In Groovy we can use the drop() and take() methods to get elements from a collection or String object. Since Groovy 1.8.7 we also can use the dropWhile() and takeWhile() methods and use a closure to define a condition to stop dropping or taking elements. With the dropWhile() method we drop elements or characters until the condition in the closure is true. And the takeWhile() method returns elements from a collection or characters from a String until the condition of the closure is true.

In the following example we see how we can use the methods:

def s = "Groovy Rocks!"

assert s.takeWhile { it != 'R' } == 'Groovy '
assert s.dropWhile { it != 'R' } == 'Rocks!'


def list = 0..10

assert 0..4 == list.takeWhile { it < 5 }
assert 5..10 == list.dropWhile { it < 5 }


def m = [name: 'mrhaki', loves: 'Groovy', worksAt: 'JDriven']

assert [name: 'mrhaki'] == m.takeWhile { key, value -> key.length() == 4 }
assert [loves: 'Groovy', worksAt: 'JDriven'] == m.dropWhile { it.key == 'name' }

(Code is written with Groovy 2.0.4)