Control flow

While Loops

How JavaScript's while loop maps to Go's for used as a while loop (Go has no while keyword) — Rust, Swift, and Java all have while like JavaScript.

September 27, 2026

Node.js
Go
Rust
Swift
Java

Minimum versions: Node.js ≥ 12.20Go ≥ 1.0Rust ≥ 1.58Swift ≥ 2.0Java ≥ 25
Verified on: Node.js 24.12.0Go 1.27.1Rust 1.98.1Swift 6.2.4Java 25.0.4.1

Node.js code is an ES module: save it as .mjs or set "type": "module" in package.json.

Go has no while keyword. The same thing is achieved with for and just a condition, dropping the init and post parts entirely. Rust, Swift, and Java all have while just like JavaScript — of these five languages, Go is the only exception.

while in JavaScript, for in Go

let i = 0
 
while (i <= 5) {
  console.log(i)
 
  i++
}

package main
 
import "fmt"
 
func main() {
	i := 0
 
	for i <= 5 {
		fmt.Println(i)
 
		i++
	}
}

fn main() {
    let mut i = 0;
 
    while i <= 5 {
        println!("{i}");
 
        i += 1;
    }
}

var i = 0
 
while i <= 5 {
    print(i)
 
    i += 1
}

void main() {
    int i = 0;
 
    while (i <= 5) {
        IO.println(i);
 
        i++;
    }
}

Reference: github.com/miguelmota/golang-for-nodejs-developers#while