Level 17. Loop, Break, and Continue

The infinite loop

Sometimes you want a loop that runs forever. Until you decide to stop. That’s loop:

fun main() {
  var count = 0
  loop {
    count = count + 1
    if count > 3 { break }
    println(count)
  }
  println("done!")
}

This prints 1, 2, 3, done!: the break is like an emergency exit. When the program hits break, it jumps out of the loop immediately.

Break: the emergency exit

break works in all loop types — while, for, repeat, and loop:

fun main() {
  for i in 1..100 {
    if i > 5 { break }
    println(i)
  }
}

This only prints 1 through 5, even though the range goes to 100.

Continue: skip this round

continue is like saying “skip the rest of this round and go to the next one.” It works in all loops too:

fun main() {
  for i in 1..10 {
    if i % 2 == 0 { continue }
    println(i)
  }
}

This prints only the odd numbers: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9. When i is even, continue skips the println and jumps straight to the next number.

Combining break and continue

You can use both in the same loop:

fun main() {
  for i in 1..100 {
    if i % 2 == 0 { continue }   // skip even numbers
    if i > 10 { break }           // stop after 10
    println(i)
  }
}

This prints: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9.

Think of a conveyor belt: continue means “throw this one away and grab the next item,” while break means “turn off the conveyor belt.”

🎯 Try it: Use a loop with break to print numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Hint: use var i = 0, increment it each time, and break when i > 5.