Control Structure

Lesson 25 - Using continue Statement

Learn how continue skips the current loop iteration and moves directly to the next cycle.

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Lesson 25 of 28

Learning Objectives

Understand what continue does inside loops.
Write correct continue syntax.
Explain how continue skips only the current iteration.
Use continue in for and while loops safely.
Compare continue and break clearly.
Trace internal flow for skipped and non-skipped iterations.

Concept Explanation

What is continue

continue skips the rest of the current loop iteration and jumps to the next iteration.

It does not exit the loop completely; it only skips one cycle.

continue Syntax

continue;

How continue Works

Loop enters a cycle.
Condition for skip is checked.
If true, continue; runs.
Remaining statements in that cycle are skipped.
Loop proceeds to next iteration.

i Value	Condition	Result
0,1,2,4,5,7	false	Run LED blink code
3,6	true	continue runs, blink skipped

continue in for Loop

for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
  if (i == 2) {
    continue;
  }
  Serial.println(i);
}

continue in while Loop

int i = 0;
while (i < 5) {
  i++;
  if (i == 3) {
    continue;
  }
  Serial.println(i);
}

continue vs break (Comparison)

continue: skip only current iteration.
break: exit loop completely.
Use continue when you want loop to keep running after skipping one case.

Use break when the whole loop should stop; use continue when only one cycle should be ignored.

When to Use continue

Skip invalid sensor samples but continue reading others
Ignore a specific counter value in demo loops
Skip special cases while processing arrays

Example Code

This example skips blink cycles 3 and 6 using continue.

const int ledPin = 2;

void setup() {
  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
  Serial.begin(115200);
}

void loop() {
  for (int i = 0; i < 8; i++) {
    if (i == 3 || i == 6) {
      Serial.print("Skipping cycle: ");
      Serial.println(i);
      continue;
    }

    digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
    delay(200);
    digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
    delay(200);

    Serial.print("Ran cycle: ");
    Serial.println(i);
  }

  delay(1000);
}

Example Code Explanation

Loop is set to iterate from i = 0 to i < 8.
When i is 3 or 6, continue runs and skips LED blinking lines.
For other values, LED ON/OFF sequence runs normally.
Serial output shows which cycles were skipped and which were executed.

Real-life example

In a sensor list, continue can skip faulty readings and keep processing the remaining samples.

What Happens Inside

Condition check happens first in each iteration.
At skip values, continue jumps directly to loop update/next iteration.
No LED operations run in skipped iterations.
Non-skipped iterations execute full blink logic.
Loop completes all iterations unless break/condition exit happens.

Internal flow rule

check skip condition -> continue or run body -> next iteration

Common Mistakes with continue

Expecting continue to exit the whole loop (it does not).
Using continue before required state updates in while loops.
Placing important logic below continue and accidentally skipping it.
Overusing continue and making control flow hard to follow.

Best Practices for continue

Use clear skip conditions and comment why skip happens.
In while loops, update loop variables before continue if needed.
Keep loop body readable even with skip paths.
Prefer simple conditions rather than deeply nested continue logic.
In while loops, never skip increment/update paths accidentally.

Practice Task

Change skip values from 3 and 6 to 2 and 5.
Add one more skip rule for even values only.
Build a while-loop version and ensure loop variable still updates.
Print total executed cycles vs skipped cycles at loop end.

Try it now

Open simulator workspace and observe how continue skips selected loop cycles.

Run in Simulator