Continue statement in C++

Introduction

The continue statement helps skip the rest of the current loop cycle and move to the next one. It lets you ignore certain steps without stopping the whole loop.

When you want to skip processing some items in a list but keep looping through the rest.

When checking conditions inside a loop and you want to ignore some cases quickly.

When filtering data inside a loop and only want to act on certain values.

When you want to avoid nested if-else blocks by skipping unwanted cases early.

Syntax

C++

continue;

The continue statement is used inside loops like for, while, or do-while.

It immediately jumps to the next iteration of the loop, skipping any code below it in the current cycle.

Examples

This loop skips printing the number 2 by using continue.

C++

for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
    if (i == 2) {
        continue;
    }
    std::cout << i << " ";
}

In this while loop, when i is 3, it skips printing and goes to the next iteration.

C++

int i = 0;
while (i < 5) {
    i++;
    if (i == 3) continue;
    std::cout << i << " ";
}

Sample Program

This program prints numbers from 1 to 6 but skips 3 and 5 using the continue statement.

C++

#include <iostream>

int main() {
    std::cout << "Numbers except 3 and 5:\n";
    for (int i = 1; i <= 6; i++) {
        if (i == 3 || i == 5) {
            continue;
        }
        std::cout << i << " ";
    }
    std::cout << std::endl;
    return 0;
}

Important Notes

Using continue can make your loops cleaner by avoiding deep nesting of if statements.

Be careful not to create infinite loops by skipping the part that changes the loop variable.

Summary

continue skips the rest of the current loop cycle and moves to the next.

It works inside for, while, and do-while loops.

Use it to ignore certain cases without stopping the whole loop.