return#forEach does not seem to exit forEach{} - kotlin

Question

The count is 4 at the end of the code below. I expected 0. Why is it 4? How can I get 0?
var count = 0;
"hello".forEach {
if(it == 'h')
{
println("Exiting the forEach loop. Count is $count");
return#forEach;
}
count++;
}
println("count is $count");
Output:
Exiting the forEach loop. Count is 0
count is 4

Answer 1

return#forEach does not exit forEach() itself, but the lambda passed to it ("body" of forEach()). Note that this lambda is executed several times - once per each item. By returning from it you actually skip only a single item, so this is similar to continue, not to break.
To workaround this you can create a label in the outer scope and return to it:
var count = 0;
run loop# {
"hello".forEach {
if(it == 'h')
{
println("Exiting the forEach loop. Count is $count");
return#loop;
}
count++;
}
}
This is described here: https://kotlinlang.org/docs/returns.html#return-at-labels
Note that the use of local returns in previous three examples is similar to the use of continue in regular loops. There is no direct equivalent for break, but it can be simulated by adding another nesting lambda and non-locally returning from it

Answer 2

It is 4 because the forEach call the lambda passed to it for each character in the string, so the return#forEach in your code return for the first element. You can use a for loop and use break to obtain 0.

Answer 3

return#forEach returns from the lambda function. But the forEach function is a higher-order function that calls the lambda repeatedly for each item in the iterator. So when you return from the lambda, you are only returning for that single item in the iterator. It is analogous to using continue in a traditional for loop.
If you want to exit iteration in a higher-order function completely, you have to use labels. And as I type this, I see another answer already shows how to do that, but I'll leave this in case the different explanation helps.

Answer 4

If your objective is to count the number of characters before 'h', you could do something like this:
val numCharsBeforeH = "hello".takeWhile { it != 'h' }.length
From your comment to Tenfour04's answer:
This is not very convenient. Why didn't the makers of Kotlin create a "break" equivalent?
Here is a quote of the "Loops" section of the Coding conventions:
Prefer using higher-order functions (filter, map etc.) to loops.
Exception: forEach (prefer using a regular for loop instead, unless
the receiver of forEach is nullable or forEach is used as part of a
longer call chain).
When making a choice between a complex expression using multiple
higher-order functions and a loop, understand the cost of the
operations being performed in each case and keep performance
considerations in mind.
Indeed, using a regular for loop with break does what you expect:
var count = 0;
for (char in "hello") {
if (char == 'h') {
println("Breaking the loop. Count is $count")
break
}
count++
}
println("count is $count")
Output:
Breaking the loop. Count is 0
count is 0
Except for very simple operations, there are probably better ways to do what you need than using forEach.