Array in Java
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 number1, number2, ...,
and number99, you declare one array variable such as numbers and use
number[0], number[1], and ..., number[99] to represent individual
variables.
Advantages
Code Optimization: It makes the code optimized, we can retrieve or
sort the data efficiently.
Random access: We can get any data located at an index
position.
1
Disadvantages
Size Limit: We can store only the fixed size of elements in the array. It
doesn't grow its size at runtime. To solve this problem, collection framework
is used in Java which grows automatically.
Types of Array
Single Dimensional Array
Multi-Dimensional Array
Single Dimensional Array
An array with one dimension whether in horizontal or vertical is called single
dimensional array. We can access each element by it’s index which starts
from 0. It has single subscript([ ]).
Declaring Single Dimensional 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.
Syntax
dataType[] // preferred way.
variable;
datatype // works but not preferred way.
[]variable;
dataType The following code snippets are examples of this
variabler[]; syntax −
int[] myList; // preferred way.
Int []myList; // works but not preferred
int myList[]; // works but not preferred way.
Creating Arrays
You can create an array by using the new operator with the following
syntax −
2
Syntax
myList=new myList[size];
The above statement does two
things −
• It creates an array using new Operator
• It assigns the reference of the newly created array to the variable
myList.
We can also create an array along with declaration
dataType[] myArray = new dataType [arraySize];
Example
int[] myArray = new int[10];
Array myArray is created with size 10 and the value is accessed by it’s index
which starts from 0 to n-1.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9
11 71 13 20 74 54 89 12 25 36
myArray[0]…………….. ……….. …. ……… ………………….. …………
myarray[9]
Processing Arrays
class Testarray
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
int a[]=new int[5]; //declaration and
instantiation
a[0]=10;
a[1]=20;
a[2]=70;
a[3]=40;
a[4]=50;
3
for(int i=0;i<a.length;i++)
{
System.out.println(a[i]);
}
}
}
Declaration, Instantiation and Initialization of
Java Array
int a[]={33,3,4,5}; //declaration, instantiation and initialization
Example
public class TestArray {
public static void main(String[] args)
{
int[] myList = {1, 2, 3, 4};
for (int i = 0; i < myList.length; i++)
{
System.out.println(myList[i] + " ");
}
int total = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < myList.length; i++) {
total += myList[i];
}
System.out.println("Total is " + total);
}
Example
public class TestArray {
public static void main(String[] args)
{
int[] myList = {1, 2, 3, 4};
for (int element: myList)
{
System.out.println(element);
4
}
}
}
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 –
class Testarray2
{
static void min(int arr[])
{
int min=arr[0];
for(int i=1;i<arr.length;i++)
{
if(min>arr[i])
{
min=arr[i];
}
}
System.out.println(min);
}
public static void main(String args[])
{
int a[]={33,3,4,5}; //declaring and
initializing array
min(a); //passing array to
method
}
}
Sorting an Array Element
Anonymous Array in Java
Java supports the feature of an anonymous array, so you don't need to
declare the array while passing an array to the method.
public class TestAnonymousArray
5
{
static void printArray(int arr[])
{
for(int i=0;i<arr.length;i+
+)
{
Systemout.println(arr[i]);
}
}
public static void main(String args[])
printArray(new int[]{10,22,44,66}); //passing anonymous
array to method
}
}
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 –
class TestReturnArray
{
static int[] get()
{
return new
int[]{10,30,50,90,60};
}
public static void main(String
args[])
{
int arr[]=get();
for(int i=0;i<arr.length;i++)
{
System.out.println(arr[i]);
}
}
6
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;
}
Multi-Dimensional Array
An array with two dimension in both horizontal and vertical is called single
dimensional array. We can access each element by it’s index which starts
from 0. It has double subscript([ ][ ]). data is stored in row and column
based index (also known as matrix form).
Syntax:
dataType[][] arrayRefVar; (or)
dataType [][]arrayRefVar; (or)
dataType arrayRefVar[][]; (or)
dataType []arrayRefVar[];
Example to instantiate Multidimensional Array in Java
int[][] arr=new int[3][3]; //3 row and 3 column
Example to initialize Multidimensional Array in Java
arr[0][0]=1; arr[0]
[1]=2; arr[0][2]=3;
arr[1][0]=4; arr[1]
[1]=5; arr[1][2]=6;
7
arr[2][0]=7; arr[2]
[1]=8; arr[2][2]=9;
class Testarray3
{
public static void main(String
args[])
{
int arr[][]={{1,2,3},{2,4,5},
{4,4,5}};
for(int i=0;i<3;i++)
{
for(int j=0;j<3;j++)
{
System.out.print(arr[i][j]+" ");
}
System.out.println();
}
}
}
ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException
The Java Virtual Machine (JVM) throws an
ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException if length of the array in negative, equal
to the array size or greater than the array size while traversing the array.
public class TestArrayException{
public static void main(String args[]){
int arr[]={50,60,70,80};
for(int i=0;i<=arr.length;i++){
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System.out.println(arr[i]);
}
}
}
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