Do arrays auto-expand if created using List.toArray()

[O. Ziggy]

take a look at the following example

System.out.println("\n=========== [ Convert Lists to Arrays ] ==============\n");
		List<Integer> iL = new ArrayList<Integer>();
		for(int i=0;i<7;i++)
		{
			iL.add(i);
		}

		Object[] oa = iL.toArray();
		Integer[] ia = new Integer[4];
		ia = iL.toArray(ia);
		Integer[] ia2 = iL.toArray(ia);
		
		for(int i=0;i<7;i++)
		{
			System.out.println("oa - " + i + " - " + oa[i] );
		}	
			for(int i=0;i<7;i++)
		{
			System.out.println("ia - " + i + " - " + ia[i] );
		}
		for(int i=0;i<7;i++)
		{
			System.out.println("ia2 - " + i + " - " + ia2[i] );
		}

The output of the above is

=========== [ Convert Lists to Arrays ] ==============

=========== [ Convert Lists to Arrays ] ==============

oa - 0 - 0
oa - 1 - 1
oa - 2 - 2
oa - 3 - 3
oa - 4 - 4
oa - 5 - 5
oa - 6 - 6
ia - 0 - 0
ia - 1 - 1
ia - 2 - 2
ia - 3 - 3
ia - 4 - 4
ia - 5 - 5
ia - 6 - 6
ia2 - 0 - 0
ia2 - 1 - 1
ia2 - 2 - 2
ia2 - 3 - 3
ia2 - 4 - 4
ia2 - 5 - 5
ia2 - 6 - 6

I was expecting an ArrayIndexOutofBounds exception because i declared ia as a fixed array with only 4 elements (i.e. Integer[] ia = new Integer[4];) but the list contains 7 elements. It looks like even though i declared ia as being 4 elements it expanded to 7 elements as shown by the output.

[O. Ziggy]

Ok ill answer my own question. The API says that a new array will be created if it dont fit.

toArray

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

Returns an array containing all of the elements in this list in proper sequence (from first to last element); the runtime type of the returned array is that of the specified array. If the list fits in the specified array, it is returned therein. Otherwise, a new array is allocated with the runtime type of the specified array and the size of this list.