How to Declare Variables of Different Types in the Initialization of a for Loop

Is it possible to declare two variables of different types in a for loop?

C++17: Yes! You should use a structured binding declaration. The syntax has been supported in gcc and clang since gcc-7 and clang-4.0 (clang live example). This allows us to unpack a tuple like so:

for (auto [i, f, s] = std::tuple{1, 1.0, std::string{"ab"}}; i < N; ++i, f += 1.5) {
    // ...
}

The above will give you:

int i set to 1
double f set to 1.0
std::string s set to "ab"

Make sure to #include <tuple> for this kind of declaration.

You can specify the exact types inside the tuple by typing them all out as I have with the std::string, if you want to name a type. For example:

auto [vec, i32] = std::tuple{std::vector<int>{3, 4, 5}, std::int32_t{12}}

A specific application of this is iterating over a map, getting the key and value,

std::unordered_map<K, V> m = { /*...*/ };
for (auto& [key, value] : m) {
   // ...
}

See a live example here

C++14: You can do the same as C++11 (below) with the addition of type-based std::get. So instead of std::get<0>(t) in the below example, you can have std::get<int>(t).

C++11: std::make_pair allows you to do this, as well as std::make_tuple for more than two objects.

for (auto p = std::make_pair(5, std::string("Hello World")); p.first < 10; ++p.first) {
    std::cout << p.second << '\n';
}

std::make_pair will return the two arguments in a std::pair. The elements can be accessed with .first and .second.

For more than two objects, you'll need to use a std::tuple

for (auto t = std::make_tuple(0, std::string("Hello world"), std::vector<int>{});
        std::get<0>(t) < 10;
        ++std::get<0>(t)) {
    std::cout << std::get<1>(t) << '\n'; // cout Hello world
    std::get<2>(t).push_back(std::get<0>(t)); // add counter value to the vector
}

std::make_tuple is a variadic template that will construct a tuple of any number of arguments (with some technical limitations of course). The elements can be accessed by index with std::get<INDEX>(tuple_object)

Within the for loop bodies you can easily alias the objects, though you still need to use .first or std::get for the for loop condition and update expression

for (auto t = std::make_tuple(0, std::string("Hello world"), std::vector<int>{});
        std::get<0>(t) < 10;
        ++std::get<0>(t)) {
    auto& i = std::get<0>(t);
    auto& s = std::get<1>(t);
    auto& v = std::get<2>(t);
    std::cout << s << '\n'; // cout Hello world
    v.push_back(i); // add counter value to the vector
}

C++98 and C++03 You can explicitly name the types of a std::pair. There is no standard way to generalize this to more than two types though:

for (std::pair<int, std::string> p(5, "Hello World"); p.first < 10; ++p.first) {
    std::cout << p.second << '\n';
}

Can I declare variables of different types in the initialization of a for loop?

Yes, that is prohibited. Just as otherwise you cannot declare variables of differing types in one declaration statement (edit: modulo the declarator modifiers that @MrLister mentions). You can declare structs

for (struct { int a = 0; short b = 0; } d; d.a < 10; ++d.a, ++d.b ) {}

C++03 code:

for (struct { int a; short b; } d = { 0, 0 }; d.a < 10; ++d.a, ++d.b ) {}

Of course when all are 0, you can omit the initializers altogether and write = { }.

Why must a variable be declared in a for loop initialization?

If v is declared prior to the loop, you should leave the first part of the for statement empty:

int v = 0;

for (; v < 2; v++) {
    ...
}

There's no meaning to just writing v;.

for loop's init-statement with two types of variable

About the nearest you can get is:

int main ()
{
    cout<<"enter a word and a number"<<endl;
    {
        string word;
        for (int numb; cin>>word>>numb; )
        {
            //do some work      
        }
    }
    return 0;
}

The extra set of braces limits the scope of word similarly to the way the loop limits the scope of numb. Clearly, you could reverse the declarations; it might be better (more symmetric) to use:

int main ()
{
    cout<<"enter a word and a number"<<endl;
    {
        string word;
        int numb;
        while (cin>>word>>numb)
        {
            //do some work      
        }
    }
    return 0;
}

Since there is no increment or initialize operation, the code is really a while loop with a couple of declared variables; this achieves the same result and works.

How do I declare several variables in a for (;;) loop in C?

You can (but generally shouldn't) use a local struct type.

for ( struct { int i; char* ptr; } loopy = { 0, bam };
      loopy.i < 10 && * loopy.ptr != 0;
      ++ loopy.i, ++ loopy.ptr )
    { ... }

Since C++11, you can initialize the individual parts more elegantly, as long as they don't depend on a local variable:

for ( struct { int i = 0; std::string status; } loop;
      loop.status != "done"; ++ loop.i )
    { ... }

This is just almost readable enough to really use.

C++17 addresses the problem with structured bindings:

for ( auto [ i, status ] = std::tuple{ 0, ""s }; status != "done"; ++ i )

How to declare variable types for loop variables in Go?

Unfortunately the language specification doesn't allow you to declare the variable type in the for loop. The closest you could get is this:

var a int
var b string
for a, b = range arr {
    fmt.Println(a, b)
}

But normally if you give your variable meaningful names, their type would be clear as well:

for index, element := range arr {
    fmt.Println(index, element)
}

Difference of variable declaration in for statement in C

The only difference is that in the first case, the variable i is outside for scope so you could use it later on. There are no differences in term of efficiency.

If you use i only once, then definitely the 2nd case is better:

for(int i = 0 ; i < index ; ++i)

If you have loops that use index i, then it might make sense declaring it outside all loops.

But generally, the rule is to limit the scope of the variable - so the 2nd case is better. It's usually safer to limit the scope of the variable.

It'd worth noting that the 2nd case syntax only works with C99 or newer C11 (did not work with old C89). So some compilers would complain if you declare variable inside the loop. For example, gcc requires explicit flag -std=c99 to allow that syntax.

Is there a way to define variables of two different types in a for loop initializer?

Here is a version using boost preprocessor (This is just for fun. For the real-world answer, see @kitchen's one above):

FOR((int i = 0)(int j = 0.0), i < 10, (i += 1, j = 2 * i)) { 

}

The first part specifies a sequence of declarations: (a)(b).... The variables declared later can refer to variables declared before them. The second and third part are as usual. Where commas occur in the second and third parts, parentheses can be used to prevent them to separate macro arguments.

There are two tricks known to me used to declare variables that are later visible in a compound statement added outside a macro. The first uses conditions, like an if:

if(int k = 0) ; else COMPOUND_STATEMENT

Then k is visible. Naturally, it always have to evaluate to false. So it can't be used by us. The other context is this one:

for(int k = 0; ...; ...) COMPOUND_STATEMENT

That's what i'm going to use here. We'll have to watch to only make one iteration of COMPOUND_STATEMENT. The actual for loop that does the increment and condition checking has to come at the end, so the appended compound statement appertains to it.

#include <boost/preprocessor.hpp>
#include <iostream>

#define EMIT_DEC_(R,D,DEC) \
    for(DEC; !_k; ) 

#define FOR(DECS, COND, INC) \
    if(bool _k = false) ; else \
      BOOST_PP_SEQ_FOR_EACH(EMIT_DEC_, DECS, DECS) \
        for(_k = true; COND; INC)

int main() {
    FOR((int i = 0)(float j = 0.0f), i < 10, (i += 1, j = 2 * i)) {
        std::cout << j << std::endl;
    }
}

It's creating a bunch of for statements, each nested into another one. It expands into:

if(bool _k = false) ; else
  for(int i = 0; !_k; )
    for(float j = 0.0f; !_k; )
      for(_k = true; i < 10; (i += 1, j = 2 * i)) {
        std::cout << j << std::endl;
      }

Can I have two initializing statements in a for loop?

No, you can only have one initializing statement. However, frequently you can use the comma operator to achieve the desired result:

for(int foo = 7, bar = 42; ...; ...) {
    ...
}

or even

int foo;
double bar;
for(foo = 7, bar = 42; ...; ...) {
    ...
}

What is not possible, is to declare two variables of different type within the initialization statement:

//Illegal code!
for(int foo = 7, double bar = 42; ...; ...) {
    ...
}