Continue statement in java

Let’s learn what is a continue statement in java?

Continue statement in java

When continue statement is encountered inside a loop then control jumps to the beginning of the loop for next iteration instead of executing remaining or following statements of current iteration.

Continue statement in java is used in many loop control structures.

Continue keyword in java can be used with the loops namely, for loop, while loop and do while loop.

Syntax

continue;

Continue statement inside for loop

public class ContinueJavaExample 
{
   public static void main(String[] args) 
   {
      for(int a = 1; a <= 10; a++)
      {
         if(a == 5)
         {
            continue;
         }
         System.out.println(a + " ");
      }
   }
}

Output:

1
2
3
4
6
7
8
9
10

Continue in while loop java

In the below while loop, we are iterating numbers from 10 to 0 are printed except 3 using continue statement.

public class ContinueWhileDemo
{
   public static void main(String[] args)
   {
      int number = 10;
      while(number >= 0)
      {
         if(number == 3)
         {
            number--;
            continue;
         }
         System.out.print(number + " ");
         number--;
      }
   }
}

Output:

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 2 1 0

Java continue in do while loop

Similar to above java program we can replace with do while loop. Here the java program.

public class ContinueDoWhile
{
   public static void main(String[] args)
   {
      int a = 0;
      do
      {
         if(a == 4)
         {
            // continue statement
            a++;
            continue;
         }
         System.out.println(a + " ");
         a++;
      }while(a <= 10);
   }
}

Output:

0 1 2 3 5 6 7 8 9

Java continue inside inner loop or nested loop

Java continue statement skips execution when a == 3 && b == 4 in inner for loop. Here’s the continue inside inner loop or nested loop example.

public class ContinueNestedLoopExample 
{
   public static void main(String[] args) 
   {
      // outer loop for iteration
      for(int a = 1; a <= 7; a++)
      {
         // inner loop for iteration
         for(int b = 1; b <= 3; b++)
         {
            if(a == 3 && b == 4)
            {
               // skip execution when a == 3 and b == 4
               continue;
            }
            System.out.println(a + " * " + b);
         }
      }
   }
}

Output:

1 * 1
1 * 2
1 * 3
2 * 1
2 * 2
2 * 3
3 * 1
3 * 2
3 * 3
4 * 1
4 * 2
4 * 3
5 * 1
5 * 2
5 * 3
6 * 1
6 * 2
6 * 3
7 * 1
7 * 2
7 * 3