{"id":82609,"date":"2021-07-27T09:00:34","date_gmt":"2021-07-27T03:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/?p=82609"},"modified":"2021-07-27T09:00:34","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T03:30:34","slug":"recursion-in-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techvidvan.com\/tutorials\/recursion-in-c\/","title":{"rendered":"Recursion in C"},"content":{"rendered":"

The C programming language offers various features which help the programmers in making their code efficient and simple. In C, Recursion is one of the most complex and useful concepts.<\/p>\n

With the help of recursion, you can solve complex mathematical problems such as factorial of a number and generating fibonacci series etc.<\/p>\n

Let us see what is Recursion in C?<\/p>\n

Recursion in C<\/h3>\n

In C, When a function calls a copy of itself then the process is known as Recursion. To put it short, when a function calls itself then this technique is known as Recursion. And the function is known as a recursive function.<\/p>\n

You have to be more careful when you are using recursion in your program. You just cannot use recursion in all your problems because it will make your program more complex and difficult.<\/p>\n

Recursion can be used in case of similar subtasks like sorting, searching, and traversal problems. While using recursion, you will have to define an exit condition on that function, if not then it will go into an infinite loop.<\/p>\n

NOTE:-<\/strong> Problems that can be solved recursively, can also be solved iteratively.<\/p>\n

Syntax of recursive function in C:-<\/strong><\/p>\n

void do_recursion()\n{\n    ... .. ...\n    do_recursion();\n    ... .. ...\n}\nint main()\n{\n    ... .. ...\n   do_recursion();\n    ... .. ...\n}<\/pre>\n
Working of recursion in C:-<\/h3>\n
Below is a flowchart of how recursion works:-<\/p>\n
\"flow<\/a><\/p>\n
The recursion will go in an infinite loop until some condition is met. So, to prevent it from going into an infinite loop, you can make use of the if…else<\/strong> statement or define an exit condition in the recursive function.<\/p>\n
Example:- Infinite loop through recursive function<\/strong><\/p>\n
#include<stdio.h>\n\nint main()\n{\n  printf(\"TechVidvan Tutorial: Infinite loop through Recursive Function!\\n\");\n  main();\n  return 0;\n}<\/pre>\n
The above example will result in an infinite loop. In the above program, we are doing recursion by calling main() from main(). And also we have not provided any condition for the program to exit. That\u2019s why it will print the output infinitely.<\/p>\n
Types of recursion in C<\/h3>\n
There are two types of recursion present in the C programming language.<\/p>\n