Break Statement in C

The break, continue, goto, and return statements in C are Jump control statements. These statements cause the control to pass to any desired location in the program. There are several uses of break statement in C.

Break keyword in C

When the break keyword is encountered inside the loop then immediately the loop is terminated and control resumes at the next statement following the loop.

Syntax:- break;

Using break inside while loop

 #include<stdio.h>
 int main()
 {
     int i=1;
     while(i<=10)
     {
       printf("%d\t",i);
       if(i==5)
       {
         printf("\nWhile loop terminated.");
         break;
       }
       i++;
     }
     printf("\nValue of i = %d",i);
     return 0;
 }

Output:-

1 2 3 4 5
While loop terminated.
Value of i = 5

When the value of the variable i becomes 5 then the if-condition becomes true, and the if-block is executed. The break statement is placed inside if block. Due to the break keyword, loop terminated and remaining statements outside the loop are executed.

Using break inside for loop

 #include<stdio.h>
 int main()
 {
     int i;
     for(i=1; i<=10; i++)
     {
       printf("%d\t",i);
       if(i==5)
       {
         printf("\nFor loop terminated.");
         break;
       }
     }
     printf("\nValue of i = %d",i);
     return 0;
 }

Output:-

1 2 3 4 5
For loop terminated.
Value of i = 5

Using a break in an infinite loop

In infinite loops, the break statement is used to make it a finite loop. The given below program is an infinite loop.

 #include<stdio.h>
 int main()
 {
     int i=1;
     while (1) {
       printf("%d\t",i);
       i++;
     }
     return 0;
 }

To make the above program finite, we need to use a break statement.

 #include<stdio.h>
 int main()
 {
     int i=1;
     while (1) {
       printf("%d\t",i);
       if(i==9) break;
       i++;
     }
     return 0;
 }

Output:-

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Now, when the value of the variable i becomes 9 then if block is executed and due to break keyword loop is terminated.

 #include<stdio.h>
 int main()
 {
     int i=1;
     for(; ;) {
       printf("%d\t",i);
       if(i==9) break;
       i++;
     }
     return 0;
 }

Output:-

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Using Break inside Nested loops

In nested loops, if a break is used inside the inner loop then it only terminates the inner loop, and if the break is placed in the outer loop then it terminates the whole nested loop.

 #include<stdio.h>
 int main()
 {
     for(int i=1; i<5; i++)
     {
       for(int j=1; j<5; j++)
       {
         if(j == 3) break;
         printf("%d \t %d\n",i, j);
       }
     }
     return 0;
 }

Output:-

1 1
1 2
2 1
2 2
3 1
3 2
4 1
4 2

In this program, the break statement is used inside the inner loop so only the inner loop is terminated.

 #include<stdio.h>
 int main()
 {
     for(int i=1; i<5; i++)
     {
       if(i == 3) break;
       for(int j=1; j<5; j++)
       {
         printf("%d \t %d\n",i, j);
       }
     }
     return 0;
 }

Output:-

1 1
1 2
1 3
1 4
2 1
2 2
2 3
2 4

Rule for break keyword in C

It should be used only with a loop or switch-case statement.

 #include<stdio.h>
 int main()
 {
     printf("Good morning");
     break;
     printf("Good evening");
     return 0;
 }

error: break statement, not within loop or switch

Use of break statement in C

The break statement has two uses.

1. It is used to terminate a case in the switch statement.
2. It is also used to force immediate termination of a loop, bypassing the normal loop conditional test.

Program:- Write a C program to find the sum of the given number and the program accepts input values from the user repeatedly until the user inputs 0.

 #include<stdio.h>
 int main()
 {
   int n, sum=0;
   while (1) {
     printf("Enter a number (To terminate enter 0): ");
     scanf("%d",&n);
     if(n==0) break;
     sum = sum + n;
   }
   printf("Sum = %d",sum);
   return 0;
 }

Output:-

Enter a number (To terminate enter 0): 10
Enter a number (To terminate enter 0): 92
Enter a number (To terminate enter 0): -50
Enter a number (To terminate enter 0): -15
Enter a number (To terminate enter 0): 0
Sum = 37

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