How can I break from a try/catch block without throwing an exception in Java

Question

I need a way to break from the middle of try/catch block without throwing an exception. Something that is similar to the break and continue in for loops. Is this possible?

Answer 1

Various ways:

• return
• break or continue when in a loop
• break to label when in a labeled statement (see @aioobe's example)
• break when in a switch statement.

...

• System.exit() ... though that's probably not what you mean.

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In my opinion, "break to label" is the most natural (least contorted) way to do this if you just want to get out of a try/catch. But it could be confusing to novice Java programmers who have never encountered that Java construct.

But while labels are obscure, in my opinion wrapping the code in a do ... while (false) so that you can use a break is a worse idea. This will confuse non-novices as well as novices. It is better for novices (and non-novices!) to learn about labeled statements.

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By the way, return works in the case where you need to break out of a finally. But you should avoid doing a return in a finally block because the semantics are a bit confusing, and liable to give the reader a headache.