.toArray()

The .toArray() method of the ArrayList class is a common method in Java that converts an ArrayList into an array and returns the newly created array. The returned array contains all the elements in the ArrayList in the correct order. The runtime type of the array is determined by the runtime type of the specified array.

Syntax

The following syntax is used when an ArrayList is converted into an array that returns another array:

Object[] toArray()

The following syntax is used when an ArrayList of type T is converted into an array that returns another array of type T:

<T> T[] toArray(T[] array)

Here, array is the resulting array after conversion.

Example 1

In the example below, the .toArray() method is used to convert an ArrayList named fruitsList containing strings to an array of strings. Once converted, the resulting array named fruitsArray is printed to the console:

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

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ArrayList<String> fruitsList = new ArrayList<>();
        fruitsList.add("Apple");
        fruitsList.add("Banana");
        fruitsList.add("Orange");

        // Converting the ArrayList to an array of strings
        String[] fruitsArray = fruitsList.toArray(new String[0]);
        System.out.println("Fruits Array: " + Arrays.toString(fruitsArray));
    }
}

The output should result in the following output:

Fruits Array: [Apple, Banana, Orange]

Example 2

In this example, the .toArray() method is used to convert an ArrayList named colorsList containing strings to an array of objects. Once converted, the resulting array named colorsArray is printed to the console:

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.Arrays;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ArrayList<String> colorsList = new ArrayList<>();
        colorsList.add("Red");
        colorsList.add("Green");
        colorsList.add("Blue");

        // Converting the ArrayList to an array of objects
        Object[] colorsArray = colorsList.toArray();
        System.out.println("Colors Array: " + Arrays.toString(colorsArray));
    }
}

The output should result in the following output:

Colors Array: [Red, Green, Blue]