Java continue Statement

In this tutorial, we will learn about the continue statement and labeled continue statement in Java with the help of examples.

While working with loops, sometimes we need to skip statements inside the loop or terminate the loop immediately without checking the test condition. In those situations, break and continue statements are used.

Here we will learn about the continue statement, to learn more about break statement, you can visit Java break.

Java continue Statement

The continue statement is used to skip the current iteration of a loop (for, while, etc).

When the continue statement is executed, the program directly jumps to the end of the loop. And, the test statement is evaluated (update statement for the for loop); after this, the loop continues with the next iteration.

The syntax of the continue statement can be given as follows:

continue;

How continue Statement works?

The following illustration shows how the continue statement works with different loops.

Example: Java continue Statement with a for loop

In the following example, we will use the continue statement with a for loop.

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        
        for(int i = 0; i <= 8; i++) {
            // if value of i is between 4 and 7, continue is executed
            if(i > 3 && i < 7 ) {
                continue;
            }
            System.out.println(i);
        }
    }
}

Output:

0
1
2
3
7
8

As we can see above, we used the for loop to print the value of i in each iteration.

if(i > 3 && i < 7 ) {
    continue;
}

Here, the above continue statement is executed when the value of i becomes more than 3 and less than 7. So it skips to print statements for values 4, 5, 6.

Example: Java continue Statement with a while loop

In the following example, we will calculate the sum of 6 positive numbers entered by the user.

import java.util.Scanner;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {

        int number, sum, i = 0;
        
            // creating an object of Scanner class
            Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
        
        while(i < 6) {
                  // taking integer input from the user
                  System.out.println("Enter a positive number : ");
                  number = input.nextInt();
            i++;

            if(number <= 0) {
                continue;
            }

            sum += number;
        }

        System.out.println("Sum = " + sum);
        input.close();
    }
}

Output:

Enter a positive number : 
6
Enter a positive number : 
3
Enter a positive number : 
2
Enter a positive number : 
-7
Enter a positive number : 
-2
Enter a positive number : 
9
Sum = 20

As we can see above, we have used the while loop to calculate the sum of 6 positive numbers.

if(number <= 0) {
    continue;
}

Here, the continue statement is executed when the user enters a negative number. This skips the current iteration of the loop and jumps the program control to the next iteration of the loop.

Java continue with Nested Loop

Using the continue statement with nested loops skips the current iteration of the innermost loop.

As we can see above, the continue skips the current iteration of the innermost while loop, and the control jumps to the next iteration.

Example: continue Statement with Nested Loop

In the following example, we will use the continue statement with a nested loop.

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        
        int i = 0, j = 0;
        
        // outer loop    
        while(i <= 2) {
            
            // inner loop
            while(j <= 2) {
                
                if(j == 1) {
                    j++;
                    continue;
                }
                
                System.out.println("Inner Loop: " + j);
                j++;
            }
            i++;
        }
    }
}

Output

Outer Loop: 0
Inner Loop: 0
Inner Loop: 2
Outer Loop: 1
Outer Loop: 2

As we can see above, we have used the continue statement inside the inner loop.

if(j == 1) {
    j++;
    continue;
}

Here, when the value of j is 1, j is increased, and the continue statement is executed. This skips the iteration of the inner loop. So, the text Inner Loop: 1 is skipped.

Labeled continue Statement

We have already used the unlabeled continue statement, which skips the current iteration of the innermost loop statement. However, there is another form of break statement known as the labeled continue.

The syntax of the continue statement can be given as follows:

continue label;

The labeled continue statement skips the current loop iteration specified by label.

In the illustration above, the continue statement skips the current iteration of the labeled statement. Then, the program control jumps to the next iteration of the labeled statement.

Example: Labeled continue Statement

In the following example, we will use the labeled continue statement with for loop.

public class Main{
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        
        first:
        for(int i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
            
            for(int j = 0; j < 2; j++) {

                if (i == 1) {
                    continue first;
                }
        System.out.println("i = " + i + "; j = " + j);
            }
        }
    }
}

Output

i = 0; j = 0
i = 0; j = 1
i = 2; j = 0
i = 2; j = 1
i = 3; j = 0
i = 3; j = 1

As we can see above, the labeled continue statement is used to skip the current iteration when the i == 1 is true of the loop labeled as first.

Note: The use of labeled continue is not recommended because it makes the code hard to read and understand. If you are in a situation where you need to use the labeled continue, it's time to refactor the code and use a different approach.