Is there such a thing as labeled or unlabeled break in C?

Question

As is the case in Java where the break statement can be labeled or unlabeled, is there a statement in C which is either the equivalent or achieves the same process?

Answer 1

No, there are no labeled break-statements like in Java. You can, however, use the goto-statement to achieve a similar effect. Just declare a label right after the loop you actually want to exit, and use a goto where you would have used a labeled break in Java:

int main() {

    for (int i=0; i<100; i++) {
        switch(i) {
            case 0: printf("just started\n"); break;
            case 10: printf("reached 10\n"); break;
            case 20: printf("reached 20; exiting loop.\n"); goto afterForLoop;
            case 30: printf("Will never be reached."); break;
        }
    }
afterForLoop:

    printf("first statement after for-loop.");

    return 0;
}

Output:

just started
reached 10
reached 20; exiting loop.
first statement after for-loop.

Note that since Dijkstras famous paper Go To Statement Considered Harmful computer scientists have fought hard for banning goto-statements from code, because this statement often introduces much more complexity than control structures like if or while. So be aware what you do and use it wisely (= rarely).