PHP continue inside function

Question

This is likely very trivial but I haven't been able to figure it out.

This works:

function MyFunction(){

//Do stuff

}


foreach($x as $y){

MyFunction();

if($foo === 'bar'){continue;}

//Do stuff

echo $output . '<br>';

}

But this doesn't:

function MyFunction(){

//Do stuff

if($foo === 'bar'){continue;}

}


foreach($x as $y){

MyFunction();

//Do stuff

echo $output . '<br>';

}

That yields only 1 $output and then:

Fatal error: Cannot break/continue 1 level

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

score 13 · Accepted Answer · answered May 31 '11 at 06:46

You can't break/continue a loop outside a function, from within a function. However, you can break/continue your loop based on the return value of your function:

function myFunction(){   
    //Do stuff
    return $foo === 'bar';
}


foreach($x as $y) {
    if(myFunction()) {
        continue;
    }

    //Do stuff

    echo $output . '<br>';    
}

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered May 31 '11 at 06:23

7

The continue statement is valid inside looping structures only.

answered May 31 '11 at 06:23

Salman A

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1

Yes this is correct, I would use `return;` if you want to stop executing a function. – Etienne Marais May 31 '11 at 06:57

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 31 '11 at 06:23

1

continue can only skip iterations inside of a looping structure.

Inside of your function, the context of it being ran inside a loop is lost.

answered May 31 '11 at 06:23

alex

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered May 31 '11 at 06:24

The function is compiled separately and could be called from anywhere. Thus, the use of continue makes no sense here as the context is not in that of a loop. If you wish to delegate work to a function here, you should design the function to return some indication of whether to continue or not, such as a TRUE or FALSE return value.

PHP continue inside function

4 Answers4

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