Iterate over static array in java without array variable

Question

In Ruby, I can do something like:

["FOO", "BAR"].each do { |str| puts str }

Iterating over an array defined in the statement in which I'm using it. Since I can define an array in Java like:

String[] array = { "FOO", "BAR" };

I know I can avoid defining the variable by setting up a loop like:

for (String str : new String[] { "FOO", "BAR" }) { ... }

But, I was hoping java might have something more terse, WITHOUT defining a variable containing the array first, and also allow me to avoid the dynamic allocation, is there a syntax like:

for (String str : { "FOO", "BAR" }) { ... }

That is more terse that will work with Java that I'm missing, or is the solution I've got above my only option?

Answer 1

The best you can do is

    for(String s : Arrays.asList("a", "b")) {
        System.out.println(s);
    }

java.util.Arrays gives a method asList(...) which is a var-arg method, and it can be used to create List (which is dynamic array) on fly.

In this way you can declare and iterate over an array in same statement

Answer 2

In Java 8, you will be able to do the following:

Stream.of("FOO", "BAR").forEach(s -> System.out.println(s));

This uses the new java.util.stream package and lambda expressions.