Skip to main content
Version: 1.5.1

Continue

Control Flow Pipeline

Synopsis​

Skips the remaining processors for the current item in a foreach loop and immediately proceeds to the next item, similar to continue in programming languages.

Schema​

- continue:
    description: <text>
    if: <script>
    ignore_failure: <boolean>
    on_failure: <processor[]>
    on_success: <processor[]>
    tag: <string>

Configuration​

The following fields are used to define the processor:

FieldRequiredDefaultDescription
descriptionN-Explanatory note
ifN-Condition to run
ignore_failureNfalseContinue processing if operation fails
on_failureN-See Handling Failures
on_successN-See Handling Success
tagN-Identifier

Details​

The continue processor skips to the next iteration when used inside a foreach processor. It behaves like a continue statement in programming languages, allowing you to skip processing for certain items while continuing with the rest of the collection.

Behavior:

  • Inside a foreach processor: Skips remaining processors for the current item and moves to the next item
  • Outside a foreach context: Acts as an early exit from the current processing scope

The processor executes any on_success handlers before continuing to the next iteration, allowing for logging or metrics collection.

Continue vs Return

continue skips to the next iteration within a loop, while return exits the entire block. Use continue for selective item processing and return for complete exit logic.

Primary Use Case

The continue processor is most valuable inside foreach loops where you need to filter or skip certain items without affecting the processing of other items in the collection.

Examples​

Skip Items in Foreach Loop​

Processing only specific items in a collection...

- foreach:
    field: items
    processors:
      - continue:
          if: "ctx._item.status == 'ignored'"
          description: "Skip ignored items"
      - set:
          field: ctx._item.processed
          value: true
      - enrich:
          field: ctx._item.id
          target: ctx._item.details

skips ignored items, processes others:

{
  "items": [
    {"id": 1, "status": "active", "processed": true},
    {"id": 2, "status": "ignored"},
    {"id": 3, "status": "active", "processed": true}
  ]
}

Conditional Item Processing​

Skipping items based on validation...

- foreach:
    field: transactions
    processors:
      - continue:
          if: "ctx._item.amount < 100"
          description: "Skip small transactions"
          on_success:
            - set:
                field: ctx._item.processed_tier
                value: "skipped"
      - set:
          field: ctx._item.requires_review
          value: true
      - complex_validation:
          field: ctx._item

processes only transactions over threshold:

{
  "transactions": [
    {"amount": 50, "processed_tier": "skipped"},
    {"amount": 500, "requires_review": true}
  ]
}

Error Recovery in Loop​

Continuing on item-level errors...

- foreach:
    field: users
    processors:
      - enrich:
          field: ctx._item.user_id
          target: ctx._item.profile
          on_failure:
            - set:
                field: ctx._item.enrichment_failed
                value: true
            - continue:
                description: "Skip enrichment for this user"
      - validate:
          field: ctx._item.profile
          exists: true

continues processing other users on enrichment failure:

{
  "users": [
    {"user_id": "123", "profile": {...}},
    {"user_id": "456", "enrichment_failed": true},
    {"user_id": "789", "profile": {...}}
  ]
}

Filter and Transform Collection​

Selectively transforming items...

- foreach:
    field: events
    processors:
      - continue:
          if: "ctx._item.type != 'security'"
          description: "Process only security events"
      - set:
          field: ctx._item.priority
          value: "high"
      - threat_analysis:
          field: ctx._item.indicators
      - set:
          field: ctx._item.analyzed
          value: true

applies security processing only to relevant events:

{
  "events": [
    {"type": "info"},
    {"type": "security", "priority": "high", "analyzed": true},
    {"type": "debug"}
  ]
}