In Java when does a URL connection close?

java exception url connection
timdisney picture timdisney · Nov 7, 2008 · Viewed 68.5k times · Source

When does java let go of a connections to a URL? I don't see a close() method on either URL or URLConnection so does it free up the connection as soon as the request finishes? I'm mainly asking to see if I need to do any clean up in an exception handler.

try {
  URL url = new URL("http://foo.bar");
  URLConnection conn = url.openConnection();
  // use the connection
}
catch (Exception e) {
  // any clean up here?
}

Answer

James Schek picture James Schek · Nov 7, 2008

If you cast to an HttpURLConnection, there is a disconnect() method. If the connection is idle, it will probably disconnect immediately. No guarantees.

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