Continuing Loops in PHP: Techniques and Best Practices

While you can break out of a loop completely with the break keyword, there is another keyword used when working with loops - the continue keyword. Using the continue keyword in a loop will stop the loop at some point and continue with the next iteration of the loop from the beginning of it.

Syntax:

<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">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">continue</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"> $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="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, stop the loop and continue with the next iteration of the loop from the beginning of it. For this reason, all the numbers except the number 5 are printed.

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">6</span><span class="pln">
</span><span class="lit">7</span><span class="pln">
</span><span class="lit">8</span><span class="pln">
</span><span class="lit">9</span><span class="pln">

</span>