1. Overview
Through this tutorial, we’ll take a look at how to replace an element at a specific index in a Java ArrayList.
2. Common Practice
To replace an existing element, First, we need to find the exact position of that element in the ArrayList. This position is what we call the index. Then, we can replace the old element with a new one.
The most common way to replace an element in Java ArrayList is to use the set (int index, Object element) method. The set() method takes two parameters: the index of the existing item and the new item.
The index of an ArrayList is zero-based. Thus, to replace the first element, 0 must be the index passed as a parameter.
The IndexOutOfBoundsException will occur if the provided index is out of bounds.
3. Implementation
Let’s see through an example how to replace an element in Java ArrayList at a specific index.
List<Integer> EXPECTED = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(1, 2, 3, 4, 5));
List<Integer> aList = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(1, 2, 7, 4, 5));
aList.set(2, 3);
assertThat(aList).isEqualTo(EXPECTED);
First, we create an ArrayList with five elements. Then, we replace the third element with the value 7, having index 2 with 3. Finally, we can see that index 2 with value 7 is removed from the list and updated with the new value 3. Also, note that the list size is not impacted.
4. Conclusion
In this quick article, we learned how to replace an element at a specific index in Java ArrayList. Furthermore, you can use this method with any other List type like LinkedList. Just make sure that the List you are using is not immutable.
As always, the complete source code for this article can be found over on GitHub.
