Lesson 5.3: break, continue, and pass

The break Statement

break immediately exits the loop, regardless of the loop condition. Execution continues with the code after the loop.

# Search for a number in a list
numbers = [4, 7, 2, 9, 1, 5, 8]
target = 9

for num in numbers:
    if num == target:
        print(f"Found {target}!")
        break
    print(f"Checking {num}...")

print("Search complete.")

Notice that once 9 was found, the loop stopped. It did not check 1, 5, or 8.

numbers = [7, 3, 11, 8, 5, 2]

for num in numbers:
    if num % 2 == 0:
        print(f"First even number: {num}")
        break

The continue Statement

continue skips the rest of the current iteration and jumps to the next one. The loop does not exit — it just moves on to the next item.

# Print only odd numbers
for i in range(1, 11):
    if i % 2 == 0:
        continue  # Skip even numbers
    print(i, end=" ")

numbers = [10, -3, 5, -7, 8, -1, 4]
total = 0

for num in numbers:
    if num < 0:
        print(f"Skipping {num}")
        continue
    total += num

print(f"Sum of positive numbers: {total}")

break vs. continue

The key difference: break exits the loop entirely, while continue skips to the next iteration.

# break: stops the entire loop
print("break example:")
for i in range(5):
    if i == 3:
        break
    print(i, end=" ")

print()  # New line

# continue: skips one iteration
print("continue example:")
for i in range(5):
    if i == 3:
        continue
    print(i, end=" ")

The pass Statement

pass does absolutely nothing. It is a placeholder that lets you write syntactically correct code when you have not yet decided what to put in a block.

# Using pass as a placeholder while developing
for i in range(10):
    if i % 2 == 0:
        pass  # TODO: handle even numbers later
    else:
        print(f"{i} is odd")

Without pass, an empty block would cause a SyntaxError. Think of it as saying "I know I need code here, but not yet."

# pass in an empty function (preview of Module 9)
def calculate_tax():
    pass  # Will implement later

# pass in an empty loop
while False:
    pass  # This loop never runs, but it's valid syntax

The else Clause on Loops

Python has a unique feature: you can put an else clause on a loop. The else block runs only if the loop completed normally (was not terminated by break).

# else runs because break was NOT triggered
for i in range(5):
    if i == 10:  # Never true
        break
else:
    print("Loop completed without break")

# else does NOT run because break WAS triggered
for i in range(5):
    if i == 3:
        print("Breaking at 3")
        break
else:
    print("This won't print")

# Check if a number is prime
number = 17

for i in range(2, number):
    if number % i == 0:
        print(f"{number} is not prime (divisible by {i})")
        break
else:
    print(f"{number} is prime!")

When to Use Each Statement

• break: When you have found what you are looking for and want to stop immediately (searching, validation with early exit)
• continue: When you want to skip certain items but keep processing the rest (filtering, ignoring invalid data)
• pass: When you need a placeholder for code you have not written yet (development, empty blocks)

data = [5, -2, 0, 8, 999, 3]

for value in data:
    if value == 999:
        print("End of data marker found")
        break         # Stop processing

    if value < 0:
        continue      # Skip negative values

    if value == 0:
        pass          # TODO: handle zero case
    else:
        print(f"Processing: {value}")