someArray.splice(a,b,...) method in JavaScript adds or removes items to/from array. What could be good and simple solution to implement such method in Java language? Assume we have String[] array.

someArray.splice(a,b,...) method in JavaScript adds or removes items to/from array. What could be good and simple solution to implement such method in Java language? Assume we have String[] array.

• java
• javascript
• splice

• 1 If you are looking for a way to resize array then you probably should be using List instead of array. This will give you addAll(index, Collection) which you can use as addAll(index, Arrays.aslList("foo", "bar")) – Pshemo Commented Mar 14, 2015 at 17:59
• In Java, arrays cannot be added to (grown) . Use ArrayList for that. – Jonas Czech Commented Mar 14, 2015 at 17:59

6 Answers 6

Here is a Java implementation of the Array.prototype.splice() method as per the JavaScript MDN specification.

  public static <T>T[] splice(final T[] array, int start) {
    if (start < 0)
      start += array.length;

    return splice(array, start, array.length - start);
  }

  @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
  public static <T>T[] splice(final T[] array, int start, final int deleteCount) {
    if (start < 0)
      start += array.length;

    final T[] spliced = (T[])Array.newInstance(array.getClass().getComponentType(), array.length - deleteCount);
    if (start != 0)
      System.arraycopy(array, 0, spliced, 0, start);

    if (start + deleteCount != array.length)
      System.arraycopy(array, start + deleteCount, spliced, start, array.length - start - deleteCount);

    return spliced;
  }

  @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
  public static <T>T[] splice(final T[] array, int start, final int deleteCount, final T ... items) {
    if (start < 0)
      start += array.length;

    final T[] spliced = (T[])Array.newInstance(array.getClass().getComponentType(), array.length - deleteCount + items.length);
    if (start != 0)
      System.arraycopy(array, 0, spliced, 0, start);

    if (items.length > 0)
      System.arraycopy(items, 0, spliced, start, items.length);

    if (start + deleteCount != array.length)
      System.arraycopy(array, start + deleteCount, spliced, start + items.length, array.length - start - deleteCount);

    return spliced;
  }

The following JUnit code tests this implementation:

@Test
  public void testSplice() {
    final String[] array = new String[] {"a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f"};

    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"c", "d", "e", "f"}, Arrays.splice(array, 0, 2));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "d", "e", "f"}, Arrays.splice(array, 1, 2));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "e", "f"}, Arrays.splice(array, 2, 2));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "c", "f"}, Arrays.splice(array, 3, 2));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "c", "d"}, Arrays.splice(array, 4, 2));
    try {
      Arrays.splice(array, 5, 2);
      Assert.fail("Expected ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException");
    }
    catch (final ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
    }

    try {
      Arrays.splice(array, -2, 3);
      Assert.fail("Expected ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException");
    }
    catch (final ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
    }
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "c", "d"}, Arrays.splice(array, -2, 2));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "c", "f"}, Arrays.splice(array, -3, 2));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "e", "f"}, Arrays.splice(array, -4, 2));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "d", "e", "f"}, Arrays.splice(array, -5, 2));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"c", "d", "e", "f"}, Arrays.splice(array, -6, 2));
    try {
      Arrays.splice(array, -7, 2);
      Assert.fail("Expected ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException");
    }
    catch (final ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
    }

    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {}, Arrays.splice(array, 0));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a"}, Arrays.splice(array, 1));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b"}, Arrays.splice(array, 2));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "c"}, Arrays.splice(array, 3));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "c", "d"}, Arrays.splice(array, 4));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "c", "d", "e"}, Arrays.splice(array, 5));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "c", "d", "e", "f"}, Arrays.splice(array, 6));
    try {
      Arrays.splice(array, 7);
      Assert.fail("Expected ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException");
    }
    catch (final ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
    }

    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "c", "d", "e"}, Arrays.splice(array, -1));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "c", "d"}, Arrays.splice(array, -2));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "c"}, Arrays.splice(array, -3));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b"}, Arrays.splice(array, -4));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a"}, Arrays.splice(array, -5));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {}, Arrays.splice(array, -6));
    try {
      Arrays.splice(array, -7);
      Assert.fail("Expected NegativeArraySizeException");
    }
    catch (final NegativeArraySizeException e) {
    }

    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"x", "y", "z", "c", "d", "e", "f"}, Arrays.splice(array, 0, 2, "x", "y", "z"));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "x", "y", "z", "d", "e", "f"}, Arrays.splice(array, 1, 2, "x", "y", "z"));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "x", "y", "z", "e", "f"}, Arrays.splice(array, 2, 2, "x", "y", "z"));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "c", "x", "y", "z", "f"}, Arrays.splice(array, 3, 2, "x", "y", "z"));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "c", "d", "x", "y", "z"}, Arrays.splice(array, 4, 2, "x", "y", "z"));
    try {
      Arrays.splice(array, 5, 2, "x", "y", "z");
      Assert.fail("Expected ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException");
    }
    catch (final ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
    }

    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "c", "d", "x", "y", "z"}, Arrays.splice(array, -2, 2, "x", "y", "z"));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "c", "x", "y", "z", "f"}, Arrays.splice(array, -3, 2, "x", "y", "z"));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "b", "x", "y", "z", "e", "f"}, Arrays.splice(array, -4, 2, "x", "y", "z"));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"a", "x", "y", "z", "d", "e", "f"}, Arrays.splice(array, -5, 2, "x", "y", "z"));
    Assert.assertArrayEquals(new String[] {"x", "y", "z", "c", "d", "e", "f"}, Arrays.splice(array, -6, 2, "x", "y", "z"));
    try {
      Arrays.splice(array, -7, 2, "x", "y", "z");
      Assert.fail("Expected ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException");
    }
    catch (final ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
    }
  }

Edit: As @denys-séguret pointed out correctly, this implementation differs from the JavaScript spec as it does not mutate/modify the original array. Instead, this implementation returns a new array instance.

Edit: This implementation is available with the following maven artifact, at the given maven repo:

<project>
  ...
  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.safris.commons</groupId>
      <artifactId>commons-lang</artifactId>
      <version>1.6.4</version>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
  ...
  <repositories>
    <repository>
      <id>mvn.repo.safris.org</id>
      <url>http://mvn.repo.safris.org/m2</url>
    </repository>
  </repositories>
  ...
</project>

Java arrays have a fixed length, so there's no such method.

You could imagine writing a utility function similar to splice in Java but it would return a different array. There's no point in having arrays in java if you resize them: it's not efficient and you can't share the instance.

The usual and clean solution is to use a List, which is a resizeable collection. ArrayList, the most commonly used List implementation is backed by an array but is efficient as the array isn't changed every time you resize the collection.

In standard Java libraries, there is no equivalent functionality.

There is java.util.Arrays class, but no similar functionality there.

Java arrays have a fixed length, so this cannot be done directly.

If you want to combine two arrays, look at this answer.

If you want to add to the array, you should use a List or an ArrayList instead.

I misread your question and mixed up splice and slice.

The class java.util.Arrays provides some static functions useful when working with arrays. See the official documentation for other functions: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/Arrays.html.

Java's equivalent for slice is: Arrays.copyOfRange(array, from, to).

A similar method to splice is addAll (http://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/ArrayList.html#addAll-int-java.util.Collection-). But you need to use a java.util.ArrayList instead an array and it is not possible to remove elements with it. You would have to provide the elements as another collection, e.g. an ArrayList. So it is equivalent to calling splice(index, 0, element1, element2, ...)

Arrays in Java have a fixed number of elements. But you can make that element null like this:

array[element]==null;

And that is the same as removing it from the array. You can also have a variable that keeps track of how many elements aren't null, so that you can even have an array.length kind of thing that follows that. that's what I do anyway.