Java – Continue Statement

In Java, the continue statement allows the application to skip a block of code for the current loop iteration. The continue statement returns the programme to the beginning of the loop whenever the condition is met.

When the continue statement is used in a nested loop (loop inside the loop), it skips the code block of the innermost loop as soon as the condition is met.

Continue statement with While loop

If the value of variable j becomes 4, the continue statement is used to bypass the while loop in the example below.

public class MyClass {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    int j = 0;
    while (j < 6){
      j++;
      if(j == 4){
        System.out.println("this iteration is skipped.");
        continue;
      }
      System.out.println(j); 
    }
  }
}

The following is the result of the aforementioned code:

1
2
3
this iteration is skipped.
5
6

Continue statement with For loop

If the value of variable i becomes 4, the continue statement is used to skip the for loop in the example below.

public class MyClass {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    for (int i = 1; i <= 6; i++){
      if(i == 4){
        System.out.println("this iteration is skipped.");
        continue;
      }
      System.out.println(i); 
    }
  }
}

The output of the above code will be:

1
2
3
this iteration is skipped.
5
6

//Nested loop without continue statement
public class MyClass {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println("# Nested loop without continue statement");
    for (int i = 1; i <= 3; i++){
      for (int j = 10; j <= 1000; j = j * 10){
        System.out.println(i*j);
      }
    }
  }
}

# Nested loop without continue statement
10
100
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//Nested loop with continue statement
public class MyClass {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println("# Nested loop with continue statement");
    for (int i = 1; i <= 3; i++){
      for (int j = 10; j <= 1000; j = j * 10){
        if(j == 100 ){
          continue;
        }
        System.out.println(i*j);
      }
    }
  }
}

# Nested loop with continue statement
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