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15.1: Nested For Loops

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    103034
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    Overview

    Nested for loops places one for loop inside another for loop. The inner loop is repeated for each iteration of the outer loop.

    Discussion

    Nested Control Structures

    We are going to first introduce the concept of nested control structures. Nesting is a concept that places one item inside of another. Consider:

    if expression
        true action
    else 
        false action
    

    This is the basic form of the if then else control structure. Now consider:

    if age is less than 18
        you can't vote
        if age is less than 16
            you can't drive
        else
            you can drive
    else
        you can vote
        if age is less than 21
            you can't drink 
        else
            you can drink
    

    As you can see we simply included as part of the “true action” a statement and another if then else control structure. We did the same (nested another if then else) for the “false action”. In our example, we nested if then else control structures. Nesting could have an if then else within a while loop. Thus, the concept of nesting allows the mixing of the different categories of control structures.

    Many complex logic problems require using nested control structures. By nesting control structures (or placing one inside another) we can accomplish almost any complex logic problem.

    An Example – Nested for loops

    Here is an example of a 10 by 10 multiplication table:

             1 |   2 |   3 |   4 |   5 |   6 |   7 |   8 |   9 |  10 |
         -------------------------------------------------------------
       1 !   1 |   2 |   3 |   4 |   5 |   6 |   7 |   8 |   9 |  10 |
       2 !   2 |   4 |   6 |   8 |  10 |  12 |  14 |  16 |  18 |  20 |
       3 !   3 |   6 |   9 |  12 |  15 |  18 |  21 |  24 |  27 |  30 |
       4 !   4 |   8 |  12 |  16 |  20 |  24 |  28 |  32 |  36 |  40 |
       5 !   5 |  10 |  15 |  20 |  25 |  30 |  35 |  40 |  45 |  50 |
       6 !   6 |  12 |  18 |  24 |  30 |  36 |  42 |  48 |  54 |  60 |
       7 !   7 |  14 |  21 |  28 |  35 |  42 |  49 |  56 |  63 |  70 |
       8 !   8 |  16 |  24 |  32 |  40 |  48 |  56 |  64 |  72 |  80 |
       9 !   9 |  18 |  27 |  36 |  45 |  54 |  63 |  72 |  81 |  90 |
      10 !  10 |  20 |  30 |  40 |  50 |  60 |  70 |  80 |  90 | 100 |
    

    We might also see that the answers could be designed as a collection of cells (each cell being exactly six spaces wide). The pseudocode to produce part of the table is:

    For row = 1, row <= 3, row += 1
        For column = 1, column <= 3, column += 1
            Output row * column
            Output "\t"
        Output "\n"
    

    Key Terms

    complex logic
    Often solved with nested control structures.

    15.1: Nested For Loops is shared under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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