How to pass an array of primitive types as object array in java?

Question

I wanted the following function to be generic for all data types. However, this does not work with the primitive data types. Why is that? Can anyone give a solution to this? I would greatly appreciate it.

private int getIndexOfElement(Object x, Object[] xArray){
        for(int i=0; i<xArray.length;i++){
            if(xArray[i]==x){
                return i;
            }
        }
        return  -1;
    }

Something like this can be done with reflection using java.lang.reflect.Array, but almost certainly not recommended. Reflection is clunky and error-prone so you'd think carefully about whether it's actually a good decision to use it. Useful to know about, though. — Radiodef
– Radiodef, Commented Jan 30, 2016 at 1:34
In Java 8 you can use this: Arrays.stream( data ).boxed().toArray( Integer[]::new ) to convert a primitives array to an objects array. — Titus
– Titus, Commented Jan 30, 2016 at 1:52
@Titus are you suggesting copying the whole array to a new array just to find the index? That seems somewhat...unwise. — Boris the Spider
– Boris the Spider, Commented Jan 30, 2016 at 11:27

user4413257 · Accepted Answer · 2016-01-30 01:18:17Z

3

Your method getIndexOfElement(int,Object[]) accepts any array of type, that extends Object. Since int is primitive type - not a class type, you can not pass int[] to the method. However, you can use Integer class:

    Integer[] ints = new Integer[]{1,2,3,4,5};
    Integer i = 5;
    int index = getIndexOfElement(i, ints);

answered Jan 30, 2016 at 1:18

user4413257

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