In this tutorial, we will show you few Java 8 examples to demonstrate the use of Streams filter(), collect(), findAny() and orElse()

1. Streams filter() and collect()

1.1 Before Java 8, filter a List like this :

package com.mkyong.java8;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
public class BeforeJava8 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<String> lines = Arrays.asList("spring", "node", "mkyong");
        List<String> result = getFilterOutput(lines, "mkyong");
        for (String temp : result) {
            System.out.println(temp);    //output : spring, node
    private static List<String> getFilterOutput(List<String> lines, String filter) {
        List<String> result = new ArrayList<>();
        for (String line : lines) {
            if (!"mkyong".equals(line)) { // we dont like mkyong
                result.add(line);
        return result;

Output

spring
node

1.2 The equivalent example in Java 8, stream.filter() to filter a List, and collect() to convert a stream into a List.

package com.mkyong.java8;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;
public class NowJava8 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<String> lines = Arrays.asList("spring", "node", "mkyong");
        List<String> result = lines.stream()                // convert list to stream
                .filter(line -> !"mkyong".equals(line))     // we dont like mkyong
                .collect(Collectors.toList());              // collect the output and convert streams to a List
        result.forEach(System.out::println);                //output : spring, node

Output

spring
node

2. Streams filter(), findAny() and orElse()

package com.mkyong.java8;
public class Person {
    private String name;
    private int age;
    public Person(String name, int age) {
        this.name = name;
        this.age = age;
    //gettersm setters, toString

2.1 Before Java 8, you get a Person by name like this :

package com.mkyong.java8;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
public class BeforeJava8 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<Person> persons = Arrays.asList(
                new Person("mkyong", 30),
                new Person("jack", 20),
                new Person("lawrence", 40)
        );
        Person result = getStudentByName(persons, "jack");
        System.out.println(result);
    private static Person getStudentByName(List<Person> persons, String name) {
        Person result = null;
        for (Person temp : persons) {
            if (name.equals(temp.getName())) {
                result = temp;
        return result;

Output

Person{name='jack', age=20}

2.2 The equivalent example in Java 8, use stream.filter() to filter a List, and .findAny().orElse (null) to return an object conditional.

package com.mkyong.java8;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
public class NowJava8 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<Person> persons = Arrays.asList(
                new Person("mkyong", 30),
                new Person("jack", 20),
                new Person("lawrence", 40)
        );
        Person result1 = persons.stream()                        // Convert to steam
                .filter(x -> "jack".equals(x.getName()))        // we want "jack" only
                .findAny()                                      // If 'findAny' then return found
                .orElse(null);                                  // If not found, return null
        System.out.println(result1);
        Person result2 = persons.stream()
                .filter(x -> "ahmook".equals(x.getName()))
                .findAny()
                .orElse(null);
        System.out.println(result2);

Output

Person{name='jack', age=20}
null

2.3 For multiple condition.

package com.mkyong.java8;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
public class NowJava8 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<Person> persons = Arrays.asList(
                new Person("mkyong", 30),
                new Person("jack", 20),
                new Person("lawrence", 40)
        );
        Person result1 = persons.stream()
                .filter((p) -> "jack".equals(p.getName()) && 20 == p.getAge())
                .findAny()
                .orElse(null);
        System.out.println("result 1 :" + result1);
        //or like this
        Person result2 = persons.stream()
                .filter(p -> {
                    if ("jack".equals(p.getName()) && 20 == p.getAge()) {
                        return true;
                    return false;
                }).findAny()
                .orElse(null);
        System.out.println("result 2 :" + result2);

Output

result 1 :Person{name='jack', age=20}
result 2 :Person{name='jack', age=20}

3. Streams filter() and map()

package com.mkyong.java8;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;
public class NowJava8 {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<Person> persons = Arrays.asList(
                new Person("mkyong", 30),
                new Person("jack", 20),
                new Person("lawrence", 40)
        );
        String name = persons.stream()
                .filter(x -> "jack".equals(x.getName()))
                .map(Person::getName)                        //convert stream to String
                .findAny()
                .orElse("");
        System.out.println("name : " + name);
        List<String> collect = persons.stream()
                .map(Person::getName)
                .collect(Collectors.toList());
        collect.forEach(System.out::println);

Output

name : jack
mkyong
jack
lawrence

References

1. Java 8 cyclic inference in my case
2. Java 8 Explained: Using Filters, Maps, Streams and Foreach to apply Lambdas to Java Collections!
3. Java 8 forEach examples
4. Java 8 Streams: multiple filters vs. complex condition
5. Processing Data with Java SE 8 Streams