Java Collection Framework ArrayList

This class provides implementation of an array based data structure that is used to store elements in linear order. This class implements List interface and an abstract AbstractList class. It creates a dynamic array that grows based on the elements strength.

Java ArrayList class Declaration

  
public class ArrayList<E> extends AbstractList<E> implements List<E>, RandomAccess, Cloneable, Serializable
  

1. ArrayList supports dynamic array that can grow as needed.
2. It can contain Duplicate elements and it also maintains the insertion order.
3. Manipulation is slow because a lot of shifting needs to be occurred if any element is removed from the array list.
4. ArrayLists are not synchronized.
5. ArrayList allows random access because it works on the index basis.

ArrayList Constructors

ArrayList class has three constructors that can be used to create Arraylist either from empty or elements of other collection.

  
ArrayList()  // It creates an empty ArrayList
ArrayList( Collection C ) // It creates an ArrayList that is initialized with elements of the Collection C
ArrayList( int capacity ) // It creates an ArrayList that has the specified initial capacity
  

Example: Creating an ArrayList

Lets create an ArrayList to store string elements. Here list is empty because we did not add elements to it.

import java.util.*;
class Demo
{
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {   
    // Creating an ArrayList
    ArrayList< String> fruits = new ArrayList< String>();
    
    // Displaying Arraylist
    System.out.println(fruits);
  }
}

[]

ArrayList Methods

The below table contains methods of Arraylist. We can use them to manipulate its elements.

Add Elements to ArrayList

To add elements into ArrayList, we are using add() method. It adds elements into the list in the insertion order.

  
import java.util.*;
class Demo
{
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {   
    // Creating an ArrayList
    ArrayList< String> fruits = new ArrayList< String>();
    // Adding elements to ArrayList
    fruits.add("Mango");
    fruits.add("Apple");
    fruits.add("Berry");
    // Displaying ArrayList
    System.out.println(fruits);
  }
}
  

[Mango, Apple, Berry]

Removing Elements

To remove elements from the list, we are using remove method that remove the specified elements. We can also pass index value to remove the elements of it.

  
import java.util.*;
class Demo
{
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {   
    // Creating an ArrayList
    ArrayList< String> fruits = new ArrayList< String>();
    // Adding elements to ArrayList
    fruits.add("Mango");
    fruits.add("Apple");
    fruits.add("Berry");
    fruits.add("Orange");
    // Displaying ArrayList
    System.out.println(fruits);
    // Removing Elements
    fruits.remove("Apple");
    System.out.println("After Deleting Elements: \n"+fruits);
    // Removing Second Element
    fruits.remove(1);
    System.out.println("After Deleting Elements: \n"+fruits);
    
  }
}
  

[Mango, Apple, Berry, Orange] After Deleting Elements: [Mango, Berry, Orange] After Deleting Elements: [Mango, Orange]

Traversing Elements of ArrayList

Since ArrayList is a collection then we can use loop to iterate its elements. In this example we are traversing elements. See the below example.

  
import java.util.*;
class Demo
{
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {   
    // Creating an ArrayList
    ArrayList< String> fruits = new ArrayList< String>();
    // Adding elements to ArrayList
    fruits.add("Mango");
    fruits.add("Apple");
    fruits.add("Berry");
    fruits.add("Orange");
    // Traversing ArrayList
    for(String element : fruits) {
      System.out.println(element);    
    }
  }
}
  

Mango Apple Berry Orange

Get size of ArrayList

Sometimes we want to know number of elements an ArrayList holds. In that case we use size() then returns size of ArrayList which is equal to number of elements present in the list.

  
import java.util.*;
class Demo
{
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {   
    // Creating an ArrayList
    ArrayList< String> fruits = new ArrayList< String>();
    // Adding elements to ArrayList
    fruits.add("Mango");
    fruits.add("Apple");
    fruits.add("Berry");
    fruits.add("Orange");
    // Traversing ArrayList
    for(String element : fruits) {
      System.out.println(element);    
    }
    System.out.println("Total Elements: "+fruits.size());
  }
}
  

Mango Apple Berry Orange Total Elements: 4

Sorting ArrayList Elements

To sort elements of an ArrayList, Java provides a class Collections that includes a static method sort(). In this example, we are using sort method to sort the elements.

  
import java.util.*;
class Demo
{
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {   
    // Creating an ArrayList
    ArrayList< String> fruits = new ArrayList< String>();
    // Adding elements to ArrayList
    fruits.add("Mango");
    fruits.add("Apple");
    fruits.add("Berry");
    fruits.add("Orange");
    // Sorting elements
    Collections.sort(fruits);
    // Traversing ArrayList
    for(String element : fruits) {
      System.out.println(element);    
    }
  }
}
  

Apple Berry Mango Orange