Develop Reference

Iterate through a list deleting elements

I want to iterate through some kind of list, checking if its elements meet a property, and if they don't deleting them from the array. What I've thought is something like this:
int index = 0;
for(int i = 0; i < list.size(); ++i) {
if(list.isProperty()) list.delete(index) //We delete the element at list[index]
else ++index;
}
Maybe those aren't the real methods of the list interface in java, but they're quite self-explanatory.
Is this a good approach? Which data structure would fit best if I have to run this operation many times? I don't think an arrayList would work as I'd have to be moving around elements each time I delete and I can't ensure the elements I'll remove are in the head or the tail of the list either.

You can achieve it using iterator.Without having concurrent modification exception.
Say your list consists of object A
List<A> list = new ArrayList<A>();
Iterator<A> iterator = list.iterator();
while (iterator.hasNext()) {
A current = iterator.next();
if(current.isProperty()) {
iterator.remove();;
}
}

You should remove an element from a List using an Iterator. You can use this with ArrayList.
List<YourDataType> yourList = new ArrayList<YourDataType>();
Iterator<YourDataType> it = yourList.iterator();
while (it.hasNext())
it.remove();
With this you can use if-else to specify the element, which should be removed.
This should give you some hints, why you should use an Iterator.

Java. How to delete duplicate objects from both Lists

2nd question, which is continue of first.
I have got two Lists of strings. There is an List of strings (asu) - M1, M2, M3 ... As well as an List of string (rzs) - M1, M2, M3 and all possible combinations thereof. The need for each element (asu) (for example M1) to find an element in (rzs) (M1, M1M2, ..), which contains (e.g. M1). Example: took M1 from (asu) and will start search for duplicate(contain) in (rzs). We found M1M2 in (rzs), it contains M1. After that we should delete both elements from lists. Great thanks to No Idea For Name helped for modification this code. But the program always fails because AbstractList.remove error. Please help to implementation logic and tuning code!
Imports..........
public class work{
List<string> asu = Arrays.asList("M1","M1","M1","M3","M4","M5","M1","M1","M1","M4","M5","M5");
List<string> rzs = Arrays.asList("M1","M2","M3","M4","M5",
"M1M2","M1M3","M1M4","M1M5","M2M3","M2M4","M2M5","M3M4","M3M5","M4M5"
,"M1M2M3","M1M2M4","M1M2M5","M1M3M4","M1M3M4","M1M4M5","M2M4","M2M5");
public static void main(String[] args) {
work bebebe = new work();
bebebe.mywork();
}
List<string> tmp1 = new ArrayList<string>();
List<string> tmp2 = new ArrayList<string>();
System.out.println(Arrays.deepToString(rzs));
System.out.println(Arrays.deepToString(asu));
for (string curr : asu){
for (string currRzs : rzs){
System.out.println("New iteration ");
if (currRzs.contains(curr)) {
System.out.println("Element ("+curr+") in ASU =
element ("+currRzs+") in RZS");
if(tmp1.contains(curr) == false)
tmp1.add(curr);
if(tmp2.contains(currRzs) == false)
tmp2.add(currRzs);
}
}
}
for (string curr : tmp1){
asu.remove(curr);
}
for (string currRzs : tmp2){
rzs.remove(currRzs);
}

You should try to make use of removeAll() or retainAll() methods of Collection.
For example:
List<String> aList = new ArrayList<String>();
aList.add("a");
aList.add("b");
aList.add("c");
aList.add("d");
aList.add("e");
List<String> bList = new ArrayList<String>();
bList.add("b");
bList.add("e");
bList.add("d");
aList.removeAll(bList);
will give you the "a" and "c" elements left in aList
While if you try to make use of retainAll() method:
aList.retainAll(bList);
will give you "b", "d" and "e" elements left in aList;
retainAll() is used to remove all the elements of the invoking collection which are not part of the given collection.
removeAll() is used to remove all the elements of a collection from another collection.
So, it all depends on your use-case.
EDIT
If in any case you want to remove some elements from these collections while iterating conditionally then you should first obtain the Iterator<Type> then call the remove() method over it.
Like:
while(iterator.hasNext()){
String str = iterator.next();
if(str.equals('test')){
iterator.remove();
}
}

Don't remove items from list using foreach loop. Use classic for and iterate over elements, and when removing item, decrease iterator.

To safely remove elements while iterating use Iterator.remove method:
The behavior of an iterator is unspecified if the underlying
collection is modified while the iteration is in progress in any way
other than by calling this method.
Iterator<String> i = tmp1.iterator();
while (i.hasNext()) {
i.next(); // must be called before remove
i.remove();
}
Also it is easier to remove all collection from another by simply calling:
asu.removeAll(tmp1);

instead of List you can use Set, which will remove automatically the duplicate elements...

You can use removeAll() method to remove collection of elements from the list instead of removing one by one.
use
asu.removeAll(tmp1);
instead of
for (string curr : tmp1)
{
asu.remove(curr);
}
and use
rzs.removeAll(tmp2);
instead of
for (string currRzs : tmp2)
{
rzs.remove(currRzs);
}
update
I trace out your problem.The problem lies in Arrays.asList() method.
According to Arrays#asList
asList() returns "a fixed-size list backed by the specified array". If you want to resize the array, you have to create a new one and copy the old data. Then the list won't be backed by the same array instance.
So create a duplicate ArrayList for the lists.Like this
List<string> asuDuplicat = new ArrayList<string>(asu);
List<string> rzsDuplicat = new ArrayList<string>(rzs);
use asuDuplicat,rzsDuplicat.
asuDuplicat.removeAll(tmp1);
rzsDuplicat.removeAll(tmp2);

Nested iterating through list followed by an eventual deletion

I'm trying to iterate throuh a list while already looping through it (nested loops). Consider the code below:
ArrayList<Integer> list = new ArrayList<Integer>(); // add some values to it
for(int i : list) { // ConcurrentModificationException
Iterator iterator = list.iterator();
while(iterator.hasNext()) {
int n = iterator.next();
if(n % i == 0) {
iterator.remove();
}
}
}
The example above results in a ConcurrentModificationException. The condition to remove an element is, of course, just an example.
I'm sure I'm just missing something; but how should I construct a loop that achieves the same thing in Java without throwing an exception?

Obviously modifying list when you iterate over it causing the execption.
You can use another list to maintain the list of elements to be removed and remove them at the end.
ArrayList<Integer> list = new ArrayList<Integer>(); // add some values to it
ArrayList<Integer> del = new ArrayList<Integer>(); // Elements to be deleted
for(int i : list) { // ConcurrentModificationException
Iterator iterator = list.iterator();
while(iterator.hasNext()) {
int n = iterator.next();
if(n % i == 0) {
del.add(n);
}
}
}
list.removeALL(del);

Make the outer iteration iterate over a copy of the list.
for (int i : new ArrayList<>(list)) {
Iterator<Integer> iterator = list.iterator();
while (iterator.hasNext()) {
int n = iterator.next();
if (n % i == 0) {
iterator.remove();
}
}
}

You are getting ConcurrentModificationException because, while doing for loop you are trying to modify the list.
I am not sure whether following is elegant solution or not, but something like below may work:
Iterator<Integer> iterator = list.iterator();
int i=1;
while (iterator.hasNext()) {
int n = iterator.next();
if (n % i == 0) {
iterator.remove();
}
i++;
}

You cannot remove an item from a list that is being iterated. One option is to add the items that you need to another list. Finally you have list with the items you need. Or you can iterate over the clone of your original list.

i do some thing pretty similar to you. hav e alook at this code .
out:for(int h=0; h<tempAl.size(); h++) {
if(tempAl.get(0).split("\\s")[0].equals("OFF")){
tempAl.remove(0);
h=-1;
continue;
}
if(tempAl.get(h).split("\\s")[0].equals("ON")){
ONTime= tempAl.get(h);
///rest fof the code
}
i think you could also change the index after removing element from the arraylist.

I haven't tried, but either use:
List<Integer> list = new ArrayList<Integer>();
// add some values to it
for(Iterator<Integer> iterator1 = list.iterator(); iterator1.hasNext();) {
int i = iterator1.next();
for(Iterator<Integer> iterator2 = list.iterator(); iterator2.hasNext();){
int n = iterator.next();
if(n % i == 0) {
iterator2.remove();
}
}
}
or if this still throws the ConcurrentModificationException (I'm not sure what happens if you use 2 iterators backed by the same list), then use:
List<Integer> list = new ArrayList<Integer>();
// add some values to it
for(int i : new ArrayList(list)){ // copy list
...
}

foreach java syntax hides an iterator but as hiding it, it is not possible to call remove method on this one.
So I would do:
ArrayList<Integer> list = new ArrayList<Integer>(); // add some values to it
int count = 0;
for(Iterator<Integer> it = list.iterator();it.hasNext();count++){ //increments count++
Integer currentInt = it.next();
if(currentInt % count == 0){
it.remove();
}
}
You can see that the same feature is achieved without the need of a secondary iterator.
You can't iterate through the same list in the same time.
To sum up, a modcount variable is used to detect unexpected change of itself everytime a list is parallely changed or iterated over.
Leading thus to a ConcurrentModificationException.
It appears very often with multithreaded environment and developers must be aware of it.
Furthermore, prefer use for loop instead while loop to iterate over a collection.
Why ?
Because with the while way, you let the iterator object still in scope after the loop whereas with for, it doesn't. A simple ackward call to it.next() would end up with a NoSuchElementException.
It is a best practice to keep ;)

Remove duplicates from ArrayLists

I have an ArrayList of custom objects. I want to remove duplicate entries.
The objects have three fields: title, subtitle, and id. If a subtitle occurs multiple times, I only need the first item with thats subtitle (ignore the remaining object with that subtitle).

You can put the content of the ArrayList in a TreeSet using a custom Comparator which should return 0 if the two subtitles are the same.
After that you can convert the Set in a List and have the List without "duplicates".
Here is an example for Object, of course you should use the correct class and logic.
public void removeDuplicates(List<Object> l) {
// ... the list is already populated
Set<Object> s = new TreeSet<Object>(new Comparator<Object>() {
#Override
public int compare(Object o1, Object o2) {
// ... compare the two object according to your requirements
return 0;
}
});
s.addAll(l);
List<Object> res = Arrays.asList(s.toArray());
}

List list = (...);
//list may contain duplicates.
//remove duplicates if any
Set setItems = new LinkedHashSet(list);
list.clear();
list.addAll(setItems);
You may need to override "equals()" so that 2 elements are considered equals if they have the same subtitle (or tite and subtitle maybe ?)

List<Item> result = new ArrayList<Item>();
Set<String> titles = new HashSet<String>();
for(Item item : originalList) {
if(titles.add(item.getTitle()) {
result.add(item);
}
}
add() of the Set returns false if the element already exists.

I would suggest using a Set
http://download.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/util/Set.html
Which by its nature cannot contain duplicate items. You can create a new set from your original ArrayList using
Set myset = new HashSet(myArrayList);
Alternatively, just use a Set from the start, and don't use an ArrayList as it is not performing the function that you require.

If I understand correctly you have an ArrayList<Custom>, let's call it list. Your Custom class has a subtitle field, let's say with a getSubtitle() method that returns String. You want to keep only the first unique subtitle and remove any remaining duplicates. Here's how you can do that:
Set<String> subtitles = new HashSet<String>();
for (Iterator<Custom> it = list.iterator(); it.hasNext(); ) {
if (!subtitles.add(it.next().getSubtitle())) {
it.remove();
}
}

You can use an O(n^2) solution: Use list.iterator() to iterate the list once, and on each iteration, iterate it again to check if there are duplicates. If there are - call iterator.remove(). A variation of this is to use guava's Iterables.filter(list, predicate) where your filtering logic is in the predicate.
Another way (perhaps better) would be to define the equals(..) and hashCode(..) methods to handle your custom equality logic, and then simply construct a new HashSet(list). This will clear duplicates.

Removes any duplicates in a collection, while preserving the order if it is an ordered collection. Efficient enough for most cases.
public static <I, T extends Collection<I>> T removeDuplicates(T collection)
{
Set<I> setItems = new LinkedHashSet<I>(collection);
collection.clear();
collection.addAll(setItems);
return collection;
}

Update for Java8:
Using Java8 streams you can also do pretty trivally.
ArrayList<String> deduped;
deduped = yourArrayList.stream()
.distinct()
.collect(Collectors.toCollection(ArrayList::new));
This also has the advantage over going ArrayList → Set → ArrayList of maintaining ordering.

Use Collections.sort() to sort and use a simple for cycle to catch doubles, e.g.:
Collections.sort(myList);
A previous = null;
for (A elem: myList) {
if (elem.compareTo(previous) == 0) continue;
previous = elem;
[... process unique element ...]
}
This presumes that you'll implement Comparable in your type A.

private static List<Integer> removeDuplicates(List<Integer> list) {
ArrayList<Integer> uniqueList = new ArrayList<Integer>();
for (Integer i : list) {
if (!inArray(i, uniqueList)) {
uniqueList.add(i);
}
}
return uniqueList;
}
private static boolean inArray(Integer i, List<Integer> list) {
for (Integer integer : list) {
if (integer == i) {
return true;
}
}
return false;
}

The solution depends on circumstances.
If you don't have much data then go with a Set Set<T> unique = new HashSet<>(yourList); (use LinkedHashSet if you care about the order. It creates a new collection, but usually it's not a problem.
When you want to modify existing list and don't want to/can't create a new collection, you can remove duplicates like here:
List<Integer> numbers =
new ArrayList<>(asList(1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 5));
System.out.println("Numbers: " + numbers);
ListIterator<Integer> it = numbers.listIterator();
while (it.hasNext()) {
int i = it.nextIndex();
Integer current = it.next();
for (int j = 0; j < i; ++j) {
if (current.equals(numbers.get(j))) {
it.remove();
break;
}
}
}
System.out.println("Unique: " + numbers);
It works in O(n^2), but it works. Similar implementation, but simpler, is when the list is sorted - works in O(n) time. Both implementations are explained at Farenda: remove duplicates from list - various implementations.

In Java 8, you can also do something like this:
yourList.stream().collect(
Collectors.toMap(
obj -> obj.getSubtitle(),
Function.identity(),
(o1,o2) -> o1))
.values();
The trick is to collect stream to map and provide key collision resolver lambda ((o1,o2) -> o1) which always returns its first parameter.
The result is a Collection, not a List but you can easily convert it to a List:
new ArrayList(resultCollection);

List<YourObject> all = ******** // this is the object that you have already and filled it.
List<YourObject> noRepeat= new ArrayList<YourObject>();
for (YourObject al: all) {
boolean isPresent = false;
// check if the current objects subtitle already exists in noRepeat
for (YourObject nr : noRepeat) {
if (nr.getName().equals(al.getName()) {
isFound = true;//yes we have already
break;
}
}
if (!isPresent)
noRepeat.add(al); // we are adding if we don't have already
}
take one new ArrayList Object of same type
one by one add all the old arraylists elements into this new arraylist object
but before adding every object check in the new arraylist that if there is any object with the same subtitle.if new arraylist contains such subtitle don't add it. otherwise add it

Another method using Java 8 streams you can also do pretty cool:
List<Customer> CustomerLists;
List<Customer> unique = CustomerLists.stream().collect(collectingAndThen(
toCollection(() -> new TreeSet<>(comparingLong(Customer::getId))),
ArrayList::new));

Why do I get an UnsupportedOperationException when trying to remove an element from a List?

I have this code:
public static String SelectRandomFromTemplate(String template,int count) {
String[] split = template.split("|");
List<String> list=Arrays.asList(split);
Random r = new Random();
while( list.size() > count ) {
list.remove(r.nextInt(list.size()));
}
return StringUtils.join(list, ", ");
}
I get this:
06-03 15:05:29.614: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(7737): java.lang.UnsupportedOperationException
06-03 15:05:29.614: ERROR/AndroidRuntime(7737): at java.util.AbstractList.remove(AbstractList.java:645)
How would be this the correct way? Java.15

Quite a few problems with your code:
On Arrays.asList returning a fixed-size list
From the API:
Arrays.asList: Returns a fixed-size list backed by the specified array.
You can't add to it; you can't remove from it. You can't structurally modify the List.
Fix
Create a LinkedList, which supports faster remove.
List<String> list = new LinkedList<String>(Arrays.asList(split));
On split taking regex
From the API:
String.split(String regex): Splits this string around matches of the given regular expression.
| is a regex metacharacter; if you want to split on a literal |, you must escape it to \|, which as a Java string literal is "\\|".
Fix:
template.split("\\|")
On better algorithm
Instead of calling remove one at a time with random indices, it's better to generate enough random numbers in the range, and then traversing the List once with a listIterator(), calling remove() at appropriate indices. There are questions on stackoverflow on how to generate random but distinct numbers in a given range.
With this, your algorithm would be O(N).

This one has burned me many times. Arrays.asList creates an unmodifiable list.
From the Javadoc: Returns a fixed-size list backed by the specified array.
Create a new list with the same content:
newList.addAll(Arrays.asList(newArray));
This will create a little extra garbage, but you will be able to mutate it.

Probably because you're working with unmodifiable wrapper.
Change this line:
List<String> list = Arrays.asList(split);
to this line:
List<String> list = new LinkedList<>(Arrays.asList(split));

The list returned by Arrays.asList() might be immutable. Could you try
List<String> list = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(split));

I think that replacing:
List<String> list = Arrays.asList(split);
with
List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList(split));
resolves the problem.

Just read the JavaDoc for the asList method:
Returns a {#code List} of the objects
in the specified array. The size of
the {#code List} cannot be modified,
i.e. adding and removing are
unsupported, but the elements can be
set. Setting an element modifies the
underlying array.
This is from Java 6 but it looks like it is the same for the android java.
EDIT
The type of the resulting list is Arrays.ArrayList, which is a private class inside Arrays.class. Practically speaking, it is nothing but a List-view on the array that you've passed with Arrays.asList. With a consequence: if you change the array, the list is changed too. And because an array is not resizeable, remove and add operation must be unsupported.

The issue is you're creating a List using Arrays.asList() method with fixed Length
meaning that
Since the returned List is a fixed-size List, we can’t add/remove elements.
See the below block of code that I am using
This iteration will give an Exception Since it is an iteration list Created by asList() so remove and add are not possible, it is a fixed array
List<String> words = Arrays.asList("pen", "pencil", "sky", "blue", "sky", "dog");
for (String word : words) {
if ("sky".equals(word)) {
words.remove(word);
}
}
This will work fine since we are taking a new ArrayList we can perform modifications while iterating
List<String> words1 = new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList("pen", "pencil", "sky", "blue", "sky", "dog"));
for (String word : words) {
if ("sky".equals(word)) {
words.remove(word);
}
}

Arrays.asList() returns a list that doesn't allow operations affecting its size (note that this is not the same as "unmodifiable").
You could do new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList(split)); to create a real copy, but seeing what you are trying to do, here is an additional suggestion (you have a O(n^2) algorithm right below that).
You want to remove list.size() - count (lets call this k) random elements from the list. Just pick as many random elements and swap them to the end k positions of the list, then delete that whole range (e.g. using subList() and clear() on that). That would turn it to a lean and mean O(n) algorithm (O(k) is more precise).
Update: As noted below, this algorithm only makes sense if the elements are unordered, e.g. if the List represents a Bag. If, on the other hand, the List has a meaningful order, this algorithm would not preserve it (polygenelubricants' algorithm instead would).
Update 2: So in retrospect, a better (linear, maintaining order, but with O(n) random numbers) algorithm would be something like this:
LinkedList<String> elements = ...; //to avoid the slow ArrayList.remove()
int k = elements.size() - count; //elements to select/delete
int remaining = elements.size(); //elements remaining to be iterated
for (Iterator i = elements.iterator(); k > 0 && i.hasNext(); remaining--) {
i.next();
if (random.nextInt(remaining) < k) {
//or (random.nextDouble() < (double)k/remaining)
i.remove();
k--;
}
}

This UnsupportedOperationException comes when you try to perform some operation on collection where its not allowed and in your case, When you call Arrays.asList it does not return a java.util.ArrayList. It returns a java.util.Arrays$ArrayList which is an immutable list. You cannot add to it and you cannot remove from it.

I've got another solution for that problem:
List<String> list = Arrays.asList(split);
List<String> newList = new ArrayList<>(list);
work on newList ;)

Replace
List<String> list=Arrays.asList(split);
to
List<String> list = New ArrayList<>();
list.addAll(Arrays.asList(split));
or
List<String> list = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(split));
or
List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList(split));
or (Better for Remove elements)
List<String> list = new LinkedList<>(Arrays.asList(split));

Yes, on Arrays.asList, returning a fixed-size list.
Other than using a linked list, simply use addAll method list.
Example:
String idList = "123,222,333,444";
List<String> parentRecepeIdList = new ArrayList<String>();
parentRecepeIdList.addAll(Arrays.asList(idList.split(",")));
parentRecepeIdList.add("555");

You can't remove, nor can you add to a fixed-size-list of Arrays.
But you can create your sublist from that list.
list = list.subList(0, list.size() - (list.size() - count));
public static String SelectRandomFromTemplate(String template, int count) {
String[] split = template.split("\\|");
List<String> list = Arrays.asList(split);
Random r = new Random();
while( list.size() > count ) {
list = list.subList(0, list.size() - (list.size() - count));
}
return StringUtils.join(list, ", ");
}
*Other way is
ArrayList<String> al = new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList(template));
this will create ArrayList which is not fixed size like Arrays.asList

Arrays.asList() uses fixed size array internally.
You can't dynamically add or remove from thisArrays.asList()
Use this
Arraylist<String> narraylist=new ArrayList(Arrays.asList());
In narraylist you can easily add or remove items.

Arraylist narraylist=Arrays.asList(); // Returns immutable arraylist
To make it mutable solution would be:
Arraylist narraylist=new ArrayList(Arrays.asList());

Following is snippet of code from Arrays
public static <T> List<T> asList(T... a) {
return new ArrayList<>(a);
}
/**
* #serial include
*/
private static class ArrayList<E> extends AbstractList<E>
implements RandomAccess, java.io.Serializable
{
private static final long serialVersionUID = -2764017481108945198L;
private final E[] a;
so what happens is that when asList method is called then it returns list of its own private static class version which does not override add funcion from AbstractList to store element in array. So by default add method in abstract list throws exception.
So it is not regular array list.

Creating a new list and populating valid values in new list worked for me.
Code throwing error -
List<String> list = new ArrayList<>();
for (String s: list) {
if(s is null or blank) {
list.remove(s);
}
}
desiredObject.setValue(list);
After fix -
List<String> list = new ArrayList<>();
List<String> newList= new ArrayList<>();
for (String s: list) {
if(s is null or blank) {
continue;
}
newList.add(s);
}
desiredObject.setValue(newList);