java try finally block to close stream

In Java 7 you can do this...

try (BufferedReader r = new BufferedReader(...)){
     String inLine;
     while ((inLine = r.readLine()) != null) {
          System.out.println(inLine);
     }
} catch(IOException e) {
   //handle exception
}

• Declaring a variable in the try block requires that it implements AutoCloseable.
• Declaring a variable in the try block also limits its scope to the try block.
• Any variable declared in the try block will automatically have close() called when the try block exits.

It's called a Try with resources statement.

It seems a bit clunky.

It is. At least java7's try with resources fixes that.

Pre java7 you can make a closeStream function that swallows it:

public void closeStream(Closeable s){
    try{
        if(s!=null)s.close();
    }catch(IOException e){
        //Log or rethrow as unchecked (like RuntimException) ;)
    }
}

Or put the try...finally inside the try catch:

try{
    BufferedReader r = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(address.openStream()));
    try{

        String inLine;
        while ((inLine = r.readLine()) != null) {
            System.out.println(inLine);
        }
    }finally{
        r.close();
    }
}catch(IOException e){
    e.printStackTrace();
}

It's more verbose and an exception in the finally will hide one in the try but it's semantically closer to the try-with-resources introduced in Java 7.

Also if you're using Java 7, you can use a try-with-resources statement:

try(BufferedReader r = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(address.openStream()))) {
    String inLine;
    while ((inLine = r.readLine()) != null) {
        System.out.println(inLine);
    }
} catch(IOException readException) {
    readException.printStackTrace();
}