What's the best practice in using if/else as a substitute for try/catch or vice versa? [duplicate]

This question already has answers here: Closed 12 years ago.

Possible Duplicate:

What is the advantage of using try {} catch {} versus if {} else {}

I'd like to know whether, generally speaking, it's better to use a try/catch construct or to try to prevent this 开发者_如何学运维exception by (excessive?) use of if/else. Example: should I catch a FileNotFoundException, or should I test and try to find the file first.

What would be the best approach?

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They are totally different. They are not interchangeable, and which is appropriate is determined by the requirement and context.

EDIT: This answer is based on the original, unedited question. The original, in it's entirety was:

PHP : if/else vs try/catch

which is better

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They have different purposes. It depends on the context. There is no better.

I suggest you read about Exceptions and the if-else statement.

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Rule of thumb: don't use try/catch for controlling program flow, just use it to catch errors.

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I think you don't really understand what's if/else and try/catch.