Can a handled exception on Windows call terminate()?

No, a handled exception on Windows does not call terminate() by default. When an exception is thrown and subsequently caught by an exception handler, the program flow continues after the catch block, and terminate() is not called.

In C++ on Windows, when an exception is thrown, the program looks for the nearest exception handler to handle the exception. If an appropriate exception handler is found, the catch block is executed, and the program continues from the point after the catch block. If no suitable exception handler is found, the program terminates abnormally, and terminate() is called.

Here's an example to illustrate this behavior:

cppCopy code
#include <iostream>



int main() {

    try {

        throw std::runtime_error("Exception example");

    }

    catch (const std::exception& ex) {

        std::cout << "Caught exception: " << ex.what() << std::endl;

    }



    std::cout << "Program continues after the catch block." << std::endl;

    return 0;

}

In this example, the std::runtime_error exception is thrown and caught by the catch block. The program flow continues to execute the line after the catch block, and terminate() is not called.

If you want to explicitly call std::terminate() in your exception handler for some reason, you can do so. For example:

cppCopy code
#include <iostream>



int main() {

    try {

        throw std::runtime_error("Exception example");

    }

    catch (const std::exception& ex) {

        std::cout << "Caught exception: " << ex.what() << std::endl;

        std::terminate(); // Explicitly call std::terminate()

    }



    std::cout << "Program continues after the catch block." << std::endl;

    return 0;

}

In this case, std::terminate() will be called explicitly after catching the exception, and the program will terminate at that point.

Remember that calling std::terminate() should generally be avoided, as it will cause the program to terminate abruptly without proper cleanup, and it may result in resource leaks and undefined behavior. Proper exception handling and cleanup should be used whenever possible to ensure the program runs correctly and safely.