Develop Reference

Why wont this value work in a while loop?

This is essentially what i'm doing
while(true) //cant check for zero, there is more to do here
{
int val = 0;
for(SomeObject i : arrayListOfSomeObjects)
{
if(canDoSomething)
{
val++
}
}
if(val == 0)
{
break;
}
else
{
//do stuff with that nonzero value
}
}
It is strange, because the loop wont yield. As in, stop if unsuccessful. I have a proceedure that will keep going until it finishes, if it does not do anything (or does not meet my conditions in that operation) it wont change the value. Meaning that check on "val" should break the loop. But it doesn't. It just going. I have even printed "val" to the console, yet it returns 0.
At the end of that operation, even if the value IS 0, it keeps going!

Your code is correct.. Try the following..
int val = 1;
while(val>0)
{
//Some operation that will change the value IF successful
}

first int val = 0 supposed to be outside the loop because this will cause the value of the variable val always zero

You might need to make sure you are targeting the 'right' loop by adding a label:
label: while(true) //cant check for zero, there is more to do here
{
// ...
if(val == 0)
{
break label;
}
// ...
}
This will ensure that you break out of the while loop in case the check is in another loop or a switch statement. Otherwise, I am sure that something is causing the problem that you didn't show in your example. Beware of unwanted side-effects.

Why iteration of a block is prevented in java?

retry: {
.........
if(xyz < 5) {
continue retry;
}
}
Problem : continue cannot be used outside of a loop
Why iteration of a block is prevented in java?

It's not supported because noone implemented it, presumably because they thought that, well, loops should be implemented with the loop constructs Java provides.
What you want to do can easily be implemented as a while loop if you invert the condition and use break instead:
while (true) {
.........
if(xyz >= 5) {
break;
}
}
Or why not write it as a regular loop without break or continue?
do {
.........
} while (xyz < 5);

Problem : continue cannot be used outside of a loop
continue is used within a loop i.e. for/while/do-while, if statements are conditional code blocks and not loops.
Learn more about code branching statements here:
https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/branch.html

The purpose of continue keyword is to skip rest of the code inside loop to start with the next pass of loop. So, by it's purpose, continue would not fit in the contexts outside the loops.
goto could be other option for you to reset (or restart) the code of execution. However the best way could be move such part into a method and use recursion along with return under specific conditions to achieve the purpose you are talking about.

As others have pointed out, labels in Java label loops, and are used to specify which loop to break or continue.
That said, if you really want to write "spaghetti code" you can misuse break and continue like for instance:
public class SillyGotoExmple {
public static void main(String args[]) {
int count, loops;
final int NUM_LOOPS=2;
final int MAX_COUNT=10;
loops=0;
bar: do {
count = 0;
foo: do {
System.out.println(count);
if(++count < MAX_COUNT) {
continue foo;
} else if(++loops < NUM_LOOPS) {
continue bar;
} else {
break bar;
}
} while (true);
} while(true);
}
}
For some more discussion on goto in Java, see e.g. Is there a goto statement in Java?

How to use goto statement correctly

I am taking my high school AP Computer Science class.
I decided to throw a goto statement into a one of our labs just to play around, but I got this error.
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.Error: Unresolved compilation problems:
Syntax error on token "goto", assert expected
restart cannot be resolved to a variable
at Chapter_3.Lab03_Chapter3.Factorial.main(Factorial.java:28)
I went to a goto question on Stackoverflow to find out how to do it properly, and I did exactly as was demonstrated in one of the answers. I really don't understand why the compiler wants an assert statement (at least that's what I assume it wants), nor do I have any idea how to use assert. It seems to want the restart part of goto restart; to be a variable, but restart is just a label that pulls the program back up to line 10 so that the user can enter a valid int. If it wants restart to be a variable, how do I do that?
import java.util.*;
public class Factorial
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
int x = 1;
int factValue = 1;
Scanner userInput = new Scanner(System.in);
restart:
System.out.println("Please enter a nonzero, nonnegative value to be factorialized.");
int factInput = userInput.nextInt();
while(factInput<=0)
{
System.out.println("Enter a nonzero, nonnegative value to be factorialized.");
factInput = userInput.nextInt();
}
if(x<1)//This is another way of doing what the above while loop does, I just wanted to have some fun.
{
System.out.println("The number you entered is not valid. Please try again.");
goto restart;
}
while(x<=factInput)
{
factValue*=x;
x++;
}
System.out.println(factInput+"! = "+factValue);
userInput.close();
}
}

As already pointed out by all the answers goto - a reserved word in Java and is not used in the language.
restart: is called an identifier followed by a colon.
Here are a few things you need to take care of if you wish to achieve similar behavior -
outer: // Should be placed exactly before the loop
loopingConstructOne { // We can have statements before the outer but not inbetween the label and the loop
inner:
loopingConstructTwo {
continue; // This goes to the top of loopingConstructTwo and continue.
break; // This breaks out of loopingConstructTwo.
continue outer; // This goes to the outer label and reenters loopingConstructOne.
break outer; // This breaks out of the loopingConstructOne.
continue inner; // This will behave similar to continue.
break inner; // This will behave similar to break.
}
}
I'm not sure of whether should I say similar as I already have.

The Java keyword list specifies the goto keyword, but it is marked as "not used".
This was probably done in case it were to be added to a later version of Java.
If goto weren't on the list, and it were added to the language later on, existing code that used the word goto as an identifier (variable name, method name, etcetera) would break. But because goto is a keyword, such code will not even compile in the present, and it remains possible to make it actually do something later on, without breaking existing code.

If you look up continue and break they accept a "Label". Experiment with that. Goto itself won't work.
public class BreakContinueWithLabel {
public static void main(String args[]) {
int[] numbers= new int[]{100,18,21,30};
//Outer loop checks if number is multiple of 2
OUTER: //outer label
for(int i = 0; i<numbers.length; i++){
if(i % 2 == 0){
System.out.println("Odd number: " + i +
", continue from OUTER label");
continue OUTER;
}
INNER:
for(int j = 0; j<numbers.length; j++){
System.out.println("Even number: " + i +
", break from INNER label");
break INNER;
}
}
}
}
Read more

Java does not support goto, it is reserved as a keyword in case they wanted to add it to a later version

goto doesn't do anything in Java.

Java also does not use line numbers, which is a necessity for a GOTO function. Unlike C/C++, Java does not have goto statement, but java supports label. The only place where a label is useful in Java is right before nested loop statements. We can specify label name with break to break out a specific outer loop.

There is not 'goto' in the Java world. The main reason was developers realized that complex codes which had goto would lead to making the code really pathetic and it would be almost impossible to enhance or maintain the code.
However this code could be modified a little and using the concept of continue and break we could make the code work.
import java.util.*;
public class Factorial
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
int x = 1;
int factValue = 1;
Scanner userInput = new Scanner(System.in);
restart: while(true){
System.out.println("Please enter a nonzero, nonnegative value to be factorialized.");
int factInput = userInput.nextInt();
while(factInput<=0)
{
System.out.println("Enter a nonzero, nonnegative value to be factorialized.");
factInput = userInput.nextInt();
}
if(x<1)//This is another way of doing what the above while loop does, I just wanted to have some fun.
{
System.out.println("The number you entered is not valid. Please try again.");
continue restart;
}
while(x<=factInput)
{
factValue*=x;
x++;
}
System.out.println(factInput+"! = "+factValue);
userInput.close();
break restart;
}
}
}

goto is an unused reserved word in the language. So there is no goto. But, if you want absurdist theater you could coax one out of a language feature of labeling. But, rather than label a for loop which is sometimes useful you label a code block. You can, within that code block, call break on the label, spitting you to the end of the code block which is basically a goto, that only jumps forward in code.
System.out.println("1");
System.out.println("2");
System.out.println("3");
my_goto:
{
System.out.println("4");
System.out.println("5");
if (true) break my_goto;
System.out.println("6");
} //goto end location.
System.out.println("7");
System.out.println("8");
This will print 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8. As the breaking the code block jumped to just after the code block. You can move the my_goto: { and if (true) break my_goto; and } //goto end location. statements. The important thing is just the break must be within the labeled code block.
This is even uglier than a real goto. Never actually do this.
But, it is sometimes useful to use labels and break and it is actually useful to know that if you label the code block and not the loop when you break you jump forward. So if you break the code block from within the loop, you not only abort the loop but you jump over the code between the end of the loop and the codeblock.

Java: infinite loop after an if inside a loop

So I have a loop that is wrapped around a loop and an if statement. When running the program however, it gets out of the inner loop (as planned) and then it fails the if statement (also as planned), resorting to the else statement which is a simple print.
What I /wanted/ to happen was have it then (in the case the if fails), restart to the original inner loop--hence the outer loop. But instead, after it fails the if statement, it begins to loop "phrase2" over and over.
Here is the simplified code:
int x = 1;
int y = 1;
int i = 0;
while(i == 0)
{
while(<condition that is false>)
{
System.out.println("phrase1");
a = input.nextInt();
b = input.nextInt();
}
if(<condition that is false>)
{
i = 1;
}
else
{
System.out.println("phrase2");
}
}
Thanks for your help regardless!
EDIT:
For the sake of emphasis...
What happens:
Infinite loop spewing "phrase2".
What I wanted:
After the else is executed, I wanted to be brought into the inner loop again.

Whatever condition you're using in the inner loop, just make sure it's true.
else
{
System.out.println("phrase2");
// SET THIS TO TRUE: <condition that is false>
}
This way, the inner loop will trigger again.

Your control never enters the below if statement
if(<condition that is false>)
{
i = 1;
}
You might need to adjust your conditions so that it comes into the above if block. Introduce a System.out.println inside if statement to debug

It looks like you have some code that you probably want to run once, unless something went wrong, and then you want to go back and retry. The idiom I usually use for that looks like
boolean needToRetry;
do {
needToRetry = false;
// do whatever
if (somethingWentWrong) {
needToRetry = true;
// set this at any point where you find you will need to go back
}
} while (needToRetry);
The important thing is that you need to reset your flag (needToRetry) at the beginning of the loop, each time. (P.S. There are other ways to do this using break or continue, although I personally don't like using continue.)

Java: "Break" loop from called method?

I've got a bit of an issue with my little program.
I have a JOptionPane asking for a number, and if that number is less than 10, a loop that just continues on and on forever doing what's in it, keeping on asking for numbers. Inside that loop, I call a method, with an int as parameter. In the method, I need to (without altering any of the code in the class that calls the method) find out whether the number I entered is less than 1. If it is, I need to call on another method. That bit's done.
But! The mainloop keeps rolling, so it keeps doing the other stuff in the loop. I need to stop it from doing that, so in the if-statement in the method I need to break that specific iteration of the loop the method is in, and make it go on to a new iteration of the same loop, asking for a new number.
The first class (example):
number=Integer.parseInt( JOptionPane.showInputDialog( "bla bla" ) );
while (number !=- 10) {
themethod(number);
blah
blah
...
}
The called method (example):
public void themethod(int number) {
if (number<1) {
call the other method
break the iteration im in
}

There are a number of things you can do here. Ultimately what you do should depend on your coding style and what you are trying to accomplish.
Option 1 would be some variation of:
for (;;)
{
int number = /* ... */;
myMethod(number);
if (number == -10)
break;
}
You might say, rather subjectively and depending on circumstances, that this is bad, because knowledge of the termination condition is contained in the loop rather than the method doing the "real work". Maybe for your loop that's OK. Maybe in other circumstances (or perhaps with other programmers? This is very much a matter of taste.) you might want to make myMethod make that decision. In general my own personal taste usually leans towards not having scenario knowledge be distributed throughout various methods in source, but in one place.
So most of what I'll write from here on will be how to make myMethod make the decision about whether or not to terminate.
Option 2 - myMethod returns a boolean indicating we should terminate:
for (;;)
{
int number = /* ... */;
if (myMethod(number))
break;
}
boolean myMethod(int number)
{
// TODO - do stuff
return number == -10;
}
But you might say that myMethod already wants to return some other type. I come from very much a C background so the idiom I'm most used to would be the "out parameter". Leading me to option 3:
Option 3 - Out parameter lets caller decide to terminate:
public class CancelIndicator
{
public boolean shouldCancel;
};
CancelIndicator cancel = new CancelIndicator();
while (!cancel.shouldCancel)
{
int number = /* ... */;
myMethod(number, cancel);
}
int myMethod(int number, CancelIndicator cancel)
{
// TODO - do stuff.
cancel.shouldCancel = (number == -10);
return /* ... */;
}
Or maybe you're more a fan of exceptions:
Option 3:
public class CancellationException extends Exception
{
}
try
{
for (;;)
{
int number = /* ... */;
myMethod(numberl);
}
}
catch (CancellationException ex)
{
}
void myMethod(int number) throws CancellationException
{
// TODO - do stuff.
if (number == -10)
throw new CancellationException();
}
As you can see there are a number of options. I'm sure one could spend a whole day talking about different ways to do it. Here is my sample of idioms I have seen - I'll warn you that it's been some time since I've done much in Java so I might not write the most idiomatic code here. :-)

Add a return value indicating that the while should break:
public boolean themethod(int number) {
if(number<1) {
call the other method
return true;
}
return false;
}
Then:
while(number !=-10) {
if(themethod(number)) break;
bla
bla
...
}
Edit: If you can't change the while code, throw an exception from the method:
public void themethod(int number) {
if(number<1) {
call the other method
throw new RuntimeException("Negative Number");
}
}

Wait, so did I get this straight? You have a loop that asks for a number, does something if the number is not -10, and otherwise breaks?
If so, look at this:
while(true) {
number=Integer.parseInt( JOptionPane.showInputDialog( "bla bla" ) );
if(number == -10) {
break;
}
themethod(number);
}
Otherwise, if this is not the case, and you want to break in two cases, the -10 case and the method is false case, you can do this:
Change your method to return a boolean. If it's true, then it doesn't want to break. If it's false then it wants to break, then do this:
while(true) {
number=Integer.parseInt( JOptionPane.showInputDialog( "bla bla" ) );
if(number == -10) {
break;
}
if(!themethod(number)) break;
}
If you really can't edit the loop, then just throw an exception from the method! That will exit your entire program, though. I don't see any other possible way of doing this, however.

Without a return value for themethod(int) and without changing the other class's code, this isn't possible since as it is, there is no return communication. You'll have to change both; it can't be done without changing the logic in the loop.