break and continue

Two keywords change how a loop runs:

• break stops the loop completely.
• continue skips the rest of the current pass and moves on to the next one.

Example

fun main() {
    for (n in 1..10) {
        if (n % 2 == 0) continue
        if (n > 7) break
        println(n)
    }
}

Expected output

1
3
5
7

Even numbers are skipped by continue. At 9, break ends the loop.

Breaking out of nested loops

A label (a name followed by @) lets break exit an outer loop:

fun main() {
    val grid = listOf(listOf(1, 2), listOf(3, 42), listOf(5, 6))

    search@ for (row in grid) {
        for (value in row) {
            if (value == 42) {
                println("Found 42")
                break@search
            }
        }
    }
}

Found 42

Labels are rarely needed — often, moving the search into a function and using return is clearer.

Practice

Print the numbers from 1 to 20, skipping multiples of 3, and stop completely at 16.

fun main() {
    for (n in 1..20) {
        if (n == 16) break
        if (n % 3 == 0) continue
        println(n)
    }
}