JavaScript continue

Summary: in this tutorial, you will learn how to use the JavaScript continue statement to skip the current iteration of a loop.

Introduction to the JavaScript continue statement

The continue statement terminates the execution of the statement in the current iteration of a loop such as a for, while, and do…while loop and immediately continues to the next iteration.

Here’s the syntax of the continue statement:

continue [label];Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

In this syntax, the label is optional. It is a valid identifier associated with the label of a statement. Read the break statement tutorial for more information on the label statement.

Typically, you use the continue with an if statement like this:

// inside a loop
if(condition){
  continue;
}Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

In this syntax, the if statement specifies a condition to execute the continue statement inside a loop.

Using the continue statement in a for loop

When using the continue statement in a for loop, it doesn’t terminate the loop entirely. Instead, it jumps to the iterator expression.

The following flowchart illustrates how the continue statement works in a for loop:

The following example uses a continue in a for loop to display the odd number in the console:

for (let i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
  if (i % 2 === 0) {
    continue;
  }
  console.log(i);
}Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Output:

1
3
5
7
9

In this example, the for loop iterates over the numbers from 0 to 9.

The i%2 returns the remainder of the division of the current value of i by 2.

If the remainder is zero, the if statement executes the continue statement that skips the current iteration of the loop and jumps to the iterator expression i++. Otherwise, it outputs the value of i to the console.

Using the continue statement in a while loop

When using the continue statement in a while loop, it doesn’t terminate the execution of the loop entirely. Instead, it jumps back to the condition.

The following flowchart show hows the continue statement works in a while loop statement:

The following example uses the continue statement in a while loop to display the odd numbers from 1 to 10:

let i = 0;
while (i < 10) {
  i++;
  if (i % 2 === 0) {
    continue;
  }
  console.log(i);
}
Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Output:

1
3
5
7
9

Using the continue statement with a label example

The continue statement can include an optional label like this:

continue label;Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

The following nested loop displays pairs of numbers from 1 to 2:

for (let i = 1; i < 3; i++) {
  for (let j = 1; j < 3; j++) {
    console.log(i, j);
  }
}Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Output:

1 1
1 2
2 1
2 2

The following shows how to use the continue statement with a label:

outer: for (let i = 1; i < 4; i++) {
  for (let j = 1; j < 4; j++) {
    if (i + j == 3) continue outer;
    console.log(i, j);
  }
}Code language: JavaScript (javascript)

Output:

1 1
3 1
3 2
3 3

Summary

• Use the JavaScript continue statement to skip the current iteration of a loop and continue the next one.