ArrayList in Java is used to store dynamically sized collection of elements. Contrary to Arrays that are fixed in size, an ArrayList grows its size automatically when new elements are added to it.
ArrayList is part of Java’s collection framework and implements Java’s List interface.
Following are few key points to note about ArrayList in Java -
An ArrayList is a re-sizable array, also called a dynamic array. It grows its size to accommodate new elements and shrinks the size when the elements are removed.
ArrayList internally uses an array to store the elements. Just like arrays, It allows you to retrieve the elements by their index.
Java ArrayList allows duplicate and null values.
Java ArrayList is an ordered collection. It maintains the insertion order of the elements.
You cannot create an ArrayList of primitive types like
int,charetc. You need to use boxed types likeInteger,Character,Booleanetc.Java ArrayList is not synchronized. If multiple threads try to modify an ArrayList at the same time, then the final outcome will be non-deterministic. You must explicitly synchronize access to an ArrayList if multiple threads are gonna modify it.
Creating an ArrayList and adding new elements to it
This example shows:
- How to create an ArrayList using the
ArrayList()constructor. - Add new elements to an ArrayList using the
add()method.
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
public class CreateArrayListExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
// Creating an ArrayList of String
List<String> animals = new ArrayList<>();
// Adding new elements to the ArrayList
animals.add("Lion");
animals.add("Tiger");
animals.add("Cat");
animals.add("Dog");
System.out.println(animals);
// Adding an element at a particular index in an ArrayList
animals.add(2, "Elephant");
System.out.println(animals);
}
}# Output
[Lion, Tiger, Cat, Dog]
[Lion, Tiger, Elephant, Cat, Dog]Creating an ArrayList from another collection
This example shows:
How to create an ArrayList from another collection using the
ArrayList(Collection c)constructor.How to add all the elements from an existing collection to the new ArrayList using the
addAll()method.
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
public class CreateArrayListFromCollectionExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
List<Integer> firstFivePrimeNumbers = new ArrayList<>();
firstFivePrimeNumbers.add(2);
firstFivePrimeNumbers.add(3);
firstFivePrimeNumbers.add(5);
firstFivePrimeNumbers.add(7);
firstFivePrimeNumbers.add(11);
// Creating an ArrayList from another collection
List<Integer> firstTenPrimeNumbers = new ArrayList<>(firstFivePrimeNumbers);
List<Integer> nextFivePrimeNumbers = new ArrayList<>();
nextFivePrimeNumbers.add(13);
nextFivePrimeNumbers.add(17);
nextFivePrimeNumbers.add(19);
nextFivePrimeNumbers.add(23);
nextFivePrimeNumbers.add(29);
// Adding an entire collection to an ArrayList
firstTenPrimeNumbers.addAll(nextFivePrimeNumbers);
System.out.println(firstTenPrimeNumbers);
}
}# Output
[2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29]Accessing elements from an ArrayList
This example shows:
- How to check if an ArrayList is empty using the
isEmpty()method. - How to find the size of an ArrayList using the
size()method. - How to access the element at a particular index in an ArrayList using the
get()method. - How to modify the element at a particular index in an ArrayList using the
set()method.
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
public class AccessElementsFromArrayListExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
List<String> topCompanies = new ArrayList<>();
// Check if an ArrayList is empty
System.out.println("Is the topCompanies list empty? : " + topCompanies.isEmpty());
topCompanies.add("Google");
topCompanies.add("Apple");
topCompanies.add("Microsoft");
topCompanies.add("Amazon");
topCompanies.add("Facebook");
// Find the size of an ArrayList
System.out.println("Here are the top " + topCompanies.size() + " companies in the world");
System.out.println(topCompanies);
// Retrieve the element at a given index
String bestCompany = topCompanies.get(0);
String secondBestCompany = topCompanies.get(1);
String lastCompany = topCompanies.get(topCompanies.size() - 1);
System.out.println("Best Company: " + bestCompany);
System.out.println("Second Best Company: " + secondBestCompany);
System.out.println("Last Company in the list: " + lastCompany);
// Modify the element at a given index
topCompanies.set(4, "Walmart");
System.out.println("Modified top companies list: " + topCompanies);
}
}# Output
Is the topCompanies list empty? : true
Here are the top 5 companies in the world
[Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook]
Best Company: Google
Second Best Company: Apple
Last Company in the list: Facebook
Modified top companies list: [Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Walmart]Removing elements from an ArrayList
This example shows:
How to remove the element at a given index in an ArrayList | remove(int index)
How to remove an element from an ArrayList | remove(Object o)
How to remove all the elements from an ArrayList that exist in a given collection | removeAll()
How to remove all the elements matching a given predicate | removeIf()
How to clear an ArrayList | clear()
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.function.Predicate;
public class RemoveElementsFromArrayListExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
List<String> programmingLanguages = new ArrayList<>();
programmingLanguages.add("C");
programmingLanguages.add("C++");
programmingLanguages.add("Java");
programmingLanguages.add("Kotlin");
programmingLanguages.add("Python");
programmingLanguages.add("Perl");
programmingLanguages.add("Ruby");
System.out.println("Initial List: " + programmingLanguages);
// Remove the element at index `5`
programmingLanguages.remove(5);
System.out.println("After remove(5): " + programmingLanguages);
// Remove the first occurrence of the given element from the ArrayList
// (The remove() method returns false if the element does not exist in the ArrayList)
boolean isRemoved = programmingLanguages.remove("Kotlin");
System.out.println("After remove(\"Kotlin\"): " + programmingLanguages);
// Remove all the elements that exist in a given collection
List<String> scriptingLanguages = new ArrayList<>();
scriptingLanguages.add("Python");
scriptingLanguages.add("Ruby");
scriptingLanguages.add("Perl");
programmingLanguages.removeAll(scriptingLanguages);
System.out.println("After removeAll(scriptingLanguages): " + programmingLanguages);
// Remove all the elements that satisfy the given predicate
programmingLanguages.removeIf(new Predicate<String>() {
@Override
public boolean test(String s) {
return s.startsWith("C");
}
});
/*
The above removeIf() call can also be written using lambda expression like this -
programmingLanguages.removeIf(s -> s.startsWith("C"))
*/
System.out.println("After Removing all elements that start with \"C\": " + programmingLanguages);
// Remove all elements from the ArrayList
programmingLanguages.clear();
System.out.println("After clear(): " + programmingLanguages);
}
}# Output
Initial List: [C, C++, Java, Kotlin, Python, Perl, Ruby]
After remove(5): [C, C++, Java, Kotlin, Python, Ruby]
After remove("Kotlin"): [C, C++, Java, Python, Ruby]
After removeAll(scriptingLanguages): [C, C++, Java]
After Removing all elements that start with "C": [Java]
After clear(): []Iterating over an ArrayList
The following example shows how to iterate over an ArrayList using
- Java 8
forEachand lambda expression. iterator().iterator()and Java 8 forEachRemaining() method.listIterator().- Simple for-each loop.
- for loop with index.
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.ListIterator;
public class IterateOverArrayListExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
List<String> tvShows = new ArrayList<>();
tvShows.add("Breaking Bad");
tvShows.add("Game Of Thrones");
tvShows.add("Friends");
tvShows.add("Prison break");
System.out.println("=== Iterate using Java 8 forEach and lambda ===");
tvShows.forEach(tvShow -> {
System.out.println(tvShow);
});
System.out.println("\n=== Iterate using an iterator() ===");
Iterator<String> tvShowIterator = tvShows.iterator();
while (tvShowIterator.hasNext()) {
String tvShow = tvShowIterator.next();
System.out.println(tvShow);
}
System.out.println("\n=== Iterate using an iterator() and Java 8 forEachRemaining() method ===");
tvShowIterator = tvShows.iterator();
tvShowIterator.forEachRemaining(tvShow -> {
System.out.println(tvShow);
});
System.out.println("\n=== Iterate using a listIterator() to traverse in both directions ===");
// Here, we start from the end of the list and traverse backwards.
ListIterator<String> tvShowListIterator = tvShows.listIterator(tvShows.size());
while (tvShowListIterator.hasPrevious()) {
String tvShow = tvShowListIterator.previous();
System.out.println(tvShow);
}
System.out.println("\n=== Iterate using simple for-each loop ===");
for(String tvShow: tvShows) {
System.out.println(tvShow);
}
System.out.println("\n=== Iterate using for loop with index ===");
for(int i = 0; i < tvShows.size(); i++) {
System.out.println(tvShows.get(i));
}
}
}# Output
=== Iterate using Java 8 forEach and lambda ===
Breaking Bad
Game Of Thrones
Friends
Prison break
=== Iterate using an iterator() ===
Breaking Bad
Game Of Thrones
Friends
Prison break
=== Iterate using an iterator() and Java 8 forEachRemaining() method ===
Breaking Bad
Game Of Thrones
Friends
Prison break
=== Iterate using a listIterator() to traverse in both directions ===
Prison break
Friends
Game Of Thrones
Breaking Bad
=== Iterate using simple for-each loop ===
Breaking Bad
Game Of Thrones
Friends
Prison break
=== Iterate using for loop with index ===
Breaking Bad
Game Of Thrones
Friends
Prison breakThe iterator() and listIterator() methods are useful when you need to modify the ArrayList while traversing.
Consider the following example, where we remove elements from the ArrayList using iterator.remove() method while traversing through it -
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.List;
public class ArrayListIteratorRemoveExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
List<Integer> numbers = new ArrayList<>();
numbers.add(13);
numbers.add(18);
numbers.add(25);
numbers.add(40);
Iterator<Integer> numbersIterator = numbers.iterator();
while (numbersIterator.hasNext()) {
Integer num = numbersIterator.next();
if(num % 2 != 0) {
numbersIterator.remove();
}
}
System.out.println(numbers);
}
}# Output
[18, 40]Searching for elements in an ArrayList
The example below shows how to:
Check if an ArrayList contains a given element | contains()
Find the index of the first occurrence of an element in an ArrayList | indexOf()
Find the index of the last occurrence of an element in an ArrayList | lastIndexOf()
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
public class SearchElementsInArrayListExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
List<String> names = new ArrayList<>();
names.add("John");
names.add("Alice");
names.add("Bob");
names.add("Steve");
names.add("John");
names.add("Steve");
names.add("Maria");
// Check if an ArrayList contains a given element
System.out.println("Does names array contain \"Bob\"? : " + names.contains("Bob"));
// Find the index of the first occurrence of an element in an ArrayList
System.out.println("indexOf \"Steve\": " + names.indexOf("Steve"));
System.out.println("indexOf \"Mark\": " + names.indexOf("Mark"));
// Find the index of the last occurrence of an element in an ArrayList
System.out.println("lastIndexOf \"John\" : " + names.lastIndexOf("John"));
System.out.println("lastIndexOf \"Bill\" : " + names.lastIndexOf("Bill"));
}
}# Output
Does names array contain "Bob"? : true
indexOf "Steve": 3
indexOf "Mark": -1
lastIndexOf "John" : 4
lastIndexOf "Bill" : -1ArrayList of user defined objects
Since ArrayList supports generics, you can create an ArrayList of any type. It can be of simple types like Integer, String, Double or complex types like an ArrayList of ArrayLists, or an ArrayList of HashMaps or an ArrayList of any user defined objects.
In the following example, you’ll learn how to create an ArrayList of user defined objects.
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
class User {
private String name;
private int age;
public User(String name, int age) {
this.name = name;
this.age = age;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
public int getAge() {
return age;
}
public void setAge(int age) {
this.age = age;
}
}
public class ArrayListUserDefinedObjectExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
List<User> users = new ArrayList<>();
users.add(new User("Rajeev", 25));
users.add(new User("John", 34));
users.add(new User("Steve", 29));
users.forEach(user -> {
System.out.println("Name : " + user.getName() + ", Age : " + user.getAge());
});
}
}# Output
Name : Rajeev, Age : 25
Name : John, Age : 34
Name : Steve, Age : 29Sorting an ArrayList
Sorting an ArrayList is a very common task that you will encounter in your programs. In this section, I’ll show you how to -
- Sort an ArrayList using
Collections.sort()method. - Sort an ArrayList using
ArrayList.sort()method. - Sort an ArrayList of user defined objects with a custom comparator.
1. Sort an ArrayList using Collections.sort() method
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.List;
public class ArrayListCollectionsSortExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
List<Integer> numbers = new ArrayList<>();
numbers.add(13);
numbers.add(7);
numbers.add(18);
numbers.add(5);
numbers.add(2);
System.out.println("Before : " + numbers);
// Sorting an ArrayList using Collections.sort() method
Collections.sort(numbers);
System.out.println("After : " + numbers);
}
}# Output
Before : [13, 7, 18, 5, 2]
After : [2, 5, 7, 13, 18]2. Sort an ArrayList using ArrayList.sort() method
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.List;
public class ArrayListSortExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
List<String> names = new ArrayList<>();
names.add("Lisa");
names.add("Jennifer");
names.add("Mark");
names.add("David");
System.out.println("Names : " + names);
// Sort an ArrayList using its sort() method. You must pass a Comparator to the ArrayList.sort() method.
names.sort(new Comparator<String>() {
@Override
public int compare(String name1, String name2) {
return name1.compareTo(name2);
}
});
// The above `sort()` method call can also be written simply using lambda expression
names.sort((name1, name2) -> name1.compareTo(name2));
// Following is an even more concise solution
names.sort(Comparator.naturalOrder());
System.out.println("Sorted Names : " + names);
}
}# Output
Names : [Lisa, Jennifer, Mark, David]
Sorted Names : [David, Jennifer, Lisa, Mark]3. Sort an ArrayList of Objects using custom Comparator
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.List;
class Person {
private String name;
private Integer age;
public Person(String name, Integer age) {
this.name = name;
this.age = age;
}
public String getName() {
return name;
}
public void setName(String name) {
this.name = name;
}
public Integer getAge() {
return age;
}
public void setAge(Integer age) {
this.age = age;
}
@Override
public String toString() {
return "{" +
"name='" + name + '\'' +
", age=" + age +
'}';
}
}
public class ArrayListObjectSortExample {
public static void main(String[] args) {
List<Person> people = new ArrayList<>();
people.add(new Person("Sachin", 47));
people.add(new Person("Chris", 34));
people.add(new Person("Rajeev", 25));
people.add(new Person("David", 31));
System.out.println("Person List : " + people);
// Sort People by their Age
people.sort((person1, person2) -> {
return person1.getAge() - person2.getAge();
});
// A more concise way of writing the above sorting function
people.sort(Comparator.comparingInt(Person::getAge));
System.out.println("Sorted Person List by Age : " + people);
// You can also sort using Collections.sort() method by passing the custom Comparator
Collections.sort(people, Comparator.comparing(Person::getName));
System.out.println("Sorted Person List by Name : " + people);
}
}# Output
Person List : [{name='Sachin', age=47}, {name='Chris', age=34}, {name='Rajeev', age=25}, {name='David', age=31}]
Sorted Person List by Age : [{name='Rajeev', age=25}, {name='David', age=31}, {name='Chris', age=34}, {name='Sachin', age=47}]
Sorted Person List by Name : [{name='Chris', age=34}, {name='David', age=31}, {name='Rajeev', age=25}, {name='Sachin', age=47}]Synchronizing Access to an ArrayList
The ArrayList class is not synchronized. If multiple threads try to modify an ArrayList at the same time then the final result becomes not-deterministic because one thread might override the changes done by another thread.
Example Demonstrating ArrayList’s unpredictable behavior in multi-threaded environments
The following example shows what happens when multiple threads try to modify an ArrayList at the same time.
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
public class UnsafeArrayListExample {
public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
List<Integer> unsafeArrayList = new ArrayList<>();
unsafeArrayList.add(1);
unsafeArrayList.add(2);
unsafeArrayList.add(3);
// Create a thread pool of size 10
ExecutorService executorService = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(10);
// Create a Runnable task that increments each element of the ArrayList by one
Runnable task = () -> {
incrementArrayList(unsafeArrayList);
};
// Submit the task to the executor service 100 times.
// All the tasks will modify the ArrayList concurrently
for(int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
executorService.submit(task);
}
executorService.shutdown();
executorService.awaitTermination(60, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
System.out.println(unsafeArrayList);
}
// Increment all the values in the ArrayList by one
private static void incrementArrayList(List<Integer> unsafeArrayList) {
for(int i = 0; i < unsafeArrayList.size(); i++) {
Integer value = unsafeArrayList.get(i);
unsafeArrayList.set(i, value + 1);
}
}
}The final output of the above program should be equal to [101, 102, 103] because we’re incrementing the values in the ArrayList 100 times. But if you run the program, it will produce different output every time it is run -
# Output
[96, 96, 98]Try running the above program multiple times and see how it produces different outputs. To learn more about such issues in multi-threaded programs, check out my article on Java Concurrency Issues and Thread Synchronization.
Example demonstrating how to synchronize concurrent modifications to an ArrayList
All right! Now let’s see how we can synchronize access to the ArrayList in multi-threaded environments.
The following example shows the synchronized version of the previous example. Unlike the previous program, the output of this program is deterministic and will always be the same.
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
public class SynchronizedArrayListExample {
public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {
List<Integer> safeArrayList = Collections.synchronizedList(new ArrayList<>());
safeArrayList.add(1);
safeArrayList.add(2);
safeArrayList.add(3);
// Create a thread pool of size 10
ExecutorService executorService = Executors.newFixedThreadPool(10);
// Create a Runnable task that increments each element of the ArrayList by one
Runnable task = () -> {
incrementArrayList(safeArrayList);
};
// Submit the task to the executor service 100 times.
// All the tasks will modify the ArrayList concurrently
for(int i = 0; i < 100; i++) {
executorService.submit(task);
}
executorService.shutdown();
executorService.awaitTermination(60, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
System.out.println(safeArrayList);
}
// Increment all the values in the ArrayList by one
private static void incrementArrayList(List<Integer> safeArrayList) {
synchronized (safeArrayList) {
for (int i = 0; i < safeArrayList.size(); i++) {
Integer value = safeArrayList.get(i);
safeArrayList.set(i, value + 1);
}
}
}
}# Output
[101, 102, 103]The above example uses Collections.synchronizedList() method to get a synchronized view of the ArrayList.
Moreover, the modifications to the ArrayList inside the incrementArrayList() method is wrapped inside a synchronized block. This ensures that no two threads can increment ArrayList elements at the same time.
You can also use a CopyOnWriteArrayList if you need thread safety. It is a thread-safe version of the ArrayList class. It implements all the mutating operations by making a fresh copy of the ArrayList.
Conclusion
That’s all folks. In this article, you learned what is an ArrayList, how to create an ArrayList, how to add, modify and remove elements from an ArrayList, how to iterate over an ArrayList, how to sort an ArrayList, and how to synchronize access to an ArrayList.
Thank you for reading. See you in the next post.