.firstWhere()

The .firstWhere() method in Dart is a built-in List method that returns the first element in a list that satisfies a given condition. If no element satisfies the condition, it returns a predefined default value.

Syntax

E firstWhere(bool test(E element), { E orElse() });

• test(E element): A function that takes an element as a parameter and checks if it satisfies a given condition.
• .orElse(): If no element satisfies the condition, this method is invoked and the default value defined using it is returned.

Example 1

In this example, the .firstWhere() method is used to identify the first even number in the numbers list:

void main() {
    var numbers = [5, 6, 7, 8, 9];
    var firstEven = numbers.firstWhere((element) => element % 2 == 0);
    print(firstEven);
}

The output for the above example is as follows:

6

In case the condition is not satisfied, the .orElse() method can be used to provide a default return value instead.

Example 2

In this example, the .firstWhere() method is used to identify the first number that is greater than 5 in the numbers list, provided along with a .orElse() method:

void main() {
    var numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5];
    var greaterThanFive = numbers.firstWhere((element) => element > 5, orElse: () => -1);
    print(greaterThanFive);
}

Following is the output for the above code:

-1