Breaking out of nested loops in Java

(EDIT: Like other answerers, I'd definitely prefer to put the inner loop in a different method. This answer just shows how the requirements in the question can be met.)

You can use break with a label for the outer loop. For example:

public class Test {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    outerloop:
    for (int i=0; i < 5; i++) {
      for (int j=0; j < 5; j++) {
        if (i * j > 6) {
          System.out.println("Breaking");
          break outerloop;
        }
        System.out.println(i + " " + j);
      }
    }
    System.out.println("Done");
  }
}

This prints:

0 0
0 1
0 2
0 3
0 4
1 0
1 1
1 2
1 3
1 4
2 0
2 1
2 2
2 3
Breaking
Done

• answered 8 years ago
• Sunny Solu

Technically the correct answer is to label the outer loop. In practice if you want to exit at any point inside an inner loop then you would be better off externalizing the code into a method (a static method if needs be) and then call it.

That would pay off for readability.

The code would become something like that:

private static String search(...) 
{
    for (Type type : types) {
        for (Type t : types2) {
            if (some condition) {
                // Do something and break...
                return search;
            }
        }
    }
    return null; 
}

Matching the example for the accepted answer:

 public class Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        loop();
        System.out.println("Done");
    }

    public static void loop() {
        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
            for (int j = 0; j < 5; j++) {
                if (i * j > 6) {
                    System.out.println("Breaking");
                    return;
                }
                System.out.println(i + " " + j);
            }
        }
    }
}

• answered 8 years ago
• Sunny Solu