What is a break and continue in c

C break

The break statement ends the loop immediately when it is encountered. Its syntax is:

break;

The break statement is almost always used with if...else statement inside the loop.

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How break statement works?

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Example 1: break statement

// Program to calculate the sum of a maximum of 10 numbers
// If a negative number is entered, the loop terminates

# include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    int i;
    double number, sum = 0.0;

    for(i=1; i <= 10; ++i)
    {
        printf("Enter a n%d: ",i);
        scanf("%lf",&number);

        // If the user enters a negative number, the loop ends
        if(number < 0.0)
        {
            break;
        }

        sum += number; // sum = sum + number;
    }

    printf("Sum = %.2lf",sum);
    
    return 0;
}

Output

Enter a n1: 2.4
Enter a n2: 4.5
Enter a n3: 3.4
Enter a n4: -3
Sum = 10.30

C continue

The continue statement skips the current iteration of the loop and continues with the next iteration. Its syntax is:

continue;

The continue statement is almost always used with the if...else statement.

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How continue statement works?

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Example 2: continue statement

// Program to calculate the sum of a maximum of 10 numbers
// Negative numbers are skipped from the calculation

# include <stdio.h>
int main()
{
    int i;
    double number, sum = 0.0;

    for(i=1; i <= 10; ++i)
    {
        printf("Enter a n%d: ",i);
        scanf("%lf",&number);

        if(number < 0.0)
        {
            continue;
        }

        sum += number; // sum = sum + number;
    }

    printf("Sum = %.2lf",sum);
    
    return 0;
}

Output

Enter a n1: 1.1
Enter a n2: 2.2
Enter a n3: 5.5
Enter a n4: 4.4
Enter a n5: -3.4
Enter a n6: -45.5
Enter a n7: 34.5
Enter a n8: -4.2
Enter a n9: -1000
Enter a n10: 12
Sum = 59.70