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</div><hr /><div id="control-structures.continue" class="sect1">
<h2 class="title"><em>continue</em></h2>
<p class="verinfo">(PHP 4, PHP 5)</p>
<p class="simpara">
<em>continue</em> is used within looping structures to
skip the rest of the current loop iteration and continue execution
at the condition evaluation and then the beginning of the next iteration.
</p>
<blockquote class="note"><p><strong class="note">Note</strong>:
<span class="simpara">
Note that in PHP the
<a href="control-structures.switch.html" class="link">switch</a> statement is
considered a looping structure for the purposes of
<em>continue</em>.
</span>
</p></blockquote>
<p class="simpara">
<em>continue</em> accepts an optional numeric argument
which tells it how many levels of enclosing loops it should skip
to the end of. The default value is <em>1</em>, thus skipping
to the end of the current loop.
</p>
<p class="para">
<div class="informalexample">
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">while (list(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$key</span><span style="color: #007700">, </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$value</span><span style="color: #007700">) = </span><span style="color: #0000BB">each</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$arr</span><span style="color: #007700">)) {<br /> if (!(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$key </span><span style="color: #007700">% </span><span style="color: #0000BB">2</span><span style="color: #007700">)) { </span><span style="color: #FF8000">// skip odd members<br /> </span><span style="color: #007700">continue;<br /> }<br /> </span><span style="color: #0000BB">do_something_odd</span><span style="color: #007700">(</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$value</span><span style="color: #007700">);<br />}<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">$i </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">0</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br />while (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$i</span><span style="color: #007700">++ < </span><span style="color: #0000BB">5</span><span style="color: #007700">) {<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Outer<br />\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /> while (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">1</span><span style="color: #007700">) {<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Middle<br />\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /> while (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">1</span><span style="color: #007700">) {<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Inner<br />\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /> continue </span><span style="color: #0000BB">3</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /> }<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"This never gets output.<br />\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br /> }<br /> echo </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"Neither does this.<br />\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br />}<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
</div>
</p>
<p class="para">
Omitting the semicolon after <em>continue</em> can lead to
confusion. Here's an example of what you shouldn't do.
</p>
<p class="para">
<div class="informalexample">
<div class="example-contents">
<div class="phpcode"><code><span style="color: #000000">
<span style="color: #0000BB"><?php<br /></span><span style="color: #007700">for (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$i </span><span style="color: #007700">= </span><span style="color: #0000BB">0</span><span style="color: #007700">; </span><span style="color: #0000BB">$i </span><span style="color: #007700">< </span><span style="color: #0000BB">5</span><span style="color: #007700">; ++</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$i</span><span style="color: #007700">) {<br /> if (</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$i </span><span style="color: #007700">== </span><span style="color: #0000BB">2</span><span style="color: #007700">)<br /> continue<br /> print </span><span style="color: #DD0000">"</span><span style="color: #0000BB">$i</span><span style="color: #DD0000">\n"</span><span style="color: #007700">;<br />}<br /></span><span style="color: #0000BB">?></span>
</span>
</code></div>
</div>
<p class="para">
One can expect the result to be:
</p>
<div class="example-contents screen">
<div class="cdata"><pre>
0
1
3
4
</pre></div>
</div>
<p class="para">
but this script will output:
</p>
<div class="example-contents screen">
<div class="cdata"><pre>
2
</pre></div>
</div>
<p class="para">
because the entire <em>continue print "$i\n";</em> is evaluated
as a single expression, and so <span class="function"><a href="function.print.html" class="function">print</a></span> is called only
when <em>$i == 2</em> is true. (The return value of
<em>print</em> is passed to <em>continue</em> as the
numeric argument.)
</p>
</div>
</p>
<p class="para">
<table class="doctable table">
<caption><strong>Changelog for <em>continue</em></strong></caption>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Version</th>
<th>Description</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody class="tbody">
<tr>
<td>5.4.0</td>
<td>
<em>continue 0;</em> is no longer valid. In previous versions it was interpreted
the same as <em>continue 1;</em>.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>5.4.0</td>
<td>
Removed the ability to pass in variables (e.g., <em>$num = 2; continue $num;</em>)
as the numerical argument.
</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</p>
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