Understanding the Execution Order of finally and return in Java

Interviewers often ask which executes first, finally or return , in Java. This article explains the execution order and the purpose of finally .

finally is intended for cleanup actions that must run after try/catch, such as releasing database or Redis connections, and it is always executed before the method returns.

Example 1 shows a return inside try followed by a finally block without its own return. The output demonstrates that the return value is produced after the finally block runs.

package com.test;

/**
 * @author Damon
 * @date 2020年3月18日 上午11:02:08
 */
public class App {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println("return result: " + test());
  }

  public static int test() {
    try {
      Thread.sleep(1);
      System.out.println("執行 return 1");
      return 1; // return in try, finally runs afterwards
    } catch (InterruptedException e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
      return -1;
    } finally {
      System.out.println("执行 finally");
      //return 3;
    }
    //System.out.println("執行 return 2");
    //return 1;
  }
}

結果：
執行 return 1
执行 finally
return result: 1

Example 2 places a return 3 inside the finally block. In this case the finally return overrides the earlier return, and the method finally returns 3.

package com.test;

/**
 * @author Damon
 * @date 2020年3月18日 上午11:02:08
 */
public class App {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println("return result: " + test());
  }

  public static int test() {
    try {
      Thread.sleep(1);
      System.out.println("執行 return 1");
      return 1; // return in try, finally runs afterwards
    } catch (InterruptedException e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
      return -1;
    } finally {
      System.out.println("执行 finally");
      return 3;
    }
    //System.out.println("執行 return 2");
    //return 1;
  }
}

結果：
執行 return 1
执行 finally
return result: 3

Example 3 puts the return after the finally block. The finally still runs first, then the subsequent statements execute and the method returns the value from the later return .

package com.test;

/**
 * @author Damon
 * @date 2020年3月18日 上午11:02:08
 */
public class App {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    System.out.println("return result: " + test());
  }

  public static int test() {
    try {
      Thread.sleep(1);
      //System.out.println("執行 return 1");
      //return 1;
    } catch (InterruptedException e) {
      e.printStackTrace();
      //return -1;
    } finally {
      System.out.println("执行 finally");
      //return 3;
    }
    System.out.println("執行 return 2");
    return 1;
  }
}

結果：
执行 finally
執行 return 2
return result: 1

The conclusions are: when a return appears before finally , the finally block runs first and then the return value is applied; if finally itself contains a return , that value is returned immediately, bypassing any previous return; and a return after finally is executed after the cleanup code.

The article also briefly distinguishes final , finally , and finalize : final declares immutable variables, non‑overridable methods, or non‑extendable classes; finally is a block that always executes in exception handling; finalize is a method of Object invoked by the garbage collector for resource cleanup.