# Control flow

# Overview

Blocks of statements are generally executed linearly. However, statements are the primary place where this flow of execution can be controlled.

Carbon's flow control statements are:

• `if` and `else` provides conditional execution of statements.
• Loops:
  • `while` executes the loop body for as long as the loop expression returns True.
  • `for` iterates over an object, such as elements in an array.
  • `break` exits loops.
  • `continue` goes to the next iteration of a loop.
• `return` ends the flow of execution within a function, returning it to the caller.