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# Statements

From cppreference.com
< cpp‎ | language

Statements are fragments of the C++ program that are executed in sequence. The body of any function is a sequence of statements. For example:

    int main()
    {
        int n = 1; // declaration statement
        n = n+1; // expression statement
        std::cout << "n = " << n << '\n'; // expression statement
        return 0; // return statement
    }

There are seven types of statements:

1) expression statement
2) compound statement
3) selection statement
4) iteration statement
5) jump statement
6) declaration statement
7) try block

### [edit] Labels

Any statement can be labeled, by providing a label followed by a colon before the statement itself:

attr(optional) identifier `:` statement | (1) |
attr(optional) `case` constexpr `:` statement | (2) |
attr(optional) `default` `:` statement | (3) |

1) Target for goto.
2) Case label in a switch statement.
3) Default label in a switch statement.

An attribute sequence attr may appear just before the label (in which case it applies to the label), or just before any statement itself, in which case it applies to the entire statement. A statement may carry multiple labels.

### [edit] Expression statements

An expression followed by a semicolon is a statement.

attr(optional) expression(optional) `;` | (1) |

attr(C++11) | - | optional sequence of any number of attributes
expression | - | an expression

Most statements in a typical C++ program are expression statements, such as assignments or function calls.

An expression statement without an expression is called a null statement. It is often used to provide an empty body to a for or while loop. It can also be used to carry a label in the end of a compound statement.

### [edit] Compound statement

A compound statement or block is a brace-enclosed sequence of statements.

attr(optional) `{` statement...(optional) ``} | (1) |

When one statement is expected, but multiple statements need to be executed in sequence (for example, in an if statement or a loop), a compound statement may be used:

    if (expr) // start of if-statement
    { // start of block
      int n =1; // declaration statement
      cout << n; // expression statement
    } // end of block, end of if-statement

Each compound statement introduces its own block scope: variables declared inside a block are destroyed at the closing brace in reverse order.

    int main()
    {
        { // start of block
           std::ofstream f("test.txt"); // declaration statment
           f << "hi\n"; // expression statement
        } // end of block, f is flushed and closed by ofstream's destructor
        std::ifstream f("test.txt");
        std::string str;
        f >> str;
    }

### [edit] Selection statements

The selection statements choose between one of several flows of control

attr(optional) `if` `(` condition `)` statement | (1) |
attr(optional) `if` `(` condition `)` statement `else` statement | (2) |
attr(optional) `switch` `(` condition `)` statement | (3) |

1) if statement
2) if statement with an else clause
3) switch statement

### [edit] Iteration statements

The iteration statements repeatedly execute some code.

attr(optional) `while` `(` condition `)` statement | (1) |
attr(optional) `do` statement `while` `(` expression `)` `;` | (2) |
attr(optional) `for` `(` for-init-statement condition(optional) `;` expression(optional) `)` statement | (3) |
attr(optional) `for` `(` for-range-decl `:` for-range-init `)` statement | (4) | (since C++11)

1) while loop
2) do-while loop
3) for loop
4) range for loop

### [edit] Jump statements

The jump statements unconditionally transfer flow control

attr(optional) `break` `;` | (1) |
attr(optional) `continue` `;` | (2) |
attr(optional) `return` expression(optional) `;` | (3) |
attr(optional) `return` braced-init-list `;` | (4) | (since C++11)
attr(optional) `goto` identifier `;` | (5) |

1) break statement
2) continue statement
3) return statement with an optional expression
4) return statement using list initialization
5) goto statement

Note: for all jump statements, transfer out of a loop, out of a block, or back past an initialized variable with automatic storage duration involves the destruction of objects with automatic storage duration that are in scope at the point transferred from but not at the point transferred to. If multiple objects were initialized, the order of destruction is the opposite of the order of initialization.

### [edit] Declaration statement

Declaration statements introduce one or more identifiers into a block.

block-declaration `;` | (1) |

1) See Declarations and Initialization for details.

### [edit] Try block

The try block statement provides the ability to catch exceptions thrown when executing other statements.

attr(optional) `try` compound-statement handler-sequence | (1) |

1) See try/catch for details.

### [edit] See also

C documentation for Statements

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