Break: altering the control flow in Ruby

The break statement

When the condition is true, the Break statement in Ruby is used to end the loop. Because a while loop prints output only while the condition is true and exits when the condition is false, break statements are typically used in while loops. Within the loop, the break statement is employed. The break keyword executes the break statement. For, while, case-control statements can also use break statements. This is how the change of control flow in Ruby takes place using the break statement.

Working of the break Statement

The break statement allows us to avoid executing code that isn't necessary while also protecting our expensive resources and processes. Let us take a deeper look at how the break statement works in Ruby.

• The condition block is executed in the while and for statements, the conditions are verified each time, and if they are met, the code block gets executed once again.
• The failure of the condition block is one approach to stop the execution. Using a break statement is another technique to achieve the same results.
• The control flow now shifts out of the loop and begins to execute the next lines of code. 

Examples

Let us look at some example to understand the usage of break in ruby.

Code 1

i = 1
  # using while loop
while true   
  
    if i * 6 >= 30
          
        # using break statement
        break  
          
    # ending of if statement    
    end   
      
    puts i * 6   
    i += 1
      
# ending of while loop
end  

You can also try this code with Online Ruby Compiler

Run Code

Output:

6
12
18
24

Code 2

for number in 0..10
if number > 5 then
break
end
puts "The number is #{number}"
end

You can also try this code with Online Ruby Compiler

Run Code

Output:

The number is 0
The number is 1
The number is 2
The number is 3
The number is 4
The number is 5

break with a value

Every syntactic element in Ruby is an expression that can contain a value. The loop or iterator that the break statement is intended to break out of can have a value specified. A single phrase or a set of expressions separated by commas can come after the break keyword. The loop expression's value or the iterator method's return value is nil if break is called without any expression. When the break operator is applied to a single expression, the value of that expression becomes the loop expression or the iterator's return. Additionally, if break is used in conjunction with many expressions, the values of those expressions are collected into an array, and the value of that array serves as the loop expression or the iterator's return value.

The value of a while loop that ends normally and without a break is always nil. The iterator method specifies the return value of an iterator that terminates normally. Many iterators just return the object on which they were called.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a control flow in Ruby?

A control flow construct is a language feature that alters the natural flow of the source code by conditionally or unconditionally branching to a different statement or location. Programming and web development both depend on control flow.

What are loops in Ruby?

Programming languages provide looping feature that makes it possible to continually execute a set of instructions or functions depending on whether any of the conditions are true or false. The control flow in ruby remains unaffected by this feature. Ruby has various loop types for handling condition-based scenarios in programs, making the programmer's job easier. The Ruby loops are while loop, for loop, do..while loop, and until loop.

Which statements in Ruby can alter the control flow?

return, break, next, redo, and retry are the statements that can alter the control flow in Ruby.

What value does break return in Ruby?

A break is called from inside a loop altering the control flow in Ruby. It will put you right after the innermost loop you are in. Hence it returns no value.

Conclusion

In this article, we have extensively discussed Break: altering the control flow in Ruby language. We began with a brief introduction to Ruby, followed by a list of all the statements that alter the control flow in Ruby, and looked at the break statement in detail. 

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