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 »

Since the if statement has only one single line of code, the braces can be omitted:

for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    if (i == 3) break;
    text += "The number is " + i + "<br>";
}

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

As you have already seen, in the chapter about the switch statement, JavaScript statements can be labeled.

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 inside a loop.

The break statement, without a label reference, can only be used inside a loop or a switch.

With a label reference, it can be used to "jump out of" any JavaScript code block:

Example

cars = ["BMW", "Volvo", "Saab", "Ford"];
list: {
    text += cars[0] + "<br>";
    text += cars[1] + "<br>";
    text += cars[2] + "<br>";
    text += cars[3] + "<br>";
    break list;
    text += cars[4] + "<br>";
    text += cars[5] + "<br>";
}

Try it Yourself »


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