continue Keyword

continue Keyword

The continue statement terminates execution of the statements in the current iteration of the current or labeled loop, and continues execution of the loop with the next iteration.

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Syntax

continue;
continue label;

label Optional
Identifier associated with the label of the statement.

Description

In contrast to the break statement, continue does not terminate the execution of the loop entirely: instead,

• In a while loop, it jumps back to the condition.

• In a for loop, it jumps to the update expression.

The continue statement can include an optional label that allows the program to jump to the next iteration of a labeled loop statement instead of the current loop. In this case, the continue statement needs to be nested within this labeled statement.

Examples

Using continue with while

let i = 0;
let n = 0;

while (i < 5) {
  i++;

  if (i === 3) {
    continue;
  }

  n += i;
}

Using continue with a label

let i = 0;
let j = 8;

checkiandj: while (i < 4) {
  console.log(`i: ${i}`);
  i += 1;

  checkj: while (j > 4) {
    console.log(`j: ${j}`);
    j -= 1;

    if ((j % 2) === 0)
      continue checkj;
    console.log(`${j} is odd.`);
  }
  console.log(`i = ${i}`);
  console.log(`j = ${j}`);
}

Output:

i: 0

// start checkj
j: 8
7 is odd.
j: 7
j: 6
5 is odd.
j: 5
// end checkj

i = 1
j = 4

i: 1
i = 2
j = 4

i: 2
i = 3
j = 4

i: 3
i = 4
j = 4