Iteration statements cause statements (or compound statements) to be executed zero or more times, subject to some loop-termination criteria. When these statements are compound statements, they are executed in order, except when either the break statement or the continue statement is encountered.

C++ provides four iteration statements — while, do, for, and range-based for. Each of these iterates until its termination expression evaluates to zero (false), or until loop termination is forced with a break statement. The following table summarizes these statements and their actions; each is discussed in detail in the sections that follow.

The statement part of an iteration statement cannot be a declaration. However, it can be a compound statement containing a declaration.

Overview of C++ Statements