diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 7fed73e627ab8..5cb3574ec458d 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -436,6 +436,9 @@ Library improvements
     defined, linear-algebra function `transpose`. Similarly,
     `permutedims(v::AbstractVector)` will create a row matrix ([#24839]).
 
+  * New function `only(x)` returns the one-and-only element of a collection `x`, and throws
+    an error if `x` contains zero or multiple elements.
+
 Compiler/Runtime improvements
 -----------------------------
 
diff --git a/base/exports.jl b/base/exports.jl
index 3a374bf678963..27370d2b5d263 100644
--- a/base/exports.jl
+++ b/base/exports.jl
@@ -813,6 +813,7 @@ export
 
     enumerate,  # re-exported from Iterators
     zip,
+    only,
 
 # object identity and equality
     copy,
diff --git a/base/iterators.jl b/base/iterators.jl
index 5c99c4876eecf..896e8ceaca55e 100644
--- a/base/iterators.jl
+++ b/base/iterators.jl
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ import Base: start, done, next, isempty, length, size, eltype, iteratorsize, ite
 using Base: tail, tuple_type_head, tuple_type_tail, tuple_type_cons, SizeUnknown, HasLength, HasShape,
             IsInfinite, EltypeUnknown, HasEltype, OneTo, @propagate_inbounds, Generator, AbstractRange
 
-export enumerate, zip, rest, countfrom, take, drop, cycle, repeated, product, flatten, partition
+export enumerate, zip, rest, countfrom, take, drop, cycle, repeated, product, flatten,
+       partition, only
 
 _min_length(a, b, ::IsInfinite, ::IsInfinite) = min(length(a),length(b)) # inherit behaviour, error
 _min_length(a, b, A, ::IsInfinite) = length(a)
@@ -914,4 +915,32 @@ function next(itr::PartitionIterator, state)
     return resize!(v, i), state
 end
 
+"""
+    only(x)
+
+Returns the one and only element of collection `x`, and throws an error if the collection
+has zero or multiple elements.
+"""
+Base.@propagate_inbounds function only(x)
+    i = start(x)
+    @boundscheck if done(x, i)
+        error("Collection is empty, must contain exactly 1 element")
+    end
+    (ret, i) = next(x, i)
+    @boundscheck if !done(x, i)
+        error("Collection has multiple elements, must contain exactly 1 element")
+    end
+    return ret
 end
+
+# Collections of known size
+only(x::Tuple{}) = error("Tuple is empty, must contain exactly 1 element")
+only(x::Tuple{Any}) = x[1]
+only(x::Tuple) = error("Tuple contains $(length(x)) elements, must contain exactly 1 element")
+
+only(a::AbstractArray{<:Any, 0}) = @inbounds return a[]
+
+only(x::NamedTuple{<:Any, <:Tuple{Any}}) = first(x)
+only(x::NamedTuple) = error("NamedTuple contains $(length(x)) elements, must contain exactly 1 element")
+
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/base/sysimg.jl b/base/sysimg.jl
index de2e4f2de9342..c5adccb19cfbd 100644
--- a/base/sysimg.jl
+++ b/base/sysimg.jl
@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ end
 include("dict.jl")
 include("set.jl")
 include("iterators.jl")
-using .Iterators: zip, enumerate
+using .Iterators: zip, enumerate, only
 using .Iterators: Flatten, product  # for generators
 
 # Definition of StridedArray
diff --git a/doc/src/stdlib/iterators.md b/doc/src/stdlib/iterators.md
index 7fa782ef2669f..ecf89fd4505cf 100644
--- a/doc/src/stdlib/iterators.md
+++ b/doc/src/stdlib/iterators.md
@@ -14,4 +14,5 @@ Base.Iterators.flatten
 Base.Iterators.partition
 Base.Iterators.filter
 Base.Iterators.reverse
+Base.Iterators.only
 ```
diff --git a/test/iterators.jl b/test/iterators.jl
index df453cc5f0c6b..8d68a569166b7 100644
--- a/test/iterators.jl
+++ b/test/iterators.jl
@@ -447,3 +447,25 @@ end
         @test Iterators.reverse(Iterators.reverse(t)) === t
     end
 end
+
+@testset "only" begin
+    @test only([3]) === 3
+    @test_throws ErrorException only([])
+    @test_throws ErrorException only([3, 2])
+
+    @test @inferred(only((3,))) === 3
+    @test_throws ErrorException only(())
+    @test_throws ErrorException only((3, 2))
+
+    @test only(Dict(1=>3)) === (1=>3)
+    @test_throws ErrorException only(Dict{Int,Int}())
+    @test_throws ErrorException only(Dict(1=>3, 2=>2))
+
+    @test only(Set([3])) === 3
+    @test_throws ErrorException only(Set(Int[]))
+    @test_throws ErrorException only(Set([3,2]))
+
+    @test @inferred(only((;a=1))) === 1
+    @test_throws ErrorException only(NamedTuple())
+    @test_throws ErrorException only((a=3, b=2.0))
+end