Removing an element from Array on Runtime in Java

Question

Is there a way to remove an element from a an Array on Runtime?

For Example:

int[] num =  {8, 1, 4, 0, 5};

Output:
Enter the Index: 0
1, 4, 0, 5
Enter the Index: 3
1, 4, 0
Enter the Index: 1
4, 0;

I know that you cannot resize an Array's length once it is initialized and in this kind of sample problem, using an ArrayList is much more practical. However, is there a way to do this kind of problem by using just an array?

I've managed to remove one element and display the array -1 by creating new array and copying the original array's values in it. But the problem is, in the next iteration in the Output I can still remove an element but the size does not change.

This is what happens:

int[] num =  {8, 1, 4, 0, 5};

Output:
Enter the Index: 0
1, 4, 0, 5  // in the first loop it goes as I want it.
Enter the Index: 2
1, 4, 5, 5  // this time array's length is still 4 and just duplicates the last value
Enter the Index: 1
1, 5, 5, 5  // length is still the same and so on.

This is my code in removing an element from an array:

public static int[] removeElement(int index, int[] n) {

    int end = n.length;

    for(int j = index; j < end - 1; j++) {
        n[j] = n[j + 1];            
    }
    end--;

    int[] newArr = new int[end];
    for(int k = 0; k < newArr.length; k++) {
        newArr[k] = n[k];
    }

    displayArray(newArr);        

    return newArr;
}

public static void main(String[] args) {
     Scanner input = new Scanner(System.in);
     int[] num = {8, 1, 4, 0, 5};

     for(int i = 0; i < num.length; i++) {
          System.out.print("Enter the Index: ");
          int index = input.nextInt();
          removeElement(index, num);
     }
}

public static void displayArray(int[] n) {
     int i = 0;
     for(; i < n.length - 1; i++) {
          System.out.print(n[i] + ", ");
     }
     System.out.print(n[i]);
}

Is there a trick on how to do this on Arrays? Or do I really have to use ArrayList?

Answer 1

You are discarding the new array returned by removeElement.

Change your loop to:

for(int i = 0; i < num.length; i++) {
     System.out.print("Enter the Index: ");
     int index = input.nextInt();
     num = removeElement(index, num);
}