||
| 30 | + | ``` pascal | |
| 31 | + | while Assigned(Node) do | |
| 32 | + | begin | |
| 33 | + | WriteLn(Node.Text); | |
| 34 | + | Node := GetNextNode; | |
| 35 | + | end; | |
| 36 | + | ``` | |
| 37 | + | ||
| 38 | + | Use a `repeat` loop when the looping statement(s) must execute at least once, whatever the initial value of the controlling Boolean condition. | |
| 39 | + | ||
| 40 | + | It is not difficult to inadvertently write a Boolean expression controlling a repeat loop that never becomes True. This gives rise to an infinite or endless loop, and causes the program to hang. | |
| 41 | + | ||
| 42 | + | One programming style deliberately sets up an infinite loop, and inserts a `Break` or `Exit` instruction controlled by some condition evaluated in the middle of the loop to break out of the otherwise infinite loop: | |
| 43 | + | ||
| 44 | + | ``` pascal | |
| 45 | + | repeat | |
| 46 | + | statement1; | |
| 47 | + | if Condition then | |
| 48 | + | Break; | |
| 49 | + | statement_that_might_affect_the_Condition; | |
| 50 | + | until False; | |
| 51 | + | ``` | |
| 52 | + | ||
| 53 | + | Successful use of this style depends on Condition dependably becoming True, without exception, at some point. Otherwise you have built in an inescapable infinite loop. | |
| 54 | + | ||
| 55 | + | --- | |
| 56 | + | *From the Free Pascal wiki, page "Basic Pascal Tutorial/Chapter 3/REPEAT..UNTIL", as it stood on 2022-08-20 after a change by Kai Burghardt, out of the wiki's dump of 2024-05-26. Copyright stays with the author who wrote it, according to the old wiki's [[Licensing]] page. If you have concerns about this material, [message the admin](/wiki-contact).* |
