CodeHS Glossary

Loop-and-a-half Java

A loop, most often set with while(true), that has a break statement in the loop body.

The loop-and-a-half is preferred when continuously reading input from a user because it avoids repeating code outside and inside the loop. By using while(true), the loop-and-a-half structure only reads in the variable inside the loop:

int SENTINEL = -1;

while(true){
    var num = readInt("Number? ");
    if(num == SENTINEL)
    {
        break;
    }
    System.out.println(num);
}