How does the try-catch construct work in Java?

The try-catch construct is used for exception handling — events that disrupt the normal flow of program execution.

• try: A block of code where an exception might potentially occur. If an exception occurs inside the try block, the execution of this block is interrupted.
• catch: A block of code that executes if an exception of a specific type (indicated in parentheses after catch) occurs in the corresponding try block. Java searches for an appropriate catch block to handle the exception. If found, the code in this block executes.
• finally (optional): A block of code that is guaranteed to execute after the try-catch blocks, regardless of whether an exception occurred or was caught. It is used for resource cleanup (closing files, connections, etc.).

public class ExceptionHandlingExample {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try {
            // Code that might throw an exception
            int result = 10 / 0; // ArithmeticException
            System.out.println("This line will not be executed if an exception occurs.");
        } catch (ArithmeticException e) {
            // Handling the specific exception type
            System.err.println("An arithmetic error occurred: " + e.getMessage());
        } catch (Exception e) {
            // Generic catch for any other exception type
            System.err.println("An unknown error occurred: " + e.getMessage());
        } finally {
            // Code that always executes
            System.out.println("Finally block executed.");
        }

        System.out.println("Program continues after try-catch.");
    }
}

Comparison of try-catch and throws:

Attribute	try-catch	throws
Purpose	Exception handling	Delegating responsibility
Location	Code block	Method signature
Action	Catches and handles exceptions	Indicates the possibility of throwing an exception