Different ways to Iterate over an ArrayList in Java

ArrayList

ArrayList is a collection that is ordered by index. This means that when you add elements to the ArrayList the order of the list is determined by insertion order. Lists are zero based this means that you can access the first element in the collection with index zero e.g.: colors.get(0). Unlike Sets a List  allows duplicate and null elements. A list will be initialised with a default size but they can grow dynamically.

Characteristics

• zero based
• allows duplicate elements
• allows null elements
• ordered by index
• unsorted
• grows dynamically

Iterate over an ArrayList Examples

In Java you have many possibilities to iterate over a list. I have the most commonly used listed.

package com.memorynotfound.collections.list;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.List;

/**
 * @author MemoryNotFound.com
 */
public class ListIterateProgram {

    public static void main(String... args){

        List<String> colors = Arrays.asList("red", "orange", "yellow", "green", "blue", "indigo", "violet");

        // Basic loop
        for (int i = 0; i < colors.size(); i++){
            String color = colors.get(i);
            printColor(color);
        }

        // Enhanced for loop
        for (String color : colors) {
            printColor(color);
        }

        // Basic loop with iterator
        for (Iterator<String> it = colors.iterator(); it.hasNext(); ){
            String color = it.next();
            printColor(color);
        }

        // Iterator with while loop
        Iterator<String> it = colors.iterator();
        while (it.hasNext()){
            String color = it.next();
            printColor(color);
        }

        // JDK 8 streaming example lambda expression
        colors.stream().forEach(color -> printColor(color));

        // JDK 8 streaming example method reference
        colors.stream().forEach(ListIterateProgram::printColor);

        // JDK 8 for each with lambda
        colors.forEach(color -> printColor(color));

        // JDK 8 for each
        colors.forEach(ListIterateProgram::printColor);
    }

    private static void printColor(String color){
        System.out.println("color: " + color);
    }

}

Sample output

Because ArrayList is a sequential list hence insertion and retrieval order is the same. We know that all elements have the following output:

red 
orange 
yellow 
green
blue
indigo
violet