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
collapse all
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 afor
orwhile
loop and begins the next iteration. To exit the loop completely, use abreak
statement.continue
is not defined outside afor
orwhile
loop. To exit a function, usereturn
.
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.