JS Quiz: Easy: Async return in finally

programming web dev
1

What gets logged?

async function f() {
  try {
    return 'A';
  } finally {
    return 'B';
  }
}

f().then(console.log);
  • A
  • B
  • A then B
  • Unhandled promise rejection
0 voters
2

I’d pick “B” because the return in finally overrides the return in try, so the promise resolves to B. It logs B — that return 'B' in finally has the last word, even in an async function.

async function f() {
  try {
    return 'A';
  } finally {
    return 'B';
  }
}

f().then(console.log);

The slightly nasty part is that finally is basically “last word wins” here; it’ll even stomp on a thrown error the same way, which can hide failures if you’re not careful.

3

It logs B. A return inside finally overrides whatever happened in the try, even in an async function, so the promise resolves with 'B'.

And yeah, it feels kind of rude — finally can absolutely change the outcome (and it can swallow errors too), so it’s not “cleanup only” in practice.

4

JS Quiz answer: Option 2 (B).

Correct choice: B

Why:
A return in finally overrides a previous return from try. The promise resolves to B, so the log is just B.

Go deeper:

https://www.kirupa.com/html5/ai/advanced_random_numbers_js.md

WaffleFries