How to throw a checked exception from a java thread?

To be able to send the exception to the parent thread, you can put your background thread in a Callable (it allows throwing also checked exceptions) which you then pass to the submit method of some Executor. The submit method will return a Future which you can then use to get the exception (its get method will throw an ExecutionException which contains the original exception).

Caveat: this may not meet your needs if you have to use the exception mechanism.

If I understand you correctly, you don't actually need the exception to be checked (you've accepted the answer suggesting an unchecked exception) so would a simple listener pattern be more appropriate?

The listener could live in the parent thread, and when you've caught the checked exception in the child thread, you could simply notify the listener.

This means that you have a way of exposing that this will happen (through public methods), and will be able to pass more information than an exception will allow. But it does mean there will be a coupling (albeit a loose one) between the parent and the child thread. It would depend in your specific situation whether this would have a benefit over wrapping the checked exception with an unchecked one.

Here's a simple example (some code borrowed from another answer):

public class ThingRunnable implements Runnable {
    private SomeListenerType listener;
    // assign listener somewhere

    public void run() {
        try {
            while(iHaveMorePackets()) { 
                doStuffWithPacket();
            }
        } catch(Exception e) {
            listener.notifyThatDarnedExceptionHappened(...);
        }
    }
 }

The coupling comes from an object in the parent thread having to be of type SomeListenerType.

This answer is based on Esko Luontola one but it provides a working example.

Unlike the run() method of the Runnable interface the call() method of Callable allows to throw some exceptions. Here is an implementation example :

public class MyTask implements Callable<Integer> {

    private int numerator;
    private int denominator;

    public MyTask(int n, int d) {
        this.numerator = n;
        this.denominator = d;
    }

    @Override
    // The call method may throw an exception
    public Integer call() throws Exception {
        Thread.sleep(1000);
        if (denominator == 0) {
            throw new Exception("cannot devide by zero");
        } else {
            return numerator / denominator;
        }
    }

}

Executor provides a mechanism to run a Callable inside a thread and to handle any kind of exceptions :

public class Main {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        // Build a task and an executor
        MyTask task = new MyTask(2, 0);
        ExecutorService threadExecutor = Executors.newSingleThreadExecutor();

        try {
            // Start task on another thread
            Future<Integer> futureResult = threadExecutor.submit(task);

            // While task is running you can do asynchronous operations
            System.out.println("Something that doesn't need the tasks result");

            // Now wait until the result is available
            int result = futureResult.get();
            System.out.println("The result is " + result);
        } catch (ExecutionException e) {
            // Handle the exception thrown by the child thread
            if (e.getMessage().contains("cannot devide by zero"))
                System.out.println("error in child thread caused by zero division");
        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
            // This exception is thrown if the child thread is interrupted.
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

What I do is to catch the exception in the thread and store it as a member variable of the Runnable. This exception is then exposed via a getter on the Runnable. I then scan all the threads from the parent to see if any had exceptions, and take the appropriate action.

How to throw a checked exception from a java thread?

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