Array handling: indexing, FOR loops, and bounds

Arrays are how PLC programs hold recipes, alarm logs, and conveyor tracking buffers. IEC 61131-3 defines arrays with a base type and one or more dimension ranges. The traps are off-by-one indexing on FOR loops, vendor-specific behaviour on out-of-bounds access, and the difference between indexing a tag array directly versus through an indirection variable evaluated each scan.

What this instruction does

The data handling family is one of the building blocks every working PLC engineer uses on a weekly basis. This page is the one-page reference: what the instruction is for, how the IEC 61131-3 standard form reads, where each major vendor's IDE diverges from the standard, and the mistakes that typically cost a shift on commissioning. We program these on real hardware ourselves; the worked examples below are the patterns that actually ship, not toy snippets. Read the page front to back the first time, then bookmark it as a quick lookup once the patterns are in muscle memory. The simulator covers each example in the sandbox at the free tier, so you can copy a rung from this page and run it without installing anything.

IEC 61131-3 syntax

The standard form is the place to anchor; once the IEC syntax is clear the vendor variations are easier to read. The block below is the canonical data handling declaration as the standard defines it.

// Variable declaration
Recipe : ARRAY[0..99] OF Recipe_UDT;
// Structured Text indexing and loop
FOR i := 0 TO 99 DO
  IF Recipe[i].Active THEN ...
END_FOR;

A few notes on reading the syntax. The instance name on the left is what the runtime allocates state against — every call to a function block needs its own instance, never reused across rungs. The inputs after the colon-equals are how you bind real signals or constants to the block's parameters at call time. The dotted accessors after the call are how you read the output state on the next scan; the runtime only refreshes them at the call site, so referencing a dotted output from a rung that runs before the call gives you stale data.

Vendor implementations

Every major vendor implements the IEC standard form, but each adds its own conventions on top — IDE menu paths, datatype names, retentive variants. The mappings below are the ones that bite on a real commissioning visit. If your vendor is not listed here, the IEC form above is still the safe starting point; check the vendor docs for the brand-specific diff before you ship.

Siemens

TIA Portal: ARRAY[lower..upper] OF type, multi-dimension via ARRAY[0..9, 0..9]. SCL FOR loop with TO and BY for step. Bounds-check raises OB121 by default.

S7-1500 raises OB121 (programming error) on an out-of-bounds index. S7-1200 traps it the same way. If OB121 is not present in the project, the CPU goes to STOP — surprising.

Allen-Bradley

Studio 5000: tag declared as Tag[N] is a fixed array of N elements. FOR construct in ST or FAL/FBC instructions in ladder. No multi-dimension arrays in some firmware.

Studio 5000 raises a Major Fault (Type 4 Code 20) on an array index out of range. Until V32, indirect addressing did not bounds-check at all in some operations — silent memory corruption.

Worked examples

The examples below are patterns we ship. Each one names the production context, the rung shape, and the parameter values that work in practice. Copy them into the simulator's sandbox to see the timing behaviour live before you put them on hardware.

Recipe lookup by code

Operator scans a barcode; FOR i := 0 TO 99 search the recipe array for matching code, EXIT on hit, copy the matched UDT to ActiveRecipe. Average half the array per lookup; for >100 entries use a hash table or sorted binary search.

// SCL
FOR i := 0 TO 99 DO
  IF RecipeArr[i].Code = ScannedCode THEN
    ActiveRecipe := RecipeArr[i];
    EXIT;
  END_IF;
END_FOR;

Rolling alarm log

On every alarm, COP AlarmLog[0..98] to AlarmLog[1..99] then write the new alarm to AlarmLog[0]. Whole shift in one scan — but watch overlap between source and destination ranges.

Common mistakes

The mistakes below cost real time on real projects. The first three appear on every commissioning visit; the rest are the second-tier traps that surface only under load or after a cold start. Run a paired-review pass against the list before you commit any rung that uses this instruction.

• FOR i := 0 TO Array_Length when Array_Length is the count not the upper bound — runs one past the end and triggers a programming-error fault.
• Indexing with a SINT variable in a 0..255 loop on Siemens — the SINT wraps to -128 on increment past 127 and the loop becomes infinite.
• Assuming Studio 5000 catches all out-of-range accesses — pre-V32 indirect addressing through a base tag wrote to neighbouring memory silently.

A pattern across all of these: the instruction itself is rarely the bug — the bug is in how the surrounding rung reads or writes the instruction's state. Check the rung shape first. The simulator's live trace pane shows .Q and .ET (or the instruction's equivalent state fields) on every scan, which is the fastest way to see whether the instruction is doing what you think it is.

How to practise this in the simulator

The simulator has a sandbox that lets you write a one-rung program using this instruction in under sixty seconds. Free tier covers it — open the simulator, drop the instruction onto a rung, wire two test inputs, and watch the .Q and .ET fields update in the live trace pane. The patterns above are exactly the patterns the curriculum builds on; this page is the one-page reference, the curriculum is the deliberate-practice version. Working through the curriculum's matching module gives you ten to fifteen variations on the same instruction shape, with feedback on each, and a portfolio piece at the end. The free tier is enough to verify the instruction works as documented; the Basic tier (USD 12 per month) unlocks the curriculum modules.

Vendor reference

IEC 61131-3 standard is the canonical reference for the IEC 61131-3 standard form. For brand-specific quirks, Siemens Industry Online Support and Rockwell Automation Support are the canonical sources. When the standard and the vendor docs disagree, the vendor docs win for that vendor's hardware — the IEC form is the portable shape, the vendor form is what the firmware actually executes. For platform-pick decisions and longer brand context, see the Siemens and Allen-Bradley brand hubs.

What we don't claim

This site is not SAQA-registered, not MerSETA-accredited, and not an NQF-registered qualification provider. Our completion certificates are course-level only — they describe what you covered, not an NQF Level X qualification. The CCST cert from ISA is the portable industry credential we recommend; we are not an ISA cert delivery partner either, but our cert packs are CCST-aligned. The instruction reference on this page is a one-page summary of the IEC 61131-3 standard form plus vendor-specific quirks; vendor docs remain the canonical source for any production project.

Where this fits in a working week

A technician who has the data handling family in muscle memory typically spends less than two minutes per rung writing one. The ones that take longer are the ones where the surrounding state machine has not been thought through; the instruction is fine, the design around it is what eats the day. The simulator's value is letting you exercise the design without paying for hardware time — write the rung, run it, watch the trace, fix the design, repeat. Twenty minutes in the sandbox saves a half-day of commissioning rework. The curriculum's matching module on the data handling family takes about three to four hours of focused practice end to end and gives you the muscle memory plus the portfolio piece you can hand a hiring engineer. Petrochem, mining, FMCG, automotive, and water-utility sectors all use this family on a weekly basis; the patterns on this page are the same patterns the OEM engineering houses ship.

Load-shedding has changed the rung shapes that ship in SA. Power-recovery patterns — controlled shutdown on UPS hold, state recovery from retentive memory, sequenced restart of motor groups — sit on top of the data handling family; understanding the instruction in isolation is step one, understanding how it behaves on a cold start after a 2.5-hour cut is step two. The simulator's restart-from-cut mode lets you exercise this without bricking real hardware. For institutional buyers — TVET colleges, private training providers, in-house engineering training departments — the bulk-licence option is the Teams tier, USD 199 per seat per year, minimum 5 seats. The training-centres page has the institutional pitch and the contact form.