8 Ways of Creating a Stream in Java 8

In this article, we will discuss 8 different ways of creating a Stream object in Java 8.

There are many ways to create a stream instance of different sources such as Collections, Arrays, File etc. Once created, the instance will not modify its source, therefore allowing the creation of multiple instances from a single source.

If you are new to Java 8 Stream API then you may read our article on Java 8 Stream API.

1. Empty Stream

The empty() method should be used in case of a creation of an empty stream:

Stream<String> stream = Stream.empty();
stream.forEach(System.out::println);

It's often the case that the empty() method is used upon creation to avoid returning null for streams with no element:

public Stream<String> streamOf(List<String> list) {
    return list == null || list.isEmpty() ? Stream.empty() : list.stream();
}

2. From Collections

Stream can be created of any type of Collection (Collection, List, Set):

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Collection;
import java.util.HashSet;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Set;
import java.util.stream.Stream;

public class StreamCreationExamples {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

        Collection<String> collection = Arrays.asList("JAVA", "J2EE", "Spring", "Hibernate");
        Stream<String> stream2 = collection.stream();
        stream2.forEach(System.out::println);

        List<String> list = Arrays.asList("JAVA", "J2EE", "Spring", "Hibernate");
        Stream<String> stream3 = list.stream();
        stream3.forEach(System.out::println);

        Set<String> set = new HashSet<>(list);
        Stream<String> stream4 = set.stream();
        stream4.forEach(System.out::println);
    }
}

Output:

JAVA
J2EE
Spring
Hibernate
JAVA
J2EE
Spring
Hibernate
JAVA
Hibernate
J2EE
Spring

3. From Arrays

Array can be a source of a Stream or Array can be created from existing array or of a part of an array:

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.stream.Stream;

public class StreamCreationExamples {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

        // Array can also be a source of a Stream
        Stream<String> streamOfArray = Stream.of("a", "b", "c");
        streamOfArray.forEach(System.out::println);

        // creating from existing array or of a part of an array:
        String[] arr = new String[] { "a", "b", "c" };
        Stream<String> streamOfArrayFull = Arrays.stream(arr);
        streamOfArrayFull.forEach(System.out::println);

        Stream<String> streamOfArrayPart = Arrays.stream(arr, 1, 3);
        streamOfArrayPart.forEach(System.out::println);
    }
}

Output:

a
b
c
a
b
c
b
c

4. From Stream.builder()

When a builder is used the desired type should be additionally specified in the right part of the statement, otherwise, the build() method will create an instance of the Stream:

Stream<String> streamBuilder = Stream.<String>builder().add("a").add("b").add("c").build();
streamBuilder.forEach(System.out::println);

Output:

a
b
c

5. From Stream.generate()

Stream<String> streamGenerated = Stream.generate(() -> "element").limit(10);
streamGenerated.forEach(System.out::println);

Output:

element
element
element
element
element

6. From Stream.iterate()

Stream<Integer> streamIterated = Stream.iterate(1, n -> n + 2).limit(5);
streamIterated.forEach(System.out::println);

Output:

7. Stream of File

Java NIO class Files allows to generate a Stream of a text file through the lines() method. Every line of the text becomes an element of the stream:

import java.io.IOException;
import java.nio.charset.Charset;
import java.nio.file.Files;
import java.nio.file.Path;
import java.nio.file.Paths;
import java.util.stream.Stream;

public class StreamCreationExamples {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

        Path path = Paths.get("C:\\file.txt");
        Stream<String> streamOfStrings = Files.lines(path);
        Stream<String> streamWithCharset = Files.lines(path, Charset.forName("UTF-8"));
        streamOfStrings.forEach(System.out::println);
        streamWithCharset.forEach(System.out::println);
        streamOfStrings.close();
        streamWithCharset.close();
    }
}

8. Stream of Primitives

As Stream is a generic interface and there is no way to use primitives as a type parameter with generics, three new special interfaces were created: IntStream, LongStream, DoubleStream.

Using the new interfaces alleviates unnecessary auto-boxing allows increased productivity:

import java.io.IOException;
import java.util.Random;
import java.util.stream.DoubleStream;
import java.util.stream.IntStream;
import java.util.stream.LongStream;

public class StreamCreationExamples {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
       IntStream intStream = IntStream.range(1, 3);
       intStream.forEach(System.out::println);

       LongStream longStream = LongStream.rangeClosed(1, 3);
       longStream.forEach(System.out::println);

       Random random = new Random();
       DoubleStream doubleStream = random.doubles(3);
       doubleStream.forEach(System.out::println);
   }
}

Output:

1
2
1
2
3
0.6929414814363383
0.3683384343302385
0.948888698350225

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