Java Nested Loops

Java programming allows programmers to place one loop statement inside body of another loop statement. For example, a for loop can be placed inside other for loop, a while loop can be placed inside other while loop, a while loop can be place inside other for loop etc. The process of placing one loop inside other loop is called nesting, and such loops are called as nested loops. The syntax of nested loops are:

 for(init; condition; inc/dec)                  while(condition1)
  {                                               {
    // outer loop code                                 // outer loop code 
    for(init; condition; inc/dec)                   while(condition2)
      {                                               {
        // inner loop code                                  // inner loop code
        . . . . . .                                     . . . . . .        
        . . . . . .                                     . . . . . .
      }                                               }
    // outer loop code                                  // outer loop code
  }                                               }

Below are some points about nested loops which will help you to understand more about nesting of loops.

For every iteration of outer loop, inner loops completes all it's iteration.
A single loop can contain multiple loops at same level inside it.
It's perfectly legal to place, for inside while, while inside for, for and while in the same level etc.

How many times I can do nesting of loops ?

The process of repeating the nesting can be done any number of times.

Nested for loop program in Java

 class NestedForLoop
   {
     public static void main(String [] args)
        {          
           for(int i=1;i<=3;i++)
             {
               System.out.println("Outer loop iteration i =  "+i);
               for(int j=1;j<=3;j++)
                 {
                   System.out.println("j =  "+j);
                 }
             }                
        }
   }

Output:

Outer loop iteration i = 1
j = 1
j = 2
j = 3
Outer loop iteration i = 2
j = 1
j = 2
j = 3
Outer loop iteration i = 3
j = 1
j = 2
j = 3

Nested while loop program in Java

 class NestedWhileLoop
   {
     public static void main(String [] args)
       {          
          int i=0,j=0;
          while(i<3)
            {
    	       j=0;
               while(j<3)
                 {
                    System.out.print(i+""+j+ "  ");
                    j++;
                 }
              System.out.println("");
              i++;
           }           
       }
   }

Output:

★★★

Use nested loops whenever actually needed, as nesting increases the complexity.
Apply the conditions in nested loops properly, sometime incorrect conditions results as infinite loops.
Nested loops are helpful when printing some pattern in multi-dimension.

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