Maybe that snippet of code was inside a loop (for/while/do...while)? otherwise it does not make any sense to put a continue inside a conditional statement.

As a matter of fact, an orphaned continue (e.g.: one that is not nested somewhere inside a loop statement) will produce a continue cannot be used outside of a loop error at compile time.

Answer from Óscar López on Stack Overflow
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W3Schools
w3schools.com › java › java_break.asp
Java Break and Continue
The break statement can also be used to jump out of a loop. ... The continue statement breaks one iteration (in the loop), if a specified condition occurs, and continues with the next iteration in the loop.
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Quora
quora.com › Can-we-use-continue-in-an-if-statement-in-Java
Can we use continue in an if statement in Java? - Quora
Answer (1 of 3): If your if statement is inside a loop, then yes, you can use a continue statement within the if statement. The continue statement is associated with the surrounding loop, and has nothing to do with the if statement itself.
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Tutorialspoint
tutorialspoint.com › java › java_continue_statement.htm
Java - continue Statement
Once x is 15, continue statement will jump the while loop while skipping the execution of the body and loop continues. public class Test { public static void main(String args[]) { int x = 10; while( x < 20 ) { x++; if(x == 15){ continue; } System.out.print("value of x : " + x ); System.out.print("\n"); } } }
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Programiz
programiz.com › java-programming › continue-statement
Java continue Statement (With Examples)
To learn about the break statement, visit Java break. Here, we will learn about the continue statement. The continue statement skips the current iteration of a loop (for, while, do...while, etc). After the continue statement, the program moves to the end of the loop.
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Career Karma
careerkarma.com › blog › java › how to use the java continue statement
How to Use the Java continue Statement | Career Karma
December 1, 2023 - continue is a keyword. This means the continue statement stands alone in a program. The continue keyword is often part of a Java if statement to determine whether a certain condition is met.
Top answer
1 of 12
531

continue is kind of like goto. Are you familiar with break? It's easier to think about them in contrast:

  • break terminates the loop (jumps to the code below it).

  • continue terminates the rest of the processing of the code within the loop for the current iteration, but continues the loop.

2 of 12
424

A continue statement without a label will re-execute from the condition the innermost while or do loop, and from the update expression of the innermost for loop. It is often used to early-terminate a loop's processing and thereby avoid deeply-nested if statements. In the following example continue will get the next line, without processing the following statement in the loop.

while (getNext(line)) {
  if (line.isEmpty() || line.isComment())
    continue;
  // More code here
}

With a label, continue will re-execute from the loop with the corresponding label, rather than the innermost loop. This can be used to escape deeply-nested loops, or simply for clarity.

Sometimes continue is also used as a placeholder in order to make an empty loop body more clear.

for (count = 0; foo.moreData(); count++)
  continue;

The same statement without a label also exists in C and C++. The equivalent in Perl is next.

This type of control flow is not recommended, but if you so choose you can also use continue to simulate a limited form of goto. In the following example the continue will re-execute the empty for (;;) loop.

aLoopName: for (;;) {
  // ...
  while (someCondition)
  // ...
    if (otherCondition)
      continue aLoopName;
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DataCamp
datacamp.com › doc › java › continue
continue Keyword in Java: Usage & Examples
public class ContinueNestedLoopExample { public static void main(String[] args) { for (int i = 1; i <= 3; i++) { for (int j = 1; j <= 3; j++) { if (j == 2) { continue; // Skip when j is 2 } System.out.println("i = " + i + ", j = " + j); } } } }
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DigitalOcean
digitalocean.com › community › tutorials › java-continue-statement
Java continue statement | DigitalOcean
August 4, 2022 - Some important points about java continue statement are; For simple cases, continue statement can be easily replaced with if-else conditions but when we have multiple if-else conditions then using continue statement makes our code more readable.
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BeginnersBook
beginnersbook.com › 2017 › 08 › java-continue-statement
Continue Statement in Java with example
public class ContinueExample3 { public static void main(String args[]){ int j=0; do { if (j==7) { j++; continue; } System.out.print(j+ " "); j++; }while(j<10); } } Output: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 · ❮ PreviousNext ❯ · For loop in Java with example · Java Integer byteValue() Method ·
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Baeldung
baeldung.com › home › java › core java › the java continue and break keywords
The Java continue and break Keywords | Baeldung
January 8, 2024 - In this quick article, we’ll introduce continue and break Java keywords and focus on how to use them in practice. Simply put, execution of these statements causes branching of the current control flow and terminates the execution of the code in the current iteration. The break statement comes in two forms: unlabeled and labeled. We can use the unlabeled statement to terminate a for, while or do-while loop as well as the switch-case block: for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) { if (i == 3) { break; } }
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CodeGym
codegym.cc › java blog › keywords in java › break statement in java
Break Statement in Java
April 3, 2025 - public class Driver { public static void main(String[] args) { // Testing both break and continue statements side by side String [] weekdays = { "Sunday", "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday" }; System.out.println("Test Break statement in While loop"); System.out.println("\nWorking Days:\n"); int i = 0; while (i < weekdays.length ) { if (weekdays[i].equals("Saturday") || weekdays[i].equals("Sunday")) { i++; break; // Not any working day will be printed // because the loop breaks on Sunday // once the loop breaks it moves out of the loop } System.out.println(weekda
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Software Testing Help
softwaretestinghelp.com › home › java › java continue statement – how to use continue in java
Java Continue Statement - How To Use Continue In Java
April 1, 2025 - Answer: Yes, we can use continue in Java by specifying some conditions inside a loop. ... Answer: Yes, you can use a continue statement Java with a while loop (as illustrated above).
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W3Schools
w3schools.com › java › ref_keyword_continue.asp
Java continue Keyword
assert abstract boolean break byte case catch char class continue default do double else enum exports extends final finally float for if implements import instanceof int interface long module native new package private protected public return requires short static super switch synchronized this throw throws transient try var void volatile while Java String Methods
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Scaler
scaler.com › home › topics › java › continue statement in java
Continue Statement in Java | Scaler Topics
April 27, 2024 - Continue in Java is a loop control statement. The continue statement helps us to skip the current iteration of a loop forcibly. ... The continue statement can also be used in nested loops. If required, we can label it.
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GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › java › continue-statement-in-java
Java Continue Statement - GeeksforGeeks
July 23, 2025 - // Java Program to illustrate the use of continue statement public class Geeks { public static void main(String args[]) { // For loop for iteration for (int i = 0; i <=5; i++) { // Check condition for continue // skip the execution of loop when i==3 if (i == 3) continue; System.out.print(i + " "); } } } Output ·
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DataCamp
datacamp.com › doc › java › java-break-and-continue
Java Break and Continue
public class BreakExample { public ... 5. As a result, the numbers 0 through 4 are printed. The continue keyword is used to skip the current iteration of a loop and proceed to the next iteration....
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Medium
medium.com › @AlexanderObregon › java-for-beginners-understanding-break-and-continue-2e36a5bfd180
Java for Beginners — Understanding Break and Continue
March 18, 2024 - While Loop: The while loop is used when the number of iterations is not known before the loop starts. Instead, it continues as long as a specified condition is true. The condition is evaluated before the execution of the loop's body; hence, if the condition is false initially, the loop body will not be executed even once.
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Medium
medium.com › @iamthatsoftwareguy › understanding-break-continue-and-labeled-statements-in-java-loops-8bdfa932c28a
Understanding break, continue, and Labeled Statements in Java Loops | by iamthatsoftwareguy | Medium
October 15, 2024 - outerLoop: for (int i = 1; i <= ... break and continue help you control how loops run. break stops a loop, while continue skips a round....
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DevQA
devqa.io › java-continue-break-statements
Java's Break and Continue Statements with Code Examples
This can be particularly useful when a specific condition is met and there’s no need to continue looping. Consider the following code snippet, which demonstrates the break statement within a while loop: public class BreakExample { public static void main(String[] args) { int count = 0; while (count < 10) { System.out.println("Count: " + count); if (count == 5) { break; // Terminate the loop when count reaches 5 } count++; } System.out.println("Loop terminated."); } }