Most efficient way to get the last element of a stream

Stream doesn't have a last() method:

Stream<T> stream;
T last = stream.last(); // No such method

What's the most elegant and/or efficient way to get the last element (or null for an empty Stream)?

Solution 1:

Do a reduction that simply returns the current value:

Stream<T> stream;
T last = stream.reduce((a, b) -> b).orElse(null);

Solution 2:

This heavily depends on the nature of the Stream. Keep in mind that “simple” doesn’t necessarily mean “efficient”. If you suspect the stream to be very large, carrying heavy operations or having a source which knows the size in advance, the following might be substantially more efficient than the simple solution:

static <T> T getLast(Stream<T> stream) {
    Spliterator<T> sp=stream.spliterator();
    if(sp.hasCharacteristics(Spliterator.SIZED|Spliterator.SUBSIZED)) {
        for(;;) {
            Spliterator<T> part=sp.trySplit();
            if(part==null) break;
            if(sp.getExactSizeIfKnown()==0) {
                sp=part;
                break;
            }
        }
    }
    T value=null;
    for(Iterator<T> it=recursive(sp); it.hasNext(); )
        value=it.next();
    return value;
}

private static <T> Iterator<T> recursive(Spliterator<T> sp) {
    Spliterator<T> prev=sp.trySplit();
    if(prev==null) return Spliterators.iterator(sp);
    Iterator<T> it=recursive(sp);
    if(it!=null && it.hasNext()) return it;
    return recursive(prev);
}

You may illustrate the difference with the following example:

String s=getLast(
    IntStream.range(0, 10_000_000).mapToObj(i-> {
        System.out.println("potential heavy operation on "+i);
        return String.valueOf(i);
    }).parallel()
);
System.out.println(s);

It will print:

potential heavy operation on 9999999
9999999

In other words, it did not perform the operation on the first 9999999 elements but only on the last one.

Solution 3:

Guava has Streams.findLast:

Stream<T> stream;
T last = Streams.findLast(stream);

Solution 4:

This is just a refactoring of Holger's answer because the code, while fantastic, is a bit hard to read/understand, especially for people who were not C programmers before Java. Hopefully my refactored example class is a little easier to follow for those who are not familiar with spliterators, what they do, or how they work.

public class LastElementFinderExample {
    public static void main(String[] args){
        String s = getLast(
            LongStream.range(0, 10_000_000_000L).mapToObj(i-> {
                System.out.println("potential heavy operation on "+i);
                return String.valueOf(i);
            }).parallel()
        );
        System.out.println(s);
    }

    public static <T> T getLast(Stream<T> stream){
        Spliterator<T> sp = stream.spliterator();
        if(isSized(sp)) {
            sp = getLastSplit(sp);
        }
        return getIteratorLastValue(getLastIterator(sp));
    }

    private static boolean isSized(Spliterator<?> sp){
        return sp.hasCharacteristics(Spliterator.SIZED|Spliterator.SUBSIZED);
    }

    private static <T> Spliterator<T> getLastSplit(Spliterator<T> sp){
        return splitUntil(sp, s->s.getExactSizeIfKnown() == 0);
    }

    private static <T> Iterator<T> getLastIterator(Spliterator<T> sp) {
        return Spliterators.iterator(splitUntil(sp, null));
    }

    private static <T> T getIteratorLastValue(Iterator<T> it){
        T result = null;
        while (it.hasNext()){
            result = it.next();
        }
        return result;
    }

    private static <T> Spliterator<T> splitUntil(Spliterator<T> sp, Predicate<Spliterator<T>> condition){
        Spliterator<T> result = sp;
        for (Spliterator<T> part = sp.trySplit(); part != null; part = result.trySplit()){
            if (condition == null || condition.test(result)){
                result = part;
            }
        }
        return result;      
    }   
}