JavaScript Break and Continue
The break statement "jumps out" of a loop.
The continue statement "jumps over" one iteration in the loop.
The Break Statement
You have already seen the break statement used in an earlier chapter of this tutorial. It was used to "jump out" of a switch() statement.
The break statement can also be used to jump out of a loop.
The break statement breaks the loop and continues executing the code after the loop (if any):
Example
for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
if (i === 3) { break; }
text += "The number is " + i + "<br>";
}
Try it Yourself »
The Continue Statement
The continue statement breaks one iteration (in the loop), if a specified condition occurs, and continues with the next iteration in the loop.
This example skips the value of 3:
Example
for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
if (i === 3) { continue; }
text += "The number is " + i + "<br>";
}
Try it Yourself »
JavaScript Labels
To label JavaScript statements you precede the statements with a label name and a colon:
label:
statements
The break and the continue statements are the only JavaScript statements that can "jump out of" a code block.
Syntax:
break labelname;
continue labelname;
The continue statement (with or without a label reference) can only be used to skip one loop iteration.
The break statement, without a label reference, can only be used to jump out of a loop or a switch.
With a label reference, the break statement can be used to jump out of any code block:
Example
var
cars = ["BMW", "Volvo", "Saab", "Ford"];
list: {
text += cars[0] + "<br>";
text += cars[1] + "<br>";
text += cars[2] + "<br>";
break list;
text += cars[3] + "<br>";
text += cars[4] + "<br>";
text += cars[5] + "<br>";
}
Try it Yourself »
A code block is a block of code between { and }.
Test Yourself with Exercises!
Exercise 1 » Exercise 2 » Exercise 3 » Exercise 4 » Exercise 5 »
