Iterating over Enum Values in Java

Last Updated : 14 Jun, 2018

Enum in Java is a data type that contains fixed set of constants. A Java enum type is a special kind of Java class. An enum can contain constants, methods etc.

Given below is a demonstration on how to declare an enum:

// Demonstrates the declaration of enum 
public enum season { 
    Spring, 
    Summer, 
    Monsoon, 
    Autumn, 
    Winter 
} 

Iterate over Enum Values: There are many ways to iterate over enum values:

Iterate Using forEach()
Iterate Using for Loop
Iterate Using java.util.stream

Iterate Using forEach(): The forEach() method works on list or set. For using forEach() method, convert enum into list or set.

Conversion of enum to set and applying forEach has been shown below:

EnumSet.allOf(seasons.class)
            .forEach(season -> System.out.println(season));

Conversion of enum to list and applying forEach has been shown below:

Arrays.asList(seasons.values()).
                forEach(season -> System.out.println(season));

Below program illustrate the iteration over enums using forEach():

// Program that demonstrates iteration 
// over enums using forEach() 
import java.util.Arrays; 
import java.util.EnumSet; 
  
public class GFG { 
    public enum seasons { 
        Spring, 
        Summer, 
        Monsoon, 
        Autumn, 
        Winter 
    } 
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    { 
  
        // Convert enum to set and apply forEach() 
        EnumSet.allOf(seasons.class) 
            .forEach(season -> System.out.println(season)); 
  
        // Convert enum to set and apply forEach() 
        Arrays.asList(seasons.values()).forEach(season -> 
                                 System.out.println(season)); 
    } 
} 

Output:

Spring
Summer
Monsoon
Autumn
Winter
Spring
Summer
Monsoon
Autumn
Winter

Iterate Using for Loop: The static values() method of the java.lang.Enum class gives an array of enum values. After getting an array of enum values iteration over the array can be done using for loop.

Below program illustrate the iteration over enum using for loop:

// Program that demonstrates iteration 
// over enums using for loop 
public class GFG { 
    // enum of seasons 
    public enum seasons { 
        Spring, 
        Summer, 
        Monsoon, 
        Autumn, 
        Winter 
    } 
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    { 
        // iterate over enums using for loop 
        for (seasons s : seasons.values()) { 
            System.out.println(s); 
        } 
    } 
} 

Output:

Spring
Summer
Monsoon
Autumn
Winter

Iterate Using java.util.stream: Iteration over enum can also be done using java.util.stream class. Create the stream of enum.values() using Stream.of() method by passing eum.values() at parameter to function.

Below program illustrate the iteration over enum using java.util.stream:

// Program that demonstrates iteration 
// over enums using java.util.stream 
  
import java.util.stream.Stream; 
  
public class GFG { 
    public enum seasons { 
        Spring, 
        Summer, 
        Monsoon, 
        Autumn, 
        Winter 
    } 
    public static void main(String[] args) 
    { 
        // iteration over enum using java.util.stream 
        Stream.of(seasons.values()).forEach(System.out::println); 
    } 
} 

Output:

Spring
Summer
Monsoon
Autumn
Winter

Reference: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/javaOO/enum.html

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