Which method can be used to stop a loop prematurely?

The method that can effectively stop a loop prematurely is known as "break." When executed within a loop structure, this statement immediately terminates the loop’s execution regardless of the loop's current iteration or any remaining iterations. This can be particularly useful when a certain condition is met, for example, when a specific value is encountered, or when a resource needs to be freed up early.

Although other methods such as "continue," "return," and "exit" can control flow in a program, they do not serve the same purpose as "break." The "continue" statement skips the current iteration of a loop and proceeds to the next iteration, maintaining the loop's overall execution. The "return" statement is utilized to exit from a function and return a value to the caller, not from a loop. Meanwhile, "exit" is typically used to terminate the entire program rather than breaking out of a specific loop. Thus, in the context of stopping a loop prematurely, "break" is the correct method to use.