Java™ How To Program (Early Objects), Tenth Edition

Only the First Matching catch Executes

If multiple catch blocks match a particular exception type, only the first matching catch block executes when an exception of that type occurs. It’s a compilation error to catch the exact same type in two different catch blocks associated with a particular try block. However, there can be several catch blocks that match an exception—i.e., several catch blocks whose types are the same as the exception type or a superclass of that type. For instance, we could follow a catch block for type ArithmeticException with a catch block for type Exception—both would match ArithmeticExceptions, but only the first matching catch block would execute.

Common Programming Error 11.3

Placing a catch block for a superclass ...