Why do we use finally blocks? [duplicate]

As far as I can tell, both of the following code snippets will serve the same purpose. Why have finally blocks at all?

Code A:

try { /* Some code */ }
catch { /* Exception handling code */ }
finally { /* Cleanup code */ }

Code B:

try { /* Some code */ }
catch { /* Exception handling code */ }
// Cleanup code

Solution 1:

  • What happens if an exception you're not handling gets thrown? (I hope you're not catching Throwable...)
  • What happens if you return from inside the try block?
  • What happens if the catch block throws an exception?

A finally block makes sure that however you exit that block (modulo a few ways of aborting the whole process explicitly), it will get executed. That's important for deterministic cleanup of resources.

Solution 2:

Note that (in Java at least, probably also in C#) it's also possible to have a try block without a catch, but with a finally. When an exception happens in the try block, the code in the finally block is run before the exception is thrown higher up:

InputStream in = new FileInputStream("somefile.xyz");
try {
    somethingThatMightThrowAnException();
}
finally {
    // cleanup here
    in.close();
}