For...Next Statement

Repeats the statements between the For...Next block a specified number of times.

Syntax:

For counter=start To end [Step step]
    statement-block
    [Exit For]
    statement-block
Next [counter]

  For Each item In list
      statement-block
  [Exit For]
      statement-block
  Next [item]

Variables:

counter: Loop counter initially assigned the value to the right of the equal sign (start). Only numeric variables are valid. The loop counter increases or decreases according to the variable step until end is passed.

start: Numeric variable that defines the initial value at the beginning of the loop.

end: Numeric variable that defines the final value at the end of the loop.

step: Sets the value by which to increase or decrease the loop counter. If step is not specified, the loop counter is incremented by 1. In this case, end must be greater than start. If you want to decrease counter, end must be less than start, and step must be assigned a negative value.

The For...Next loop repeats all of the statements in the loop for the number of times that is specified by the parameters.

As the counter variable is decreased, Collabora Office Basic checks if the end value has been reached. As soon as the counter passes the end value, the loop automatically terminates.

It is possible to nest For...Next statements. If you do not specify a variable following the Next statement, Next automatically refers to the most recent For statement.

If you specify an increment of 0, the statements between For and Next are repeated continuously.

When counting down the counter variable, Collabora Office Basic checks for overflow or underflow. The loop ends when counter exceeds end (positive Step value) or is less than end (negative Step value).

Use the Exit For statement to exit the loop unconditionally. This statement must be within a For...Next loop. Use the If...Then statement to test the exit condition as follows:

  For...
      statement-block
      If condition = True Then Exit For
      statement-block
  Next

In nested For...Next loops, if you exit a loop unconditionally with Exit For, only one loop is exited.

Examples

The following example uses two nested loops to sort a string array with 10 elements ( sEntry() ), that is filled with various contents:

Sub ExampleSort
Dim sEntry(9) As String
Dim iCount As Integer, iCount2 As Integer
Dim sTemp As String
    sEntry = Array("Jerry","Patty","Kurt","Thomas","Michael",_
                 "David","Cathy","Susie","Edward","Christine")
    For iCount = 0 To 9
        For iCount2 = iCount + 1 To 9
            If sEntry(iCount) > sEntry(iCount2) Then
                sTemp = sEntry(iCount)
                sEntry(iCount) = sEntry(iCount2)
                sEntry(iCount2) = sTemp
            End If
        Next iCount2
    Next iCount
    For iCount = 0 To 9
        Print sEntry(iCount)
    Next iCount
End Sub

This explores the content of an array to display each item it contains.

  Sub list_iteration
      cutlery = Array("fork", "knife", "spoon")
      For Each item in cutlery
          Print item
      Next ' item
  End Sub