throw
The throw
statement throws a user-defined exception.
Execution of the current function will stop (the statements after throw
won't be executed), and control will be passed to the first catch
block in the call stack. If no catch
block exists among caller functions,
the program will terminate.
Syntax
throw expression;
expression
-
The expression to throw.
Description
Use the throw
statement to throw an exception. When you throw an
exception, expression
specifies the value of the exception. Each
of the following throws an exception:
throw 'Error2'; // generates an exception with a string value
throw 42; // generates an exception with the value 42
throw true; // generates an exception with the value true
throw new Error('Required'); // generates an error object with the message of Required
Also note that the throw
statement is affected by
automatic semicolon insertion (ASI)
as no line terminator between the throw
keyword and the expression is allowed.
Examples
Throw an object
You can specify an object when you throw an exception. You can then reference the
object's properties in the catch
block. The following example creates an
object of type UserException
and uses it in a throw
statement.
function UserException(message) {
this.message = message;
this.name = 'UserException';
}
function getMonthName(mo) {
mo = mo - 1; // Adjust month number for array index (1 = Jan, 12 = Dec)
var months = ['Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'Jun', 'Jul',
'Aug', 'Sep', 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec'];
if (months[mo] !== undefined) {
return months[mo];
} else {
throw new UserException('InvalidMonthNo');
}
}
try {
// statements to try
var myMonth = 15; // 15 is out of bound to raise the exception
var monthName = getMonthName(myMonth);
} catch (e) {
monthName = 'unknown';
console.error(e.message, e.name); // pass exception object to err handler
}
Another example of throwing an object
The following example tests an input string for a U.S. zip code. If the zip code uses
an invalid format, the throw statement throws an exception by creating an object of type
ZipCodeFormatException
.
/*
* Creates a ZipCode object.
*
* Accepted formats for a zip code are:
* 12345
* 12345-6789
* 123456789
* 12345 6789
*
* If the argument passed to the ZipCode constructor does not
* conform to one of these patterns, an exception is thrown.
*/
function ZipCode(zip) {
zip = new String(zip);
pattern = /[0-9]{5}([- ]?[0-9]{4})?/;
if (pattern.test(zip)) {
// zip code value will be the first match in the string
this.value = zip.match(pattern)[0];
this.valueOf = function() {
return this.value
};
this.toString = function() {
return String(this.value)
};
} else {
throw new ZipCodeFormatException(zip);
}
}
function ZipCodeFormatException(value) {
this.value = value;
this.message = 'does not conform to the expected format for a zip code';
this.toString = function() {
return this.value + this.message;
};
}
/*
* This could be in a script that validates address data
* for US addresses.
*/
const ZIPCODE_INVALID = -1;
const ZIPCODE_UNKNOWN_ERROR = -2;
function verifyZipCode(z) {
try {
z = new ZipCode(z);
} catch (e) {
if (e instanceof ZipCodeFormatException) {
return ZIPCODE_INVALID;
} else {
return ZIPCODE_UNKNOWN_ERROR;
}
}
return z;
}
a = verifyZipCode(95060); // returns 95060
b = verifyZipCode(9560); // returns -1
c = verifyZipCode('a'); // returns -1
d = verifyZipCode('95060'); // returns 95060
e = verifyZipCode('95060 1234'); // returns 95060 1234
Rethrow an exception
You can use throw
to rethrow an exception after you catch it. The
following example catches an exception with a numeric value and rethrows it if the value
is over 50. The rethrown exception propagates up to the enclosing function or to the top
level so that the user sees it.
try {
throw n; // throws an exception with a numeric value
} catch (e) {
if (e <= 50) {
// statements to handle exceptions 1-50
} else {
// cannot handle this exception, so rethrow
throw e;
}
}
Specifications
Specification |
---|
ECMAScript Language Specification # sec-throw-statement |
Browser compatibility
BCD tables only load in the browser