Welcome to a beginner’s tutorial on Javascript loops and iterations. Want to loop through arrays and objects, or do things repetitively?
The common mechanisms to loop and iterate in Javascript are:
- For –
for (let i=0; i<10; i++) { ... }
- For-In –
for (let KEY in OBJECT/ARRAY/STRING) { ... }
- For-Of –
for (let VALUE of ARRAY/STRING) { ... }
- Foreach –
ARRAY.foreach((VALUE, KEY) => { ... });
- For-Object entries –
for (let [KEY, VALUE] of Object.entries(OBJECT)) { ... }
- While –
while (i<10) { i++; }
- Do-While –
do { i++; } while (i<10);
- Break –
while (i<10) { if (i<0) { break; } i++; }
- Continue –
while (i<10) { if (i==2) { i+=2; continue; } i++; }
That covers the quick basics at a glance, but let us walk through examples of each – Read on!
ⓘ I have included a zip file with all the source code at the start of this tutorial, so you don’t have to copy-paste everything… Or if you just want to dive straight in.
TLDR – QUICK SLIDES
Fullscreen Mode – Click Here
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DOWNLOAD & NOTES
Firstly, here is the download link to the example code as promised.
QUICK NOTES
If you spot a bug, feel free to comment below. I try to answer short questions too, but it is one person versus the entire world… If you need answers urgently, please check out my list of websites to get help with programming.
EXAMPLE CODE DOWNLOAD
Click here to download all the example source code, I have released it under the MIT license, so feel free to build on top of it or use it in your own project.
JAVASCRIPT LOOPS & ITERATIONS
All right, let us now get into the examples of loops and iterations in Javascript.
1) FOR
// (A) INCREMENT
for (let i=1; i<=3; i++) {
console.log(i); // 1, 2, 3
}
// (B) DECREMENT
for (let i=3; i>=1; i--) {
console.log(i); // 3, 2, 1
}
// (C) LOOP ARRAY
var arr = ["a", "b", "c"];
for (let i=0; i<arr.length; i++) {
console.log([i]); // 0, 1, 2
console.log(arr[i]); // a, b, c
}
// (D) WE CAN ACTUALLY OMIT ALL INIT & CONDITIONS
var i = 0;
for (;;) {
console.log(i); // 0, 1
i++;
if (i==2) { break; }
}
The for
loop is one of the most commonly used, and some books don’t even explain it right. Take note that there are “3 segments” – for (INITIALIZE; END CONDITION; STEP)
.
INITIALIZE
This runs before the loop starts.END CONDITION
The condition to stop looping, this statement must resolve to a booleantrue/false
. Runs afterINITIALIZE
and after every cycle.STEP
Run this after every cycle.
Yes, we can leave all 3 empty… But that will not make any sense.
2) FOR-IN
// (A) ITERATE OBJECT
var person = {
name : "Jon Doe",
email : "jon@doe.com"
};
for (let key in person) {
console.log(key); // name, email
console.log(person[key]); // jon, jon@doe.com
}
// (B) ITERATE ARRAY
var animals = ["Birb", "Cate", "Doge"];
for (let i in animals) {
console.log(i); // 0, 1, 2
console.log(animals[i]); // birb, cate, doge
}
// (C) ITERATE STRING
var hello = "world";
for (let i in hello) {
console.log(i); // 0, 1, 2, 3, 4
}
The for-in
loop will run through the keys:
- Properties of an object.
- The index of arrays.
- Character position of a string.
3) FOR-OF
/* (A) ITERATE OBJECT - ERROR, NOT ITERABLE
var obj = { "foo" : "bar" };
for (let value of obj) {
console.log(value);
}*/
// (B) ITERATE ARRAY
var animals = ["Birb", "Cate", "Doge"];
for (let value of animals) {
console.log(value); // birb, cate, doge
}
// (C) ITERATE STRING
var hello = "world";
for (let char of hello) {
console.log(char); // w, o, r, l, d
}
This should be pretty self-explanatory by now, for-in
iterates the properties, for-of
iterates the values (data) themselves.
4) FOREACH
var animals = ["Birb", "Cate", "Doge"];
animals.forEach((value, key) => {
console.log(value); // birb, cate, doge
console.log(key); // 0, 1, 2
});
The forEach()
function only applies to arrays – It loops through all the elements within the array.
5) FOR & OBJECT ENTRIES
// (A) PERSON OBJECT
var person = {
"Name" : "Jon",
"Email" : "jon@doe.com"
};
// (B) LOOP OBJECT ENTRIES
for (let [key, value] of Object.entries(person)) {
console.log(key); // name, email
console.log(value); // jon, jon@doe.com
}
This is the “smart and convenient” way to loop through both the key and values of an object within a single loop.
6) WHILE
var animals = ["Birb", "Cate", "Doge"], i = 0;
while (i < animals.length) {
console.log(i); // 0, 1, 2
console.log(animals[i]); // birb, cate, doge
i++;
}
A while
loop is pretty simple – It will continue to run until the provided condition (i < animals.length
) turns false… But beware, a common mistake that many newbies make is an end condition that will never be met, ending up in an infinite loop.
7) DO-WHILE
var animals = ["Birb", "Cate", "Doge"], i = 0;
do {
console.log(i); // 0, 1, 2
console.log(animals[i]); // birb, cate, doge
i++;
} while (i < animals.length);
Look no further, this does almost the exact same thing as while
. What is the difference here?
while
will not even start if the condition is not met.do-while
will run at least once, even when the condition is not met.
8) BREAK & CONTINUE
let i = 0;
while (i>=0) {
// (A) CONTINUE - SKIP TO NEXT CYCLE
if (i==2) {
i+=2;
continue;
}
i++;
console.log(i); // 1, 2, 5, 6
// (B) BREAK - STOP CYCLE
if (i==6) { break; }
}
Lastly, we have another 2 Captain Obvious mechanisms:
continue
Skip the current cycle.break
Stop the entire loop. Works infor for-in for-of foreach
too.
EXTRA BITS & LINKS
That’s all for the tutorial, and here is a small section on some extras and links that may be useful to you.
LINKS & REFERENCES
- For loop – MDN
- While loop – MDN
- For-in – MDN
- For-of – MDN
- Break – MDN
- Continue – MDN
- Object Entries – MDN
INFOGRAPHIC CHEAT SHEET

THE END
Thank you for reading, and we have come to the end. I hope that it has helped you to better understand, and if you want to share anything with this guide, please feel free to comment below. Good luck and happy coding!