How do I pause, delay,or stop, a loop from looping?

dockhands

I'm using nested loops to search for a match inside a function, (eg. getMatch), but when I finally find my match, I want the function to stop looping. I've found the noLoop() but it seems to be only for draw()? What other way can I stop a for loop from continuing?

Tried exit() too, but I don't want to quit the program. I basically want to pause the loop so I can click on things inside the screen once the match has been made.

Thanks!

REAS

http://processing.org/reference/break.html

dockhands

Hmm yes, this seems to be right. but I don't think it's working quite right for me. I can use this inside many layers inside of a nested loop, right?

condensed code of interest:

                                               //****************************** 4th LOOP SEARCH
                                                try {

                                                htmlList = new HtmlList(findLink3); 
                                                ArrayList links4= (ArrayList) htmlList.getLinks(); 

                                               for(int l = 8;l<38;l++){ 

                                                  String temp4 = links4.get(k).toString();
                                                  String [] wikiLink4Temp = split(temp4, "url:"); 
                                                  //println(wikiLink2[1]);
                                                  String []wikiLink4 = trim(wikiLink4Temp);

                                                  String findLink4 = baseURL + wikiLink4[1];
                                                  println( "Fourth search, item "  + k +" " +  findLink4);

                                                for(int z=0; z < finalNodes.size(); z++){
                                       if (finalNodes.contains(findLink4) == true) {

                                                 println("We found link 4 " + findLink4 + " in finalNodes: " + finalNodes.get(z)+  " that is numberArray " + z);
                                                 println("This is link 1..." + findLink + " ..2.. " + findLink2 + " ..3..." + findLink3 + "..4... " + findLink4); 

                                                  String final_link = finalNodes.get(z).toString();     
                                                  background(250);
                                                fill(100,100,100);
                                                stroke(3);
                                                line(nX,nY*2, nX, nY*5); 
                                                println("should be displaying, why not displaying?");
                                                noStroke();
                                                node1.display(); // query
                                                node2.display(); // findlink
                                                node3.display(); // findlink2
                                                node4.display(); // findlike3
                                                node5.display(); // find link 4
                                                node6.display(); // finalNode.get(z)


                                                        if (mousePressed){ 
                                                                        if (mouseX > nW && mouseX < nX+nW && mouseY > nH && mouseY < nY+nH) {
                                                                          link(URL_query);
                                                                          println("Lisa is the best!");
                                                                        } 
                                                                         if (mouseX > nW && mouseX < nX+nW && mouseY > nH*2 && mouseY < nY*2+nH) {
                                                                            link(findLink);
                                                                          println("Lisa is the 2nd best!");
                                                                        } 
                                                                        if (mouseX > nW && mouseX < nX+nW && mouseY > nH*3 && mouseY < nY*3+nH) {
                                                                          link(findLink2);

                                                                        } 
                                                                        if (mouseX > nW && mouseX < nX+nW && mouseY > nH*4 && mouseY < nY*4+nH) {
                                                                         link(findLink3);

                                                                        } 
                                                                        if (mouseX > nW && mouseX < nX+nW && mouseY > nH*5 && mouseY < nY*5+nH) {
                                                                         link(findLink4);
                                                                        }  
                                                                        if (mouseX > nW && mouseX < nX+nW && mouseY > nH*6 && mouseY < nY*6+nH) {
                                                                         link(final_link);
                                                                        }  
                                                                      }
                                                 break;
                                               //foundConnection(); 
                                              break;


                                               }break;
                                      }

oana

You could use a boolean var and while loop combination.

Here is pseudocode.

    boolean found = false
    while (!found) {
    ...
    // when you do find it
    found = true
    }

Or perhaps use the boolean var in the test clause of your for loop.

boolean found = false
for (int i = 0; !found && i < 10 ; i++) {
        ...
        // when you do find it
  found = true;
}

dockhands

Thanks - very good idea!

PhiLho

"I can use this inside many layers inside of a nested loop, right?"
I suppose you meant "can't".

Little known fact (and rarely used): you can break from an inner loop to the outer one (whatever the level of nesting).

outer:
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
  for (int j = 0; j < 10; j++)
  {
    println("i: " + i + ", j: " + j + " -> " + (i + j));
    if (i + j == 15)
      break outer;
  }
}
exit();

Close of goto (reserved work in Java, not implemented) and only usage of label (the line with :).