Java stream parameter limit with no limit (MongoDB inconsistency)

I have a method which return list of items and takes a limit (used by Stream#limit) as parameter:

public List<Integer> getItems(Long limit) { return IntStream.range(1, 10) .limit(limit) .boxed() .collect(Collectors.toList()); } 

How to set the parameter to take all items (with no limit)?

My attempts:

 Long limit5 = 5L; System.out.println("With limit 5:" + getItems(limit5)); // works fine: 5 items Long noLimitZero = 0L; System.out.println("Without limit (zero): " + getItems(noLimitZero)); // why 0 mean "no items" instead of "all items" Long noLimitNegative = -1L; System.out.println("Without limit (negative number): " + getItems(noLimitNegative)); // IllegalArgumentException Long noLimitNull = null; System.out.println("Without limit (null): " + getItems(noLimitNull)); // NullPointerException 

Passing Long.MAX_VALUE is not a solution.

MongoDB inconsistency

For example MongoDB's FindIterable#limit can take 0 or null as no limit.

public List<Integer> getItems(Long limit) { MongoDatabase mongo = new MongoClient().getDatabase("example"); MongoCollection<Document> documents = mongo.getCollection("items"); FindIterable<Document> founded = documents.find(); List<Integer> items = new ArrayList<>(); for (Document doc : founded.limit(limit.intValue())) { items.add(doc.getInteger("number")); } return items; } 

This inconsistency between methods causes incompatibility, for example one interface with method List<Integer> getItems(Long limit) and two implementations: in memory and MongoDB.

Consistency in methods Stream#skip and FindIterable#skip is preserved.

 -------------------------- | Java | Mongo | ------------------------------------ limit = 0 | none items | all items | ------------------------------------ skip = 0 | none skip | none skip | ------------------------------------ 

Refactor method with Stream#limit

I guess there is no way to pass "no limit" parameter to Stream#limit, so I must refactor this method to takes "limit" and 0 or null or -1 as "no limit".

public static List<Integer> getItems(Long limit) { if (limit == null || limit == 0 || limit == -1) { return IntStream.range(1, 10) .boxed() .collect(Collectors.toList()); } else { return IntStream.range(1, 10) .limit(limit) .boxed() .collect(Collectors.toList()); } } 

Or:

public static List<Integer> getItems(Long limit) { IntStream items = IntStream.range(1, 10); if (limit != null && limit != 0 && limit != -1) { items = items.limit(limit); } return items.boxed() .collect(Collectors.toList()); } 

There is a better way to achieve consistency between methods limit?