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PHP Break & Continue

By · Reviewed & last updated · Part of PHP Tutorial

break exits the loop. continue skips to the next iteration. Both take an optional level for nested loops.

break

PHP
foreach ($users as $u) {
    if ($u->isBanned()) {
        echo 'Stopping: banned user found.';
        break;
    }
    process($u);
}

continue

PHP
foreach ($numbers as $n) {
    if ($n % 2 === 0) continue;   // skip evens
    echo $n, PHP_EOL;
}

Levels — break out of nested loops

PHP
foreach ($rows as $row) {
    foreach ($row as $cell) {
        if ($cell === 'STOP') {
            break 2;   // exit BOTH loops
        }
    }
}

continue 2 works the same — skip the rest of the inner body and continue the outer loop.

continue in switch

Inside a switch, continue by itself acts like break — to actually continue the surrounding loop, use continue 2:

PHP
foreach ($items as $i) {
    switch ($i->type) {
        case 'skip':
            continue 2;   // skip to next foreach iteration
        default:
            process($i);
    }
}
Tip: A loop that needs break 3 is usually a sign to extract a function and return instead. Way easier to read.

Example

Example
<?php
for ($i = 0; $i < 10; $i++) {
    if ($i === 3) continue;
    if ($i === 7) break;
    echo $i, PHP_EOL;
}
Try it Yourself »

Exercise

Exit two nested loops at once with…

break ;

Test yourself

Q1. break exits…
Q2. break N…
Q3. Inside a switch inside a foreach, "continue" alone…

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