Java 8 Consumer Interface Example

In this tutorial, we will learn how to use the Consumer functional interface with an example.

Learn and master in Java 8 features at Java 8 Tutorial with Examples

Video Tutorial

Overview

java.util.function.Consumer is a functional interface whose functional method (single abstract method) is accept(T t). The Consumer interface represents an operation that takes single argument T and returns no result:

@FunctionalInterface
public interface Consumer < T > {

    /**
     * Performs this operation on the given argument.
     *
     * @param t the input argument
     */
    void accept(T t);
}

Consumer Interface Example #1

The following example shows how to use the accept() method of the Consumer interface with a lambda expression.

package com.javaguides.java.functionalinterfaces;

import java.util.function.Consumer;

public class ConsumerDemo {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // example 1
        Consumer < String > consumer = (t) -> System.out.println(t);
        consumer.accept("Ramesh");
    }
}

Output:

Ramesh

Consumer Interface Example #2

The following example shows how to use the default method andThen() of the Consumer interface with a lambda expression:

package com.javaguides.java.functionalinterfaces;

import java.util.function.Consumer;

public class ConsumerDemo {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // example 2
        Consumer < String > consumer2 = (input) -> System.out.println(input + " World !");
        Consumer < String > consumer3 = (input) -> System.out.println(input + " Java");
        consumer2.andThen(consumer3).accept("hello");
    }
}

Output:

hello World !
hello Java

Consumer Interface Example #3

The java.lang.Iterable.forEach() method internally uses Consumer interface. Here is the forEach() method implementation:

default void forEach(Consumer << ? super T > action) {
    Objects.requireNonNull(action);
    for (T t: this) {
        action.accept(t);
    }
}

In this below example, we create a list of integers and use forEach() method to loop over list and print elements to console:

package com.javaguides.java.functionalinterfaces;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

public class ConsumerDemo {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List < Integer > integers = Arrays.asList(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8);
        integers.forEach((t) -> System.out.println(t));
    }
}

Output:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Learn and master in Java 8 features at Java 8 Tutorial with Examples