&LOOP STATEMENT EXEC statement Use the &LOOP control statement to describe a loop in an EXEC procedure, including the conditions for exit from the loop. The format of the &LOOP control statement is: +-----------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+ | &LOOP | n|-label m|condition | +-----------+-----------------------------------------------------------------+ where: n is a positive integer from 0 to 4095 that indicates the number of executable and nonexecutable lines in the loop. These lines must immediately follow the &LOOP statement. -label specifies that all of the lines following the &LOOP statement down to, and including the line with the specified label, are to be executed in the loop. The first character of the label must be a hyphen, and it must be the first token on a line. The remainder of the line may contain an executable statement, or it may be null. The label is case-sensitive m is a positive integer from 0 to 4095 that indicates the number of times the loop is to be executed. condition specifies the condition that must be met. The syntax of the exit condition is the same as that in the &IF statement, that is: tok1|&$|&* operator tok2|&$|&* Usage Notes: 1. When loop execution is complete, control passes to the next statement following the end of the loop. 2. The condition is always tested before the loop is executed. If the specified condition is met, then the loop is not executed. For example, the statement: &LOOP 3 &COUNT = 100 specifies that the next three lines are interpreted until the value of &COUNT is 100. 3. Loops may be nested up to four levels deep. All nested loops may end at the same label. 4. A loop is closed when the requirements for termination specified in the &LOOP statement are met, or when control is transferred outside the scope of the loop (via &GOTO or &SKIP).