How does 'continue' differ from 'break'?

The continue and break statements are both used to control the flow of loops, but they serve different purposes:

continue

• Purpose: Skips the rest of the current iteration and moves to the next iteration of the loop.
• Effect: The loop continues running, but the code following the continue statement for that iteration is not executed.
• Use Case: Useful when you want to skip certain iterations based on a condition without exiting the loop.

Example of continue

for number in range(1, 6):
    if number == 3:
        continue  # Skip the iteration when number is 3
    print(number)

Output:

1
2
4
5

break

• Purpose: Exits the loop entirely, regardless of the iteration count.
• Effect: The loop stops running, and control is transferred to the statement immediately following the loop.
• Use Case: Useful when you want to terminate the loop based on a condition.

Example of break

for number in range(1, 6):
    if number == 3:
        break  # Exit the loop when number is 3
    print(number)

Output:

1
2

Summary

• continue: Skips to the next iteration of the loop.
• break: Exits the loop entirely.

If you have any further questions or need more examples, feel free to ask!