The difference between Break vs Continue in Python

When working with loops in Python, two keywords you’ll frequently come across are break and continue.

These statements let you control the flow of your loops in a more precise way. But what exactly do they do, and when should you use one over the other?

In a nutshell:

• break: Exits the loop completely.

• continue: Skips the current iteration and moves to the next one.

So, how do you decide between break and continue? It comes down to one key question: Do you want to continue with the next iteration?

• If yes, use continue.

• If not, use break.

Let’s dig into these concepts with some examples to clarify.

Using continue in a loop

The continue statement is helpful when you want to skip certain conditions but keep looping through the rest of the elements.

Say you have a list of numbers from 1 to 5, and you want to skip printing the number 3 but continue with the rest of the loop:

my_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

for number in my_list:
    if number == 3:
        print(f"Number found: {number}")
        continue
    
    print(f"Number not found (current: {number})")

print("Loop completed!")

When this code is run, it will print the following output:

Number not found (current: 1)
Number not found (current: 2)
Number found: 3
Number not found (current: 4)
Number not found (current: 5)
Loop completed!

In this example, when the loop encounters number == 3, it prints “Number found: 3” and skips the rest of that iteration, skipping over the second print statement.

Using break in a Loop

The break statement, on the other hand, will exit the loop entirely. This is useful when you’ve found what you’re looking for and don’t need to continue checking the rest of the elements.

Let’s modify the code above to break out of the loop once we find the number 3:

my_list = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

for number in my_list:
    if number == 3:
        print(f"Number found: {number}")
        break
    
    print(f"Number not found (current: {number})")

print("Loop completed!")

As soon as the loop encounters number == 3, the break statement exits the loop, so numbers 4 and 5 aren’t printed.

The loop finishes as soon as the condition is met, saving time by avoiding unnecessary iterations.

Summary of Break vs Continue

In short:

• Use break when you want to completely exit a loop once a condition is met.

• Use continue when you want to skip the current iteration but keep looping through the rest.

Understanding the difference between break and continue helps you manage loop flow more effectively and can make your code cleaner and more efficient.

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