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up vote -1 down vote favorite

"hello" is printed by puts only three times. It is supposed to be printed six times, isn't it?

i = 0
j = 0
while(i != 2)
    while(j != 3)
            puts "hello"
            j += 1
    end
i += 1
end
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Note that in Ruby there generally are better ways to do traditional for and while loops. For example: 2.times { 3.times { puts "hello" } } is equivalent to your code. –  Daniël Knippers May 31 at 8:06

2 Answers 2

up vote 1 down vote accepted

You have to set j to 0 outside the inner while loop.

i = 0
j = 0
while(i != 2)
    while(j != 3)
            puts "hello"
            j += 1
    end
# this is needed, as inside the upper loop, you made j to 3 after 3 iteration.
# thus you need to reset it to 0 again, to start again 3 times iteration.
j = 0 
i += 1
end
# >> hello
# >> hello
# >> hello
# >> hello
# >> hello
# >> hello

Better is -

i = 0
while(i != 2)
  j = 0
  while(j != 3)
    puts "hello"
    j += 1
  end
  i += 1
end
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Wow ! thank you for your fast answer! I feel a bit stupid but I wont forget it :p –  guillaume May 31 at 5:25
up vote 0 down vote

It may be easier for you if you work with loop {} - even though you have to keep track of the counter yourself, I find it much easier to understand instantly than using while, or x.times which also works fine.

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