Question

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Java: Get first item from a collection

In Java, I often encounter a collection with one single element, which I need to retrieve. Because collections do not guarantee consistent ordering, there is no first() or get(int index) methods, so I need to use rather ugly things, such as:

public Integer sillyExample(Collection<Integer> collection){
    if(collection.size()==1){
        return collection.iterator().next();
    }
    return someCodeToDecideBetweenElements(collection);
}

So, how do you get the only element out? I can’t believe there isn’t a better way…

Please note, I understand there’s no concept of “first”, I’m just trying to avoid building an iterator when I know there is only one element in it.

EDIT: Peter Wooster found a very similar question here. I’m leaving this open because I’m not trying to get the “first” element, which would imply a consistent ordering, but the “one and only” element after checking that it indeed is the only element.

Answer 1

The easiest answer is what you’ve done!

first = collection.iterator().next();

note that iterator() is a method, was that a typo?