break and continue Keywords in C | Programmerdouts

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Break and Continue

Keywords

Break
When you have to terminate the loop at certain point ,early exit from the loop you can
do it by break statement.
C language provides Break keyword which helps to terminate loop or early exit from
the loop.
Lets see it's Syntax and then
we will understand it by doing a program.
Break statements is used in loop.

Syntax

for(j=0 ; j<=5 ; j++)

{ // body of for loop.
if(condition)
{ // body of if statement.
break;
}

lets understand it by one program

Q:Print the number from 1 to 5 and break the loop when the value of
variable = 3

1/5
#include<stdio.h>
void main()
{
int i; //variable decleration

for(i=1;i<=5;i++) //for loop

{
if(i == 3) //'==' is a equal to operator,which evaluate true if both the operants
are same.
{
break; // when value of i will be 3 then this break
// keyword will terminate the loop.
}
else // other wise it will print the value of i.
{
printf("%d\n",i);
}
}
}

Output:
1
2
Explanation.
when the value of i was 1,as condition was evaluated to true so it came in the body of
for loop.
Then control went to if block and condition was checked and it evaluated to false, as
you know control goes to else block ,so it came in else block and printed the value,
after leaving else block value of the variable has incremented by 1.
Now ,the value of variable i = 2,condition was checked and evaluated to true, so it
came in
if block and condition checked and it evaluated to false, so it came
in else block and printed the value of the variable i which is 2 and after
leaving the else block it incremented the value of variable by 1.
Now value of variable i is 3 and condition was checked and evaluated to true and it
came in if block but know condition was evaluated to true and break statement got
executed and break statement terminated the loop.
so, That is why it did not print 3,4,and 5.
This how break keyword works ,it breaks the loop when the required condition is
met.

Continue
2/5
 Sometime ,in the loop iteration ,a situation comes that you have to skip some
statements of current iteration and continue with the next iteration.
For doing that C language provides you the continue keyword
continue keyword continues to the next iteration with skipping the remaining
statements for that iteration.

Syntax

for(j=0 ; j<=5 ; j++)

{ // body of for loop.
if(condition)
{ // body of if statement.
continue;
}

Lets solve the same problem of printing numbers from 1 to 5,but this time
we have skip the number 3 and print the remaining numbers

Remember this time loop will not get terminate it will just skip that part
where condition is met.

Solution:

#include<stdio.h>

viod main()
{
int j; //decleration of varaible
for(j=0 ; j<=5 ; j++)
{ //body of for loop
if(j == 3)
{ // body of if statement.
continue; //continue statement will execute if value of j will become to 3.
}
else
{
printf("%d\n",j);
}
}

3/5
Output:
1
2
4
5
Explanation
For value of j=1 , condition got checked and evaluated true and came in the body of
for loop, inside the loop value of j was checked for the if statement
and condition was evaluated to false and control went to else block.
In else block value of variable j got printed on the screen, an went for the next
iteration.
Now value of variable j has become 2.for next iteration condition got checked and
evaluated true and came in the body of for loop inside the loop value of j
was checked for the if statement and condition was evaluated to false and
control went to else block.
In else block value of variable j got printed on the screen, an went for the next
iteration.
Now value of variable j has become 3.for next iteration condition got checked and
evaluated true and came in the body of for loop inside the loop value of
j was checked for the if statement but for this iteration condition was
evaluated to true and continue keyword got executed and it skipped the
else block and went for next iteration, So it did not print the value
of variable for this iteration.
Now value of variable j has become 4.for next iteration condition got checked and
evaluated true and came in the body of for loop inside the loop value of j
was checked for the if statement and condition was evaluated to false and
control went to else block.
In else block value of variable j got printed on the screen, an went for the next
iteration.
Now value of variable j has become 5.for next iteration condition got checked and
evaluated true and came in the body of for loop inside the loop value of j
was checked for the if statement and condition was evaluated to false and
control went to else block.
In else block value of variable j got printed on the screen, an went for the next
iteration.
Now the value of variable j has become 6,so for next iteration condition got checked
and
condition evaluated false and loop ended normally.

see, the below image of break and continue keywords.

See where the control goes when they get executed. 4/5
See where the control goes when they get executed.

Further Concepts

Practice Programs

Programs Regarding If-else Statements

Program Regarding Nested If - statements
Programs Regarding loops

Further Topics

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