Java ArrayList copy

I have an ArrayList l1 of size 10. I assign l1 to new list reference type l2. Will l1 and l2 point to same ArrayList object? Or is a copy of the ArrayList object assigned to l2?

When using the l2 reference, if I update the list object, it reflects the changes in the l1 reference type also.

For example:

List<Integer> l1 = new ArrayList<Integer>();
for (int i = 1; i <= 10; i++) {
    l1.add(i);
}

List l2 = l1;
l2.clear();

Is there no other way to assign a copy of a list object to a new reference variable, apart from creating 2 list objects, and doing copy on collections from old to new?

Solution 1:

Yes, assignment will just copy the value of l1 (which is a reference) to l2. They will both refer to the same object.

Creating a shallow copy is pretty easy though:

List<Integer> newList = new ArrayList<>(oldList);

(Just as one example.)

Solution 2:

Try to use Collections.copy(destination, source);

Solution 3:

Yes l1 and l2 will point to the same reference, same object.

If you want to create a new ArrayList based on the other ArrayList you do this:

List<String> l1 = new ArrayList<String>();
l1.add("Hello");
l1.add("World");
List<String> l2 = new ArrayList<String>(l1); //A new arrayList.
l2.add("Everybody");

The result will be l1 will still have 2 elements and l2 will have 3 elements.

Solution 4:

Another convenient way to copy the values from src ArrayList to dest Arraylist is as follows:

ArrayList<String> src = new ArrayList<String>();
src.add("test string1");
src.add("test string2");
ArrayList<String> dest= new ArrayList<String>();
dest.addAll(src);

This is actual copying of values and not just copying of reference.

Solution 5:

There is a method addAll() which will serve the purpose of copying One ArrayList to another.

For example you have two Array Lists: sourceList and targetList, use below code.

targetList.addAll(sourceList);