clone()

Example

Generate a duplicate of a list.

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class Main { 
  public static void main(String[] args) { 
    ArrayList<String> cars = new ArrayList<String>();
    cars.add("Volvo");
    cars.add("BMW");
    cars.add("Ford");
    cars.add("Mazda");

   ArrayList cars2 = (ArrayList)cars.clone();
    cars2.set(0, "Toyota");

    System.out.println(cars);
    System.out.println(cars2);
  }
}

Definition and Usage

The clone() method retrieves a duplicate of the ArrayList as an Object.

This operation produces a “shallow” copy, implying that individual objects within the list are not duplicated; rather, the list contains references to the same objects as the original.

Please be aware that due to the return type being Object, it needs to be type casted to an ArrayList for usage, as demonstrated in the example provided above.

Syntax

public Object clone()

Technical Details