What is the purpose of the `continue` statement in a loop?

The continue statement serves a specific purpose within loops in Python. When continue is encountered, it immediately ends the current iteration of the loop and jumps to the beginning of the next iteration. This allows the loop to bypass any remaining code in the current iteration for that particular loop cycle, effectively skipping over any operations that follow it.

For example, in a for loop or a while loop, if there are conditions set up to filter certain values or to skip particular tasks under specific circumstances, using continue allows the program to ignore the rest of the loop body for just that iteration and to continue processing the next item or the next iteration based on the loop's conditions.

This statement is often used in situations where certain criteria are not met, and you want to avoid executing the rest of the loop logic for that iteration, thus enhancing control flow within loops.