Lua Loops
In many situations, we need to perform repetitive tasks, so certain statements need to be executed repeatedly in a program.
A set of statements that are executed repeatedly is called a loop body. Whether the loop continues or not is determined by the loop's termination condition.
A loop structure is a flow structure that repeatedly executes a segment of code under certain conditions. The code segment that is repeatedly executed is called the loop body.
A loop statement consists of the loop body and the loop's termination condition.
Lua provides the following loop handling methods:
| Loop Type | Description |
|---|---|
| while Loop | Repeats a statement or group of statements while a given condition is true. It tests the condition before executing the loop body. |
| for Loop | Executes a sequence of statements multiple times and abbreviates the code that manages the loop variable. |
| repeat...until | Repeats the loop until a specified condition becomes true. |
| Nested Loops | You can use one or more loops inside any other while, for, or repeat...until loop. |
Loop Control Statements
Loop control statements change execution from its normal sequence.
Lua supports the following loop control statements:
| Control Statement | Description |
|---|---|
| break Statement | Terminates the loop or statement and transfers execution to the statement immediately following the loop or statement. |
| goto Statement | Transfers control to a labeled statement. |
Infinite Loop
If the condition in a loop body is always true, the loop will execute indefinitely. Here is an example using a while loop:
Example
while( true )
do
print("This loop will run forever")
end