getting out of a loop in C - c

Question

I am trying to get out of a while loop using C, but using breaks, returns or changing the while condition are not working.
Basically, I want to know why in the last else if, when I state back = true my code keeps entering the for.
I would expect an output like: enter1, enter1, enter1, enter1, enter2.
Instead, the output is something like enter1, enter1, enter1, enter2, enter2, enter2, enter1, enter1, enter1....
This is my code work:
void SolveMap8(Core* core_building, Building* new, Stack* solve, bool goingBack){
Core* coreBuilding = core_building;
Building* first = new -> linked[0];
Building* next = NULL;
bool back = goingBack;
while (back == false) {
for (int i = 0; i < (first -> zone -> building_count); i++) {
if (first -> zone -> buildings[i] != NULL) {
if (first != first -> zone -> buildings[i]) {
next = first -> zone -> buildings[i];
if(next -> color == coreBuilding -> buildings[0] -> color && !city_client_is_taken(next)) {
puts("enter0");
Building_Pair* newPair = Building_Tuple_Create(first, next);
stack_push(solve, newPair);
city_client_link(first, next);
break;
}
else if(!city_client_is_taken(next)) {
if (city_client_is_blank(next)) {
if (!(next -> cored)) {
puts("enter1");
Building_Pair* newPair = Building_Tuple_Create(first, next);
stack_push(solve, newPair);
city_client_link(first, next);
SolveMap8(coreBuilding, next, solve, false);
}
}
}
else if (city_client_is_taken(next)) {
if (i == first -> zone -> building_count - 1) {
puts("enter2");
back = true;
}
}
}
}
}
}
}

Answer 1

Update Sorry, missed the recursion. In that case your problem has nothing to do with a missing break statement, but that you are trying to escape from a for loop at a different scope than you are currently in. You will need special logic to handle a global "done" condition. Perhaps something like this:
void process(Core* core, bool& done) {
for (int i = 0; i < core->size() && !done; ++i) {
if (!core[i]->is_taken()) {
process(core[i], done);
} else if (core[i]->is_taken() {
// done procesing
done = true;
}
}
}
// use via
bool done = false;
process(myCore, done);
In the version you have, the goingBack flag is passed by value, so every function gets its own copy and there is no way to pass the value of back to the parent in the recursive call chain. In my code above, done is passed as a reference, so changing the value at some point in the recursion chain will make it visible at parent scope (because the scope of the variable is outside the function itself). Hope this is more helpful.