The break and continue statements are control statements in Java that allow you to control the flow of your program. These statements are used within loops to control the execution of the loop.
The break statement is used to terminate a loop prematurely. When a break statement is encountered inside a loop, the loop is immediately terminated, and the program continues with the next statement after the loop. For example:
for (int i=0; i<10; i++) {
if (i == 5) {
break;
}
System.out.println(i);
}
In this example, the loop runs from 0 to 9, but when the value of i is equal to 5, the break statement is encountered, and the loop is terminated.
The continue statement is used to skip the current iteration of a loop and move on to the next iteration. When a continue statement is encountered inside a loop, the current iteration is skipped, and the next iteration begins. For example:
for (int i=0; i<10; i++) {
if (i % 2 == 0) {
continue;
}
System.out.println(i);
}
In this example, the loop runs from 0 to 9, and for each iteration, the value of i is checked. If i is an even number, the continue statement is encountered, and the current iteration is skipped. The result is that only the odd numbers are printed.
It is important to use break and continue statements judiciously, as they can make your code harder to understand and maintain if used excessively or in inappropriate places. If you need to terminate a loop, consider using a flag variable or a return statement instead of a break statement. If you need to skip an iteration, consider using an if statement instead of a continue statement.
In conclusion, the break and continue statements are control statements in Java that allow you to control the flow of your program within loops. The break statement is used to terminate a loop prematurely, while the continue statement is used to skip the current iteration of a loop and move on to the next iteration. Understanding when and how to use these statements is an important aspect of programming in Java.
