Null safe date comparator for sorting in Java 8 Stream

Question

I'm using this code to get the newest item. How can I get this to be null safe and sort with null dates last (oldest)?

Note: createDt is a joda LocalDate object.

Optional<Item> latestItem = 
     items.stream()
          .sorted((e1, e2) -> e2.getCreateDt().compareTo(e1.getCreateDt()))
          .findFirst();

Answer 1

If it's the Items that may be null, use @rgettman's solution.

If it's the LocalDates that may be null, use this:

items.stream()
     .sorted(Comparator.comparing(Item::getCreateDt, Comparator.nullsLast(Comparator.reverseOrder())));

In either case, note that sorted().findFirst() is likely to be inefficient as most standard implementations sort the entire stream first. You should use Stream.min instead.