JavaScript continue Statement

What You'll Learn

In this tutorial, you'll explore the behavior of the continue statement in JavaScript, how it interacts with different loops, and when it's most effective.

Understanding the continue Statement

The continue statement in JavaScript is used to skip the rest of the code inside the current loop iteration and jump directly to the next iteration. Unlike break, which completely exits a loop, continue allows the loop to keep running while ignoring specific conditions.

// Example of continue statement with a list
const numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7];
for (let number of numbers) {
    if (number % 2 === 0) {
        continue;  // Skip even numbers
    }
    console.log(number);  // This will print odd numbers only
}

// Example of continue statement with a list
const numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7];
for (let number of numbers) {
    if (number % 2 === 0) {
        continue;  // Skip even numbers
    }
    console.log(number);  // This will print odd numbers only
}

In the example above, the loop prints only the odd numbers. When an even number is encountered, the continue statement is executed, which skips the console.log call for that iteration.

Output:

1
3
5
7

1
3
5
7

Example 1: Skipping even numbers with a for loop

You can use continue in a for loop to skip certain iterations based on a condition. Here's an example:

// Skipping even numbers
const numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6];
for (let number of numbers) {
    if (number % 2 === 0) {
        continue; // Skip even numbers
    }
    console.log(number); // Print odd numbers only
}

// Skipping even numbers
const numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6];
for (let number of numbers) {
    if (number % 2 === 0) {
        continue; // Skip even numbers
    }
    console.log(number); // Print odd numbers only
}

How It Works:

• for (let number of numbers) {: This starts a loop that goes through each item in the numbers array.
• if (number % 2 === 0): The loop checks if the number is even.
• continue: Skips the current iteration when the condition is true (i.e., for even numbers).
• So, the loop prints only the odd numbers in the array.

Output

1
3
5

1
3
5

Example 2: Skipping negative numbers with a while loop

You can also use continue in a while loop to skip negative numbers and only print positive ones. Here's an example:

// Skipping negative numbers
let i = -5;
while (i <= 5) {
    if (i < 0) {
        i++; // Increment first to avoid infinite loop
        continue; // Skip negative numbers
    }
    console.log(i);
    i++;
}

// Skipping negative numbers
let i = -5;
while (i <= 5) {
    if (i < 0) {
        i++; // Increment first to avoid infinite loop
        continue; // Skip negative numbers
    }
    console.log(i);
    i++;
}

How It Works:

• while (i <= 5): This starts a loop that runs while i is less than or equal to 5.
• if (i < 0): The loop checks if i is a negative number.
• continue: Skips the rest of the loop body if i is negative, so console.log(i) won't run.
• Only non-negative numbers (0 to 5) are printed to the console.

Output

0
1
2
3
4
5

0
1
2
3
4
5

Example 3: Skipping vowels in a string with a for loop

You can use continue to skip over vowels while iterating through a string. Here's an example:

// Skipping vowels in a string
const word = "programming";
for (let letter of word) {
    if ('aeiou'.includes(letter)) {
        continue; // Skip vowels
    }
    console.log(letter); // Print consonants only
}

// Skipping vowels in a string
const word = "programming";
for (let letter of word) {
    if ('aeiou'.includes(letter)) {
        continue; // Skip vowels
    }
    console.log(letter); // Print consonants only
}

How It Works:

• for (let letter of word): This starts a loop that iterates through each character in the word "programming".
• if ('aeiou'.includes(letter)): The loop checks if the current letter is a vowel.
• continue: Skips the current iteration if the letter is a vowel.
• The loop prints only the consonants in the string.

Output

prgrmmng

prgrmmng

Exercises

Practice the continue statement with the following exercises:

for (let i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {
    if (i === 5 || i === 7) continue;
    console.log(i);
}

for (let i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {
    if (i === 5 || i === 7) continue;
    console.log(i);
}

while (true) {
    let input = prompt("Enter a number (or type 'exit' to quit):");
    if (input === "exit") break;

    const num = Number(input);
    if (num % 3 === 0) continue;
    console.log("You entered:", num);
}

while (true) {
    let input = prompt("Enter a number (or type 'exit' to quit):");
    if (input === "exit") break;

    const num = Number(input);
    if (num % 3 === 0) continue;
    console.log("You entered:", num);
}

const text = "banana";
for (let ch of text) {
    if (ch === 'a') continue;
    console.log(ch);
}

const text = "banana";
for (let ch of text) {
    if (ch === 'a') continue;
    console.log(ch);
}

*Tip: Try changing the conditions and values to see how continue changes the loop's behavior!

What's Next?

In the upcoming section, we'll explore the switch statement — a powerful control structure that allows you to handle multiple conditions in a clean and efficient way. The switch statement is perfect when you need to compare a variable against several potential values, making your code more readable and manageable.