Informix Error -4316

Reasons / Common Causes

-4316 fires when CONTINUE WHILE or EXIT WHILE appears outside a WHILE loop — per the official guidance, either the statement is misplaced, or some other error prevented 4GL from recognizing the enclosing WHILE statement.

1. CONTINUE WHILE/EXIT WHILE used outside a WHILE loop, per the official guidance — the direct cause.
2. A separate error prevented the enclosing WHILE statement from being recognized, per the official guidance — a related possible cause.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Move the CONTINUE WHILE/EXIT WHILE statement inside a WHILE loop, or
2. Check for other errors preventing the WHILE statement from being recognized, per the official guidance.

Examples

EXIT WHILE outside a WHILE loop

FUNCTION process()
  EXIT WHILE
  -- -4316: not inside a WHILE loop
END FUNCTION

Corrected

WHILE more_rows
  IF done THEN
    EXIT WHILE
  END IF
END WHILE

Diagnostic Checks

1. Check whether the CONTINUE WHILE/EXIT WHILE statement is inside a WHILE loop, and check for other errors affecting the enclosing WHILE statement if it should be.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -4314 — "The program cannot continue or exit a menu at this point because it is not within a MENU statement." The same pattern applied to MENU instead of WHILE.
• -4315 — "The program cannot exit a FOREACH statement at this point because it is not within a FOREACH statement." The same pattern applied to FOREACH instead of WHILE.

CONTINUE WHILE/EXIT WHILE is used outside a WHILE loop — move it inside, or check for errors affecting the WHILE statement's recognition.