Idiom
catch 22
a situation where one thing must happen in order to cause another thing to happen, but because the first thing does not happen the second thing cannot happen.If you don't have a place to stay, you can't get a job and with no job, you can't get an apartment. It's a catch 22 situation.
catch 22
noun a self-cancelling dilemma. Coined by Joseph Heller for his 1955 novel
Catch 22, which was originally to be titled 'Catch 18' – until
Mila 18 by Leon Uris was published
US, 1977