title: 'SyntaxError: continue must be inside loop'
slug: Web/JavaScript/Reference/Errors/Bad_continue
page-type: javascript-error
sidebar: jssidebar
The JavaScript exception "continue must be inside loop" occurs when a {{jsxref("Statements/continue", "continue")}} statement is not inside a loop statement.
Message
SyntaxError: Illegal continue statement: no surrounding iteration statement (V8-based)
SyntaxError: Illegal continue statement: 'label' does not denote an iteration statement (V8-based)
SyntaxError: continue must be inside loop (Firefox)
SyntaxError: 'continue' is only valid inside a loop statement. (Safari)
SyntaxError: Cannot continue to the label 'label' as it is not targeting a loop. (Safari)
Error type
{{jsxref("SyntaxError")}}.
What went wrong?
{{jsxref("Statements/continue", "continue")}} statements can be used to continue a loop, and using them elsewhere is a syntax error. Alternatively, you can provide a label to the continue statement to continue any loop with that label — however, if the label does not reference a containing statement, another error SyntaxError: label not found will be thrown, and if the label references a statement that is not a loop, a syntax error is still thrown.
Examples
Using continue in callbacks
If you want to proceed with the next iteration in a {{jsxref("Array/forEach", "forEach()")}} loop, use {{jsxref("Statements/return", "return")}} instead, or convert it to a {{jsxref("Statements/for...of", "for...of")}} loop.
array.forEach((value) => {
if (value === 5) {
continue; // SyntaxError: continue must be inside loop
}
// do something with value
});
array.forEach((value) => {
if (value === 5) {
return;
}
// do something with value
});
for (const value of array) {
if (value === 5) {
continue;
}
// do something with value
}
See also
- {{jsxref("Statements/continue", "continue")}}