The break and continue Statements

• The break statement, when executed in a while, for, do/while, or switch structure, causes immediate exit from that structure.
• Execution resumes with the 1st statement after the structure.
• The one time it clearly makes sense to use a break is in a switch.
• Its use can be avoided in repetition structures.
• We can replace the code below

...

for ( count = 1; count <= 10; count++ ) {

g.drawString("Breaks are silly!");

if ( count == 5 )
break; // break loop only if count == 5

g.drawString( Integer.toString( count ), xPos, 25 );
xPos += 10;

}

g.drawString( "Broke out of loop at count = " + count,
25, 40 );
}

with the following:

...

for ( count = 1; count <= 10; count++ ) {

g.drawString("Breaks within for loops are silly!");

if ( count < 5 ) {

g.drawString( Integer.toString( count ), xPos, 25 );
xPos += 10;

}

}

g.drawString( "Broke out of loop at count = " + count,
25, 40 );
}

• The continue statement, when executed in a while, for, or do/while, structure, omits execution of the remainder of the body of that structure.
• In a for statement, it proceeds directly to the increment expression[s];
• In a while and do/while statements, it proceeds directly to the loop-continuation condition.
• Its use can be avoided in repetition structures.