In context of C++, consider following loop-statement: while(5) {cout

Question

In context of C++, consider following loop-statement: while(5) {cout <<"Hello";} 
Hello will be displayed _______ time(s) by the above loop.

Accepted Answer

The correct option is (4):
The concept at the heart of this question is **truthiness** in C++. A `while` loop executes as long as its conditional expression evaluates to a non-zero value. In C and C++, any non-zero integer is implicitly treated as `true`, while the integer `0` is treated as `false`. In the given statement, `while(5)`, the number `5` is a constant, non-zero value. Since this condition is permanently `true` and there is no statement within the loop body (`{cout <<"Hello";}`) that can change the value of the condition or force a loop exit (like a `break` statement), the loop's execution control will repeatedly check `while(5)`, find it true, and execute the body. This sequence of perpetual execution results in an **Infinite** loop, printing "Hello" endlessly until the program is manually terminated.

The incorrect option is (1):
This option is incorrect because the loop condition `while(5)` does not become false after the first execution. A single execution would only occur if the condition was written to be satisfied exactly once or if a `break` statement followed the output statement. Since the condition is a constant `true` value, the program immediately re-evaluates the condition as true after the first iteration and continues, demonstrating that it is not a single execution loop.

The incorrect option is (2):
The number `5` in the loop condition represents the boolean state of `true`, not a countdown or iteration limit. The loop does not inherently count down from the value of the constant in its condition. For the loop to execute five times, the code would typically need an external counter, such as `int i = 5; while(i--) {cout <<"Hello";}`, or a condition like `int i = 0; while(i < 5) {cout <<"Hello"; i++;}`. Since no such counting variable exists, the loop is not limited to five iterations.

The incorrect option is (3):
The output would be zero times only if the loop condition was initially false. In C++, a `while` loop condition is only considered false when it evaluates strictly to zero (`0`). Because the expression in the loop, `5`, is a non-zero integer, it is interpreted as logically `true`. The loop, therefore, proceeds to execute its body at least once, confirming that "Hello" will be displayed a non-zero number of times.