Break and Continue

Beginner ~10 min read

Sometimes you need to fine-tune loop execution. You might want to stop the loop entirely based on a dynamic condition, or just skip the current iteration.

The `break` Statement

The break statement causes the loop to terminate immediately. Control is transferred to the statement following the loop.

Commonly used when searching for an item; once found, there is no need to keep searching.

for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    if (i == 4) {
        break; // Stop loop completely when i is 4
    }
    System.out.println(i);
}

The `continue` Statement

The continue statement skips the rest of the current iteration and jumps back to the loop update/condition check. The loop itself continues to run.

Commonly used to filter out invalid items.

for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
    if (i == 2) {
        continue; // Skip 2, but go on to 3
    }
    System.out.println(i);
}

public class LoopControl {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // BREAK Example
        System.out.println("--- Break Example ---");
        System.out.println("Searching for 7...");
        for (int i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {
            if (i == 7) {
                System.out.println("Found 7! Stopping loop.");
                break;
            }
            System.out.println("Checking " + i);
        }

// CONTINUE Example
        System.out.println("\n--- Continue Example ---");
        System.out.println("Printing odd numbers only:");
        for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++) {
            if (i % 2 == 0) {
                continue; // Skip even numbers
            }
            System.out.println(i);
        }

// NESTED LOOP with LABEL Example
        System.out.println("\n--- Labeled Break Example ---");
        outerLoop: // Label
        for (int i = 1; i <= 3; i++) {
            for (int j = 1; j <= 3; j++) {
                if (i == 2 && j == 2) {
                    System.out.println("Breaking out of BOTH loops at i=" + i + ", j=" + j);
                    break outerLoop;
                }
                System.out.println("i=" + i + ", j=" + j);
            }
        }
        System.out.println("Done.");
    }
}

Output

Click Run to execute your code

Labeled Loops (Nested Loops)

By default, break only exits the innermost loop. If you want to break out of nested loops (e.g., stopping a matrix search), you can use a label.

search: // This is a label
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
    for (int j = 0; j < 3; j++) {
        if (arr[i][j] == target) {
            break search; // Exits BOTH loops
        }
    }
}

Summary

break stops the loop entirely.
continue skips the current iteration and goes to the next one.
Use labels to control nested loops from the inside.

Previous While Loops

Next Methods Basics (Next Module) →

The break Statement

The continue Statement

Labeled Loops (Nested Loops)

Summary

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The `break` Statement

The `continue` Statement