Exiting a loop in Java

Question

I'm using Java but I guess this question applies to whatever language. I just want to ask whether it's better practice to exit a loop using a boolean which I toggle within the loop or to just use break;

For example, I was just writing a method to get the valid moves for a Queen in chess.

private static final int[][] DIRS = {{0, 1}, {0, -1}, {1, 0}, {-1, 0}, {1, 1}, {-1, -1}, {-1, 1}, {1, -1}};

public Vector<Move> getValidMoves() {
    Vector<Move> validMoves = new Vector<Move>();

    for (int i = 0; i < DIRS.length; i++) {
        boolean stopped = false;
        int newX = x + DIRS[i][0];
        int newY = y + DIRS[i][1];
        while (!stopped && newX >= 0 && newX < 8 && newY >= 0 && newY < 8) {
            if (board[newX][newY] == null) {
                validMoves.add(new Move(x, y, newX, newY));
                newX += DIRS[i][0];
                newY += DIRS[i][1];
            } else {
                if (board[newX][newY].getColour() == colour) {
                    stopped = true;
                } else {
                    validMoves.add(new Move(x, y, newX, newY));
                    stopped = true;
                }
            }
        }
    }

    return validMoves;
}

If I exit the while loop using break; instead of setting stopped to true like I do it's my understanding that it runs more efficiently but is not the greatest code style.

Answer 1

break exists for the sole reason of exiting a loop, I can't think of any better way to do that.