What Does a for-Loop Stepping by Two Print?

Why the Answer Is Correct

The fragment is a straightforward counting loop whose control variable starts at 1 and advances by two on each pass while the condition i < 10 still holds. Every iteration prints the current value, so the output is 1 3 5 7 9 and nothing else — even values are never produced and the terminating bound is respected. Because the condition is evaluated before the body (a pre-test loop), the next odd candidate is rejected the moment it fails the test. Community learners who actually compiled and ran the snippet confirm this result; d7bb0b2 traced the output step by step as "print 1 2- print 3 3- print 5 4- print 7 5 - print 9", and ken95jr states "D is correct tested". Option D is therefore the only sequence that matches both the starting value and the loop bound.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

Options A (2 4 6 8) and B (2 4 6 8 10) are the even-value sequences; they could only appear if the counter were initialized to 2 or if the parity of the printed value were inverted, neither of which the fragment does. Option C (1 3 5 7 9 11) contains the correct odd values but adds one extra element, ignoring that the loop condition stops the iteration before the value 11 is ever printed. Option D is the only output that starts at 1, steps by two, and halts before reaching the bound — exactly what the control flow of the fragment produces. Recognizing that C is an off-by-one distractor is the whole point of the question.

Community Comment Notes

The thread is unanimous on D, but the real value lies in the execution traces rather than the vote count. d7bb0b2 walked through each printed value and then noted the counter advancing with "then ++i => 10 finish", i.e. the loop exits once the condition fails. ken95jr and Felipe47 both report running the code, with Felipe47 summarizing it as simply "Tested. D". That kind of on-machine verification is precisely the habit that makes loop-output questions on 1Z0-819 quick and safe to answer.

How to Verify It Yourself

Mentally (or actually) write three columns — counter value, condition result, printed value — for each pass until the condition first returns false. The final row of that table is the one that eliminates the extra-element distractor, and it is a technique that transfers to every do-while, while and nested-loop trace on the exam.