How does exception handling work in Java?

Exception handling in Java is a way to handle errors and exceptional situations that can arise during the execution of a program. It is a mechanism to handle runtime errors in a structured and controlled way so that the program does not crash and instead gives a meaningful error message.

In Java, exceptions are objects that are created when an exceptional situation occurs. When an exception is thrown, it interrupts the normal flow of the program and is handled by the nearest catch block that matches the type of the exception. If no matching catch block is found, the exception is propagated up the call stack until a matching catch block is found or the program terminates.

Java provides a number of built-in exception classes for common errors like arithmetic exceptions, null pointer exceptions, and array index out of bounds exceptions. You can also create your own custom exception classes by extending the built-in Exception class or one of its subclasses.

To handle exceptions in Java, you use a try-catch block. The code that may throw an exception is enclosed in a try block, and any catch blocks that handle specific exceptions follow the try block. You can have multiple catch blocks to handle different types of exceptions, and you can also include a finally block to clean up resources or perform other actions that should always be done, regardless of whether an exception was thrown or not.

It is important to handle exceptions correctly in Java to avoid crashes and unexpected behavior in your program. Best practices for exception handling include using specific exceptions instead of general ones, logging exceptions instead of simply printing them to the console, and keeping exception handling code separate from business logic.