NAME

       break - exit from for, while, or until loop

SYNOPSIS

       break [n]

DESCRIPTION

       The  break  utility  shall  exit from the smallest enclosing for, while, or until loop, if
       any; or from the nth enclosing loop if n is specified. The  value  of  n  is  an  unsigned
       decimal  integer  greater than or equal to 1. The default shall be equivalent to n=1. If n
       is greater than the number of enclosing loops,  the  outermost  enclosing  loop  shall  be
       exited. Execution shall continue with the command immediately following the loop.

OPTIONS

       None.

OPERANDS

       See the DESCRIPTION.

STDIN

       Not used.

INPUT FILES

       None.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       None.

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS

       Default.

STDOUT

       Not used.

STDERR

       The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.

OUTPUT FILES

       None.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION

       None.

EXIT STATUS

        0     Successful completion.

       >0     The n value was not an unsigned decimal integer greater than or equal to 1.

CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS

       Default.

       The following sections are informative.

APPLICATION USAGE

       None.

EXAMPLES

              for i in * do
                  if test -d "$i" then break fi done

RATIONALE

       In  early proposals, consideration was given to expanding the syntax of break and continue
       to refer to a label associated with the appropriate loop as a  preferable  alternative  to
       the  n method. However, this volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 does reserve the name space of
       command names ending with a colon. It is anticipated that a  future  implementation  could
       take advantage of this and provide something like:

              outofloop: for i in a b c d e
              do
                  for j in 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
                  do
                      if test -r "${i}${j}"
                      then break outofloop
                      fi
                  done
              done

       and that this might be standardized after implementation experience is achieved.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

       None.

SEE ALSO

       Special Built-In Utilities

COPYRIGHT

       Portions  of  this  text  are  reprinted  and  reproduced in electronic form from IEEE Std
       1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology  --  Portable  Operating  System
       Interface  (POSIX), The Open Group Base Specifications Issue 6, Copyright (C) 2001-2003 by
       the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and  The  Open  Group.  In  the
       event  of  any  discrepancy  between this version and the original IEEE and The Open Group
       Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group  Standard  is  the  referee  document.  The
       original Standard can be obtained online at http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html .