For which statements does it make sense to use a label

The only statements for which it makes sense to use a label are those statements that can enclose a break orcontinue statement.

In Java, labels are used in conjunction with loops (such as for, while, and do-while) and conditional statements (if, else, and switch). Labels are identifiers followed by a colon and are used to mark a specific point in the code. You can then use these labels with break and continue statements to control the flow of execution within nested loops or conditional statements.

Here’s an example:

java
outerLoop:
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
innerLoop:
for (int j = 0; j < 3; j++) {
if (someCondition(i, j)) {
break outerLoop; // This breaks out of the outer loop
} else {
continue innerLoop; // This continues with the next iteration of the inner loop
}
}
}

In this example, outerLoop and innerLoop are labels associated with the respective loops. The break and continue statements reference these labels to control the flow of the program.

In general, labels can be useful when dealing with nested loops or conditional statements, and you want to break or continue from an outer loop or switch statement rather than the immediate one. However, it’s worth noting that the use of labels is not considered good practice in most cases, as it can make the code harder to read and maintain. Using other control flow mechanisms like methods or reorganizing your code might be a cleaner and more understandable approach.