How can I use break or continue within for loop in Twig template?

Question

I try to use a simple loop, in my real code this loop is more complex, and I need to break this iteration like:

{% for post in posts %}
    {% if post.id == 10 %}
        {# break #}
    {% endif %}
    <h2>{{ post.heading }}</h2>
{% endfor %}

How can I use behavior of break or continue of PHP control structures in Twig?

Answer 1

From docs TWIG docs:

Unlike in PHP, it's not possible to break or continue in a loop.

But still:

You can however filter the sequence during iteration which allows you to skip items.

Example 1 (for huge lists you can filter posts using slice, slice(start, length)):

{% for post in posts|slice(0,10) %}
    <h2>{{ post.heading }}</h2>
{% endfor %}

Example 2:

{% for post in posts if post.id < 10 %}
    <h2>{{ post.heading }}</h2>
{% endfor %}

You can even use own TWIG filters for more complexed conditions, like:

{% for post in posts|onlySuperPosts %}
    <h2>{{ post.heading }}</h2>
{% endfor %}

Answer 2

This can be nearly done by setting a new variable as a flag to break iterating:

{% set break = false %}
{% for post in posts if not break %}
    <h2>{{ post.heading }}</h2>
    {% if post.id == 10 %}
        {% set break = true %}
    {% endif %}
{% endfor %}

More ugly, but work example for continue:

{% set continue = false %}
{% for post in posts %}
    {% if post.id == 10 %}
        {% set continue = true %}
    {% endif %}
    {% if not continue %}
        <h2>{{ post.heading }}</h2>
    {% endif %}
    {% if continue %}
        {% set continue = false %}
    {% endif %}
{% endfor %}

But there is no performance profit, only similar behaviour to the built-in break and continue statements like in flat PHP.

Answer 3

From @NHG comment — works perfectly

{% for post in posts|slice(0,10) %}

Answer 4

A way to be able to use {% break %} or {% continue %} is to write TokenParsers for them.

I did it for the {% break %} token in the code below. You can, without much modifications, do the same thing for the {% continue %}.

• AppBundle\Twig\AppExtension.php:

  namespace AppBundle\Twig;
  
  class AppExtension extends \Twig_Extension
  {
      function getTokenParsers() {
          return array(
              new BreakToken(),
          );
      }
  
      public function getName()
      {
          return 'app_extension';
      }
  }
  

• AppBundle\Twig\BreakToken.php:

  namespace AppBundle\Twig;
  
  class BreakToken extends \Twig_TokenParser
  {
      public function parse(\Twig_Token $token)
      {
          $stream = $this->parser->getStream();
          $stream->expect(\Twig_Token::BLOCK_END_TYPE);
  
          // Trick to check if we are currently in a loop.
          $currentForLoop = 0;
  
          for ($i = 1; true; $i++) {
              try {
                  // if we look before the beginning of the stream
                  // the stream will throw a \Twig_Error_Syntax
                  $token = $stream->look(-$i);
              } catch (\Twig_Error_Syntax $e) {
                  break;
              }
  
              if ($token->test(\Twig_Token::NAME_TYPE, 'for')) {
                  $currentForLoop++;
              } else if ($token->test(\Twig_Token::NAME_TYPE, 'endfor')) {
                  $currentForLoop--;
              }
          }
  
  
          if ($currentForLoop < 1) {
              throw new \Twig_Error_Syntax(
                  'Break tag is only allowed in \'for\' loops.',
                  $stream->getCurrent()->getLine(),
                  $stream->getSourceContext()->getName()
              );
          }
  
          return new BreakNode();
      }
  
      public function getTag()
      {
          return 'break';
      }
  }
  

• AppBundle\Twig\BreakNode.php:

  namespace AppBundle\Twig;
  
  class BreakNode extends \Twig_Node
  {
      public function compile(\Twig_Compiler $compiler)
      {
          $compiler
              ->write("break;\n")
          ;
      }
  }
  

Then you can simply use {% break %} to get out of loops like this:

{% for post in posts %}
    {% if post.id == 10 %}
        {% break %}
    {% endif %}
    <h2>{{ post.heading }}</h2>
{% endfor %}

---

To go even further, you may write token parsers for {% continue X %} and {% break X %} (where X is an integer >= 1) to get out/continue multiple loops like in PHP.

Answer 5

I have found a good work-around for continue (love the break sample above). Here I do not want to list "agency". In PHP I'd "continue" but in twig, I came up with alternative:

{% for basename, perms in permsByBasenames %} 
    {% if basename == 'agency' %}
        {# do nothing #}
    {% else %}
        <a class="scrollLink" onclick='scrollToSpot("#{{ basename }}")'>{{ basename }}</a>
    {% endif %}
{% endfor %}

OR I simply skip it if it doesn't meet my criteria:

{% for tr in time_reports %}
    {% if not tr.isApproved %}
        .....
    {% endif %}
{% endfor %}