How to Check if an Object Is Null in Java

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Check for Null Objects in Java Using the Equality ( == ) Operator

Check for null objects in java using java.util.objects, check for null objects in java using the equals method, check for null objects in java using the optional class, check for null objects in java using the ternary operator.

How to Check if an Object Is Null in Java

In Java programming, dealing with null values is a common task, and ensuring robust null-checking mechanisms is essential for writing reliable and error-free code. Whether you are handling user inputs, external data, or complex data structures, verifying if an object is null before proceeding with operations is a fundamental practice.

Java provides several methods and techniques for performing null checks, each with its unique characteristics and use cases. In this article, we will explore various approaches, from classic methods like the equality operator and the equals method to more modern solutions such as the java.util.Objects class and the Optional class introduced in Java 8.

One straightforward approach to check whether an object is null is using the equality ( == ) operator. This operator compares the memory addresses of two objects, making it a suitable choice for testing nullity.

When applied to object references, the equality operator checks whether they point to the same memory location, indicating that the objects are the same. When used in the context of checking for null , it evaluates to true if the object reference is null and false otherwise.

Code Example: Checking for Null Using the Equality Operator

Let’s consider a practical example with two classes, User1 and User2 .

The User1 class has a single instance variable, name , along with Getter and Setter methods. The User2 class contains a method, getUser1Object , which returns an instance of User1 .

In this Java program, the first line within the main method declares an object of class User2 named user and initializes it.

Following that, we call the getUser1Object() method on the user object, which is a method of class User2 . This method returns an instance of User1 and is assigned to the variable getUserObject .

Next, we encounter an if-else statement that checks if the object referenced by getUserObject is null using the equality operator ( == ). If the condition evaluates to true , the program enters the if block, and the message Object is Null is printed to the console.

Otherwise, the program enters the else block, where Not Null is printed. Additionally, within the else block, we set the name of the User1 object using the setName method and print the updated name to the console.

Now, let’s explore the supporting classes. Class User2 contains an instance variable user of type User1 .

It also includes a method named getUser1Object that returns the user object. The purpose of this method is to simulate a scenario where an object of User1 is retrieved.

Class User1 is relatively simple, with a single instance variable name representing a user’s name. It includes Getter and Setter methods ( getName and setName , respectively) to retrieve and update the name attribute.

Code Output:

Checking for Null Using the Equality Operator - Output

In this output, the message Object is Null indicates that the object returned by getUser1Object() is indeed null . This approach is simple and widely used for checking null objects in Java.

Another approach to checking if an object is null involves using the java.util.Objects class, specifically the isNull() method. This method provides a convenient and robust way to handle null checks, offering improved readability and avoiding potential pitfalls associated with direct equality comparisons.

The java.util.Objects class, introduced in Java 7, includes utility methods for object-related operations. Among these methods is isNull() , which takes an object reference as an argument and returns true if the reference is null , and false otherwise.

This method offers a concise and null-safe way to perform null checks.

Code Example: Checking for Null Using java.util.Objects

Let’s delve into a practical example to demonstrate the use of java.util.Objects.isNull() . In this scenario, we have two classes, User1 and User2 , similar to the previous example.

In this example, we import the java.util.Objects class and utilize the isNull() method within the main method. The rest of the code remains similar to the previous example.

An object of class User2 is created, and the getUser1Object() method is called to obtain an instance of User1 . The isNull() method is then employed within an if-else statement to check if the object is null .

If the object is null , the program prints Object is Null . Conversely, if the object is not null , it proceeds to the else block, where Not Null is printed.

Additionally, within the else block, the name of the User1 object is set using the setName method, and the updated name is printed to the console.

Checking for Null Using java.util.Objects - Output

In this output, the message Object is Null indicates that the java.util.Objects.isNull() method correctly identified the null object. This method provides a concise and reliable way to perform null checks in Java, improving code readability and reducing the chances of errors associated with direct equality comparisons.

An alternative method for checking if an object is null involves using the equals method. While primarily designed for comparing objects for equality, the equals method can also be employed to check if an object is null .

The equals method is part of the Object class in Java and is used for comparing the contents of objects for equality. When applied to a non-null object, it returns true if the compared objects are equal and false otherwise.

However, when applied to a null object, it results in a NullPointerException . To perform a null check using equals , it is essential to ensure that the object reference is not null before calling the method.

Code Example: Checking for Null Using the equals Method

Let’s explore a practical example that demonstrates how to use the equals method for null checks. In this scenario, we have two classes, User1 and User2 , similar to the previous examples.

In this example, we perform a null check using the equals method within the main method. The code checks if the object reference getUserObject is null or if calling equals(null) on it results in true .

If either condition is satisfied, the program prints Object is Null . Otherwise, it proceeds to the else block, printing Not Null .

Similar to previous examples, within the else block, the name of the User1 object is set using the setName method, and the updated name is printed to the console.

Checking for Null Using the equals Method - Output

In this output, the message Object is Null indicates that the null check using the equals method correctly identified the null object. However, it’s crucial to note that this approach introduces a risk of NullPointerException and may not be as reliable as other methods specifically designed for null checks.

Careful consideration should be given to the potential pitfalls of using the equals method in this context.

In Java, the Optional class, introduced in Java 8, provides an elegant and null-safe way to handle potentially null values. It offers methods to perform various operations on an object while avoiding the risk of NullPointerException .

The Optional class is part of the java.util package and is designed to provide a more expressive and safer alternative to dealing with potentially null values. It encourages a functional programming style by allowing chained operations on values that may or may not be present.

For null checks, the Optional.ofNullable() method can be used to wrap an object, and subsequent operations can be performed using methods like isPresent() and ifPresent() .

Code Example: Checking for Null Using the Optional Class

Let’s dive into a practical example that demonstrates how to use the Optional class for null checks. In this scenario, we have two classes, User1 and User2 , similar to the previous examples.

In this example, we import the Optional class and use Optional.ofNullable() to create an Optional wrapper around the result of getUser1Object() .

The isPresent() method is then used within an if statement to check if the object is not null. If the object is present, the program enters the if block, prints Not Null , and performs subsequent operations.

Within the if block, we retrieve the actual object using optionalUser.get() and then set the name using the setName method. The updated name is printed on the console.

If the object is null, the program enters the else block; printing Object is Null.

Checking for Null Using the Optional Class - Output

In this output, the message Object is Null indicates that the Optional class correctly identified the null object. Using the Optional class promotes cleaner and safer code by encapsulating the null-checking logic within its methods, reducing the risk of NullPointerException and improving the overall readability of the code.

The ternary operator ( ? : ) provides a concise and expressive way to perform conditional operations. Leveraging the ternary operator for null checks is a simple approach, offering a one-liner to determine whether an object is null .

The ternary operator is a shorthand way of expressing an if-else statement in a single line. Its syntax is:

In the context of null checks, the condition can be the object reference, and the expressions can handle the logic based on whether the object is null or not.

Code Example: Checking for Null Using the Ternary Operator

Let’s delve into a practical example that demonstrates how to use the ternary operator for null checks. In this scenario, we have two classes, User1 and User2 , similar to the previous examples.

In this code example, the ternary operator is used to perform a null check on the object reference getUserObject . The expression (getUserObject == null) ? "Object is Null" : "Not Null" is assigned to the variable result .

If getUserObject is null, the value Object is Null is assigned to result ; otherwise, Not Null is assigned.

Afterward, the result is printed to the console, providing a clear indication of whether the object is null, additionally, within an if block, further operations are performed if the object is not null.

In this case, the name of the User1 object is set using the setName method, and the updated name is printed to the console.

Checking for Null Using the Ternary Operator - Output

In this output, the message Object is Null indicates that the ternary operator successfully identified the null object. This method offers a concise and readable way to perform null checks, especially when the subsequent logic involves simple assignments or statements based on the nullity of the object.

In conclusion, Java provides several methods to check if an object is null , each with its advantages and use cases.

The equality ( == ) operator offers a straightforward and commonly used approach, comparing object references directly. The java.util.Objects.isNull() method, introduced in Java 7, provides a null-safe alternative, enhancing readability and reducing the risk of errors associated with direct comparisons.

The equals method, while primarily designed for equality checks, can be employed for null checks with caution, as it introduces the risk of NullPointerException . The Optional class, introduced in Java 8, offers an elegant and functional programming-style solution, encapsulating null-checking logic and promoting safer code.

Finally, the ternary operator ( ? : ) provides a concise one-liner for simple null checks. Choosing the appropriate method depends on the specific requirements and coding preferences.

Rupam Yadav avatar

Rupam Saini is an android developer, who also works sometimes as a web developer., He likes to read books and write about various things.

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Java 8 Optional: Handling Nulls Properly

Let's learn how to use java 8's optionals to make your null checks simple and less error-prone.

Yogen Rai user avatar

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Java 8 introduced the  Optional class to make handling of nulls less error-prone. For example, the following program to pick the lucky name has a null check as:

This null check can be replaced with the  Optional   class method  isPresent()    as shown below:

However, notice the writing is no easier than:

The  Optional   class, however, supports other techniques that are superior to checking nulls. The above code can be re-written as below with   orElse()   method as below:

The method  orElse()   is invoked with the condition " If X is null, populate X. Return X. ", so that the default value can be set if the optional value is not present.

There is another method called the  ifPresent(Function) . You can use this method to invoke an action and skip the null case completely. For example, the program below prints a message in the case, if the condition is met as:

This can be re-written with  ifPresent()  ,  as shown below. in a more intuitive manner, as:

If we want to throw an exception in case if no name is found, then it would be something like this:

It can be meaningfully replaced with  orElseThrow   as:

There are other many more methods in the  Optional   class to handle  null   in more proper way. You can go through the  Optional in Java 8 cheat sheet .

As always, if you want to look into the source code for the example presented above, they are available on  GitHub .

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In software development, null values can be a frequent source of bugs and errors, especially in languages like Java that use explicit references. Null values occur when an object reference does not refer to an instance of an object, but rather to a special value that represents the absence of a value. In Java 8, there are several ways to check for null values to avoid these bugs.

The traditional approach to checking for null values in Java is to use the == operator to compare the reference to null. Here's an example:

This approach is straightforward but can be verbose and error-prone, especially when multiple null checks are required. Additionally, it is not very expressive and does not take advantage of some of the new language features introduced in Java 8.

Java 8 introduced the Optional class as a way to handle null values more effectively. Optional is a container object that may or may not contain a non-null value. Optional provides a number of methods to work with the contained value, such as map(), filter(), and orElse(). Here's an example:

This approach is more concise and expressive than the traditional null check. It also provides a more functional programming style by allowing the use of methods such as map() and filter().

Another way to check for null values in Java 8 is to use the Objects.requireNonNull() method. This method throws a NullPointerException if the passed reference is null. Here's an example:

This approach is even more concise than the Optional class, as it doesn't require an if statement. However, it can be less expressive than the Optional class because it does not provide any methods to work with the non-null value.

In addition to the three approaches mentioned above, there are a few other techniques that can be used to handle null values in Java 8.

Java 8 also introduced the Objects.isNull() and Objects.nonNull() methods. These methods provide a more concise way to check for null values than the traditional null check. Here's an example:

The approach is similar to the traditional null check, but provides a more concise syntax.

The Optional class also provides the map() method, which can be used to transform the contained value if it is not null. This can be useful for chaining multiple operations together. Additionally, the orElseThrow() method can be used to throw an exception if the contained value is null. Here's an example:

This approach uses the map() method to extract a property from the non-null object, and then uses orElseThrow() to handle the case where the object is null.

Finally, Java 9 introduced the Objects.requireNonNullElse() method. This method can be used to provide a default value if the passed reference is null. Here's an example:

This approach provides a concise way to handle null values and can be useful in situations where a default value is needed.

Java 8 provides several ways to check for null values, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Developers should choose the approach that best fits their needs based on factors such as code readability, maintainability, and performance. By using these techniques, developers can avoid null-related bugs and improve the quality and reliability of their Java applications.

Here's an example program that demonstrates how to use the Optional class to check for null values in Java 8:





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Java Ternary Operator Video Tutorial

Ternary operator condition, ternary operator values, ternary operator as null check, ternary operator as type check, ternary operator as max function, ternary operator as min function, ternary operator as abs function, chained ternary operators.

Jakob Jenkov
Last update: 2024-05-12

The Java ternary operator functions like a simplified Java if statement. The ternary operator consists of a condition that evaluates to either true or false , plus a value that is returned if the condition is true and another value that is returned if the condition is false . Here is a simple Java ternary operator example:

We will dissect this ternary operator example in the rest of this Java ternary operator tutorial.

In case you prefer video, I have a video version of this tutorial here:

The ternary operator part of the above statement is this part:

The condition part of the above ternary operator expression is this part:

The condition is a Java expression that evaluates to either true or false . The above condition will evaluate to true if the case variable equals the Java String value uppercase , and to false if not.

The condition can be any Java expression that evaluates to a boolean value, just like the expressions you can use inside an if - statement or while loop.

The condition part of a ternary operator is followed by a question mark ( ? ). After the question mark are the two values the ternary operator can return, separated by a colon ( : ). The values part of the ternary operator shown earlier is:

The values part consists of two values. The first value is returned if the condition parts (see above) evaluates to true . The second value is returned if the condition part evaluates to false .

In the example above, if case.equals("uppercase") evaluates to true then the ternary operator expression as a whole returns the String value JOHN . If case.equals("uppercase") evaluates to false then the ternary operator expression as a whole returns the String value john . That means, that the String variable name will end up having the value JOHN or john depending on whether the expression case.equals("uppercase") evaluates to true or false .

The values returned can be the result of any Java expression that returns a value that can be assigned to the variable at the beginning of the statement. Because the Java variable at the beginning of the ternary operator example at the top of this article is of type String, then the values returned by the values part must be of type String.

You can use the Java ternary operator as a shorthand for null checks before calling a method on an object. Here is an example:

This is equivalent to, but shorter than this code:

As you can see, both of these code examples avoid calling object.getValue() if the object reference is null , but the first code example is a bit shorter and more elegant.

It is also possible to use the Java ternary operator as a type check. Here is an example of using the Java ternary operator as a type check:

Notice how the example uses two ternary operator statements after each other. The first checks if the object returned by the getTheObject() method is an instance of Integer or Long, and then casts the theObj reference to either Integer or Long, and call either the intValue() or longValue()

You can achieve the same functionality as the Java Math max() function using a Java ternary operator. Here is an example of achieving the Math.max() functionality using a Java ternary operator:

Notice how the ternary operator conditions checks if the val1 value is larger than or equal to the val2 value. If it is, the ternary operator returns the val1 value. Else it returns the val2 value.

The Java ternary operator can also be used to achieve the same effect as the Java Math min() function . Here is an example of achieving the Math.min() functionality using a Java ternary operator:

Notice how the ternary operator conditions checks if the val1 value is smaller than or equal to the val2 value. If it is, the ternary operator returns the val1 value. Else it returns the val2 value.

The Java ternary operator can also be used to achieve the same effect as the Java Math abs() function . Here is an example of achieving the Math.abs() functionality using a Java ternary operator:

Notice how the ternary operator conditions checks if the val1 value is larger than or equal to 0. If it is, the ternary operator returns the val1 value. Else it returns -val1 , which corresponds to negating a negative number, which makes it positive.

It is possible to chain more than one Java ternary operator together. You do so by having one of the values returned by the ternary operator be another ternary operator. Here is an example of a chained ternary operator in Java:

Notice how the first ternary operator condition checks if the input String is null . If so, the first ternary operator returns 0 immediately. If the input String is not null , the first ternary operator returns the value of the second ternary operator. The second ternary operator checks if the input String is equal to the empty String. If it is, the second ternary operator returns 0 immediately. If the input String is not equal to the empty String, the second ternary operator returns the value of Integer.parseInt(input) .

You can chain and nest Java ternary operators as much as you want, as long as each ternary operator returns a single value, and each ternary operator is used in place of a single value (the Java ternary operator is an expression, and is thus evaluated to a single value).

Of course you could have simplified the above ternary operator example. Instead of chaining the ternary operators you could have combined the two conditions that return 0 into a single condition, like this:

However, this is only possible because the value null and empty string both return the same value (0). Anyways, the point was to show you how to chain the Java ternary operator . That is why the example was written the way it was.

Jakob Jenkov

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Java Assignment Operators with Examples

Operators constitute the basic building block of any programming language. Java too provides many types of operators which can be used according to the need to perform various calculations and functions, be it logical, arithmetic, relational, etc. They are classified based on the functionality they provide.

Types of Operators: 

  • Arithmetic Operators
  • Unary Operators
  • Assignment Operator
  • Relational Operators
  • Logical Operators
  • Ternary Operator
  • Bitwise Operators
  • Shift Operators

This article explains all that one needs to know regarding Assignment Operators. 

Assignment Operators

These operators are used to assign values to a variable. The left side operand of the assignment operator is a variable, and the right side operand of the assignment operator is a value. The value on the right side must be of the same data type of the operand on the left side. Otherwise, the compiler will raise an error. This means that the assignment operators have right to left associativity, i.e., the value given on the right-hand side of the operator is assigned to the variable on the left. Therefore, the right-hand side value must be declared before using it or should be a constant. The general format of the assignment operator is, 

Types of Assignment Operators in Java

The Assignment Operator is generally of two types. They are:

1. Simple Assignment Operator: The Simple Assignment Operator is used with the “=” sign where the left side consists of the operand and the right side consists of a value. The value of the right side must be of the same data type that has been defined on the left side.

2. Compound Assignment Operator: The Compound Operator is used where +,-,*, and / is used along with the = operator.

Let’s look at each of the assignment operators and how they operate: 

1. (=) operator: 

This is the most straightforward assignment operator, which is used to assign the value on the right to the variable on the left. This is the basic definition of an assignment operator and how it functions. 

Syntax:  

Example:  

2. (+=) operator: 

This operator is a compound of ‘+’ and ‘=’ operators. It operates by adding the current value of the variable on the left to the value on the right and then assigning the result to the operand on the left. 

Note: The compound assignment operator in Java performs implicit type casting. Let’s consider a scenario where x is an int variable with a value of 5. int x = 5; If you want to add the double value 4.5 to the integer variable x and print its value, there are two methods to achieve this: Method 1: x = x + 4.5 Method 2: x += 4.5 As per the previous example, you might think both of them are equal. But in reality, Method 1 will throw a runtime error stating the “i ncompatible types: possible lossy conversion from double to int “, Method 2 will run without any error and prints 9 as output.

Reason for the Above Calculation

Method 1 will result in a runtime error stating “incompatible types: possible lossy conversion from double to int.” The reason is that the addition of an int and a double results in a double value. Assigning this double value back to the int variable x requires an explicit type casting because it may result in a loss of precision. Without the explicit cast, the compiler throws an error. Method 2 will run without any error and print the value 9 as output. The compound assignment operator += performs an implicit type conversion, also known as an automatic narrowing primitive conversion from double to int . It is equivalent to x = (int) (x + 4.5) , where the result of the addition is explicitly cast to an int . The fractional part of the double value is truncated, and the resulting int value is assigned back to x . It is advisable to use Method 2 ( x += 4.5 ) to avoid runtime errors and to obtain the desired output.

Same automatic narrowing primitive conversion is applicable for other compound assignment operators as well, including -= , *= , /= , and %= .

3. (-=) operator: 

This operator is a compound of ‘-‘ and ‘=’ operators. It operates by subtracting the variable’s value on the right from the current value of the variable on the left and then assigning the result to the operand on the left. 

4. (*=) operator:

 This operator is a compound of ‘*’ and ‘=’ operators. It operates by multiplying the current value of the variable on the left to the value on the right and then assigning the result to the operand on the left. 

5. (/=) operator: 

This operator is a compound of ‘/’ and ‘=’ operators. It operates by dividing the current value of the variable on the left by the value on the right and then assigning the quotient to the operand on the left. 

6. (%=) operator: 

This operator is a compound of ‘%’ and ‘=’ operators. It operates by dividing the current value of the variable on the left by the value on the right and then assigning the remainder to the operand on the left. 

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Nullish coalescing assignment (??=)

The nullish coalescing assignment ( ??= ) operator, also known as the logical nullish assignment operator, only evaluates the right operand and assigns to the left if the left operand is nullish ( null or undefined ).

Description

Nullish coalescing assignment short-circuits , meaning that x ??= y is equivalent to x ?? (x = y) , except that the expression x is only evaluated once.

No assignment is performed if the left-hand side is not nullish, due to short-circuiting of the nullish coalescing operator. For example, the following does not throw an error, despite x being const :

Neither would the following trigger the setter:

In fact, if x is not nullish, y is not evaluated at all.

Using nullish coalescing assignment

You can use the nullish coalescing assignment operator to apply default values to object properties. Compared to using destructuring and default values , ??= also applies the default value if the property has value null .

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  • Nullish coalescing operator ( ?? )

ReSharper 2024.2 Help

Code inspection: join null check with assignment.

Category : Language Usage Opportunities

ID : JoinNullCheckWithUsage

EditorConfig : resharper_join_null_check_with_usage_highlighting

Default severity : Suggestion

Language : C#

Requires SWA : No

This inspection supports throw expressions , a new syntax introduced in C# 7.0. A throw expression allows throwing an exception in the middle of another expression, so throwing can now be combined with other tasks such as null-checking. This means that a common operation of checking an argument for null before assigning its value to a variable can now have a more compact look.

In the example below, ReSharper uses a null-coalescing operator to join assignment, checking for null, and throwing an exception into a single statement.

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InfoQ Homepage News Null-Restricted and Nullable Types for Java

Null-Restricted and Nullable Types for Java

Aug 13, 2024 5 min read

Earlier this week, we reported on the release of version 1.0.0 of the JSpecify project . This release focuses on providing type-use annotations to indicate the nullability status of usages of static types.

Related to this subject, Draft JEP 8303099 was recently made public. This JEP discusses Null-Restricted and Nullable Types, and aims to bring optional nullness-marking to the Java language.

The intent is to add markers - not just annotations - to a type use to specify whether the permissible value set for that use includes null or not. It is important to bear in mind that the proposal is in a very early stage of development (e.g. it doesn't have an official JEP number yet), so the syntax may well change. Having said this, for now Kotlin-like markers are used, so that, for a type Foo , there are three possibilities for how the type can be used:

  • Foo! is null-restricted - the acceptable values for this use of the type do not include null
  • Foo? is nullable - the acceptable values for this use of the type explicitly includes null
  • Foo does not specify whether or not null is acceptable

The use of bare Foo remains the default, as the meaning of existing code should not change when it's compiled.

Currently, the proposal calls for every type use to be annotated, i.e. there is no way to mark an entire class or module as null-restricted (as would be possible in JSpecify), although this capability may be added later.

This new feature introduces nullness conversions (similar to widening and unboxing conversions). For example, any of these sorts of assignment are permissible:

  • Foo! to Foo?
  • Foo! to Foo
  • Foo? to Foo
  • Foo to Foo?

as they represent a loosening of constraints - e.g. any null-restricted value can be represented in a nullable use of the type.

There are also narrowing nullness conversions, such as:

  • Foo? to Foo!
  • Foo to Foo!

These could cause runtime errors, e.g. by trying to load a null from a Foo? into a Foo! . The general strategy here is to treat these cases as compile-time warnings (but not errors) and to include a runtime check that throws a NullPointerException if the nullness bound if violated.

Note that these are basically the easy cases, and more complex cases are possible. For example, when dealing with generics the compiler may encounter situations such as type arguments whose nullness is inconsistent with their declared bounds.

The introduction of null markers provides additional compile-time safety, and allows for a gradual adoption of the markers - first by defining the nullness of types, and then seeking to eliminate compile-time warnings.

InfoQ spoke to Kevin Bourrillion (founder of Google's core libraries team and now a member of Oracle's Java language team) -- to get more details about the project.

InfoQ: Can you explain your background with the nullness efforts in Java?

Kevin Bourrillion: I co-founded the JSpecify group, and have been one of the main "designers" (defined as "person who bears the burden of driving insanely complicated design decisions to consensus somehow"). I've now moved to Oracle but remain involved in approximately the same ways.

InfoQ: How does this JEP overlap with the JSpecify work?

Bourrillion: Eventually we will have a Java with support for nullness markers. JSpecify has done the hard work of nailing down the semantic meanings of the annotations very precisely. This means that whatever upgrade timetable projects choose to adopt will be in a really good position to migrate from JSpecify to language-level nullness markers - in fact that migration should be highly automatable.

InfoQ: There seem to be some similarities between Draft JEP 8303099 and the way that generics was added, way back in Java 5. Is that accurate? This is largely a compile-time mechanism, which is mostly erased at bytecode level, isn't it?

Bourrillion: Yes, there are some useful parallels there. We think of type erasure and the spectre of "heap pollution" as being unfortunate concessions, but that is what made the feature so *adoptable*. That's why you almost never have to see a raw type anymore today (I hope!). Now in our case, null pollution will be part of our reality for a long time, but that's okay! Today it's all null pollution. And yes, like generic type information, your nullness annotations are available at runtime via reflection, but are not involved in runtime type checking. I will be interested to see whether anyone builds a bytecode-instrumenter that injects null checks based on our annotations; I can see reasons that might be really useful and reasons it might not be worth the trouble; we'll have to see.

InfoQ: Null-restriction is also an important topic for Project Valhalla, isn't it? What can you share about the interaction between this Draft JEP and the ongoing work in that area?

Bourrillion: This is really the same question; Valhalla is just going to build on from that JEP draft you cited. Knowing what can't be null will help the VM optimize those indirections away.

InfoQ: In the mid to long term, JSpecify should be able to provide an on-ramp to language-level nullability support in Java. This is similar to how it can already be used to alignment with Kotlin's nullability support. How would you recommend readers go adopt adopting JSpecify today?

Bourrillion: It's just the JSpecify jar that's 1.0.0. The specification, which dictates the very precise meaning of the annotations, is still subject to (slight and subtle) changes. So if you put in a lot of work to annotate your codebase today, your code won't suddenly stop compiling correctly, but after some small spec revisions you might find you want to remove a couple `@Nullable`s here or add a few there. If adopting nullness analysis in your toolchain today is just too time-consuming because of all the existing warnings you have to clean up, it's actually a perfectly reasonable approach to spray `@SuppressWarnings` however broadly you need! It's a bit ugly, but that's something you can just clean up incrementally over time. Even if that takes a long time, the point is that *new* code will start getting checked today, and that's the most important code to check anyway.

InfoQ: Thank you!

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Java - variable Declaration, Assignment and null-check in a single statement

I was wondering if there is a way to make the first two lines of the following code a one-liner in Java, so that object is declared, assigned and null checked in one line:

  • if-statement

Alexander Ivanchenko's user avatar

  • 2 what do you want to do in your second line? it is just a condition. for that, it needs to be a statement –  user404 Commented Apr 19, 2022 at 17:52
  • 1 Object object = queue.poll(); if (object != null) { whatever } - Java does not require line feeds –  user16320675 Commented Apr 19, 2022 at 17:59
  • @reveance Do you need this variable to be accessible somewhere else in the code or not? –  Alexander Ivanchenko Commented Apr 19, 2022 at 18:09
  • @AlexanderIvanchenko No, just in the scope of the if block –  reveance Commented Apr 19, 2022 at 18:20
  • @user16320675 Or maybe simply allow declaration in the if statement. Is there a reason not to: if((Object object = queue.poll()) != null) { ... } ? –  reveance Commented Apr 19, 2022 at 18:24

4 Answers 4

If you don't mind having the scope of the object variable being confined to the code in the curly brackets, then you can do this:

that one isn't too far off from the typical thing we do when reading a file, like this:

or alternatively as suggested by rzwitserloot:

that way it polls only once, and omitting a break in the body of the loop does no harm. Nulling out the object in the increment makes sure the loop terminates after the first pass.

It is kind of abusive having a for loop where you have no intention of looping. I would stay with the multi-line version you started with.

But if you are polling, usually you need a loop anyway.

Nathan Hughes's user avatar

  • How about: for (Object object = queue.poll(); object != null; object = null) { /* do whatever (no break needed) */ } ? Still dubious, but shorter and cleaner than abusing Optional, and it saves a line, I guess, vs your implementation. –  rzwitserloot Commented Apr 19, 2022 at 17:58
  • 1 I like the ingenuity, but I see this potentially causing confusion if people don't see the break, but definitely would like the first one as an alternative to a poll in a while loop that has a declaration above it. Thanks –  reveance Commented Apr 19, 2022 at 18:13

May not too nice looking:

So you might have a better opinion of the straight:

Joop Eggen's user avatar

  • 1 this is what the OP asked for, didn't say it couldn't be ugly.,.. –  Nathan Hughes Commented Apr 19, 2022 at 17:58
  • 1 it is abusing Optional. mine is abusing for. not sure which is worse. :-| –  Nathan Hughes Commented Apr 19, 2022 at 18:05
  • My answer was triggered by the null safe Optional. However it still is a two-liner when the expression is placed on two lines. "Ugly" is relative here as Deque does only provide a nullable poll() . So Nathan is right w.r.t. to that. –  Joop Eggen Commented Apr 19, 2022 at 18:06
  • Let's wait for an answer with try (new AutoCloseable ...) { - ;). –  Joop Eggen Commented Apr 19, 2022 at 18:08
  • 1 I like this one the most personally, even though it's not beautiful, it does do exactly what I want with the least amount of (needless imo) instructions from me –  reveance Commented Apr 19, 2022 at 18:17

The condition is slightly contrived. Therefore, it's hard to meet the requirement without misusing something, like hiding a null -check with optional , which isn't intended for that purpose.

Actually, the following code will be both the most simple and expressive:

Elimination of a single line will have a cost - the readability of code.

The approach I came up with is to use Stream.ofNullable() which will produce an empty stream if the provided argument is null . Then turn the stream into an iterator and invoke forEachRemaining() on it. This method expects a Supplier , and you can define it on the spot by placing the logic from the if -statement, or separately.

Note : forEach() method defined by the Stream interface isn't used here deliberately in order to be aligned with the guidelines of the Stream API documentation in regard to side-effects . And an Iterator is being used instead because there's no such requirements for its method forEachRemaining() .

Turn your poll() into a supplier and pretend you're working in a language that encourages monkey patching

Kayaman's user avatar

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${intro} ${title}

${intro} .plus-icon-svg-rec { fill: #14315b; } .plus-icon-svg-path { fill: #f2f2f2; } .dark .plus-icon-svg-rec { fill: #f2f2f2; } .dark .plus-icon-svg-path { fill: #323232; } ${title}, null problemo: bessere null-checks in java mit jspecify.

Das Open-Source-Projekt JSpecify zielt auf einheitlichen Standard für Null-Annotationen in Java. Beteiligt sind Firmen wie Google, JetBrains und Microsoft.

(Bild: Erstellt mit KI)

  • Hendrik Ebbers

Vor einem Jahr habe ich bereits über Null-Checks in Java geschrieben. Nach wie vor ist es sinnvoll, Parameter von Methoden und Konstruktoren mit Annotationen bezüglich des Verhaltens von null (z.B. @NonNull ) zu versehen. Mittlerweile ist der Support jedoch deutlich besser geworden, da vor Kurzem Version 1.0 von JSpecify erschienen ist. Das möchte ich für ein Update zu dem Thema nutzen.

java assignment and null check

Hendrik Ebbers (@hendrikEbbers) ist Java Champion, JCP Expert Group Member und wurde mehrfach als Rockstar-Speaker der JavaOne ausgezeichnet. Mit seinem eigenen Unternehmen Open Elements hilft Hendrik aktuell den Hedera Hashgraph zu gestalten und dessen Services der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich zu machen. Hendrik ist Mitgründer der JUG Dortmund sowie der Cyberland und gibt auf der ganzen Welt Vorträge und Workshop zum Thema Java. Sein Buch "Mastering JavaFX 8 Controls" ist 2014 bei Oracle Press erschienen. Hendrik arbeitet aktiv an Open Source Projekten wie beispielsweise JakartaEE oder Eclipse Adoptium mit. Hendrik ist Mitglied des AdoptOpenJDK TSC und der Eclipse Adoptium WG.

Breite Zusammenarbeit für JSpecify

JSpecify ist ein Open-Source-Projekt , in dem sich die bisherigen Anbieter von Null-Handling-Annotationen zusammengeschlossen haben, um endlich einen nutzbaren Standard zu definieren. Dazu gehören unter anderem Google, JetBrains, Meta, Microsoft und Oracle. JSpecify ist ein vollwertiges Modul im Java-Modulsystem, hat keine eigenen Abhängigkeiten und liefert mit gerade einmal vier Annotationen alles, was man in einem modernen Java-Projekt benötigt, um das Handling von null bei Parametern zu spezifizieren. Beispielcode, der die Annotationen nutzt, könnte wie folgt aussehen:

Mehr Codebeispiele finden sich im User-Guide von JSpecify .

Das reine Anbringen der JSpecify-Annotation hat allerdings wenig Effekt. Der Compiler übersetzt weiterhin Code, der null an einen mit @NonNull- annotierten Parameter übergibt, und bei der Laufzeit löst der übersetzte Code nicht automatisch eine Exception aus.

Vorteile der Annotationen

Der Vorteil der Annotationen zeigt sich unter anderem im Zusammenspiel mit Entwicklungsumgebungen. IntelliJ kann die Annotations erkennen und Warnungen oder Fehler bei Code anzeigen, der die Annotationen verletzt. Will man auf Nummer sicher gehen und Code mit solchen Problemen überhaupt nicht zulassen, kann man zusätzliche Hilfsmittel verwenden. Das von Uber entwickelte Open-Source-Tool NullAway kann diese Annotationen zur Build-Zeit überprüfen und Fehler auszulösen, wenn die Definition der Annotationen nicht eingehalten wird. Fügt man das Ganze zu seinem Gradle- oder Maven-Build hinzu, erfolgt beim Kompilieren automatisch einen Fehler:

Mit dieser Toolchain kann man seinen Code um einiges robuster bekommen und NullPointerException s zur Laufzeit vermeiden.

Kein Allheilmittel

Muss man sich keine Gedanken mehr über NullPointerExceptions machen? So einfach ist es leider nicht. Diese Maßnahmen können nur den eigenen Code überprüfen. Hat man Abhängigkeiten, die keine solchen Annotationen nutzen, kann man nicht wissen, ob man diesen als Parameter null übergeben kann und welches Verhalten dies auslöst. Daher ist es weiterhin wichtig, an verschiedenen Stellen Variablen auf null zu überprüfen.

Wer Libraries oder Code entwickelt, der von anderen Projekten aufgerufen wird, kann nicht sicherstellen, dass Nutzer sich an die definierten Regeln halten und an einen mit @NonNull annotierten Parameter auch wirklich kein null übergeben. Daher ist es wichtig, immer Null-Checks durchzuführen, wenn man den Kontext des eigenen Codes verlässt – egal ob bei eigenen Abhängigkeiten oder bei einer öffentlichen API.

Dazu ist das aus dem OpenJDK stammende java.util.Objects.requireNonNull(obj, message) weiterhin das Mittel der Wahl. Um immer sinnvolle Exceptions zu erstellen, sollte man auf die Variante mit dem Message-Parameter setzen, da das System sonst eine NullPointerException ohne Message wirft. Das Ganze sieht für eine öffentliche API folgendermaßen aus:

Wer einem performancekritischen Umfeld arbeitet, sollte auf eigene Methoden für die Checks verzichten. Der JIT-Compiler behandelt Objects.requireNonNull(...) durch die Annotation @ForceInline besonders und fügt alle Aufrufe der Methode direkt in die aufrufende Methode ein (inline), um so Performance und Stack-Größe zu optimieren.

Nächste Schritte zu Best Practices und einem Standard

Es hat lange gedauert, bis die Java-Community den heutigen Stand erreicht hat und es eine saubere und sinnvolle Bibliothek mit Annotationen bezüglich Null-Handling gibt. Was als JSR305 im Jahr 2006 gestartet und leider schnell wieder fallengelassen wurde, könnte sich nach vielen Problemen mit unterschiedlichsten Annotationen und Umsetzungen zu einem De-facto-Standard wie SLF4J (Simple Logging Facade for Java) entwickeln.

JSpecify geht hier ganz klar den richtigen Weg. Toll wäre es, wenn nun ein Tooling wie beispielsweise NullAway sich durchsetzt und mit einer einfachen Nutzung und Best Practices es quasi jedem Projekt ermöglicht, besser mit null umzugehen. Wer bisher die Annotationen und Tools wie NullAway noch nicht im Einsatz hat, sollte sie ausprobieren. Jetzt ist der richtige Moment, um damit zu starten.

Anmerkung: Parallel zum Schreiben dieses Beitrags ist im OpenJDK mit einem neuen JEP ein besserer nativer Support angekündigt worden. Da es noch einige Zeit dauern wird, bis die im JEP diskutierten Features Einzug in eine LTS Version des OpenJDK haben werden, sind die hier beschriebenen Mittel und Tools weiterhin eine klare Empfehlung. Das JEP bietet aber genug Aspekte, um es zeitnah in einem Artikel genauer zu betrachten.

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java assignment and null check

Check if Command-Line Arguments Are Null in Java

Last updated: January 8, 2024

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1. Overview

Command-line arguments are a powerful and useful tool for providing additional information and instructions to a command-line program at runtime.

In Java, they can be accessed through the args array of String objects, which is automatically created by the Java runtime when the program is called with command-line arguments. However, it’s important to check if command-line arguments are null in order to properly handle cases where they are not provided or where they are invalid or unexpected.

In this tutorial, we’ll discuss how to check if command-line arguments are missing.

2. Accessing the Command-Line Arguments

To access and use command-line arguments in a program, we can simply reference the elements of the args array:

This program simply prints the first command-line argument to the console:

The output of this command-line is arg1.

Additionally, we can access and use other command-line arguments in a similar manner. For instance, to access the second command-line argument, we can use args[1] , and so on.

However, if the args array is empty, then attempting to access its elements will result in an ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException:

It’s important to note that we should always check the length of the args array to ensure that it’s non-empty before attempting to access its elements :

Consequently, this program will output the first command-line argument if it’s provided or a message stating that no command-line arguments were provided if the args array is empty.

3. Check if Command-Line Arguments Are Missing

To check if command-line arguments are missing, we can use one of the following approaches.

Firstly, we can check if the args array is null :

Secondly, we can check the length of the args array to determine if any command-line arguments were provided. If the length is zero, it means no arguments were provided:

Finally, we can check if any command-line arguments were provided, regardless of whether they are null or no t:

Each of these approaches allows us to determine whether or not command-line arguments were provided to our program.

4. Conclusion

In this article, we looked at different methods for checking if the command-line arguments are missing in a Java program.

We discussed the benefits and considerations of each approach and emphasized the importance of checking for null arguments in order to handle cases where required arguments are not provided, or invalid ones are received. This is crucial for determining the correct behavior of the program and ensuring that it runs smoothly.

The complete source code for this tutorial is available over on GitHub .

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IMAGES

  1. How to Check if an Object is Null in Java

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  2. How to Check if an Object is Null in Java

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  3. How to Check Null in Java: 6 Steps (with Pictures)

    java assignment and null check

  4. How to Check null in Java

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  5. Check if String is Null, Empty or Blank in Java

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  6. How to Check Null in Java (with Pictures)

    java assignment and null check

COMMENTS

  1. Shortest way to check for null and assign another value if not

    You can also use the null-coalescing operator as other have said - since no one has given an example that works with your code here is one: this.approved_by = planRec.approved_by ?? string.Empty; But this example only works since a possible value for this.approved_by is the same as one of the potential values that you wish to set it to.

  2. Best way to check for null values in Java?

    Do not catch NullPointerException.That is a bad practice. It is better to ensure that the value is not null. Method #4 will work for you. It will not evaluate the second condition, because Java has short-circuiting (i.e., subsequent conditions will not be evaluated if they do not change the end-result of the boolean expression).

  3. java

    Java lacks coalesce operator, so your code with an explicit temporary is your best choice for an assignment with a single call. You can use the result variable as your temporary, like this: dinner = ((dinner = cage.getChicken()) != null) ? dinner : getFreeRangeChicken(); This, however, is hard to read.

  4. Avoid Check for Null Statement in Java

    This causes a NullPointerException at line 6. So, accessing any field, method, or index of a null object causes a NullPointerException, as can be seen from the examples above. A common way of avoiding the NullPointerException is to check for null: public void doSomething() {. String result = doSomethingElse();

  5. Checking for Nulls in Java? Minimize Using "If Else"

    Returns an Optional describing the given value, if non-null, otherwise returns an empty Optional.¹. The returned value from this method will never be null. If it is null, the returned value will be Optional.empty(). This way, if the result of this method is used somewhere else, there will be no chance of getting a NPE.

  6. How to Check if an Object Is Null in Java

    In this example, we import the java.util.Objects class and utilize the isNull() method within the main method. The rest of the code remains similar to the previous example. An object of class User2 is created, and the getUser1Object() method is called to obtain an instance of User1.The isNull() method is then employed within an if-else statement to check if the object is null.

  7. Check If All the Variables of an Object Are Null

    Java applications have a notoriously slow startup and a long warmup time. The CRaC (Coordinated Restore at Checkpoint) project from OpenJDK can help improve these issues by creating a checkpoint with an application's peak performance and restoring an instance of the JVM to that point.. To take full advantage of this feature, BellSoft provides containers that are highly optimized for Java ...

  8. Java 8 Optional: Handling Nulls Properly

    This null check can be replaced with the Optional class method isPresent() as shown below: 5. 1. public String pickLuckyNameWIsPresent(final List<String> names, final String startingLetter) {. 2 ...

  9. Check if an Integer Value Is Null or Zero in Java

    Using the logical OR operator could be the first idea to perform the check. It simply checks if the given Integer number is null or zero. Let's create a method to implement this check for easier verification: return num == null || num == 0 ; This could be the most straightforward approach to performing the check.

  10. How to Check null in Java

    In order to check a null string, we have some predefined methods of string. Let's take some examples of different data types to understand how we can check whether they are null or not. String. In Java, String can be null, empty, or blank, and each one of them is distinct. 1. An empty string is a string object having some value, but its length ...

  11. Java 8 Object Null Check

    Another way to check for null values in Java 8 is to use the Objects.requireNonNull () method. This method throws a NullPointerException if the passed reference is null. Here's an example: Objects.requireNonNull (myObject, "myObject must not be null"); // handle non-null case. Objects.requireNonNull (myObject, "myObject must not be null ...

  12. Java Ternary Operator

    As you can see, both of these code examples avoid calling object.getValue() if the object reference is null, but the first code example is a bit shorter and more elegant. Ternary Operator as Type Check. It is also possible to use the Java ternary operator as a type check. Here is an example of using the Java ternary operator as a type check:

  13. Java Assignment Operators with Examples

    Note: The compound assignment operator in Java performs implicit type casting. Let's consider a scenario where x is an int variable with a value of 5. int x = 5; If you want to add the double value 4.5 to the integer variable x and print its value, there are two methods to achieve this: Method 1: x = x + 4.5. Method 2: x += 4.5.

  14. Checking if an Array Is Null or Empty in Java

    In Java, we can check if an array is null or empty by performing two simple checks: null check - using == null. Empty check - checking the length property of the array to see if it has zero elements. Of course, we want our method to work for all array types. The first idea is to create a generic check method: static <T> boolean ...

  15. Nullish coalescing assignment (??=)

    No assignment is performed if the left-hand side is not nullish, due to short-circuiting of the nullish coalescing operator. For example, the following does not throw an error, despite x being const :

  16. Code inspection: Join null check with assignment

    This means that a common operation of checking an argument for null before assigning its value to a variable can now have a more compact look. In the example below, ReSharper uses a null-coalescing operator to join assignment, checking for null, and throwing an exception into a single statement.

  17. Difference Between == and equals() in Java

    Therefore, we must remember to first check that the value on which we are calling the equals() method is not null, otherwise, it can lead to annoying bugs. Moreover, since Java 7, we can use a null-safe Objects#equals() static method to perform equality checks: assertFalse(Objects.equals(e, a)); assertTrue(Objects.equals(null, e));

  18. Null-Restricted and Nullable Types for Java

    Draft JEP 8303099 was recently made public. This JEP discusses Null-Restricted and Nullable Types, and aims to bring optional nullness-marking to the Java language, in a similar way to that seen in ot

  19. Java

    for (Object object = queue.poll; object != null; object = null) { // do something with object } that way it polls only once, and omitting a break in the body of the loop does no harm. Nulling out the object in the increment makes sure the loop terminates after the first pass.

  20. Null Problemo: Bessere Null-Checks in Java mit JSpecify

    Das Open-Source-Projekt JSpecify zielt auf einheitlichen Standard für Null-Annotationen in Java. Beteiligt sind Firmen wie Google, JetBrains und Microsoft.

  21. Ternary Operator in Java

    Java applications have a notoriously slow startup and a long warmup time. The CRaC (Coordinated Restore at Checkpoint) project from OpenJDK can help improve these issues by creating a checkpoint with an application's peak performance and restoring an instance of the JVM to that point.. To take full advantage of this feature, BellSoft provides containers that are highly optimized for Java ...

  22. Check if Command-Line Arguments Are Null in Java

    In Java, they can be accessed through the args array of String objects, which is automatically created by the Java runtime when the program is called with command-line arguments. However, it's important to check if command-line arguments are null in order to properly handle cases where they are not provided or where they are invalid or ...