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Cloning 1D and 2D array

 
Greenhorn
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While cloning 2D array the references changes the value of the original object when the clone contents are changed. But the case is not true for 1D array.

int [] data1= {1,2,3,4};

int [] copy1 = (int[])data1.clone();

copy1[0]=99;

System.out.println("data1[0]="+data1[0]);//no change in data1[0][0] it is still 1


int[][] data = {{1,2,3}, {4,5}};

int[][] copy = (int[][]) data.clone();

copy[0][0] = 99; // This changes data[0][0] too! ---y???

Could anyone please help me in understanding this.

 
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I think, this is because of the "shallow copying" technique while cloning.
This is what Java docs say regarding Object#clone() method:

The method clone for class Object performs a specific cloning operation. First, if the class of this object does not implement the interface Cloneable, then a CloneNotSupportedException is thrown. Note that all arrays are considered to implement the interface Cloneable. Otherwise, this method creates a new instance of the class of this object and initializes all its fields with exactly the contents of the corresponding fields of this object, as if by assignment; the contents of the fields are not themselves cloned. Thus, this method performs a "shallow copy" of this object, not a "deep copy" operation.



So, when you clone 2D array, all the internal primitive variables copy dosen't get created, but only upper layer 2 single dimension array is get copied.

i.e, This code will work and won't change the 'data'
 
Marshal
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You would have to iterate through the new array and replace every element by a clone of itself. Remember the contained objects are not clones of themselves.
 
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