From Java 8 onwards, the Lambda operator ( ->
) is the operator used to introduce a Lambda Expression. There are two common syntaxes, as illustrated by these examples:
a -> a + 1 // a lambda that adds one to its argument
a -> { return a + 1; } // an equivalent lambda using a block.
A lambda expression defines an anonymous function, or more correctly an instance of an anonymous class that implements a functional interface.
(This example is included here for completeness. Refer to the Lambda Expressions topic for the full treatment.)