break, continue, and Labeled Statements

break

break immediately exits the innermost enclosing loop or switch:

java
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    if (i == 5) break;
    System.out.println(i);  // prints 0, 1, 2, 3, 4
}

Inside a switch, break prevents fall-through (colon syntax):

java
switch (value) {
    case 1:
        System.out.println("one");
        break;  // exits switch
    case 2:
        System.out.println("two");
        break;
}

continue

continue skips the remainder of the current iteration and jumps to the next:

java
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    if (i % 2 == 0) continue;
    System.out.println(i);  // prints 1, 3, 5, 7, 9
}

In a while or do-while, continue jumps back to the condition check:

java
int i = 0;
while (i < 10) {
    i++;
    if (i % 2 == 0) continue;
    System.out.println(i);  // prints 1, 3, 5, 7, 9
}

Labeled Statements

A label is an identifier followed by : placed before a loop or block. Labels allow break and continue to target an outer loop instead of the innermost one.

Labeled break

java
outer:
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
    for (int j = 0; j < 3; j++) {
        if (i == 1 && j == 1) break outer;
        System.out.println(i + "," + j);
    }
}
// Output:
// 0,0
// 0,1
// 0,2
// 1,0
// (loop exits entirely when i=1, j=1)

Labeled continue

java
outer:
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
    for (int j = 0; j < 3; j++) {
        if (j == 1) continue outer;
        System.out.println(i + "," + j);
    }
}
// Output:
// 0,0
// 1,0
// 2,0
// (inner loop restarts outer iteration when j == 1)

Where Each Statement Is Valid

continue is not valid inside a switch statement (only loops).

Unreachable Code

The compiler rejects code that can never be reached:

java
for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
    break;
    System.out.println(i);  // Compile error: unreachable statement
}

Quick Reference

java
// break — exit loop early
for (int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
    if (found(i)) break;
}

// continue — skip one iteration
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    if (i == 3) continue;  // skip 3
    process(i);
}

// labeled break — exit nested loops
search:
for (int row = 0; row < grid.length; row++) {
    for (int col = 0; col < grid[row].length; col++) {
        if (grid[row][col] == target) {
            System.out.println("Found at " + row + "," + col);
            break search;
        }
    }
}