Control variable (programming)

A control variable in computer programming is a program variable that is used to regulate the flow of control of the program.

In definite iteration, control variables are variables which are successively assigned (or bound to) values from a predetermined sequence of values.^[1]

Usage

A loop control variable is used to regulate the number of times the body of a program loop is executed; it is incremented (or decremented when counting down) each time the loop body is executed. A single control variable can identify the present state of a computer program.

References

^ Watt, David A. (2004). Programming Language Design Concepts. Wiley. p. 84.

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