Java forEach

last modified January 10, 2023

Java forEach tutorial shows how to use Java 8 forEach method. We work with consumers and demonstrate forEach on lists, map, and set collections.

The forEach method was introduced in Java 8. It provides programmers a new, concise way of iterating over a collection.

The forEach method performs the given action for each element of the Iterable until all elements have been processed or the action throws an exception.

void forEach(Consumer<? super T> action);

This is the syntax of the forEach method.

Consumer interface

The Consumer interface is a functional interface (an interface with a single abstract method), which accepts a single input and returns no result.

@FunctionalInterface
public interface Consumer {
    void accept(T t);
}

This is the definition of the Consumer interface.

package com.zetcode;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.function.Consumer;

public class JavaForEachListConsumer {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        List<String> items = new ArrayList<>();

        items.add("coins");
        items.add("pens");
        items.add("keys");
        items.add("sheets");

        items.forEach(new Consumer<String>() {
            @Override
            public void accept(String name) {
                System.out.println(name);
            }
        });
    }
}

In this example, we iterate over a list of strings with forEach. This syntax can be shortened with Java lambda expression.

Lambda expression

Lambda expressions are used primarily to define an inline implementation of a functional interface, i.e., an interface with a single method only. Lambda expression are created with the -> lambda operator.

package com.zetcode;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.function.Consumer;

public class JavaForEachListLambda {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        List<String> items = new ArrayList<>();

        items.add("coins");
        items.add("pens");
        items.add("keys");
        items.add("sheets");

        items.forEach((String name) -> {
            System.out.println(name);
        });
    }
}

Here we have the same example. The lambda expression makes the example more concise.

Java forEach on Map

The following example uses forEach on a map.

package com.zetcode;

import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;

public class JavaForEachMap {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        Map<String, Integer> items = new HashMap<>();

        items.put("coins", 3);
        items.put("pens", 2);
        items.put("keys", 1);
        items.put("sheets", 12);

        items.forEach((k, v) -> {
            System.out.printf("%s : %d%n", k, v);
        });
    }
}

We have a map of string/integer pairs. With the forEach method, we iterate over the map and print its key/value pairs.

In the next example, we explicitly show the Consumer and the Map.Entry in code.

package com.zetcode;

import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.function.Consumer;

public class ForEachMap2 {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        HashMap<String, Integer> map = new HashMap<>();

        map.put("cups", 6);
        map.put("clocks", 2);
        map.put("pens", 12);

        Consumer<Map.Entry<String, Integer>> action = entry ->
        {
            System.out.printf("key: %s", entry.getKey());
            System.out.printf(" value: %s%n", entry.getValue());
        };

        map.entrySet().forEach(action);
    }
}

The example loops on a entry set, which is retrieved via entrySet.

Java forEach on Set

The following example uses forEach on a set.

package com.zetcode;

import java.util.HashSet;
import java.util.Set;

public class JavaForEachSet {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        
        Set<String> brands = new HashSet<>();
        
        brands.add("Nike");
        brands.add("IBM");
        brands.add("Google");
        brands.add("Apple");
        
        brands.forEach((e) -> { System.out.println(e); });
    }
}

We have a set of strings. With the forEach method, we iterate over the set and print its values.

Using forEach on Array

The following example uses forEach on an array.

package com.zetcode;

import java.util.Arrays;

public class JavaForEachArray {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        
        int[] nums = { 3, 4, 2, 1, 6, 7 };
        
        Arrays.stream(nums).forEach((e) -> { System.out.println(e); });
    }
}

In the example, we have an array of integers. We use Arrays.stream method to transform the array into a stream. The forEach method then iterates over the elements and prints them to the console.

Filtering a list

We can easily filter our data before traversing them with forEach.

package com.zetcode;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class JavaForEachListFilter {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        List<String> items = new ArrayList<>();

        items.add("coins");
        items.add("pens");
        items.add("keys");
        items.add("sheets");

        items.stream().filter(item -> (item.length() == 4)).forEach(System.out::println);
    }
}

In this example, we filter a list of strings and print the filtered list to the console. Only strings having four characters are shown.

IntConsumer, LongConsumer, DoubleConsumer

Since Java 8, we have built-in consumer interfaces for primitive data types: IntConsumer, LongConsumer and DoubleConsumer.

package com.zetcode;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.function.DoubleConsumer;
import java.util.function.IntConsumer;
import java.util.function.LongConsumer;

public class JavaForEachConsSpec {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        int[] inums = { 3, 5, 6, 7, 5 };
        IntConsumer icons = i -> System.out.print(i + " ");
        Arrays.stream(inums).forEach(icons);
        
        System.out.println();

        long[] lnums = { 13L, 3L, 6L, 1L, 8L };
        LongConsumer lcons = l -> System.out.print(l + " ");
        Arrays.stream(lnums).forEach(lcons);
        
        System.out.println();

        double[] dnums = { 3.4d, 9d, 6.8d, 10.3d, 2.3d };
        DoubleConsumer dcons = d -> System.out.print(d + " ");
        Arrays.stream(dnums).forEach(dcons);
        
        System.out.println();
    }
}

In the example, we create the three types of consumers and iterate over them with forEach.

In this article, we have presented the Java 8 forEach method. We have introduced consumers and used forEach on lists, maps, and set.

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