How to use a continue statement in Java loops

The continue statement is an intentional interrupt used to skip one iteration of the loop when a condition inside the loop is satisfied.

Similar to a break statement, where the loop breaks and the program moves on to the code block after the loop, the continue statement moves to the next iteration of the loop with the updated values of variables, if there are any.

Let’s have a look at how the continue statement works:

How a `continue` statements works in a loop
How a `continue` statements works in a loop

Examples

Now that we know how the continue statement works in theory, let’s see how it works in the actual code.

We will look at both examples: How it can be used in a for loop and in a while loop.

1. For Loop

class ForLoopContinue {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        char [] alphabets = {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'};
        for(char x : alphabets) {
            if(x == 'c') {
                continue;
            }
            System.out.print(x);
            System.out.print("\n");
        }
    }
}

2. While Loop

class WhileLoopContinue {
    public static void main(String args[]) {
        int [] nums = {98, 31, 45, 155, 32, 76};
        int i = 0;
        while(i < nums.length) {
            i++;
            if(nums[i-1] < 45) {
                continue;
            }
            System.out.print(nums[i-1]);
            System.out.print("\n");
        }
    }
}

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