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What is break, continue and pass in Python with Syntax and Examples

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In this tutorial we are going to learn about break, continue and pass in Python with Syntax and Examples.

We can use break, continue, and pass statements in our loops to add additional functionality for various cases. The three statements are defined by:

break: Breaks out of the current closest enclosing loop.

continue: Goes to the top of the closest enclosing loop.

pass: Does nothing at all.

Thinking about break and continue statements, the general format of the while loop looks like this: while test: 

    code statement
    if test: 
        break
    if test: 
        continue 
else:

break and continue statements can appear anywhere inside the loop’s body, but we will usually put them further nested in conjunction with an if statement to perform an action based on some condition.

Let’s go ahead and look at some examples!

x = 0

while x < 10:
    print('x is currently: ',x)
    print(' x is still less than 10, adding 1 to x')
    x+=1
    if x==3:
        print('x==3')
    else:
        print('continuing...')
        continue

Output:

x is currently:  0
 x is still less than 10, adding 1 to x
continuing...
x is currently:  1
 x is still less than 10, adding 1 to x
continuing...
x is currently:  2
 x is still less than 10, adding 1 to x
x==3
x is currently:  3
 x is still less than 10, adding 1 to x
continuing...
x is currently:  4
 x is still less than 10, adding 1 to x
continuing...
x is currently:  5
 x is still less than 10, adding 1 to x
continuing...
x is currently:  6
 x is still less than 10, adding 1 to x
continuing...
x is currently:  7
 x is still less than 10, adding 1 to x
continuing...
x is currently:  8
 x is still less than 10, adding 1 to x
continuing...
x is currently:  9
 x is still less than 10, adding 1 to x
continuing...

Note: How we have a printed statement when x==3, and a continue being printed out as we continue through the outer while loop.

Let’s put in a break once x ==3 and see if the result makes sense:

x = 0

while x < 10:
    print('x is currently: ',x)
    print(' x is still less than 10, adding 1 to x')
    x+=1
    if x==3:
        print('Breaking because x==3')
        break
    else:
        print('continuing...')
        continue

Output:

x is currently:  0
 x is still less than 10, adding 1 to x
continuing...
x is currently:  1
 x is still less than 10, adding 1 to x
continuing...
x is currently:  2
 x is still less than 10, adding 1 to x
Breaking because x==3

Note: How the other else statement wasn’t reached and continuing was never printed!

After these brief but simple examples, you should feel comfortable using while statements in your code.