Difference between `Optional.orElse()` and `Optional.orElseGet()`

Take these two scenarios:

Optional<Foo> opt = ...
Foo x = opt.orElse( new Foo() );
Foo y = opt.orElseGet( Foo::new );

If opt doesn't contain a value, the two are indeed equivalent. But if opt does contain a value, how many Foo objects will be created?

P.s.: of course in this example the difference probably wouldn't be measurable, but if you have to obtain your default value from a remote web service for example, or from a database, it suddenly becomes very important.

Short Answer:

• orElse() will always call the given function whether you want it or not, regardless of Optional.isPresent() value
• orElseGet() will only call the given function when the Optional.isPresent() == false

In real code, you might want to consider the second approach when the required resource is expensive to get.

// Always get heavy resource
getResource(resourceId).orElse(getHeavyResource()); 

// Get heavy resource when required.
getResource(resourceId).orElseGet(() -> getHeavyResource()) 

For more details, consider the following example with this function:

public Optional<String> findMyPhone(int phoneId)

The difference is as below:

                           X : buyNewExpensivePhone() called

+——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————+——————————————+
|           Optional.isPresent()                                   | true | false |
+——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————+——————————————+
| findMyPhone(int phoneId).orElse(buyNewExpensivePhone())          |   X  |   X   |
+——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————+——————————————+
| findMyPhone(int phoneId).orElseGet(() -> buyNewExpensivePhone()) |      |   X   |
+——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————+——————————————+

When optional.isPresent() == false, there is no difference between two ways. However, when optional.isPresent() == true, orElse() always calls the subsequent function whether you want it or not.

Finally, the test case used is as below:

Result:

------------- Scenario 1 - orElse() --------------------
  1.1. Optional.isPresent() == true (Redundant call)
    Going to a very far store to buy a new expensive phone
    Used phone: MyCheapPhone

  1.2. Optional.isPresent() == false
    Going to a very far store to buy a new expensive phone
    Used phone: NewExpensivePhone

------------- Scenario 2 - orElseGet() --------------------
  2.1. Optional.isPresent() == true
    Used phone: MyCheapPhone

  2.2. Optional.isPresent() == false
    Going to a very far store to buy a new expensive phone
    Used phone: NewExpensivePhone

Code:

public class TestOptional {
    public Optional<String> findMyPhone(int phoneId) {
        return phoneId == 10
                ? Optional.of("MyCheapPhone")
                : Optional.empty();
    }

    public String buyNewExpensivePhone() {
        System.out.println("\tGoing to a very far store to buy a new expensive phone");
        return "NewExpensivePhone";
    }


    public static void main(String[] args) {
        TestOptional test = new TestOptional();
        String phone;
        System.out.println("------------- Scenario 1 - orElse() --------------------");
        System.out.println("  1.1. Optional.isPresent() == true (Redundant call)");
        phone = test.findMyPhone(10).orElse(test.buyNewExpensivePhone());
        System.out.println("\tUsed phone: " + phone + "\n");

        System.out.println("  1.2. Optional.isPresent() == false");
        phone = test.findMyPhone(-1).orElse(test.buyNewExpensivePhone());
        System.out.println("\tUsed phone: " + phone + "\n");

        System.out.println("------------- Scenario 2 - orElseGet() --------------------");
        System.out.println("  2.1. Optional.isPresent() == true");
        // Can be written as test::buyNewExpensivePhone
        phone = test.findMyPhone(10).orElseGet(() -> test.buyNewExpensivePhone());
        System.out.println("\tUsed phone: " + phone + "\n");

        System.out.println("  2.2. Optional.isPresent() == false");
        phone = test.findMyPhone(-1).orElseGet(() -> test.buyNewExpensivePhone());
        System.out.println("\tUsed phone: " + phone + "\n");
    }
}