Break and continue behavior in Kotlin - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Output of break in nested loops

What is the output of this Kotlin code snippet?

Kotlin

fun main() {
    for (i in 1..3) {
        for (j in 1..3) {
            if (j == 2) break
            print("$i$j ")
        }
    }
}

A 11 21 22 31 32

B 11 21 31

C 11 12 13 21 22 23 31 32 33

D 11 12 21 22 31 32

💡 Hint

Remember that break exits the nearest enclosing loop.

The inner loop breaks when j == 2, so it only prints j=1 for each i. So output is 11 21 31.

❓ Predict Output

intermediate

Effect of continue in a single loop

What will this Kotlin code print?

Kotlin

fun main() {
    for (i in 1..5) {
        if (i % 2 == 0) continue
        print(i)
    }
}

A 135

B 12345

C 246

D 1245

💡 Hint

continue skips the current iteration when the condition is true.

The loop skips even numbers, so only odd numbers 1,3,5 print.

❓ Predict Output

advanced

Output with labeled break in nested loops

What is the output of this Kotlin code?

Kotlin

fun main() {
    outer@ for (i in 1..3) {
        for (j in 1..2) {
            if (i * j > 2) break@outer
            print("$i$j ")
        }
    }
}

A 11 12 21 22

B 11 12 13 21 22 23 31 32 33

C 11 12 21 22 31

D 11 12 21

💡 Hint

The labeled break exits the outer loop when condition is met.

When i*j > 2, break@outer stops all loops. It stops after printing 11 12 21.

❓ Predict Output

advanced

Continue with label in nested loops

What will this Kotlin code print?

Kotlin

fun main() {
    outer@ for (i in 1..3) {
        for (j in 1..3) {
            if (j == 2) continue@outer
            print("$i$j ")
        }
    }
}

A 11 21 31

B 11 12 21 22 31 32

C 11 13 21 23 31 33

D 11 13 22 23 32 33

💡 Hint

continue@outer skips to next iteration of outer loop when j == 2.

When j == 2, continue@outer skips to the next iteration of the outer loop, skipping the remaining inner loop iterations (j=3). Thus, only j=1 prints for each i: 11 21 31.

🧠 Conceptual

expert

Behavior of break and continue in Kotlin loops

Which statement about break and continue in Kotlin is correct?

A Using break or continue without labels always exits all nested loops.

B A break statement can only exit the innermost loop and cannot use labels.

C A continue statement skips the rest of the current iteration and can use labels to skip outer loops.

D Labels in Kotlin can only be used with break, not with continue.

💡 Hint

Think about how labels affect loop control in Kotlin.

In Kotlin, continue can use labels to skip to the next iteration of an outer loop. Break can also use labels to exit outer loops.