System.arraycopy() in Java with Examples

The System.arraycopy() method in Java is given to copy an array to another array. It copies an array from the specified source array, beginning at the specified position, to the specified position of the destination array.

Syntax of the arraycopy() method in java.lang.System class,

public static native void arraycopy(Object src, 
    int srcPos, Object dest, int destPos, int length);

Argumnets:-

• src:- The source array.
• srcPos:- Starting position in the source array.
• dest:- The destination array.
• destPos:- starting position in the destination array.
• length:- the number of array elements to be copied.

Since java.lang.System class is imported by default in all Java classes therefore to use arraycopy() method no need to explicitly import the System class.

Java Program to Copy Complete Array using System.arraycopy()

To copy the complete array using System.arraycopy() method,

1) Take an array (source array)
2) Declare a new array with the same length. See:- How to find the length of different arrays in Java?
3) Call System.arraycopy(src, 0, dest, 0, src.length);

System.arraycopy(src, 0, dest, 0, src.length);

It will copy from the beginning of the source array to the beginning of the destination array until the length of the original array.

import java.util.Arrays;

public class ArrayTest {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    
    // source array
    int src[] = {10, 15, 20, 25, 30};
    
    // destination array
    int dest[] = new int[src.length];
    
    // copy array using System.arraycopy
    System.arraycopy(src, 0, dest, 0, src.length);
    
    // display arrays
    System.out.println("Source array = " + 
                        Arrays.toString(src));
    System.out.println("Destination array = " + 
                        Arrays.toString(dest));

  }

}

Output:-

Source array = [10, 15, 20, 25, 30]
Destination array = [10, 15, 20, 25, 30]

Copy Only Particular Elements

Now let us see other examples of coping only some particular elements.

Assume we have an array of five integers,
src = {10, 20, 30, 40, 50};
And we have another array of integers with five zeros.
dest = {0, 0, 0, 0, 0};

Now, to copy 20, 30, 40 from the src array, we must pass srcPos=0 and length=3. If we pass destPos=1 then the destination array will fill up from the 1st index of the array to 1+3 = 4th position. No changes to the 0th and 5th index elements of the destination array.

System.arraycopy(src, 0, dest, 1, 3);

Then
Dest = {0,10,20,30,0};

Let us see it through an Java program,

import java.util.Arrays;

public class ArrayTest {

  public static void main(String[] args) {
    
    // source array
    int src[] = {10, 15, 20, 25, 30};
    
    // destination array
    int dest[] = new int[src.length];
    
    // copy array using System.arraycopy
    System.arraycopy(src, 0, dest, 1, 3);
    
    // display reverse of the array
    System.out.println("Source array = " + 
                     Arrays.toString(src));
    System.out.println("Destination array = " + 
                      Arrays.toString(dest));

  }

}

Output:-

Source array = [10, 15, 20, 25, 30]
Destination array = [0, 10, 15, 20, 0]

Another Example to copy particular elements using arraycopy() method,

// source array
int src[] = {10, 15, 20, 25, 30};

// destination array
int dest[] = new int[src.length];
// dest = {0, 0, 0, 0, 0};

// copy array using System.arraycopy
System.arraycopy(src, 0, dest, 0, 3);

// display the array
System.out.println("Destination Array = " + 
                  Arrays.toString(src));

Output:-

Destination Array = [10, 15, 20, 0, 0]

Copy Array Elements to the Same Array

If the arguments for the source array and the destination refer to the same array object, then the copying is performed as if the components at positions srcPos through srcPos+length-1 were first copied to a temporary array with length components and then the contents of the temporary array were copied into positions destPos through destPos+length-1 of the destination array. Example:-

int src[] = {10, 15, 20, 25, 30};
System.arraycopy(src, 0, src, 2, 3);

// display the array
System.out.println("Array = " +  Arrays.toString(src));

Output:-

Array = [10, 15, 10, 15, 20]

Exceptions thrown by the System.arrayCopy() Method in Java

The java.lang.System.arraycopy() method throws NullPointerException, IndexOutOfBoundsException, and ArrayStoreException.

When it throws NullPointerException?

• If the destination array is null.
• If the source array is null. In this case, the destination array won’t be modified.

When it throws IndexOutOfBoundsException (In this case, the destination array won’t be modified):-

• Value for srcPos/destPos/length is negative.
• The srcPos+length is greater than the length of the source array.
• The destPos+length is greater than the length of the destination array.

When it throws ArrayStoreException (In this case, the destination array won’t be modified):-

• The src/dest refers to an object that is not an array.
• Both arrays component types are different primitive types.
• The src argument refers to an array with a primitive component type and the dest argument refers to an array with a reference component type.

Copy Multidimensional Array using System.arraycopy() in Java

We can also copy multidimensional array like 2D array and 3D array using System.arraycopy() method. Let us demonstrate it through an example with the 2D array.

import java.util.Arrays;

public class ArrayTest {

   public static void main(String[] args) {

      // original 2D array 3x2
      int src[][] = { { 1, 2 }, { 4, 5 }, { 7, 8 } };

      // destination array
      int dest[][] = new int[3][2];

      // copy array using System.arraycopy
       System.arraycopy(src, 0, dest, 0, src.length);

      // display both array
      System.out.println("Source array = " +
                         Arrays.deepToString(src));
      System.out.println("Destination array = " +
                         Arrays.deepToString(dest) );

   }
}

Output:-

Source array = [[1, 2], [4, 5], [7, 8]]
Destination array = [[1, 2], [4, 5], [7, 8]]

Copy Object Array Using System.arraycopy() Method

Let us demonstrate an example to copy an array of objects in Java using System.arraycopy() method.

class Student {
   private int idNum;
   private String name;

   // constructor
   public Student(int idNum, String name) {
      this.idNum = idNum;
      this.name = name;
   }

   @Override
   public String toString() {
      return "[" + idNum + ", " + name + "]";
   }
}

In Student class, we are overriding the toString() method to display the Student content. See:- Example of Arrays.toString() with Object Array

import java.util.Arrays;
public class Collage {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      // array of Student objects
      Student[] st = new Student[3];

      // initialize Student object
      st[0] = new Student(100, "Emma");
      st[1] = new Student(115, "Alex");
      st[2] = new Student(225, "Amelia");

      // display Student details (Original)
      System.out.println("Original Array= " + 
                          Arrays.toString(st));
        
      // create new Student array
      Student[] newSt = new Student[st.length];
      // copy all Student objects
      System.arraycopy(st, 0, newSt, 0, st.length);
      // display new array
      System.out.println("Copied Array= " + 
                          Arrays.toString(newSt));
   }
}

Output:-

Original Array= [[100, Emma], [115, Alex], [225, Amelia]]
Copied Array= [[100, Emma], [115, Alex], [225, Amelia]]

System.arraycopy() Performs Shallow or Deep Copy?

System.arraycopy() always performs shallow copy. It means when it is applied to non-primitive arrays then it copies Object references rather than object data.

We can demonstrate it through the multidimensional array. Multidimensional arrays are also called an array of arrays. We will use the previous 2D array.

// original 2D array 3x2
int src[][] = { { 1, 2 }, { 4, 5 }, { 7, 8 } };

// destination array
int dest[][] = new int[3][2];

// copy array using System.arraycopy
System.arraycopy(src, 0, dest, 0, src.length);

// display array (Before Modification)
System.out.println("Before Modification,");
System.out.println("Source array = " + Arrays.deepToString(src));
System.out.println("Destination array = " + Arrays.deepToString(dest));

// modify original array
src[0][0] = 999;
src[1][1] = 888;

// display array (After Modification)
System.out.println("\nAfter Modification,");
System.out.println("Source array = " + Arrays.deepToString(src));
System.out.println("Destination array = " + Arrays.deepToString(dest));

Output:-

Before Modification,
Source array = [[1, 2], [4, 5], [7, 8]]
Destination array =[[1, 2], [4, 5], [7, 8]]

After Modification,
Source array = [[999, 2], [4, 888], [7, 8]]
Destination array = [[999, 2], [4, 888], [7, 8]]

We can notice that after copying the array when we changed the content of an element then the copied array element is also modified. Therefore we can say, it is performing shallow copy of the given array.

The Arrays.copyOf() method and Arrays.copyOfRange() methods of java.util.Arrays class are internally using System.arraycopy() method therefore they are also performing shallow copy of the array.

Let us another example with an array of Objects to verify it is performing shallow copy, not the deep copy.

class Student {
   public int idNum;
   private String name;

   // constructor
   public Student(int idNum, String name) {
      this.idNum = idNum;
      this.name = name;
   }

   @Override
   public String toString() {
      return "[" + idNum + ", " + name + "]";
   }
}

import java.util.Arrays;
public class Collage {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      // array of Student objects
      Student[] st = new Student[3];

      // initialize Student object
      st[0] = new Student(100, "Emma");
      st[1] = new Student(115, "Alex");
      st[2] = new Student(225, "Amelia");

      // create new Student array
      Student[] newSt = new Student[st.length];
      // copy all Student objects
      System.arraycopy(st, 0, newSt, 0, st.length);

      // display array (Before Modification)
      System.out.println("Before Modification,");
      System.out.println("Original Array= " + Arrays.toString(st));
      System.out.println("Copied Array= " + Arrays.toString(newSt));

      // modifying
      st[0].idNum = 99999999;

      // display array (After Modification)
      System.out.println("\nAfter Modification,");
      System.out.println("Original Array= " + Arrays.toString(st));
      System.out.println("Copied Array= " + Arrays.toString(newSt));

   }
}

Output:-

Before Modification,
Original Array= [[100, Emma], [115, Alex], [225, Amelia]]
Copied Array=[[100, Emma], [115, Alex], [225, Amelia]]

After Modification,
Original Array= [[99999999, Emma], [115, Alex], [225, Amelia]]
Copied Array=[[99999999, Emma], [115, Alex], [225, Amelia]]

Questions on System.arraycopy() in Java

What is the time complexity of system.arraycopy() method in Java? O(n), where N is the length to be copied (i.e. length argument). See more

System.arraycopy source code? The arraycopy() is a native method and it uses a direct memory copy outside of Java land. The native method is implemented in platform-dependent code, typically written in another programming language such as C, C++, FORTRAN, or assembly language. The body of a native method is given as a semicolon only, indicating that the implementation is omitted, instead of a block. Native methods and implemented differently by the Virtual Machine you are using. There is no one implementation of this method, and in fact, different codes may be executed on different architectures or VMS. See more

Performance of System.arraycopy? Is it better to use System.arraycopy() than a for loop for copying? The arraycopy() is likely the fastest way to copy an array, and it gives better performance compared to normal array copy using loops. It’s in the system because it uses a direct memory copy outside of Java land. java.lang.System class provides useful methods for standard input and output, for loading files and libraries, or to access externally defined properties.

System.arraycopy() performs shallow or deep copy? System.arraycopy() always performs shallow copy. It means when arraycopy() applied to non-primitive arrays then it copies Object references rather than object data.

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