goto statement in C Language

The goto statement is known as jump statement in C. It is used to transfer the program control to a predefined label. 

The goto statement can be used to repeat some part of the code for a particular condition.

In this tutorial, you will learn to create the goto statement in C programming.

It can also be used to break the multiple loops which can’t be done by using a single break statement.

Syntax

label:   
//some part of the code;   
goto label;  

The label is an identifier. It can be any plain text except C keyword and it can be set anywhere in the C program above or below to goto statement.

When the goto statement is encountered, the control of the program jumps to label: and starts executing the code.

Flowchart

goto statement in C Language – Flowchart

Example

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
  int num, i = 1;
  printf("Enter the number whose table you want to print?");
  scanf("%d", & num);
  table:
    printf("%d x %d = %d\n", num, i, num * i);
  i++;
  if (i <= 10)
    goto table;
}
goto statement in C Language example – output

In the following example goto statement is used to break the multiple loops using a single statement at the same time.

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
  int i, j, k;
  for (i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
    for (j = 0; j < 5; j++) {
      for (k = 0; k < 3; k++) {
        printf("%d %d %d\n", i, j, k);
        if (j == 3) {
          goto out;
        }
      }
    }
  }
  out:
    printf("came out of the loop");
}
Goto statement in for loop.