Java tutorial
//package com.java2s; import java.util.Collection; import java.util.NoSuchElementException; public class Main { /** * Returns the single element contained in a collection or a null * if the collection is null or empty. * * @param c the collection containing a single element * @return Object the single element contained in the collection * @throws NoSuchElementException If the collection contains more than one element. */ public static Object getUniqueElement(Collection c) throws NoSuchElementException { // Return null if list is null or empty if (c == null || c.isEmpty()) return null; // Throw an exception if collection has more than one element if (c.size() > 1) { NoSuchElementException exc = new NoSuchElementException( "CollectionHelper.getUniqueElement() called with a collection containing " + "more than one element."); throw exc; } return c.iterator().next(); } }