C# Tutorial: Exception Handling
try/catch/finally, throwing exceptions, custom exceptions, and when to use exceptions.
Exceptions
Exceptions handle unexpected runtime errors. Unlike Rust's Result, C# exceptions are not checked — you must know which methods might throw.
Use exceptions for truly exceptional situations, not normal control flow.
What you'll learn in this C# exception handling tutorial
This interactive C# tutorial has 8 hands-on exercises. Estimated time: 18 minutes.
- try/catch basics — Wrap code that might throw in try. Catch the exception type.
- Multiple catch blocks — Catch different exception types in order, most specific first.
- finally block — `finally` runs whether or not an exception occurred. Use it for cleanup.
- Throwing exceptions — Use `throw` to raise an exception.
- Custom exceptions — Create custom exception types for domain-specific errors.
- Exception filters with when — `catch (Exception ex) when (condition)` adds a filter to catch blocks.
- Re-throwing exceptions — Use `throw;` (no argument) to re-throw preserving the stack trace.
- Exception properties — Exception has useful properties: Message, StackTrace, InnerException.
C# Exception Handling concepts covered
- Exceptions