Nested loop in C

A loop inside another loop is called a nested loop. The depth of nested loop depends on the complexity of a problem. We can have any number of nested loops as required. Consider a nested loop where the outer loop runs n times and consists of another loop inside it. The inner loop runs m times. Then, the total number of times the inner loop runs during the program execution is n*m.

Types of nested loops

Note: There can be mixed type of nested loop i.e. a for loop inside a while loop, or a while loop inside a do-while loop.

Nested while loop

A while loop inside another while loop is called nested while loop.

Syntax of Nested while loop

while (condition1)
{
    statement(s);
    while (condition2)
    {
        statement(s);
        ... ... ...
    }
    ... ... ...
}

Flowchart of Nested while loop

flowchart of nested while loop in c programming

Example of Nested while loop

Example 1: C program to print the number pattern.

1
1 2
1 2 3
1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4 5
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    int i=1,j;
    while (i <= 5)
    {
        j=1;
        while (j <= i )
        {
            printf("%d ",j);
            j++;
        }
        printf("n");
        i++;
    }
    return 0;
}

In this program, nested while loop is used to print the pattern. The outermost loop runs 5 times and for every loop, the innermost loop runs i times which is 1 at first, meaning only “1” is printed, then on the next loop it’s 2 numbers printing “1 2” and so on till 5 iterations of the loop executes, printing “1 2 3 4 5”. This way, the given number pattern is printed.

Nested do-while loop

A do-while loop inside another do-while loop is called nested do-while loop.

Syntax of Nested do-while loop

do
{
    statement(s);
    do
    {
        statement(s);
        ... ... ...
    }while (condition2);
    ... ... ...
}while (condition1);

Flowchart of Nested do-while loop

flowchart of nested do while loop in c programming

Example of Nested do-while loop

Example 2: C program to print the given star pattern.

*
**
***
****
*****
#include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    int i=1,j;
    do
    {
        j=1;
        do
        {
            printf("*");
            j++;
        }while(j <= i);
        i++;
        printf("n");
    }while(i <= 5);
    return 0;
}

In this program, nested do-while loop is used to print the star pattern. The outermost loop runs 5 times and for every loop, the innermost loop runs i times which is 1 at first, meaning only one “*” is printed, then on the next loop it’s 2 printing two stars and so on till 5 iterations of the loop executes, printing five stars. This way, the given star pattern is printed.

Nested for loop

A for loop inside another for loop is called nested for loop.

Syntax of Nested for loop

for (initialization; condition; increment/decrement)
{
    statement(s);
    for (initialization; condition; increment/decrement)
    {
        statement(s);
        ... ... ...
    }
    ... ... ...
}

Flowchart of Nested for loop

flowchart of nested for loop in c programming

Example of Nested for loop

Example 3: C program to print all the composite numbers from 2 to a certain number entered by user.

#include<stdio.h>
#include<math.h>
int main()
{
    int i,j,n;
    printf("Enter a number:");
    scanf("%d",&n);
    for(i=2;i<=n;i++)
    {
        for(j=2;j<=(int)pow(i,0.5);j++)
        {
            if(i%j==0)
            {
                printf("%d is compositen",i);
                break;
            }    
        }
    }
    return 0;
}

Output

Enter a number:15
4 is composite
6 is composite
8 is composite
9 is composite
10 is composite
12 is composite
14 is composite
15 is composite

A number is said to be composite if it has at least one factor other than 1 and itself. This program prints all the composite numbers starting from 2 to a certain number n, entered by user. We need to use a nested loop to solve this problem. The outer for loop runs from 2 to n and the inner loop is used to determine whether a number is composite or not. We need to check for that factor starting from 2 to integer part of square root of that number.

Consider 15, its square root is nearly 3.873. Here, the integer part is 3. Now, if there is a factor of 15 from 2 to 3 then it is composite. Here, 3 is a factor of 15. Hence, 15 is a composite number.