MATLAB - Break Statement

Break statement in MATLAB is used for breaking out of an iterative loop, for or while loop. The break in MATLAB is similar to the break statements in other programming languages such as C, C++, Python, etc. We will see how to break out of a single for or while loop and the nested implementation of the same.

Syntax:

• For loop

for <iteration condition>

statement 1

--------------

break conditional

break

end

• While loop

while <condition>

statement 1

--------------

break conditional

break

end

We will use a loop that returns the first complete divisor of a number in the specified range.

Example 1:

S

Output:

We will use the same case with the while loop to see the usage of a break in the while loop.

Example 2:

% MATLAB code for break in the while loop.
% Number whose first divisor is to be calculated
num = 35;  
i=2;

%starting the while loop
while true
    rem = mod(num,i);
    
    % Condition for break
    if(rem==0)
        break
    end
    %incrementing i
    i=i+1;  
end

% Displaying the divisor
disp(i)

Output:

Using the break statement with nested loops.

We will find the index of number 23 in magic square of 5x5 using nested loops.

Example 3:

% MATLAB code for update
arr = magic(5);
index=[-1 -1];

% Finding if 23 exits in arr and returning the index else, return -1
for i=1:5
    for j=1:5
    % Checks if arr(i,j) is 23 
        if(arr(i,j) == 23)    
            index = [i j];    
            break        
            % Breaks the inner loop if 23 is found
        end
    end
    % Checks if value of row is changed 
    if(index(1)~=-1)    
        % Breaks the outer loop if row is not -1
        break            
    end
end
% Displays the index of 23 in magic(5) 
disp("index is = ")
disp(index)        

Output:

As can be seen, 23 is located in the 1st column of the 2nd row thus, the index is 2,1.