BreakAnweisung

BreakAnweisung is a programming construct used to terminate the execution of the innermost loop or selection construct in which it appears. It is a control flow statement that allows a program to exit a loop or a switch-like structure before its natural end, transferring control to the first statement after the loop or switch.

In common languages such as C, C++, Java and JavaScript, the BreakAnweisung ends the current loop iteration prematurely or exits the current switch case. For example, inside a for or while loop, a break stops the loop and continues with the statement following the loop. In a switch statement, break ends the current case and prevents fall-through to subsequent cases. Some languages also support labeled breaks, which allow exiting an outer loop by specifying a label, e.g., break outer;.

Python uses a BreakAnweisung to terminate the nearest enclosing loop (for or while). Unlike C/Java, there is no built-in switch statement in Python, so the break is not used to exit a switch, but only loops; there are no labeled breaks in the language.

Common use cases include terminating a loop after a condition is met, breaking out of a search when a desired element is found, or exiting a switch-case after the relevant case has been executed. While BreakAnweisung can simplify control flow, it can also reduce readability if overused; alternative patterns include returning from a function, using boolean flags, or refactoring into smaller functions.

See also: loop control, switch statement, labeled statements.