Does return stop a loop?

Question

Yes, return stops execution and exits the function. return always** exits its function immediately, with no further execution if it's inside a for loop.

It is easily verified for yourself:

function returnMe() {
  for (var i = 0; i < 2; i++) {
    if (i === 1) return i;
  }
}

console.log(returnMe());

** Notes: See this other answer about the special case of try/catch/finally and this answer about how forEach loops has its own function scope will not break out of the containing function.

In most cases (including this one), return will exit immediately. However, if the return is in a try block with an accompanying finally block, the finally always executes and can "override" the return in the try.

function foo() {
    try {
        for (var i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
            if (i % 3 == 0) {
                return i; // This executes once
            }
        }
    } finally {
        return 42; // But this still executes
    }
}

console.log(foo()); // Prints 42

The return statement stops a loop only if it's inside the function (i.e. it terminates both the loop and the function). Otherwise, you will get this error:

Uncaught SyntaxError: Illegal return statement(…)

To terminate a loop you should use break.

This code will exit the loop after the first iteration in a for of loop:

const objc = [{ name: 1 }, { name: 2 }, { name: 3 }];
for (const iterator of objc) {
  if (iterator.name == 2) {
    return;
  }
  console.log(iterator.name);// 1
}

the below code will jump on the condition and continue on a for of loop:

const objc = [{ name: 1 }, { name: 2 }, { name: 3 }];

for (const iterator of objc) {
  if (iterator.name == 2) {
    continue;
  }
  console.log(iterator.name); // 1  , 3
}