[perl] How do I break out of a loop in Perl?

I'm trying to use a break statement in a for loop, but since I'm also using strict subs in my Perl code, I'm getting an error saying:

Bareword "break" not allowed while "strict subs" in use at ./final.pl line 154.

Is there a workaround for this (besides disabling strict subs)?

My code is formatted as follows:

for my $entry (@array){
    if ($string eq "text"){
         break;
    }
}

This question is related to perl loops break strict

The answer is


On a large iteration I like using interrupts. Just press Ctrl + C to quit:

my $exitflag = 0;
$SIG{INT} = sub { $exitflag=1 };

while(!$exitflag) {
    # Do your stuff
}

For Perl one-liners with implicit loops (using -n or -p command line options), use last or last LINE to break out of the loop that iterates over input records. For example, these simple examples all print the first 2 lines of the input:

echo 1 2 3 4 | xargs -n1 | perl -ne 'last if $. == 3; print;'
echo 1 2 3 4 | xargs -n1 | perl -ne 'last LINE if $. == 3; print;'
echo 1 2 3 4 | xargs -n1 | perl -pe 'last if $. == 3;'
echo 1 2 3 4 | xargs -n1 | perl -pe 'last LINE if $. == 3;'

All print:

1
2

The perl one-liners use these command line flags:
-e : tells Perl to look for code in-line, instead of in a file.
-n : loop over the input one line at a time, assigning it to $_ by default.
-p : same as -n, also add print after each loop iteration over the input.

SEE ALSO:

last docs
last, next, redo, continue - an illustrated example
perlrun: command line switches docs


More examples of last in Perl one-liners:

Break one liner command line script after first match
Print the first N lines of a huge file


Simply last would work here:

for my $entry (@array){
    if ($string eq "text"){
         last;
    }
}

If you have nested loops, then last will exit from the innermost loop. Use labels in this case:

LBL_SCORE: {
    for my $entry1 (@array1) {
        for my $entry2 (@array2) {
            if ($entry1 eq $entry2) { # Or any condition
                last LBL_SCORE;
            }
        }
    }
 }

Given a last statement will make the compiler to come out from both the loops. The same can be done in any number of loops, and labels can be fixed anywhere.


On a large iteration I like using interrupts. Just press Ctrl + C to quit:

my $exitflag = 0;
$SIG{INT} = sub { $exitflag=1 };

while(!$exitflag) {
    # Do your stuff
}

Additional data (in case you have more questions):

FOO: {
       for my $i ( @listone ){
          for my $j ( @listtwo ){
                 if ( cond( $i,$j ) ){

                    last FOO;  # --->
                                   # |
                 }                 # |
          }                        # |
       }                           # |
 } # <-------------------------------

Additional data (in case you have more questions):

FOO: {
       for my $i ( @listone ){
          for my $j ( @listtwo ){
                 if ( cond( $i,$j ) ){

                    last FOO;  # --->
                                   # |
                 }                 # |
          }                        # |
       }                           # |
 } # <-------------------------------

Simply last would work here:

for my $entry (@array){
    if ($string eq "text"){
         last;
    }
}

If you have nested loops, then last will exit from the innermost loop. Use labels in this case:

LBL_SCORE: {
    for my $entry1 (@array1) {
        for my $entry2 (@array2) {
            if ($entry1 eq $entry2) { # Or any condition
                last LBL_SCORE;
            }
        }
    }
 }

Given a last statement will make the compiler to come out from both the loops. The same can be done in any number of loops, and labels can be fixed anywhere.


Additional data (in case you have more questions):

FOO: {
       for my $i ( @listone ){
          for my $j ( @listtwo ){
                 if ( cond( $i,$j ) ){

                    last FOO;  # --->
                                   # |
                 }                 # |
          }                        # |
       }                           # |
 } # <-------------------------------

Examples related to perl

The program can't start because api-ms-win-crt-runtime-l1-1-0.dll is missing while starting Apache server on my computer "End of script output before headers" error in Apache Perl - Multiple condition if statement without duplicating code? How to decrypt hash stored by bcrypt Split a string into array in Perl Turning multiple lines into one comma separated line String compare in Perl with "eq" vs "==" how to remove the first two columns in a file using shell (awk, sed, whatever) Find everything between two XML tags with RegEx Difference between \w and \b regular expression meta characters

Examples related to loops

How to increment a letter N times per iteration and store in an array? Angular 2 Cannot find control with unspecified name attribute on formArrays What is the difference between i = i + 1 and i += 1 in a 'for' loop? Prime numbers between 1 to 100 in C Programming Language Python Loop: List Index Out of Range JavaScript: Difference between .forEach() and .map() Why does using from __future__ import print_function breaks Python2-style print? Creating an array from a text file in Bash Iterate through dictionary values? C# Wait until condition is true

Examples related to break

How to break a while loop from an if condition inside the while loop? illegal use of break statement; javascript How can I use break or continue within for loop in Twig template? break statement in "if else" - java Regarding Java switch statements - using return and omitting breaks in each case Is it bad practice to use break to exit a loop in Java? break/exit script Breaking out of a for loop in Java How to break out of while loop in Python? How to kill a while loop with a keystroke?

Examples related to strict

Error message "Strict standards: Only variables should be passed by reference" PHP 5 disable strict standards error How do I break out of a loop in Perl?