For/while loops

[jimfog]

I am new to php and my question will be considered rudimentary.When looping arrays is there any difference in using a for or a while loop or it;s just a matter of personal preference?Thanks.

[jeffman]

If you plan on iterating over every item in the array, a for-loop is probably simplest. If you plan to break out of the loop when a condition arises, it depends on how you want to break. A while loop assumes that you want to execute every statement in the block before terminating the loop. With a for-loop, you might want to break out if one or more conditions arise anywhere in the block. Obviously, you can break out of a while-loop anywhere, also. But choosing one or the other lets a developer glance at the loop and make guesses about the job it's doing without having to read all the statements in the block.Performance-wise, there is no real difference until we're talking about many thousands of statements being executed.