error with printing ArrayList elements

[nirjari patel]

import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;

public class LineCount {
	public static void main(String [] args) {
		try{
			FileReader fr = new FileReader("C:\\Users\\nirjari\\Desktop\\all text files\\cgi questions.txt");
			BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(fr);
			List<String> lines = new ArrayList<String>();
			String line = null;
			int lineCount = 0;
			int i;
			while((line=br.readLine()) != null){
				lineCount = lineCount + 1 ;
				lines.add(line) ;
			}
				for(i=0; i<=lines.size(); i++) {
					System.out.println(lines[i]);
				}
				System.out.println(lineCount);
		}

		catch(Exception e) {}
	}
}

I am getting following error at command line

C:\Users\nirjari\Desktop\javasourcefiles>javac LineCount.java
LineCount.java:18: array required, but java.util.List<java.lang.String> found
System.out.println(lines[i]);
^
1 error

When I am using "lines.length" instead of "lines.size()" to get number of elements in arrayList lines, I am getting following errors

C:\Users\nirjari\Desktop\javasourcefiles>javac LineCount.java
LineCount.java:17: cannot find symbol
symbol : variable length
location: interface java.util.List<java.lang.String>
for(i=0; i<=lines.length; i++) {
^
LineCount.java:18: array required, but java.util.List<java.lang.String> found
System.out.println(lines[i]);
^
2 errors

Why am I getting these errors ? What needs to be fixed ?
I checked sample codes online and they have used "lines.length" and not "lines.size()". So why is lines.length is not working in here ?

Thanks

[Mohamed Sanaulla]

As you are using a List- you need to use its get(int index) method to retrieve the elements. You would use lines[i] if lines were an array, but lines is a List so you should be using lines.get(i)

And also length is not a part of the List class. You can check out the documentation for the methods supported by java.util.List.

[Anupam Jain]

Hello Nirjari,

First thing here that you need to look at and understand is that...

Arraylist is not an Array (Yeah... I know they sound similar, but that's the way they liked it.)

And since they are not same... you can't use lines.length or lines[i] notations, which are spcecific to the Array type.

nirjari patel wrote:
When I am using "lines.length" instead of "lines.size()" to get number of elements in arrayList lines, I am getting following errors

C:\Users\nirjari\Desktop\javasourcefiles>javac LineCount.java
LineCount.java:17: cannot find symbol
symbol : variable length
location: interface java.util.List<java.lang.String>
for(i=0; i<=lines.length; i++) {
^
LineCount.java:18: array required, but java.util.List<java.lang.String> found
System.out.println(lines[i]);
^
2 errors

Why am I getting these errors ? What needs to be fixed ?
I checked sample codes online and they have used "lines.length" and not "lines.size()". So why is lines.length is not working in here ?

Thanks

Also, the code that you refferred online must be either using Array type or (otherwise) would be wrong themselves.

[Campbell Ritchie]

Anupam Jain wrote:. . . Arraylist is not an Array (Yeah... I know they sound similar, but that's the way they liked it.) . . .

ArrayList is called ArrayList because it uses an array to store its data.