What Are Loops?

Loops let you repeat actions. Batch has two main loop types:

• for — repeat for items, numbers, files, etc.
• goto — manual loops using labels

Simple FOR Loop

for %%i in (1 2 3 4 5) do (
  echo Number: %%i
)
      

Output:

Number: 1
Number: 2
Number: 3
Number: 4
Number: 5
      

Looping Through Files

for %%f in (*.txt) do (
  echo Found file: %%f
)
      

Counting with FOR /L

Format:

for /l %%i in (start,step,end) do ( ... )
      

Example:

for /l %%i in (1,1,10) do echo %%i
      

Goto Loop

@echo off
set count=1

:loop
echo %count%
set /a count+=1

if %count% LEQ 5 goto loop

echo Done!
      

Conditions (IF)

Batch IF statements check text, numbers, and file existence.

String Compare

if "%user%"=="admin" echo Welcome admin
      

Check If File Exists

if exist "data.txt" echo File found!
      

Number Compare

set age=18
if %age% GEQ 18 echo You are an adult.
      

Combining IF with SET /P

set /p choice=Enter Y/N: 
if /i "%choice%"=="y" echo You chose YES.
if /i "%choice%"=="n" echo You chose NO.
      

Practical Example — Menu Loop

@echo off

:menu
echo === MENU ===
echo 1) Say hi
echo 2) Show date
echo 3) Exit
set /p option=Choose:

if "%option%"=="1" echo Hello!
if "%option%"=="2" echo Today is %date%
if "%option%"=="3" exit

goto menu
      

What’s Next?

Next you’ll learn about Python Data Types — the foundation of storing and working with information.