Ruby break And next Statements

In programming, the break and next statements are used to alter the flow of loops:

• break exits the loop entirely.
• next skips the current iteration and moves to the next one.

You typically use break when a specific condition makes continuing the loop unnecessary.

The next statement is useful when certain values should be skipped. For example, skipping invalid input, odd numbers, or specific characters in a string.

Ruby break Statement

The break statement terminates the loop immediately when it's encountered.

Syntax

break

Working of Ruby break Statement

The above image shows the working of break statements in for and while loops.

Note: The break statement is usually used inside decision-making statements such as if...else.

Example 1: Ruby break Statement with for Loop

You can use the break statement with the for loop to terminate the loop when a certain condition is met. For example,

for i in 1..5
  if i == 3
    break
  end
  puts i
end

Output

1
2

In the above example, the following code terminates the loop when i is equal to 3:

if i == 3
  break

Hence, the output doesn't include values after 2.

Example 2: Ruby break Statement with while Loop

You can terminate a while loop using the break statement. For example,

i = 0

while i < 10
  if i == 3
    break
  end
  puts i
  i += 1
end

Output

0
1
2

Here, break terminates the loop when i is equal to 3.

Ruby next Statement

The next statement skips the current iteration of the loop, and the control flow of the program goes to the next iteration.

Syntax

next

Working of next Statement in Ruby

Example 3: Ruby next Statement with for Loop

Let's see how you can use the next statement with a for loop.

for i in 1..5
  if i == 3
    next
  end
  puts i
end

Output

1
2
4
5

In the above example, the following code skips the current iteration when i is equal to 3, and continues with the next iteration:

if i == 3
  next

Hence, the output includes all values except 3.

Example 4: Ruby next Statement with while Loop

You can also use the next statement with a while loop. For example,

i = 0

while i < 5
  i += 1
  if i == 3
    next
  end
  puts i
end

Output

1
2
4
5

Here, next skips the iteration when i equals 3, so it is not printed.

The value of i is increased before the condition, so when i becomes 3, next prevents puts i from running in that loop cycle.

# Nested for loops

# Outer loop
for i in 1..2
  # Inner loop
  for j in 1..3
    break if j == 2
    puts "i: #{i}, j: #{j}"
  end
end

i: 1, j: 1
i: 2, j: 1

numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

for num in numbers
  case num
  when 3
    # Skip this iteration when num is 3
    next     
  when 5
    # Exit the loop completely when num is 5  
    break    
  else
    puts "Printing: #{num}"
  end
end

Printing: 1
Printing: 2
Printing: 4