Try-with-Resources in Java

The Try-with-Resources statement was introduced in Java 7 to automatically close resources (like files, connections, streams) without needing a finally block.

It works with any class that implements the AutoCloseable interface.

What is Try-with-Resources?

Try-with-Resources is a feature that allows you to declare resources inside the try statement.

These resources are automatically closed after the try block finishes, even if an exception occurs.

A resource is any object that needs to be closed after usage (e.g., FileReader, Scanner, Connection).

Traditional try-finally (Before Java 7)

You had to manually close resources:

FileInputStream fis = null;
try {
    fis = new FileInputStream("data.txt");
    // read file
} catch (IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
} finally {
    if (fis != null) {
        fis.close(); // must close manually
    }
}

Problems:

Too much code
Easy to forget closing
Errors inside finally
Not clean and readable

Try-with-Resources (After Java 7)

try (FileInputStream fis = new FileInputStream("data.txt")) {
    // read file
} catch (IOException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

No need for finally
Resource closes automatically
Cleaner and safer

Syntax

try (ResourceType res = new ResourceType()) {
    // use resource
} catch (Exception e) {
    // handle exception
}

You can also declare multiple resources:

try (Resource1 r1 = new Resource1();
     Resource2 r2 = new Resource2()) {
    // use r1 and r2
}

Example: Reading a File Using Try-with-Resources

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.FileReader;
import java.io.IOException;

public class TryWithResourcesExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try (BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("data.txt"))) {
            System.out.println(br.readLine());
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Resource closes automatically
No need for finally block

How Does Try-with-Resources Work? (AutoCloseable)

To work with try-with-resources, a class must implement:

AutoCloseable (in Java 7+), or
Closeable (sub-interface of AutoCloseable)

AutoCloseable Interface:

public interface AutoCloseable {
    void close() throws Exception;
}

When try block ends, JVM automatically calls:

resource.close();

Creating a Custom AutoCloseable Resource

class MyResource implements AutoCloseable {
    @Override
    public void close() throws Exception {
        System.out.println("Resource closed");
    }
}

public class CustomResourceExample {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        try (MyResource r = new MyResource()) {
            System.out.println("Using resource");
        } catch (Exception e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
}

Output:

Using resource
Resource closed

Suppressed Exceptions (Important Interview Topic)

If both:

try block throws an exception
AND close() also throws an exception

Then Java suppresses the close exception.

You can view suppressed exceptions using:

for (Throwable t : e.getSuppressed()) {
    System.out.println(t);
}

Try-with-Resources Without Catch or Finally (Java 9)

Java 9 allows using already declared variables as resources:

BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("data.txt"));

try (br) {   // Java 9 feature
    System.out.println(br.readLine());
}

Advantages of Try-with-Resources

Feature	Benefit
Auto-close	No need for finally
Clean & short code	More readable
Handles suppressed exceptions	Safer
Reduces boilerplate	Less code writing
Works with any AutoCloseable object	Flexible

Real-World Use Cases

Try-with-resources is used in:

File handling (FileReader, BufferedReader, FileInputStream)
JDBC database operations (Connection, Statement, ResultSet)
Network connections (Socket)
Streams (Scanner, PrintWriter)

Example (JDBC):

try (Connection con = getConnection();
     Statement st = con.createStatement()) {

    ResultSet rs = st.executeQuery("SELECT * FROM users");

} catch (SQLException e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}

Core Java tutorial for beginners