Can one do a for each loop in java in reverse orde

Question

I need to run through a List in reverse order using Java.

So where this does it forwards:

for(String string: stringList){
//...do something
}

Is there some way to iterate the stringList in reverse order using the for each syntax?

For clarity: I know how to iterate a list in reverse order but would like to know (for curiosity's sake ) how to do it in the for each style.

Answer 1

You can use the Collections class http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/util/Collections.html to reverse the list then loop.

Answer 2

All answers above only fulfill the requirement, either by wrapping another method or calling some foreign code outside;

Here is the solution copied from the Thinking in Java 4th edition, chapter 11.13.1 AdapterMethodIdiom;

Here is the code:

// The "Adapter Method" idiom allows you to use foreach
// with additional kinds of Iterables.
package holding;
import java.util.*;

@SuppressWarnings("serial")
class ReversibleArrayList<T> extends ArrayList<T> {
  public ReversibleArrayList(Collection<T> c) { super(c); }
  public Iterable<T> reversed() {
    return new Iterable<T>() {
      public Iterator<T> iterator() {
        return new Iterator<T>() {
          int current = size() - 1; //why this.size() or super.size() wrong?
          public boolean hasNext() { return current > -1; }
          public T next() { return get(current--); }
          public void remove() { // Not implemented
            throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
          }
        };
      }
    };
  }
}   

public class AdapterMethodIdiom {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    ReversibleArrayList<String> ral =
      new ReversibleArrayList<String>(
        Arrays.asList("To be or not to be".split(" ")));
    // Grabs the ordinary iterator via iterator():
    for(String s : ral)
      System.out.print(s + " ");
    System.out.println();
    // Hand it the Iterable of your choice
    for(String s : ral.reversed())
      System.out.print(s + " ");
  }
} /* Output:
To be or not to be
be to not or be To
*///:~

Answer 3

Definitely a late answer to this question. One possibility is to use the ListIterator in a for loop. It's not as clean as colon-syntax, but it works.

List<String> exampleList = new ArrayList<>();
exampleList.add("One");
exampleList.add("Two");
exampleList.add("Three");

//Forward iteration
for (String currentString : exampleList) {
    System.out.println(currentString); 
}

//Reverse iteration
for (ListIterator<String> itr = exampleList.listIterator(exampleList.size()); itr.hasPrevious(); /*no-op*/ ) {
    String currentString = itr.previous();
    System.out.println(currentString); 
}

Credit for the ListIterator syntax goes to "Ways to iterate over a list in Java"

Answer 4

You'd need to reverse your collection if you want to use the for each syntax out of the box and go in reverse order.

Answer 5

This will mess with the original list and also needs to be called outside of the loop. Also you don't want to perform a reverse every time you loop - would that be true if one of the Iterables.reverse ideas was applied?

Collections.reverse(stringList);

for(String string: stringList){
//...do something
}

Answer 6

The List (unlike the Set) is an ordered collection and iterating over it does preserve the order by contract. I would have expected a Stack to iterate in the reverse order but unfortunately it doesn't. So the simplest solution I can think of is this:

for (int i = stack.size() - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
    System.out.println(stack.get(i));
}

I realize that this is not a "for each" loop solution. I'd rather use the for loop than introducing a new library like the Google Collections.

Collections.reverse() also does the job but it updates the list as opposed to returning a copy in reverse order.