In Java, a try-catch block is used to handle exceptions and ensure that your program can recover gracefully from unexpected errors. The main purpose of a try-catch block is to wrap code that might throw an exception in a try section, and then provide one or more catch sections to respond to specific types of exceptions if they occur. This structure prevents your program from crashing when an error is encountered, allowing you to handle it in a controlled way.

try {
    // code
} catch (Exception) {
    // exception handling
}

When an exception occurs inside a try block, Java immediately stops executing the remaining code in that block and looks for a matching catch block. If a suitable catch block is found, control jumps to that block, where you can handle the exception (such as by printing an error message or taking corrective action). After the catch block has executed, the program continues with the code that follows the entire try-catch structure. This change in control flow is what allows you to recover from errors without terminating your program.

In the code above, the division operation inside the try block attempts to divide 10 by 0, which would normally cause an ArithmeticException and terminate the program. However, because the code is inside a try-catch structure, when the exception is thrown, Java immediately jumps to the catch block. The message "Cannot divide by zero!" is printed, and the program continues to the next line after the try-catch block, printing "Program continues after try-catch."

This demonstrates how the catch block prevents the program from terminating unexpectedly, allowing you to handle the error and maintain the program's flow.