continue

In Python, the continue keyword within loops lets you skip the rest of the code inside the loop for the current iteration and jump to the next iteration. When you use continue, the loop doesn’t terminate. Instead, it skips the current iteration and moves to the next one.

Python continue Keyword Examples

Here’s a quick example of how the continue keyword works in a for loop:

Python 
>>> for index in range(5):
...     if index == 2:
...         continue
...     print(index)
...
0
1
3
4

In this example, the loop iterates over the range from 0 to 4. When index equals 2, the continue statement is executed, causing the loop to skip the call to print() for that iteration and move to the next number in the range. As a result, 2 isn’t printed.

Python continue Keyword Use Cases

  • Skipping specific iterations in a loop when a certain condition is met
  • Optimize performance by reducing unnecessary computations within loops
Python for Loops: The Pythonic Way

Tutorial

Python for Loops: The Pythonic Way

In this tutorial, you'll learn all about the Python for loop. You'll learn how to use this loop to iterate over built-in data types, such as lists, tuples, strings, and dictionaries. You'll also explore some Pythonic looping techniques and much more.

intermediate best-practices python

For additional information on related topics, take a look at the following resources:

By Leodanis Pozo Ramos • Updated Jan. 6, 2025 • Reviewed by Dan Bader
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