Breaking Out of Loops in PHP: Techniques and Best Practices

You can completely break out of a loop when it is still running. This is achieved with the break keyword. Once a loop is exited, the first statement right after it will be executed. The break keyword provides an easy way to exit a loop if an error occurs, or if you found what you were looking for.

Example:

<span class="pln">

</span><span class="pun">&lt;?</span><span class="pln">php
</span><span class="kwd">for</span><span class="pun">(</span><span class="pln">$a </span><span class="pun">=</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">0</span><span class="pun">;</span><span class="pln"> $a </span><span class="pun">&lt;</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">10</span><span class="pun">;</span><span class="pln"> $a</span><span class="pun">++){</span><span class="pln">
  </span><span class="kwd">print</span><span class="pln"> $a </span><span class="pun">.</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="str">"&lt;br /&gt;"</span><span class="pun">;</span><span class="pln">
  </span><span class="kwd">if</span><span class="pun">(</span><span class="pln">$a </span><span class="pun">==</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="lit">5</span><span class="pun">){</span><span class="pln">
    </span><span class="kwd">break</span><span class="pun">;</span><span class="pln">
  </span><span class="pun">}</span><span class="pln">

</span><span class="pun">}</span><span class="pln">
</span><span class="kwd">print</span><span class="pln"> </span><span class="str">"&lt;br /&gt;You have exited the loop."</span><span class="pun">;</span><span class="pln">
</span><span class="pun">?&gt;</span><span class="pln">

</span>

In the above example, the for loop is set to iterate 9 times and print the current value of the variable a during each iteration. The if statement within the loop states that when the variable a is equal to 5, break out of the loop.

Output:

This will produce the following result

<span class="pln">

</span><span class="lit">0</span><span class="pln">
</span><span class="lit">1</span><span class="pln">
</span><span class="lit">2</span><span class="pln">
</span><span class="lit">3</span><span class="pln">
</span><span class="lit">4</span><span class="pln">
</span><span class="lit">5</span><span class="pln">

</span><span class="typ">You</span><span class="pln"> have exited the loop</span><span class="pun">.</span><span class="pln">

</span>