Converting 'ArrayList to 'String[]' in Java

Question

How might I convert an ArrayList object to a String[] array in Java?

Answer 1

Starting from Java-11, one can alternatively use the API Collection.toArray(IntFunction<T[]> generator) to achieve the same as:

List<String> list = List.of("x","y","z");
String[] arrayBeforeJDK11 = list.toArray(new String[0]);
String[] arrayAfterJDK11 = list.toArray(String[]::new); // similar to Stream.toArray

Answer 2

If your application is already using Apache Commons lib, you can slightly modify the accepted answer to not create a new empty array each time:

List<String> list = ..;
String[] array = list.toArray(ArrayUtils.EMPTY_STRING_ARRAY);

// or if using static import
String[] array = list.toArray(EMPTY_STRING_ARRAY);

There are a few more preallocated empty arrays of different types in ArrayUtils.

Also we can trick JVM to create en empty array for us this way:

String[] array = list.toArray(ArrayUtils.toArray());

// or if using static import
String[] array = list.toArray(toArray());

But there's really no advantage this way, just a matter of taste, IMO.

Answer 3

in case some extra manipulation of the data is desired, for which the user wants a function, this approach is not perfect (as it requires passing the class of the element as second parameter), but works:

import java.util.ArrayList; import java.lang.reflect.Array;

public class Test {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    ArrayList<Integer> al = new ArrayList<>();
    al.add(1);
    al.add(2);
    Integer[] arr = convert(al, Integer.class);
    for (int i=0; i<arr.length; i++)
      System.out.println(arr[i]);
  }

  public static <T> T[] convert(ArrayList<T> al, Class clazz) {
    return (T[]) al.toArray((T[])Array.newInstance(clazz, al.size()));
  }
}

Answer 4

List <String> list = ...
String[] array = new String[list.size()];
int i=0;
for(String s: list){
  array[i++] = s;
}

Answer 5

ArrayList<String> arrayList = new ArrayList<String>();
Object[] objectList = arrayList.toArray();
String[] stringArray =  Arrays.copyOf(objectList,objectList.length,String[].class);

Using copyOf, ArrayList to arrays might be done also.

Answer 6

private String[] prepareDeliveryArray(List<DeliveryServiceModel> deliveryServices) {
    String[] delivery = new String[deliveryServices.size()];
    for (int i = 0; i < deliveryServices.size(); i++) {
        delivery[i] = deliveryServices.get(i).getName();
    }
    return delivery;
}