Python gives us the commands continue and break to check the execution of the program in a for or while loop. This article discusses the continue versus break keyword in Python to understand the similarities and differences between how both statements work.
Content
- Python Continues vs Interrupts statement summary
- What is the "continue" keyword in Python?
- Continue a keyword using a For loop in Python
- Continue keyword with while loop in python
- What is the break keyword in Python?
- Python continue vs abort Explained: Which should you use?
- Application
Python Continues vs Interrupts statement summary
The following table lists the similarities and differences between the continue statement and the break statement in Python.
| Continuation of statement | Break statement |
| The continue statement is used to skip iterations of a for or while loop in Python. | The break statement is used to terminate a for or while loop in Python. |
| The Continue statement can lead to an infinite loop when using a while loop if a loop variable change statement is written after the Continue statement. | The break statement never causes an infinite loop. |
| We cannot use the continue statement outside of a for or while loop. | We cannot use the break statement outside of a for or while loop. |
| The continue statement can be executed multiple times in a for or while loop in Python. | The break statement can only be executed once inside a loop. Then the execution of the loop is finished. |
Now let's cover all the basics of the continue and break keywords to understand all the points in the table.
What is the "continue" keyword in Python?
The continue keyword in Python is used to skip the execution of a statement in a for or while loop. Whenever the Python interpreter encounters a continue statement, it skips the execution of the loop to the next iteration. See the following example to understand this.
for i in range(10): print(i, end=":") if i==5: print("Will not print square 5") continue print(i**2)Exit:
0:01:12:43:94:165:Does not print square 56:367:498:649:81In the code above, we used a for loop to print the numbers 0 to 10 with their squares. You can see in the output that the loop is not squared by 5. This is because when i==5, the continue statement inside the if block is executed. This causes all other statements in the for loop to be skipped and execution continues until the next iteration of the loop.
Continue a keyword using a For loop in Python
As explained above, you can use the continue keyword with a Python for loop to skip executing statements in your code in certain cases.
Suppose we have a list of numbers. We need to print the square of the numbers in the list if they are multiples of 10. Otherwise, we need to print the number ourselves. We can use the continue command to perform this task as shown below.
myList=[1,2,11,12,60,13,1234,2,10,30,45,110,15]print("List is:")print(myList)print("Result is:") for number at in my list: if number%10==0: print(number**2) continue print(number)Exit:
Listing for:Continue keyword with while loop in python
Similar to the for loop, we can also use the continue statement with the while loop in Python. When the interpreter encounters a continue statement in a loop, it skips the next lines and moves on to the next iteration of the loop. See the following example to understand this.
number=0 if quantity<10: quantity+=1 if quantity%3==0: continue printing(number)Exit:
12457810In the code above, we have printed the numbers 1 to 10 except for multiples of 3. Whenever we get a multiple of 3, the condition of the if statement evaluates to True. This is why the continue statement in the if block is executed, and the lines below the continue statement in the while loop are skipped.
Recommended reading:Python Zen explained with examples
Using the continue statement in a while loop can lead to an infinite loop if the code is not written correctly. In the previous example, we incremented the loop counter before the continue statement. For this reason, the counter is incremented even if the instruction continues to execute.
However, if the change loop variable statement is written after the continue statement, the loop will run indefinitely because the change loop variable statement will never be executed after the continue statement.
See the code below to understand it.
number=0 while number<10: if number%3==0: continue print(number) number+=1In the code above, when the variable number is 3, the condition inside the if statement returns the value True. Therefore, the command is continuously executed. This ensures that all statements below are skipped and the loop variable is not changed. When the loop moves to the next iteration, the value in the loop variable is not changed and the continue statement is executed again. This process continues indefinitely until we stop the program.
Therefore,using the Python continue statement with a while loop can cause the loop to execute indefinitely if a statement to change the loop variable is written after the continue statement.
Also,you cannot use the continue statement outside of a for or while loop. If we try to use the continue statement outside the for or while loop, the program throws an exception. You can see this in the example below.
print("PFB")continueprint("PythonForBeginners")Exit:
PFB file "/tmp/ipykernel_7853/2505494057.py", line 2 continue ^SyntaxError: "continue" is not valid in loopIn the code above, we used the continue statement between two print statements without for and while loops. For this reason, the program will encounter a SyntaxError exception.
What is the break keyword in Python?
The break statement in Python is used to prevent a for or while loop from executing. After the break command is executed, the program exits the loop and the next command after the loop is executed. You can see this in the code below.
for i in range(10): print(i) if i==5: breakprint("This will be printed after the break command")Exit:
012345 This is printed after the break statementIn the example above, you can see that the execution of the for loop stops when i becomes 5. This is because the break statement is executed when the condition in the if statement becomes true. Therefore, the execution of the for loop ends.
Similar to the for loop, we can also use the break statement to stop the execution of the while loop as shown below.
count=0while count<10: count+=1 print(count) if count==5: breakprint("This will be printed after the break statement")Exit:
12345 This is printed after the break commandLike the continue statement, the break statement cannot be used outside of a for or while loop. This will throw an exception as shown below.
print("PFB")breakprint("PythonForBeginners")Exit:
PFB file "/tmp/ipykernel_7853/643296189.py", line break 2 ^SyntaxError: "break" outside loopPython continue vs abort Explained: Which should you use?
We use the continue command when we just need to skip the iteration of the loop. On the other hand, we use the break command to stop the execution of a for loop or a while loop in Python.
Application
In this article, we covered the basics of the continue and break commands in Python. We also covered the differences between the continue and abort statements in Python. Read this article to learn more about programming in Pythonpandas map vs metoda Apply w Pythonie. You might also like this article aboutpass keyword in python.
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FAQs
What is the difference between continue statement and break statement in Python? ›
Continue in Python Explained. Break:A break statement in Python alters the flow of a loop by terminating it once a specified condition is met. Continue: The continue statement in Python is used to skip the remaining code inside a loop for the current iteration only.
How does break and continue statements in Python work briefly explain using examples? ›The break statement can be used if you need to break out of a for or while loop and move onto the next section of code. The continue statement can be used if you need to skip the current iteration of a for or while loop and move onto the next iteration.
What is the difference between break and continue in while loop in Python? ›The Python break and continue Statements
The Python break statement immediately terminates a loop entirely. Program execution proceeds to the first statement following the loop body. The Python continue statement immediately terminates the current loop iteration.
Break statement stops the entire process of the loop. Continue statement only stops the current iteration of the loop. Break also terminates the remaining iterations. Continue doesn't terminate the next iterations; it resumes with the successive iterations.
What are break and continue statements in Python w3schools? ›In Python, break and continue are loop control statements executed inside a loop. These statements either skip according to the conditions inside the loop or terminate the loop execution at some point.
What is the difference between break and continue in Python w3schools? ›The break statement "jumps out" of a loop. The continue statement "jumps over" one iteration in the loop.
What is the use of break and continue explain with example? ›The break statement is used with decision making statement such as if...else. In C programming, break statement is also used with switch... case statement. The continue statement skips some statements inside the loop.
Does Python break exit all loops? ›You can use break in Python in all the loops: while, for, and nested. If you are using it in nested loops, it will terminate the innermost loop where you have used it, and the control of the program will flow to the outer loop.
What are break and continue statements with example? ›- Example. int i; for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) { if (i == 4) { break; } printf("%d\n", i); ...
- Example. int i; for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) { if (i == 4) { continue; } ...
- Break Example. int i = 0; while (i < 10) { if (i == 4) { break; } ...
- Continue Example. int i = 0; while (i < 10) { if (i == 4) { i++; continue;
The continue keyword is used to end the current iteration in a for loop (or a while loop), and continues to the next iteration.
What is the difference between break and continue and return in for loop? ›
The break statement terminates the closest enclosing iteration statement or switch statement. The continue statement starts a new iteration of the closest enclosing iteration statement. The return statement terminates execution of the function in which it appears and returns control to the caller.
Does break stop all loops? ›Accepted Answer
BREAK will only break out of the loop in which it was called.
The purpose the break statement is to break out of a loop early. For example if the following code asks a use input a integer number x. If x is divisible by 5, the break statement is executed and this causes the exit from the loop.
What is the difference between a break statement and a continue statement when they occur in a loop in Java? ›Break statement resumes the control of the program to the end of loop and made executional flow outside that loop. Continue statement resumes the control of the program to the next iteration of that loop enclosing 'continue' and made executional flow inside the loop again.
What is a break statement and how is it used? ›The break statement terminates the execution of the nearest enclosing do , for , switch , or while statement in which it appears. Control passes to the statement that follows the terminated statement.
What is a break statement and how is it used in Python? ›In Python, the break statement provides you with the opportunity to exit out of a loop when an external condition is triggered. You'll put the break statement within the block of code under your loop statement, usually after a conditional if statement.
What is the difference between break and continue in Python Javatpoint? ›In a nutshell, the break keyword ends the loop's remaining iterations. The continue keyword, on the other hand, only ends the loop's current iteration. When the break keyword is used, the program's control exits the loop and moves on to the next statement after the loop.
What do you know about control statements break and continue in Python? ›3) What is the difference between break and continue statements in Python? Break statement exits out of the loop, but the continue statement shifts the control to the next iteration and doesn't exit out of the loop.
What is the difference between break and exit in loop Python? ›A "break" is only allowed in a loop (while or for), and it causes the loop to end but the rest of the program continues. On the other hand "sys. exit()" aborts the execution of the current program and passes control to the environment.
What is the difference between break and return in Python loop? ›The break statement exits a loop. The return statement exits a function or method. If no expression is specified, the value None is returned.
What is the difference between break and return function in Python? ›
Both return and break are keywords in Python. The keyword return ends a function and passes a value to the caller. The keyword break ends a loop immediately without doing anything else. It can be used within or outside a function.
Why do we use break and continue statements? ›The one-token statements continue and break may be used within loops to alter control flow; continue causes the next iteration of the loop to run immediately, whereas break terminates the loop and causes execution to resume after the loop. Both control structures must appear in loops.
What is the use of continue statement? ›A continue statement ends the current iteration of a loop. Program control is passed from the continue statement to the end of the loop body. A continue statement has the form: 1 continue ; A continue statement can only appear within the body of an iterative statement, such as do , for , or while .
Where do we use break? ›The break is a keyword in C which is used to bring the program control out of the loop. The break statement is used inside loops or switch statement. The break statement breaks the loop one by one, i.e., in the case of nested loops, it breaks the inner loop first and then proceeds to outer loops.
Why should you avoid loops in Python? ›We should try to avoid looping as much as possible when writing efficient code. Eliminating loops usually results in fewer lines of code that are easier to interpret. One of the idioms of pythonic code is that “flat is better than nested.” Striving to eliminate loops in our code will help us follow this idiom.
What loop never ends Python? ›Infinite While Loop in Python
Infinite while loop refers to a while loop where the while condition never becomes false. When a condition never becomes false, the program enters the loop and keeps repeating that same block of code over and over again, and the loop never ends.
You can stop an infinite loop with CTRL + C . You can generate an infinite loop intentionally with while True . The break statement can be used to stop a while loop immediately.
What is meant by nested loop? ›A nested loop has one loop inside of another. These are typically used for working with two dimensions such as printing stars in rows and columns as shown below. When a loop is nested inside another loop, the inner loop runs many times inside the outer loop.
What is the syntax of the break statement? ›The break statement ends the loop immediately when it is encountered. Its syntax is: break; The break statement is almost always used with if...else statement inside the loop.
Which executes first in a do while loop? ›The do-while loop is an exit-condition loop. This means that the body of the loop is always executed first. Then, the test condition is evaluated. If the test condition is TRUE, the program executes the body of the loop again.
Can you use continue in a for loop? ›
The continue keyword can be used in any of the loop control structures. It causes the loop to immediately jump to the next iteration of the loop. In a for loop, the continue keyword causes control to immediately jump to the update statement.
How do you break all loops in Python? ›The best options are: Set a flag which is checked by the outer loop, or set the outer loops condition. Put the loop in a function and use return to break out of all the loops at once.
Can we use break and continue in do while loop? ›Short answer yes, continue (and break) work properly in do while loops.
What is the difference between while and do while loop? ›The while loop is an entry-controlled type of loop. The do-while loop is an exit-controlled type of loop.
What is the difference between break and pass in for loop? ›Break, Pass, and Continue statements are loop controls used in python. The break statement, as the name suggests, breaks the loop and moves the program control to the block of code after the loop (if any). The pass statement is used to do nothing.
Does break stop all loops or just one? ›You can use a break statement with both for loops and while loops. In a nested loop, break will stop execution of the innermost loop. The flow of the program resumes at the next line of code immediately after the block.
How many loops can break statement break? ›The keyword break works only on the current loop. You can't break the outmost loop from any enclosed loop with a single break , you'll need to set a flag in order to break at start of each loop when it becomes non-null.
Why not to use break in loops? ›A 'for' loop must be straightforward to read. Using too many 'break' statements in 'for' loops makes them more difficult to read. Try to remove the 'break' statements from the loop and to manage the end-of-loop within the loop condition part.
What is break statement in Python? ›'Break' in Python is a loop control statement. It is used to control the sequence of the loop. Suppose you want to terminate a loop and skip to the next code after the loop; break will help you do that. A typical scenario of using the Break in Python is when an external condition triggers the loop's termination.
What is continue in Python? ›The continue keyword is used to end the current iteration in a for loop (or a while loop), and continues to the next iteration.