Statements: For

The for statement is typically used to step through a range of values in ascending or descending increments, performing some set of operations on each value. For example:

for ($i = 1; $i <= 5; ++$i) {
  echo "$i\t".($i * $i)."\n"; // output a table of squares
}

$i = 1;
for (; $i <= 5; ) {
  echo "$i\t".($i * $i)."\n"; // output a table of squares
  ++$i;
}

$i = 1;
for (; ; ) {
  if ($i > 5)
    break;
  echo "$i\t".($i * $i)."\n"; // output a table of squares
  ++$i;
}

1	1
2	4
3	9
4	16
5	25
1	1
2	4
3	9
4	16
5	25
1	1
2	4
3	9
4	16
5	25

See compound statements for a discussion about the use of braces around the statement body.

In the first for loop above, let's call $i = 1 the for-initializer, $i <= 10 the for-control, and ++$i the for-end-of-loop-action. Each of these three parts can contain a comma-separated list of expressions. For example:

for ($i = 1, $j = 10; f($i), $i <= 10; $i = $i + 2, --$j) {
  ...
}

The group of expressions in for-initializer is evaluated once, left-to-right, for their side-effects only. Then the group of expressions in for-control is evaluated left-to-right (with all but the right-most one for their side-effects only), with the right-most expression's value being tested. If that tests true, the loop body is executed, and the group of expressions in for-end-of-loop-action is evaluated left-to-right, for their side-effects only. Then the process is repeated starting with for-control. If the right-most expression in for-control tests false, control transfers to the point immediately following the end of the for statement. The loop body is executed zero or more times.

The controlling expression—the right-most expression in for-control---must have type bool or be implicitly convertible to that type.

Any or all of the three parts of the first line of a for statement can be omitted, as shown. If for-initializer is omitted, no action is taken at the start of the loop processing. If for-control is omitted, this is treated as if for-control was an expression with the value true. If for-end-of-loop-action is omitted, no action is taken at the end of each iteration.