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Question

Consider:

List<String> someList = new ArrayList<String>();
// add "monkey", "donkey", "skeleton key" to someList

for (String item : someList) {
    System.out.println(item);
}

What would the equivalent for loop look like without using the for each syntax?

Accepted Answer

for (Iterator<String> i = someIterable.iterator(); i.hasNext();) {
    String item = i.next();
    System.out.println(item);
}

Note that if you need to use i.remove(); in your loop, or access the actual iterator in some way, you cannot use the for ( : ) idiom, since the actual iterator is merely inferred.

As was noted by Denis Bueno, this code works for any object that implements the Iterable interface.

Also, if the right-hand side of the for (:) idiom is an array rather than an Iterable object, the internal code uses an int index counter and checks against array.length instead. See the Java Language Specification.

Answer 2

The construct for each is also valid for arrays. e.g.

String[] fruits = new String[] { "Orange", "Apple", "Pear", "Strawberry" };

for (String fruit : fruits) {
    // fruit is an element of the `fruits` array.
}

which is essentially equivalent of

for (int i = 0; i < fruits.length; i++) {
    String fruit = fruits[i];
    // fruit is an element of the `fruits` array.
}

So, overall summary:
[nsayer] The following is the longer form of what is happening:

for(Iterator<String> i = someList.iterator(); i.hasNext(); ) {
  String item = i.next();
  System.out.println(item);
}
Note that if you need to use i.remove(); in your loop, or access the actual iterator in some way, you cannot use the for( : ) idiom, since the actual Iterator is merely inferred.

[Denis Bueno]

It's implied by nsayer's answer, but it's worth noting that the OP's for(..) syntax will work when "someList" is anything that implements java.lang.Iterable -- it doesn't have to be a list, or some collection from java.util. Even your own types, therefore, can be used with this syntax.

Answer 3

The for-each loop, added in Java 5 (also called the "enhanced for loop"), is equivalent to using a java.util.Iterator--it's syntactic sugar for the same thing. Therefore, when reading each element, one by one and in order, a for-each should always be chosen over an iterator, as it is more convenient and concise.

For-each

for (int i : intList) {
   System.out.println("An element in the list: " + i);
}

Iterator

Iterator<Integer> intItr = intList.iterator();
while (intItr.hasNext()) {
   System.out.println("An element in the list: " + intItr.next());
}

There are situations where you must use an Iterator directly. For example, attempting to delete an element while using a for-each can (will?) result in a ConcurrentModificationException.

For-each vs. for-loop: Basic differences

The only practical difference between for-loop and for-each is that, in the case of indexable objects, you do not have access to the index. An example when the basic for-loop is required:

for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
   if(i < 5) {
      // Do something special
   }  else {
      // Do other stuff
   }
}

Although you could manually create a separate index int-variable with for-each,

int idx = -1;
for (int i : intArray) {
   idx++;
   ...
}

...it is not recommended, since variable-scope is not ideal, and the basic for loop is simply the standard and expected format for this use case.

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