ArrayList of int array in java

I'm new to the concept of arraylist. I've made a short program that is as follows:

ArrayList<int[]> arl=new ArrayList<int[]>();
int a1[]={1,2,3};
arl.add(0,a1);
System.out.println("Arraylist contains:"+arl.get(0));

It gives the output: Arraylist contains:[I@3e25a5

Now my questions are:

1. How to display the correct value i.e. 1 2 3.
2. How can I access the single element of array a1 i.e. if I want to know the value at a1[1].

Solution 1:

First of all, for initializing a container you cannot use a primitive type (i.e. int; you can use int[] but as you want just an array of integers, I see no use in that). Instead, you should use Integer, as follows:

ArrayList<Integer> arl = new ArrayList<Integer>();

For adding elements, just use the add function:

arl.add(1);  
arl.add(22);
arl.add(-2);

Last, but not least, for printing the ArrayList you may use the build-in functionality of toString():

System.out.println("Arraylist contains: " + arl.toString());  

If you want to access the i element, where i is an index from 0 to the length of the array-1, you can do a :

int i = 0; // Index 0 is of the first element
System.out.println("The first element is: " + arl.get(i));

I suggest reading first on Java Containers, before starting to work with them.

Solution 2:

More simple than that.

List<Integer> arrayIntegers = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(1,2,3));

arrayIntegers.get(1);

In the first line you create the object and in the constructor you pass an array parameter to List.

In the second line you have all the methods of the List class: .get (...)

Solution 3:

1. Use Arrays.toString( arl.get(0) ).

2. arl.get(0)[1]

Solution 4:

The setup:

    List<int[]> intArrays=new ArrayList<>();
    int anExample[]={1,2,3};
    intArrays.add(anExample);

To retrieve a single int[] array in the ArrayList by index:

    int[] anIntArray = intArrays.get(0); //'0' is the index
    //iterate the retrieved array an print the individual elements
    for (int aNumber : anIntArray ) { 
        System.out.println("Arraylist contains:" + aNumber );
    }

To retrieve all int[] arrays in the ArrayList:

    //iterate the ArrayList, get and print the elements of each int[] array  
    for(int[] anIntArray:intArrays) {
       //iterate the retrieved array an print the individual elements
       for (int aNumber : anIntArray) {
           System.out.println("Arraylist contains:" + aNumber);
       }
}

Output formatting can be performed based on this logic. Goodluck!!

Solution 5:

In java, an array is an object. Therefore the call to arl.get(0) returns a primitive int[] object which appears as ascii in your call to System.out.

The answer to your first question is therefore

System.out.println("Arraylist contains:"+Arrays.toString( arl.get( 0 ) ) );

If you're looking for particular elements, the returned int[] object must be referenced as such. The answer to your second question would be something like

    int[] contentFromList = arl.get(0);
    for (int i = 0; i < contentFromList.length; i++) {
        int j = contentFromList[i];
        System.out.println("Value at index - "+i+" is :"+j);
    }