How do I declare and initialize an array in Java?

Question

How do I declare and initialize an array in Java?

Answer 1

Type[] variableName = new Type[capacity];

Type[] variableName = {comma-delimited values};



Type variableName[] = new Type[capacity]; 

Type variableName[] = {comma-delimited values};

is also valid, but I prefer the brackets after the type, because it's easier to see that the variable's type is actually an array.

Answer 2

There are two main ways to make an array:

This one, for an empty array:

int[] array = new int[n]; // "n" being the number of spaces to allocate in the array

And this one, for an initialized array:

int[] array = {1,2,3,4 ...};

You can also make multidimensional arrays, like this:

int[][] array2d = new int[x][y]; // "x" and "y" specify the dimensions
int[][] array2d = { {1,2,3 ...}, {4,5,6 ...} ...};

Answer 3

You can also do it with java.util.Arrays:

List<String> number = Arrays.asList("1", "2", "3");

Out: ["1", "2", "3"]

This one is pretty simple and straightforward. I didn't see it in other answers so I thought I could add it.

Answer 4

There are two types of array.

One Dimensional Array

Syntax for default values:

int[] num = new int[5];

Or (less preferred)

int num[] = new int[5];

Syntax with values given (variable/field initialization):

int[] num = {1,2,3,4,5};

Or (less preferred)

int num[] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};

Note: For convenience int[] num is preferable because it clearly tells that you are talking here about array. Otherwise no difference. Not at all.

Multidimensional array

Declaration

int[][] num = new int[5][2];

Or

int num[][] = new int[5][2];

Or

int[] num[] = new int[5][2];

Initialization

 num[0][0]=1;
 num[0][1]=2;
 num[1][0]=1;
 num[1][1]=2;
 num[2][0]=1;
 num[2][1]=2;
 num[3][0]=1;
 num[3][1]=2;
 num[4][0]=1;
 num[4][1]=2;

Or

 int[][] num={ {1,2}, {1,2}, {1,2}, {1,2}, {1,2} };

Ragged Array (or Non-rectangular Array)

 int[][] num = new int[5][];
 num[0] = new int[1];
 num[1] = new int[5];
 num[2] = new int[2];
 num[3] = new int[3];

So here we are defining columns explicitly.
Another Way:

int[][] num={ {1}, {1,2}, {1,2,3,4,5}, {1,2}, {1,2,3} };

For Accessing:

for (int i=0; i<(num.length); i++ ) {
    for (int j=0;j<num[i].length;j++)
        System.out.println(num[i][j]);
}

Alternatively:

for (int[] a : num) {
  for (int i : a) {
    System.out.println(i);
  }
}

Ragged arrays are multidimensional arrays.
For explanation see multidimensional array detail at the official java tutorials

Answer 5

Array is a sequential list of items

int item = value;

int [] one_dimensional_array = { value, value, value, .., value };

int [][] two_dimensional_array =
{
  { value, value, value, .. value },
  { value, value, value, .. value },
    ..     ..     ..        ..
  { value, value, value, .. value }
};

If it's an object, then it's the same concept

Object item = new Object();

Object [] one_dimensional_array = { new Object(), new Object(), .. new Object() };

Object [][] two_dimensional_array =
{
  { new Object(), new Object(), .. new Object() },
  { new Object(), new Object(), .. new Object() },
    ..            ..               ..
  { new Object(), new Object(), .. new Object() }
};

In case of objects, you need to either assign it to null to initialize them using new Type(..), classes like String and Integer are special cases that will be handled as following

String [] a = { "hello", "world" };
// is equivalent to
String [] a = { new String({'h','e','l','l','o'}), new String({'w','o','r','l','d'}) };

Integer [] b = { 1234, 5678 };
// is equivalent to
Integer [] b = { new Integer(1234), new Integer(5678) };

In general you can create arrays that's M dimensional

int [][]..[] array =
//  ^ M times [] brackets

    {{..{
//  ^ M times { bracket

//            this is array[0][0]..[0]
//                         ^ M times [0]

    }}..}
//  ^ M times } bracket
;

It's worthy to note that creating an M dimensional array is expensive in terms of Space. Since when you create an M dimensional array with N on all the dimensions, The total size of the array is bigger than N^M, since each array has a reference, and at the M-dimension there is an (M-1)-dimensional array of references. The total size is as following

Space = N^M + N^(M-1) + N^(M-2) + .. + N^0
//      ^                              ^ array reference
//      ^ actual data

Answer 6

The following shows the declaration of an array, but the array is not initialized:

 int[] myIntArray = new int[3];

The following shows the declaration as well as initialization of the array:

int[] myIntArray = {1,2,3};

Now, the following also shows the declaration as well as initialization of the array:

int[] myIntArray = new int[]{1,2,3};

But this third one shows the property of anonymous array-object creation which is pointed by a reference variable "myIntArray", so if we write just "new int[]{1,2,3};" then this is how anonymous array-object can be created.

If we just write:

int[] myIntArray;

this is not declaration of array, but the following statement makes the above declaration complete:

myIntArray=new int[3];