Continue Statement in Go

Introduction

When writing loops in Go, you'll often encounter situations where you want to skip the current iteration and move to the next one without exiting the entire loop. The continue statement provides this functionality, allowing you to create more efficient and readable code by bypassing unnecessary operations when certain conditions are met.

In this tutorial, we'll explore how the continue statement works in Go, when to use it, and how it can improve your code through practical examples.

What is the Continue Statement?

The continue statement is a control flow feature that skips the remaining code in the current iteration of a loop and jumps directly to the next iteration. It works in all three types of Go loops:

• for loops
• for with range loops
• While-style loops (for with a condition)

go

for condition {
    // some code
    if someCondition {
        continue // Skip remainder of this iteration
    }
    // This code will be skipped when continue is executed
}

Basic Syntax and Usage

Let's start with a simple example to understand how continue works:

go

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    for i := 1; i <= 10; i++ {
        // Skip printing even numbers
        if i%2 == 0 {
            continue
        }
        fmt.Println(i)
    }
}

Output:

1
3
5
7
9

In this example, when i is even, the continue statement is executed, skipping the fmt.Println(i) statement and moving to the next iteration. As a result, only odd numbers are printed.

Continue in Nested Loops

continue applies only to the innermost loop containing it. Here's how it works with nested loops:

go

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    for i := 1; i <= 3; i++ {
        fmt.Printf("Outer loop: %d
", i)
        
        for j := 1; j <= 3; j++ {
            if j == 2 {
                fmt.Println("  Skipping j=2")
                continue // Skips only the current iteration of the inner loop
            }
            fmt.Printf("  Inner loop: %d
", j)
        }
    }
}

Output:

Outer loop: 1
  Inner loop: 1
  Skipping j=2
  Inner loop: 3
Outer loop: 2
  Inner loop: 1
  Skipping j=2
  Inner loop: 3
Outer loop: 3
  Inner loop: 1
  Skipping j=2
  Inner loop: 3

Notice that when j == 2, the inner loop skips to the next iteration, but the outer loop continues normally.

Continue with Labels

Go allows you to use labeled continue statements to specify which loop to continue when working with nested loops. This gives you more precise control over your program flow:

go

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    outerLoop:
    for i := 1; i <= 3; i++ {
        fmt.Printf("Outer loop: %d
", i)
        
        for j := 1; j <= 3; j++ {
            if i == 2 && j == 2 {
                fmt.Println("  Skipping to next outer loop iteration")
                continue outerLoop // Jumps to the next iteration of the outer loop
            }
            fmt.Printf("  Inner loop: %d
", j)
        }
    }
}

Output:

Outer loop: 1
  Inner loop: 1
  Inner loop: 2
  Inner loop: 3
Outer loop: 2
  Inner loop: 1
  Skipping to next outer loop iteration
Outer loop: 3
  Inner loop: 1
  Inner loop: 2
  Inner loop: 3

When i == 2 and j == 2, the continue outerLoop statement skips the rest of the inner loop and continues with the next iteration of the outer loop.

Continue in For-Range Loops

The continue statement also works with range-based for loops:

go

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    fruits := []string{"apple", "banana", "orange", "grape", "kiwi"}
    
    fmt.Println("Fruits (except those starting with 'b' or 'o'):")
    for _, fruit := range fruits {
        // Skip fruits that start with 'b' or 'o'
        if fruit[0] == 'b' || fruit[0] == 'o' {
            continue
        }
        fmt.Println(fruit)
    }
}

Output:

Fruits (except those starting with 'b' or 'o'):
apple
grape
kiwi

Practical Use Cases

1. Filtering Data

One common use of continue is to filter elements during iteration:

go

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    numbers := []int{1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10}
    sum := 0
    
    // Calculate sum of odd numbers only
    for _, num := range numbers {
        if num%2 == 0 {
            continue // Skip even numbers
        }
        sum += num
    }
    
    fmt.Printf("Sum of odd numbers: %d
", sum)
}

Output:

Sum of odd numbers: 25

2. Input Validation

continue is useful when processing inputs and skipping invalid entries:

go

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    userScores := []int{85, -10, 92, 105, 78, 65, -5, 100}
    
    fmt.Println("Valid scores:")
    for _, score := range userScores {
        // Skip invalid scores (outside 0-100 range)
        if score < 0 || score > 100 {
            continue
        }
        fmt.Printf("Score: %d
", score)
    }
}

Output:

Valid scores:
Score: 85
Score: 92
Score: 78
Score: 65
Score: 100

3. Processing Large Files

When processing files line by line, continue helps skip lines that don't need processing:

go

package main

import (
    "bufio"
    "fmt"
    "strings"
)

func main() {
    // Simulate reading from a file
    fileContent := `# Configuration file
    # Lines starting with # are comments
    server=localhost
    # Development settings
    port=8080
    debug=true
    # End of file`
    
    reader := bufio.NewScanner(strings.NewReader(fileContent))
    
    fmt.Println("Configuration settings:")
    for reader.Scan() {
        line := strings.TrimSpace(reader.Text())
        
        // Skip empty lines and comments
        if line == "" || strings.HasPrefix(line, "#") {
            continue
        }
        
        fmt.Println(line)
    }
}

Output:

Configuration settings:
server=localhost
port=8080
debug=true

Continue vs. Break

It's important to understand the difference between continue and break:

• continue skips the rest of the current iteration and moves to the next one
• break exits the loop entirely

Best Practices

1. Prefer positive conditions: When possible, use positive conditions to make your code more readable:

   go

   // Less readable
   for _, item := range items {
       if !isValid(item) {
           continue
       }
       process(item)
   }
   
   // More readable
   for _, item := range items {
       if isValid(item) {
           process(item)
       }
   }

2. Avoid too many continue statements: Multiple continue statements can make code harder to follow. Consider refactoring if you have many conditions.

3. Add comments: For complex conditions, add a comment explaining why you're skipping the iteration.

Summary

The continue statement in Go provides a powerful way to control loop execution by skipping iterations when certain conditions are met. Key points to remember:

• continue skips the remainder of the current iteration and jumps to the next one
• It works in all types of Go loops: standard for loops, range-based loops, and condition-based loops
• You can use labeled continue statements to target specific outer loops
• Common use cases include filtering data, input validation, and skipping irrelevant items during processing

By mastering the continue statement, you can write more efficient and cleaner Go code that focuses on processing only the relevant data in your loops.

Exercises

1. Write a program that prints numbers from 1 to 20, but skips multiples of 3.
2. Create a function that takes a string and prints each character, but skips vowels.
3. Write a program that processes an array of integers, skipping negative numbers and numbers greater than 100, and calculates the average of the valid numbers.
4. Implement a nested loop that prints a pattern, using continue with labels to skip certain iterations.

Additional Resources

• Go Tour: Continue Statement
• Go by Example: For Loops
• Effective Go