Won't recognise code in try block

Question

I've got a try block which has a line of code in it as shown:
     public static String ProcessUserInput(){          
          BufferedReader kbd = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
          try{
     String line = kbd.readLine();
catch (IOException ex)
System.out.println( "Error reading keyboard input." );
return line;
When i compile this it gives me this error:
cannot resolve symbol
symbol : variable line
location: class UserException
return line;
It seem like it does not recognise what is in the try block why is this.

Answer 1

A variable's scope--the piece of your code where it's visible--is the nearest enclosing block. In this case, line is only visible in the try block.
String line = null;
try {
    line = kbe.readLine();
catch (...) {
return line;Side note: Just printing an error message is NOT the way to handle exceptions. First, it lets subsequent code continue executing as if everything's fine--you've taken away its way of knowing that things are NOT fine. You should either actually handle the exception (by providing some default behavior, or retrying), or else just let it be thrown, or wrap it and rethrow it.