Skip for-Loop to Next Iteration in R (Example)

In this article you’ll learn how to stop the currently running iteration of a loop and move on to the next iteration in the R programming language.

The article consists of one example for the skipping of iterations in loops. To be more specific, the article is structured as follows:

Let’s jump right to the example.

Example: Skipping Certain Iterations of for-Loop

The following syntax illustrates how to move to the next iteration in case a certain if-statement is TRUE. Let’s first create a basic for-loop in R:

for(i in 1:10) {        # Regular for-loop
  cat(paste("Iteration", i, "was finished.\n"))
}
# Iteration 1 was finished.
# Iteration 2 was finished.
# Iteration 3 was finished.
# Iteration 4 was finished.
# Iteration 5 was finished.
# Iteration 6 was finished.
# Iteration 7 was finished.
# Iteration 8 was finished.
# Iteration 9 was finished.
# Iteration 10 was finished.

As you can see based on the previous output of the RStudio console, our for-loop returns the sentence “Iteration i was finished.” whenever an iteration runs until the end.

Now, let’s implement an if-condition, which sometimes stops the currently running iteration. For this task, we can use the next function as shown below:

for(i in 1:10) {        # for-loop containing next function
 
  if(i %in% c(2, 5, 8)) next
 
  cat(paste("Iteration", i, "was finished.\n"))
}
# Iteration 1 was finished.
# Iteration 3 was finished.
# Iteration 4 was finished.
# Iteration 6 was finished.
# Iteration 7 was finished.
# Iteration 9 was finished.
# Iteration 10 was finished.

Compare this output with the previous output. As you can see, the iterations 2, 5, and 8 were skipped.

Note that we could apply this R code to different types of loops such as for-loops or while-loops.

Video, Further Resources & Summary

Some time ago I have published a video on my YouTube channel, which shows the R programming syntax of this article. You can find the video below.

In addition, you might have a look at the related articles on my website:

• break & next Functions in R for-loop
• Name Variables in for-Loop Dynamically
• Print ggplot2 Plot within for-Loop
• for-Loop in R
• while-Loop in R
• Loops in R
• The R Programming Language

In summary: In this article you learned how to skip an iteration in case an if-condition is fulfilled in the R programming language. In case you have any additional questions, let me know in the comments below.