Convert between Stream and Array in Java

Learn to convert a stream to an array and vice versa in Java. We will learn to convert for the primitives as well as the Object types.

String[] stringArray = {"a", "b", "c", "d", "e"};

// array -> stream
Stream<String> strStream = Arrays.stream(stringArray);

// stream -> array
String[] stringArray = stream.toArray(String[]::new);

Note that Java Stream API provides the following specialized classes for the stream of primitives. These classes support many useful sequential and parallel aggregate operations such as sum() and average(). Consider using these classes to store a stream of primitives for better compatibility with other APIs.

• IntStream – Stream of int values
• LongStream – Stream of long values
• DoubleStream – Stream of double values

1. Converting an Array to Stream

1.1. Method Syntax

The primary method to convert an array to a stream of elements is Arrays.stream(). It is an overloaded method.

• Stream<T> stream(T[] array) : returns a sequential Stream with the specified array as its source.
• Stream<T> stream(T[] array, int start, int end) : returns a sequential Stream of array items from index positions start (inclusive) to end (exclusive).

Let’s under its usage with the following examples.

1.2. Primitive Array to Stream

Java Program to convert int array to IntStream.

int[] primitiveArray = {0,1,2,3,4};

IntStream intStream = Arrays.stream(primitiveArray);

Java Program to convert int array to Stream of Integer objects.

int[] primitiveArray = {0,1,2,3,4};

Stream<Integer> integerStream = Arrays.stream(primitiveArray)
									.boxed();

1.3. Object Array to Stream

Java program to convert an object array to a stream of objects. We can apply this approach to any type of object, including Java objects (String, Integer etc.) or custom objects (User, Employee etc.).

String[] stringArray = {"a", "b", "c", "d", "e"};

Stream<String> strStream = Arrays.stream(stringArray);

2. Converting a Stream to Array

2.1. Method Syntax

The primary method for converting a stream to an array is Stream.toArray(). It is also an overloaded method.

• Object[] toArray() : returns an array containing the elements of a specified stream. By default, the return type of this method is Object[].
• T[] toArray(IntFunction<T[]> generator) : returns an array containing the elements of this stream, using the provided generator function. The generator produces a new array of the desired type and the provided length.

Let us understand the usage of toArray() method with some examples.

2.2. Stream to Primitive Array

Java program to get a stream of ints from IntStream.

IntStream intStream = Arrays.stream(new int[]{1,2,3});

int[] primitiveArray = intStream.toArray();

Java program to convert a stream of Integers to primitive int array. Note that mapToInt() returns an instance of IntStream type. And IntStream.toArray() returns an int[]. This is the reason we are not using any generator function.

Stream<Integer> integerStream = Arrays.stream(new Integer[]{1,2,3}); 

int[] primitiveArray = integerStream.mapToInt(i -> i).toArray();

2.3. Stream to Object Array

Java program to convert a stream of objects to an array of objects. It applies to all Java classes and custom objects as well. By default, toArray() will return an Object[]. To get the String[], we are using the generator function String[]::new that creates an instance of String array.

Stream<String> strStream = Arrays.stream(new String[]{});

String[] stringArray = strStream.toArray(String[]::new);

3. Conclusion

In this short tutorial, we learned to convert the stream of items to the array of items, including primitives and complex object types. We learned to use the Arrays.stream() and Stream.toArray() methods and their examples.

We also learned that it is generally recommended to use specialized classes such as IntStream for having the stream of primitive values. These classes provide custom methods for primitive types, and many helpful utility methods.

Happy Learning !!

Sourcecode on Github