continue
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
js
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, but instead:
- In a
while
ordo...while
loop, it jumps back to the condition. - In a
for
loop, it jumps to the update expression. - In a
for...in
,for...of
, orfor await...of
loop, it jumps to the next iteration.
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 innermost loop. In this case, the continue
statement needs to be nested within this labeled statement.
A continue
statement, with or without a following label, cannot be used at the top level of a script, module, function's body, or static initialization block, even when the function or class is further contained within a loop.
Examples
Using continue with while
The following example shows a while
loop that has a continue
statement that executes when the value of i
is 3. Thus, n
takes on the values 1, 3, 7, and 12.
js
let i = 0;
let n = 0;
while (i < 5) {
i++;
if (i === 3) {
continue;
}
n += i;
}
Using continue with a label
In the following example, a statement labeled checkIAndJ
contains a statement labeled checkJ
. If continue
is encountered, the program continues at the top of the checkJ
statement. Each time continue
is encountered, checkJ
reiterates until its condition returns false. When false is returned, the remainder of the checkIAndJ
statement is completed.
If continue
had a label of checkIAndJ
, the program would continue at the top of the checkIAndJ
statement.
js
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
Unsyntactic continue statements
continue
cannot be used within loops across function boundaries.
js
for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
(() => {
continue; // SyntaxError: Illegal continue statement: no surrounding iteration statement
})();
}
When referencing a label, the labeled statement must contain the continue
statement.
js
label: for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
console.log(i);
}
for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
continue label; // SyntaxError: Undefined label 'label'
}
The labeled statement must be a loop.
js
label: {
for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
continue label; // SyntaxError: Illegal continue statement: 'label' does not denote an iteration statement
}
}
Specifications
Specification |
---|
ECMAScript Language Specification # sec-continue-statement |
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