Difference between break and continue statement

break leaves a loop, continue jumps to the next iteration.

See Branching Statements for more details and code samples:

break

The break statement has two forms: labeled and unlabeled. You saw the unlabeled form in the previous discussion of the switch statement. You can also use an unlabeled break to terminate a for, while, or do-while loop [...]

An unlabeled break statement terminates the innermost switch, for, while, or do-while statement, but a labeled break terminates an outer statement.

continue

The continue statement skips the current iteration of a for, while , or do-while loop. The unlabeled form skips to the end of the innermost loop's body and evaluates the boolean expression that controls the loop. [...]

A labeled continue statement skips the current iteration of an outer loop marked with the given label.

break completely exits the loop. continue skips the statements after the continue statement and keeps looping.

Break Statement

Sometimes it’s necessary to exit a loop before the loop has finished fully iterating over all the step values. For example, looping over a list of numbers until you find a number that satisfies a certain condition. Or looping over a stream of characters from a file until a certain character is read.

In the following example, we’re using a simple for loop to print out values from 0 to 9:

for(int i=0; i<10; i++) {
  System.out.println(i);
}

Output:

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

Now if we add a break statement when i==4, our code will break out of the loop once i equals 4. You can use the break statement to break out of for loops, while loops and do-while loops. The break statement will only break out of the current loop. In order to break out of an outer loop from a nested inner loop, you would need to use labels with the break statement.

for(int i=0; i<10; i++) {
  System.out.println(i);
  if(i==4) {
    break;
  }
}

Output:

0
1
2
3
4

Continue Statement

Java’s continue statement skips over the current iteration of a loop and goes directly to the next iteration. After calling the continue statement in a for loop, the loop execution will execute the step value and evaluate the boolean condition before proceeding with the next iteration. In the following example, we’re printing out all values from 0 to 9 in a loop but we skip over printing out 4.

for(int i=0; i<10; i++) {
  if(i==4) {
    continue;
  }
  System.out.println(i);
}

Output:

0
1
2
3
5 <---- SKIPPED OVER 4 and continued with next loop iteration
6
7
8
9

Loop Label - Break Statement You can use labels within nested loops by specifying where you want execution to continue after breaking out of an inner loop. Normally, the break statement will only break out of the innermost loop so when you want to break out of an outer loop, you can use labels to accomplish this, essentially doing something similar to a goto statement.

The following example uses 3 loops, all nested within each other. Since there’s no way completely break out of the outer most loop from inside the inner most loop, we can use the label “outer1” to accomplish this and specify the label next to the break statement.

outer1:
for(int i=0; i<5; i++) {
  for(int j=0; j<4; j++) {
    for(int k=0; k<2; k++) {
      System.out.println("[" + i + "][" + j + "][" + k + "]");
      if(j == 3) {
        break outer1;
      }
    }
  }
}

Output:

[0][0][0]
[0][0][1]
[0][1][0]
[0][1][1]
[0][2][0]
[0][2][1]
[0][3][0]

Notice how the last line displayed is “0[0]” which is where j == 3 and that’s where we called “break outer1;” to break out of the outer most loop.

Loop Labels - Continue Statement

You can also use labels with the continue keyword to continue looping from a specific point. Taking the previous example and just changing one line to specify continue outer1; instead of break outer1; will cause the loop to continue looping from the outer1 label instead of breaking out of the loop. Note how each time continue outer1; is called, the code continues from the outer loop after incrementing the loop index i by 1.

outer1:
for(int i=0; i<5; i++) {
  for(int j=0; j<4; j++) {
    for(int k=0; k<2; k++) {
      System.out.println("[" + i + "][" + j + "][" + k + "]");
      if(j == 3) {
        continue outer1;
    }
  }
}

[0][0][0]
[0][0][1]
[0][1][0]
[0][1][1]
[0][2][0]
[0][2][1]
[0][3][0] <---- CONTINUE WITH LABEL CALLED HERE
[1][0][0] <---- CONTINUES FROM NEXT ITERATION OF OUTER LOOP
[1][0][1]
[1][1][0]
[1][1][1]
[1][2][0]
[1][2][1]
[1][3][0] <---- CONTINUE WITH LABEL CALLED HERE
[2][0][0] <---- CONTINUES FROM NEXT ITERATION OF OUTER LOOP
[2][0][1]
[2][1][0]
[2][1][1]
[2][2][0]
[2][2][1]
[2][3][0] <---- CONTINUE WITH LABEL CALLED HERE
[3][0][0] <---- CONTINUES FROM NEXT ITERATION OF OUTER LOOP
[3][0][1]
[3][1][0]
[3][1][1]
[3][2][0]
[3][2][1]
[3][3][0] <---- CONTINUE WITH LABEL CALLED HERE
[4][0][0] <---- CONTINUES FROM NEXT ITERATION OF OUTER LOOP
[4][0][1]
[4][1][0]
[4][1][1]
[4][2][0]
[4][2][1]
[4][3][0]

Source: Loops in Java – Ultimate Guide

A break statement results in the termination of the statement to which it applies (switch, for, do, or while).

A continue statement is used to end the current loop iteration and return control to the loop statement.

Excellent answer simple and accurate.

I would add a code sample.

C:\oreyes\samples\java\breakcontinue>type BreakContinue.java

    class BreakContinue {

        public static void main( String [] args ) {

               for( int i = 0 ; i < 10 ; i++ ) {

                     if( i % 2 == 0) { // if pair, will jump
                         continue; // don't go to "System.out.print" below.
                     }

                     System.out.println("The number is " + i );

                     if( i == 7 ) {
                         break; // will end the execution, 8,9 wont be processed
                      }

               }
        }

    }

C:\oreyes\samples\java\breakcontinue>java BreakContinue
The number is 1
The number is 3
The number is 5
The number is 7

Consider the following:

int n;
for(n = 0; n < 10; ++n) {
    break;
}
System.out.println(n);

break causes the loop to terminate and the value of n is 0.

int n;
for(n = 0; n < 10; ++n) {
    continue;
}
System.out.println(n);

continue causes the program counter to return to the first line of the loop (the condition is checked and the value of n is increment) and the final value of n is 10.

It should also be noted that break only terminates the execution of the loop it is within:

int m;
for(m = 0; m < 5; ++m)
{
    int n;
    for(n = 0; n < 5; ++n) {
        break;
    }
    System.out.println(n);
}
System.out.println(m);

Will output something to the effect of

0
0
0
0
0
5

The break statement breaks out of the loop (the next statement to be executed is the first one after the closing brace), while continue starts the loop over at the next iteration.

The break statement exists the current looping control structure and jumps behind it while the continue exits too but jumping back to the looping condition.

Simple Example:

break leaves the loop.

int m = 0;
for(int n = 0; n < 5; ++n){
  if(n == 2){
    break;
  }
  m++;
}

System.out.printl("m:"+m); // m:2

continue will go back to start loop.

int m = 0;
for(int n = 0; n < 5; ++n){
  if(n == 2){
    continue; // Go back to start and dont execute m++
  }
  m++;
}

System.out.printl("m:"+m); // m:4

To prevent anything from execution if a condition is met one should use the continue and to get out of the loop if a condition is met one should use the break.

For example in the below mentioned code.

 for(int i=0;i<5;i++){

        if(i==3){

           continue;

        }
       System.out.println(i);
     }

The above code will print the result : 0 1 2 4

NOw consider this code

 for(int i=0;i<5;i++){


            if(i==3){

                break;

            }
            System.out.println(i);
         }

This code will print 0 1 2

That is the basic difference in the continue and break.

here's the semantic of break:

int[] a = new int[] { 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10 };
// find 9
for(int i = 0; i < a.Length; i++)
{
    if (a[i] == 9) 
        goto goBreak;

    Console.WriteLine(a[i].ToString());      
}
goBreak:;

here's the semantic of continue:

int[] a = new int[] { 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10 };
// skip all odds
for(int i = 0; i < a.Length; i++)
{
    if (a[i] % 2 == 1) 
        goto goContinue;

    Console.WriteLine(a[i].ToString());      

goContinue:;
}

Simply put: break will terminate the current loop, and continue execution at the first line after the loop ends. continue jumps back to the loop condition and keeps running the loop.

so you are inside a for or while loop. Using break; will put you outside of the loop. As in, it will end. Continue; will tell it to run the next iteration.

No point in using continue in if statement, but break; is useful. In switch...case, always use break; to end a case, so it does not executes another case.