ArrayList spliterator() method example

ArrayList spliterator() returns the instance of Spliterator which is last-binding and fail-fast. Java Spliterator is used for traversing and partitioning elements of a source such as array, Set, List or IO channel.

1. ArrayList spliterator() method

1.1. Method definition

In case of arraylist, spliterator() method return the instance of ArrayListSpliterator class which in inner class of ArrayList and implements Spliterator interface.

public Spliterator<E> spliterator() {
    return new ArrayListSpliterator<>(this, 0, -1, 0);
}

static final class ArrayListSpliterator<E> implements Spliterator<E> {

	//implementation
}

Spliterator is fail-fast which means after the binding occurs, any interference with the elements is then detected, throwing a ConcurrentModificationException.

1.2. Characteristics

The spliterator returned by ArrayList is :

  • ORDERED – indicates that the elements have a defined order when traversing and partitioning.
  • SORTED – means that the elements follow a predefined sort order.
  • SUBSIZED – indicates that this and any further resulting Spliterator are SIZED. Here SIZED means the Spliterator has been created from a source with a known size.

2. ArrayList spliterator() example

A Spliterator can be used for many usecases. Few are usecases are discussed in below given examples.

2.1. tryAdvance() – Iterate one element at a time

Java program to iterate one element at a time using spliterator. It is equivalent to iterator.next() method from Iterator interface.

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Spliterator;

public class ArrayListExample 
{
	public static void main(String[] args) 
	{
		ArrayList<Integer> digits = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(1,2,3,4,5,6));

		Spliterator<Integer> sItr = digits.spliterator();
		
		sItr.tryAdvance( d -> System.out.println( d ) );
		sItr.tryAdvance( d -> System.out.println( d ) );
		sItr.tryAdvance( d -> System.out.println( d ) );
	}
}

Program output.

1
2
3

2.2. forEachRemaining() – Iterate all elements

Java program to iterate all elements and perform an action on them. It is equivalent to iterator.hasNext() method along with iterator.next() in a loop.

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Spliterator;

public class ArrayListExample 
{
	public static void main(String[] args) 
	{
		ArrayList<Integer> digits = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(1,2,3,4,5,6));

		Spliterator<Integer> sItr = digits.spliterator();
		
		sItr.tryAdvance( d -> System.out.println( d ) );	//1
		sItr.tryAdvance( d -> System.out.println( d ) );	//2
		
		sItr.forEachRemaining( d -> System.out.println( d ) );	//3,4,5,6
	}
}

Program output.

1
2
3
4
5
6

2.3. trySplit() – Parallel processing

If you are working on concurrent application and list has large number of elements then it’s good idea to divide the list into two parts and process parallely.

trySplit() method splits the current spliterator into two and returns the new one. The elements it is pointing to are divided into two equal lists.

Keep in mind that the individual Spliterator is not thread safe, by default. It is responsibility of application code to create different threads and hand over the Spliterator instances.
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Spliterator;

public class ArrayListExample 
{
	public static void main(String[] args) 
	{
		ArrayList<Integer> digits = new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(1,2,3,4,5,6));

		Spliterator<Integer> sItr1 = digits.spliterator();
		Spliterator<Integer> sItr2 = sItr1.trySplit();
		
		System.out.println(sItr1.getExactSizeIfKnown());			//3
		sItr1.forEachRemaining( d -> System.out.println( d ) );		//4,5,6
		
		System.out.println("===========");
		
		System.out.println(sItr2.getExactSizeIfKnown());			//3
		sItr2.forEachRemaining( d -> System.out.println( d ) );		//1,2,3
	}
}

Program output.

3
4
5
6
===========
3
1
2
3

3. Differences between Iterator and Spliterator

IteratorSpliterator
Since Java 1.2.Since Java 8.
Can be used to iterate all collection classes.Can be used to iterate array, stream, list and set. Not possible with map.
Does not support parallel processing.Supports parallel processing.

That’s all for the ArrayList spliterator() method in Java.

Happy Learning !!

Read More:

A Guide to Java ArrayList
ArrayList Java Docs
Spliterator Java Docs

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