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Java - Arrays
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.

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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++) {

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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);
}
}
}

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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 int array −

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];

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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.No. Method & Description

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

Searches the specified array of Object ( Byte, Int , double, etc.) for the
1 specified value using the binary search algorithm. The array 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 same number of
2
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 array of ints.
3
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, according to the
4
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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