How can I use continue statement in .ForEach() method

Question

Is there an equivalent to the continue statement in ForEach method?

List<string> lst = GetIdList();
lst.ForEach(id =>
{
     try
     {
       var article = GetArticle(id);
       if (article.author.contains("Twain"))
       {
         //want to jump out of the foreach now
         //continue; **************this is what i want to do*******

       }

       //other code follows
   }

EDIT: Thanks for all the great answers. And thank you for the clarification that .foreach is not an extension method. I use this structure to keep the coding style consistent (a different programmer worked on another similar method in the same class)...and thanks for the links to why to avoid using .foreach.

if you want to use foraech so bad, use regular foreach instead — maxlego, Nov 30 '11 at 21:53
At the risk of overemphasizing, *please* please please please **please** use a standard foreach loop. — Anthony Pegram, Nov 30 '11 at 21:55
Recheck the term "continue". Inside a loop, 'continue' means "stop processing this item and go to the next". The keyword to exit processing completely is "break" — The Evil Greebo, May 19 '16 at 12:52

cadrell0 · Answer 1 · 2011-11-30T21:58:43.340

81

A) ForEach is not LINQ, it is a method on List<T>.
B) Just use foreach.
C) return will do it.

Edit

Just to clarify, what you are doing is providing a method that will be called for each entry in the list. return will just apply to the method for that member. The rest of the members in the list will still call the method.

edited Nov 30 '11 at 21:58

answered Nov 30 '11 at 21:52

cadrell0

17,109
5
51
69

score 27 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 02 '21 at 01:10

Personally, I would just use a standard foreach loop instead of List<T>.ForEach.

In this case, you can invert the condition (to avoid the code in that case) or call return, since your goal is to use a continue statement. However, if you wanted to break, this would not work. That being said, there are quite a few other reasons to avoid List<T>.ForEach, so I would consider switching this to a normal foreach statement.

score 13 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 30 '11 at 21:51

Just invert your if condition:

lst.ForEach(id => {
                      var article = GetArticle(id);
                      if (!article.author.contains("Twain"))
                      {
                          // other code here
                      }
                  });

score 4 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 30 '11 at 21:57

The method you're using is List<T>.ForEach, a method defined on the class and not a LINQ extension method. This question actually has nothing to do with LINQ.

return; in the delegate passed to List<T>.ForEach should approximate using continue; in an actual foreach construct.

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered May 10 '17 at 12:20

To answer your question:

List<string> lst = GetIdList();
lst.ForEach(id =>
{
    try
    {
        var article = GetArticle(id);
        if (article.author.contains("Twain"))
            goto _continue;
    }

    //other code follows

    _continue:;
}

The other answers are right, avoid .ForEach().
goto should be avoided as well, although it's sometimes useful for shortcutting code blocks.

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 30 '11 at 21:55

1

Continue in a foreach will loop back up to the top of the loop to the next item in the sequence. If that's what you want, return should do it. If you want to exit entirely, you may want to rewrite it using an actual LINQ method like Any().

answered Nov 30 '11 at 21:55

Mike

301
3
10

How can I use continue statement in .ForEach() method

6 Answers6