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Java 8 BiFunction Examples

In Java 8, BiFunction is a functional interface; it takes two arguments and returns an object.

BiFunction.java

@FunctionalInterface
public interface BiFunction<T, U, R> {

      R apply(T t, U u);

}
  • T – Type of the first argument to the function.
  • U – Type of the second argument to the function.
  • R – Type of the result of the function.

1. BiFunction<T, U, R>

1.1 This example takes two Integers and returns an Integer, Double or List

Java8BiFunction1.java

package com.mkyong;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.function.BiFunction;

public class Java8BiFunction1 {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        // takes two Integers and return an Integer
        BiFunction<Integer, Integer, Integer> func = (x1, x2) -> x1 + x2;

        Integer result = func.apply(2, 3);

        System.out.println(result); // 5

        // take two Integers and return an Double
        BiFunction<Integer, Integer, Double> func2 = (x1, x2) -> Math.pow(x1, x2);

        Double result2 = func2.apply(2, 4);

        System.out.println(result2);    // 16.0

        // take two Integers and return a List<Integer>
        BiFunction<Integer, Integer, List<Integer>> func3 = (x1, x2) -> Arrays.asList(x1 + x2);

        List<Integer> result3 = func3.apply(2, 3);

        System.out.println(result3);

    }

}

Output


5
16.0
[5]

2. BiFunction<T, U, R> + Function<T, R>

2.1 This BiFunction takes two Integer and returns a Double, and uses andThen() to chain it with a Function to convert the Double into a String.

Java8BiFunction2a.java

package com.mkyong;

import java.util.function.BiFunction;
import java.util.function.Function;

public class Java8BiFunction2a {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        // Math.pow(a1, a2) returns Double
        BiFunction<Integer, Integer, Double> func1 = (a1, a2) -> Math.pow(a1, a2);

        // takes Double, returns String
        Function<Double, String> func2 = (input) -> "Result : " + String.valueOf(input);

        String result = func1.andThen(func2).apply(2, 4);

        System.out.println(result);

    }

}

Output


Result : 16.0

2.2 This example converts the above program into a method that accepts BiFunction and Function as arguments and chains it together.

Java8BiFunction2b.java

package com.mkyong;

import java.util.function.BiFunction;
import java.util.function.Function;

public class Java8BiFunction2b {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        String result = powToString(2, 4,
                (a1, a2) -> Math.pow(a1, a2),
                (r) -> "Result : " + String.valueOf(r));

        System.out.println(result); // Result : 16.0

    }

    public static <R> R powToString(Integer a1, Integer a2,
                                    BiFunction<Integer, Integer, Double> func,
                                    Function<Double, R> func2) {

        return func.andThen(func2).apply(a1, a2);

    }

}

Output


Result : 16.0

2.3 This example converts the above method into a generic method:


public static <A1, A2, R1, R2> R2 convert(A1 a1, A2 a2,
                                          BiFunction<A1, A2, R1> func,
                                          Function<R1, R2> func2) {

    return func.andThen(func2).apply(a1, a2);

}

A lot of possibilities in this generic method, let see:

Java8BiFunction2c.java

package com.mkyong;

import java.util.function.BiFunction;
import java.util.function.Function;

public class Java8BiFunction2c {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        // Take two Integers, pow it into a Double, convert Double into a String.
        String result = convert(2, 4,
                (a1, a2) -> Math.pow(a1, a2),
                (r) -> "Pow : " + String.valueOf(r));

        System.out.println(result);     // Pow : 16.0

        // Take two Integers, multiply into an Integer, convert Integer into a String.
        String result2 = convert(2, 4,
                (a1, a2) -> a1 * a1,
                (r) -> "Multiply : " + String.valueOf(r));

        System.out.println(result2);    // Multiply : 4

        // Take two Strings, join both, join "cde"
        String result3 = convert("a", "b",
                (a1, a2) -> a1 + a2,
                (r) -> r + "cde");      // abcde

        System.out.println(result3);

        // Take two Strings, join both, convert it into an Integer
        Integer result4 = convert("100", "200",
                (a1, a2) -> a1 + a2,
                (r) -> Integer.valueOf(r));

        System.out.println(result4);    // 100200

    }

    public static <A1, A2, R1, R2> R2 convert(A1 a1, A2 a2,
                                              BiFunction<A1, A2, R1> func,
                                              Function<R1, R2> func2) {

        return func.andThen(func2).apply(a1, a2);

    }

}

Output


Pow : 16.0
Multiply : 4
abcde
100200

3. Factory

3.1 This example uses BiFunction to create an object, acts as a factory pattern.

Java8BiFunction3.java

package com.mkyong;

import java.util.function.BiFunction;

public class Java8BiFunction3 {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        GPS obj = factory("40.741895", "-73.989308", GPS::new);
        System.out.println(obj);

    }

    public static <R extends GPS> R factory(String Latitude, String Longitude,
                                            BiFunction<String, String, R> func) {
        return func.apply(Latitude, Longitude);
    }

}

class GPS {

    String Latitude;
    String Longitude;

    public GPS(String latitude, String longitude) {
        Latitude = latitude;
        Longitude = longitude;
    }

    public String getLatitude() {
        return Latitude;
    }

    public void setLatitude(String latitude) {
        Latitude = latitude;
    }

    public String getLongitude() {
        return Longitude;
    }

    public void setLongitude(String longitude) {
        Longitude = longitude;
    }

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return "GPS{" +
                "Latitude='" + Latitude + '\'' +
                ", Longitude='" + Longitude + '\'' +
                '}';
    }
}

Output


GPS{Latitude='40.741895', Longitude='-73.989308'}

The GPS::new calls the following constructor, which accepts two arguments and return an object (GPS), so it matches with the BiFunction signature.


  public GPS(String latitude, String longitude) {
        Latitude = latitude;
        Longitude = longitude;
    }

4. More

4.1 Filtering a List by some conditions.

Java8BiFunction4.java

package com.mkyong;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.function.BiFunction;

public class Java8BiFunction4 {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        Java8BiFunction4 obj = new Java8BiFunction4();

        List<String> list = Arrays.asList("node", "c++", "java", "javascript");

        List<String> result = obj.filterList(list, 3, obj::filterByLength);

        System.out.println(result);   // [node, java, javascript]

        List<String> result1 = obj.filterList(list, 3, (l1, size) -> {
            if (l1.length() > size) {
                return l1;
            } else {
                return null;
            }
        });

        System.out.println(result1);  // [node, java, javascript]

        List<String> result2 = obj.filterList(list, "c", (l1, condition) -> {
            if (l1.startsWith(condition)) {
                return l1;
            } else {
                return null;
            }
        });

        System.out.println(result2);  // [c++]

        List<Integer> number = Arrays.asList(1, 2, 3, 4, 5);

        List<Integer> result3 = obj.filterList(number, 2, (l1, condition) -> {
            if (l1 % condition == 0) {
                return l1;
            } else {
                return null;
            }
        });

        System.out.println(result3);  // [2, 4]

    }

    public String filterByLength(String str, Integer size) {
        if (str.length() > size) {
            return str;
        } else {
            return null;
        }
    }

    public <T, U, R> List<R> filterList(List<T> list1, U condition,
                                        BiFunction<T, U, R> func) {

        List<R> result = new ArrayList<>();

        for (T t : list1) {
            R apply = func.apply(t, condition);
            if (apply != null) {
                result.add(apply);
            }
        }

        return result;

    }

}

Output


[node, java, javascript]
[node, java, javascript]
[c++]
[2, 4]

References

About Author

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Founder of Mkyong.com, love Java and open source stuff. Follow him on Twitter. If you like my tutorials, consider make a donation to these charities.

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chaitanya
1 year ago

The best for functional interfaces thank you

Adeniran J. Olukanni
2 years ago

Informative…