A basic loop processes everything in its path. But in the real world, you often need to be more selective. What if you want to ignore certain items? Or what if you’ve already found what you need and want to stop early?
To make your loops smarter and faster, you need to master two essential controls: Next Loop (Skip) and Break Loop (Exit).
Next Loop: Skipping the Current Iteration
The Next Loop command immediately ends the current cycle and jumps straight to the next item in the list. Think of it as a "Filter" that lets you bypass specific items without stopping the entire process.
When to use it: When an item doesn't meet your criteria or should be excluded based on business rules.
Practical Scenario: You are processing an order list, but company policy says to skip all "Phone" orders.
The Logic: At the very top of your loop, add an If check:
If ProductType == "Phone".The Action: Inside that If block, place a Next Loop command.
The Result: The bot sees a "Phone," stops immediately, ignores the remaining "Type" or "Extract" steps for that item, and moves to the next order (e.g., "Laptop").
Break Loop: Exiting the Entire Process
The Break Loop command stops the loop entirely, regardless of how many items are left. Once a "Break" is triggered, the bot exits the "Logic Container" and moves to the next part of your overall workflow.
When to use it: When your goal is achieved or a critical condition occurs that makes further looping unnecessary.
Common Patterns:
Target Search: You are scanning 100 pages to find the first "In Stock" item. As soon as you find it, you capture the data and Break. There is no need to waste time checking the remaining pages.
Safety Monitoring: You are looping to check a system's status. If the status flips to "Critical Error," you Break the loop immediately to trigger an emergency alert flow.
How to Structure Your Logic: The "Guard" Pattern
For both Skip and Break, placement is everything. A professional RPA pattern is to place your "Guard Conditions" (the If checks) at the very beginning of the loop body.
Check Early: Evaluate disqualifying or terminal criteria before the bot performs "heavy" work like opening a new tab or extracting large datasets.
Standardize Data: Before the If check, ensure your data is clean. For example, standardize text casing so that "phone" and "Phone" are both caught by your skip rule.
Working with Nested Loops
In nested loops, these commands only affect the level where they are placed:
The Scope Rule: A Break or Next command only affects the innermost loop it is currently in.
Inner Break: If you break an inner loop, the bot exits that sub-process and returns to the next step of the outer loop.
Performance and Reliability Tips
Cheap Checks First: Put simple text comparisons before expensive web interactions. Skipping early saves significant runtime.
Log Your Decisions: When you trigger a Skip or a Break, add a "Print to log" action. This makes it much easier to troubleshoot why the bot skipped certain data or why it stopped early.
Test Boundary Cases: Always verify how your loop behaves when the very first item triggers a break, or when every item in a list gets skipped.
Summary
Next Loop and Break Loop transform your bot from a simple machine into a responsive assistant. Use Next to filter out the noise and keep your workflow clean, and use Break to stop as soon as the job is done or a rule is met. With clear If conditions and mindful placement, these two controls help you avoid unnecessary work and keep your automations efficient.