Clean • Professional
Loops in Java are powerful, but sometimes you need to control their execution. That’s where break and continue come in. We’ll also cover pattern programming examples, which are commonly asked in interviews.
Syntax :
break;
➤ Flowchart for Break Statement
┌─────────────┐
│ Start Loop │
└──────┬──────┘
↓
┌───────────────┐
│ Condition met? │
└──────┬────────┘
Yes ↓ No ↓
┌───────────────┐ │
│ break → Exit │ │
│ from loop │ │
└───────────────┘ │
↓
Next iterationfor (int i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {
if (i == 5) {
break; // exit loop
}
System.out.println(i);
}
Output:
1
2
3
4
continue;
➤ Flowchart for Continue Statement
┌─────────────┐
│ Start Loop │
└──────┬──────┘
↓
┌───────────────┐
│ Condition met? │
└──────┬────────┘
Yes ↓ No ↓
┌────────────────────┐
│ continue → Skip │
│ current iteration │
└────────────────────┘
↓
Next iterationfor (int i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {
if (i == 5) {
continue; // skip this iteration
}
System.out.println(i);
}
Output:
1
2
3
4
6
7
8
9
10
for (int i = 1; i <= 3; i++) {
for (int j = 1; j <= 3; j++) {
if (i == 2 && j == 2) {
break; // exits inner loop
}
System.out.println("i=" + i + ", j=" + j);
}
}
Output:
i=1, j=1
i=1, j=2
i=1, j=3
i=2, j=1
i=3, j=1
i=3, j=2
i=3, j=3
⚠️ Tip: For breaking outer loops, use labeled break:
outerLoop:
for(int i=1;i<=3;i++){
for(int j=1;j<=3;j++){
if(i==2 && j==2) break outerLoop;
}
}
Pattern programming is popular in Java interviews. Let’s look at common patterns.
int n = 5;
for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
for (int j = 1; j <= i; j++) {
System.out.print("* ");
}
System.out.println();
}
Output:
*
* *
* * *
* * * *
* * * * *
int n = 5;
for (int i = n; i >= 1; i--) {
for (int j = 1; j <= i; j++) {
System.out.print("* ");
}
System.out.println();
}
Output:
* * * * *
* * * *
* * *
* *
*
int n = 5;
for (int i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
for (int j = n; j > i; j--) {
System.out.print(" ");
}
for (int k = 1; k <= (2*i-1); k++) {
System.out.print("*");
}
System.out.println();
}
Output:
*
***
*****
*******
*********