What characterizes an infinite loop?

An infinite loop is characterized by its ability to run indefinitely without ever terminating. This situation arises when the loop's terminating condition is never satisfied, leading the program to continue executing the loop's code continuously. This can occur due to logical errors in the loop condition or because the loop is designed in such a way that it deliberately avoids ending.

For example, if a while loop's condition is always true, or if the loop contains no statements that would change the state of variables involved in the condition, the loop will continue forever, effectively putting the program in an endless cycle.

In contrast, other answer choices describe different types of loops or behaviors that do not relate to the concept of an infinite loop. A loop that runs a predefined number of times is designed to terminate after a specific count, while a loop that executes an error represents a failure in code execution, and a loop that only runs once is commonly referred to as a single iteration loop. These distinctions highlight why the description of a loop that runs indefinitely is what defines an infinite loop.