The exception handling block appears immediately after the try block. This block incudes one or more exception handlers. An exception handler provides a specific response to a specific kind of exception. Handling an exception clears the error condition and destroys the exception object, which allows the application to continue execution. You typically define exception handlers to allow your applications to recover from errors and continue running. Types of exceptions you might handle include attempts to open files that don't exist, writing to full disks, or calculations that exceed legal bounds. Some of these, such as "File not found," are easy to correct and retry, while others, such as running out of memory, can be more difficult for the application or the user to correct. 

The application executes the statements in and exception handler only if an exception occurs during execution of the statements in the preceding try block. When a statement in the try block raises an exception, execution immediately jumps to the exception handler, where it steps through the specified exception-handling statements, until it finds a handler that applies to the current exception. 

Once the application locates an exception handler that handles the exception, it executes the statement, then automatically destroys the exception object. Execution continues at the end of the current block. 

The following topics provide details on writing exception handlers:

• Exception-handling Statements
• Handling Classes of Exceptions
• Scope of Exception Handlers
• Reraising Exceptions