The **range-based `for` loop** was introduced in C++11; it provides an intuitive way of iterating through the elements in a collection.

# The Conventional Approach
The traditional [for loop](https://www.educative.io/answers/how-do-you-execute-a-forloop-in-c) requires a lot of boilerplate code to implement iteration: a condition needs to be specified along​​ with a variable whose value changes in each iteration. 

Here is an example:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int main() {
  string heroes[3] = {"Batman", "Wonder Woman", "Spiderman"};

  for(int i = 0; i < 3; i++){
    cout << heroes[i] << endl;
  }
}

In such a case, the size of the array must be known and there is some indexing involved. Both of these aspects can complicate the process of iteration.

# The Simpler Approach
The new range-based `for` loop simplifies things. Its structure can be seen below:​

All we have to do is specify the collection and an iterator (`element`) which has the same type as the collection's elements. We can name the iterator anything and its type can be handled by `auto`.

In each iteration, the iterator will become the next element in the collection. No indexing is involved!

The collection can be any container in the C++ Standard Library.

Let's apply the range-based for loop onto the previous example:

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
using namespace std;

int main() {
  string heroes[3] = {"Batman", "Wonder Woman", "Spiderman"};

  for(auto hero : heroes){
    cout << hero << endl;
  }
}

Now, we do not need to know the size of the collection(an array in this case). Furthermore, the new iterator (`hero`) is more readable than the `i` we had earlier.

The iterator is now the actual element rather than an index or a counter.

The range-based `for` loop can work in the same way with all other STL containers. Due to the `auto` keyword, we do not need to worry about specifying the type of the iterator.

What is a range-based for loop in C++?

The range-based for loop was introduced in C++11; it provides an intuitive way of iterating through the elements in a collection. The Conventional Approach The traditional for loop requires a lot of boilerplate code to implement iteration: a condition needs to be specified along​​ with a variable whose value changes in each iteration. Here is an example: 