Ruby Language Control Flow Loop control with break, next, and redo

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Example

The flow of execution of a Ruby block may be controlled with the break, next, and redo statements.

break

The break statement will exit the block immediately. Any remaining instructions in the block will be skipped, and the iteration will end:

actions = %w(run jump swim exit macarena)
index = 0

while index < actions.length
  action = actions[index]

  break if action == "exit"

  index += 1
  puts "Currently doing this action: #{action}"
end

# Currently doing this action: run
# Currently doing this action: jump
# Currently doing this action: swim

next

The next statement will return to the top of the block immediately, and proceed with the next iteration. Any remaining instructions in the block will be skipped:

actions = %w(run jump swim rest macarena)
index = 0

while index < actions.length
  action = actions[index]
  index += 1

  next if action == "rest"

  puts "Currently doing this action: #{action}"
end

# Currently doing this action: run
# Currently doing this action: jump
# Currently doing this action: swim
# Currently doing this action: macarena

redo

The redo statement will return to the top of the block immediately, and retry the same iteration. Any remaining instructions in the block will be skipped:

actions = %w(run jump swim sleep macarena)
index = 0
repeat_count = 0

while index < actions.length
  action = actions[index]
  puts "Currently doing this action: #{action}"

  if action == "sleep"
    repeat_count += 1
    redo if repeat_count < 3
  end

  index += 1
end

# Currently doing this action: run
# Currently doing this action: jump
# Currently doing this action: swim
# Currently doing this action: sleep
# Currently doing this action: sleep
# Currently doing this action: sleep
# Currently doing this action: macarena

Enumerable iteration

In addition to loops, these statements work with Enumerable iteration methods, such as each and map:

[1, 2, 3].each do |item|
  next if item.even?
  puts "Item: #{item}"
end

# Item: 1
# Item: 3

Block result values

In both the break and next statements, a value may be provided, and will be used as a block result value:

even_value = for value in [1, 2, 3]
  break value if value.even?
end

puts "The first even value is: #{even_value}"

# The first even value is: 2


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