Control statements in C allow you to manage the flow of execution of your program. They help you decide which instructions to run, how many times to run them, or when to stop running them.

C provides three main categories of control statements:

Decision-making statements
Looping (Iterative) statements
Jump statements

1. Decision-Making Statements

These statements allow your program to take different paths based on conditions.

a) if Statement

Executes a block only if the condition is true.

if (a > 0) {
    printf("Positive number");
}

b) if-else Statement

Executes one block when the condition is true, otherwise the other block.

if (age >= 18) {
    printf("Eligible to vote");
} else {
    printf("Not eligible");
}

c) else-if Ladder

Used to check multiple conditions sequentially.

if (marks >= 90) {
    printf("Grade A");
} else if (marks >= 75) {
    printf("Grade B");
} else {
    printf("Grade C");
}

d) Nested if

Using an if statement inside another if.

if (a > 0) {
    if (a % 2 == 0)
        printf("Positive Even");
}

e) Switch Statement

Used when you need to compare the same expression with multiple values.

switch(day) {
    case 1: printf("Monday"); break;
    case 2: printf("Tuesday"); break;
    default: printf("Invalid");
}

2. Looping (Iterative) Statements

Used to execute a block of code multiple times.

a) for Loop

Runs loop for a fixed number of iterations.

for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++) {
    printf("%d ", i);
}

b) while Loop

Runs as long as the condition remains true.

int i = 1;
while (i <= 5) {
    printf("%d ", i);
    i++;
}

c) do-while Loop

Runs at least once because the condition is checked after execution.

int i = 1;
do {
    printf("%d ", i);
    i++;
} while (i <= 5);

3. Jump Statements

These change the normal execution flow abruptly.

a) break Statement

Terminates a loop or switch.

for (int i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {
    if (i == 5)
        break;
}

b) continue Statement

Skips the current iteration and moves to the next.

for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++) {
    if (i == 3)
        continue;
    printf("%d ", i);
}

c) goto Statement (NOT recommended)

Transfers control to a labeled statement.

goto label;

label:
printf("Jumped!");

d) return Statement

Ends the execution of a function.

return 0;

4. Summary Table of Control Statements

Category	Statements	Purpose
Decision-making	if, if-else, else-if, switch	Choose a path
Looping	for, while, do-while	Repeat statements
Jump	break, continue, goto, return	Change normal flow

5. Example Program Using All Control Types

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    int n = 5;

    // Decision
    if (n > 0)
        printf("Positive number\n");

    // Loop
    for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
        if (i == 3)
            continue;  // Skips 3
        printf("%d ", i);
    }

    printf("\n");

    // Switch
    switch (n) {
        case 5: printf("Number is five\n"); break;
        default: printf("Other number\n");
    }

    return 0;
}

Citations

🔗 View other articles about C Programming:
https://savanka.com/category/learn/c-programming/

🔗 External C Documentation:
https://www.w3schools.com/c/

What are Control Statements in C? See Examples