C Nested Loops
Nested Loops
It is also possible to place a loop inside another loop. This is called a nested loop.
The "inner loop" will be executed one time for each iteration of the "outer loop":
Example
int i, j;
// Outer loop
for (i = 1; i <= 2; ++i) {
printf("Outer:
%d\n", i); // Executes 2 times
// Inner loop
for (j = 1; j <= 3; ++j) {
printf(" Inner: %d\n", j); // Executes 6 times (2 * 3)
}
}
Try it Yourself »
Multiplication Table Example
This example uses nested loops to print a simple multiplication table (1 to 3):
Example
int i, j;
for (i = 1; i <= 3; i++) {
for (j = 1; j <= 3; j++) {
printf("%d ", i * j);
}
printf("\n");
}
Result
1 2 3
2 4 6
3 6 9
Try it Yourself »
Nested loops are useful when working with tables, matrices, or multi-dimensional data structures.
