---
title: "18: FOR loops | SurrealDB University"
description: "Follow along with interactive SurrealDB lessons featuring hands-on exercises, code examples, and step-by-step instructions."
url: https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-18
---

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[Welcome to the Tour of SurrealDB!](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour) [1: Connecting to a database](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-01) [2: Creating records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-02) [3: Using the ONLY keyword](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-03) [4: Non-ASCII record IDs](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-04) [5: Parentheses, indexing, and accessing fields](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-05) [6: Deleting records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-06) [7: Field order in objects](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-07) [8: Tips when selecting records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-08) [9: Casting and aliases](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-09) [10: Affixes](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-10) [11: Updating records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-11) [12: Linking records](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-12) [13: Viewing the database as a whole](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-13) [14: Schemafull and schemaless](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-14) [15: Viewing the schema](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-15) [16: Literal types and assertions](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-16) [17: INSERT and using JSON](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-17) [18: FOR loops](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-18) [19: Basic graph relations](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-19) [20: Creating graph edges](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-20) [21: Querying graph relations](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-21) [22: Graph relations at greater depth](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-22) [23: Adding and improving data](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-23) [24: Defining events](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-24) [25: Defining indexes](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-25) [26: Improving the schema](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-26) [27: Visualising graph paths](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-27) [28: Recursive queries: setup](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-28) [29: Recursive queries](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-29) [30: More on recursive queries](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-30) [31: AI vector search](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-31) [Done the tour!](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-32)

# 18: FOR loops

Another way to work with the items inside an array is to use a [`FOR`](https://surrealdb.com/docs/reference/query-language/statements/for) loop. After `FOR`, choose a parameter name (like `$item` or `$person`) to be used every time the loop occurs, follow it with `IN` and the data, and then `{}` to open up a space in which you can write custom logic for each item in the loop.

Inside the loop in the next query, the parameter `$person` can be used to set the fields of each `person` record. Since each step of a `FOR` loop is isolated inside its own space, the output of a `FOR` loop will always be empty. To see the results of the `person` records created in this way, we will need to use a `SELECT` statement after the loop is done.

```
FOR $person IN [  {    age: 30,    name: 'Sara Bellum'  },  {    age: 25,    name: 'Lydia Wyndham'  },  {    age: 45,    name: 'Samm Schwartz'  }] {    CREATE person SET      age = $person.age,      name = $person.name};SELECT * FROM person;
```

![Surrealist Icon](https://surrealdb.com/assets/static/fdfe2c20f5941d5e.D0guSOhZ.webp) Run Query

Response

```surql
[
  {
    age: 45,
    id: person:cj8wc617o1ea2vs1yv4n,
    name: 'Samm Schwartz'
  },
  {
    age: 30,
    id: person:e8z6pjqhuwzfalbku61n,
    name: 'Sara Bellum'
  },
  {
    age: 25,
    id: person:faovorn8ntkqwfw01638,
    name: 'Lydia Wyndham'
  }
]
```

This is the way that we will create these employees for the library, but we also want to link each one to the library at each step of the `FOR` loop after creating them (so run a quick `DELETE person` at this point if you are following along separately). This time the link will be something called a graph edge, which we will first need to learn to use starting on the next page.

Previous

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Next lesson

19: Basic graph relations

[Next lesson](https://surrealdb.com/learn/tour/page-19)

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