Flow control in a try catch finally in Java


A method catches an exception using a combination of the try and catch keywords. A try/catch block is placed around the code that might generate an exception. Code within a try/catch block is referred to as protected code, and the syntax for using try/catch looks like the following −

Syntax

try {
   // Protected code
} catch (ExceptionName e1) {
   // Catch block
}

The code which is prone to exceptions is placed in the try block. When an exception occurs, that exception occurred is handled by catch block associated with it. Every try block should be immediately followed either by a catch block or finally block.

A catch statement involves declaring the type of exception you are trying to catch. If an exception occurs in protected code, the catch block (or blocks) that follows the try is checked. If the type of exception that occurred is listed in a catch block, the exception is passed to the catch block much as an argument is passed into a method parameter.

Example

The following is an array declared with 2 elements. Then the code tries to access the 3rd element of the array which throws an exception.

// File Name : ExcepTest.java
import java.io.*;

public class ExcepTest {

   public static void main(String args[]) {

      try {
         int a[] = new int[2];
         System.out.println("Access element three :" + a[3]);
      } catch (ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
         System.out.println("Exception thrown :" + e);
      }
      System.out.println("Out of the block");
   }
}

This will produce the following result −

Output

Exception thrown :java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 3
Out of the block

Multiple Catch Blocks

A try block can be followed by multiple catch blocks. The syntax for multiple catch blocks looks like the following −

Syntax

try {
   // Protected code
} catch (ExceptionType1 e1) {
   // Catch block
} catch (ExceptionType2 e2) {
   // Catch block
} catch (ExceptionType3 e3) {
   // Catch block
}

The previous statements demonstrate three catch blocks, but you can have any number of them after a single try. If an exception occurs in the protected code, the exception is thrown to the first catch block in the list. If the data type of the exception thrown matches ExceptionType1, it gets caught there. If not, the exception passes down to the second catch statement. This continues until the exception either is caught or falls through all catches, in which case the current method stops execution and the exception is thrown down to the previous method on the call stack.

Example

Here is code segment showing how to use multiple try/catch statements.

try {
   file = new FileInputStream(fileName);
   x = (byte) file.read();
   } catch (IOException i) {
      i.printStackTrace();
      return -1;
   } catch (FileNotFoundException f) // Not valid! {
      f.printStackTrace();
      return -1;
   }

Catching Multiple Type of Exceptions

Since Java 7, you can handle more than one exception using a single catch block, this feature simplifies the code. Here is how you would do it −

catch (IOException|FileNotFoundException ex) {
   logger.log(ex);
   throw ex;

The Finally Block

The finally block follows a try block or a catch block. A finally block of code always executes, irrespective of occurrence of an Exception.

Using a finally block allows you to run any cleanup-type statements that you want to execute, no matter what happens in the protected code.

A finally block appears at the end of the catch blocks and has the following syntax −

Syntax

try {
   // Protected code
} catch (ExceptionType1 e1) {
   // Catch block
} catch (ExceptionType2 e2) {
   // Catch block
} catch (ExceptionType3 e3) {
   // Catch block
}finally {
   // The finally block always executes.
}

Example

public class ExcepTest {

   public static void main(String args[]) {

      int a[] = new int[2];
      try {
         System.out.println("Access element three :" + a[3]);
      } catch (ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
         System.out.println("Exception thrown :" + e);
      } finally {
         a[0] = 6;
         System.out.println("First element value: " + a[0]);
         System.out.println("The finally statement is executed");
      }
   }
}

This will produce the following result −

Output

Exception thrown :java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 3
First element value: 6
The finally statement is executed

Note the following −

  • A catch clause cannot exist without a try statement.

  • It is not compulsory to have finally clauses whenever a try/catch block is present.

  • The try block cannot be present without either catch clause or finally clause.

  • Any code cannot be present in between the try, catch, finally blocks.

Vikyath Ram
Vikyath Ram

A born rival

Updated on: 21-Jun-2020

6K+ Views

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