Breaking/exit nested for in vb.net

How do I get out of nested for or loop in vb.net?

I tried using exit for but it jumped or breaked only one for loop only.

How can I make it for the following:

for each item in itemList
     for each item1 in itemList1
          if item1.text = "bla bla bla" then
                exit for
          end if
     end for
end for

Solution 1:

Unfortunately, there's no exit two levels of for statement, but there are a few workarounds to do what you want:

  • Goto. In general, using goto is considered to be bad practice (and rightfully so), but using goto solely for a forward jump out of structured control statements is usually considered to be OK, especially if the alternative is to have more complicated code.

    For Each item In itemList
        For Each item1 In itemList1
            If item1.Text = "bla bla bla" Then
                Goto end_of_for
            End If
        Next
    Next
    
    end_of_for:
    
  • Dummy outer block

    Do
        For Each item In itemList
            For Each item1 In itemList1
                If item1.Text = "bla bla bla" Then
                    Exit Do
                End If
            Next
        Next
    Loop While False
    

    or

    Try
        For Each item In itemlist
            For Each item1 In itemlist1
                If item1 = "bla bla bla" Then
                    Exit Try
                End If
            Next
        Next
    Finally
    End Try
    
  • Separate function: Put the loops inside a separate function, which can be exited with return. This might require you to pass a lot of parameters, though, depending on how many local variables you use inside the loop. An alternative would be to put the block into a multi-line lambda, since this will create a closure over the local variables.

  • Boolean variable: This might make your code a bit less readable, depending on how many layers of nested loops you have:

    Dim done = False
    
    For Each item In itemList
        For Each item1 In itemList1
            If item1.Text = "bla bla bla" Then
                done = True
                Exit For
            End If
        Next
        If done Then Exit For
    Next
    

Solution 2:

Put the loops in a subroutine and call return