Strange results from a For loop

[BrewManNH]

Here's a piece of code:

Global $Array[5] = ["AA", "BB", "CC", "DD", "EE"]
For $I = 2 To $Array
    ConsoleWrite('@@ Debug(' & @ScriptLineNumber & ') : $I = ' & $I & @crlf & '>Error code: ' & @error & @crlf) ;### Debug Console
Next

The results for this piece of code are very strange:

@@ Debug(3) : $I = 2

>Error code: 0

@@ Debug(3) : $I = BB

>Error code: 0

@@ Debug(3) : $I = CC

>Error code: 0

@@ Debug(3) : $I = DD

>Error code: 0

@@ Debug(3) : $I = EE

>Error code: 0

Is this a bug with the For code, in that it's acting somewhat like a For/Next loop, and somewhat like a For/In/Next loop? By the way, it doesn't matter what the first number in the loop is, I used 2 as an example, it will always output the same. It takes the number you started the loop at, and then the variable will hold the contents of the second through the last array elements.

On a 2D array, it still doesn't work as expected, but it works differently than how I'd expect it to.

Global $Array[5][2] = [["AA", "1"], ["BB", 2], ["CC", 3], ["DD", 4],["EE", 5]]
For $I = 10 To $Array
    ConsoleWrite('@@ Debug(' & @ScriptLineNumber & ') : $I = ' & $I & @crlf & '>Error code: ' & @error & @crlf) ;### Debug Console
Next

This outputs:

@@ Debug(7) : $I = 10

>Error code: 0

@@ Debug(7) : $I = 10

>Error code: 0

@@ Debug(7) : $I = 10

>Error code: 0

@@ Debug(7) : $I = 10

>Error code: 0

@@ Debug(7) : $I = 10

>Error code: 0

Which is 5 instances of $ being 10, which seems to be a quick way of looping through an array if you don't need to access the contents of the array.

[guinness]

You should use an integer when using For...To e.g. For $i = 2 To Ubound($aArray) - 1, so I wouldn't expect the above code to out put correctly.

Local $aArray[5] = ['AA', 'BB', 'CC', 'DD', 'EE']
For $i In $aArray
    ConsoleWrite('@@ Debug(' & @ScriptLineNumber & ') : $i = ' & $i & @CRLF & '>Error code: ' & @error & @CRLF)
Next

Also the help file states that a numeric value is required for the <start> and <stop> values in For..To loops.

Edited November 6, 2012 by guinness

[BrewManNH]

It shouldn't output at all, instead of what it's giving as a result in my estimation.

EDIT:

I ran across similar code and it wasn't behaving the way I expected it to behave. I expected it to either error out or run once. What it's doing though is contrary to how it is supposed to work.

Edited November 6, 2012 by BrewManNH

[Melba23]

BrewManNH,

Most peculiar! I would put a bug report into Trac - that is a very unexpected result.

M23

Edit: I get exactly the same output - Vista x32 with v3.3.9.4/3.3.8.1

Edited November 6, 2012 by Melba23

[guinness]

OK, now I understand your point.

[BrewManNH]

Ok, just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something stupid before submitting the bug report.

[jdelaney]

kind of a cool feature...no need to reference the array within the loop:

Global $Array[5] = ["AA", "BB", "CC", "DD", "EE"]
For $test In $Array
ConsoleWrite('@@ Debug(' & @ScriptLineNumber & ') : $I = ' & $test & ' >Error code: ' & @error & @crlf) ;### Debug Console
Next

Output:

@@ Debug(17) : $test = AA >Error code: 0

@@ Debug(17) : $test = BB >Error code: 0

@@ Debug(17) : $test = CC >Error code: 0

@@ Debug(17) : $test = DD >Error code: 0

@@ Debug(17) : $test = EE >Error code: 0

edit: this was just new to me, not autoit

Edited November 6, 2012 by jdelaney

[czardas]

You should use an integer when using For...To

You can use floats for all the values too - including the Step value.

Edited November 7, 2012 by czardas