Multi-Catch Exception Handling in Java 7

Yes, and the feature is called multi-catch — it arrived in Java 7. The idea is that instead of writing two separate catch blocks with the same body, you list the exception types in a single catch separated by a pipe character, like catch I O exception pipe number format exception. Then that one block handles either type, which removes the copy-paste duplication you'd otherwise have. There are two rules the interviewer is usually probing for. The first is that the caught variable is implicitly final, so you can't reassign it inside the block. The reason is that at runtime the actual exception could be any of the listed types, so Java treats the variable as read-only to keep things unambiguous. The second rule is that the types you list can't be in a parent-child relationship. If you write catch exception pipe I O exception, that's a compile error, because I O exception is already a subclass of exception, so listing both is redundant. You can only combine types that are independent branches of the hierarchy. One more detail worth knowing is that the static type of the variable is the nearest common supertype of everything you listed, so if you combine two unrelated checked exceptions you'll effectively be working with Exception, and you can only call methods that exist on that common parent, like getMessage. The practical guidance I'd give is to use multi-catch only when the handling is genuinely identical. If one exception should trigger a retry and another should fail immediately, keep them in separate catch blocks so the intent stays clear.