How do I reverse an int array in Java?

Question

I am trying to reverse an int array in Java.

This method does not reverse the array.

for(int i = 0; i < validData.length; i++)
{
    int temp = validData[i];
    validData[i] = validData[validData.length - i - 1];
    validData[validData.length - i - 1] = temp;
}

What is wrong with it?

Answer 1

 public static int[] reverse(int[] array) {

    int j = array.length-1;
    // swap the values at the left and right indices //////
        for(int i=0; i<=j; i++)
        {
             int temp = array[i];
                array[i] = array[j];
                array[j] = temp;
           j--;
        }

         return array;
    }

      public static void main(String []args){
        int[] data = {1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9};
        reverse(data);

    }

Answer 2

I think it's a little bit easier to follow the logic of the algorithm if you declare explicit variables to keep track of the indices that you're swapping at each iteration of the loop.

public static void reverse(int[] data) {
    for (int left = 0, right = data.length - 1; left < right; left++, right--) {
        // swap the values at the left and right indices
        int temp = data[left];
        data[left]  = data[right];
        data[right] = temp;
    }
}

I also think it's more readable to do this in a while loop.

public static void reverse(int[] data) {
    int left = 0;
    int right = data.length - 1;

    while( left < right ) {
        // swap the values at the left and right indices
        int temp = data[left];
        data[left] = data[right];
        data[right] = temp;

        // move the left and right index pointers in toward the center
        left++;
        right--;
    }
}

Answer 3

Here is a simple implementation, to reverse array of any type, plus full/partial support.

import java.util.logging.Logger;

public final class ArrayReverser {
 private static final Logger LOGGER = Logger.getLogger(ArrayReverser.class.getName());

 private ArrayReverser () {

 }

 public static <T> void reverse(T[] seed) {
    reverse(seed, 0, seed.length);
 }

 public static <T> void reverse(T[] seed, int startIndexInclusive, int endIndexExclusive) {
    if (seed == null || seed.length == 0) {
        LOGGER.warning("Nothing to rotate");
    }
    int start = startIndexInclusive < 0 ? 0 : startIndexInclusive;
    int end = Math.min(seed.length, endIndexExclusive) - 1;
    while (start < end) {
        swap(seed, start, end);
        start++;
        end--;
    }
}

 private static <T> void swap(T[] seed, int start, int end) {
    T temp =  seed[start];
    seed[start] = seed[end];
    seed[end] = temp;
 }  

}

Here is the corresponding Unit Test

import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.is;
import static org.junit.Assert.assertThat;

import org.junit.Before;
import org.junit.Test;

public class ArrayReverserTest {
private Integer[] seed;

@Before
public void doBeforeEachTestCase() {
    this.seed = new Integer[]{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8};
}

@Test
public void wholeArrayReverse() {
    ArrayReverser.<Integer>reverse(seed);
    assertThat(seed[0], is(8));
}

 @Test
 public void partialArrayReverse() {
    ArrayReverser.<Integer>reverse(seed, 1, 5);
    assertThat(seed[1], is(5));
 }
}

Answer 4

Here is what I've come up with:

// solution 1 - boiler plated 
Integer[] original = {100, 200, 300, 400};
Integer[] reverse = new Integer[original.length];

int lastIdx = original.length -1;
int startIdx = 0;

for (int endIdx = lastIdx; endIdx >= 0; endIdx--, startIdx++)
   reverse[startIdx] = original[endIdx];

System.out.printf("reverse form: %s", Arrays.toString(reverse));

// solution 2 - abstracted 
// convert to list then use Collections static reverse()
List<Integer> l = Arrays.asList(original);
Collections.reverse(l);
System.out.printf("reverse form: %s", l);

Answer 5

Collections.reverse(Arrays.asList(yourArray));

java.util.Collections.reverse() can reverse java.util.Lists and java.util.Arrays.asList() returns a list that wraps the the specific array you pass to it, therefore yourArray is reversed after the invocation of Collections.reverse().

The cost is just the creation of one List-object and no additional libraries are required.

A similar solution has been presented in the answer of Tarik and their commentors, but I think this answer would be more concise and more easily parsable.

Answer 6

Wouldn't doing it this way be much more unlikely for mistakes?

    int[] intArray = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10};
    int[] temp = new int[intArray.length];
    for(int i = intArray.length - 1; i > -1; i --){
            temp[intArray.length - i -1] = intArray[i];
    }
    intArray = temp;