Using getOrElse to provide a default value when looking up a key in a Map[String,String] ... More details at: http://sdanzig.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-option-design-pattern.html

getOrElse example.scala

// Sample usage
  Console.println("Last name of harry is: "+
    firstToLastNameMap.get("harry").getOrElse("not found"))
  Console.println("Last name of harry is: "+
    firstToLastNameMap.get("sam").getOrElse("not found"))

/*
Output:

Last name of harry is: smith
Last name of harry is: not found
*/