On a question for Java at the university, there was this snippet of code:
class MyExc1 extends Exception {}
class MyExc2 extends Exception {}
class MyExc3 extends MyExc2 {}
public class C1 {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
try {
System.out.print(1);
q();
}
catch (Exception i) {
throw new MyExc2();
}
finally {
System.out.print(2);
throw new MyExc1();
}
}
static void q() throws Exception {
try {
throw new MyExc1();
}
catch (Exception y) {
}
finally {
System.out.print(3);
throw new Exception();
}
}
}
I was asked to give its output. I answered 13Exception in thread main MyExc2, but the correct answer is 132Exception in thread main MyExc1. Why is it that? I just can't understand where does MyExc2 go.
I think you just have to walk the finally blocks:
finally in q print "3".finally in main print "2".This is what Wikipedia says about finally clause:
More common is a related clause (finally, or ensure) that is executed whether an exception occurred or not, typically to release resources acquired within the body of the exception-handling block.
Let's dissect your program.
try {
System.out.print(1);
q();
}
So, 1 will be output into the screen, then q() is called. In q(), an exception is thrown. The exception is then caught by Exception y but it does nothing. A finally clause is then executed (it has to), so, 3 will be printed to screen. Because (in method q() there's an exception thrown in the finally clause, also q() method passes the exception to the parent stack (by the throws Exception in the method declaration) new Exception() will be thrown and caught by catch ( Exception i ), MyExc2 exception will be thrown (for now add it to the exception stack), but a finally in the main block will be executed first.
So in,
catch ( Exception i ) {
throw( new MyExc2() );
}
finally {
System.out.print(2);
throw( new MyExc1() );
}
A finally clause is called...(remember, we've just caught Exception i and thrown MyExc2) in essence, 2 is printed on screen...and after the 2 is printed on screen, a MyExc1 exception is thrown. MyExc1 is handled by the public static void main(...) method.
Output:
"132Exception in thread main MyExc1"
Lecturer is correct! :-)
In essence, if you have a finally in a try/catch clause, a finally will be executed (after catching the exception before throwing the caught exception out)
Finally clause is executed even when exception is thrown from anywhere in try/catch block.
Because it's the last to be executed in the main and it throws an exception, that's the exception that the callers see.
Hence the importance of making sure that the finally clause does not throw anything, because it can swallow exceptions from the try block.
The easiest way to think of this is imagine that there is a variable global to the entire application that is holding the current exception.
Exception currentException = null;
As each exception is thrown, "currentException" is set to that exception. When the application ends, if currentException is != null, then the runtime reports the error.
Also, the finally blocks always run before the method exits. You could then requite the code snippet to:
public class C1 {
public static void main(String [] argv) throws Exception {
try {
System.out.print(1);
q();
}
catch ( Exception i ) {
// <-- currentException = Exception, as thrown by q()'s finally block
throw( new MyExc2() ); // <-- currentException = MyExc2
}
finally {
// <-- currentException = MyExc2, thrown from main()'s catch block
System.out.print(2);
throw( new MyExc1() ); // <-- currentException = MyExc1
}
} // <-- At application exit, currentException = MyExc1, from main()'s finally block. Java now dumps that to the console.
static void q() throws Exception {
try {
throw( new MyExc1() ); // <-- currentException = MyExc1
}
catch( Exception y ) {
// <-- currentException = null, because the exception is caught and not rethrown
}
finally {
System.out.print(3);
throw( new Exception() ); // <-- currentException = Exception
}
}
}
The order in which the application executes is:
main()
{
try
q()
{
try
catch
finally
}
catch
finally
}
A method can't throw two exceptions at the same time. It will always throw the last thrown exception, which in this case it will be always the one from the finally block.
When the first exception from method q() is thrown, it will catch'ed and then swallowed by the finally block thrown exception.
q() -> thrown new Exception -> main catch Exception -> throw new Exception -> finally throw a new exception (and the one from the catch is "lost")
class MyExc1 extends Exception {}
class MyExc2 extends Exception {}
class MyExc3 extends MyExc2 {}
public class C1 {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
try {
System.out.print("TryA L1\n");
q();
System.out.print("TryB L1\n");
}
catch (Exception i) {
System.out.print("Catch L1\n");
}
finally {
System.out.print("Finally L1\n");
throw new MyExc1();
}
}
static void q() throws Exception {
try {
System.out.print("TryA L2\n");
q2();
System.out.print("TryB L2\n");
}
catch (Exception y) {
System.out.print("Catch L2\n");
throw new MyExc2();
}
finally {
System.out.print("Finally L2\n");
throw new Exception();
}
}
static void q2() throws Exception {
throw new MyExc1();
}
}
Order:
TryA L1
TryA L2
Catch L2
Finally L2
Catch L1
Finally L1
Exception in thread "main" MyExc1 at C1.main(C1.java:30)
To handle this kind of situation i.e. handling the exception raised by finally block. You can surround the finally block by try block: Look at the below example in python:
try:
fh = open("testfile", "w")
try:
fh.write("This is my test file for exception handling!!")
finally:
print "Going to close the file"
fh.close()
except IOError:
print "Error: can\'t find file or read data"
Exceptions in the finally block supersede exceptions in the catch block.
If the catch block completes abruptly for reason R, then the finally block is executed. Then there is a choice:
If the finally block completes normally, then the try statement completes abruptly for reason R.
If the finally block completes abruptly for reason S, then the try statement completes abruptly for reason S (and reason R is discarded).
I think this solve the problem :
boolean allOk = false;
try{
q();
allOk = true;
} finally {
try {
is.close();
} catch (Exception e) {
if(allOk) {
throw new SomeException(e);
}
}
}
The logic is clear till finish printing out 13. Then the exception thrown in q() is caught by catch (Exception i) in main() and a new MyEx2() is ready to be thrown. However, before throwing the exception, the finally block have to be executed first. Then the output becomes 132 and finally asks to thrown another exception new MyEx1().
As a method cannot throw more than one Exception, it will always throw the latest Exception. In other words, if both catch and finally blocks try to throw Exception, then the Exception in catch is swallowed and only the exception in finally will be thrown.
Thus, in this program, Exception MyEx2 is swallowed and MyEx1 is thrown. This Exception is thrown out of main() and no longer caught, thus JVM stops and the final output is 132Exception in thread main MyExc1.
In essence, if you have a finally in a try/catch clause, a finally will be executed AFTER catching the exception, but BEFORE throwing any caught exception, and ONLY the lastest exception would be thrown in the end.
It is well known that the finally block is executed after the the try and catch and is always executed.... But as you saw it's a little bit tricky sometimes check out those code snippet below and you will that the return and throw statements don't always do what they should do in the order that we expect theme to.
Cheers.
/////////////Return dont always return///////
try{
return "In Try";
}
finally{
return "In Finally";
}
////////////////////////////////////////////
////////////////////////////////////////////
while(true) {
try {
return "In try";
}
finally{
break;
}
}
return "Out of try";
///////////////////////////////////////////
///////////////////////////////////////////////////
while (true) {
try {
return "In try";
}
finally {
continue;
}
}
//////////////////////////////////////////////////
/////////////////Throw dont always throw/////////
try {
throw new RuntimeException();
}
finally {
return "Ouuuups no throw!";
}
//////////////////////////////////////////////////
Source: Stackoverflow.com