C continue Statement

What You’ll Learn

The continue statement skips the rest of the current loop iteration and moves to the next one. The loop keeps running—unlike break, which exits entirely. Use it to ignore even numbers, skip invalid entries, or bypass values you do not need to process. This tutorial covers for, while, and do-while, with five examples and pitfalls to avoid.

Definition and Usage

The continue statement ends the current iteration of the nearest enclosing loop and jumps to the next cycle. Any statements below continue in that iteration are not executed.

Use continue when you want the loop to keep going but skip certain values or cases—print only odds, ignore negatives, or bypass empty records. Compare with break, which stops the loop completely when you are done.

📝 Syntax

The continue statement is a single keyword and semicolon:

continue;

Where it is valid

• Inside loops — for, while, do-while.
• Not in switch — use break to leave a case.
• Not at file scope — must be inside a loop body.

Effect on control flow

for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    if (skip_condition) {
        continue;   /* jump to i++ and next test */
    }
    /* this line is skipped when continue runs */
}
/* loop may still be running or finished */

Compile

gcc program.c -std=c11 -o program

Examples Gallery

Compile with gcc example.c -std=c11 -o example. Each program shows continue in a different situation.

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
        if (i == 2) {
            continue;
        }
        printf("%d\n", i);
    }

    return 0;
}

0
1
3
4

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    int i = 0;

    while (i < 5) {
        i++;
        if (i == 2 || i == 4) {
            continue;
        }
        printf("%d\n", i);
    }

    return 0;
}

1
3
5

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    int i = 0;

    while (i < 5) {
        if (i == 2) {
            i++;
            continue;
        }
        printf("%d\n", i);
        i++;
    }

    return 0;
}

0
1
3
4

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    for (int i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {
        if (i % 2 == 0) {
            continue;
        }
        printf("%d ", i);
    }
    printf("\n");

    return 0;
}

1 3 5 7 9

#include <stdio.h>

int main(void) {
    int data[] = {10, -3, 5, 0, 8, -1};
    int n = 6;
    int sum = 0;

    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        if (data[i] <= 0) {
            continue;
        }
        sum += data[i];
    }

    printf("Sum of positives: %d\n", sum);

    return 0;
}

Sum of positives: 23

🚀 Common Use Cases

• Filter values — skip evens, negatives, or out-of-range items.
• Input loops — ignore blank lines and re-prompt.
• Data processing — skip null or invalid records in a list.
• Game loops — skip inactive entities each frame.
• Retry logic — skip to next attempt without leaving the loop.
• Cleaner code — avoid deep nesting with early skip.

📝 Notes

• continue is only valid inside loops, not in switch.
• In for, the increment expression runs after continue.
• In while, ensure the counter changes before continue when needed.
• continue affects the innermost enclosing loop only.
• Do not confuse continue with break or return.
• Too many continue statements can hurt readability—sometimes an if wrapping the body is clearer.

⚡ Optimization

continue has negligible overhead. Skipping unwanted work early can save time when processing large arrays. Some programmers prefer a single if that wraps the main logic instead of continue—choose whichever reads clearer. Modern compilers optimize both styles similarly.

💡 Best Practices