Java Exception Handling Cheatsheet
1 Exception Hierarchy 3 Finally Block
Throwable F il eI np u tS tr ea m fis = null ;
try {
Error (unchecked): OutOfMemoryError, StackOverflowError
fis = new F il eI np u tS tr ea m ( " file . txt " ) ;
Exception // read file
RuntimeException (unchecked) } catch ( IOException e ) {
NullPointerException System . out . println ( " File error : " + e . getMessage () ) ;
} finally {
ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException // Always executed ( even if exception occurs )
IllegalArgumentException if ( fis != null ) {
NumberFormatException try {
Checked Exceptions fis . close () ;
} catch ( IOException e ) {
IOException System . out . println ( " Error closing file " ) ;
SQLException }
ClassNotFoundException }
}
2 Basic Try-Catch
4 Try-With-Resources (Java 7+)
2.1 Simple Try-Catch
4.1 Single Resource
try {
int result = 10 / 0; // risky operation try ( F il e In pu tS t re am fis = new F il eI n pu tS tr e am ( " file . txt " ) ) {
System . out . println ( result ) ; // use file
} catch ( A r i t h m e t i c E x c e p t i o n e ) { // fis . close () called automatically
System . out . println ( " Division by zero : " + e . getMessage () ) ; } catch ( IOException e ) {
} System . out . println ( " File error : " + e . getMessage () ) ;
}
2.2 Multiple Catch Blocks 4.2 Multiple Resources
try { try ( F il e In pu tS t re am fis = new F il eI n pu tS tr e am ( " input . txt " ) ;
String str = null ; F i l e O u t p u t S t r e a m fos = new F i l e O u t p u t S t r e a m ( " output . txt " ) ;
int length = str . length () ; // N u l l P o i n t e r E x c e p t i o n Buff eredRead er br = new B ufferedR eader ( new FileReader ( " data . txt " ) ) ) {
int [] arr = {1 , 2 , 3};
int value = arr [5]; // A r r a y I n d e x O u t O f B o u n d s E x c e p t i o n // use resources
} catch ( N u l l P o i n t e r E x c e p t i o n e ) { // All resources closed automatically in reverse order
System . out . println ( " Null pointer : " + e . getMessage () ) ;
} catch ( A r r a y I n d e x O u t O f B o u n d s E x c e p t i o n e ) { } catch ( IOException e ) {
System . out . println ( " Array index : " + e . getMessage () ) ; System . out . println ( " I / O error : " + e . getMessage () ) ;
} catch ( Exception e ) { // catch - all ( should be last ) }
System . out . println ( " General exception : " + e . getMessage () ) ;
}
4.3 Enhanced Try-With-Resources (Java 9+)
2.3 Multi-Catch (Java 7+) F il eI np u tS tr ea m fis = new Fi le I np ut St r ea m ( " file . txt " ) ;
F i l e O u t p u t S t r e am fos = new F i l e O u t p u t S t r e am ( " output . txt " ) ;
try {
// risky operations try ( fis ; fos ) { // can reference existing variables
} catch ( IOException | SQLException e ) { // use resources
System . out . println ( " I / O or SQL error : " + e . getMessage () ) ; } catch ( IOException e ) {
// Note : e is effectively final System . out . println ( " I / O error : " + e . getMessage () ) ;
} }
1
5 Throwing Exceptions // Usage
public void withdraw ( double amount ) throws I n s u f f i c i e n t F u n d s E x c e p t i o n {
5.1 Throw Statement if ( amount > balance ) {
throw new I n s u f f i c i e n t F u n d s E x c e p t i o n (
public void validateAge ( int age ) { " Insufficient funds . Available : " + balance , amount ) ;
if ( age < 0) { }
throw new I l l e g a l A r g u m e n t E x c e p t i o n ( " Age cannot be negative " ) ; balance -= amount ;
} }
if ( age > 150) {
throw new I l l e g a l A r g u m e n t E x c e p t i o n ( " Age too high : " + age ) ;
}
6.2 Custom Unchecked Exception
} public class I n v a l i d C o n f i g u r a t i o n E x c e p t i o n extends R u n t i m e E x c e p t i o n {
public I n v a l i d C o n f i g u r a t i o n E x c e p t i o n ( String message ) {
public void processFile ( String filename ) { super ( message ) ;
if ( filename == null || filename . isEmpty () ) { }
throw new N u l l P o i n t e r E x c e p t i o n ( " Filename cannot be null / empty " ) ;
} public I n v a l i d C o n f i g u r a t i o n E x c e p t i o n ( String message , Throwable cause )
} {
super ( message , cause ) ;
5.2 Throws Declaration }
}
// Method declares it might throw checked exceptions
public void readFile ( String filename ) throws IOException { // Usage ( no throws declaration needed )
FileReader fr = new FileReader ( filename ) ; // might throw IOException public void loadConfig ( String config ) {
// process file if ( config == null ) {
} throw new I n v a l i d C o n f i g u r a t i o n E x c e p t i o n ( " Config cannot be null " ) ;
}
public void connectDB () throws SQLException , C l a s s N o t F o u n d E x c e p t i o n { }
Class . forName ( " com . mysql . jdbc . Driver " ) ; // C l a s s N o t F o u n d E x c e p t i o n
DriverManager . getConnection ( " jdbc : mysql :// localhost / db " ) ; //
SQLException 7 Exception Information
}
7.1 Exception Methods
// Multiple exceptions
public void riskyMethod () throws IOException , SQLException { try {
// method implementati on // risky operation
} } catch ( Exception e ) {
String message = e . getMessage () ; // error message
String className = e . getClass () . getName () ; // exception class
6 Custom Exceptions S t a c k T r a c e E l e m e n t [] stack = e . getStackTrace () ; // stack trace
Throwable cause = e . getCause () ; // root cause
6.1 Custom Checked Exception
e . pr i nt St ac k Tr ac e () ; // print to System . err
public class I n s u f f i c i e n t F u n d s E x c e p t i o n extends Exception { e . pr i nt St ac k Tr ac e ( System . out ) ; // print to specific stream
private double amount ;
// Convert to string
public I n s u f f i c i e n t F u n d s E x c e p t i o n ( String message , double amount ) { StringWriter sw = new StringWriter () ;
super ( message ) ; PrintWriter pw = new PrintWriter ( sw ) ;
this . amount = amount ; e . pr i nt St ac k Tr ac e ( pw ) ;
} String stackTrace = sw . toString () ;
}
public double getAmount () {
return amount ; 7.2 Chained Exceptions
}
} public void processData () throws D a t a P r o c e s s i n g E x c e p t i o n {
try {
2
// database operation logger . error ( " Failed to connect to database " , e ) ;
connection . executeQuery ( " SELECT * FROM users " ) ; throw e ; // re - throw after logging
} catch ( SQLException e ) { }
// Wrap and rethrow with more context }
throw new D a t a P r o c e s s i n g E x c e p t i o n ( " Failed to process user data " , e
); public void close () {
} if ( connection != null ) {
} try {
connection . close () ;
// Custom exception with chaining } catch ( SQLException e ) {
public class D a t a P r o c e s s i n g E x c e p t i o n extends Exception { logger . warn ( " Error closing connection " , e ) ;
public D a t a P r o c e s s i n g E x c e p t i o n ( String message , Throwable cause ) { // Don ’t re - throw in cleanup methods
super ( message , cause ) ; }
} }
} }
}
8 Common Runtime Exceptions
9.2 Retry Pattern
// N u l l P o i n t e r E x c e p t i o n public void c o n n e c t W i t h R e t r y ( int maxAttempts ) {
String str = null ; int attempts = 0;
int length = str . length () ; // NPE while ( attempts < maxAttempts ) {
try {
// A r r a y I n d e x O u t O f B o u n d s E x c e p t i o n connect () ;
int [] arr = {1 , 2 , 3}; return ; // success
int value = arr [5]; // AIOOBE } catch ( C o n n e c t i o n E x c e p t i o n e ) {
attempts ++;
// N u m b e r F o r m a t E x c e p t i o n if ( attempts >= maxAttempts ) {
int num = Integer . parseInt ( " abc " ) ; // NFE throw new C o n n e c t i o n E x c e p t i o n ( " Failed after " +
maxAttempts + " attempts " , e ) ;
// I l l e g a l A r g u m e n t E x c e p t i o n }
Thread . sleep ( -1000) ; // IAE try {
Thread . sleep (1000 * attempts ) ; // exponential backoff
// C l a s s C a s t E x c e p t i o n } catch ( I n t e r r u p t e d E x c e p t i o n ie ) {
Object obj = " Hello " ; Thread . currentThread () . interrupt () ;
Integer num = ( Integer ) obj ; // CCE throw new R u n t i m e E x c e p t i o n ( " Interrupted during retry " , ie )
;
// A r i t h m e t i c E x c e p t i o n }
int result = 10 / 0; // AE }
}
// S t r i n g I n d e x O u t O f B o u n d s E x c e p t i o n }
String str = " Hello " ;
char ch = str . charAt (10) ; // SIOOBE
9.3 Fallback Pattern
9 Exception Handling Patterns public String getConf igValue ( String key ) {
try {
9.1 Resource Management Pattern return l o a d F r o mD a t a b a s e ( key ) ;
} catch ( D a t a b a s e E x c e p t i o n e ) {
public class Da t ab as e Ma na ge r { logger . warn ( " Database unavailable , using file config " , e ) ;
private Connection connection ; try {
return loadFromFile ( key ) ;
public void connect () throws SQLException { } catch ( IOException e2 ) {
try { logger . warn ( " File config failed , using default " , e2 ) ;
connection = DriverManager . getConnection ( url , user , pass ) ; return g et D ef au lt V al ue ( key ) ;
} catch ( SQLException e ) { }
3
}
} // JUnit 5
@Test
public void t e s t I n v a l i d I n p u t () {
10 Best Practices assertThrows ( I l l e g a l A r g u m e n t E x c e p t i o n . class , () -> {
calculator . divide (10 , 0) ;
10.1 Exception Handling Guidelines }) ;
// DO : Be specific with exceptions }
try {
processFile ( filename ) ; // Testing exception message
} catch ( F i l e N o t F o u n d E x c e p t i o n e ) { @Test
logger . error ( " File not found : " + filename , e ) ; public void t e s t E x c e p t i o n M e s s a g e () {
} catch ( IOException e ) { Exception exception = assertThrows (
logger . error ( " I / O error processing file " , e ) ; I l l e g a l A r g u m e n t E x c e p t i o n . class ,
} () -> validator . validate ( null )
);
// DON ’T : Catch generic Exception unless necessary assertEquals ( " Input cannot be null " , exception . getMessage () ) ;
try { }
risky Operati on () ;
} catch ( Exception e ) { // too broad
// handle 12 Performance Considerations
}
• Exceptions are expensive - don’t use for control flow
// DO : Log and rethrow • Stack trace generation is costly
try { • Avoid exceptions in loops - validate inputs first
c r i t i c a l O p e r a t i o n () ;
} catch ( C r i t i c a l E x c e p t i o n e ) { • Use static factory methods for common exceptions
logger . error ( " Critical operation failed " , e ) ; • Consider lazy stack trace for high-frequency exceptions
throw e ; // don ’t swallow critical exceptions • Pool exceptions if creating many identical ones
}
// DON ’T : Empty catch blocks 13 Quick Reference
try {
risky Operati on () ; Checked vs Unchecked
} catch ( Exception e ) { • Checked: Must be caught or declared (IOException, SQLException)
// Silent failure - very bad ! • Unchecked: Runtime exceptions (NullPointerException, IllegalArgumentException)
}
// DO : Clean up in finally or use try - with - resources When to Use
try ( Resource resource = a c qu ir e Re so ur c e () ) { • Checked: Recoverable conditions caller should handle
useResource ( resource ) ;
} // automatic cleanup • Unchecked: Programming errors, invalid states
11 Exception Testing Exception Chain
• Use initCause() or constructor with cause parameter
11.1 JUnit Exception Testing • Preserves original stack trace and context
// JUnit 4
@Test ( expected = I l l e g a l A r g u m e n t E x c e p t i o n . class )
public void t e s t I n v a l i d I n p u t () {
Suppressed Exceptions
calculator . divide (10 , 0) ; • Added automatically in try-with-resources
} • Access via getSuppressed() method
