6.7: The break Statement — Read

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The break statement is used to exit a loop immediately. When MATLAB reaches break, it leaves the loop even if the loop condition would otherwise continue.

Example: Password Check

Suppose we want to keep asking a user for a password until the correct password is entered. We can create an infinite loop using while true, and then use break to exit the loop when the password is correct.

correctPass = 'abc';

while true
    password = input('Please enter your password: ', 's');
    if strcmp(password, correctPass)
        break;
    end
end

disp('Welcome!');

Notice that this example uses strcmp to compare character vectors. In MATLAB, text comparisons should generally be done with functions such as strcmp or strcmpi, not with ==, especially when comparing words or phrases.

Important Correction

When comparing text such as passwords, use strcmp(password, correctPass). Do not rely on password == correctPass for general text comparisons.

When Should You Use break?

The break statement is useful when you want the loop to stop as soon as a certain event happens. For example, you might use break when:

a search value is found,
a correct password is entered,
a user chooses to quit, or
continuing the loop is no longer necessary.

This page titled 6.7: The break Statement was last modified on Tue, 30 Jun 2026 02:11:42 GMT and is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Zara Noroozi.

Contents

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Example: Password Check

When Should You Use break?