Prolog - Loop & Decision Making

In this chapter, we will discuss loops and decision making in Prolog.

Loops

Loop statements are used to execute the code block multiple times. In general, for, while, do-while are loop constructs in programming languages (like Java, C, C++).

Code block is executed multiple times using recursive predicate logic. There are no direct loops in some other languages, but we can simulate loops with few different techniques.

Program

count_to_10(10) :- write(10),nl.
count_to_10(X) :-
   write(X),nl,
   Y is X + 1,
   count_to_10(Y).

Output

| ?- [loop].
compiling D:/TP Prolog/Sample_Codes/loop.pl for byte code...
D:/TP Prolog/Sample_Codes/loop.pl compiled, 4 lines read - 751 bytes written, 16 ms

(16 ms) yes
| ?- count_to_10(3).
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

true ?
yes
| ?-

Now create a loop that takes lowest and highest values. So, we can use the between() to simulate loops.

Program

Let us see an example program −

count_down(L, H) :-
   between(L, H, Y),
   Z is H - Y,
   write(Z), nl.
   
count_up(L, H) :-
   between(L, H, Y),
   Z is L + Y,
   write(Z), nl.

Output

| ?- [loop].
compiling D:/TP Prolog/Sample_Codes/loop.pl for byte code...
D:/TP Prolog/Sample_Codes/loop.pl compiled, 14 lines read - 1700 bytes written, 16 ms

yes
| ?- count_down(12,17).
5

true ? ;
4

true ? ;
3

true ? ;
2

true ? ;
1

true ? ;
0

yes
| ?- count_up(5,12).
10

true ? ;
11

true ? ;
12

true ? ;
13

true ? ;
14

true ? ;
15

true ? ;
16

true ? ;
17

yes
| ?-

Decision Making

The decision statements are If-Then-Else statements. So when we try to match some condition, and perform some task, then we use the decision making statements. The basic usage is as follows −

If <condition> is true, Then <do this>, Else

In some different programming languages, there are If-Else statements, but in Prolog we have to define our statements in some other manner. Following is an example of decision making in Prolog.

Program

% If-Then-Else statement

gt(X,Y) :- X >= Y,write('X is greater or equal').
gt(X,Y) :- X < Y,write('X is smaller').

% If-Elif-Else statement

gte(X,Y) :- X > Y,write('X is greater').
gte(X,Y) :- X =:= Y,write('X and Y are same').
gte(X,Y) :- X < Y,write('X is smaller').

Output

| ?- [test].
compiling D:/TP Prolog/Sample_Codes/test.pl for byte code...
D:/TP Prolog/Sample_Codes/test.pl compiled, 3 lines read - 529 bytes written, 15 ms

yes
| ?- gt(10,100).
X is smaller

yes
| ?- gt(150,100).
X is greater or equal

true ?

yes
| ?- gte(10,20).
X is smaller

(15 ms) yes
| ?- gte(100,20).
X is greater

true ?

yes
| ?- gte(100,100).
X and Y are same

true ?

yes
| ?-
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