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Get the Last Element of a List in Java

Assume a list:

List<String> items = Arrays.asList("apple", "banana", "orange", "grape");

Approach 1: Using size()

String lastElement = items.get(items.size() - 1);
System.out.println(lastElement);

Output:

grape

Approach 2: Using Streams

String lastElement = items.stream()
    .reduce((first, second) -> second)
    .orElse(null); // returns null if list is empty

System.out.println(lastElement);

Output:

grape

Summary:

  • Using get(size()-1) is simple and efficient.
  • Using reduce() works in a functional style, especially for Streams.
  • Always handle empty lists to avoid IndexOutOfBoundsException.