JavaScript continue
Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to use the JavaScript continue statement to skip the current iteration of a loop.
Introduction to the JavaScript continue statement
The continue statement terminates the execution of the statement in the current iteration of a loop and immediately continues to the next iteration.
Here’s the syntax of the continue statement:
continue [label];Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
In this syntax, the label is optional. It is a valid identifier associated with the label of a statement. For more, check out the break statement tutorial for more information on the label statement.
Typically, you use the continue with an if statement like this:
// inside a loop
if(condition){
continue;
}Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
In this syntax, the if statement specifies a condition to execute the continue statement inside a loop.
Using the continue statement in a for loop
When using the continue statement in a for loop, it doesn’t terminate the loop entirely. Instead, it jumps to the iterator expression.
The following flowchart illustrates how the continue statement works in a for loop:
The following example uses a continue in a for loop to display the odd number in the console:
for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
if (i % 2 === 0) {
continue;
}
console.log(i);
}Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
Output:
1
3
5
7
9
In this example, the for loop iterates over the numbers from 0 to 9.
The i%2 returns the remainder of the division of the current value of i by 2.
If the remainder is zero, the if statement executes the continue a statement that skips the current iteration of the loop and jumps to the iterator expression i++. Otherwise, it outputs the value of i to the console.
Using the continue statement in a while loop
When using the continue statement in a while loop, it doesn’t terminate the execution of the loop entirely. Instead, it jumps back to the condition.
The following flowchart show hows the continue statement works in a while loop statement:
The following example uses a continue statement in a while loop to display the odd numbers from 1 to 10:
let i = 0;
while (i < 10) {
i++;
if (i % 2 === 0) {
continue;
}
console.log(i);
}
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
Output:
1
3
5
7
9
Using the continue statement with a label example
The continue statement can include an optional label like this:
continue label;Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
The following nested loop displays pairs of numbers from 1 to 2:
for (let i = 1; i < 4; i++) {
for (let j = 1; j < 4; j++) {
console.log(i, j);
}
}Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
Output:
1 1
1 2
1 3
2 1
2 2
2 3
3 1
3 2
3 3
The following shows how to use the continue statement with a label:
outer: for (let i = 1; i < 4; i++) {
for (let j = 1; j < 4; j++) {
if (i + j == 3) continue outer;
console.log(i, j);
}
}
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)
Output:
1 1
3 1
3 2
3 3
Summary
- Use the JavaScript
continuestatement to skip the current iteration of a loop and continue the next one.