The method Optional.ofNullable(T) returns Optional containing given value if it was not null or an empty Optional in case of null value.

This is very practical method that can be used to provide default value, when the expected value is null.

The signature of the java.util.Optional.ofNullable(T) method is as follows:

public static <T> Optional<T> ofNullable(T value)

The method is available since Java 8.

The method takes possibly null object as a parameter.

Returns on Optional containing given value if it was not null, or an empty Optional.

The method throws no exceptions.

In the following code we use java.util.Optional.ofNullable(T):

package com.farenda.java.util;

import java.util.Optional;

public class OptionalExamples {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String name = null;
        Optional<String> value = Optional.ofNullable(name);
        System.out.println("Is present: " + value.isPresent());
        if (value.isPresent()) {
            System.out.println("Current value: " + value.get());
        }

        value = Optional.ofNullable("Monika");
        System.out.println("Is present: " + value.isPresent());
        if (value.isPresent()) {
            System.out.println("Current value: " + value.get());
        }
    }
}

The above code produces the following output:

Is present: false
Is present: true
Current value: Monika

• Simple if-else:

  String value = (value != null) ? value : defaultValue;
  

• Guava’s Objects.firstNotNull(value, defaultValue)