Searching and sorting arrays in C / C++ How to use break statement in C / C++
In this tutorial, we will learn about the syntax and how to use break statement in C / C++. The break statement is used in loops such as: for, while, do… while and switch..case statement.
Before learning about the break statement, you need to learn the usage of:
- How to use for loop in C / C++.
- How to use while loop in C / C++.
- How to use do...while loop in C / C++.
- How to use if - else statement in C / C++.
Syntax and its working of break statement in C / C++
In the C and C++ programming languages, the break statement is used to exit a loop when it is encountered.
Syntax of break statement in C / C++:
break;
As you can see in the image above, when encountering a break statement, the program will exit the loop and execute the statements below the loop.
Break statement in C / C++ with for loop
We can use break statement to immediately exit the for loop in some special cases. See the example below:
Example: Using break statement in C / C++ with for loop.
C++ programming:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main() {
for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++) {
// break condition
if (i == 3) {
break;
}
cout << i << endl;
}
cout<<"\n-------------------------------\n";
cout<<"This program is posted at learnnc.com";
return 0;
}C programming:
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void) {
for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++) {
// break condition
if (i == 3) {
break;
}
printf("%d\n",i);
}
printf("\n-------------------------------\n");
printf("This program is posted at learnnc.com");
return 0;
}Output:
Explain: In this program, we display numbers from 1 to 5. However, the results only return 1 and 2. Because when printing to the value 3, a break statement is encountered, so the loop is exited.
Break statement in C / C++ with while loop
To better understand how to use the break statement in the while loop, see the example below:
Example: Using break statement in C / C++ with while loop.
- Program to find the sum of positive numbers.
- If the user enters a negative numbers, break ends the loop.
- The negative number entered is not added to sum.
C++ programming:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main() {
int number;
int sum = 0;
while (true) {
// take input from the user
cout << "Enter a number: ";
cin >> number;
// break condition
if (number < 0) {
break;
}
// add all positive numbers
sum += number;
}
// display the sum
cout << "The sum is " << sum << endl;
cout<<"\n-------------------------------\n";
cout<<"This program is posted at learnnc.com";
return 0;
}C programming:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdbool.h>
int main(void) {
int number;
int sum = 0;
while (true) {
// take input from the user
printf("Enter a number: ");
scanf("%d", &number);
// break condition
if (number < 0) {
break;
}
// add all positive numbers
sum += number;
}
// display the sum
printf("The sum is %d\n",sum);
printf("\n-------------------------------\n");
printf("This program is posted at learnnc.com");
return 0;
}Output:
Break statement in C / C++ with do...while loop
Also with the above example, we do the do while loop as follows:
C++ programming:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main() {
int number;
int sum = 0;
do{
// take input from the user
cout << "Enter a number: ";
cin >> number;
// break condition
if (number < 0) {
break;
}
// add all positive numbers
sum += number;
}
while (number >= 0);
// display the sum
cout << "The sum is " << sum << endl;
cout<<"\n-------------------------------\n";
cout<<"This program is posted at learnnc.com";
return 0;
}C programming:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdbool.h>
int main(void) {
int number;
int sum = 0;
do{
// take input from the user
printf("Enter a number: ");
scanf("%d", &number);
// break condition
if (number < 0) {
break;
}
// add all positive numbers
sum += number;
}
while (number >= 0);
// display the sum
printf("The sum is %d\n",sum);
printf("\n-------------------------------\n");
printf("This program is posted at learnnc.com");
return 0;
}Output:
Break statement in C / C++ with switch...case statement
To illustrate how to use break statement in C / C++ with switch...case statement, we have the following example:
Example: Displays the day of the week when the user enters a natural number.
C++ programming:
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main() {
int number;
int n;
cout<<"Enter number n: ";
cin>>n;
switch(n){
case 2:
cout<<"This is Monday!";
break;
case 3:
cout<<"This is Tuesday!";
break;
case 4:
cout<<"This is Wednesday!";
break;
case 5:
cout<<"This is Thursday!";
break;
case 6:
cout<<"This is Friday!";
break;
case 7:
cout<<"This is Saturday!";
break;
case 8:
cout<<"This is Sunday!";
break;
default:
cout<<"It's not exist!";
}
cout<<"\n-------------------------------\n";
cout<<"This program is posted at learnnc.com";
return 0;
}C programming:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdbool.h>
int main(void) {
int number;
int n;
printf("Enter number n: ");
scanf("%d", &n);
switch(n){
case 2:
printf("This is Monday!");
break;
case 3:
printf("This is Tuesday!");
break;
case 4:
printf("This is Wednesday!");
break;
case 5:
printf("This is Thursday!";
break;
case 6:
printf("This is Friday!");
break;
case 7:
printf("This is Saturday!");
break;
case 8:
printf("This is Sunday!");
break;
default:
printf("It's not exist!");
}
printf("\n-------------------------------\n");
printf("This program is posted at learnnc.com");
return 0;
}Output:
