Which keyword will stop the current iteration of a loop and move on to the next iteration?

Main Content

continue

Pass control to next iteration of for or while loop

Syntax

Description

example

continue passes control to the next iteration of a for or while loop. It skips any remaining statements in the body of the loop for the current iteration. The program continues execution from the next iteration.

continue applies only to the body of the loop where it is called. In nested loops, continue skips remaining statements only in the body of the loop in which it occurs.

Examples

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Selectively Display Values in Loop

Display the multiples of 7 from 1 through 50. If a number is not divisible by 7, use continue to skip the disp statement and pass control to the next iteration of the for loop.

for n = 1:50
    if mod(n,7)
        continue
    end
    disp(['Divisible by 7: ' num2str(n)])
end

Divisible by 7: 7
Divisible by 7: 14
Divisible by 7: 21
Divisible by 7: 28
Divisible by 7: 35
Divisible by 7: 42
Divisible by 7: 49

Skip to Next Loop Iteration

Count the number of lines of code in the file magic.m. Skip blank lines and comments using a continue statement. continue skips the remaining instructions in the while loop and begins the next iteration.

fid = fopen('magic.m','r');
count = 0;
while ~feof(fid)
    line = fgetl(fid);
    if isempty(line) || strncmp(line,'%',1) || ~ischar(line)
        continue
    end
    count = count + 1;
end
count

Tips

• The continue statement skips the rest of the instructions in a for or while loop and begins the next iteration. To exit the loop completely, use a break statement.

• continue is not defined outside a for or while loop. To exit a function, use return.

Extended Capabilities

C/C++ Code Generation Generate C and C++ code using MATLAB® Coder™.

Thread-Based Environment Run code in the background using MATLAB® backgroundPool or accelerate code with Parallel Computing Toolbox™ ThreadPool.

This function fully supports thread-based environments. For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions in Thread-Based Environment.

Version History

Introduced before R2006a

You might face a situation in which you need to exit a loop completely when an external condition is triggered or there may also be a situation when you want to skip a part of the loop and start next execution.

Python provides break and continue statements to handle such situations and to have good control on your loop.

This tutorial will discuss the break, continue and pass statements available in Python.

The break Statement:

The break statement in Python terminates the current loop and resumes execution at the next statement, just like the traditional break found in C.

The most common use for break is when some external condition is triggered requiring a hasty exit from a loop. The break statement can be used in both while and for loops.

Example:

#!/usr/bin/python

for letter in 'Python':     # First Example
   if letter == 'h':
      break
   print 'Current Letter :', letter
  
var = 10                    # Second Example
while var > 0:              
   print 'Current variable value :', var
   var = var -1
   if var == 5:
      break

print "Good bye!"

This will produce the following result:

Current Letter : P
Current Letter : y
Current Letter : t
Current variable value : 10
Current variable value : 9
Current variable value : 8
Current variable value : 7
Current variable value : 6
Good bye!

The continue Statement:

The continue statement in Python returns the control to the beginning of the while loop. The continue statement rejects all the remaining statements in the current iteration of the loop and moves the control back to the top of the loop.

The continue statement can be used in both while and for loops.

Example:

#!/usr/bin/python

for letter in 'Python':     # First Example
   if letter == 'h':
      continue
   print 'Current Letter :', letter

var = 10                    # Second Example
while var > 0:              
   var = var -1
   if var == 5:
      continue
   print 'Current variable value :', var
print "Good bye!"

This will produce following result:

Current Letter : P
Current Letter : y
Current Letter : t
Current Letter : o
Current Letter : n
Current variable value : 10
Current variable value : 9
Current variable value : 8
Current variable value : 7
Current variable value : 6
Current variable value : 4
Current variable value : 3
Current variable value : 2
Current variable value : 1
Good bye!

The else Statement Used with Loops

Python supports to have an else statement associated with a loop statements.

• If the else statement is used with a for loop, the else statement is executed when the loop has exhausted iterating the list.

• If the else statement is used with a while loop, the else statement is executed when the condition becomes false.

Example:

The following example illustrates the combination of an else statement with a for statement that searches for prime numbers from 10 through 20.

#!/usr/bin/python

for num in range(10,20):  #to iterate between 10 to 20
   for i in range(2,num): #to iterate on the factors of the number
      if num%i == 0:      #to determine the first factor
         j=num/i #to calculate the second factor
         print '%d equals %d * %d' % (num,i,j)
         break #to move to the next number, the #first FOR
   else:        # else part of the loop
      print num, 'is a prime number'

This will produce following result:

10 equals 2 * 5
11 is a prime number
12 equals 2 * 6
13 is a prime number
14 equals 2 * 7
15 equals 3 * 5
16 equals 2 * 8
17 is a prime number
18 equals 2 * 9
19 is a prime number

Similar way you can use else statement with while loop.

The pass Statement:

The pass statement in Python is used when a statement is required syntactically but you do not want any command or code to execute.

The pass statement is a null operation; nothing happens when it executes. The pass is also useful in places where your code will eventually go, but has not been written yet (e.g., in stubs for example):

Example:

#!/usr/bin/python

for letter in 'Python': 
   if letter == 'h':
      pass
      print 'This is pass block'
   print 'Current Letter :', letter

print "Good bye!"

This will produce following result:

Current Letter : P
Current Letter : y
Current Letter : t
This is pass block
Current Letter : h
Current Letter : o
Current Letter : n
Good bye!

The preceding code does not execute any statement or code if the value of letter is 'h'. The pass statement is helpful when you have created a code block but it is no longer required.

You can then remove the statements inside the block but let the block remain with a pass statement so that it doesn't interfere with other parts of the code.

What is the keyword used to stop the current loop and go to the next iteration?

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Which statement is used to stop current iteration of the loop?