what is the significance of break; in tabulate function?

Question

I know break statements are pretty basic, but it's got me here:

This is my function:

for (int i = 0; i < voter_count; i++)
{
    for (int j = 0; j < candidate_count; j++)
    {
        if (candidates[preferences[i][j]].eliminated == false)
        {
            candidates[preferences[i][j]].votes++;
            break;
        }
    }
}
return;

Now, it works perfectly. But if i remove the break; it will not give the correct output! Can someone please clarify what exactly is break; doing here. I mean i have worked with some program mes involving loops, but never experienced this!

Thank You

Answer 1

Each round counts one vote per voter, for their top preferred, non-eliminated candidate. Once that vote is counted, program moves on to the next voter. From the C99 standard section 6.8.6.3:

A break statement terminates execution of the smallest enclosing switch or iteration statement.

In this case it terminates the the j loop and moves on to the next voter, ie the i loop.