man pages section 1: User Commands

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Updated: July 2014
 
 

continue(1)

Name

break, continue - shell built-in functions to escape from or advance within a controlling while, for, foreach, or until loop

Synopsis

sh

break [n]
continue [n]

csh

break 
continue 

ksh88

*break [n]
*continue [n]

ksh

+break [n]
+continue [n]

Description

sh

The break utility exits from the enclosing for or while loop, if any. If n is specified, break n levels.

The continue utility resumes the next iteration of the enclosing for or while loop. If n is specified, resume at the n-th enclosing loop.

csh

The break utility resumes execution after the end of the nearest enclosing foreach or while loop. The remaining commands on the current line are executed. This allows multilevel breaks to be written as a list of break commands, all on one line.

The continue utility continues execution of the next iteration of the nearest enclosing while or foreach loop.

ksh88

The break utility exits from the enclosed for, while, until, or select loop, if any. If n is specified, then break n levels. If n is greater than the number of enclosing loops, the outermost enclosing loop shall be exited.

The continue utility resumes the next iteration of the enclosed for, while, until, or select loop. If n is specified then resume at the n-th enclosed loop. If n is greater than the number of enclosing loops, the outermost enclosing loop shall be used.

On this manual page, ksh88(1) commands that are preceded by one or two * (asterisks) are treated specially in the following ways:

  1. Variable assignment lists preceding the command remain in effect when the command completes.

  2. I/O redirections are processed after variable assignments.

  3. Errors cause a script that contains them to abort.

  4. Words that follow a command preceded by ** that are in the format of a variable assignment are expanded with the same rules as a variable assignment. This means that tilde substitution is performed after the = sign, and also that word splitting and file name generation are not performed.

ksh

break is a shell special built-in that exits the smallest enclosing for, select, while, or until loop. It also exits the nth enclosing loop if n is specified. Execution continues at the command following the loop or loops.

If n is specified, it must be a positive integer ≥1. If n is larger than the number of enclosing loops, the last enclosing loop is exited.

continue is a shell special built-in that continues execution at the top of the smallest enclosing for, select, while, or until loop, if any; or of the top of the nth enclosing loop if n is specified.

If n is specified, it must be a positive integer ≥1. If n is larger than the number of enclosing loops, the last enclosing loop is used.

On this manual page, ksh(1) commands that are preceded by one or two + symbols are special built-in commands and are treated the following ways:

  1. Variable assignment lists preceding the command remain in effect when the command completes.

  2. I/O redirections are processed after variable assignments.

  3. Errors cause a script that contains them to abort.

  4. Built-in commands are not valid function names.

  5. Words following a command preceded by ++ that are in the format of a variable assignment are expanded with rules as a variable assignment. This means that tilde substitution is performed after the = sign and field splitting and file name generation are not performed.

Attributes

See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:

ATTRIBUTE TYPE
ATTRIBUTE VALUE
Availability
system/core-os

See also

csh(1), exit(1), ksh(1), ksh88(1), sh(1), attributes(5)