Loop Control Statements
break, continue, pass

Introduction to Loop Control Statements

In many programming scenarios, you need more control over how loops behave. Sometimes, you might want to stop the loop early, skip certain iterations, or temporarily leave code blocks empty. This is where loop control statements come into play.

The three most commonly used loop control statements are:

• break: exits the loop immediately.
• continue: skips the current iteration and proceeds to the next one.
• pass: does nothing and acts as a placeholder.

1. The break Statement

break is used to exit a loop before it has run all its iterations. This is helpful when a certain condition has been met and you no longer need to continue looping.

Example:

FOR number FROM 1 TO 10 DO
  IF number == 5 THEN
    PRINT "Breaking the loop at 5"
    BREAK
  END IF
  PRINT "Number:", number
END FOR

Output:

Number: 1
Number: 2
Number: 3
Number: 4
Breaking the loop at 5

Explanation:

The loop runs from 1 to 10, but as soon as it encounters 5, it prints a message and breaks out of the loop. The numbers after 5 are never printed.

Question:

Why would you use a break instead of just letting the loop complete?

Answer: You use break when you already found what you're looking for, or continuing further is unnecessary, saving time and resources.

2. The continue Statement

continue skips the rest of the current loop iteration and moves to the next one. It is useful when certain values or conditions should be ignored without stopping the loop entirely.

Example:

FOR number FROM 1 TO 5 DO
  IF number == 3 THEN
    CONTINUE
  END IF
  PRINT "Number:", number
END FOR

Output:

Number: 1
Number: 2
Number: 4
Number: 5

Explanation:

When the number is 3, the loop skips the print statement and immediately goes to the next number. All other numbers are printed.

Question:

When is it better to use continue instead of break?

Answer: Use continue when you want to ignore some specific cases but still complete the rest of the loop. Unlike break, it doesn't stop the loop entirely.

3. The pass Statement

pass is used when a block of code is syntactically required but you don't want to perform any action. It's like a placeholder for future code or to define empty loops/functions.

Example:

FOR number FROM 1 TO 3 DO
  IF number == 2 THEN
    PASS  // do nothing for number 2
  ELSE
    PRINT "Number:", number
  END IF
END FOR

Output:

Number: 1
Number: 3

Explanation:

When the number is 2, the pass statement does nothing, and the loop continues. It helps avoid errors when a code block is required but intentionally left blank.

Question:

Why not just remove the IF block if you're not doing anything?

Answer: Because in many languages, an empty block is not allowed and will cause an error. pass acts as a safe placeholder.

Summary

Statement	Purpose	Effect
break	Exit the loop early	Stops the loop entirely
continue	Skip current iteration	Skips rest of loop body and continues
pass	Do nothing placeholder	Continues as if nothing happened

Final Thoughts

Understanding break, continue, and pass allows you to write more precise and efficient loop structures. Mastering these will help you handle complex logic conditions cleanly.