recursion - Is there any way to do n-level nested loops in Java?

Question

In other words, can I do something like

for() {
    for {
       for {
       }
    }
}

Except N times? In other words, when the method creating the loops is called, it is given some parameter N, and the method would then create N of these loops nested one in another?

Of course, the idea is that there should be an "easy" or "the usual" way of doing it. I already have an idea for a very complicated one.

Answer 1

jjnguy is right; recursion lets you dynamically create variable-depth nesting. However, you don't get access to data from the outer layers without a little more work. The "in-line-nested" case:

for (int i = lo; i < hi; ++i) {
    for (int j = lo; j < hi; ++j) {
        for (int k = lo; k < hi; ++k) {
            // do something **using i, j, and k**
        }
    }
}

keeps the variables i, j, and k in scope for the innermost body to use.

Here's one quick hack to do that:

public class NestedFor {

    public static interface IAction {
        public void act(int[] indices);
    }

    private final int lo;
    private final int hi;
    private final IAction action;

    public NestedFor(int lo, int hi, IAction action) {
        this.lo = lo;
        this.hi = hi;
        this.action = action;
    }

    public void nFor (int depth) {
        n_for (0, new int[0], depth);
    }

    private void n_for (int level, int[] indices, int maxLevel) {
        if (level == maxLevel) {
            action.act(indices);
        } else {
            int newLevel = level + 1;
            int[] newIndices = new int[newLevel];
            System.arraycopy(indices, 0, newIndices, 0, level);
            newIndices[level] = lo;
            while (newIndices[level] < hi) {
                n_for(newLevel, newIndices, maxLevel);
                ++newIndices[level];
            }
        }
    }
}

The IAction interface stipulates the role of a controlled action which takes an array of indices as the argument to its act method.

In this example, each instance of NestedFor is configured by the constructor with the iteration limits and the action to be performed by the innermost level. The parameter of the nFor method specifies how deeply to nest.

Here's a sample usage:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    for (int i = 0; i < 4; ++i) {
        final int depth = i;
        System.out.println("Depth " + depth);
        IAction testAction = new IAction() {
            public void act(int[] indices) {
                System.out.print("Hello from level " + depth + ":");
                for (int i : indices) { System.out.print(" " + i); }
                System.out.println();
            }
        };
        NestedFor nf = new NestedFor(0, 3, testAction);
        nf.nFor(depth);
    }
}

and the (partial) output from its execution:

Depth 0
Hello from level 0:
Depth 1
Hello from level 1: 0
Hello from level 1: 1
Hello from level 1: 2
Depth 2
Hello from level 2: 0 0
Hello from level 2: 0 1
Hello from level 2: 0 2
Hello from level 2: 1 0
Hello from level 2: 1 1
Hello from level 2: 1 2
Hello from level 2: 2 0
Hello from level 2: 2 1
Hello from level 2: 2 2
Depth 3
Hello from level 3: 0 0 0
Hello from level 3: 0 0 1
Hello from level 3: 0 0 2
Hello from level 3: 0 1 0
...
Hello from level 3: 2 1 2
Hello from level 3: 2 2 0
Hello from level 3: 2 2 1
Hello from level 3: 2 2 2