for each ... break

Question

I feel dirty every time I "break" out of a for-each construct (PHP/Javascript)

So something like this:

// Javascript example

for (object in objectList)
{
   if (object.test == true)
   {
      //do some process on object
      break;
   }

}

For large objectLists I would go through the hassle building a more elegant solution. But for small lists there is no noticeable performance issue and hence "why not?" It's quick and more importantly easy to understand and follow.

But it just "feels wrong". Kind of like a goto statement.

How do you handle this kind of situation?

Answer 1

I use a break. It's a perfectly cromulent solution.

Answer 2

It's quick and more importantly easy to understand and follow.

Don't feel bad about break. Goto is frowned upon because it's quick and more importantly not easy to understand and follow.

Answer 3

See, the break doesn't bug me at all. Programming is built on goto, and for-break - like all control structures - is merely a special-purpose form of goto meant to improve the readability of your code. Don't ever feel bad about writing readable code!

Now, I do feel dirty about direct comparisons to true, especially when using the type-converting equality operator... Oh yeah. What you've written - if (object.test == true) - is equivalent to writing if (object.test), but requires more thought. If you really want that comparison to only succeed if object.test is both a boolean value and true, then you'd use the strict equality operator (===)... Otherwise, skip it.

Answer 4

For small lists, there's no issue with doing this. As you mention, you may want to think about a more 'elegant' solution for large lists (especially lists with unknown sizes).

Sometimes it feels wrong, but it's all right. You'll learn to love break in time.