When Do You Use Continue And When Do You Use Break Statements

When continue statement is applied it prematurely completes the iteration of a

loop. When break statement is applied it causes the entire loop to be abandoned.

In Java, break and continue are control flow statements used within loops. Here’s a brief explanation of when to use each:

  1. break statement:
    • The break statement is used to exit a loop prematurely, before its normal termination.
    • It is typically used when a certain condition is met, and you want to break out of the loop immediately.
    • After encountering a break statement, the control flow will exit the loop and resume at the next statement after the loop.

    Example:

    java
    for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    if (i == 5) {
    break; // exit the loop when i is 5
    }
    System.out.println(i);
    }
  2. continue statement:
    • The continue statement is used to skip the rest of the current iteration of a loop and move to the next iteration.
    • It is typically used when you want to skip some code within the loop based on a certain condition, but still continue with the next iteration.

    Example:

    java
    for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    if (i == 5) {
    continue; // skip the rest of the loop body when i is 5
    }
    System.out.println(i);
    }

In summary:

  • Use break when you want to exit the loop prematurely based on a certain condition.
  • Use continue when you want to skip the rest of the current iteration and move to the next iteration based on a certain condition.