VBA Break For Loop

VBA Break For Loop is also known as the exit for a loop because every process loop has some instructions or criteria to run several times. But, it is very common that some loops get into an infinite loop, thus corrupting the code. In such scenarios, we need a break or exit from the loop to escape certain situations.

Let us say we have instructed the loop to run 10 times. Based on the condition, if the cell value or any other supplied criteria is successful, it has to exit the Excel loop before completing the full loop quota of 10. This article will show you how to exit the loop based on the criteria.

#1 - Break For Next Loop

VBA For Next Loop is used to loop over cells and perform specific tasks. For example, look at the VBA code below.

Code:

Sub Exit_Loop()

 Dim K As Long

 For K = 1 To 10
  Cells(K, 1).Value = K
 Next K

End Sub

It will insert serial numbers from cell A1 to A10.

It is the obvious thing with For Next Loop.

We want to break the loop when we find any value in the first ten cells. For this, we have entered some text values in cell A8.

We want to instruct this in the code, saying, "if the looping cell has a certain value, it has to exit the loop before the pre-determined limit."

Code:

Sub Exit_Loop()

 Dim K As Long

 For K = 1 To 10
  If Cells(K, 1).Value = "" Then
   Cells(K, 1).Value = K
  Else
   Exit For
  End If
 Next K

End Sub

Look at these lines of code:

If Cells(K, 1).Value = "" Then
Cells(K, 1).Value = K
Else
  Exit For
End If

It says If Cells(K, 1). Value = “looping cell is equal to nothing continue the loop of inserting serial numbers from 1 to 10.

The last part of the loop says:

Else

  Exit For

If the above condition is not TRUE, then the “Exit For” loop.

Now run the code. It will insert serial numbers until the A7 cell.

The above code immediately exited the loop without saying anything; how do we know it has exited the loop.

To clear this ambiguity, we need to put one simple VBA message box below.

Code:

Sub Exit_Loop()

 Dim K As Long

 For K = 1 To 10
  If Cells(K, 1).Value = "" Then
   Cells(K, 1).Value = K
  Else
   MsgBox "We got non empty cell, in cell " & 
   Cells(K, 1).Address & vbNewLine & "We are exiting the loop"
   Exit For
  End If
 Next K

End Sub

When looping through the cell, if it finds any non-empty cell, it will display the message saying, "We got non empty cell, in cell A8. We are exiting the loop".

It will also inform the user of the loop's exit with a cell address. We can check the cell address returned in the message box if we enter any value by mistake.

#2 - Break Do Until Loop

Like how we have exited for Next Loop, we can also exit the "Do Until" loop. For example, look at the below code.

Code:

Sub Exit_DoUntil_Loop()

 Dim K As Long
 K = 1

 Do Until K = 11
   Cells(K, 1).Value = K
   K = K + 1
 Loop

End Sub

This code also performs the task of inserting serial numbers. For example, if we wish to exit the loop when the variable "k" value becomes 6, we need to enter the criteria as IF k = 6 and then exit the loop.

Code:

Sub Exit_DoUntil_Loop()

 Dim K As Long
 K = 1

 Do Until K = 11
  If K < 6 Then
  Cells(K, 1).Value = K
  Else
   Exit Do
 End If
 K = K + 1
Loop

End Sub

It will run the loop until the variable value becomes 6. After that, it will exit the loop. If you wish to show the message to the user, you can add the message box.

Code:

Sub Exit_DoUntil_Loop()

 Dim K As Long
 K = 1

 Do Until K = 11
  If K < 6 Then
  Cells(K, 1).Value = K
  Else
 MsgBox "We are exiting the loop because k value is >5"
  Exit Do
  End If
  K = K + 1
 Loop

End Sub

This will show the message below.

Like this, based on the criteria given, we can exit the loop if the criteria are TRUE. Else, we can continue the loop.