Arrays in Java

An array is a group of like-typed variables that are referred to by a common

name.Arrays in Java work differently than they do in C/C++. Following are some
important point about Java arrays.
 In Java all arrays are dynamically allocated.(discussed below)
 Since arrays are objects in Java, we can find their length using member
length. This is different from C/C++ where we find length using sizeof.
 A Java array variable can also be declared like other variables with [] after the
data type.
 The variables in the array are ordered and each have an index beginning from
0.
 Java array can be also be used as a static field, a local variable or a method
parameter.
 The size of an array must be specified by an int value and not long or short.
 The direct superclass of an array type is Object.
 Every array type implements the interfaces Cloneable and java.io.Serializable.
Array can contains primitives data types as well as objects of a class depending on
the definition of array. In case of primitives data types, the actual values are stored in
contiguous memory locations. In case of objects of a class, the actual objects are
stored in heap segment.

Creating, Initializing, and Accessing an Array

One-Dimensional Arrays :
The general form of a one-dimensional array declaration is

type var-name[];
OR
type[] var-name;

An array declaration has two components: the type and the name. type declares the
element type of the array. The element type determines the data type of each
element that comprises the array. Like array of int type, we can also create an array
of other primitive data types like char, float, double..etc or user defined data
type(objects of a class).Thus, the element type for the array determines what type of
data the array will hold.
Example:
// both are valid declarations
int intArray[];
or int[] intArray;

byte byteArray[];
short shortsArray[];
boolean booleanArray[];
long longArray[];
float floatArray[];
double doubleArray[];
char charArray[];

// an array of references to objects of

// the class MyClass (a class created by
// user)
MyClass myClassArray[];

Object[] ao, // array of Object

Collection[] ca; // array of Collection
// of unknown type

Although the above first declaration establishes the fact that intArray is an array
variable, no array actually exists. It simply tells to the compiler that this(intArray)
variable will hold an array of the integer type. To link intArray with an actual, physical
array of integers, you must allocate one using new and assign it to intArray.
Instantiating an Array in Java
When an array is declared, only a reference of array is created. To actually create or
give memory to array, you create an array like this:The general form of new as it
applies to one-dimensional arrays appears as follows:
var-name = new type [size];

Here, type specifies the type of data being allocated, size specifies the number of
elements in the array, and var-name is the name of array variable that is linked to the
array. That is, to use new to allocate an array, you must specify the type and number
of elements to allocate.
Example:
int intArray[]; //declaring array
intArray = new int[20]; // allocating memory to array

OR
int[] intArray = new int[20]; // combining both statements in one

Note :
1. The elements in the array allocated by new will automatically be
initialized to zero (for numeric types), false (for boolean), or null (for reference
types).Refer Default array values in Java
2. Obtaining an array is a two-step process. First, you must declare a
variable of the desired array type. Second, you must allocate the memory that
will hold the array, using new, and assign it to the array variable. Thus, in Java
all arrays are dynamically allocated.
Array Literal
In a situation, where the size of the array and variables of array are already known,
array literals can be used.
int[] intArray = new int[]{ 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 };
// Declaring array literal

 The length of this array determines the length of the created array.
 There is no need to write the new int[] part in the latest versions of Java
Accessing Java Array Elements using for Loop
Each element in the array is accessed via its index. The index begins with 0 and ends
at (total array size)-1. All the elements of array can be accessed using Java for Loop.

// accessing the elements of the specified array

for (int i = 0; i < arr.length; i++)
System.out.println("Element at index " + i +
" : "+ arr[i]);

Implementation:

// Java program to illustrate creating an array

// of integers, puts some values in the array,
// and prints each value to standard output.

class GFG
{
public static void main (String[] args)
{
// declares an Array of integers.
int[] arr;
 // allocating memory for 5 integers.
arr = new int[5];

// initialize the first elements of the array

arr[0] = 10;

// initialize the second elements of the array

arr[1] = 20;

//so on...
arr[2] = 30;
arr[3] = 40;
arr[4] = 50;

// accessing the elements of the specified array

for (int i = 0; i < arr.length; i++)
System.out.println("Element at index " + i +
" : "+ arr[i]);
}
}
Output:
Element at index 0 : 10
Element at index 1 : 20
Element at index 2 : 30
Element at index 3 : 40
Element at index 4 : 50

You can also access java arrays using foreach loops

Arrays of Objects
An array of objects is created just like an array of primitive type data items in the
following way.
Student[] arr = new Student[7]; //student is a user-defined class
The studentArray contains seven memory spaces each of size of student class in
which the address of seven Student objects can be stored.The Student objects have
to be instantiated using the constructor of the Student class and their references
should be assigned to the array elements in the following way.
Student[] arr = new Student[5];

// Java program to illustrate creating an array of

// objects

class Student
{
public int roll_no;
public String name;
Student(int roll_no, String name)
{
this.roll_no = roll_no;
this.name = name;
}
}

// Elements of array are objects of a class Student.

public class GFG
{
public static void main (String[] args)
{
// declares an Array of integers.
Student[] arr;

// allocating memory for 5 objects of type Student.

arr = new Student[5];

// initialize the first elements of the array

arr[0] = new Student(1,"aman");

// initialize the second elements of the array

arr[1] = new Student(2,"vaibhav");

// so on...
arr[2] = new Student(3,"shikar");
arr[3] = new Student(4,"dharmesh");
arr[4] = new Student(5,"mohit");

// accessing the elements of the specified array

for (int i = 0; i < arr.length; i++)
System.out.println("Element at " + i + " : " +
arr[i].roll_no +" "+ arr[i].name);
}
}
Output:
Element at 0 : 1 aman
Element at 1 : 2 vaibhav
Element at 2 : 3 shikar
Element at 3 : 4 dharmesh
Element at 4 : 5 mohit

What happens if we try to access element outside the array size?

Compiler throws ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException to indicate that array has been
accessed with an illegal index. The index is either negative or greater than or equal to
size of array.

class GFG
{
public static void main (String[] args)
{
int[] arr = new int[2];
arr[0] = 10;
arr[1] = 20;

for (int i = 0; i <= arr.length; i++)

System.out.println(arr[i]);
}
}
Runtime error
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException: 2
at GFG.main(File.java:12)

Output:
10
20

Multidimensional Arrays
Multidimensional arrays are arrays of arrays with each element of the array holding
the reference of other array. These are also known as Jagged Arrays. A
multidimensional array is created by appending one set of square brackets ([]) per
dimension. Examples:
int[][] intArray = new int[10][20]; //a 2D array or matrix
int[][][] intArray = new int[10][20][10]; //a 3D array

class multiDimensional
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
// declaring and initializing 2D array
int arr[][] = { {2,7,9},{3,6,1},{7,4,2} };

// printing 2D array
for (int i=0; i< 3 ; i++)
{
for (int j=0; j < 3 ; j++)
System.out.print(arr[i][j] + " ");
 System.out.println();
}
}
}
Output:
2 7 9
3 6 1
7 4 2

Passing Arrays to Methods

Like variables, we can also pass arrays to methods.For example, below program
pass array to method sum for calculating sum of array’s values.

// Java program to demonstrate

// passing of array to method

class Test
{
// Driver method
public static void main(String args[])
{
int arr[] = {3, 1, 2, 5, 4};

// passing array to method m1

sum(arr);

public static void sum(int[] arr)

{
// getting sum of array values
int sum = 0;

for (int i = 0; i < arr.length; i++)

sum+=arr[i];

System.out.println("sum of array values : " + sum);

}
}
Output :
sum of array values : 15

Returning Arrays from Methods

As usual, a method can also return an array. For example, below program returns an
array from method m1.

// Java program to demonstrate

// return of array from method

class Test
{
// Driver method
public static void main(String args[])
{
int arr[] = m1();

for (int i = 0; i < arr.length; i++)

System.out.print(arr[i]+" ");

public static int[] m1()

{
// returning array
return new int[]{1,2,3};
}
}
Output:
1 2 3

Class Objects for Arrays

Every array has an associated Class object, shared with all other arrays with the
same component type.

// Java program to demonstrate

// Class Objects for Arrays

class Test
{
public static void main(String args[])
 {
int intArray[] = new int[3];
byte byteArray[] = new byte[3];
short shortsArray[] = new short[3];

// array of Strings
String[] strArray = new String[3];

System.out.println(intArray.getClass());
System.out.println(intArray.getClass().getSuperclass());
System.out.println(byteArray.getClass());
System.out.println(shortsArray.getClass());
System.out.println(strArray.getClass());
}
}
Output:
class [I
class java.lang.Object
class [B
class [S
class [Ljava.lang.String;

Explanantion :
1. The string “[I” is the run-time type signature for the class object “array with
component type int“.
2. The only direct superclass of any array type is java.lang.Object.
3. The string “[B” is the run-time type signature for the class object “array with
component type byte“.
4. The string “[S” is the run-time type signature for the class object “array with
component type short“.
5. The string “[L” is the run-time type signature for the class object “array with
component type of a Class”. The Class name is then followed.
Array Members
Now as you know that arrays are object of a class and direct superclass of arrays is
class Object.The members of an array type are all of the following:
 The public final field length, which contains the number of components of the
array. length may be positive or zero.
 All the members inherited from class Object; the only method of Object that is
not inherited is its clone method.
 The public method clone(), which overrides clone method in class Object and
throws no checked exceptions.
Cloning of arrays
 When you clone a single dimensional array, such as Object[], a “deep copy” is
performed with the new array containing copies of the original array’s elements
as opposed to references.
 // Java program to demonstrate
// cloning of one-dimensional arrays

class Test
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
int intArray[] = {1,2,3};

int cloneArray[] = intArray.clone();

// will print false as deep copy is created

// for one-dimensional array
System.out.println(intArray == cloneArray);

for (int i = 0; i < cloneArray.length; i++) {

System.out.print(cloneArray[i]+" ");
}
}
}
Output:
false

1 2 3

 A clone of a multidimensional array (like Object[][]) is a “shallow copy”

however, which is to say that it creates only a single new array with each
element array a reference to an original element array but subarrays are shared.
// Java program to demonstrate
// cloning of multi-dimensional arrays

class Test
{
public static void main(String args[])
{
int intArray[][] = {{1,2,3},{4,5}};

int cloneArray[][] = intArray.clone();

// will print false

System.out.println(intArray == cloneArray);

// will print true as shallow copy is created

// i.e. sub-arrays are shared
System.out.println(intArray[0] == cloneArray[0]);
System.out.println(intArray[1] == cloneArray[1]);

}
}
Output;
false
true
true