finally Block in Java

The finally block in Java is a block of code that is always executed, regardless of whether an exception is thrown or not. This makes it a useful place to put code that needs to be executed, even if an error occurs.

For example, the finally block is often used to close resources, such as files or database connections. This ensures that the resources are properly released, even if an exception is thrown during the execution of the try block.

The finally block is also sometimes used to perform cleanup tasks, such as resetting variables or updating status flags.

Let’s see an example of finally block without exception:

public class FinallyBlockExample {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    try {
      System.out.println("Inside the try block");
      int data = 5 / 1;
    } catch (ArithmeticException e) {
      System.out.println("Exception caught: " + e.getMessage());
    } finally {
      System.out.println("This code is always executed");
    }
  }
}

Output:

Inside the try block
This code is always executed

Now, let’s see the output of the following program with the exception:

public class FinallyBlockExample {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    try {
      // Code that may throw an exception
      System.out.println("Inside the try block");
      int data = 5/ 0;
    } catch (ArithmeticException e) {
      System.out.println("Exception caught: " + e.getMessage());
    } finally {
      System.out.println("This code is always executed");
    }
  }
}

The output of the code is:

Inside the try block
Exception caught: / by zero
This code is always executed

As we can see from both the examples, the finally block is executed even though an exception was thrown in the try block.

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