Avoid repeating a 'for' loop 3 times

Question

Any ideas how can I make my code more efficient by not
repeating the for loop 3 times within a script? Any tutorial links
or first hand experience – I’d be grateful for any
pointers:
1) First I use it to set up a drag n’ drop activity:
for (var i:Number = 0; i<words.length; i++) {
//set a var for the instances on stage:
var eachWord:String = "drag"+[i+1]+"_mc";
this[eachWord].word_txt.text = words
[0];
this[eachWord].onPress = function() {
startDrag(this, false, leftLimit, topLimit, rightLimit,
bottomLimit);
this[eachWord].onRelease =
this[eachWord].onReleaseOutside=function () {
this.stopDrag();
2) Then I use it in the part that makes it accessible by
keyboard:
function myOnKeyDown() {
for (var i:Number = 0; i<words.length; i++) {
var thisDrag:String = "drag"+[i+1]+"_mc";
if (Key.isDown …
ETC along with a listener object
3) I also have to use it in another function that the user
can call to toggle something on/off within each drag object.
Thanks in advance if anyone can help.

Answer 1

thanks for the reply! I actually figured out a different
(although probably less efficient) way to do it. I put David's
script just before the replay button and set it up like this:
stop();
gotoAndPlay(1);
if (!loopCount) {
var loopCount:Number = 0;
loopCount++;
if (loopCount >= 3) {
this.gotoAndPlay(359);
this was placed at frame 358, with the button placed at 359,
so after it looped 3 times it continued on to 359, showed the
button and stopped the movie there. again, not the most elegant but
it did the job