The `break` Keyword

Part of the Fundamentals section of Coddy's GO journey — lesson 47 of 109.

The break keyword allows us to immediately exit a loop, even if the loop condition would normally continue running.

Let's create a program that counts from 1 to 10 but stops when it reaches 5:

for i := 1; i <= 10; i++ {
    if i > 5 {
        break
    }
    fmt.Println(i)
}
fmt.Println("Loop exited")

After executing this code, the numbers 1 through 5 will show on the screen, followed by the message "Loop exited":

1
2
3
4
5
Loop exited

The break statement causes the loop to immediately stop when i becomes greater than 5. This means the loop never prints the numbers 6 through 10. Instead, it jumps directly to the code after the loop and prints "Loop exited".

Challenge

Easy

In this challenge, you'll practice using the break keyword to exit a loop early.

You have a sequence of numbers from 1 to 10. Your task is to find the first number that is divisible by 3, print it, and then immediately exit the loop using break.

This way, once you find what you're looking for, you don't waste time continuing to search through the rest of the numbers.

Cheat sheet

The break keyword allows you to immediately exit a loop, even if the loop condition would normally continue running.

for i := 1; i <= 10; i++ {
    if i > 5 {
        break
    }
    fmt.Println(i)
}
fmt.Println("Loop exited")

When break is executed, the loop stops immediately and jumps to the code after the loop.

Try it yourself

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
	// Loop through numbers 1 to 10
	for i := 1; i <= 10; i++ {
		fmt.Printf("Checking number: %d\n", i)
		
		// TODO: Check if the current number is divisible by 3
		// If it is, print "Found it: [number]!" and use break to exit the loop
		
	}
	
	fmt.Println("Search complete")
}