Loops (while statements)

This lesson covers the while statement, which repeats logic only as long as a condition holds. It's for anyone searching "C++ while loop usage."

The form while (condition) { ... } repeats logic only while the condition is true. Unlike a for loop, it's often used when the number of repetitions isn't known ahead of time.

The example prints and increments a number by 1 as long as count is 3 or less.

A common early mistake is forgetting to update the counter inside the loop, causing an infinite loop. When using a while statement, you need to make sure the condition genuinely becomes false somewhere in the logic.

In real projects, while loops are used for logic whose repeat count isn't known in advance — "repeat until the input is valid," or "search until a certain condition is met."

📖 Reference code

#include <iostream>

int main() {
    int count = 1;
    while (count <= 3) {
        std::cout << "Count: " << count << std::endl;
        count++;
    }
    return 0;
}

✍️ Your code

Type your code, then press "Run"

🧪 This site can't compile or run C++ directly, so it checks on the spot whether what you typed matches the reference code (scoring happens entirely in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere).