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Using Java Streams to Filter Complex Objects: Unexpected Behavior with Null Values

👀 Views: 50 đŸ’Ŧ Answers: 1 📅 Created: 2025-08-25
java streams filter null-pointer-exception Java

I'm testing a new approach and I'm not sure how to approach I'm reviewing some code and I'm trying to filter a list of custom objects using Java Streams, but I'm experiencing unexpected behavior when some of the objects contain null values... My class looks like this: ```java public class User { private String name; private Integer age; public User(String name, Integer age) { this.name = name; this.age = age; } public String getName() { return name; } public Integer getAge() { return age; } } ``` I have a list of `User` objects, some of which have null names: ```java List<User> users = Arrays.asList( new User("Alice", 30), new User(null, 25), new User("Bob", null), new User("Charlie", 20) ); ``` I want to filter out users whose names are null and collect the results into a new list. I wrote this code: ```java List<User> filteredUsers = users.stream() .filter(user -> user.getName() != null) .collect(Collectors.toList()); ``` However, I'm seeing that the filtered list still includes users with null names when I print it: ```java filteredUsers.forEach(user -> System.out.println(user.getName())); // Prints Alice, null, Charlie ``` It seems like the filter isn't working as expected. I verified that the `getName()` method is indeed returning null for the user with a null name, so I'm puzzled as to why the filter is not excluding that entry. I've also tried using `Optional` as a wrapper but with no luck. Is there something I'm missing in my stream processing? Any insights would be appreciated! I'm developing on macOS with Java. Could this be a known issue? Is there a better approach? My team is using Java for this application. Thanks for any help you can provide! For context: I'm using Java on CentOS. What's the correct way to implement this?