Continue statement behavior in Python

Introduction

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

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

When filtering data inside a loop and ignoring unwanted values.

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

When reading lines from a file and ignoring empty or comment lines.

When you want to jump to the next iteration after a condition is met.

Syntax

Python

continue

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

When Python sees continue, it skips the rest of the current loop step and starts the next one immediately.

Examples

This loop prints numbers 0 to 4 but skips printing 2 because of continue.

Python

for i in range(5):
    if i == 2:
        continue
    print(i)

This while loop skips printing 3 but prints other numbers from 1 to 5.

Python

i = 0
while i < 5:
    i += 1
    if i == 3:
        continue
    print(i)

Sample Program

This program prints numbers from 1 to 5 but skips number 3 using continue.

Python

for number in range(1, 6):
    if number == 3:
        continue
    print(f"Number is {number}")

Important Notes

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

Be careful not to create infinite loops when using continue inside while loops without updating the loop variable.

Summary

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

It works inside for and while loops.

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