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.

Syntax

continue [label];

label

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: instead,

• In a while loop, it jumps back to the condition.

• In a for loop, it jumps to the update expression.

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 current loop. In this case, the continue statement needs to be nested within this labeled statement.

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.

var i = 0;
var 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.

See also label.

var i = 0;
var 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

Specifications

Specification	Status	Comment
ECMAScript 1st Edition (ECMA-262)	Standard	Initial definition. Unlabeled version.
ECMAScript 3rd Edition (ECMA-262)	Standard	Labeled version added.
ECMAScript 5.1 (ECMA-262) The definition of 'Continue statement' in that specification.	Standard
ECMAScript 2015 (6th Edition, ECMA-262) The definition of 'Continue statement' in that specification.	Standard
ECMAScript 2017 Draft (ECMA-262) The definition of 'Continue statement' in that specification.	Draft

Browser compatibility

See also

• break
• label