Java - NegativeArraySizeException

The NegativeArraySizeException in Java occurs when an attempt is made to create an array with a negative size. This is a runtime exception.

Following is the reason when JVM throws a NegativeArraySizeException in Java:

• When an attempt is made to create an array with a negative size, JVM throws a NegativeArraySizeException.

Methods of NegativeArraySizeException

There are some methods of NegativeArraySizeException class:

Example of NegativeArraySizeException

In this example, we are creating an array with a negative size, so JVM will throw a NegativeArraySizeException.

public class NegativeArraySizeExceptionExample {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      int[] arr = new int[-5];
   }
}

Output

Following is the output of the above code:

Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NegativeArraySizeException
   at NegativeArraySizeExceptionExample.main(NegativeArraySizeExceptionExample.java:3)

As you can see in the output, JVM throws a NegativeArraySizeException because we are creating an array with a negative size.

Handling NegativeArraySizeException

In this example, we are creating an array with a negative size, so JVM will throw a NegativeArraySizeException. We are handling this exception using a try-catch block.

public class NegativeArraySizeExceptionExample {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      try {
         int[] arr = new int[-5];
      } catch (NegativeArraySizeException e) {
         System.out.println("Array size should be non-negative");
      }
   }
}

Output

Following is the output of the above code:

Array size should be non-negative

How to avoid NegativeArraySizeException?

To avoid a NegativeArraySizeException, you should always create an array with a non-negative size.