while

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Description

Description:

Repeats Code while the given condition is true. A part of while-do construct.

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A while loop doesn't have any suspension, meaning that if used in scheduled environment without any suspension (sleep or uiSleep) the code will run multiple times per frame and consumes the 3 ms per frame scheduler execution limit. This should be avoided if not intended. See Example 3.

Groups:

Program Flow

Syntax

Syntax:

while condition

Parameters:

condition: Code

Return Value:

While Type

Examples

Example 1:

while {a < b} do {a = a + 1};

Example 2:

A practical example: Repair all members of a group to such a level that they are able to stand up: { if (alive _x) then { while { not canStand _x } do { _x setDamage (damage _x - 0.01); }; }; } forEach units group unitname;

Example 3:

[] spawn { //warning! while loop without suspension executes multiple times per frame!!! private _counter = 0; private _endTime = diag_tickTime + 5; private _frameNo = diag_frameNo; while {diag_tickTime < _endTime} do { _counter = _counter + 1; }; //in an empty mission on a certain test system, this prints +2000 timer per frame!!! hint format ["Average Execution: %1 times per frame", _counter / (diag_frameNo - _frameNo)]; //with suspension private _counter = 0; private _endTime = diag_tickTime + 5; private _frameNo = diag_frameNo; while {diag_tickTime < _endTime} do { _counter = _counter + 1; uiSleep 0.001; //waits at least 1 frame }; //but this prints 1 time per frame, as expected hint format ["Average Execution: %1 times per frame", _counter / (diag_frameNo - _frameNo)]; }

Additional Information

See also:

Control Structures waitUntil for do

Notes

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Only post proven facts here! Add Note

Kronzky - c

Posted on May 14, 2008 - 08:40 (UTC)

The boolean code that is used to evaluate the while condition can be preceded by code that executes a regular command. while {_a =_a + 1; _a < 10} do {...}

Killzone Kid - c

Posted on Aug 30, 2014 - 08:12 (UTC)

In non-scheduled environment, while do loop is limited to 10,000 iterations, after which it exits even if condition is still true. In scheduled environment no such limit exists.