C# Break and Continue Statements

In C#, the break and continue statements are used to alter the flow of execution of loops such as the for, while, and do-while loops. These statements provide more control over how the loops execute and can be used to optimize code and avoid unnecessary processing.

The Break Statement

The break statement is used to immediately terminate a loop and continue with the execution of the program. When a break statement is encountered inside a loop, the control of the program is immediately transferred to the statement following the loop.

Here's an example that demonstrates the use of break statement inside a for loop:

1for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
2{
3    if (i == 5)
4    {
5        break;
6    }
7    Console.WriteLine(i);
8}

In this example, the for loop iterates from 0 to 9. When the value of i becomes 5, the break statement is encountered, and the loop is immediately terminated. The statement Console.WriteLine(i) is never executed for i=5. The output of this program will be:

10
21
32
43
54

The break statement can also be used inside a switch statement to exit the switch early:

1int number = 3;
2switch (number)
3{
4    case 1:
5        Console.WriteLine("One");
6        break;
7    case 2:
8        Console.WriteLine("Two");
9        break;
10    case 3:
11        Console.WriteLine("Three");
12        break;
13    case 4:
14        Console.WriteLine("Four");
15        break;
16    default:
17        Console.WriteLine("Unknown");
18        break;
19}

In this example, the switch statement checks the value of the number variable. When number is 3, the statement Console.WriteLine("Three") is executed, and the break statement is encountered, causing the switch statement to be exited.

The Continue Statement

The continue statement is used to skip the remaining statements in the current iteration of the loop and proceed with the next iteration of the loop.

Here's an example that demonstrates the use of continue statement inside a for loop:

1for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
2{
3    if (i == 5)
4    {
5        continue;
6    }
7    Console.WriteLine(i);
8}

In this example, the for loop iterates from 0 to 9. When the value of i becomes 5, the continue statement is encountered, and the remaining statements in the current iteration are skipped. The value of i is never printed when i=5. The output of this program will be:

10
21
32
43
54
66
77
88
99

The continue statement can also be used inside a while loop:

1int i = 0;
2while (i < 10)
3{
4    i++;
5    if (i % 2 == 0)
6    {
7        continue;
8    }
9    Console.WriteLine(i);
10}

In this example, the while loop iterates from 1 to 10. When the value of i is even, the continue statement is encountered, and the remaining statements in the current iteration are skipped. The output of this program will be:

11
23
35
47
59