In Control flow§

See primary documentation in context for proceed and succeed

Both proceed and succeed are meant to be used only from inside when or default blocks.

The proceed statement will immediately leave the when or default block, skipping the rest of the statements, and resuming after the block. This prevents the when or default from exiting the outer block.

given * {
    default {
        proceed;
        "This never says".say
    }
}
"This says".say;

This is most often used to enter multiple when blocks. proceed will resume matching after a successful match, like so:

given 42 {
    when Int   { say "Int"; proceed }
    when 42    { say 42 }
    when 40..* { say "greater than 40" }
    default    { say "huh?" }
}
# OUTPUT: «Int␤» 
# OUTPUT: «42␤»

Note that the when 40..* match didn't occur. For this to match such cases as well, one would need a proceed in the when 42 block.

This is not like a C switch statement, because the proceed does not merely enter the directly following block, it attempts to match the given value once more, consider this code:

given 42 {
    when Int { "Int".say; proceed }
    when 43  { 43.say }
    when 42  { 42.say }
    default  { "got change for an existential answer?".say }
}
# OUTPUT: «Int␤» 
# OUTPUT: «42␤»

...which matches the Int, skips 43 since the value doesn't match, matches 42 since this is the next positive match, but doesn't enter the default block since the when 42 block doesn't contain a proceed.

By contrast, the succeed keyword short-circuits execution and exits the entire given block at that point. It may also take an argument to specify a final value for the block.

given 42 {
    when Int {
        say "Int";
        succeed "Found";
        say "never this!";
    }
    when 42 { say 42 }
    default { say "dunno?" }
}
# OUTPUT: «Int␤»

If you are not inside a when or default block, it is an error to try to use proceed or succeed.Also remember, the when statement modifier form does not cause any blocks to be left, and any succeed or proceed in such a statement applies to the surrounding clause, if there is one:

given 42 {
    { say "This says" } when Int;
    "This says too".say;
    when * > 41 {
       { "And this says".say; proceed } when * > 41;
       "This never says".say;
    }
    "This also says".say;
}
# OUTPUT: «This says␤This says too␤And this says␤This also says␤»