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Java Stream API Intermediate vs Terminal Operations
3 min readApr 4, 2025
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Java 8 introduced the powerful Stream API, which enables functional-style operations on collections with a clear and concise syntax.
A stream in Java represents a sequence of elements that supports various operations to process those elements. These operations are divided into two categories:
- Intermediate Operations
- Terminal Operations
A typical stream pipeline looks like:
List<String> names = Arrays.asList("Amit", "Sneha", "Rahul");
names.stream() // Stream source
.filter(n -> n.startsWith("A")) // Intermediate
.map(String::toUpperCase) // Intermediate
.forEach(System.out::println); // Terminal🧠 Key Differences Between Intermediate and Terminal Operations
Here’s a quick summary table that outlines the core differences:
