Can a handler end an exception?

Question

What is the specified behavior of the next program, if any?

#include <iostream>
#include <exception>
#include <cstdlib>

void i_throw()
{
    std::cout << "i_throw()" << std::endl;
    // std::terminate() is noexcept so if the terminate handler throws...
    // then the terminate handler is called...
    // std::terminate is [[noreturn]] so don't return
    try
    {
        throw 7;
    }
    catch(...)
    {
        std::cout << "caught exception, re-throw()-ing" << std::endl;
        throw;
    }
    std::cout << "got here!" << std::endl;
    std::abort();
}

int main()
{
    std::set_terminate(i_throw);
    throw;
    std::terminate();
}

With gcc and clang, I get the following output:

i_throw()
caught exception, re-throw()-ing
Aborted (core dumped)

An example edited after the first few comments.

(I don’t know why I have both throw;, and so std::terminate();. I don’t want to change the example, so just pretend that there is only one of the two.)

Answer 1

The above question can be reduced to understanding the behavior of the following two pieces of code.

Example 1: a throw without an active exception

int main()
{
    try{
        throw;
    }catch(...){
        std::cout<<"caught"<<endl;  //we never reach here
    }
    return 0;
}

If you run the above code, it will work as shown below

terminate called without an active exception
Aborted (core dumped)

2:

int main()
{
    try{
        throw 7;
    }catch(...){
        std::cout<<"caught"<<endl;  //will be caught
    }
    return 0;
}

caught

(g++ -S option). cxx_abi throw vs throw 7

throw; call __cxa_rethrow

throw 7; call __cxa_throw

__cxa_throw

extern "C" void
__cxxabiv1::__cxa_throw (void *obj, std::type_info *tinfo,
             void (_GLIBCXX_CDTOR_CALLABI *dest) (void *))
{
  PROBE2 (throw, obj, tinfo);

  __cxa_eh_globals *globals = __cxa_get_globals ();
  globals->uncaughtExceptions += 1;

  // code removed for brevity 
  //.......
  // Below code throws an exception to be caught by caller

  #ifdef _GLIBCXX_SJLJ_EXCEPTIONS
    _Unwind_SjLj_RaiseException (&header->exc.unwindHeader);
  #else
    _Unwind_RaiseException (&header->exc.unwindHeader);
  #endif

  // Some sort of unwinding error.  Note that terminate is a handler.
  __cxa_begin_catch (&header->exc.unwindHeader);
  std::terminate ();
}

, OP- throw 7; catch(...) throw;

__cxa__rethrow

extern "C" void
__cxxabiv1::__cxa_rethrow ()
{
  __cxa_eh_globals *globals = __cxa_get_globals ();
  __cxa_exception *header = globals->caughtExceptions; // We are not re

  globals->uncaughtExceptions += 1;

  // Watch for luser rethrowing with no active exception.
  if (header)
    {
      // Code removed for brevity
      // .....
      // Below code rethrows the exception
      #ifdef _GLIBCXX_SJLJ_EXCEPTIONS
      _Unwind_SjLj_Resume_or_Rethrow (&header->unwindHeader);
      #else
      #if defined(_LIBUNWIND_STD_ABI)
      _Unwind_RaiseException (&header->unwindHeader);
      #else
      _Unwind_Resume_or_Rethrow (&header->unwindHeader);
      #endif
      #endif
    }
  std::terminate ();
}

, std::terminate() __cxx_*. , abi, .

cxx_abi .

void
__cxxabiv1::__terminate (std::terminate_handler handler) throw ()
{
  __try 
    {
      handler ();      // Our handler has thrown an int exception
      std::abort ();
    } 
  __catch(...)  // Exception is caught here and process is aborted.
    { std::abort (); } 
}

void
std::terminate () throw()
{
  __terminate (get_terminate ());
}

, __cxxabiv1::__terminate. abort(). , std::terminate() [from __cxa_rethrow] , std::cout << "got here!" << std::endl;

, terminate_handler :

void i_throw()
{
    std::cout << "i_throw()" << std::endl;
    throw;
    std::cout << "got here!" << std::endl;
    std::abort();
}

, __cxa_rethrow(), .

, , __cxa_rethrow() std::terminate(), .