Why is for(;;) used? - c

Question

I have seen code (in C) which contains something similar to:
for(;;){
}
How would this work, and why is it used in any instance?

Answer 1

It is the idiomatic way to have an infinite loop.
In the C Programming Language book, by Kernighan & Ritchie book it was introduced in section 3.5:
for (;;) {
...
}
is an infinite loop, presumably to be broken by other means, such as a break or return.

Answer 2

is an infinite loop something like
while(true)
{}

Answer 3

This is equivalent to an infinite loop, as many other have explained. However, few of them explained why this executes as an infinite loop.
A for loop can be broken down into three parts:
for(initialization(s); condition(s); looping command(s))
None of these fields are actually required. Without a condition provided, there's nothing to stop the command from running. This is because the for loop looks for a false statement. Without conditions provided, nothing is false, therefore the loop runs indefinitely.
Therefore to cause a for loop to be infinite, all you need is to not provide a condition. This means that this is also a valid infinite loop:
for(int i = 0;; i++)
printf("Iteration: %i\n", i);
For readability, and to make sure that the second semi-colon isn't a typo, some programmers might put a space between them, or put true as the condition.
Honestly, I prefer while(true), as this is a clear infinite loop. Using while(1) works as well, but '1' is an integer, not a boolean. While it is equivalent to true, it does not always mean true.
Between these three types of infinite loops, for(;;) has the fewest characters (7). while(1) comes second at 8 characters, and while(true) at 11.
I suppose that certain programmers prefer a low byte count over a readable program, but I wouldn't recommend using for(;;). While equivalent, I believe that using while(true) is better practice.

Answer 4

A for loop needs three expressions, which are separated by semicolons, and are completely optional:
An initialization (e.g. int i=0)
A condition (e.g. i < 10)
An afterthought (e.g. i++)
In this case, the three expressions are empty, and thus there's no condition that will make the loop stop, thus creating an infinite loop, unless a flow control instruction like break (which will exit the loop) or return is used.

Answer 5

Its an infinite loop. Its equivalent to:
while (true) {
}
The C# compiler directly translates for (; ;) into the exact same construct as while (true).

Answer 6

Infinite loop
same as
while(true){}

Answer 7

the code for(;;){} or while(true){} or while(1){} all represent infinite loops.
An infinite loop is something to be expected in a software system that is expected to run and "unlimited" amount of time. Every OS has at least one - it's how a background task or idle task is implemented.
Real Time systems use infinite loops as well because the system has to handle events which are asynchronous;
Basically anything that runs software uses infinite loops in one way or another.

Answer 8

I don't know why no one answered why people do this instead of while(true): It's because while(true) will often generate a compilation warning that the condition of the loop is constant.

Answer 9

This kind of infinite loop can be used in microcontroleurs. In your main function, you initialize the basic functions of your microcontroleur, then put a while (1).
void MAIN(void)
{
Init_Device();
while(1);
}
The microcontroleur will then do nothing but wait for interrupts of internal or external devices (like a timer overflow, or UART data ready to be read), and react to these interrupts.