add() method is used to add the elements into the ArrayList. There are two overloaded implementations of the add method for the ArrayList class.
Let’s look at the overloaded methods one by one
public boolean add(E e)
- Method declaration – public boolean add(E e)
- What does it do? – It appends the element passed in the argument to the end of the ArrayList
- What does it return? – It returns true on successful insertion of the element. Otherwise, it will return false.
Now, we will take a list of strings and try to add the elements to it using the add() function.
public class Codekru {
public static void main(String[] args) {
ArrayList<String> al = new ArrayList<String>();
// appending the elements at the end of the list
al.add("first");
al.add("second");
al.add("third");
// printing the contents of the list
System.out.println("ArrayList contents: " + al.toString());
}
}
Output –
ArrayList contents: [first, second, third]Time complexity of ArrayList add() method
ArrayList internally uses an array to store the data, and the array size becomes the capacity of the ArrayList. Keeping that in mind
- The best case time complexity of the ArrayList add() method is O(1). It’s when the ArrayList’s capacity is not full and more elements can be added without increasing its capacity.
- The worst-case time complexity of the ArrayList add() method is O(n). It’s when the ArrayList’s capacity became equal to its size, and now the array size has to be increased to accommodate new elements. So, it uses Arrays.copyOf() to copy the old array into a new one with the updated capacity. This operation takes O(n) time, and thus overall complexity of the add() method becomes O(n).
What if we use the method on a null ArrayList?
Here, we will get a NullPointerException as illustrated by the below program.
public class Codekru {
public static void main(String[] args) {
ArrayList<String> al = new ArrayList<String>();
al = null;
// appending the elements at the end of the list
al.add("first");
// printing the contents of the list
System.out.println("ArrayList contents: " + al.toString());
}
}
Output –
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "java.util.ArrayList.add(Object)" because "al" is nullWhat if we try to add the null object into an ArrayList?
ArrayList inserts the null object like any other object.
public class Codekru {
public static void main(String[] args) {
ArrayList<String> al = new ArrayList<String>();
// appending the elements at the end of the list
al.add(null);
al.add("first");
// printing the contents of the list
System.out.println("ArrayList contents: " + al.toString());
}
}
Output –
ArrayList contents: [null, first]public void add(int index, E element)
- Method declaration – public void add(int index, E element)
- What does it do? – It inserts the element passed in the argument at the specified index into the ArrayList. Remember, the indexing here starts from 0, so if you want to add the element at the 3rd position, you must pass the index as 2 into the function.
- What does it return? – It does not return anything as the function’s return type is void.
Code example
public class Codekru {
public static void main(String[] args) {
ArrayList<String> al = new ArrayList<String>();
// appending the elements at the end of the list
al.add("First");
al.add("Third");
// inserting the element at 2nd postion, by passing index as 1
al.add(1, "Second");
// printing the contents of the list
System.out.println("ArrayList contents: " + al.toString());
}
}
Output –
ArrayList contents: [First, Second, Third]Time complexity of ArrayList add(int index, E element) method
The time complexity of the ArrayList add(int index, E element) method is O(n).
What if we put the index greater than ArrayList size?
Here, we will get the IndexOutOfBoundsException as illustrated by the below program.
public class Codekru {
public static void main(String[] args) {
ArrayList<String> al = new ArrayList<String>();
// appending the elements at the end of the list
al.add("First");
al.add("Third");
// putting index as 3, which is greater than list's size (2)
al.add(3, "Second");
// printing the contents of the list
System.out.println("ArrayList contents: " + al.toString());
}
}
Output –
Exception in thread "main" java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException: Index: 3, Size: 2
at java.base/java.util.ArrayList.rangeCheckForAdd(ArrayList.java:756)
at java.base/java.util.ArrayList.add(ArrayList.java:481)Please visit this link to learn more about the ArrayList class of java and its other functions or methods.
We hope that you have liked the article. If you have any doubts or concerns, please feel free to write us in the comments or mail us at admin@codekru.com.