I attempted to write a C-style for-loop in REBOL:
for [i: 0] [i < 10] [i: i + 1] [
print i
]
This syntax doesn't appear to be correct, though:
*** ERROR
** Script error: for does not allow block! for its 'word argument
** Where: try do either either either -apply-
** Near: try load/all join %/users/try-REBOL/data/ system/script/args...
Does REBOL have any built-in function that is similar to a C-style for loop, or will I need to implement this function myself?
The equivalent construct in a C-like language would look like this, but I'm not sure if it's possible to implement the same pattern in REBOL:
for(i = 0; i < 10; i++){
print(i);
}
Because of the rebol3 tag, I'll assume this question pertains to Rebol 3.
Proposed "CFOR" for Rebol 3
For Rebol 3, there is a proposal (which got quite a bit of support) for a "general loop" very much along the lines of a C-style for
and therefore currently going under the name of cfor
as well: see CureCode issue #884 for all the gory details.
This includes a much refined version of Ladislav's original implementation, the current (as of 2014-05-17) version I'll reproduce here (without the extensive inline comments discussing implementation aspects) for the sake of easy reference:
cfor: func [ ; Not this name
"General loop based on an initial state, test, and per-loop change."
init [block! object!] "Words & initial values as object spec (local)"
test [block!] "Continue if condition is true"
bump [block!] "Move to the next step in the loop"
body [block!] "Block to evaluate each time"
/local ret
] [
if block? init [init: make object! init]
test: bind/copy test init
body: bind/copy body init
bump: bind/copy bump init
while test [set/any 'ret do body do bump get/any 'ret]
]
General problems with user-level control structure implementations in Rebol 3
One important general remark for all user-level implementation of control constructs in Rebol 3: there is no analogue to Rebol 2's [throw]
attribute in R3 yet (see CureCode issue #539), so such user-written ("mezzanine", in Rebol lingo) control or loop functions have problems, in general.
In particular, this CFOR would incorrectly capture return
and exit
. To illustrate, consider the following function:
foo: function [] [
print "before"
cfor [i: 1] [i < 10] [++ i] [
print i
if i > 2 [return true]
]
print "after"
return false
]
You'd (rightly) expect the return
to actually return from foo
. However, if you try the above, you'll find this expectation disappointed:
>> foo
before
1
2
3
after
== false
This remark of course applies to all the user-level implementation given as answers in this thread, until bug #539 is fixed.
There is an optimized Cfor by Ladislav Mecir
cfor: func [
{General loop}
[throw]
init [block!]
test [block!]
inc [block!]
body [block!]
] [
use set-words init reduce [
:do init
:while test head insert tail copy body inc
]
]
The other control structure that most people would use in this particular case is repeat
repeat i 10 [print i]
which results in:
>> repeat i 10 [print i]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
I generally do no use loop
very often, but it can be used to a similar extent:
>> i: 1
>> loop 10 [print ++ i]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Those are some useful control structures. Not sure if you were looking for cfor
but you got that answer from others.
I have implemented a function that works in the same way as a C for loop.
cfor: func [init condition update action] [
do init
while condition [
do action
do update
]
]
Here's an example usage of this function:
cfor [i: 0] [i < 10] [i: i + 1] [
print i
]
For simple initial value, upper limit and step, following works:
for i 0 10 2
[print i]
This is very close to C for
loop.