stream.limit() method in Java

Last Updated : 27 Aug, 2024

The limit(long N) is a method of java.util.stream.Stream object. This method takes one (long N) as an argument and returns a stream of size no more than N. limit() can be quite expensive on ordered parallel pipelines, if the value of N is large, because limit(N) is constrained to return the first N elements in the encounter order and not just any n elements.

Syntax :

Stream<T> limit(long N)

Where N is the number of elements the stream should be 
limited to and this function returns new stream as output.

Exception :

If the value of N is negative, then IllegalArgumentException is thrown by the function. Below are some examples to understand the implementation of the function in a better way.

Example 1 :

Java

// Java code to show implementation
// of limit() function
import java.util.*;

class GFG {

    // Driver code
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {

        // Creating a list of integers
        List<Integer> list = new ArrayList<Integer>();

        // adding elements in the list
        list.add(-2);
        list.add(0);
        list.add(2);
        list.add(4);
        list.add(6);
        list.add(8);
        list.add(10);
        list.add(12);
        list.add(14);
        list.add(16);

        // setting the value of N as 4
        int limit = 4;
        int count = 0;
        Iterator<Integer> it = list.iterator();

        // Iterating through the list of integers
        while (it.hasNext()) {
            it.next();
            count++;

            // Check if first four i.e, (equal to N)
            // integers are iterated.
            if (count > limit) {

                // If yes then remove all the remaining integers.
                it.remove();
            }
        }

        System.out.print("New stream of length N"
                         + " after truncation is : ");

        // Displaying new stream of length
        // N after truncation
        for (Integer number : list) {
            System.out.print(number + " ");
        }
    }
}

Output :

New stream of length N after truncation is : -2 0 2 4

Application :

Java

// Java code to show the use of limit() function
import java.util.stream.Stream;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
 class gfg{
     
     // Function to limit the stream upto given range, i.e, 3
     public static Stream<String> limiting_func(Stream<String> ss, int range){
         return ss.limit(range);
     }
     
     // Driver code
     public static void main(String[] args){
         
         // list to save stream of strings
         List<String> arr = new ArrayList<>();
         
         arr.add("geeks");
         arr.add("for");
         arr.add("geeks");
         arr.add("computer");
         arr.add("science");
        
         Stream<String> str = arr.stream();
         
         // calling function to limit the stream to range 3
         Stream<String> lm = limiting_func(str,3);
         lm.forEach(System.out::println);
     }
 }