Difference Between break and continue in Python

In Python, the break and continue statements determine the flow of program execution. These statement control when the program continues the process and when it breaks execution.

The break Statement

The break Statement is used to abruptly stop the flow of the program, hence forcing the program to break out of the continuous or infinite loop.

Syntax:

Example: break Statement

Let's see an example where we will use the break statement.

Output:

1

Explanation

In the above example, we used the break statement, which immediately stopped the flow of the program after the first iteration, and the output printed was only 1. It means as soon as the 1 is iterated, the break statement does its job.

The continue Statement

The continue statement in Python is used to skip the rest of the code inside a loop for the current iteration and proceed to the next iteration immediately.

We use the continue statement in some conditions where we want some situations to be completely ignored without affecting anything or breaking out of the entire loop. The Python continue statement in Python can be used in for and while loops to improve code efficiency and readability.

Syntax:

Example: continue Statement

Let's take the same example to see what will happen if we use the continue statement.

Output:

1	
3
5
7
9

Explanation

In the above example, the continue statement is executed for every number known as num, which causes the program to skip the print(num) function and move on to the next iteration.

break  Vs. continue Statement

Let's quickly recap the difference between break and continue, which will help us remember the key points.

Conclusion

Break and Continue statement acts like a steering wheel that controls the flow of the program by deciding whether to continue the process or break it abruptly.

They both use the syntax of their name, such as break and continue, respectively, followed by the colon(;). We used examples and output with their explanation to understand the working of these statements in the program. Lastly, we recapped the tutorial by making the tabular differences of Break and Continue.