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Java Collections nCopies

farenda 2015-07-31 0

Problem:

How to create a Java List with copies of the same element? Java Collections.nCopies(n, T) does that, but has its quirks. Read on…

Solution:

One way to create a List consisting only of the same element is to use java.util.Collections.nCopies(n, T). The method creates an immutable List with n the same items.

The following example explains how nCopies(n, T) works:

package com.farenda.java;

import java.util.Collections;

public class CollectionsNCopies {

    static class MyObject {
        int x = 3;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        MyObject o = new MyObject();
        System.out.println("object: " + o + " with x = " + o.x);

        nTimes(3, o);

        // changes all items in list:
        o.x = 42;
        nTimes(3, o);
    }

    private static void nTimes(int i, MyObject proto) {
        System.out.println("Result:");
        for (MyObject mo : Collections.nCopies(i, proto)) {
            System.out.println(mo + " with x = " + mo.x);
        }
    }
}

Remember that returned List is immutable and cannot be changed. Also, nCopies(n, T) throws IllegalArgumentException when n < 0, but zero is allowed.

Running the above Java program gives the following:

object: com.farenda.java.CollectionsNCopies$MyObject@677327b6 with x = 3
Result:
com.farenda.java.CollectionsNCopies$MyObject@677327b6 with x = 3
com.farenda.java.CollectionsNCopies$MyObject@677327b6 with x = 3
com.farenda.java.CollectionsNCopies$MyObject@677327b6 with x = 3
Result:
com.farenda.java.CollectionsNCopies$MyObject@677327b6 with x = 42
com.farenda.java.CollectionsNCopies$MyObject@677327b6 with x = 42
com.farenda.java.CollectionsNCopies$MyObject@677327b6 with x = 42

Note that all objects in returned lists refer to the same reference: 677327b6. So the element is never duplicated and changing any of them – changes all.

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Categories Java Tags java-collections
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