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How to throw RuntimeException ("cannot find symbol")

Asked 2010-08-04T13:55:25.893
51

I'm trying to throw an exception in my code like this:

throw RuntimeException(msg);

But when I build in NetBeans I get this error:

C:\....java:50: cannot find symbol
symbol  : method RuntimeException(java.lang.String)
location: class ...
        throw RuntimeException(msg);
1 error

Do I need to import something? Am I misspelling it? I'm sure I must be doing something dumb :-(

java exception runtimeexception
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1 Answer

16

As everyone else has said, instantiate the object before throwing it.

Just wanted to add one bit; it's incredibly uncommon to throw a RuntimeException. It would be normal for code in the API to throw a subclass of this, but normally, application code would throw Exception, or something that extends Exception but not RuntimeException.

And in retrospect, I missed adding the reason why you use Exception instead of RuntimeException; @Jay, in the comment below, added in the useful bit. RuntimeException isn't a checked exception;

  • The method signature doesn't have to declare that a RuntimeException may be thrown.
  • Callers of that method aren't required to catch the exception, or acknowlege it in any way.
  • Developers who try to later use your code won't anticipate this problem unless they look carefully, and it will increase the maintenance burden of the code.
answered 2010-08-04T14:45:34.750

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