how to return an array from a method

[Manisekar Chinnasami]

class Test
{
public int methode()
{
int a = {1,2,3,4,5};
return a; // how to return it ??? return a[] or anyother way?
}
}

give me a solution ...

[Ernest Friedman-Hill]

Just like this:

public int[] methode() {
    int[] a = {1,2,3,4,5};
    return a; 
}

[vanlalhmangaiha khiangte]

Instead of returning a single integer in
public int methode()
Return an array of integers like
public int[] methode()

[Peter Chase]

Your problem isn't with the "return", it's with the earlier declaration of variable "a" and the declaration of the method. In both cases, you declared it as "int", but it is [a reference to] an array, so should have been declared "int[]".

Once your method and your variable "a" are declared as "int[]", you can just use "return a" to return [a reference to] the array.

[Manisekar Chinnasami]

when i tried to compile the following program, i got an incompatible type error ... (for returning an array) ....

import java.lang.reflect.Array;

class ResizeArray
{
static int z;
public int resizeArr(int [] b,int n)
{

z = n;
b = new int[10];
b = (int[])ArrayUtils.expand(b);
return b;

}

public static Object expand(Object a)
{
Class cl = a.getClass();
if (!cl.isArray()) return null;
int length = Array.getLength(a);
int newLength = z;
Class componentType = a.getClass().getComponentType();
Object newArray = Array.newInstance(componentType, newLength);
System.arraycopy(a, 0, newArray, 0, length);
return newArray;
}

public static void main(String args[])
{
ResizeArray ra = new ResizeArray();
int a[] = {1,2,3,4,5};
System.out.println("main length "+a.length);
int d=3;
ra.resizeArr(a,d);
}
}

watz the error in it ???

[Kelvin Chenhao Lim]

Hi Manisekar,

You forgot to change the return type of your resizeArr() method to declare an array return type:

public int[] resizeArr(int [] b,int n)
{
z = n;
b = new int[10];
b = (int[])ArrayUtils.expand(b);
return b;
}

[Manisekar Chinnasami]

yup ... you are correct, Kelvin. i didnt notice that ... thanks

[Bert Bates]

Hey Manisekar,

You've hit upon a very, very important idea in Java, and in OO languages in general. It's useful to think of the methods you create for your objects as message senders and receivers. As you get deeper and deeper into the language you'll see that a method's "signature" (in other words the messages it must receive and the message it returns) are always a crucial part of understanding the method itself - in many cases the ONLY thing you'll know about how a method works is what you must send to it, and what it will return to you. So, you're on the right track figuring out how to return an array!

Bert