try-catch (C# Reference)

The try-catch statement consists of a try block followed by one or more catch clauses, which specify handlers for different exceptions. When an exception is thrown, the common language runtime (CLR) looks for the catch statement that handles this exception. If the currently executing method does not contain such a catch block, the CLR looks at the method that called the current method, and so on up the call stack. If no catch block is found, then the CLR displays an unhandled exception message to the user and stops execution of the program.

The try block contains the guarded code that may cause the exception. The block is executed until an exception is thrown or it is completed successfully. For example, the following attempt to cast a null object raises the NullReferenceException exception:

object o2 = null;
try
{
    int i2 = (int)o2;   // Error
}

Although the catch clause can be used without arguments to catch any type of exception, this usage is not recommended. In general, you should only catch those exceptions that you know how to recover from. Therefore, you should always specify an object argument derived from System.Exception For example:

catch (InvalidCastException e) 
{
}

It is possible to use more than one specific catch clause in the same try-catch statement. In this case, the order of the catch clauses is important because the catch clauses are examined in order. Catch the more specific exceptions before the less specific ones. The compiler produces an error if you order your catch blocks so that a later block can never be reached.

A throw statement can be used in a catch block to re-throw the exception that is caught by the catch statement. The following example extracts source information from an IOException exception, and then throws the exception to the parent method.

catch (FileNotFoundException e)
{
    // FileNotFoundExceptions are handled here.
}
catch (IOException e)
{
    // Extract some information from this exception, and then 
    // throw it to the parent method.
    if (e.Source != null)
        Console.WriteLine("IOException source: {0}", e.Source);
    throw;
}

You can catch one exception and throw a different exception. When you do this, specify the exception that you caught as the inner exception, as shown in the following example.

catch (InvalidCastException e) 
{
    // Perform some action here, and then throw a new exception.
    throw new YourCustomException("Put your error message here.", e);
}

You can also re-throw an exception when a specified condition is true, as shown in the following example.

catch (InvalidCastException e)
{
    if (e.Data == null)
    {
        throw;
    }
    else
    {
        // Take some action.
    }
 }

From inside a try block, initialize only variables that are declared therein. Otherwise, an exception can occur before the execution of the block is completed. For example, in the following code example, the variable n is initialized inside the try block. An attempt to use this variable outside the try block in the Write(n) statement will generate a compiler error.

static void Main() 
{
    int n;
    try 
    {
        // Do not initialize this variable here.
        n = 123;
    }
    catch
    {
    }
    // Error: Use of unassigned local variable 'n'.
    Console.Write(n);
}

For more information about catch, see try-catch-finally.

Example

In the following example, the try block contains a call to the ProcessString method that may cause an exception. The catch clause contains the exception handler that just displays a message on the screen. When the throw statement is called from inside MyMethod, the system looks for the catch statement and displays the message Exception caught.

    class TryFinallyTest
{
    static void ProcessString(string s)
    {
        if (s == null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException();
        }
    }

    static void Main()
    {
        string s = null; // For demonstration purposes.

        try
        {            
            ProcessString(s);
        }

        catch (Exception e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("{0} Exception caught.", e);
        }
    }
}
    /*
    Output:
    System.ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null.
       at TryFinallyTest.Main() Exception caught.
     * */

In this example, two catch statements are used. The most specific exception, which comes first, is caught.

class ThrowTest3
{
    static void ProcessString(string s)
    {
        if (s == null)
        {
            throw new ArgumentNullException();
        }
    }

    static void Main()
    {
        try
        {
            string s = null;
            ProcessString(s);
        }
        // Most specific:
        catch (ArgumentNullException e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("{0} First exception caught.", e);
        }
        // Least specific:
        catch (Exception e)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("{0} Second exception caught.", e);
        }
    }
}
/*
 Output:
 System.ArgumentNullException: Value cannot be null.
 at Test.ThrowTest3.ProcessString(String s) ... First exception caught.
*/

In the previous example, if you start with the least specific catch clause, you will get the error message:

A previous catch clause already catches all exceptions of this or a super type ('System.Exception')

However, to catch the least specific exception, replace the throw statement by the following one:

throw new Exception();

C# Language Specification

For more information, see the C# Language Specification. The language specification is the definitive source for C# syntax and usage.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Explicitly Throw Exceptions

Reference

C# Keywords

try, catch, and throw Statements (C++)

Exception Handling Statements (C# Reference)

throw (C# Reference)

try-finally (C# Reference)

Concepts

C# Programming Guide

Other Resources

C# Reference