What is the difference between “continue” and “break” statement?

The continue and break statements in C# are used to control the flow of execution within loops, but they have different behaviors and purposes:

continue statement:

• The continue statement is used to skip the current iteration of a loop and move to the next iteration.
• When a continue statement is encountered within a loop, the remaining code within the loop block is skipped for that iteration, and the loop proceeds with the next iteration.

Example:

for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++)
{
    if (i == 3)
        continue;

    Console.WriteLine(i);
}  

In this example, when i is equal to 3, the continue statement is triggered, and the remaining code within the loop block is skipped for that iteration. As a result, the number 3 is not printed, and the loop continues with the next iteration.

break statement:

• The break statement is used to exit the loop prematurely.
• When a break statement is encountered within a loop, the loop is terminated, and the program continues with the next line of code following the loop.

Example:

for (int i = 1; i <= 5; i++)
{
    if (i == 3)
        break;

    Console.WriteLine(i);
}

In this example, when i is equal to 3, the break statement is triggered, and the loop is terminated. As a result, the loop exits, and the program continues with the next line of code after the loop.

To summarize the differences:

• continue skips the remaining code within the loop block for the current iteration and proceeds with the next iteration.
• break immediately exits the loop, terminating its execution, and continues with the next line of code after the loop.

Both continue and break statements are used to control the flow of execution within loops, but they serve different purposes. continue allows you to skip specific iterations based on a condition, while break allows you to exit the loop entirely based on a condition.