return statement in catch block

[sahil1991]

hello frndz,
i was doing this program and then i encountered this strange problem...
it is a program in which i want to open two text files and then compare it..
It is giving me two errors:
1)variable f1 might not be initialised.
2)variable f2 might not be initialised.
and when i include a return statement in the catch blocks,it works....i cant understand why is it so
because it doesnt throw any exception...plz help...thanks

/*
Project 10-1
Compare two files.
To use this program, specify the names
of the files to be compared
on the command line.
java CompFile FIRST.TXT SECOND.TXT
*/



import java.io.*;
class compare_files
{
   public static void main(String p[]) 
   {
      int i=0,j=0;
	  FileInputStream f1,f2;
      try
	  {
	     try
		 {
		    f1=new FileInputStream(p[0]);
		 }
		 catch(IOException e)
		 {
		    System.out.println("Can't open the file!");
			
		 }
		 try
		 {
		    f2=new FileInputStream(p[1]);
		 }
		 catch(IOException e)
		 {
		    System.out.println("Can't open the file!");
			
		 }
	  }
      catch(ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException e)
	  {
	     System.out.println("Array out of bounds!");
		 
	  }
	  try
	  {
	  do
	  {
	     i=f1.read();
		 j=f2.read();
		 if(i!=j)
		 break;
	  }while(i!=-1||j!=-1);
	  }
	  catch(IOException e)
	  {
	     System.out.println("I/O Exception!");
		 
	  }
	  if(i==j)
	  System.out.println("Both files are same");
	  else
	  System.out.println("Both files are different");
   }
}

[JamesCherrill]

Suppose f1=new FileInputStream(p[0]); fails. You will go to the catch block, print a message and continue. Eventually you get to i=f1.read(); but f1 will not have been initialised. That's the circumstance the compiler complained about.
Now if you have a return; in the catch block you will not continue after new FileInputStream fails, so you won't ever get to i=f1.read();, so there's nothing to complain about.
Same applies to f2.

[sahil1991]

yeah,i got it...thanx a ton mate

[sahil1991]

so,basically here the return statement sends the control out of main?

[NormR1]

Not just the main() method. It returns to any method's caller.
The main() method is (usually) the one called by the java command.