Curriculum
In Java, an array is a data structure that can hold a fixed-size collection of elements of the same type. The elements in an array can be of any primitive or reference data type.
To copy an array in Java, there are a few different approaches you can take. Here are two common ways:
The arraycopy() method is a built-in method in Java that allows you to copy an array to another array. Here’s an example:
int[] sourceArray = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
int[] targetArray = new int[5];
System.arraycopy(sourceArray, 0, targetArray, 0, sourceArray.length);
In this example, we have two arrays – sourceArray and targetArray. We want to copy the contents of sourceArray to targetArray. We use the System.arraycopy() method to do this. The first parameter is the source array, the second parameter is the starting index of the source array, the third parameter is the target array, the fourth parameter is the starting index of the target array, and the fifth parameter is the number of elements to copy.
The clone() method is a built-in method in Java that allows you to create a new array that is a copy of an existing array. Here’s an example:
int[] sourceArray = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
int[] targetArray = sourceArray.clone();
In this example, we have two arrays – sourceArray and targetArray. We want to copy the contents of sourceArray to targetArray. We use the clone() method to create a new array that is a copy of sourceArray.
Both methods have their own advantages and disadvantages. System.arraycopy() is more efficient for large arrays, while clone() is more concise and easier to use for small arrays.
To use either method, you just need to provide the appropriate arguments and call the method. Once the copy is complete, you can use the new array just like any other array in your program.