For...Next Statement

Repeats the statements between the For...Next block a specified number of times.

Syntax:

For counter=start To end [Step step]

statement block

[Exit For]

statement block

Next [counter]

Variables:

Counter: Loop counter initially assigned the value to the right of the equal sign (start). Only numeric variables are valid. The loop counter increases or decreases according to the variable Step until End is passed.

Start: Numeric variable that defines the initial value at the beginning of the loop.

End: Numeric variable that defines the final value at the end of the loop.

Step: Sets the value by which to increase or decrease the loop counter. If Step is not specified, the loop counter is incremented by 1. In this case, End must be greater than Start. If you want to decrease Counter, End must be less than Start, and Step must be assigned a negative value.

The For...Next loop repeats all of the statements in the loop for the number of times that is specified by the parameters.

As the counter variable is decreased, LibreOffice Basic checks if the end value has been reached. As soon as the counter passes the end value, the loop automatically ends.

It is possible to nest For...Next statements. If you do not specify a variable following the Next statement, Next automatically refers to the most recent For statement.

If you specify an increment of 0, the statements between For and Next are repeated continuously.

When counting down the counter variable, LibreOffice Basic checks for overflow or underflow. The loop ends when Counter exceeds End (positive Step value) or is less than End (negative Step value).

Use the Exit For statement to exit the loop unconditionally. This statement must be within a For...Next loop. Use the If...Then statement to test the exit condition as follows:

For...

statements

If condition = True Then Exit For

statements

Next

Note: In nested For...Next loops, if you exit a loop unconditionally with Exit For, only one loop is exited.

Example

The following example uses two nested loops to sort a string array with 10 elements ( sEntry() ), that are first filled with various contents:

Sub ExampleSort

Dim sEntry(9) As String

Dim iCount As Integer

Dim iCount2 As Integer

Dim sTemp As String

    sEntry(0) = "Jerry"

    sEntry(1) = "Patty"

    sEntry(2) = "Kurt"

    sEntry(3) = "Thomas"

    sEntry(4) = "Michael"

    sEntry(5) = "David"

    sEntry(6) = "Cathy"

    sEntry(7) = "Susie"

    sEntry(8) = "Edward"

    sEntry(9) = "Christine"

    For iCount = 0 To 9

        For iCount2 = iCount + 1 To 9

            If sEntry(iCount) > sEntry(iCount2) Then

                sTemp = sEntry(iCount)

                sEntry(iCount) = sEntry(iCount2)

                sEntry(iCount2) = sTemp

            End If

        Next iCount2

    Next iCount

    For iCount = 0 To 9

        Print sEntry(iCount)

    Next iCount

End Sub