Java - Collection.remove() behaves differently in different conditions - java

This is a follow up to my previous question :
Collection - Iterator.remove() vs Collection.remove()
The below two pieces of code , which apparently differs only by a single line , but one throws exception and other don't . Can you please explain the difference ?
List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>
(Arrays.asList("noob1","noob2","noob3"));
System.out.println(list);
for (String str : list) {
if (str.equals("noob2")) {
list.remove(str);
}
}
runs fine , but if i change the condition to
if (!str.equals("noob2"))
the code throws exception !

What happens in this situation is you are removing the second list element.
List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>
(Arrays.asList("noob1", "noob2", "noob3", "noob4"));
System.out.println(list);
for (Iterator<String> iterator = list.iterator(); iterator.hasNext(); ) {
String str = iterator.next();
if (str.equals("noob3")) {
System.out.println("Checking "+str);
list.remove(str);
}
}
System.out.println(list);
prints
[noob1, noob2, noob3, noob4]
Checking noob1
Checking noob2
Checking noob3
[noob1, noob2, noob4]
By removing the second last element you have reduced the size to the number of elements which you have iterated over.
// from ArrayList.Itr
public boolean hasNext() {
return cursor != size;
}
This causes the loop to exit early before the concurrent modifcation check is performed in next(). If you remove any other element next() is called and you get a CME.
BTW Something which also bypasses the check is
for (Iterator<String> iterator = list.iterator(); iterator.hasNext(); ) {
String str = iterator.next();
System.out.println("Checking "+str);
if (str.equals("noob2")) {
list.remove("noob1");
list.remove("noob3");
}
}
as long as the size of the collection is the same as the index it is up to, the check is not performed.

The for loop is just a simplified syntax for an iterator scan of the list. The iterator may throw an exception if the list is modified under it, but it is not guaranteed. Because of hasNext, iterators are often working one element ahead, making the first case less likely to be affected by list modification. By the time "noob2" is removed, the iterator already knows about "noob3".

Actually you should never remove collections' elements during "casual" iterating. When you have to modify your collection in some loop you have to use iterator to make these operations.
public class Test {
public static void main(String... args) {
List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList("noob1", "noob2", "noob3"));
System.out.println(list);
for (Iterator<String> iterator = list.iterator(); iterator.hasNext();) {
String str = iterator.next();
if (!str.equals("noob2")) {
iterator.remove();
}
}
System.out.println(list);
}
}

I suppose the exception is thown because you are trying to change a collection you are looping on... and not because the if condition.
I suggest you to create a new list only containing the items that verify the condition. Add them to the new list and avoid to change the original collection.

It's because you are trying to remove from a Collection you are currently iterating through. Making a minor alteration you can do what you want to do:
String[] strValues = {"noob1","noob2","noob3"}; // <<< Array
List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList(strValues));
System.out.println(list);
for (String str : strValues) { // << List is duplicate of array so can iterate through array
if (!str.equals("noob2")) {
list.remove(str);
}
}
That should work. Hopefully

Well, your first case doesn't throw the Exception because, the iterator returns false for Iterator.hasNext() at index 2 as you remove the element at index 1.
Iterator<String> itr = list.iterator();
while(itr.hasNext()){
String s= itr.next();
if(s.equals("noob2")){
list.remove(s); // size of the list is 2 here
System.out.println(itr.hasNext());// this returns false as it doesn't have anything at index 2 now.(on 2nd iteration )
}
}
You can test it clearly using a simple for-loop:
for (int i=0; i<list.size(); i++) {
if (list.get(i).equals("noob2")) {
System.out.println(list.get(i));
System.out.println(list.size());
list.remove(list.get(i));
System.out.println(list.size());
}
}
Output:
[noob1, noob2, noob3]
noob2
3
2
Notice the size of the list after you remove the element, which fails after incrementing. 2<2 which is false

Related

ConcurrentModificationException When removing element using list iterator java

I have an issue removing the 1st and 2nd element of my list even by using the iterator.
I have read the following threads but can't fix my issue (those were the most relevant but I checked other material as well):
ConcurrentModificationException when trying remove element from list
Iterating through a Collection, avoiding ConcurrentModificationException when removing objects in a loop
So my code looks like this:
List<List<String>> list = cnf.read();
List<List<String>> nlist = new ArrayList<>();
for (List<String> l : list) {
if (l.size() <= 3) {
nlist.add(l);
} else {
int size = l.size();
while (size > 3) {
List<String> three = l.subList(0, 2);
three.add("Y" + (count++));
//Iterator itr = l.iterator();
ListIterator itr = l.listIterator();
int v = 0;
while (itr.hasNext()) {
itr.next();
if (v == 0 || v == 1) {
itr.remove();
v++;
}
}
l.add(0, "Y" + (count++));
size--;
nlist.add(three);
}
nlist.add(l);
}
}
for (List<String> l : nlist) {
System.out.println(l.toString());
System.out.println(l.size());
}
I get a ConcurrentModificationException at the print statement here :
System.out.println(l.toString());
I tried using iterators for my 2 for loops as well but It doesn't seem to make a difference!
I am new to posting questions so let me know If I am doing it right!
Thank you.
After A long debugging, here is the solution.
The sublist function passes by reference and not by value, a sublist created by ArrayList.subList call keeps a reference to the original list and accesses its elementData array directly.
For this reason, when adding an element to the "three" list, we alter the state of the original list. this happens here:
three.add("Y" + (count++));
A way of fixing it for this specific case is to create and initialize the "three" list the following way:
String one = l.get(0);
String two = l.get(1);
List<String> three = new ArrayList<>();
three.add(one);
three.add(two);
three.add("Y" + (count));
This allows us to manipulate our lists without getting Concurrency Exceptions (ConcurrentModificationException). However, if you are manipulating big lists, I would suggest you use another less hardcoded method for list creation.
I will mark this thread as answered and hope it helps people.

Why does this code throw ConcurrentModificationException?

Write a method removeEvenLength that takes a Set of strings as a parameter and that removes all of the strings of even length from the set.
My solution:
public static void removeEvenLength(Set<String> set) {
for(String word : set) {
if(word.length() % 2 == 0) {
set.remove(word);
}
}
}
Input:
[foo, buzz, bar, fork, bort, spoon, !, dude]
Output:
ConcurrentModificationException on line 2:
java.util.ConcurrentModificationException
at java.util.TreeMap$PrivateEntryIterator.nextEntry(TreeMap.java:1115)
at java.util.TreeMap$KeyIterator.next(TreeMap.java:1169)
at removeEvenLength (Line 2)
So I can solve it by creating an Iterator. But I want to know why the above code doesn't work?
EDIT:
Iterator doesn't work either:
public static void removeEvenLength(Set<String> set) {
Iterator<String> i = set.iterator();
while(i.hasNext()) {
String word = i.next();
if(word.length() % 2 == 0) {
set.remove(word);
}
}
}
Same error.
In this iteration iterator object is implicitly created. When you have iterator you can change collection just from iterator. In this case you are removing object directly, that's why this exception is thrown.
Create iterator, and remove object with iterator:
iterator.remove(); // removes current element
To understand why ConcurrentModificationException occurs, you will have understand the concept of fail-fast iteration. If a thread is iterating over a collection, and it realizes that the collection is being modified as the iteration is going on, the iterator will throw an exception rather than "probably" cause any integrity problems later on in the code.
Of course, not all iterators follow this approach, and using the Java Iterator will almost always ensure that the iteration never fails on modification.
To remove an element using the iterator, use this code
Iterator<String> iter = list.iterator();
while(iter.hasNext()) {
String obj = iter.next();
if(<removal_condition_here>) {
iter.remove();
}
}

Why is this ArrayList throwing a ConcurrentModificationException when I try to remove an element?

I'm trying to remove a particular element from Arraylist, it throws an ConcurrentModificationException
ArrayList<String> ar = new ArrayList<String>();
ar.add("a");
ar.add("b");
ar.add("c");
ar.add("a");
ar.add("e");
for(String st: ar){
System.out.println("st="+st);
if(st.equals("a")){
ar.remove(st);
}
}
any comments, what am I doing wrong?
Only remove an element from the array while iterating by using Iterator.remove().
The line for(String st: ar) { is a bit misleading. You're actually creating an iterator behind the scenes which is being used for this iteration. If you need to remove elements from within the iteration, you need to explicitly use an iterator so that you can call iterator.remove().
ArrayList<String> ar = new ArrayList<String>();
ar.add("a");
ar.add("b");
ar.add("c");
ar.add("a");
ar.add("e");
Iterator<String> it = ar.iterator();
while (it.hasNext()) {
String st = it.next();
System.out.println("st="+st);
if (st.equals("a")) {
it.remove();
}
}
you are modifing the array you are iterating on.
I suggest you to use the Iterator to do similar things.
You're removing an element from a collection while you're iterating over that collection, without using the iterator to do it. Don't do that. There are lots of alternatives, primarily:
Use indexes instead (get, remove(int)) being careful about your counts so that you don't skip over items
for (int i = 0; i < ar.size(); i++) {
String st = ar.get(i);
System.out.println("st="+st);
if(st.equals("a")) {
ar.remove(i);
i--; // We want to use this index again
}
}
Build up a collection of items to remove, then remove them all afterwards
List<String> elementsToRemove = new ArrayList<String>();
for(String st: ar){
System.out.println("st="+st);
if(st.equals("a")){
elementsToRemove.add(st);
}
}
ar.removeAll(elementsToRemove);
Remove using the iterator, if the iterator supports removal (as ArrayList's does)
for (Iterator<String> it = ar.iterator(); it.hasNext(); ) {
String st = it.next();
System.out.println("st="+st);
if(st.equals("a")) {
it.remove();
}
}

How to avoid java.util.ConcurrentModificationException when iterating through and removing elements from an ArrayList

I have an ArrayList that I want to iterate over. While iterating over it I have to remove elements at the same time. Obviously this throws a java.util.ConcurrentModificationException.
What is the best practice to handle this problem? Should I clone the list first?
I remove the elements not in the loop itself but another part of the code.
My code looks like this:
public class Test() {
private ArrayList<A> abc = new ArrayList<A>();
public void doStuff() {
for (A a : abc)
a.doSomething();
}
public void removeA(A a) {
abc.remove(a);
}
}
a.doSomething might call Test.removeA();
Two options:
Create a list of values you wish to remove, adding to that list within the loop, then call originalList.removeAll(valuesToRemove) at the end
Use the remove() method on the iterator itself. Note that this means you can't use the enhanced for loop.
As an example of the second option, removing any strings with a length greater than 5 from a list:
List<String> list = new ArrayList<String>();
...
for (Iterator<String> iterator = list.iterator(); iterator.hasNext(); ) {
String value = iterator.next();
if (value.length() > 5) {
iterator.remove();
}
}
From the JavaDocs of the ArrayList
The iterators returned by this class's iterator and listIterator
methods are fail-fast: if the list is structurally modified at any
time after the iterator is created, in any way except through the
iterator's own remove or add methods, the iterator will throw a
ConcurrentModificationException.
You are trying to remove value from list in advanced "for loop", which is not possible, even if you apply any trick (which you did in your code).
Better way is to code iterator level as other advised here.
I wonder how people have not suggested traditional for loop approach.
for( int i = 0; i < lStringList.size(); i++ )
{
String lValue = lStringList.get( i );
if(lValue.equals("_Not_Required"))
{
lStringList.remove(lValue);
i--;
}
}
This works as well.
In Java 8 you can use the Collection Interface and do this by calling the removeIf method:
yourList.removeIf((A a) -> a.value == 2);
More information can be found here
You should really just iterate back the array in the traditional way
Every time you remove an element from the list, the elements after will be push forward. As long as you don't change elements other than the iterating one, the following code should work.
public class Test(){
private ArrayList<A> abc = new ArrayList<A>();
public void doStuff(){
for(int i = (abc.size() - 1); i >= 0; i--)
abc.get(i).doSomething();
}
public void removeA(A a){
abc.remove(a);
}
}
While iterating the list, if you want to remove the element is possible. Let see below my examples,
ArrayList<String> names = new ArrayList<String>();
names.add("abc");
names.add("def");
names.add("ghi");
names.add("xyz");
I have the above names of Array list. And i want to remove the "def" name from the above list,
for(String name : names){
if(name.equals("def")){
names.remove("def");
}
}
The above code throws the ConcurrentModificationException exception because you are modifying the list while iterating.
So, to remove the "def" name from Arraylist by doing this way,
Iterator<String> itr = names.iterator();
while(itr.hasNext()){
String name = itr.next();
if(name.equals("def")){
itr.remove();
}
}
The above code, through iterator we can remove the "def" name from the Arraylist and try to print the array, you would be see the below output.
Output : [abc, ghi, xyz]
Do the loop in the normal way, the java.util.ConcurrentModificationException is an error related to the elements that are accessed.
So try:
for(int i = 0; i < list.size(); i++){
lista.get(i).action();
}
Here is an example where I use a different list to add the objects for removal, then afterwards I use stream.foreach to remove elements from original list :
private ObservableList<CustomerTableEntry> customersTableViewItems = FXCollections.observableArrayList();
...
private void removeOutdatedRowsElementsFromCustomerView()
{
ObjectProperty<TimeStamp> currentTimestamp = new SimpleObjectProperty<>(TimeStamp.getCurrentTime());
long diff;
long diffSeconds;
List<Object> objectsToRemove = new ArrayList<>();
for(CustomerTableEntry item: customersTableViewItems) {
diff = currentTimestamp.getValue().getTime() - item.timestamp.getValue().getTime();
diffSeconds = diff / 1000 % 60;
if(diffSeconds > 10) {
// Element has been idle for too long, meaning no communication, hence remove it
System.out.printf("- Idle element [%s] - will be removed\n", item.getUserName());
objectsToRemove.add(item);
}
}
objectsToRemove.stream().forEach(o -> customersTableViewItems.remove(o));
}
One option is to modify the removeA method to this -
public void removeA(A a,Iterator<A> iterator) {
iterator.remove(a);
}
But this would mean your doSomething() should be able to pass the iterator to the remove method. Not a very good idea.
Can you do this in two step approach :
In the first loop when you iterate over the list , instead of removing the selected elements , mark them as to be deleted. For this , you may simply copy these elements ( shallow copy ) into another List.
Then , once your iteration is done , simply do a removeAll from the first list all elements in the second list.
In my case, the accepted answer is not working, It stops Exception but it causes some inconsistency in my List. The following solution is perfectly working for me.
List<String> list = new ArrayList<>();
List<String> itemsToRemove = new ArrayList<>();
for (String value: list) {
if (value.length() > 5) { // your condition
itemsToRemove.add(value);
}
}
list.removeAll(itemsToRemove);
In this code, I have added the items to remove, in another list and then used list.removeAll method to remove all required items.
Instead of using For each loop, use normal for loop. for example,the below code removes all the element in the array list without giving java.util.ConcurrentModificationException. You can modify the condition in the loop according to your use case.
for(int i=0; i<abc.size(); i++) {
e.remove(i);
}
Sometimes old school is best. Just go for a simple for loop but make sure you start at the end of the list otherwise as you remove items you will get out of sync with your index.
List<String> list = new ArrayList<>();
for (int i = list.size() - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
if ("removeMe".equals(list.get(i))) {
list.remove(i);
}
}
You can also use CopyOnWriteArrayList instead of an ArrayList. This is the latest recommended approach by from JDK 1.5 onwards.
Do somehting simple like this:
for (Object object: (ArrayList<String>) list.clone()) {
list.remove(object);
}
An alternative Java 8 solution using stream:
theList = theList.stream()
.filter(element -> !shouldBeRemoved(element))
.collect(Collectors.toList());
In Java 7 you can use Guava instead:
theList = FluentIterable.from(theList)
.filter(new Predicate<String>() {
#Override
public boolean apply(String element) {
return !shouldBeRemoved(element);
}
})
.toImmutableList();
Note, that the Guava example results in an immutable list which may or may not be what you want.
for (A a : new ArrayList<>(abc)) {
a.doSomething();
abc.remove(a);
}
"Should I clone the list first?"
That will be the easiest solution, remove from the clone, and copy the clone back after removal.
An example from my rummikub game:
SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
public void removeStones() {
ArrayList<Stone> clone = (ArrayList<Stone>) stones.clone();
// remove the stones moved to the table
for (Stone stone : stones) {
if (stone.isOnTable()) {
clone.remove(stone);
}
}
stones = (ArrayList<Stone>) clone.clone();
sortStones();
}
I arrive late I know but I answer this because I think this solution is simple and elegant:
List<String> listFixed = new ArrayList<String>();
List<String> dynamicList = new ArrayList<String>();
public void fillingList() {
listFixed.add("Andrea");
listFixed.add("Susana");
listFixed.add("Oscar");
listFixed.add("Valeria");
listFixed.add("Kathy");
listFixed.add("Laura");
listFixed.add("Ana");
listFixed.add("Becker");
listFixed.add("Abraham");
dynamicList.addAll(listFixed);
}
public void updatingListFixed() {
for (String newList : dynamicList) {
if (!listFixed.contains(newList)) {
listFixed.add(newList);
}
}
//this is for add elements if you want eraser also
String removeRegister="";
for (String fixedList : listFixed) {
if (!dynamicList.contains(fixedList)) {
removeResgister = fixedList;
}
}
fixedList.remove(removeRegister);
}
All this is for updating from one list to other and you can make all from just one list
and in method updating you check both list and can eraser or add elements betwen list.
This means both list always it same size
Use Iterator instead of Array List
Have a set be converted to iterator with type match
And move to the next element and remove
Iterator<Insured> itr = insuredSet.iterator();
while (itr.hasNext()) {
itr.next();
itr.remove();
}
Moving to the next is important here as it should take the index to remove element.
List<String> list1 = new ArrayList<>();
list1.addAll(OriginalList);
List<String> list2 = new ArrayList<>();
list2.addAll(OriginalList);
This is also an option.
If your goal is to remove all elements from the list, you can iterate over each item, and then call:
list.clear()
What about of
import java.util.Collections;
List<A> abc = Collections.synchronizedList(new ArrayList<>());
ERROR
There was a mistake when I added to the same list from where I took elements:
fun <T> MutableList<T>.mathList(_fun: (T) -> T): MutableList<T> {
for (i in this) {
this.add(_fun(i)) <--- ERROR
}
return this <--- ERROR
}
DECISION
Works great when adding to a new list:
fun <T> MutableList<T>.mathList(_fun: (T) -> T): MutableList<T> {
val newList = mutableListOf<T>() <--- DECISION
for (i in this) {
newList.add(_fun(i)) <--- DECISION
}
return newList <--- DECISION
}
Just add a break after your ArrayList.remove(A) statement

how hasnext() works in collection in java

program:
public class SortedSet1 {
public static void main(String[] args) {
List ac= new ArrayList();
c.add(ac);
ac.add(0,"hai");
ac.add(1,"hw");
ac.add(2,"ai");
ac.add(3,"hi");
ac.add("hai");
Collections.sort(ac);
Iterator it=ac.iterator();
k=0;
while(it.hasNext()) {
System.out.println(""+ac.get(k));
k++;
}
}
}
output:
ai
hai
hi
hw
hai
how it execute 5 times??
while come to hai no next element present so condition false. But how it executed.
Your loop above iterates through the list using an index. it.hasNext() returns true until it reaches the end of the list. Since you don't call it.next() within your loop to advance the iterator, it.hasNext() keeps returning true, and your loop rolls on. Until, that is, k gets to be 5, at which point an IndexOutOfBoundsException is thrown, which exits the loop.
The proper idiom using an iterator would be
while(it.hasNext()){
System.out.println(it.next());
}
or using an index
for(int k=0; k<ac.size(); k++) {
System.out.println(ac.get(k));
}
However since Java5, the preferred way is using the foreach loop (and generics):
List<String> ac= new ArrayList<String>();
...
for(String elem : ac){
System.out.println(elem);
}
the point is ac.get(k) doesn't consume any element of the iterator at the contrary of it.next()
That loop will never terminate. it.hasNext does not advance the iterator. You have to call it.next() to advance it. The loop probably terminates because k becomes 5 at which point the Arraylist with throw a bounds exception.
The correct form of iterating a list (containing strings) is either:
Iterator it = ac.iterator();
while (it.hasNext) {
System.out.println((String) it.next());
}
Or if the list is typed, e.g. ArrayList
for (String s : ac) {
System.out.println((String) s);
}
Or if you absolutely know this is an array list and need speed over terseness:
for (int i = 0; i < ac.size(); i++) {
System.out.println(ac.get(i));
}

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