12.7 The continue Statement

The continue statement, like break, is used only inside for or while loops. It skips over the rest of the loop body, causing the next cycle around the loop to begin immediately. Contrast this with break, which jumps out of the loop altogether. Here is an example:

     # print elements of a vector of random
     # integers that are even.
     
     # first, create a row vector of 10 random
     # integers with values between 0 and 100:
     
     vec = round (rand (1, 10) * 100);
     
     # print what we're interested in:
     
     for x = vec
       if (rem (x, 2) != 0)
         continue;
       endif
       printf ("%d\n", x);
     endfor

If one of the elements of vec is an odd number, this example skips the print statement for that element, and continues back to the first statement in the loop.

This is not a practical example of the continue statement, but it should give you a clear understanding of how it works. Normally, one would probably write the loop like this:

     for x = vec
       if (rem (x, 2) == 0)
         printf ("%d\n", x);
       endif
     endfor