break and continue

Learn to exit a loop with break and skip with continue.

break and continue

There are two ways to control loop flow: break exits the loop entirely, continue skips the current iteration and goes to the next. Both are used inside the loop body.

For example for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) { if (i == 3) break; std::cout << i; } ends the loop when i is 3; the output is 012. Replacing break with continue skips i 3 and the output becomes 0134....

break vs continue

break and continue look similar but behave very differently. break ends the loop entirely and the program moves to the next statement. continue skips only the current iteration; if the condition still holds, the next iteration runs.

You use break when searching and the first match is found; you use continue to skip elements that meet a certain condition. In nested loops, break exits only the innermost loop; advanced code uses goto or a flag variable to work around this.

Exercise Stop at 3 (break)

Inside a for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) loop, stop the loop with if (i == 3) break;. On each iteration print i with std::cout << i;. The output must be 012.

Show example solution

#include <iostream>

int main() {
    for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
        if (i == 3) break;
        std::cout << i;
    }
    std::cout << std::endl;
    return 0;
}

Test yourself

Match each keyword to its effect

break

Exits the loop
continue

Skips to next iteration
return

Exits the function
throw

Raises an exception

Write the continue keyword

for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
    if (i == 2) ____;
    std::cout << i;
}

Show answer

for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
    if (i == 2) continue;
    std::cout << i;
}

What is the output of this loop?
```
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
  if (i == 2) continue;
  std::cout << i;
}
```
- 01234
- 012
- 0134
- 234
Show answer

0134 — i = 2 is skipped; the output is 0134.

Next lesson: Summary - Loops

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