Why Use FileNotFoundException When Covered by IOException

Question

What is the purpose of catching a FileNotFound and IOException when the FileNotFoundException is covered by IOException?

Examples:

try {
    pref.load(new FileInputStream(file.getAbsolutePath()));
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
    // TODO Auto-generated catch block
    e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
    // TODO Auto-generated catch block
    e.printStackTrace();
}

as opposed to:

try {
    pref.load(new FileInputStream(file.getAbsolutePath()));
} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
    // TODO Auto-generated catch block
    e.printStackTrace();
}

Is it simply to enable different code to be executed if a FileNotFoundException is thrown? Or is there a different reason?

EDIT: What are a few examples of what an IOException could be thrown for? (Besides a FileNotFoundException)

*"Is it simply to enable different code to be executed if a FileNotFoundException is thrown?"* ***Yes!!!*** — johnchen902, Jul 14 '13 at 01:45

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 14 '13 at 01:49

It allows you to specifically handle that case. Perhaps your application needs to do something specific when a file is not found. Such as notify the user that a file was not found, rather then just a generic error.

So basically, yes, it allows different code to be executed specifically when a FileNotFoundException is thrown.

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 14 '13 at 01:55

It has to, because you assigning the task for the particular FileNotFound Exception error. If you do as IOException, user may not get the right information what went wrong in there. so doing in separate way, user come to know exactly what happening in the code.

Why Use FileNotFoundException When Covered by IOException

2 Answers2