How to escape a while loop in C#

I am trying to escape a while loop. Basically, if the "if" condition is met, I would like to be able to exit this loop:

private void CheckLog()
{
    while (true)
    {
        Thread.Sleep(5000);
        if (!System.IO.File.Exists("Command.bat"))
            continue;

        using (System.IO.StreamReader sr = System.IO.File.OpenText("Command.bat"))
        {
            string s = "";
            while ((s = sr.ReadLine()) != null)
            {
                if (s.Contains("mp4:production/CATCHUP/"))
                {
                    RemoveEXELog();

                    Process p = new Process();
                    p.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = "dump";
                    p.StartInfo.FileName = "test.exe";
                    p.StartInfo.Arguments = s;
                    p.Start();

                    << Escape here - if the "if" condition is met, escape the loop here >>
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Use break; to escape the first loop:

if (s.Contains("mp4:production/CATCHUP/"))
{
   RemoveEXELog();
   Process p = new Process();
   p.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = "dump";
   p.StartInfo.FileName = "test.exe"; 
   p.StartInfo.Arguments = s; 
   p.Start();
   break;
}

If you want to also escape the second loop, you might need to use a flag and check in the out loop's guard:

        boolean breakFlag = false;
        while (!breakFlag)
        {
            Thread.Sleep(5000);
            if (!System.IO.File.Exists("Command.bat")) continue;
            using (System.IO.StreamReader sr = System.IO.File.OpenText("Command.bat"))
            {
                string s = "";
                while ((s = sr.ReadLine()) != null)
                {
                    if (s.Contains("mp4:production/CATCHUP/"))
                    {

                        RemoveEXELog();

                        Process p = new Process();
                        p.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = "dump";
                        p.StartInfo.FileName = "test.exe"; 
                        p.StartInfo.Arguments = s; 
                        p.Start();

                        breakFlag = true;
                        break;
                    }
                }
            }

Or, if you want to just exit the function completely from within the nested loop, put in a return; instead of a break;.

But these aren't really considered best practices. You should find some way to add the necessary Boolean logic into your while guards.

break or goto

while ( true ) {
  if ( conditional ) {
    break;
  }
  if ( other conditional ) {
    goto EndWhile;
  }
}
EndWhile:

But you might also want to look into a very different approach, listening for file-system events.

If you need to continue with additional logic use...

break;

or if you have a value to return...

return my_value_to_be_returned;

However, looking at your code, I believe you will control the loop with the revised example below without using a break or return...

private void CheckLog()
        {
            bool continueLoop = true;
            while (continueLoop)
            {
                Thread.Sleep(5000);
                if (!System.IO.File.Exists("Command.bat")) continue;
                using (System.IO.StreamReader sr = System.IO.File.OpenText("Command.bat"))
                {
                    string s = "";
                    while (continueLoop && (s = sr.ReadLine()) != null)
                    {
                        if (s.Contains("mp4:production/CATCHUP/"))
                        {
                            RemoveEXELog();

                            Process p = new Process();
                            p.StartInfo.WorkingDirectory = "dump";
                            p.StartInfo.FileName = "test.exe"; 
                            p.StartInfo.Arguments = s; 
                            p.Start();
                            continueLoop = false;
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }

Which loop are you trying to exit? A simple break; will exit the inner loop. For the outer loop, you could use an outer loop-scoped variable (e.g. boolean exit = false;) which is set to true just before you break your inner loop. After the inner loop block check the value of exit and if true use break; again.

"break" is a command that breaks out of the "closest" loop.

While there are many good uses for break, you shouldn't use it if you don't have to -- it can be seen as just another way to use goto, which is considered bad.

For example, why not:

while (!(the condition you're using to break))
        {
         //Your code here.
        }

If the reason you're using "break" is because you don't want to continue execution of that iteration of the loop, you may want to use the "continue" keyword, which immediately jumps to the next iteration of the loop, whether it be while or for.

while (!condition) {
   //Some code
   if (condition) continue;
   //More code that will be skipped over if the condition was true
}

Sorry for the necro-add, but there's something I really wanted to insert that's missing in the existing answers (for anyone like me stumbling onto this question via google): refactor your code. Not only will it make it easier to read/maintain, but it'll often remove these types of control-routing issues entirely.

Here's what I'd lean towards if I had to program the function above:

private const string CatchupLineToIndicateLogDump = "mp4:production/CATCHUP/";
private const string BatchFileLocation = "Command.bat";

private void CheckLog()
{
    while (true)
    {
        Thread.Sleep(5000);
        if (System.IO.File.Exists(BatchFileLocation))
        {
            if (doesFileContainStr(BatchFileLocation, CatchupLineToIndicateLogDump))
            {
                RemoveLogAndDump();
                return;
            }
        }
    }
}

private bool doesFileContainStr(string FileLoc, string StrToCheckFor)
{
  // ... code for checking the existing of a string within a file
  // (and returning back whether the string was found.)
}

private void RemoveLogAndDump()
{
  // ... your code to call RemoveEXELog and kick off test.exe
}