return in try-catch’s finally block in java. Is there any good point in this example?

Is there really any point in adding a finally block here?

The answer to this is a resounding “no”: putting a return statement in the finally block is a very bad idea.

I just add the return null inside the catch block, which would execute the same behavior, or am I wrong?

It wouldn’t match the original behavior, but that’s a good thing, because it would fix it. Rather than returning null unconditionally the way the original code does, the code with the return inside the catch block would return null only on errors. In other words, the value returned in the try branch would be returned to the caller unless there is an exception.

Moreover, if you add return null after the catch block, you would see the correct effect of returning null on exception. I would go even further, and put a single return in the method, like this:

response or = null;
try {
   or = //gives it a value
   log.info(or.toString());
} catch ( Exception e) {
    e.printStackTrace();
}
return or;