JavaScript continue Statement

Example

In this example we use a for loop together with the continue statement.

Loop through a block of code, but skip the value of "3":

var text = ""
var i;
for (i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
    if (i == 3) {
        continue;
    }
    text += "The number is " + i + "<br>";
}

The result of text will be:

The number is 0
The number is 1
The number is 2
The number is 4

Try it yourself »

More "Try it Yourself" examples below.

Definition and Usage

The continue statement breaks one iteration (in the loop) if a specified condition occurs, and continues with the next iteration in the loop.

The difference between continue and the break statement, is instead of "jumping out" of a loop, the continue statement "jumps over" one iteration in the loop.

However, when the continue statement is executed, it behaves differently for different types of loops:

In a while loop, the condition is tested, and if it is true, the loop is executed again
In a for loop, the increment expression (e.g. i++) is first evaluated, and then the condition is tested to find out if another iteration should be done

The continue statement can also be used with an optional label reference.

Note: The continue statement (with or without a label reference) can only be used inside a loop.

Browser Support

Statement
continue	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Syntax

continue;

Using the optional label reference:

continue labelname;

Technical Details

JavaScript Version:	1.0. The label reference was added in JavaScript 1.2

More Examples

Example

In this example we use a while loop together with the continue statement.

Loop through a block of code, but skip the value of "3":

var text = "";
var i = 0;
while (i < 5) {
    i++;
    if (i == 3) {
        continue;
    }
text += "<br>The number is " + i;
}

The result of text will be:

The number is 1
The number is 2
The number is 4
The number is 5

Try it yourself »

Example

In this example we use a for loop together with the continue statement.

Loop through an array, but skip the array's element "Saab":

var cars = ["BMW", "Volvo", "Saab", "Ford"];
var text = ""
var i;
for (i = 0; i < cars.length; i++) {
    if (cars[i] == "Saab") {
        continue;
    }
    text += cars[i] + "<br>";
}

The result of text will be:

BMW
Volvo
Ford

Try it yourself »