C 'break' Statement

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How to write C break statement?

loop_name(test condition) { // loop body // loop statements break; }

IMP Never forget ; just after the break keyword.

Do you know the output of..?

#include<stdio.h> int main() { int i; for(i=1;j<8;i++) { if(i==6) break; printf("%d\n ",i); } return 0; }

Why break ..?

• Break is important, it provides extra facility in loop controlling.
• At desire condition break used to terminate the current loop.
• By using break, we can save time in program execution.

How break statement works in C programming

As you know the break statement is a loop control statement and it’s used in termination of loop. In loop, when a break statement is encountered, the loop iterations stop there immediately and control returns to the first statement just after the loop.

When to use break statement

We can use break statement in various situations but basically we use in such situation where we are not sure about the number of iterations in loop but we want to terminate the loop based on some conditions.

What is output...?

#include<stdio.h> int main() { int i; for(i=1;j<8;i++) { printf("%d\n ",i); if(i==6) break; } return 0; }

Where to use break statement

In C programming break statement can be used in 4 different below listed scenario.

1. In switch statement
2. In simple loop statement
3. In nested loop statement
4. In infinite loop statement

1. break; in switch statement

#include<stdio.h> int main() { int res=1; switch (res) { case 0: printf("Yor are Fail\n"); break; case 1: printf("You are Pass\n "); break; case 2: printf("Result under process\n"); break; default: printf("Invalid User"); break; } return 0; }

Output

Explanation

In above program, we know case 1 is true hence control will execute scope of case 1 and it prints You are Pass, there is a break; statement just after the printf() function, this break statement will terminate the switch case and the control will not check case 2 and default case.

Imp: If you remove the all break; from above program then what will be the output

#include<stdio.h> int main() { int res=1; switch (res) { case 0: printf("Yor are Fail\n"); case 1: printf("You are Pass\n "); case 2: printf("Result under process\n"); default: printf("Invalid User"); } return 0; }

Output

2. break; in simple loop statement

Below we are going to list examples to understand how we can use break; in all simple loops.

break; in for loop

#include<stdio.h> int main() { int i; for(i=1;j<8;i++) { if(i==6) break; printf("%d",i); } return 0; }

Output

→ break; after printf statement

#include<stdio.h> int main() { int i; for(i=1;j<8;i++) { printf("%d",i); if(i==6) break; } return 0; }

Output

→ break; statement without condition.

#include<stdio.h> int main() { int i; for(i=1;j<8;i++) { printf("%d",i); break; } return 0; }

Output

break; in while loop

#include<stdio.h> int main() { int i=1; while(i<=10) { printf("%d",i); i=i+1; if(i==8) break; } return 0; }

Output

Note: Just like for and while loop we can use break; statement in do while loop.

3. break; in nested loop statement

#include<stdio.h> int main() { int i,j,res; for(i=1 ; i<=3 ; i++ ) { for(j=1 ; i<=5; j++ ) { res=i*j; if(res % 5 == 0) break; printf("%d",res); } printf("\n"); } return 0; }

Output

In above example you can see how nicely we can control nested loop using break; keyword for desired result. If we use break; in inner loop then it terminate only inner loop process.

4. break; in infinite loop statement

In below example, you can see how we are going to make infinite loop useful by using break statement.

#include<stdio.h> int main() { int i; for(i=2 ; i>1 ; i++) { printf("%d",i); if(i==15) break; } return 0; }

Output

What is C Language?

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