A break statement of the break <return value> form is referred to as an extended break statement.

A traditional switch construct uses a break statement without any return values in its switch branches, to take control out of a switch construct. This also <indexentry content="break:comparing, with break ">prevents fall through the control <indexentry content="break :comparing, with break">across multiple switch branches. A switch expression uses a break statement with a return value and breaks out of switch expressions.

Let's compare the break statement with the return statement, which can be used with or without a value. In a method, you can use a return statement to return a value and exit a method or just exit a method without returning a value. Here's a quick example:

int sum(int x, int y) {                   // return type of method is 
                                         // int 
    int result = x + y; 
    return result;                        // returns int value 
}

void output(List<Integer> list) {         // return type of method is 
                                         // void
    if (list == null)
        return;                           // exit method without 
                                          // returning a value
    else {
        for (Integer i : list)
            System.out.println(i);
    }
    System.out.println("End of method");  // this doesn't execute if 
                                         // list is null
}