PHP loop X amount of times

Question

I have a string called $columns which dynamically gets a value from 1 to 7. I want to create a loop of for however many times

Answer 1

I like this way:

while( $i++ < $columns ) echo $i;

Just bear in mind if $columns is 5, this will run 5 times (not 4).

Edit: There seems to be some confusion around the initial state of $i here. You are welcome to initialise $i=0 beforehand if you wish. This is not required however as PHP is a very helpful engine and will do it for you automatically (tho, it will throw a notice if you happen to have those enabled).