Which loop is faster, while or for?

Question

You can get the same output with for and while loops:

While:

$i = 0;
while ($i <= 10){
  print $i.\"\\n\";
  $i++;
};
         


        

Answer 1

If that were a C program, I would say neither. The compiler will output exactly the same code. Since it's not, I say measure it. Really though, it's not about which loop construct is faster, since that's a miniscule amount of time savings. It's about which loop construct is easier to maintain. In the case you showed, a for loop is more appropriate because it's what other programmers (including future you, hopefully) will expect to see there.