Break and continue in PowerShell - Step-by-Step Execution

Concept Flow - Break and continue

Start Loop

↓

Check Condition

↓

Inside Loop Body

↓

If 'continue' condition?

Yes→Skip rest, next iteration

↓

If 'break' condition?

Yes→Exit Loop

↓

Next Iteration

Back to Check Condition↓

End Loop

↩Back to Check Condition

The loop starts and checks the condition. Inside the loop, if 'continue' is met, it skips to the next iteration. If 'break' is met, it exits the loop immediately.

Execution Sample

PowerShell

for ($i = 1; $i -le 5; $i++) {
  if ($i -eq 3) { continue }
  if ($i -eq 4) { break }
  Write-Output $i
}

This loop prints numbers 1 to 5 but skips 3 and stops completely at 4.

Execution Table

Iteration	i	Condition i -le 5	Check i -eq 3 (continue?)	Check i -eq 4 (break?)	Action	Output
1	1	True	False	False	Print 1	1
2	2	True	False	False	Print 2	2
3	3	True	True	False	Continue (skip print)
4	4	True	False	True	Break (exit loop)
5	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	Loop ended

💡 Loop stops at iteration 4 because break condition is met (i equals 4).

Variable Tracker

Variable	Start	After 1	After 2	After 3	After 4	Final
i	1	2	3	4	N/A	N/A

Key Moments - 2 Insights

Why does the number 3 not get printed even though the loop runs at i=3?

At iteration 3 in the execution_table, the 'continue' condition is true, so the loop skips the print action and moves to the next iteration.

Why does the loop stop completely at i=4 and not continue to 5?

At iteration 4, the 'break' condition is true, so the loop exits immediately, as shown in the execution_table.

Visual Quiz - 3 Questions

Look at the execution_table, what is the output at iteration 3?

A No output

B 4

C 3

D Error

💡 Hint

Check the 'Action' and 'Output' columns for iteration 3 in the execution_table.

At which iteration does the loop stop running?

A 2

B 3

C 4

D 5

💡 Hint

Look at the 'Action' column where 'Break (exit loop)' happens in the execution_table.

If the 'continue' line was removed, what would be the output at iteration 3?

A Loop would break at 3

B 3 would be printed

C No output at 3

D Error occurs

💡 Hint

Without 'continue', the print action at iteration 3 would run as shown in the execution_table for other iterations.

Concept Snapshot

PowerShell loops can use 'break' to stop the loop immediately.
Use 'continue' to skip the rest of the current loop iteration.
'continue' jumps to the next iteration.
'break' exits the loop completely.
Check conditions inside the loop to control flow.
Useful to skip or stop loops based on conditions.

Full Transcript

This example shows a PowerShell for loop from 1 to 5. At each iteration, it checks if the current number is 3 or 4. If it is 3, the loop uses 'continue' to skip printing that number and moves to the next iteration. If it is 4, the loop uses 'break' to stop running completely. The output prints 1 and 2 only. The variable 'i' changes from 1 to 4, then the loop ends. This teaches how 'break' and 'continue' control loop flow by skipping or stopping iterations.