The purpose of flatMap() is to convert each element in the stream into a new stream and merge it into a unified stream. Its core uses include: 1. Processing nested collections, such as flattening List> into List
Java's Stream.flatMap()
is a very useful but confusing method at the beginning. Simply put, its function is to convert each element in the stream into a new stream, and then "flat" these streams into a unified stream output. It is often used to process nested structure data, such as lists of lists, string splitting, etc.

Basic usage: merge multiple streams into one stream
Suppose you have a List<string></string>
where you want to split each string into words by spaces, and finally get a stream of all words:
List<String> sentences = Arrays.asList("hello world", "java stream flatmap"); List<String> words = sentences.stream() .flatMap(s -> Arrays.stream(s.split(" "))) .collect(Collectors.toList());
The key point here is: split(" ")
turns each sentence into an array, while Arrays.stream(...)
turns the array into a stream. flatMap()
"stitches" these streams instead of forming a stream of streams ( Stream<Stream<String>>
).

Applicable scenario 1: Handling nested collection structure
One of the most common usage scenarios is to deal with nested collection structures, such as List<List<T>>
, which you want to turn into a flat List<T>
:
List<List<Integer>> nestedLists = Arrays.asList( Arrays.asList(1, 2), Arrays.asList(3, 4), Arrays.asList(5) ); List<Integer> flatList = nestedLists.stream() .flatMap(List::stream) .collect(Collectors.toList());
This allows you to easily flatten the multi-layer structure without manually traversing each sublist and adding it to the results.

- Use
List::stream
to convert each sublist into a stream directly -
flatMap
automatically merges these streams into one whole
Applicable scenario 2: String segmentation and combination
In addition to handling collection nesting, flatMap
is also very convenient when processing strings. For example, you have a set of text lines, each line has multiple comma-separated tags, and you want to extract all tags and deduplicate them:
List<String> lines = Arrays.asList("java,stream", "flatmap,example", "java,functional"); Set<String> uniqueTags = lines.stream() .flatMap(line -> Arrays.stream(line.split(","))) .collect(Collectors.toSet());
In this example:
- Each line is
split
into a string array - Then convert to stream through
Arrays.stream(...)
- Finally, all streams are flattened and collected into a
Set
to complete the dereload.
Tips: The difference between flatMap and map
Many beginners will confuse map
and flatMap
, but the difference is actually very simple:
-
map
is a one-to-one mapping: one element becomes another element -
flatMap
is a one-to-many mapping: one element becomes multiple elements (returned as streams)
If you use map
to process the examples like the one above, you will get a structure like Stream<stream>></stream>
, and then you have to process another layer of stream, which will be even more troublesome.
Basically that's it. The key to mastering flatMap is to understand that it is a tool used to "expand" multiple streams, rather than a simple data transformation. As long as you encounter a scenario where you need to break up and merge, you can consider it.
The above is the detailed content of How to use Java Stream flatMap()?. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

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