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Using loops is a common task in any programming or scripting language. While using a loop, sometimes we need to stop it under a predefined condition.

Like other programming and scripting languages, Bash uses the keyword break to stop any loop.

This article will show you how to stop the execution of a loop. Moreover, we will discuss the topic with necessary examples and explanations to make the topic easier to understand.

We will look at the three most commonly used loops: while, for, and until. Let's start with each one.

Break out of while loop in Bash

You can use the keyword break in a while loop. This stops the execution of the while loop under a specified condition.

Take a look at the following example:

i=0
while [[ $i -lt 15 ]]
do
        if [[ "$i" == '4' ]]
        then
                echo "Number $i! We are going to stop here."
                break
        fi
        echo $i
        ((i++))
done
echo "We are stopped!!!"

In the example shared above, when the value of i is equal to 4, we stopped the while loop.

After executing the above Bash script, you will get an output as shown below:

0
1
2
3
Number 4! We are going to stop here.
We are stopped!!!

Break out of a for loop in Bash

The keyword breakcan also be used to stop a for loop under certain conditions. To do this, see the following example:

for i in {1..15}
do
        if [[ $i == '5' ]]
        then
                echo "Number $i! We are going to stop here."
                break
        fi
        echo "$i"
done
echo "We are stopped!!!"

In the example shared above, when the value of i is equal to 5, we stopped the for loop.

After executing the above Bash script, you will get the following output:

1
2
3
4
Number 5! We are going to stop here.
We are stopped!!!

Break out of until loop in Bash

There is another popular loop in Bash untilwhich can also be stopped by the keyword break. To stop until, you can follow the example shared below:

i=0
until [[ $i -gt 15  ]]
do
        if [[ $i -eq 5  ]]
        then
                echo "Number $i! We are going to stop here."
                break
        fi
        echo $i
        ((i++))
done
echo "We are stopped!!!"

In the example shared above, when the value of i is equal to 5, we will stop the until loop.

After executing the above Bash script, you will get the output as follows:

0
1
2
3
4
Number 5! We are going to stop here.
We are stopped!!!

We can choose any of the above methods depending on the loop.

All the codes used in this article are written in Bash. It will only work in Linux Shell environment.