Can I use break to exit multiple nested for loops?

Question

Is it possible to use the break function to exit several nested for loops? If so, how would you go about doing this? Can you also control how many loops the break exits?

Answer 1

  while (i<n) {
    bool shouldBreakOuter = false;
    for (int j=i + 1; j<n; ++j) {
      if (someCondition) {
          shouldBreakOuter = true;
      }
    }

    if (shouldBreakOuter == true)
      break;

  }

Answer 2

Just to add an explicit answer using lambdas:

  for (int i = 0; i < n1; ++i) {
    [&] {
      for (int j = 0; j < n2; ++j) {
        for (int k = 0; k < n3; ++k) {
          return; // yay we're breaking out of 2 loops here
        }
      }
    }();
  }

Of course this pattern has a certain limitations and obviously C++11 only but I think it's quite useful.

Answer 3

You can use try...catch.

try {
    for(int i=0; i<10; ++i) {
        for(int j=0; j<10; ++j) {
            if(i*j == 42)
                throw 0; // this is something like "break 2"
        }
    }
}
catch(int e) {} // just do nothing
// just continue with other code

If you have to break out of several loops at once, it is often an exception anyways.

Answer 4

goto can be very helpful for breaking nested loops

for (i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
    for (j = 0; j < 1000; j++) {
        for (k = 0; k < 1000; k++) {
             for (l = 0; l < 1000; l++){
                ....
                if (condition)
                    goto break_me_here;
                ....
            }
        }
    }
}

break_me_here:
// Statements to be executed after code breaks at if condition

Answer 5

How about this?

for(unsigned int i=0; i < 50; i++)
{
    for(unsigned int j=0; j < 50; j++)
    {
        for(unsigned int k=0; k < 50; k++)
        {
            //Some statement
            if (condition)
            {
                j=50;
                k=50;
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 6

Breaking out of a for-loop is a little strange to me, since the semantics of a for-loop typically indicate that it will execute a specified number of times. However, it's not bad in all cases; if you're searching for something in a collection and want to break after you find it, it's useful. Breaking out of nested loops, however, isn't possible in C++; it is in other languages through the use of a labeled break. You can use a label and a goto, but that might give you heartburn at night..? Seems like the best option though.