Python Tutorial — Learn Python Step by Step

Python break and continue

break exits the loop immediately. continue skips the rest of the current iteration and jumps to the next one.

break — Exit Early

# Stop at first negative number
numbers = [5, 3, 8, -1, 7, 2]
for n in numbers:
    if n < 0:
        print(f"Found negative: {n}")
        break
    print(n, end=" ")
# Output: 5 3 8 Found negative: -1

# Search for an item
names = ["Alice", "Bob", "Charlie", "Diana"]
target = "Charlie"
for i, name in enumerate(names):
    if name == target:
        print(f"Found {target} at index {i}")
        break
else:
    print(f"{target} not found")  # only runs if no break

continue — Skip Iteration

# Skip even numbers
for i in range(10):
    if i % 2 == 0:
        continue  # skip to next iteration
    print(i, end=" ")
# Output: 1 3 5 7 9

# Skip empty lines when processing text
lines = ["hello", "", "world", "", "python"]
for line in lines:
    if not line:  # empty string is falsy
        continue
    print(line.upper())

Nested Loop Control

# break only exits the innermost loop
for i in range(3):
    for j in range(3):
        if j == 2:
            break  # exits inner loop only
        print(f"({i},{j})", end=" ")
    print()  # newline after each row
# (0,0) (0,1)
# (1,0) (1,1)
# (2,0) (2,1)

# To break outer loop, use a flag or function
def find_pair(matrix, target):
    for i, row in enumerate(matrix):
        for j, val in enumerate(row):
            if val == target:
                return (i, j)  # exits entire function
    return None

• break + for/else is the Pythonic way to search with a "not found" fallback.
• continue is useful for skipping invalid/empty items during processing.
• Python has no labeled break — use a function with return to exit nested loops.