Multi-catch exception handling

Home / Errors / Multi-catch exception handling

Code Comparison

try {
    process();
} catch (IOException e) {
    log(e);
} catch (SQLException e) {
    log(e);
} catch (ParseException e) {
    log(e);
}

try {
    process();
} catch (IOException
    | SQLException
    | ParseException e) {
    log(e);
}

Why the modern way wins

📏

Same handling logic written once instead of three times.

🔄

The caught exception can be rethrown with its precise type.

📖

All handled types are visible in one place.

Old Approach

Separate Catch Blocks

Modern Approach

Multi-catch

JDK Support

Multi-catch exception handling

Available

Widely available since JDK 7 (July 2011)

How it works

Multi-catch handles multiple exception types with the same code. The exception variable is effectively final, so you can rethrow it without wrapping.