What are the circumstances under which a finally {} block will NOT execute?

Question

In a Java try{} ... catch{} ... finally{} block, code within the finally{} is generally considered \"guaranteed\" to run regardless of what occurs

Answer 1

Infinite loop in the try block.

Corrupt RAM? Program no longer runs as written? I've actually debugged that once on a DOS machine.

Answer 2

The only times finally won't be called are:

if the power turns off

1. if you call System.exit()
2. if the JVM crashes first
3. if there is an infinite loop in the try block
4. if the power turns off

Answer 3

If you call System.exit() the program exits immediately without finally being called.

A JVM Crash e.g. Segmentation Fault, will also prevent finally being called. i.e. the JVM stops immediately at this point and produces a crash report.

An infinite loop would also prevent a finally being called.

The finally block is always called when a Throwable is thrown. Even if you call Thread.stop() which triggers a ThreadDeath to be thrown in the target thread. This can be caught (it's an Error) and the finally block will be called.

---

public static void main(String[] args) {
    testOutOfMemoryError();
    testThreadInterrupted();
    testThreadStop();
    testStackOverflow();
}

private static void testThreadStop() {
    try {
        try {
            final Thread thread = Thread.currentThread();
            new Thread(new Runnable() {
                @Override
                public void run() {
                    thread.stop();
                }
            }).start();
            while(true)
                Thread.sleep(1000);
        } finally {
            System.out.print("finally called after ");
        }
    } catch (Throwable t) {
        System.out.println(t);
    }
}

private static void testThreadInterrupted() {
    try {
        try {
            final Thread thread = Thread.currentThread();
            new Thread(new Runnable() {
                @Override
                public void run() {
                    thread.interrupt();
                }
            }).start();
            while(true)
                Thread.sleep(1000);
        } finally {
            System.out.print("finally called after ");
        }
    } catch (Throwable t) {
        System.out.println(t);
    }
}

private static void testOutOfMemoryError() {
    try {
        try {
            List<byte[]> bytes = new ArrayList<byte[]>();
            while(true)
                bytes.add(new byte[8*1024*1024]);
        } finally {
            System.out.print("finally called after ");
        }
    } catch (Throwable t) {
        System.out.println(t);
    }
}

private static void testStackOverflow() {
    try {
        try {
            testStackOverflow0();
        } finally {
            System.out.print("finally called after ");
        }
    } catch (Throwable t) {
        System.out.println(t);
    }
}

private static void testStackOverflow0() {
    testStackOverflow0();
}

prints

finally called after java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space
finally called after java.lang.InterruptedException: sleep interrupted
finally called after java.lang.ThreadDeath
finally called after java.lang.StackOverflowError

Note: in each case the thread kept running, even after SO, OOME, Interrupted and Thread.stop()!