Passing Array as Parameters to Methods

7.3 Passing Array as Parameters to Methods

Just like other objects, arrays can be passed as parameters to methods. The following method takes a int array as an argument and prints the data stored in each element of array:

public static void printArray(int[] list, int n)
{
   for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
   {
      System.out.print(list[i] + " ");
   }
}                      

Sometimes the number of elements in the array might be less than the length of the array. So in above code we declare another formal parameter specifying the number of elements in the array. Following example demostrate passing an array as parameter to method

import java.util.Scanner;

/**
 * This program demonstrates passing an array as an
 * argument to method.
 */
public class PassArray
{
   public static void main(String[] args)
   {
      final int SIZE = 4;    // Size of the array

      // Create an array.
      int[] array = new int[SIZE];

      // Pass the array to the fillArray method.
      fillArray(array, SIZE);
      System.out.println("Numbers are :");

      // Pass the array to the printArray method.
      printArray(array, SIZE);
   }

   /**
    * The fillArray method accepts an array as
    * an argument. Each of its Element is filled by user.
    */
   private static void fillArray(int[] list, int n)
   {
      // Create a Scanner object for keyboard input.
      Scanner console = new Scanner(System.in);

      System.out.println("Enter " + n + " integers");

      for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
      {
         list[i] = console.nextInt();
      }
   }

   /**
    * The printArray method accepts an array as
    * an argument displays its contents.
    */
   public static void printArray(int[] list, int n)
   {
      for (int i = 0; i < n; i++)
      {
         System.out.print(list[i] + " ");
      }
   }
}

Output :

Enter 4 integers
5
8
2
9
Numbers are :
5 8 2 9