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arrays in java

arrays in java

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veera babu
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3 views

arrays in java

arrays in java

Uploaded by

veera babu
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What are Arrays in Java?

Java provides a data structure called the array, which stores a fixed-size
sequential collection of elements of the same data type. An array is used to
store a collection of data, but it is often more useful to think of an array as a
collection of variables of the same type.

Instead of declaring individual variables, such as number0, number1, ..., and


number99, you declare one array variable such as numbers and use
numbers[0], numbers[1], and ..., numbers[99] to represent individual
variables.

This tutorial introduces how to declare array variables, create arrays, and
process arrays using indexed variables.

Declaring Array Variables


To use an array in a program, you must declare a variable to reference the
array, and you must specify the type of array the variable can reference.
Here is the syntax for declaring an array variable −

Syntax

dataType[] arrayRefVar; // preferred way.


or
dataType arrayRefVar[]; // works but not preferred way.

Note − The style dataType[] arrayRefVar is preferred. The


style dataType arrayRefVar[] comes from the C/C++ language and was
adopted in Java to accommodate C/C++ programmers.

Example
The following code snippets are examples of this syntax −

double[] myList; // preferred way.


or
double myList[]; // works but not preferred way.

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Creating Arrays
You can create an array by using the new operator with the following syntax
−

Syntax

arrayRefVar = new dataType[arraySize];

The above statement does two things −

 It creates an array using new dataType[arraySize].


 It assigns the reference of the newly created array to the variable
arrayRefVar.

Declaring an array variable, creating an array, and assigning the reference of


the array to the variable can be combined in one statement, as shown below
−

dataType[] arrayRefVar = new dataType[arraySize];

Alternatively you can create arrays as follows −

dataType[] arrayRefVar = {value0, value1, ..., valuek};

The array elements are accessed through the index. Array indices are 0-
based; that is, they start from 0 to arrayRefVar.length-1.

Example
Following statement declares an array variable, myList, creates an array of
10 elements of double type and assigns its reference to myList −

double[] myList = new double[10];

Following picture represents array myList. Here, myList holds ten double
values and the indices are from 0 to 9.
Processing Arrays
When processing array elements, we often use either for loop
or foreach loop because all of the elements in an array are of the same type
and the size of the array is known.

Example: Creating, Iterating and Performing Other


Operations on Arrays
Open Compiler
public class TestArray {

public static void main(String[] args) {


double[] myList = {1.9, 2.9, 3.4, 3.5};

// Print all the array elements


for (int i = 0; i < myList.length; i++) {
System.out.println(myList[i] + " ");
}

// Summing all elements


double total = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < myList.length; i++) {
total += myList[i];
}
System.out.println("Total is " + total);

// Finding the largest element


double max = myList[0];
for (int i = 1; i < myList.length; i++) {
if (myList[i] > max) max = myList[i];
}
System.out.println("Max is " + max);
}
}

This will produce the following result −

Output

1.9
2.9
3.4
3.5
Total is 11.7
Max is 3.5

The foreach Loops with Arrays


JDK 1.5 introduced a new for loop known as foreach loop or enhanced for
loop, which enables you to traverse the complete array sequentially without
using an index variable.

The following code displays all the elements in the array myList −

Example: Displaying All Elements of an Arrays


Open Compiler
public class TestArray {

public static void main(String[] args) {


double[] myList = {1.9, 2.9, 3.4, 3.5};

// Print all the array elements


for (double element: myList) {
System.out.println(element);
}
}
}

This will produce the following result −

Output

1.9
2.9
3.4
3.5

Passing Arrays to Methods


Just as you can pass primitive type values to methods, you can also pass
arrays to methods. For example, the following method displays the elements
in an intarray −

Example

public static void printArray(int[] array) {


for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
System.out.print(array[i] + " ");
}
}

You can invoke it by passing an array. For example, the following statement
invokes the printArray method to display 3, 1, 2, 6, 4, and 2 −

Example

printArray(new int[]{3, 1, 2, 6, 4, 2});

Returning an Array from a Method


A method may also return an array. For example, the following method
returns an array that is the reversal of another array −

Example
public static int[] reverse(int[] list) {
int[] result = new int[list.length];

for (int i = 0, j = result.length - 1; i < list.length; i++, j--) {


result[j] = list[i];
}
return result;
}

The Arrays Class


The java.util.Arrays class contains various static methods for sorting and
searching arrays, comparing arrays, and filling array elements. These
methods are overloaded for all primitive types.

Sr.N
Method & Description
o.

public static int binarySearch(Object[] a, Object key)


Searches the specified array of Object ( Byte, Int , double, etc.) for
the specified value using the binary search algorithm. The array
1
must be sorted prior to making this call. This returns index of the
search key, if it is contained in the list; otherwise, it returns ( –
(insertion point + 1)).

public static boolean equals(long[] a, long[] a2)


Returns true if the two specified arrays of longs are equal to one
another. Two arrays are considered equal if both arrays contain the
2 same number of elements, and all corresponding pairs of elements
in the two arrays are equal. This returns true if the two arrays are
equal. Same method could be used by all other primitive data
types (Byte, short, Int, etc.)

public static void fill(int[] a, int val)


Assigns the specified int value to each element of the specified
3
array of ints. The same method could be used by all other primitive
data types (Byte, short, Int, etc.)

public static void sort(Object[] a)


Sorts the specified array of objects into an ascending order,
4 according to the natural ordering of its elements. The same
method could be used by all other primitive data types ( Byte,
short, Int, etc.)

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