'BREAK' Statement in 'labeled' blocks.

We have used break statement in while loop, for loop and switch statements. But we can also use break statement within a labeled block. Let's take a look at the example:-

What would be the output of the below code snippet?

{
   var a = 1;
   named: {
      a++;
      break named;
      a++;
   } 
   console.log(a);
}

Output:

2

A break statement should be nested in the referenced label. Here 'named' is the label and break <label-name> is the syntax used to break or bypass the logic in the labeled block named.

Can we use it like the GOTO statement in the labeled blocks? No. Break and Continue can be used in the loops to give you the civilized form of GOTO statement. Let's look at the example

What would be the output of the below code snippet?

label1: {
console.log("I am in Label 1");
break label2:
}

label2: {
console.log("I am Label 2");
}

Output:

SyntaxError: Undefined label 'label2'

So, as we can see in the above example, we cannot jump or goto label2 from label1 using break.

Can I use continue in the labeled blocks? NO. Let's us evaluate the same example and replace break with continue.

{
   var a = 1;
   named: {
      a++;
      continue named; //break replaced with `continue`
      a++;
   } 
   console.log(a);
}

Output:

SyntaxError: Illegal continue statement: 'named' does not denote an iteration statement

Can we have nested labeled blocks? Yes, we can.

firstLabel: {
secondLabel: {
console.log("Hi WebAtoms");
break firstLabel;
console.log("Will you print me?");
}
console.log("Am I in scope?");
}

Output:

Hi WebAtoms

If you look at the snippet, it breaks out of both firstLabel and secondLabel. If I replace the break statement as shown below:-

firstLabel: {
secondLabel: {
console.log("Hi WebAtoms");
break secondLabel;
console.log("Will you print me?");
}
console.log("Am I in scope?");
}

Output:

Hi WebAtoms
Am I in scope?

Can I use break within functions nested in a loop or labeled block? NO, If we try to use break statement within functions that are nested in a loop or labeled block, it will generate SyntaxError. Which also implies, labeled blocks cannot contain functions.

MDN Reference Link

Hope you have learnt something new today. Happy learning.