What keywords should I use in a for-loop when using if-statements?

Question

Let's assume that we have a for-loop that will loop through a collection or array of Strings. In that case, I am searching for a specific keyword (ex. hey) here's how I usually achieve that:

for (String result : strings)
{
    if (result == "hey")
    {
        // Do something with that.
        break;
    }
}

Now, the question arises from that code snippet is, should I place a keyword (return or break) when the if-statement returns true so the loop will not continue? If not, what will happen and what's the correct way of going about it.

Edit: What happens when you use break and return? What's the difference?

What happens with return and break in two different situations? — Thanos Paravantis, Jun 14 '15 at 06:29
If that's how you normally "achieve" string comparisons, you should read http://stackoverflow.com/questions/513832/how-do-i-compare-strings-in-java — Jon Skeet, Jun 14 '15 at 06:29
Well one breaks out of the loop and one returns from the method... it's as simple as that. — Jon Skeet, Jun 14 '15 at 06:29

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 14 '15 at 06:31

1

Let's put your code inside a method:

private void foo() 
{
    for (String result : strings)
    {
        if (result.equals("hey"))
        {
            // Do something with that.
            break;
        }
    }
    bar();
}

If you use break;, the loop will terminate and bar will be reached. If you use return, the method will terminate and bar won't be executed.

Note that comparing strings should be done using equals, == compares references and not content.

answered Jun 14 '15 at 06:31

Maroun

94,125
30
188
241

I got you, thanks for that example. And from now on I'll be using the equals method on Strings. So the loop will end once a result is found? – Thanos Paravantis Jun 14 '15 at 06:33
@Thanos If you want it to, use `break` or `return`, depending on whether you want to terminate the method or not. – Maroun Jun 14 '15 at 06:36
Thanks, I'll choose it as the best answer. – Thanos Paravantis Jun 14 '15 at 06:37

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 14 '15 at 06:31

If you know the word can only be found once you can surely place an break; statement so the loop won't continue after finding the match.

If you can have more than one match and you want the if block to be executed for each of those matches you should NOT put the break statement since it will stop the execution of the loop after the first match is found.

What keywords should I use in a for-loop when using if-statements?

2 Answers2