Skip to main content
St Louis

Back to all posts

How to Handle Exceptions In Kotlin?

Published on
4 min read
How to Handle Exceptions In Kotlin? image

Best Kotlin Programming Guides to Buy in October 2025

1 Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials (First Edition): A Practical Approach to Writing Safer, More Reliable Apps

Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials (First Edition): A Practical Approach to Writing Safer, More Reliable Apps

BUY & SAVE
$59.99
Functional Programming in Kotlin by Tutorials (First Edition): A Practical Approach to Writing Safer, More Reliable Apps
2 Kotlin Coroutines by Tutorials (Third Edition): Best Practices to Create Safe & Performant Asynchronous Code With Coroutines

Kotlin Coroutines by Tutorials (Third Edition): Best Practices to Create Safe & Performant Asynchronous Code With Coroutines

BUY & SAVE
$59.99
Kotlin Coroutines by Tutorials (Third Edition): Best Practices to Create Safe & Performant Asynchronous Code With Coroutines
3 Kotlin Apprentice (Third Edition): Beginning Programming with Kotlin

Kotlin Apprentice (Third Edition): Beginning Programming with Kotlin

BUY & SAVE
$59.99
Kotlin Apprentice (Third Edition): Beginning Programming with Kotlin
4 Data Structures & Algorithms in Kotlin (Second Edition): Implementing Practical Data Structures in Kotlin

Data Structures & Algorithms in Kotlin (Second Edition): Implementing Practical Data Structures in Kotlin

BUY & SAVE
$59.99
Data Structures & Algorithms in Kotlin (Second Edition): Implementing Practical Data Structures in Kotlin
5 Programming Android with Kotlin: Achieving Structured Concurrency with Coroutines

Programming Android with Kotlin: Achieving Structured Concurrency with Coroutines

BUY & SAVE
$48.00 $65.99
Save 27%
Programming Android with Kotlin: Achieving Structured Concurrency with Coroutines
6 Reactive Programming with Kotlin (Second Edition): Learn RX with RxJava, RxKotlin and RxAndroid

Reactive Programming with Kotlin (Second Edition): Learn RX with RxJava, RxKotlin and RxAndroid

BUY & SAVE
$59.99
Reactive Programming with Kotlin (Second Edition): Learn RX with RxJava, RxKotlin and RxAndroid
7 Kotlin in Action

Kotlin in Action

BUY & SAVE
$34.59 $44.99
Save 23%
Kotlin in Action
8 Android Fundamentals by Tutorials (First Edition): Build Android Apps With Kotlin & Jetpack Compose

Android Fundamentals by Tutorials (First Edition): Build Android Apps With Kotlin & Jetpack Compose

BUY & SAVE
$59.99
Android Fundamentals by Tutorials (First Edition): Build Android Apps With Kotlin & Jetpack Compose
9 Kotlin Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide (Big Nerd Ranch Guides)

Kotlin Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide (Big Nerd Ranch Guides)

BUY & SAVE
$50.80
Kotlin Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide (Big Nerd Ranch Guides)
10 Android Test-Driven Development by Tutorials (Second Edition): Learn Android TDD by Building Real-World Apps

Android Test-Driven Development by Tutorials (Second Edition): Learn Android TDD by Building Real-World Apps

BUY & SAVE
$59.99
Android Test-Driven Development by Tutorials (Second Edition): Learn Android TDD by Building Real-World Apps
+
ONE MORE?

In Kotlin, exceptions are handled using try-catch blocks. The try block contains the code that may throw an exception, and the catch block handles the exception if it occurs. Here is an example of how to handle exceptions in Kotlin:

try { // code that may throw an exception } catch (e: Exception) { // handling the exception }

In the try block, you place the code that you think might throw an exception. If an exception occurs, the code execution jumps to the corresponding catch block. The catch block is used to handle the exception and perform any necessary actions.

You can have multiple catch blocks to handle different types of exceptions. The catch blocks are evaluated in order, and the first one that matches the exception type is executed. You can also have a catch block without specifying the exception type, which will catch all exceptions.

try { // code that may throw an exception } catch (e: SpecificException) { // handling a specific exception } catch (e: AnotherException) { // handling another specific exception } catch (e: Exception) { // handling any other exception } finally { // code that will always be executed, regardless of exceptions }

In addition to the try and catch blocks, you can also use a finally block. The finally block contains code that will always be executed, regardless of whether an exception occurred or not. It is often used for cleanup operations, such as closing resources, that should be performed regardless of the outcome.

Exception handling in Kotlin allows you to gracefully handle errors and exceptions during the execution of your code, enabling you to provide appropriate responses or fallback actions.

What is the difference between checked and unchecked exceptions in Kotlin?

In Kotlin, there is no distinction between checked and unchecked exceptions, unlike in Java.

In Java, checked exceptions are those that are required to be declared in a method's signature using the throws keyword. The caller of the method is then forced to handle or propagate the exception. On the other hand, unchecked exceptions are not required to be declared or handled explicitly.

In Kotlin, exceptions are unchecked by default. This means that you are not required to declare or handle exceptions in your code. Instead, you can choose to handle exceptions using a try-catch block if needed.

However, Kotlin also provides the option to declare checked exceptions using the @Throws annotation. This allows you to indicate that a particular method may throw a checked exception, similar to Java. But it is important to note that Kotlin does not enforce the handling of checked exceptions like Java does.

How to handle concurrent modification exception in Kotlin?

In Kotlin, you can handle ConcurrentModificationException using the iterator and synchronized blocks. Here's an example of how you can do it:

import java.util.concurrent.CopyOnWriteArrayList

fun main() { val myList = CopyOnWriteArrayList() // Use CopyOnWriteArrayList for concurrent modification

// Add elements to the list
myList.add("One")
myList.add("Two")
myList.add("Three")

// Create a synchronized block to iterate over the list
synchronized(myList) {
    val iterator = myList.iterator()
    while (iterator.hasNext()) {
        val element = iterator.next()

        // Use \`iterator.remove()\` to safely remove elements
        iterator.remove()
        println("Removed: $element")
    }
}

}

In this example, we use a CopyOnWriteArrayList to handle concurrent modifications. By using this class, modifications to the list are always made on a separate copy of the underlying array, thus preventing any ConcurrentModificationException. Additionally, we wrap the iterator loop with a synchronized block to ensure thread safety.

Note that CopyOnWriteArrayList has a trade-off of increased memory consumption due to the creation of copies on write, so use it only when necessary.

How to handle out of memory exception in Kotlin?

In Kotlin, you can handle an OutOfMemoryException by using try-catch blocks. The OutOfMemoryException is a subclass of the Exception class, so you can catch it like any other exception.

Here is an example of how you can handle the OutOfMemoryException in Kotlin:

try { // Your code that may throw OutOfMemoryException } catch (e: OutOfMemoryError) { // Handle the exception here // You can log the error or perform any necessary clean-up } catch (e: Exception) { // Handle other exceptions if needed }

In this example, the code inside the try block is the code that may throw the OutOfMemoryException. If this exception occurs, it will be caught by the catch block specifically designed to handle it.

You can also catch other exceptions if needed, as shown in the second catch block. By adding multiple catch blocks, you can handle different types of exceptions in different ways.

Remember that the OutOfMemoryError is actually an Error, not an Exception, but it behaves similarly to an Exception and can be caught in the same way.