Delphi Basics : Break command

DelphiBasics

Break
Procedure

Forces a jump out of a single loop

System unit

procedure Break();

Description

The Break procedure forces a jump out of the setof statements within a loop. Like the Goto statement, it should be used with caution.

The next statement that is executed is the one following the loop terminator. For example:

for i := 1 to 10 do
begin
  ...
  break;
  ...
end;
size := 10;  // breaks to here

It is important to note that the Break statement only jumps out of the current loop - not out of any nested loops above it. The Goto statement can.

Notes

Use with caution.

Related commands

Continue		Forces a jump to the next iteration of a loop
Exit		Exit abruptly from a function or procedure
For		Starts a loop that executes a finite number of times
Goto		Forces a jump to a label, regardless of nesting
Repeat		Repeat statements until a ternmination condition is met
RunError		Terminates the program with an error dialog
While		Repeat statements whilst a continuation condition is met
Abort		Aborts the current processing with a silent exception

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Example code : Breaking out of a loop for good reason

var
  i : Integer;
  s : string;

begin
  s := '';

  // A big loop
  for i := 1 to 10 do
  begin
    s := s + IntToStr(i) + ' ';
    // Exit loop when a certain condition is met
    if Random(4) = 2 then Break;
  end;

  ShowMessage('i = '+IntToStr(i));
  ShowMessage('s = '+s);
end;

Show full unit code

i = 6
s = 1 2 3 4 5 6