Why don't I get a NullPointerException in Groovy in this case?

Question

I have this test code:

def test = null

test.each {  } 

Why don\'t I get any exception?

Answer 1

A null value when using the each closure is the same as a collection with 0 elements. If you have the code

def test=null
test.each {println "In closure with value "+it}

The print statement won't execute. If you change test to

def test=[1,2,3]

you will get output.