Java Optional

last modified January 10, 2023

In this article we talk Optional type in Java.

Optional is a container object which may or may not contain a value. We can check if a value is present with isPresent and then retrive it with get. If the container does not contain a value it is then called empty.

The goal of the Optional type is to avoid null references and all the problems that are caused by them.

The Optional was inspired by similar types found in Haskell and Scala. Other languages, such as C# or Groovy, use null-safe operators .? for the same purpose.

Optional<String> empty = Optional.empty();

We create an empty Optional with Optional.empty. It is used insted of null references.

Optional<String> word = Optional.of("falcon");

Optional.of is used when we are certain that the parameter will not be null.

Optional<String> word = Optional.ofNullable(value);

Optional.ofNullable is used when we don't know if there will be null.

Java Optional simple example

In the following example, we have a simple example with Optional type.

package com.zetcode;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Optional;

public class OptionalEx {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        var words = Arrays.asList("rock", null, "mountain",
                null, "falcon", "sky");

        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {

            Optional<String> word = Optional.ofNullable(words.get(i));
            word.ifPresent(System.out::println);
        }
    }
}

We have a list of words; the list also contains null values. We go through the list and print the elements.

Optional<String> word = Optional.ofNullable(words.get(i));

We know that we can get a null value from the list; therefore, we wrap the element into Optional with Optional.ofNullable.

word.ifPresent(System.out::println);

We check if there is some value in the Optional with ifPresent. If case there is one, we print it.

In the following example, we have three methods that return an Optional type.

package com.zetcode;

import java.util.Optional;

public class Optionals {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        if (getNullMessage().isPresent()) {
            System.out.println(getNullMessage().get());
        } else {
            System.out.println("n/a");
        }

        if (getEmptyMessage().isPresent()) {
            System.out.println(getEmptyMessage().get());
        } else {
            System.out.println("n/a");
        }

        if (getCustomMessage().isPresent()) {
            System.out.println(getCustomMessage().get());
        } else {
            System.out.println("n/a");
        }
    }

    private static Optional<String> getNullMessage() {
        return Optional.ofNullable(null);
    }

    private static Optional<String> getEmptyMessage() {
        return Optional.empty();
    }

    private static Optional<String> getCustomMessage() {
        return Optional.of("Hello there!");
    }
}

The three methods return a null message, an empty message and a real message.

if (getNullMessage().isPresent()) {
    System.out.println(getNullMessage().get());
} else {
    System.out.println("n/a");
}

First, we check if the value returned by the method contains a value with isPresent. If true, we get the value with get. Otherwise we print "n/a" message.

Java Optional ifEmpty

The ifEmpty returns true, if the value is not present.

package com.zetcode;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Optional;

public class OptionalIfEmpty {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        var words = Arrays.asList("rock", null, "mountain",
                null, "falcon", "sky");

        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {

            Optional<String> word = Optional.ofNullable(words.get(i));

            if (word.isEmpty()) {

                System.out.println("n/a");
            }

            word.ifPresent(System.out::println);
        }
    }
}

In the example, we print all valid values with ifPresent. All empty values are recognized via isEmpty.

Java Optional orElse

The orElse method allows us to quickly return a value if it is not present.

package com.zetcode;

import java.util.Optional;

public class OptionalOrElse {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        System.out.println(getNullMessage().orElse("n/a"));
        System.out.println(getEmptyMessage().orElse("n/a"));
        System.out.println(getCustomMessage().orElse("n/a"));
    }

    private static Optional<String> getNullMessage() {
        return Optional.ofNullable(null);
    }

    private static Optional<String> getEmptyMessage() {
        return Optional.empty();
    }

    private static Optional<String> getCustomMessage() {
        return Optional.of("Hello there!");
    }
}

We managed to shorten the example a bit with orElse method.

In this article we covered the Optional type in Java.

Java Optional flatMap

The flatMap method applies the provided mapping function to a value if it is present. It returns that result or otherwise an empty Optional. If the result is already an Optional, flatMap does not wrap it within an additional Optional.

package com.zetcode;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Optional;
import java.util.function.Function;

public class OptionalFlatMap {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        Function<String, Optional<String>> upperCase = s -> Optional.of(s.toUpperCase());

        var words = Arrays.asList("rock", null, "mountain",
                null, "falcon", "sky");

        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {

            Optional<String> word = Optional.ofNullable(words.get(i));

            var res = word.flatMap(upperCase);
            res.ifPresent(System.out::println);
        }
    }
}

In the example, we apply the upperCase function on the list of words.

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