break and next

break and next

break immediately exits the nearest enclosing loop, while next skips the rest of the current iteration and moves to the next one -- R's equivalent of continue in other languages. Both work inside for, while, and repeat loops. They give finer control over loop execution beyond the loop's own condition.

Note: R uses next where many other languages use continue -- remember this naming difference.

Example: break and next

for (i in 1:10) {
  if (i %% 2 == 0) {
    next  # skip even numbers
  }
  if (i > 7) {
    break  # stop once past 7
  }
  cat(i, "\n")
}