What is the meaning of the `return` keyword in the `forEach` function?

Question

$('button').click(function () {
   [1, 2, 3, 4, 5].forEach(function (n) {
      if (n == 3) {
         // This should break and nothing should pop up
         return false
      }
      alert(n)
   })
})

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"> ;</script>
<button>Click me</button>

My question is: Why does it still pop up the next number even though I call return? Like: Ignore the code below and continue to the next element

Answer 1

The return statement return will exit the current function, but the loop will continue, so you will get the "next" skipped if statement and pop 4 Item...

If you need to stop the loop, you should use a normal for loop like this:

$('button').click(function () {
   var arr = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
   for(var i = 0; i < arr.length; i++) {
     var n = arr[i]; 
     if (n == 3) {
         break;
      }
      alert(n);
   })
})

You can read more about break and continue in js here: http://www.w3schools.com/js/js_break.asp

Answer 2

From Mozilla Developer Network: