I just got bit by using .clone() on my 2d boolean array, thinking that this was a deep copy.
How can I perform a deep copy of my boolean[][] array?
Should I loop through it and do a series of System.arraycopy's?
I just got bit by using .clone() on my 2d boolean array, thinking that this was a deep copy.
How can I perform a deep copy of my boolean[][] array?
Should I loop through it and do a series of System.arraycopy's?
You can iterate over this array and perform a series of calls of Arrays.copyOf method:
boolean[][] arr1 = {{true, true}, {false, true}}; // original array
boolean[][] arr2 = Arrays.copyOf(arr1, arr1.length); // shallow copy
boolean[][] arr3 = Arrays.stream(arr1) // deep copy
.map(arr -> Arrays.copyOf(arr, arr.length))
.toArray(boolean[][]::new);
arr1[0][0] = false;
System.out.println(Arrays.deepToString(arr1)); // [[false, true], [false, true]]
System.out.println(Arrays.deepToString(arr2)); // [[false, true], [false, true]]
System.out.println(Arrays.deepToString(arr3)); // [[true, true], [false, true]]
Or you can call Object.clone method:
boolean[][] arr3 = Arrays.stream(arr1)
.map(boolean[]::clone)
.toArray(boolean[][]::new);
Or you can create a generic method for this purpose:
static <T> T[][] deepCopy(T[][] matrix) {
return Arrays.stream(matrix)
.map(arr -> arr.clone())
.toArray(s -> matrix.clone());
}
See also: Why does Array.copyOf() mutate the original array in case of 2D Arrays?
Here's a reflective example using java.lang.reflect.Array which is more robust and a bit easier to follow. This method will copy any array, and deeply copies multidimensional arrays.
package mcve.util;
import java.lang.reflect.*;
public final class Tools {
private Tools() {}
/**
* Returns a copy of the specified array object, deeply copying
* multidimensional arrays. If the specified object is null, the
* return value is null. Note: if the array object has an element
* type which is a reference type that is not an array type, the
* elements themselves are not deep copied. This method only copies
* array objects.
*
* @param array the array object to deep copy
* @param <T> the type of the array to deep copy
* @return a copy of the specified array object, deeply copying
* multidimensional arrays, or null if the object is null
* @throws IllegalArgumentException if the specified object is not
* an array
*/
public static <T> T deepArrayCopy(T array) {
if (array == null)
return null;
Class<?> arrayType = array.getClass();
if (!arrayType.isArray())
throw new IllegalArgumentException(arrayType.toString());
int length = Array.getLength(array);
Class<?> componentType = arrayType.getComponentType();
@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
T copy = (T) Array.newInstance(componentType, length);
if (componentType.isArray()) {
for (int i = 0; i < length; ++i)
Array.set(copy, i, deepArrayCopy(Array.get(array, i)));
} else {
System.arraycopy(array, 0, copy, 0, length);
}
return copy;
}
}