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Is it possible to declare two variables of different types in a for loop?

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Can you declare 2 variables in a for loop?

Yes, I can declare multiple variables in a for-loop. And you, too, can now declare multiple variables, in a for-loop, as follows: Just separate the multiple variables in the initialization statement with commas. Do not forget to end the complete initialization statement with a semicolon.

Is it possible to declare multiple types of variables?

Yes you can and it is slightly more nuanced than it seems. You can use the same syntax in function parameter declarations: func foo(a, b string) { // takes two string parameters a and b ... } Then comes the short-hand syntax for declaring and assigning a variable at the same time.

Can you declare variables in a for loop?

Often the variable that controls a for loop is needed only for the purposes of the loop and is not used elsewhere. When this is the case, it is possible to declare the variable inside the initialization portion of the for.

Can you Increment 2 variables in a for loop?

Incrementing two variables is bug prone, especially if you only test for one of them. For loops are meant for cases where your loop runs on one increasing/decreasing variable. For any other variable, change it in the loop.


No - but technically there is a work-around (not that i'd actually use it unless forced to):

for(struct { int a; char b; } s = { 0, 'a' } ; s.a < 5 ; ++s.a) 
{
    std::cout << s.a << " " << s.b << std::endl;
}

Not possible, but you can do:

float f;
int i;
for (i = 0,f = 0.0; i < 5; i++)
{
  //...
}

Or, explicitly limit the scope of f and i using additional brackets:

{
    float f; 
    int i;
    for (i = 0,f = 0.0; i < 5; i++)
    {
       //...
    }
}

C++17: Yes! You should use a structured binding declaration. The syntax has been supported in gcc and clang since gcc-7 and clang-4.0 (clang live example). This allows us to unpack a tuple like so:

for (auto [i, f, s] = std::tuple{1, 1.0, std::string{"ab"}}; i < N; ++i, f += 1.5) {
    // ...
}

The above will give you:

  • int i set to 1
  • double f set to 1.0
  • std::string s set to "ab"

Make sure to #include <tuple> for this kind of declaration.

You can specify the exact types inside the tuple by typing them all out as I have with the std::string, if you want to name a type. For example:

auto [vec, i32] = std::tuple{std::vector<int>{3, 4, 5}, std::int32_t{12}}

A specific application of this is iterating over a map, getting the key and value,

std::unordered_map<K, V> m = { /*...*/ };
for (auto& [key, value] : m) {
   // ...
}

See a live example here


C++14: You can do the same as C++11 (below) with the addition of type-based std::get. So instead of std::get<0>(t) in the below example, you can have std::get<int>(t).


C++11: std::make_pair allows you to do this, as well as std::make_tuple for more than two objects.

for (auto p = std::make_pair(5, std::string("Hello World")); p.first < 10; ++p.first) {
    std::cout << p.second << std::endl;
}

std::make_pair will return the two arguments in a std::pair. The elements can be accessed with .first and .second.

For more than two objects, you'll need to use a std::tuple

for (auto t = std::make_tuple(0, std::string("Hello world"), std::vector<int>{});
        std::get<0>(t) < 10;
        ++std::get<0>(t)) {
    std::cout << std::get<1>(t) << std::endl; // cout Hello world
    std::get<2>(t).push_back(std::get<0>(t)); // add counter value to the vector
}

std::make_tuple is a variadic template that will construct a tuple of any number of arguments (with some technical limitations of course). The elements can be accessed by index with std::get<INDEX>(tuple_object)

Within the for loop bodies you can easily alias the objects, though you still need to use .first or std::get for the for loop condition and update expression

for (auto t = std::make_tuple(0, std::string("Hello world"), std::vector<int>{});
        std::get<0>(t) < 10;
        ++std::get<0>(t)) {
    auto& i = std::get<0>(t);
    auto& s = std::get<1>(t);
    auto& v = std::get<2>(t);
    std::cout << s << std::endl; // cout Hello world
    v.push_back(i); // add counter value to the vector
}

C++98 and C++03 You can explicitly name the types of a std::pair. There is no standard way to generalize this to more than two types though:

for (std::pair<int, std::string> p(5, "Hello World"); p.first < 10; ++p.first) {
    std::cout << p.second << std::endl;
}

You can't declare multiple types in the initialization, but you can assign to multiple types E.G.

{
   int i;
   char x;
   for(i = 0, x = 'p'; ...){
      ...
   }
}

Just declare them in their own scope.