Return in Finally Block: Override and Suppression

Quick Answer

The finally block's return statement wins because Java guarantees that a finally block always executes once a try block is entered, and if that finally block itself contains a return statement, its value replaces whatever the try block was about to return, so the try block's return is effectively abandoned mid-flight rather than ignored from the start. This holds true even in more dramatic scenarios: if the try block throws an exception, a return statement in finally still executes and suppresses that exception entirely, because finally is the last word on how the method exits, no matter what happened before it. The alternative explanations fail for related but distinct reasons: it is not that finally only sometimes runs, since it always runs regardless of a return earlier in the block, and it is not that the earlier return somehow takes precedence, since finally is structurally guaranteed to be the final code that executes before control leaves the method. This behavior is exactly why experienced Java developers are cautioned against putting return statements inside finally blocks in real code, even though it is legal, since it can silently discard results or swallow exceptions. On the exam, whenever you see a return, or a thrown exception, in both try and finally, the finally block's outcome is always the one that actually determines what the method produces.