while

while loops are the simplest type of loop in PHP. They behave just like their C counterparts. The basic form of a while statement is:

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while (expr)

    statement

The meaning of a while statement is simple. It tells PHP to execute the nested statement(s) repeatedly, as long as the while expression evaluates to TRUE. The value of the expression is checked each time at the beginning of the loop, so even if this value changes during the execution of the nested statement(s), execution will not stop until the end of the iteration (each time PHP runs the statements in the loop is one iteration). Sometimes, if the while expression evaluates to FALSE from the very beginning, the nested statement(s) won't even be run once.

Like with the if statement, you can group multiple statements within the same while loop by surrounding a group of statements with curly braces, or by using the alternate syntax:

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while (expr):

    statement

    ...

endwhile;

The following examples are identical, and both print the numbers 1 through 10:

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<?php
/* example 1 */

$i = 1;

while ($i <= 10) {

    echo $i++;  /* the printed value would be

                    $i before the increment

                    (post-increment) */
}

/* example 2 */

$i = 1;

while ($i <= 10):

    echo $i;

    $i++;

endwhile;
?>

Related Examples ( Source code ) » control_structures.while

Code Examples / Notes » control_structures.while

While can do wonders if you need something to queue writing to a file while something else has access to it. Here is my simple example: <?php function write ($data, $file, $write_mode="w") { $lock = $file . ".lock"; // run the write fix, to stop any clashes that may occur write_fix($lock); // create a new lock file after write_fix() for this writing session touch( $lock ); // write to your file $open = fopen($file, $write_mode); fwrite($open, $data); fclose($open); // kill your current lock unlink($lock); } function write_fix ($lock_file) { while( file_exists($lock_file){ // do something in here? // maybe sleep for a few microseconds // to maintain stability, if this is going to // take a while ?? [just a suggestion] } } ?> This method is not recommended for use with programs that will be needing a good few seconds to write to a file, as the while function will eat up alot of process cycles. However, this method does work, and is easy to implement. It also groups the writing functions into one easy to use function, making life easier. :-)

virtualjosh at yahoo dot com (Hosh) wrote on: 16-Aug-2003 12:52 The speedtest is interesting. But the seemingly fastest way contains a pitfall for beginners who just use it because it is fast and fast is cool ;) Walking through an array with next() will cut of the first entry, as this is the way next() works ;) If you really need to do it this way, make sure your array contains an empty entry at the beginning. Another way would be to use <?php while ($this = current($array) ){ do_something($this); next($array); } ?> There is an impact on speed for sure but I did not test it. I would advise to stick with conventional methods because current(),next() in while loops is too error prone for me.

Using the ":" and endwhile; in lieu of the curly braces allowed me to nest an if else condition within the while statement as in the following: //Sets $count at 1 initially $count=1; //Loads thumbnail images in table 3 columns wide, select images to load $result = mysql_query("SELECT URLImage, FileName, URLThumb, FileNameThumb, DatePhotographed, Comment FROM PLANTS, WEBIMAGES WHERE WEBIMAGES.PID='$PID' and WEBIMAGES.PID=PLANTS.PID"); <?php while ( $row = mysql_fetch_array($result) ) : //Check to see if this is 3rd image and if so, close the table row and reset the count to 1 if ($count==3){ echo('<TD><A HREF="' . $row['URLImage'] . '' . $row['FileName'] . '">'); echo('<IMG SRC=' . $row['URLThumb'] . '' . $row['FileNameThumb'] .' ALT="Click to see full sized image"></A> '); echo('<center><FONT SIZE=-1>DATE: ' . $row['DatePhotographed'] . ' ' . $row['Comment'] . '</center></font> </TD></TR><TR>'); $count=1; //If this is not the 3rd image, add the image in the table and add 1 to the count }else{ echo('<TD><A HREF="' . $row['URLImage'] . '' . $row['FileName'] . '">'); echo('<IMG SRC=' . $row['URLThumb'] . '' . $row['FileNameThumb'] .' ALT="Click to see full sized image"></A> '); echo('<center><FONT SIZE=-1>DATE: ' . $row['DatePhotographed'] . ' ' . $row['Comment'] . '</center></font> </TD>'); $count++; } endwhile; ?> It would not work nested within the curly braces of the while conditional.

Talking about while, dropdown menus, and ternary operator which was mentionned before, you can combine them to have drop menu built with a value selected according to your wishses. <select name="whatever"> <?php while ($data = mysql_fetch_assoc($requeteID)) { $menu .= '<option value="'.$data['id'].'"'; $menu .= ($data['id'] == $_GET['id'] ? ' selected>' :'>'); $menu .= $data['name'].'</option>'; } echo $menu; ?> </select> Therefore if you are creating a form to select data from database, and want the form displayed when search is done to show what parameters have been chosen that will do the trick !! Let's say I make a search between different sports, I choose football in my form, send my query... then displays are show, the menu will have football selected because of the ternary operator that displays "selected>" on the <option> ;) Enjoy ^^

my simple script to 'tile' a watermark <?php // (c) 2006, Brandon Hansen [kg6ypi] // // watermark.php // 4/29/2007 11:05:00 PM header('content-type: image/jpeg'); // your watermark image $watermark = imagecreatefrompng('watermark.png'); // grab watermarks deminsions $watermark_width = imagesx($watermark); $watermark_height = imagesy($watermark); $image = imagecreatetruecolor($watermark_width, $watermark_height); // your image to be watermarked $image = imagecreatefromjpeg($_GET['file']); // grab the size of image to be watermarked $size = getimagesize($_GET['file']); // find last watermarks postitions $dest_x = $size[0] - $watermark_width; $dest_y = $size[1] - $watermark_height; // begin postition $c_dest_x = 0; $c_dest_y = 0; // loop/tile watermark until image full while ($dest_x > $c_dest_x && $dest_y > $c_dest_y) { // insert wartermark imagecopymerge($image, $watermark, $c_dest_x, $c_dest_y, 0, 0, $watermark_width, $watermark_height, 100); // math for new watermark postition if ($c_dest_x < $dest_x) { $c_dest_x = $c_dest_x + $watermark_width; } if ($c_dest_x > $dest_x && $c_dest_y < $dest_y) { $c_dest_x = 0; $c_dest_y = $c_dest_y + $watermark_height; } } // do GD stuff imagejpeg($image); imagedestroy($image); imagedestroy($watermark); ?> hope this helps someone, i couldn't find an example anywhere! so i give one, hi hi 73's kg6ypi

Just a note to stuart - the reason for this behaviour is because using the while(value = each(array)) construct increments the internal counter of the array as its looped through. Therefore if you intend to repeat the loop, you need to reset the counter. eg: $one = array("10", "20", "30", "40"); $two = array("a", "b", "c", "d"); $i=0; while($i < count($one)) { reset($two); while($a = each($two)) { echo $a[1]." - ".$one[$i].", "; } $i++; } This produces: a - 10, b - 10, c - 10, d - 10, a - 20, b - 20, c - 20, d - 20, a - 30, b - 30, c - 30, d - 30, a - 40, b - 40, c - 40, d - 40,

I recently did a performance analysis, comparing while() and foreach() when traversing an array. Foreach() is nearly 2x faster - an effect most notable when traversing large, multi-dimensional arrays. Here's my code: <? for ($i=0; $i<10000; $i++) $a[$i]=$i*2; echo "list time: \n".$start=mktime()."\n"; for ($i=0; $i<1000; $i++) { reset($a); while(list($k, $v)=each($a)) { echo ""; } } echo ($finish=mktime())."\n"; $result=$finish-$start; echo "Result: $result seconds\n\n"; echo "for time: \n".$start=mktime()."\n"; for ($i=0; $i<1000; $i++) { foreach($a as $k => $v) { echo ""; } } echo ($finish=mktime())."\n"; $result=$finish-$start; echo "Result: $result seconds\n\n"; ?> And here's the results on an 1800+ Athlon: list time: 1056579474 1056579512 Result: 38 seconds fore time: 1056579512 1056579533 Result: 21 seconds

I noticed the post above about building a multi coloumn table and making use of the : operator I did mine this way ---------------------- <table> <?php // get the list of categories $list_of_cats=new links(); $list_of_cats->show_list_of_cats(); $total_cats=count($list_of_cats->list_of_cats); $a=0; $b=0; while($a<$total_cats) { if($b==0) { echo("\n<tr>"); } echo("\n<td><input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"id_".$a."\" value=\"".$list_of_cats->list_of_cats[$a]["id"]."\">  ".$list_of_cats->list_of_cats[$a]["category"]."</td>"); if($b==1) { echo("</tr>\n"); $b=0; $last_tr=true; } else { $b++; $last_tr=false; } $a++; } // did the last one add a tr if not add a blank one? if(!$last_tr) { // nope echo("<td> </td></tr>"); } ?> </table> --------------------------------- This will build a 2 coloumn table and populate each (it was part of a form). If the bottom right cell is lefte empty (that is you have an odd number of items) it correctly adds a blank cell and closes the table (XHTML valid)

I made a test traversing an array (simple, but long, numeric array with numeric keys). My test had a cycle per method, and multiplied each array element by 100.. These were my results: ****************************************************** 30870 Element Array Traversing [test_time] [BEGINS/RESETS @ time_start = 1060977996.689] 0.2373 seg later -> while (list ($key, $val) = each ($array)) ENDS [test_time] [BEGINS/RESETS @ time_start = 1060977996.9414] 0.1916 seg later -> while (list ($key,) = each ($array)) ENDS [test_time] [BEGINS/RESETS @ time_start = 1060977997.1513] 0.1714 seg later -> foreach ($array AS $key=>$value) ENDS [test_time] [BEGINS/RESETS @ time_start = 1060977997.3378] 0.0255 seg later -> while ($next = next($array)) ENDS [test_time] [BEGINS/RESETS @ time_start = 1060977997.3771] 0.1735 seg later -> foreach ($array AS $value) ENDS ************************************************************** foreach is fatser than a while (list - each), true. However, a while(next) was faster than foreach. These were the winning codes: $array = $save; test_time("",1); foreach ($array AS $key=>$value) $array[$key] = $array[$key] * 100; test_time("foreach (\$array AS \$key=>\$value)"); $array = $save; test_time("",1); reset($array); while ($next = next($array)) { $key = key($array); $array[$key] = $array[$key] * 100; } test_time("while (\$next = next(\$array))"); ********************************************************* The improvement seems huge, but it isnt that dramatic in real practice. Results varied... I have a very long bidimensional array, and saw no more than a 2 sec diference, but on 140+ second scripts. Notice though that you lose control of the $key value (unless you have numeric keys, which I tend to avoid), but it is not always necessary. I generally stick to foreach. However, this time, I was getting Allowed Memory Size Exceeded errors with Apache. Remember foreach copies the original array, so this now makes two huge 2D arrays in memory and alot of work for Apache. If you are getting this error, check your loops. Dont use the whole array on a foreach. Instead get the keys and acces the cells directlly. Also, try and use unset and Referencing on the huge arrays. Working on your array and loops is a much better workaround than saving to temporary tables and unsetting (much slower).

Here's something really cool and simple. Using the while loop, you can calculate exponents (powers). The code looks like this: <?php //Since the values of $a and $b will be changing, //we need to assign new variables to them, $c and $d. $c = $a; $d = $b; while ($b>1) { //Here we're changing the value of $a. $a = ($a*$c); //Here we're changing the value of $b $b--; } //And to top it all off, a little statement at the end. print (" $c<sup>$d</sup> = $a"); ?> This code works because we are subtracting 1 from the value of $b each time through the loop. Since we're saying that $a = ($a*$c), we are changing the value of $a but not the value of $c. We need the variables $c and $d for the statement at the end because the values of $a and $b have changed. This is a really simple trick that most of you could have figured out in a matter of seconds, but it is a good trick for beginners like me.

A note to anyone nesting a while loop inside a while loop.... Consider the example below: $one = array("10", "20", "30", "40"); $two = array("a", "b", "c", "d"); $i=0; while($i < count($one)) { while($a = each($two)) { echo $a[1]." - ".$one[$i].", "; } $i++; } This will return the following: a - 10, b - 10, c - 10, d - 10 So in effect the main while loop is only doing one iteration... and not 4 as expected.... Now the example below works as expected.. $i=0; while($i < count($one)) { foreach($two as $a) { echo $a." - ".$one[$i]."\n"; } $i++; } by returning: a - 10, b - 10, c - 10, d - 10, a - 20, b - 20, c - 20, d - 20, a - 30, b - 30, c - 30, d - 30, a - 40, b - 40, c - 40, d - 40 So there is clearly a difference on how while statements work in comparison to other looping structures. I think it would be good to have an explaination of this strange behaviour.

@stuart: There's nothing strange or unexpected about your loop's behaviour. > So in effect the main while loop is only doing one iteration... and not 4 as expected.... That's the wrong conclusion. The outer "while" does all four iterations. However the "inner" loop does nothing for the second, third and fourth run. > I think it would be good to have an explaination of this strange behaviour. Here it is: <?PHP $i=0; while($i < count($one)) { while($a = each($two)) { echo $a[1]." - ".$one[$i].", "; } $i++; } ?> The "problem" is your use of "each", which reached the last item after the first iteration of the outer loop. After that, when you come back to the second iteration with the outer loop, "each" still is at the end of the array $two. If you add a reset($two) in front of the inner "while", you'll get the result you expect.

$files = filelist("./",1,0); foreach ($files as $list) { rename("".$list['path']."/".$list['name']."", "".$list['path']."/".formatName($list['name']).""); echo "Directory: " . $list['dir'] . " => Level: " . $list['level'] . " => Name: " . $list['name'] . " => Path: " . $list['path'] ." "; $sayfa="<HTML>\n"; $sayfa.="<HEAD>\n"; $sayfa.="<TITLE>$weblink</TITLE>\n"; $sayfa.="<meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text/html; charset=ISO-8859-9\">\n"; $sayfa.="<meta http-equiv=\"Content-Type\" content=\"text/html; charset=windows-1254\">\n"; $sayfa.="</HEAD>\n"; $sayfa.="<BODY>\n"; while( list($list['name'], $list['path']) = @each($list['level']) ) { $sayfa.="    <b><a href=\"$list[path]$list[name]\">$list[name]</a></b> \n"; } $sayfa.="</BODY>\n"; $sayfa.="</HTML>\n"; $fp=@fopen(''.$list['path'].'/index.html','w'); $ok=@fwrite($fp,$sayfa); @fclose($fp); @chmod(''.$list['path'].'/index.html',0644); } but it has got some problem for "while".. i could not do that...

while

Related Examples ( Source code ) » control_structures.while

Code Examples / Notes » control_structures.while

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