Difference between Return and Break statements
break
is used to exit (escape) the for
-loop, while
-loop, switch
-statement that you are currently executing.
return
will exit the entire method you are currently executing (and possibly return a value to the caller, optional).
So to answer your question (as others have noted in comments and answers) you cannot use either break
nor return
to escape an if-else
-statement per se. They are used to escape other scopes.
Consider the following example. The value of x
inside the while
-loop will determine if the code below the loop will be executed or not:
void f()
{
int x = -1;
while(true)
{
if(x == 0)
break; // escape while() and jump to execute code after the the loop
else if(x == 1)
return; // will end the function f() immediately,
// no further code inside this method will be executed.
do stuff and eventually set variable x to either 0 or 1
...
}
code that will be executed on break (but not with return).
....
}
break
is used when you want to exit from the loop, while return
is used to go back to the step where it was called or to stop further execution.