Question

What type of exception does a program raise when it tries to open a nonexistent file?

Short answer

Answer: FileNotFoundError

Step-by-step solution

1. Understand the scenario

A program is trying to open a nonexistent file, and an exception is raised due to this unsuccessful attempt. We need to find out the type of exception raised in this situation.

2. Look for common file handling exceptions

Different programming languages may raise different exceptions for the same scenario. However, since this exercise does not specify a programming language, we can consider the most common exception that is raised in popular programming languages when trying to open a nonexistent file.

3. Identify the exception type

In most programming languages, such as Python, attempting to open a nonexistent file raises a "FileNotFoundError" exception. This type of exception informs the programmer that the file they are trying to access does not exist or is unavailable.