In computer programming, the continue
statement is used to skip the current iteration of the loop and the control of the program goes to the next iteration.
The syntax of the continue
statement is:
continue;
Working of continue Statement
Example 1: continue with for loop
In a for
loop, continue
skips the current iteration and the control flow jumps to the update
expression.
// program to print the value of i
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main() {
for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++) {
// condition to continue
if (i == 3) {
continue;
}
cout << i << endl;
}
return 0;
}
Output
1 2 4 5
In the above program, we have used the the for
loop to print the value of i in each iteration. Here, notice the code,
if (i == 3) {
continue;
}
This means
- When i is equal to
3
, thecontinue
statement skips the current iteration and starts the next iteration - Then, i becomes
4
, and thecondition
is evaluated again. - Hence,
4
and5
are printed in the next two iterations.
Note: The continue
statement is almost always used with decision-making statements.
Note: The break
statement terminates the loop entirely. However, the continue
statement only skips the current iteration.
Example 2: continue with while loop
In a while
loop, continue
skips the current iteration and control flow of the program jumps back to the while
condition
.
// program to calculate positive numbers till 50 only
// if the user enters a negative number,
// that number is skipped from the calculation
// negative number -> loop terminate
// numbers above 50 -> skip iteration
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main() {
int sum = 0;
int number = 0;
while (number >= 0) {
// add all positive numbers
sum += number;
// take input from the user
cout << "Enter a number: ";
cin >> number;
// continue condition
if (number > 50) {
cout << "The number is greater than 50 and won't be calculated." << endl;
number = 0; // the value of number is made 0 again
continue;
}
}
// display the sum
cout << "The sum is " << sum << endl;
return 0;
}
Output
Enter a number: 12 Enter a number: 0 Enter a number: 2 Enter a number: 30 Enter a number: 50 Enter a number: 56 The number is greater than 50 and won't be calculated. Enter a number: 5 Enter a number: -3 The sum is 99
In the above program, the user enters a number. The while
loop is used to print the total sum of positive numbers entered by the user, as long as the numbers entered are not greater than 50
.
Notice the use of the continue
statement.
if (number > 50){
continue;
}
- When the user enters a number greater than
50
, thecontinue
statement skips the current iteration. Then the control flow of the program goes to thecondition
ofwhile
loop. - When the user enters a number less than
0
, the loop terminates.
Note: The continue
statement works in the same way for the do...while
loops.
continue with Nested loop
When continue
is used with nested loops, it skips the current iteration of the inner loop. For example,
// using continue statement inside
// nested for loop
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main() {
int number;
int sum = 0;
// nested for loops
// first loop
for (int i = 1; i <= 3; i++) {
// second loop
for (int j = 1; j <= 3; j++) {
if (j == 2) {
continue;
}
cout << "i = " << i << ", j = " << j << endl;
}
}
return 0;
}
Output
i = 1, j = 1 i = 1, j = 3 i = 2, j = 1 i = 2, j = 3 i = 3, j = 1 i = 3, j = 3
In the above program, when the continue
statement executes, it skips the current iteration in the inner loop. And the control of the program moves to the update expression of the inner loop.
Hence, the value of j = 2 is never displayed in the output.
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