How do I declare and initialize an array in Java?
29 Answers
You can either use array declaration or array literal (but only when you declare and affect the variable right away, array literals cannot be used for re-assigning an array).
For primitive types:
int[] myIntArray = new int[3];
int[] myIntArray = {1, 2, 3};
int[] myIntArray = new int[]{1, 2, 3};
// Since Java 8. Doc of IntStream:
int [] myIntArray = IntStream.range(0, 100).toArray(); // From 0 to 99
int [] myIntArray = IntStream.rangeClosed(0, 100).toArray(); // From 0 to 100
int [] myIntArray = IntStream.of(12,25,36,85,28,96,47).toArray(); // The order is preserved.
int [] myIntArray = IntStream.of(12,25,36,85,28,96,47).sorted().toArray(); // Sort
For classes, for example String, it's the same:
String[] myStringArray = new String[3];
String[] myStringArray = {"a", "b", "c"};
String[] myStringArray = new String[]{"a", "b", "c"};
The third way of initializing is useful when you declare an array first and then initialize it, pass an array as a function argument, or return an array. The explicit type is required.
String[] myStringArray;
myStringArray = new String[]{"a", "b", "c"};
There are two types of array.
One Dimensional Array
Syntax for default values:
int[] num = new int[5];
Or (less preferred)
int num[] = new int[5];
Syntax with values given (variable/field initialization):
int[] num = {1,2,3,4,5};
Or (less preferred)
int num[] = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
Note: For convenience int[] num is preferable because it clearly tells that you are talking here about array. Otherwise no difference. Not at all.
