How to clone ArrayList and also clone its contents?

Question

How can I clone an ArrayList and also clone its items in Java?

For example I have:

ArrayList dogs = getDogs();
ArrayList

        

Answer 1

Some other alternatives for copying ArrayList as a Deep Copy

Alernative 1 - Use of external package commons-lang3, method SerializationUtils.clone():

SerializationUtils.clone()

Let's say we have a class dog where the fields of the class are mutable and at least one field is an object of type String and mutable - not a primitive data type (otherwise shallow copy would be enough).

Example of shallow copy:

List dogs = getDogs(); // We assume it returns a list of Dogs
List clonedDogs = new ArrayList<>(dogs);

Now back to deep copy of dogs.

The Dog class does only have mutable fields.

Dog class:

public class Dog implements Serializable {
    private String name;
    private int age;

    public Dog() {
        // Class with only mutable fields!
        this.name = "NO_NAME";
        this.age = -1;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public int getAge() {
        return age;
    }

    public void setAge(int age) {
        this.age = age;
    }

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return "Dog{" +
                "name='" + name + '\'' +
                ", age=" + age +
                '}';
    }
}

Note that the class Dog implements Serializable! This makes it possible to utilize method "SerializationUtils.clone(dog)"

Read the comments in the main method to understand the outcome. It shows that we have successfully made a deep copy of ArrayList(). See below "SerializationUtils.clone(dog)" in context:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Dog dog1 = new Dog();
    dog1.setName("Buddy");
    dog1.setAge(1);

    Dog dog2 = new Dog();
    dog2.setName("Milo");
    dog2.setAge(2);

    List dogs = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(dog1,dog2));

    // Output: 'List dogs: [Dog{name='Buddy', age=1}, Dog{name='Milo', age=2}]'
    System.out.println("List dogs: " + dogs);

    // Let's clone and make a deep copy of the dogs' ArrayList with external package commons-lang3:
    List clonedDogs = dogs.stream().map(dog -> SerializationUtils.clone(dog)).collect(Collectors.toList());
    // Output: 'Now list dogs are deep copied into list clonedDogs.'
    System.out.println("Now list dogs are deep copied into list clonedDogs.");

    // A change on dog1 or dog2 can not impact a deep copy.
    // Let's make a change on dog1 and dog2, and test this
    // statement.
    dog1.setName("Bella");
    dog1.setAge(3);
    dog2.setName("Molly");
    dog2.setAge(4);

    // The change is made on list dogs!
    // Output: 'List dogs after change: [Dog{name='Bella', age=3}, Dog{name='Molly', age=4}]'
    System.out.println("List dogs after change: " + dogs);

    // There is no impact on list clonedDogs's inner objects after the deep copy.
    // The deep copy of list clonedDogs was successful!
    // If clonedDogs would be a shallow copy we would see the change on the field
    // "private String name", the change made in list dogs, when setting the names
    // Bella and Molly.
    // Output clonedDogs:
    // 'After change in list dogs, no impact/change in list clonedDogs:\n'
    // '[Dog{name='Buddy', age=1}, Dog{name='Milo', age=2}]\n'
    System.out.println("After change in list dogs, no impact/change in list clonedDogs: \n" + clonedDogs);
}

Output:

List dogs: [Dog{name='Buddy', age=1}, Dog{name='Milo', age=2}]
Now list dogs are deep copied into list clonedDogs.
List dogs after change: [Dog{name='Bella', age=3}, Dog{name='Molly', age=4}]
After change in list dogs, no impact/change in list clonedDogs:
[Dog{name='Buddy', age=1}, Dog{name='Milo', age=2}]

Comment: Since there is no impact/change on list clonedDogs after changing list dogs, then deep copy of ArrayList is successful!

Alernative 2 - Use of no external packages:

A new method "clone()" is introduced in the Dog class and "implements Serializable" is removed compare to alternative 1.

clone()

Dog class:

public class Dog {
    private String name;
    private int age;

    public Dog() {
        // Class with only mutable fields!
        this.name = "NO_NAME";
        this.age = -1;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public int getAge() {
        return age;
    }

    public void setAge(int age) {
        this.age = age;
    }

    /**
     * Returns a deep copy of the Dog
     * @return new instance of {@link Dog}
     */
    public Dog clone() {
        Dog newDog = new Dog();
        newDog.setName(this.name);
        newDog.setAge(this.age);
        return newDog;
    }

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return "Dog{" +
                "name='" + name + '\'' +
                ", age=" + age +
                '}';
    }
}

Read the comments in the main method below to understand the outcome. It shows that we have successfully made a deep copy of ArrayList(). See below "clone()" method in context:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    Dog dog1 = new Dog();
    dog1.setName("Buddy");
    dog1.setAge(1);

    Dog dog2 = new Dog();
    dog2.setName("Milo");
    dog2.setAge(2);

    List dogs = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(dog1,dog2));

    // Output: 'List dogs: [Dog{name='Buddy', age=1}, Dog{name='Milo', age=2}]'
    System.out.println("List dogs: " + dogs);

    // Let's clone and make a deep copy of the dogs' ArrayList:
    List clonedDogs = dogs.stream().map(dog -> dog.clone()).collect(Collectors.toList());
    // Output: 'Now list dogs are deep copied into list clonedDogs.'
    System.out.println("Now list dogs are deep copied into list clonedDogs.");

    // A change on dog1 or dog2 can not impact a deep copy.
    // Let's make a change on dog1 and dog2, and test this
    // statement.
    dog1.setName("Bella");
    dog1.setAge(3);
    dog2.setName("Molly");
    dog2.setAge(4);

    // The change is made on list dogs!
    // Output: 'List dogs after change: [Dog{name='Bella', age=3}, Dog{name='Molly', age=4}]'
    System.out.println("List dogs after change: " + dogs);

    // There is no impact on list clonedDogs's inner objects after the deep copy.
    // The deep copy of list clonedDogs was successful!
    // If clonedDogs would be a shallow copy we would see the change on the field
    // "private String name", the change made in list dogs, when setting the names
    // Bella and Molly.
    // Output clonedDogs:
    // 'After change in list dogs, no impact/change in list clonedDogs:\n'
    // '[Dog{name='Buddy', age=1}, Dog{name='Milo', age=2}]\n'
    System.out.println("After change in list dogs, no impact/change in list clonedDogs: \n" + clonedDogs);
}

Output:

List dogs: [Dog{name='Buddy', age=1}, Dog{name='Milo', age=2}]
Now list dogs are deep copied into list clonedDogs.
List dogs after change: [Dog{name='Bella', age=3}, Dog{name='Molly', age=4}]
After change in list dogs, no impact/change in list clonedDogs:
[Dog{name='Buddy', age=1}, Dog{name='Milo', age=2}]

Comment: Since there is no impact/change on list clonedDogs after changing list dogs, then deep copy of ArrayList is successful!

Note1: Alternative 1 is much slower than Alternative 2, but easier to mainatain since you do not need to upadate any methods like clone().

Note2: For alternative 1 the following maven dependency was used for method "SerializationUtils.clone()":

    org.apache.commons
    commons-lang3
    3.9

Find more releases of common-lang3 at:

https://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.apache.commons/commons-lang3