src/spec/doc/_working-with-arrays.adoc

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= Working with arrays
:gdk: http://www.groovy-lang.org/gdk.html[Groovy development kit]

Groovy provides array support based on Java arrays with several extensions found in the {gdk}. The overall
intention is that whether you are using an array or a collection, the code for working with the aggregate remains the same.

[[Arrays]]
== Arrays

=== Array literals

You can create arrays as follows. Notice that `[]` is also used as the empty array
expression when given an explicit array type.

[source,groovy]
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include::../test/gdk/WorkingWithArraysTest.groovy[tags=array_literals,indent=0]
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=== Iterating on a list

Iterating on elements of a list is usually done calling the `each` and `eachWithIndex` methods, which execute code on each
item of a list:

[source,groovy]
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include::../test/gdk/WorkingWithArraysTest.groovy[tags=array_each,indent=0]
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=== Other useful methods

There are numerous other GDK methods for working with arrays.
Just be a little careful to read the documentation.
For collections, there are some mutating methods which alter
the original collection and others which produce new collections,
leaving the original untouched.
Since arrays are of a fixed size, we wouldn't expect mutating
methods which altered an array's size. Often instead, such methods return
collections. Here are some interesting array GDK methods:

[source,groovy]
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include::../test/gdk/WorkingWithArraysTest.groovy[tags=array_gdk,indent=0]
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