Should I use an exception here?

[whity]

Firstly, hi! First time posting here [if this is the wrong area sorry!].

Basically I'm searching through an array of objects and comparing strings. If there's a match (there can only be a single match) I return the object.

What do I do if there isn't a match? Should I throw an exception? If so, what type?

I'm fairly new to Java, and just learning about exceptions, so sorry if it's an obvious question

Thanks!

Tom

[copeg]

This is dependent upon what you are doing, and how you want to implement it. An exception defines an error during the program flow - if you believe not finding a solution to be an error - for example the input array is faulty - than throw an exception. Otherwise, an alternative solution could be to return some defined value (such as null) which must be checked by callers, and if the return value is identical to the defined value nothing was found.
What Is an Exception? (The Java™ Tutorials > Essential Classes > Exceptions)

[JavaPF]

Welcome to the forums whity.

[whity]

Thanks, copeg. I think I get it!
It isn't an error to not find a result, but I hadn't thought to just return null.

And thanks for the welcome, JavaPF