Exceptions that are not a subclass of RuntimeException must be explicitly handled in Java. That way, you won't be surprised if someone forgets to put it in the comment or you forget to read the comment thoroughly. If your method calls a method that throws a particular exception, it's a compiler error unless you either catch the exception or declare that you throw that exception (which in turn forces any method that calls this method to deal with it). Answer from blablahblah on reddit.com
Reddit
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r/learnprogramming on Reddit: JAVA throws and throw?
May 17, 2021 -
Hey,
so what is the use of the keyword „throws“? I found in several sources something like this:
„Throws keyword can be placed in the method declaration. It denotes which exceptions can be thrown from this method.“
But why cant i just make a comment and say: // this and this exception might be thrown
I dont really know why this was implemented? There must be something i clearly didnt understand
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Exceptions that are not a subclass of RuntimeException must be explicitly handled in Java. That way, you won't be surprised if someone forgets to put it in the comment or you forget to read the comment thoroughly. If your method calls a method that throws a particular exception, it's a compiler error unless you either catch the exception or declare that you throw that exception (which in turn forces any method that calls this method to deal with it).
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It will force any code which uses the method to deal with the exception somehow, meaning you can't overlook it. Generally if your code might throw a particular exception then Java will complain if you don't add a corresponding throws clause. Unless it is a special type of exception called an "unchecked" exception (you're allowed to throw those anywhere, but typically your program is just going to crash if you do).
GeeksforGeeks
geeksforgeeks.org › java › throw-throws-java
throw and throws in Java - GeeksforGeeks
throws is a keyword in Java that is used in the signature of a method to indicate that this method might throw one of the listed type exceptions. The caller to these methods has to handle the exception using a try-catch block.
Published August 5, 2025
oop - Exception handling : Difference between throw vs throws in Java - Stack Overflow
Bring the best of human thought and AI automation together at your work. Explore Stack Internal ... Could someone explain me when it is useful to use the keyword throw new .. instead of using throws next to the signature of a method ? I know that when a method throws a Checked Exception. Java ... More on stackoverflow.com
[Java] ELI5: the difference between "throws" and "throw"
Use "throw" to actually throw an exception. Tag a method "throws [exception type]" to declare that that exception can be thrown by the method; if it's a checked exception the calling method will either have to catch the exception, or pass it up the call chain further by also declaring "throws [whatever]". Checked exceptions are for potential problems that are impossible for the program to anticipate; unchecked (runtime) exceptions are for bugs in the code. So NullPointerException is unchecked because you should write your code such that you never try to dereference null, but IOException is checked because if someone else deletes a file while you're reading it, there's nothing your code could do to prevent that. You use try/catch blocks to deal with a checked exception when you're at a point where you can do something sensible: Preferences prefs; File prefsFile; try { } catch (IOException e) { Dialog.error("Error trying to read from the preferences file, using default preferences instead"); prefs = Preferences.getDefaultPreferences(); } More on reddit.com
JAVA throws and throw?
Exceptions that are not a subclass of RuntimeException must be explicitly handled in Java. That way, you won't be surprised if someone forgets to put it in the comment or you forget to read the comment thoroughly. If your method calls a method that throws a particular exception, it's a compiler error unless you either catch the exception or declare that you throw that exception (which in turn forces any method that calls this method to deal with it). More on reddit.com
ELI5: The difference between "throws" and "throw"
Throw is used when you want to say "here's an exception, someone take care of it". Throws is used to tag methods as "these exceptions may occur here". You would use try/catch/finally blocks when you're dealing with methods that can have exceptions (for example, I/O like reading a file, socket, or database) and/or when you want to handle that exceptional situation ("when there's a problem reading this file, I'll create a log entry and stop the process" or "if there's an issue reading from the database, write the SQL to the console"). The finally is used for the "no matter what happens, I need to clean up after myself", such as closing files, database connections, etc. The try-with-resources is another possibility here (catch and finally are both optional based on necessity) that will handle the cleanup automatically (an implicit finally that closes the resource). More on reddit.com
Can I use throw and throws together in the same method?
Yes, you can use both in the same method. The throws clause declares what exceptions the method might throw, and the throw statement actually throws the exception inside the method body.
upgrad.com
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Throw vs Throws in Java: Key Differences Explained
Should I use throw or throws with custom exceptions?
You'd use both: throws in the method signature to declare that your method might throw your custom exception, and throw inside the method to actually throw the exception when needed.
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Throw vs Throws in Java: Key Differences Explained
Can constructors use throw and throws?
Yes, constructors can both throw exceptions using the throw keyword and declare exceptions using the throws keyword, just like regular methods. Yes, constructors can both throw exceptions using the throw keyword and declare exceptions using the throws keyword, just like regular methods.
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Throw vs Throws in Java: Key Differences Explained
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Naukri
naukri.com › code360 › library › difference-between-throw-and-throws-in-java
Difference Between Throw and Throws in Java
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W3Schools
w3schools.com › java › ref_keyword_throws.asp
Java throws Keyword
The throws keyword indicates what exception type may be thrown by a method. There are many exception types available in Java: ArithmeticException, ClassNotFoundException, ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException, SecurityException, etc.
Programiz
programiz.com › java-programming › throw-throws
Java throw and throws Keyword
In this tutorial, you will learn to use throw and throws keyword for exception handling with the help of examples. We use the throws keyword in the method declaration to declare the type of exceptions that might occur within it.
Upgrad
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Throw vs Throws in Java: Key Differences Explained
May 14, 2025 - Advance your career with these ... Computing and DevOps ... throw keyword in Java programming explicitly throws an exception from within a method or block of code....
Oracle
docs.oracle.com › javase › tutorial › essential › exceptions › throwing.html
How to Throw Exceptions (The Java™ Tutorials > Essential Java Classes > Exceptions)
The figure below illustrates the class hierarchy of the Throwable class and its most significant subclasses. As you can see, Throwable has two direct descendants: Error and Exception. The Throwable class. When a dynamic linking failure or other hard failure in the Java virtual machine occurs, the virtual machine throws an Error.
BeginnersBook -
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Difference between throw and throws in java
September 11, 2022 - Actually Throws keyword is used to throw the checked exceptions which a programmer doesn’t want to handle it so a programmer throws these exception so that compiler did not give an error but throw keyword is used to throw an built-in-exception or user defined exception explicitly so both ...