Question

I have a console application that uses a number of command line switches to control various methods. Each of the command line switches is handled by a switch statement that is within a for loop that iterates over each of the args.

        for (int x = 0; x < args.Length; x++)
        {
            switch (args[x])
            {
             ...
            }
         }

This works perfectly for my needs, however I need to add a –loop switch that causes the preceding args to be looped indefinitely based upon a timeout period specified by the –set-timeout switch.

The code I have so far is:

switch (args[x])
{
   case "--set-timeout-5m":
       timeout = 300000;
       System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(timeout);
       break;

       ....

    case "--loop":
        x = 0;
        break;
 }

The problem is setting x does not cause the for loop to continue from the start of args. It just sits there.

I am expecting x to have scope as the code is within the for loop and no errors are generated in Visual Studio. I am also expecting the break statement to break the case and pass x to the for loop.

Can anyone explain why it does not work or perhaps post a workaround?

Answer 1

for (int x = 0; x < 10; x++)
{
    Console.Write(x);
    x = 0;
}

prints

0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...

because x++ is executed after each iteration.

If you want it to print

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ...

you need to change it to

for (int x = 0; x < 10; x++)
{
    Console.Write(x);
    x = -1;
}