Thread: New statement of loop for.

Hi,
I've encountered while surfing in the websites a c code and seemed weird to me,
what confusing me; is the statement of its loop for, what does it stand for in this case? he used pointers in it also , how it comes?

Code:

int strcmp(char * left, char * right)
{
 for ( ; *left && *right; left++, right++ )
    if ( *left != *right ) break;
}

Any help for illustrating what for statement means in this case?



thanks.

Consider the "for()" loop:

Code:

for( /* initialization */ ; /* condition */ ; /* update */)
{
    // ...
}

Technically, each of those parameters is optional (though the semi-colons are mandatory).

For instance, one way to write an infinite loop is by leaving all of those blank:

Code:

for( ; ; )  // infinite loop
{
    // ...
}

In the example you provided, initialization is not required - so that spot is left empty.

The arguments to the function are char pointers (presumably strings). So the "if()" deferences the pointers to see what characters are contained at the given addresses.

Originally Posted by whiteflags

The function is missing a return statement. I suppose you could do:

Code:

return *left < *right ? -1 : *left > *right ? +1 : 0;

Does this help you in any way?

ye, appreciated!