Java Spliterator (with Examples)

In Java, a Spliterator (splitable iterator) is an interface in the ‘java.util‘ package and is used for partitioning and traversing the elements of a collection in parallel. Unlike traditional iterators, Spliterator is designed with parallelism in mind and mainly helps in parallel processing when the collection or stream has a large number of elements.

Under normal conditions, the Spliterator will behave exactly same as an Iterator.

Spliterator<T> spliterator = list.spliterator();

1. Features of Spliterator

Following is a list of features provided by Spliterator in Java.

• Spliterator has been introduced in Java 8.
• It provides support for parallel processing of a stream of elements for any collection.
• It provides tryAdvance() method to iterate elements individually in different threads. It helps in parallel processing.
• To iterate elements sequentially in a single Thread, use forEachRemaining() method.
• The trySplit() method is used to partition the spliterator if it is possible.
• It helps in combining the hasNext() and next() operations into one method.

2. Spliterator Methods

3. Spliterator with Stream

The Java collection framework provides default stream() and parallelStream() methods which internally use the Spliterator through the call to the spliterator(). It helps in processing the collection the data in parallel.

default Stream<E> stream() {
    return StreamSupport.stream(spliterator, false);
}
 
default Stream<E> parallelStream() {
    return StreamSupport.stream(spliterator, true);
}

4. Java Spliterator Example

4.1. Spliterator characteristics() Example

Java example to verify the characteristics of Spliterator obtained for ArrayList.

ArrayList<String> list = new ArrayList<>();
         
Spliterator<String> spliterator = list.spliterator();
 
int expected = Spliterator.ORDERED | Spliterator.SIZED | Spliterator.SUBSIZED;
 
System.out.println(spliterator.characteristics() == expected);  //true
 
if (spliterator.hasCharacteristics(Spliterator.ORDERED)) {
    System.out.println("ORDERED");
}
 
if (spliterator.hasCharacteristics(Spliterator.DISTINCT)) {
    System.out.println("DISTINCT");
}
 
if (spliterator.hasCharacteristics(Spliterator.SORTED)) {
    System.out.println("SORTED");
}
 
if (spliterator.hasCharacteristics(Spliterator.SIZED)) {
    System.out.println("SIZED");
}
 
if (spliterator.hasCharacteristics(Spliterator.CONCURRENT)) {
    System.out.println("CONCURRENT");
}
 
if (spliterator.hasCharacteristics(Spliterator.IMMUTABLE)) {
    System.out.println("IMMUTABLE");
}
 
if (spliterator.hasCharacteristics(Spliterator.NONNULL)) {
    System.out.println("NONNULL");
}
 
if (spliterator.hasCharacteristics(Spliterator.SUBSIZED)) {
    System.out.println("SUBSIZED");
}

Program Output.

true
 
ORDERED
SIZED
SUBSIZED

4.2. Spliterator estimateSize() and getExactSizeIfKnown()

Java example to get the size of backing collection i.e. number of elements to iterate by spliterator.

ArrayList<String> list = new ArrayList<>();
         
list.add("A");
list.add("B");
list.add("C");
list.add("D");
 
Spliterator<String> spliterator = list.spliterator();
 
System.out.println(spliterator.estimateSize());  
System.out.println(spliterator.getExactSizeIfKnown());

Program Output.

4
4

4.3. Spliterator getComparator()

Java example to find the comparator used by spliterator.

SortedSet<String> set = new TreeSet<>( Collections.reverseOrder() );
         
set.add("A");
set.add("D");
set.add("C");
set.add("B");
 
System.out.println(set);
 
System.out.println(set.spliterator().getComparator());

Program Output.

[D, C, B, A]
java.util.Collections$ReverseComparator@7852e922

4.4. Spliterator trySplit() example

Java example to split the elements to two groups and iterate independently.

ArrayList<String> list = new ArrayList<>();
         
list.add("A");
list.add("B");
list.add("C");
list.add("D");
list.add("E");
list.add("F");
 
Spliterator<String> spliterator1 = list.spliterator();
Spliterator<String> spliterator2 = spliterator1.trySplit();
 
spliterator1.forEachRemaining(System.out::println);
 
System.out.println("========");
 
spliterator2.forEachRemaining(System.out::println);

Program Output.

D
E
F
========
A
B
C

4.5. Spliterator forEachRemaining() example

Java example to perform hasNext() and next() operations in single statement using forEachRemaining() method.

ArrayList<String> list = new ArrayList<>();
         
list.add("A");
list.add("B");
list.add("C");
list.add("D");
 
Spliterator<String> spliterator = list.spliterator();
 
spliterator.forEachRemaining(System.out::println);

Program Output.

A
B
C
D

5. Conclusion

In this tutorial, we learned the Java Spliterator interface. We learned the Spliterator methods and simple examples to iterate over collections elements and streams apart from other useful methods in Spliterator.

Drop me your questions in comments section.

Happy Learning !!

References: Spliterator Interface Java Docs