C++ break Statement

February 17, 2023

About C++ break statement:

On this page we will discuss about break statement which is used in C++.
The break statement is used to exit a loop or switch statement early. It can be used to terminate a loop early, before the loop condition is evaluated again.

What is C++ break statement ?

In C++ language, the break statement works by exiting the innermost loop or switch statement that it is in. When the break statement is encountered, the program immediately exits the loop or switch statement and continues with the next statement after the loop or switch.

Syntax:

break;

The break statements are typically used when we are not sure about the number of iterations which will be used for a loop or when we want to terminate the loop based on some condition.

In C++, the break statement is used in three ways:

Whenever a break statement is encountered within a loop, then the loop is terminated early, before the loop condition is evaluated again and and program continues with the next statement after the loop.
The break statement can be used to exit a switch statement early.
It can also be used to exit a loop inside a switch statement.

Note: In case of nested loop(loop inside loop), the break statement will only exit the inner loop. The outer loop will continue to run, and the program will continue to execute the next iteration of the outer loop.

Flowchart:

Example 1:

Run

#include<iostream> 
using namespace std;
int main()
{
    for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
     if (i == 5) {
       break;
     }
     std::cout << i << std::endl;
     }

    return 0;
}

Output:

Example 2:

Run

#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
    int x = 10;
    switch (x) {
    case 1:
      std::cout << "x is 1" << std::endl;
      break;
    case 2:
      std::cout << "x is 2" << std::endl;
      break;
    default:
      std::cout << "x is not 1 or 2" << std::endl;
    }

    return 0;
}

Output:

x is not 1 or 2

Example 3:

Run

#include<iostream>
using namespace std;
int main()
{
    for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
      for (int j = 0; j < 3; j++) {
        if (i == 2 && j == 2 || i== 3 && j==3 || i==1 && j==0) {
      break;
    }
    std::cout << i << " " << j << std::endl;
  }
}
    return 0;
}

Output:

Note: The break statement only exits the innermost loop or switch statement that it is in. If you want to exit multiple loops or a loop inside a switch statement, you can use goto or a flag variable to achieve this.

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C++ break Statement

About C++ break statement:

What is C++ break statement ?

Syntax:

Flowchart:

Example 1:

Output:

Example 2:

Output:

Example 3:

Output:

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