What is the difference between
try {
// action A
}
catch(Exception e) {
// action B
}
finally {
// action C
}
and
try {
// action A
}
catch(Exception e) {
// action B
}
// action C
I have read that you can return from inside a catch
block and still have the finally
block execute. Are there any other differences?
Things that happen within the finally
block are guaranteed to occur no matter what happens in the try-catch-block. If an exception happens that is not encapsulated by Exception
(e.g., extends Throwable
, such as various Error
s), then it still runs the finally
block.
One thing to be aware of: if, within the finally
block, a RuntimeException
is thrown, or another Exception
escapes from within it, then the rest of the finally
block will not execute. Also, as Lord Torgamus pointed out, it is contingent on the JVM running. In addition, and probably obviously, it is also contingent on the thread not being stopped.
Most of the existing answers contain pieces of the right answer, but none are quite spot-on.
The finally
block is always guaranteed to be reached after the try
and potentially catch
blocks if the JVM does not shut down beforehand. However, if a bit of code inside the finally
block shuts down the JVM, or throws an exception its own, the end of the block might not be reached.
Per the Sun Certified Programmer for Java 6 Study Guide:
The final word is, as always, the Java Language Specification. The behavior of finally
is explained exhaustively in §14.20.2 Execution of try-catch-finally.
As an extra note: you're right that a return
in the try
won't stop finally
from running. In fact, finally
is entered immediately after the return
is encountered, before it executes.
Better look at this example, resources are allways closed even if I return or propagate the Excpetion up.
try {
//action A
return 0;
} catch (Exception e){
//action C
throw new Excpetion("Probleme here",e)
} finnaly {
//action C
resources.close();
}
If action A and be are as primitve as int a = 0, then there is no difference, but in more complicated situations like this, finnaly block have it's usage
from the Sun Tutorials
Note: If the JVM exits while the try
or catch code is being executed, then
the finally block will not execute.
Likewise, if the thread executing the
try or catch code is interrupted or
killed, the finally block will not
execute even though the application as
a whole continues.
I don't know of any other ways the finally block wouldn't execute...
Code inside the finally
block is guaranteed to execute should the JVM continue running.
This means that even if what is in action B throws another new exception or doesn't catch the exception in action A or a return is called, the code in action C will run.
A try block is used for exception handling. If there any case/code that will throw exception, e.g., if we divide a number by Zero(0) than it will throw an exception and the process will be shutdown. In this case if we put our code in the try block than the exception is catch by the catch block and the process will not be terminated. And the finally block the guarantee of executing the code written there. Therefore, if we have to terminate/close the process even its execution is successful or not(e.g., in case of network programming we have to release the connection at last so that other devices can use that connection) we use the finally block.