Matlab for loop example problems

With loop control statements, you can repeatedly execute a block of code. There are two types of loops:

• for statements loop a specific number of times, and keep track of each iteration with an incrementing index variable. For example, preallocate a 10-element vector, and calculate five values:

x = ones(1,10); for n = 2:6 x(n) = 2 * x(n - 1); end

n = 1; nFactorial = 1; while nFactorial < 1e100 n = n + 1; nFactorial = nFactorial * n; end

Each loop requires the end keyword.

It is a good idea to indent the loops for readability, especially when they are nested (that is, when one loop contains another loop):

A = zeros(5,100); for m = 1:5 for n = 1:100 A(m, n) = 1/(m + n - 1); end end

You can programmatically exit a loop using a break statement, or skip to the next iteration of a loop using a continue statement. For example, count the number of lines in the help for the magic function (that is, all comment lines until a blank line):

fid = fopen('magic.m','r'); count = 0; while ~feof(fid) line = fgetl(fid); if isempty(line) break elseif ~strncmp(line,'%',1) continue end count = count + 1; end fprintf('%d lines in MAGIC help\n',count); fclose(fid);

Tip

If you inadvertently create an infinite loop (a loop that never ends on its own), stop execution of the loop by pressing Ctrl+C.

See Also

External Websites