52
votes

In C#, how does a try catch finally block work?

So if there is an exception, I know that it will jump to the catch block and then jump to the finally block.

But what if there is no error, the catch block wont get run, but does the finally block get run then?

6
@MatíasFidemraizer: I'm all for experimentation - but that doesn't necessarily tell you what the language guarantees. There are various things you might "discover" by experimentation which would be bad to rely on.Jon Skeet
@JonSkeet I'm speaking in general terms, not about your own suggestion (your link), but I mean that checking how try/catch/finally works in C# is something that you can discover just with this code: try { } catch{ } finally { Trace.WriteLine("I'm here!"); } for example :)Matías Fidemraizer
@MatíasFidemraizer: But that's my point - that shows you what it does in this particular case - but it doesn't tell you anything about what happens if (say) you return within the try block. Yes, experimentation is good - but I'd generally prefer to trust a specification where possible.Jon Skeet
@JonSkeet 100% agree. I always prefer to read a documentation page and know how exactly behaves some language or API feature. But I mean that I wouldn't ask a question in a forum or SO without reading the so-called documentation or at least trying myself a sample code. But again, 100% agree, specification > trial-error.Matías Fidemraizer
When a return executes control/program glow is returned to the script, function or method that executed the method or function. This means anything after the return inside that called function is not executed. So if you had a return on one line, and say, an exception on the following line, it would not execute the exception. Without returns, the exceptions would trigger, the catch would catch them and if you use a finally block then it would execute whatever is inside it. exit, cleanup, return, whatever you want really, but in practice is best to perform cleanup if needed and not much else.Chris

6 Answers

53
votes

Yes, the finally block gets run whether there is an exception or not.

Try
    [ tryStatements ]
    [ Exit Try ]
[ Catch [ exception [ As type ] ] [ When expression ]
    [ catchStatements ]
    [ Exit Try ] ]
[ Catch ... ]
[ Finally
    [ finallyStatements ] ] --RUN ALWAYS
End Try

See: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fk6t46tz%28v=vs.80%29.aspx

11
votes

Yes the finally clause gets exeucuted if there is no exception. Taking an example

     try
        {
            int a = 10;
            int b = 20;
            int z = a + b;
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(e.Message);
        }
        finally
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Executed");
        }

So here if suppose an exception occurs also the finally gets executed.

2
votes

The finally block will always execute before the method returns.

Try running the code below, you'll notice where the Console.WriteLine("executed") of within the finally statement, executes before the Console.WriteLine(RunTry()) has a chance to execute.

static void Main(string[] args)
{
    Console.WriteLine("Hello World!");
    Console.WriteLine(RunTry());
    Console.ReadLine();
}
public static int RunTry()
{
    try
    {
        throw new Exception();
    }
    catch (Exception)
    {
        return 0;
    }
    finally
    {
        Console.WriteLine("executed");
    }
    Console.WriteLine("will not be executed since the method already returned");
}

See the result:

enter image description here

0
votes

finally block always run , no matter what. just try this method

     public int TryCatchFinally(int a, int b)
    {
        try
        {
            int sum = a + b;
            if (a > b)
            {
                throw new Exception();
            }
            else
            {
                int rightreturn = 2;
                return rightreturn;
            }
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            int ret = 1;
            return ret;
        }
        finally
        {
            int fin = 5;
        }
    }
0
votes
        try
        {
            //Function to Perform
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
         //You can display what error occured in Try block, with exact technical spec (DivideByZeroException)
            throw; 
            // Displaying error through signal to Machine, 
            //throw is usefull , if you calling a method with try from derived class.. So the method will directly get the signal                
        }

        finally  //Optional
        {
            //Here You can write any code to be executed after error occured in Try block
            Console.WriteLine("Completed");
        }
0
votes

Yes, Finally will always execute.

Even if there is no catch block after try, finally block will still execute.

Basically finally can be used to release resources such as a file streams, database connections and graphics handlers without waiting for the garbage collector in the runtime to finalize the object.

       try
        {
            int a = 10;
            int b = 0;
            int x = a / b;
        }
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(e);
        }
        finally
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Finally block is executed");
        }
        Console.WriteLine("Some more code here");

Output:

System.DivideByZeroException: Attempted to divide by zero.

Finally block is executed

Rest of the code

Source : Exception handling in C# (With try-catch-finally block details)