Break vs Continue in C

Break statement in C

In C, the break statement stops the loop before it finishes.

When the break statement is encountered within a loop, the loop is immediately exited, and the program control resumes at the next statement following the loop.

Syntax of Break Statement in C:

break;

Purpose:

The break statement is used to terminate the execution of a loop immediately when a certain condition is met.

Effect:

When encountered within a loop, the break exits the loop entirely, and the program control resumes at the next statement following the loop.

Use Cases:

Exiting a loop prematurely when a specific condition is satisfied.

Terminating a loop if an error condition occurs.

Example:

// program for break in C
#include<stdio.h> 

int main() {
    int A;
    for(A = 1; A <= 10; A++) {
        if(A == 5) {
            printf("Encountered 5. Exiting loop.\n");
            break;
        }
        printf("%d\n", i);
    }
    return 0;
}

Output:

1
2
3
4
Encountered 5. Exiting loop.

Continue Statement in C

The continue statement in C is used to skip the rest of the statements within a loop for the current iteration and proceed with the next iteration of the loop.

Syntax of continue statement in C

continue;

Purpose:

The continue statement is used to skip the rest of the statements within a loop for the current iteration and proceed with the next iteration of the loop.

Effect:

When encountered within a loop, continue to skip the remaining statements in the loop's body for the current iteration and proceed with the next iteration.

Use Cases:

Skipping certain iterations in a loop based on specific conditions.

Continuing with the next iteration if certain conditions are met without executing the remaining statements in the loop.

Example:

// program for continue in C
#include<stdio.h> 

int main() {
    int i;
    for(i = 1; i <= 5; i++) {
        if(i == 3) {
            printf("Skipping iteration %d.\n", i);
            continue;
        }
        printf("%d\n", i);
    }
    return 0;
}

Output:

1
2
Skipping iteration 3.
4
5

Difference between break and continue statement

The loop starts.

The condition is checked.

If the condition is true:

For continue: The statements within the loop are skipped for this iteration, and the loop proceeds to the next iteration.

For break: The loop is exited immediately.

If the condition is false, the loop continues execution until the condition becomes true or until another control statement (like break) is encountered.

These keywords are essential for controlling the flow of loops in C, enabling more efficient program execution.

Feature	break	continue
Purpose	Terminates the loop immediately and exits from it	Skips the rest of the loop for the current iteration
Effect	Exits the innermost loop if used inside nested loops	Skips the remaining statements in the current iteration and continues with the next one
Use Cases	Exiting loop when a certain condition is met	Skipping certain iterations in the loop
Statement Format	`break;`	`continue;`