while

(PHP 4, PHP 5, PHP 7, PHP 8)

La boucle while est le moyen le plus simple d'implémenter une boucle en PHP. Cette boucle se comporte de la même manière qu'en C. L'exemple le plus simple d'une boucle while est le suivant :

while (expression)
    commandes

La signification d'une boucle while est très simple. PHP exécute l'instruction tant que l'expression de la boucle while est évaluée comme true. La valeur de l'expression est vérifiée à chaque début de boucle, et, si la valeur change durant l'exécution de l'instruction, l'exécution ne s'arrêtera qu'à la fin de l'itération (chaque fois que PHP exécute l'instruction, on appelle cela une itération). Si l'expression du while est false avant la première itération, l'instruction ne sera jamais exécutée.

Comme avec le if, vous pouvez regrouper plusieurs instructions dans la même boucle while en les regroupant à l'intérieur d'accolades ou en utilisant la syntaxe suivante :

while (expression):
    commandes
    ...
endwhile;

Les exemples suivants sont identiques et affichent tous les nombres de 1 jusqu'à 10 :

<?php
/* exemple 1 */

$i = 1;
while (
$i <= 10) {
echo
$i++; /* La valeur affichée est $i avant l'incrémentation
(post-incrémentation) */
}

/* exemple 2 */

$i = 1;
while (
$i <= 10):
echo
$i;
$i++;
endwhile;
?>

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User Contributed Notes 9 notes

up
2
Dan Liebner
2 years ago
While loops don't require a code block (statement).

<?php

while( ++$i < 10 ); // look ma, no brackets!

echo $i; // 10

?>
up
-9
mparsa1372 at gmail dot com
3 years ago
The example below displays the numbers from 1 to 5:

<?php
$x
= 1;

while(
$x <= 5) {
  echo
"The number is: $x <br>";
 
$x++;
}
?>

This example counts to 100 by tens:

<?php
$x
= 0;

while(
$x <= 100) {
  echo
"The number is: $x <br>";
 
$x+=10;
}
?>
up
-30
scott at mstech dot com
14 years ago
Just a note about using the continue statement to forego the remainder of a loop - be SURE you're not issuing the continue statement from within a SWITCH case - doing so will not continue the while loop, but rather the switch statement itself.

While that may seem obvious to some, it took a little bit of testing for me, so hopefully this helps someone else.
up
-41
synnus at gmail dot com
7 years ago
<?php

// test While Vs For php 5.6.17

$t1 = microtime(true);
$a=0;
while(
$a++ <= 1000000000);
$t2 = microtime(true);
$x1 = $t2 - $t1;
echo
PHP_EOL,' > while($a++ <= 100000000); : ' ,$x1, 's', PHP_EOL;

$t3 = microtime(true);
for(
$a=0;$a <= 1000000000;$a++);
$t4 = microtime(true);
$x2 = $t4 - $t3;
echo
PHP_EOL,'> for($a=0;$a <= 100000000;$a++); : ' ,$x2, 's', PHP_EOL;

$t5 = microtime(true);
$a=0; for(;$a++ <= 1000000000;);
$t6 = microtime(true);
$x3 = $t6 - $t5;
echo
PHP_EOL,' > $a=0; for(;$a++ <= 100000000;); : ' , $x3, 's', PHP_EOL;

//> while($a++ <= 100000000);   = 18.509671926498s
//
//> for($a=0;$a <= 100000000;$a++);  =  25.450572013855s
//
//> $a=0; for(;$a++ <= 100000000;);  =  22.614907979965s

// ===================

//> while($a++ != 100000000); : 18.204656839371s
//
//> for($a=0;$a != 100000000;$a++); : 25.025605201721s
//
//> $a=0; for(;$a++ != 100000000;); : 22.340576887131s

// ===================

//> while($a++ < 100000000); : 18.383454084396s
//
//> for($a=0;$a < 100000000;$a++); : 25.290743112564s
//
//> $a=0; for(;$a++ < 100000000;); : 23.28609919548s

?>
up
-40
ravenswd at gmail dot com
14 years ago
I find it often clearer to set a simple flag ($finished) to false at the start of the loop, and have the program set it to true when it's finished doing whatever it's trying to do. Then the code is more self-documenting: WHILE NOT FINISHED keep going through the loop. FINISHED EQUALS TRUE when you're done. Here's an example. This is the code I use to generate a random filename and ensure that there is not already an existing file with the same name. I've added very verbose comments to it to make it clear how it works:

<?php
$finaldir
= 'download';

$finished = false;                       // we're not finished yet (we just started)
while ( ! $finished ):                   // while not finished
 
$rn = rand();                          // random number
 
$outfile = $finaldir.'/'.$rn.'.gif';   // output file name
 
if ( ! file_exists($outfile) ):        // if file DOES NOT exist...
   
$finished = true;                    // ...we are finished
 
endif;
endwhile;                               
// (if not finished, re-start WHILE loop)
?>
up
-44
nickleus at gmail dot com
6 years ago
<?php
$i
= -1;
while (
$i) {
    echo
$i++;
}
?>
outputs  "-1" then stops because "0" (zero) gets evaluated as FALSE.

this demonstrates why it's important for a PDO statement fetch-ing a column value inside a while-loop to test explicitly for FALSE.
up
-47
qeremy [atta] gmail [dotta] com
11 years ago
Instead of this usage;

<?php
$arr
= array("orange", "banana", "apple", "raspberry");

$i = 0;
while (
$i < count($arr)) {
  
$a = $arr[$i];
   echo
$a ."\n";
  
$i++;
}
// or
$i = 0;
$c = count($arr);
while (
$i < $c) {
  
$a = $arr[$i];
   echo
$a ."\n";
  
$i++;
}
?>

This could be more efficient;

<?php
while ($a = $arr[1 * $i++]) echo $a ."\n";
?>
up
-51
chayes at antenna dot nl
22 years ago
At the end of the while (list / each) loop the array pointer will be at the end.
This means the second while loop on that array will be skipped!

You can put the array pointer back with the reset($myArray) function.

example:

<?php
$myArray
=array('aa','bb','cc','dd');
while (list (
$key, $val) = each ($myArray) ) echo $val;
reset($myArray);
while (list (
$key, $val) = each ($myArray) ) echo $val;
?>
up
-50
er dot sarimkhan786 at gmail dot com
8 years ago
simple pyramid pattern program using while loop
<?php
$i
=1;
while(
$i<=5)
{
   
$j=1;
    while(
$j<=$i)
    {
      echo
"*&nbsp&nbsp";
     
$j++;     
    }
    echo
"<br>";
   
$i++;
}
?>
// or alternatively you can use:
<?php
$i
=1;
while(
$i<=5):

   
$j=1;
    while(
$j<=$i):
      echo
"*&nbsp&nbsp";
     
$j++;     
    endwhile;
   
    echo
"<br>";
   
$i++;
endwhile;
?>
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