It is sometimes desirable to skip some statements inside the loop or terminate the loop immediately without checking the test expression. In such cases, break and continue statements are used.
break Statement :-
The break statement terminates the loop (for, while and do…while loop) immediately when it is encountered. 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.
Syntax of break statement :
break;
// Program to calculate the sum of maximum of 10 numbers
// Calculates sum until user enters positive number
# include <stdio.h>
# include <conio.h>
int main()
{
int i;
double number, sum = 0.0;
for (i=1; i <= 10; ++i)
{
printf("Enter a n%d: ",i);
scanf("%lf",&number);
// If user enters negative number, loop is terminated
if(number < 0.0)
{
break;
}
sum += number; // sum = sum + number;
}
printf("Sum = %.2lf",sum);
return 0;
}
Output :
Enter a n1: 2.4
Enter a n2: 4.5
Enter a n3: 3.4
Enter a n4: -3
Sum = 10.30
continue Statement :-
The continue statement skips some statements inside the loop. The continue statement is used with decision making statement such as if…else.
Syntax of continue Statement :
continue;
// Program to calculate sum of maximum of 10 numbers
// Negative numbers are skipped from calculation
# include <stdio.h>
# include <conio.h>
int main()
{
int i;
double number, sum = 0.0;
for(i=1; i <= 10; ++i)
{
printf("Enter a n%d: ",i);
scanf("%lf",&number);
// If user enters negative number, loop is terminated
if(number < 0.0)
{
continue;
}
sum += number; // sum = sum + number;
}
printf("Sum = %.2lf",sum);
return 0;
}
Output :
Enter a n1: 1.1
Enter a n2: 2.2
Enter a n3: 5.5
Enter a n4: 4.4
Enter a n5: -3.4
Enter a n6: -45.5
Enter a n7: 34.5
Enter a n8: -4.2
Enter a n9: -1000
Enter a n10: 12
Sum = 59.70