# JavaScript Break and Continue

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The break statement "jumps out" of a loop.

The continue statement "jumps over" one iteration in the loop.

## The Break Statement

You have already seen the break statement used in an earlier chapter of this tutorial. It was used to "jump out" of a switch() statement.

The break statement can also be used to jump out of a loop.

The break statement breaks the loop and continues executing the code after the loop (if any):

## Example

for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
if (i == 3) { break }
text += "The number is " + i + "<br>";
}
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Since the if statement has only one single line of code, the braces can be omitted:

for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
if (i == 3) break;
text += "The number is " + i + "<br>";
}

## The Continue Statement

The continue statement breaks one iteration (in the loop), if a specified condition occurs, and continues with the next iteration in the loop.

This example skips the value of 3:

## Example

for (i = 0; i <= 10; i++) {
if (i == 3) continue;
text += "The number is " + i + "<br>";
}
Try it Yourself »

## JavaScript Labels

As you have already seen, in the chapter about the switch statement, JavaScript statements can be labeled.

To label JavaScript statements you precede the statements with a label name and a colon:

label:
statements

The break and the continue statements are the only JavaScript statements that can "jump out of" a code block.

Syntax:

break labelname;
continue labelname;

The continue statement (with or without a label reference) can only be used inside a loop.

The break statement, without a label reference, can only be used inside a loop or a switch.

With a label reference, it can be used to "jump out of" any JavaScript code block:

## Example

cars = ["BMW", "Volvo", "Saab", "Ford"];
list: {
text += cars[0] + "<br>";
text += cars[1] + "<br>";
text += cars[2] + "<br>";
text += cars[3] + "<br>";
break list;
text += cars[4] + "<br>";
text += cars[5] + "<br>";
}
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