The following Java examples will print a list of all the prime numbers up to 1,000:

2	3	5	7	11	13	17	19	23	29	31	37	41	43	47	53	59	61	67	71
73	79	83	89	97	101	103	107	109	113	127	131	137	139	149	151	157	163	167	173	
179	181	191	193	197	199	211	223	227	229	233	239	241	251	257	263	269	271	277	281	
283	293	307	311	313	317	331	337	347	349	353	359	367	373	379	383	389	397	401	409	
419	421	431	433	439	443	449	457	461	463	467	479	487	491	499	503	509	521	523	541	
547	557	563	569	571	577	587	593	599	601	607	613	617	619	631	641	643	647	653	659	
661	673	677	683	691	701	709	719	727	733	739	743	751	757	761	769	773	787	797	809	
811	821	823	827	829	839	853	857	859	863	877	881	883	887	907	911	919	929	937	941	
947	953	967	971	977	983	991	997	
Total: 168

3 Java examples:

• Java 8 Stream and BigInteger
• Plain old Java
• Sieve of Eratosthenes algorithm

1. Java 8 Stream and BigInteger

1.1 Using Stream.

package com.mkyong.test;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;
import java.util.stream.IntStream;
import java.util.stream.Stream;
public class PrintPrimeNumber {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        long count = Stream.iterate(0, n -> n + 1)
                .limit(1000)
                .filter(TestPrime::isPrime)
                .peek(x -> System.out.format("%s\t", x))
                .count();
        System.out.println("\nTotal: " + count);
    public static boolean isPrime(int number) {
        if (number <= 1) return false; // 1 is not prime and also not composite
        return !IntStream.rangeClosed(2, number / 2).anyMatch(i -> number % i == 0);

1.2 Using BigInteger::nextProbablePrime

	Stream.iterate(BigInteger.valueOf(2), BigInteger::nextProbablePrime)
			.limit(168)
			.forEach(x -> System.out.format("%s\t", x));

Or BigInteger.TWO for Java 9

	Stream.iterate(BigInteger.TWO, BigInteger::nextProbablePrime)
			.limit(168)
			.forEach(x -> System.out.format("%s\t", x));

2. Plain old Java

No more Java 8 Stream, back to basic.

package com.mkyong.test;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
public class PrintPrimeNumber2 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<Integer> collect = new ArrayList<>();
        for (int i = 0; i < 1000; i++) {
            if (isPrime(i)) {
                collect.add(i);
        for (Integer prime : collect) {
            System.out.format("%s\t", prime);
        System.out.println("\nTotal: " + collect.size());
    private static boolean isPrime(int number) {
        if (number <= 1) return false;    //  1 is not prime and also not composite
        for (int i = 2; i * i <= number; i++) {
            if (number % i == 0) {
                return false;
        return true;

3. Sieve of Eratosthenes

This Sieve of Eratosthenes algorithm is very fast to find all prime numbers.

P.S Image is from Wikipedia

The concept is like this:

• Loop 1# p=2 = true, next 4,6,8,10,12,14...limit, all +2 set false
• Loop 2# p=3 = true, next 6{false,1#,ignore},9,12{false,1#,ignore},15,18{false,1#,ignore},21...limit, all +3 set false
• Loop 3# p=4 = {false,1#,ignore}
• Loop 4# p=5 = true, next 10{false,1#,ignore},15{false,2#,ignore},20{false,1#,ignore}... all +5 set false
• Loop 5# p=6 = {false,1#,ignore}
• Loop... until limit, same idea.
• Collect all true = prime number.

package com.mkyong.test;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.BitSet;
import java.util.LinkedList;
import java.util.List;
public class PrintPrimeNumber3 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<Integer> result = primes_soe_array(1000);
        result.forEach(x -> System.out.format("%s\t", x));
        System.out.println("\nTotal: " + result.size());
    /**
     * Sieve of Eratosthenes, true = prime number
     */
    private static List<Integer> primes_soe(int limit) {
        BitSet primes = new BitSet(limit);
        primes.set(0, false);                       
        primes.set(1, false);                       
        primes.set(2, limit, true);
        for (int p = 2; p * p <= limit; p++) {
            if (primes.get(p)) {
                for (int j = p * 2; j <= limit; j += p) {
                    primes.set(j, false);
        List<Integer> result = new LinkedList<>();
        for (int i = 0; i <= limit; i++) {
            if (primes.get(i)) {
                result.add(i);
        return result;
    // Some developers prefer array.
    public static List<Integer> primes_soe_array(int limit) {
        boolean primes[] = new boolean[limit + 1];
        Arrays.fill(primes, true);
        primes[0] = false;
        primes[1] = false;
        for (int p = 2; p * p <= limit; p++) {
            if (primes[p]) {
                for (int j = p * 2; j <= limit; j += p) {
                    primes[j] = false;
        List<Integer> result = new LinkedList<>();
        for (int i = 0; i <= limit; i++) {
            if (primes[i]) {
                result.add(i);
        return result;

Can anyone help to convert above algorithm into a pure Java 8 Stream? :)