How to break out of nested loops

breakcnested-loops

If I use a break statement, it will only break inner loop and I need to use some flag to break the outer loop. But if there are many nested loops, the code will not look good.

Is there any other way to break all of the loops? (Please don't use goto stmt.)

for(int i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
   for(int j = 0; j < 1000; j++) {
       if(condition) {
            // both of the loops need to break and control will go to stmt2
       }
   }

}

stmt2

Best Answer

No, don't spoil the fun with a break. This is the last remaining valid use of goto ;)

If not this then you could use flags to break out of deep nested loops.

Another approach to breaking out of a nested loop is to factor out both loops into a separate function, and return from that function when you want to exit.

Summarized - to break out of nested loops:

use goto
use flags
factor out loops into separate function calls

Couldn't resist including xkcd here :)

enter image description here

source

Goto's are considered harmful but as many people in the comments suggest it need not be. If used judiciously it can be a great tool. Anything used in moderation is fun.

Setting a bit

Use the bitwise OR operator (|) to set a bit.

number |= 1UL << n;

That will set the nth bit of number. n should be zero, if you want to set the 1st bit and so on upto n-1, if you want to set the nth bit.

Use 1ULL if number is wider than unsigned long; promotion of 1UL << n doesn't happen until after evaluating 1UL << n where it's undefined behaviour to shift by more than the width of a long. The same applies to all the rest of the examples.

Clearing a bit

Use the bitwise AND operator (&) to clear a bit.

number &= ~(1UL << n);

That will clear the nth bit of number. You must invert the bit string with the bitwise NOT operator (~), then AND it.

Toggling a bit

The XOR operator (^) can be used to toggle a bit.

number ^= 1UL << n;

That will toggle the nth bit of number.

Checking a bit

You didn't ask for this, but I might as well add it.

To check a bit, shift the number n to the right, then bitwise AND it:

bit = (number >> n) & 1U;

That will put the value of the nth bit of number into the variable bit.

Changing the nth bit to x

Setting the nth bit to either 1 or 0 can be achieved with the following on a 2's complement C++ implementation:

number ^= (-x ^ number) & (1UL << n);

Bit n will be set if x is 1, and cleared if x is 0. If x has some other value, you get garbage. x = !!x will booleanize it to 0 or 1.

To make this independent of 2's complement negation behaviour (where -1 has all bits set, unlike on a 1's complement or sign/magnitude C++ implementation), use unsigned negation.

number ^= (-(unsigned long)x ^ number) & (1UL << n);

unsigned long newbit = !!x;    // Also booleanize to force 0 or 1
number ^= (-newbit ^ number) & (1UL << n);

It's generally a good idea to use unsigned types for portable bit manipulation.

number = (number & ~(1UL << n)) | (x << n);

(number & ~(1UL << n)) will clear the nth bit and (x << n) will set the nth bit to x.

It's also generally a good idea to not to copy/paste code in general and so many people use preprocessor macros (like the community wiki answer further down) or some sort of encapsulation.

Javascript – What’s the best way to break from nested loops in JavaScript

Just like Perl,

loop1:
    for (var i in set1) {
loop2:
        for (var j in set2) {
loop3:
            for (var k in set3) {
                break loop2;  // breaks out of loop3 and loop2
            }
        }
    }

as defined in EMCA-262 section 12.12. [MDN Docs]

Unlike C, these labels can only be used for continue and break, as Javascript does not have goto.