Utility method to stream exception causal chains in Java.

Throwables.java

/*
 * Copyright © 2021 Volkan Yazıcı ([email protected])
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 * limitations under the License.
 */
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.Objects;
import java.util.stream.Stream;
import java.util.stream.StreamSupport;

public final class Throwables {
  
    private Throwables() {}

    /**
     * Streams the causal chain of an exception with loop detection support.
     *
     * @param error the root error the causal chain will be constructed from
     * @return a stream of {@link Throwable}s starting from the given root {@code error} and iterating through all its causes
     * @throws IllegalArgumentException if a loop gets detected
     */
    public static Stream<Throwable> streamCausalChain(Throwable error) {

        // Check arguments.
        Objects.requireNonNull(error, "error");

        // Use a slow pointer to detect loops.
        Throwable[] earlierCause = {error};
        boolean[] advanceEarlierCause = {false};

        // Encapsulate the `while` loop in an iterator.
        Throwable[] cause = {error};
        Iterator<Throwable> iterator = new Iterator<Throwable>() {

            @Override
            public boolean hasNext() {
                return cause[0] != null;
            }

            @Override
            public Throwable next() {

                // Advance the cause pointer.
                Throwable lastCause = cause[0];
                cause[0] = cause[0].getCause();

                // Advance the earlier cause pointer.
                if (earlierCause[0] == cause[0]) {
                    throw new IllegalArgumentException("loop detected");
                }
                if (advanceEarlierCause[0]) {
                    earlierCause[0] = earlierCause[0].getCause();
                }
                advanceEarlierCause[0] = !advanceEarlierCause[0];

                // Return the cause pointer referenced at start.
                return lastCause;

            }

        };

        // Create a stream out of the iterator.
        Iterable<Throwable> iterable = () -> iterator;
        return StreamSupport.stream(iterable.spliterator(), false);

    }
  
}