PHP while loop

If you want to repeat the execution of a code block you can use loops in any programming language. In PHP there are more ways to do it. First, we will discuss the while loop, which is maybe the simplest loop type in PHP. The loops in general check their condition and depend on the result the code block will be executed 1 or more times or will not be executed at all. So the definition of the while loop is a bit similar to the definition of the if statement. It looks like this:

while (condition) statement

And a real example looks like this:

while ($x < 10) $x++;

Of course, you can use complete code blocks as well:

$x = 0;
while ($x < 10) {
   echo "$x<br/>";
   $x++;
}

The while loop first checks the condition and if it is true then execute the relevant code block. After the code was executed the while loop checks the condition again and executes the code again if necessary. This will be repeated until the condition is true. So you have to take care not to make a never-ending loop like this:

$x = 0;
while ($x < 10) {
   echo "$x<br/>";
}

In this case, the x variable is never incremented so the condition will be always true. This results in an endless loop.

$x = 0;
 
while ($x < 10) {
   echo "$x<br/>";
   $x++;
   if ($x==5) break;
}
 
echo "Ready";

$x = 0;
 
while ($x < 10) {
   $x++;
   if ($x<5) continue;
   echo "$x<br/>";
}