Jump Statements (goto)

Part of the Logic & Flow section of Coddy's C# journey — lesson 20 of 66.

The goto statement in C# provides a way to transfer control directly to a labeled statement within the same method.

Create a label in your code:

start:

Use the goto statement to jump to that label:

goto start;

Here's a simple example that uses goto to create a loop:

int i = 0;

start:
if (i < 5)
{
    Console.WriteLine(i);
    i++;
    goto start;
}

After executing the above code, the output will be:

While goto exists in C#, it's generally recommended to use structured control flow statements (if, for, while, etc.) instead, as they make code more readable and maintainable.

Challenge

Easy

Create a method named ProcessCommands that takes one argument:

A string (command) that contains a command to process.

The method should implement a simple command processor using goto statements:

If the command is "start", print "Starting process" and then go to the "end" label
If the command is "stop", print "Stopping process" and then go to the "end" label
If the command is "pause", print "Pausing process" and then go to the "end" label
If the command is anything else, print "Unknown command" and then go to the "end" label
At the "end" label, print “Command processed”

Cheat sheet

The goto statement transfers control directly to a labeled statement within the same method.

Create a label:

start:

Jump to a label using goto:

goto start;

Example using goto to create a loop:

int i = 0;

start:
if (i < 5)
{
    Console.WriteLine(i);
    i++;
    goto start;
}

While goto exists in C#, structured control flow statements (if, for, while, etc.) are generally recommended for better code readability and maintainability.

Try it yourself

using System;

public class Program
{
    public static void ProcessCommands(string command)
    {
        // Write your code here
    }
    
    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        string command = Console.ReadLine();
        ProcessCommands(command);
    }
}

Test yourself

This lesson includes a short quiz. Start the lesson to answer it and track your progress.

All lessons in Logic & Flow

1Multi-dimensional Arrays

2D Arrays Basics Declaring and Initializing 2D Accessing 2D Array Elements Nested Loops with 2D Arrays Jagged Arrays Common Matrix Operations Recap - Multi-dimensional

4Flow Control Techniques

Early Returns Guard ClausesJump Statements (goto)Break and Continue Flatten Nested Conditionals

7Logical Operators Advanced

Short-Circuit Evaluation Conditional Logical Operators Operator Precedence Recap - Advanced Operators

10HashMap Part 2

HashMap Methods Nested HashMap Recap - Manage Warehouse Recap - HashMap Operations