Oracle PL/SQL CONTINUE T-SQL · Control-of-Flow · CONTINUE

T-SQL CONTINUE Statement

Master T-SQL CONTINUE — skip the rest of the current loop iteration. In-loop filtering, the critical 'increment before CONTINUE' rule, the infinite-loop trap to avoid, and comparison with BREAK.

What is CONTINUE?

CONTINUE skips the rest of the current iteration of the innermost WHILE loop and jumps back to the top — where the loop condition is re-evaluated. The loop keeps going; only the current pass is cut short.

Use it when, partway through processing an item, you decide "this one isn't relevant — go to the next" without bailing out of the whole loop.

Common Uses

Filtering inside a loop. Skip rows, items, or values that don't meet your criteria.
Avoiding deeper nesting. Replace IF (good) BEGIN ... lots of code ... END with an early CONTINUE on the bad-case, leaving the main code at the loop's top level.

Syntax

WHILE condition BEGIN -- some statements IF skip_this_one BEGIN CONTINUE; END -- skipped if CONTINUE fired END

⚠️ Update your counter BEFORE CONTINUE. If SET @i = @i + 1; sits after CONTINUE in your loop body, it never runs when CONTINUE fires — and the WHILE condition stays true forever. The result is an infinite loop. Always advance the counter before the CONTINUE.

Examples

Example 1 — Skipping One Value

T-SQL — Print 1 to 10, but skip 6

DECLARE @i INT = 0;

WHILE @i < 10
BEGIN
    SET @i = @i + 1;            -- IMPORTANT: increment first

    IF @i = 6
        CONTINUE;               -- skip the PRINT below for 6

    PRINT 'i value: ' + CAST(@i AS VARCHAR(10));
END

OUTPUT

Messages

Commands completed successfully.

i value: 1

i value: 2

i value: 3

i value: 4

i value: 5

i value: 7

i value: 8

i value: 9

i value: 10

Notice 6 is missing. When @i = 6, CONTINUE jumped back to the top of the loop, skipping the PRINT.

Example 2 — Filter Even Numbers Only

T-SQL — Print only odd numbers

DECLARE @i INT = 0;

WHILE @i < 10
BEGIN
    SET @i = @i + 1;

    -- Skip even numbers
    IF @i % 2 = 0
        CONTINUE;

    PRINT 'Odd: ' + CAST(@i AS VARCHAR(10));
END

OUTPUT

Messages

Commands completed successfully.

Odd: 1

Odd: 3

Odd: 5

Odd: 7

Odd: 9

Example 3 — The Infinite-Loop Trap

Here's the bug to avoid — same logic as Example 1, but the increment is in the wrong place:

T-SQL — DON'T DO THIS — INFINITE LOOP

DECLARE @i INT = 0;

WHILE @i < 10
BEGIN
    IF @i = 6
        CONTINUE;               -- ⚠️ jumps back to WHILE — @i is still 6 forever

    PRINT 'i value: ' + CAST(@i AS VARCHAR(10));
    SET @i = @i + 1;            -- ⚠️ never reached when @i = 6
END

OUTPUT

Messages

Query cancelled by user — infinite loop

i value: 0

i value: 1

i value: 2

i value: 3

i value: 4

i value: 5

(loop spins forever at @i = 6 — must be cancelled)

Once @i becomes 6, CONTINUE skips the increment and jumps back to the WHILE condition. @i is still 6, so the IF fires again, CONTINUE again, forever. The fix: move SET @i = @i + 1 above the CONTINUE, as shown in Example 1.

CONTINUE vs BREAK

Statement	Where it goes	Loop continues?
`CONTINUE`	Top of the loop — re-evaluates the WHILE condition	Yes — next iteration runs if condition still TRUE
`BREAK`	First statement after the loop's `END`	No — loop is finished entirely

Conclusion

CONTINUE skips the rest of the current iteration and re-tests the WHILE condition.
Affects only the innermost loop, just like BREAK.
Always advance the loop counter before CONTINUE — otherwise you've built an infinite loop.
Useful for in-loop filtering ("skip even numbers", "skip rows with NULL date") — keeps the main path of the loop body un-indented.