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javaexceptionfault-tolerance

Fail fast finally clause in Java

Is there a way to detect, from within the finally clause, that an exception is in the process of being thrown?

See the example below:


try {
    // code that may or may not throw an exception
} finally {
    SomeCleanupFunctionThatThrows();
    // if currently executing an exception, exit the program,
    // otherwise just let the exception thrown by the function
    // above propagate
}

or is ignoring one of the exceptions the only thing you can do?

In C++ it doesn't even let you ignore one of the exceptions and just calls terminate(). Most other languages use the same rules as java.

Solution

  • Set a flag variable, then check for it in the finally clause, like so:

    boolean exceptionThrown = true;
try {
   mightThrowAnException();
   exceptionThrown = false;
} finally {
   if (exceptionThrown) {
      // Whatever you want to do
   }
}