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Java List

List in Java provides the facility to maintain the ordered collection. It contains the index-based methods to insert, update, delete and search the elements. It can have the duplicate elements also. We can also store the null elements in the list.

The List interface is found in the java.util package and inherits the Collection interface. It is a factory of ListIterator interface. Through the ListIterator, we can iterate the list in forward and backward directions. The implementation classes of List interface are ArrayList, LinkedList, Stack and Vector. The ArrayList and LinkedList are widely used in Java programming. The Vector class is deprecated since Java 5.

List Interface declaration

Java List Methods

Method	Description
void add(int index, E element)	It is used to insert the specified element at the specified position in a list.
boolean add(E e)	It is used to append the specified element at the end of a list.
boolean addAll(Collection c)	It is used to append all of the elements in the specified collection to the end of a list.
boolean addAll(int index, Collection c)	It is used to append all the elements in the specified collection, starting at the specified position of the list.
void clear()	It is used to remove all of the elements from this list.
boolean equals(Object o)	It is used to compare the specified object with the elements of a list.
int hashcode()	It is used to return the hash code value for a list.
E get(int index)	It is used to fetch the element from the particular position of the list.
boolean isEmpty()	It returns true if the list is empty, otherwise false.
int lastIndexOf(Object o)	It is used to return the index in this list of the last occurrence of the specified element, or -1 if the list does not contain this element.
Object[] toArray()	It is used to return an array containing all of the elements in this list in the correct order.
T[] toArray(T[] a)	It is used to return an array containing all of the elements in this list in the correct order.
boolean contains(Object o)	It returns true if the list contains the specified element
boolean containsAll(Collection c)	It returns true if the list contains all the specified element
int indexOf(Object o)	It is used to return the index in this list of the first occurrence of the specified element, or -1 if the List does not contain this element.
E remove(int index)	It is used to remove the element present at the specified position in the list.
boolean remove(Object o)	It is used to remove the first occurrence of the specified element.
boolean removeAll(Collection c)	It is used to remove all the elements from the list.
void replaceAll(UnaryOperator operator)	It is used to replace all the elements from the list with the specified element.
void retainAll(Collection c)	It is used to retain all the elements in the list that are present in the specified collection.
E set(int index, E element)	It is used to replace the specified element in the list, present at the specified position.
void sort(Comparator c)	It is used to sort the elements of the list on the basis of specified comparator.
Spliterator spliterator()	It is used to create spliterator over the elements in a list.
List subList(int fromIndex, int toIndex)	It is used to fetch all the elements lies within the given range.
int size()	It is used to return the number of elements present in the list.

Java List vs ArrayList

List is an interface whereas ArrayList is the implementation class of List.

How to create List

The ArrayList and LinkedList classes provide the implementation of List interface. Let's see the examples to create the List:

//Creating a List of type String using ArrayList
List<String> list=new ArrayList<String>();

//Creating a List of type Integer using ArrayList
List<Integer> list=new ArrayList<Integer>();

//Creating a List of type Book using ArrayList
List<Book> list=new ArrayList<Book>();

//Creating a List of type String using LinkedList
List<String> list=new LinkedList<String>();

In short, you can create the List of any type. The ArrayList and LinkedList classes are used to specify the type. Here, T denotes the type.

Java List Example

Let's see a simple example of List where we are using the ArrayList class as the implementation.

import java.util.*;
public class ListExample1{
public static void main(String args[]){
 //Creating a List
 List<String> list=new ArrayList<String>();
 //Adding elements in the List
 list.add("Mango");
 list.add("Apple");
 list.add("Banana");
 list.add("Grapes");
 //Iterating the List element using for-each loop
 for(String fruit:list)
  System.out.println(fruit);

}
}

Test it Now

Output:

Mango
Apple
Banana
Grapes

How to convert Array to List

We can convert the Array to List by traversing the array and adding the element in list one by one using list.add() method. Let's see a simple example to convert array elements into List.

import java.util.*;
public class ArrayToListExample{
public static void main(String args[]){
//Creating Array
String[] array={"Java","Python","PHP","C++"};
System.out.println("Printing Array: "+Arrays.toString(array));
//Converting Array to List
List<String> list=new ArrayList<String>();
for(String lang:array){
list.add(lang);
}
System.out.println("Printing List: "+list);

}
}

Test it Now

Output:

Printing Array: [Java, Python, PHP, C++]
Printing List: [Java, Python, PHP, C++]

How to convert List to Array

We can convert the List to Array by calling the list.toArray() method. Let's see a simple example to convert list elements into array.

import java.util.*;
public class ListToArrayExample{
public static void main(String args[]){
 List<String> fruitList = new ArrayList<>();  
 fruitList.add("Mango");  
 fruitList.add("Banana");  
 fruitList.add("Apple");  
 fruitList.add("Strawberry");  
 //Converting ArrayList to Array
 String[] array = fruitList.toArray(new String[fruitList.size()]);  
 System.out.println("Printing Array: "+Arrays.toString(array));
 System.out.println("Printing List: "+fruitList);
}
}

Test it Now

Output:

Printing Array: [Mango, Banana, Apple, Strawberry]
Printing List: [Mango, Banana, Apple, Strawberry]

Get and Set Element in List

The get() method returns the element at the given index, whereas the set() method changes or replaces the element.

import java.util.*;
public class ListExample2{
 public static void main(String args[]){
 //Creating a List
 List<String> list=new ArrayList<String>();
 //Adding elements in the List
 list.add("Mango");
 list.add("Apple");
 list.add("Banana");
 list.add("Grapes");
 //accessing the element  
 System.out.println("Returning element: "+list.get(1));//it will return the 2nd element, because index starts from 0
 //changing the element
 list.set(1,"Dates");
 //Iterating the List element using for-each loop
 for(String fruit:list)
  System.out.println(fruit);

 }
}

Test it Now

Output:

Returning element: Apple
Mango
Dates
Banana
Grapes

How to Sort List

There are various ways to sort the List, here we are going to use Collections.sort() method to sort the list element. The java.util package provides a utility class Collections which has the static method sort(). Using the Collections.sort() method, we can easily sort any List.

import java.util.*;
class SortArrayList{
 public static void main(String args[]){
  //Creating a list of fruits
  List<String> list1=new ArrayList<String>();
  list1.add("Mango");
  list1.add("Apple");
  list1.add("Banana");
  list1.add("Grapes");
  //Sorting the list
  Collections.sort(list1);
   //Traversing list through the for-each loop
  for(String fruit:list1)
    System.out.println(fruit);
    
 System.out.println("Sorting numbers...");
  //Creating a list of numbers
  List<Integer> list2=new ArrayList<Integer>();
  list2.add(21);
  list2.add(11);
  list2.add(51);
  list2.add(1);
  //Sorting the list
  Collections.sort(list2);
   //Traversing list through the for-each loop
  for(Integer number:list2)
    System.out.println(number);
 }
 
}

Output:

Apple
Banana
Grapes
Mango
Sorting numbers...
1
11
21
51

Java ListIterator Interface

ListIterator Interface is used to traverse the element in a backward and forward direction.

ListIterator Interface declaration

Methods of Java ListIterator Interface:

Method	Description
void add(E e)	This method inserts the specified element into the list.
boolean hasNext()	This method returns true if the list iterator has more elements while traversing the list in the forward direction.
E next()	This method returns the next element in the list and advances the cursor position.
int nextIndex()	This method returns the index of the element that would be returned by a subsequent call to next()
boolean hasPrevious()	This method returns true if this list iterator has more elements while traversing the list in the reverse direction.
E previous()	This method returns the previous element in the list and moves the cursor position backward.
E previousIndex()	This method returns the index of the element that would be returned by a subsequent call to previous().
void remove()	This method removes the last element from the list that was returned by next() or previous() methods
void set(E e)	This method replaces the last element returned by next() or previous() methods with the specified element.

Example of ListIterator Interface

import java.util.*;
public class ListIteratorExample1{
public static void main(String args[]){
List<String> al=new ArrayList<String>();  
		al.add("Amit");  
		al.add("Vijay");  
		al.add("Kumar");  
		al.add(1,"Sachin");  
		ListIterator<String> itr=al.listIterator();  
		System.out.println("Traversing elements in forward direction");  
		while(itr.hasNext()){  
			
		System.out.println("index:"+itr.nextIndex()+" value:"+itr.next());  
		}  
		System.out.println("Traversing elements in backward direction");  
		while(itr.hasPrevious()){  
		
		System.out.println("index:"+itr.previousIndex()+" value:"+itr.previous());  
		}  
}
}

Output:

Traversing elements in forward direction
index:0 value:Amit
index:1 value:Sachin
index:2 value:Vijay
index:3 value:Kumar
Traversing elements in backward direction
index:3 value:Kumar
index:2 value:Vijay
index:1 value:Sachin
index:0 value:Amit

Example of List: Book

Let's see an example of List where we are adding the Books.

import java.util.*;
class Book {
int id;
String name,author,publisher;
int quantity;
public Book(int id, String name, String author, String publisher, int quantity) {
	this.id = id;
	this.name = name;
	this.author = author;
	this.publisher = publisher;
	this.quantity = quantity;
}
}
public class ListExample5 {
public static void main(String[] args) {
	//Creating list of Books
	List<Book> list=new ArrayList<Book>();
	//Creating Books
	Book b1=new Book(101,"Let us C","Yashwant Kanetkar","BPB",8);
	Book b2=new Book(102,"Data Communications and Networking","Forouzan","Mc Graw Hill",4);
	Book b3=new Book(103,"Operating System","Galvin","Wiley",6);
	//Adding Books to list
	list.add(b1);
	list.add(b2);
	list.add(b3);
	//Traversing list
	for(Book b:list){
	System.out.println(b.id+" "+b.name+" "+b.author+" "+b.publisher+" "+b.quantity);
	}
}
}

Test it Now

Output:

101 Let us C Yashwant Kanetkar BPB 8
102 Data Communications and Networking Forouzan Mc Graw Hill 4
103 Operating System Galvin Wiley 6

Java Tutorial

Control Statements

Java Object Class

Java Inheritance

Java Polymorphism

Java Abstraction

Java Encapsulation

Java Array

Java OOPs Misc

Java String

Java String Methods

Java Regex

Exception Handling

Java Inner Class

Java Multithreading

Java Synchronization

Java I/O

Java Serialization

Java Networking

Java AWT & Events

Java Swing

Java Swing Apps

LayoutManagers

JavaFX Tutorial

JavaFX 2D Shapes

JavaFX Text

JavaFX Effects

JavaFX Transformation

JavaFX Animation

JavaFX 3D Shapes

JavaFX Layouts

JavaFX UI

JavaFX Charts

JavaFX CSS

Media with JavaFX

JavaFX Event Handling

Java Applet

Java Reflection

Java 8 Date Time

Java Date (Classical)

Java Date Format

Current Date Time

Java Conversion

Java Collections

Java JDBC

Java New Features

Java 9 Features

Java 8 Features

Java 7 Features

Java 4/5 Features

RMI

Internationalization

Java List

List Interface declaration

Java List Methods

Java List vs ArrayList

How to create List

Java List Example

How to convert Array to List

How to convert List to Array

Get and Set Element in List

How to Sort List

Java ListIterator Interface

ListIterator Interface declaration

Methods of Java ListIterator Interface:

Example of ListIterator Interface

Example of List: Book

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