How to convert Stringified array to ArrayList in Android

Question

I am getting this from server

"[\"abc\",\"def\",\"ghi\",\"jkl\",\"mno\",\"pqr\",\"stu\",\"vwx\",\"yz\"]"

The above text is not an array, but a string returned from server.

I want to convert this in an ArrayList

Is there a way to convert it?

Why is it stringified? Just use JSON. And try using GSON to parse it to an array — vanlooverenkoen
– vanlooverenkoen, Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 7:49
Actually I am getting this in my response from server { "error": false, "data": "[\"abc\",\"def\",\"ghi\",\"jkl\",\"mno\",\"pqr\",\"stu\",\"vwx\",\"yz\"]" "timeStamp": 1484203469568 } — Pawanpreet Singh
– Pawanpreet Singh, Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 9:32

Andrei Olar · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-12 07:59:55Z

3

There is no good idea to manually parse that string. You should use a library that parses JSON strings for you. Anyhow the given string is not a valid JSON string and like others have mentioned you should request JSON formatted data from the server.

If your server only returns like this and you need to manually parse then this would be a solution. Not a very good one, but it does the job.

public static void main(String[] args) {
    List<String> words = new ArrayList<>();
    String string = "[\"abc\",\"def\",\"ghi\",\"jkl\",\"mno\",\"pqr\",\"stu\",\"vwx\",\"yz\"]";

    String withoutBrackets = string.replaceAll("[\\[\\](){}]", ""); // Remove all the brackets
    for (String word : withoutBrackets.split(",")) {
        String singleWord = word.replaceAll("\"", "");
        words.add(singleWord);
    }

    System.out.println(words);
}

answered Jan 12, 2017 at 7:59

Andrei Olar

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1 Comment

AbdulKarim Over a year ago

This code would fail if one of the string contained a comma ","

Gagan Sethi · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-12 07:53:34Z

3

Can be done using separator, where s is String:

List<String> myList = new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList(s.split(",")));

answered Jan 12, 2017 at 7:53

Gagan Sethi

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1 Comment

AbdulKarim Over a year ago

This code would also fail if one of the strings contained a comma ","

Anindita Pani · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-12 08:11:39Z

2

Try using Gson. Add this to your gradle

compile 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.2.4'

Hope this helps -

String str = "[\"abc\",\"def\",\"ghi\",\"jkl\",\"mno\",\"pqr\",\"stu\",\"vwx\",\"yz\"]";
Gson gson=new Gson();
ArrayList<String> strings = gson.fromJson(str,new TypeToken<ArrayList<String>>(){}.getType());

edited Jan 12, 2017 at 8:11

answered Jan 12, 2017 at 8:05

Anindita Pani

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Comments

pasanbuddhika · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-12 08:03:19Z

1

This will work

String text = [\"abc\",\"def\",\"ghi\",\"jkl\",\"mno\",\"pqr\",\"stu\",\"vwx\",\"yz\"]";
text = text.replaceAll("[\\[\\](){}\"]", "");
List<String> list = Arrays.asList(text.split(","));

answered Jan 12, 2017 at 8:03

pasanbuddhika

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Scary Wombat · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-12 08:29:21Z

1

Modify your String using

     str = str.replace ("[", "").replace ("]", "");

so it is the same as

    String str = "\"abc\",\"def\",\"ghi\",\"jkl\",\"mno\",\"pqr\",\"stu\",\"vwx\",\"yz\"";

then use

    List<String> al = new ArrayList<String>(Arrays.asList(str.split(",")));

    System.out.println(al);

edited Jan 12, 2017 at 8:29

answered Jan 12, 2017 at 7:57

Scary Wombat

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Comments

Ankita Singh · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-12 09:38:46Z

0

This is the correct way to parse JSON String to ArrayList :)

 ArrayList<String> list = new ArrayList<String>();
         String newArrayy ="[\"abc\",\"def\",\"ghi\",\"jkl\",\"mno\",\"pqr\",\"stu\",\"vwx\",\"yz\"]";
                  imagePath = newArrayy;
                            try {
                                JSONArray jsonArray = new JSONArray(imagePath);
                                if (null != jsonArray) {
                                    Logger.LogError("imagePathhh", jsonArray.toString() + "" + jsonArray.length());
 for (int i = 0; i < jsonArray.length(); i++) {           
    String value =(String) jsonArray.getString(i);
       list.add(value);                        dataBaseCurdOperation.insertPaymentPath(jsonArray.getString(i));
                                    }
                                } else {

                                }
                            } catch (Exception e) {

                            }
                        }

edited Jan 12, 2017 at 9:38

answered Jan 12, 2017 at 8:19

Ankita Singh

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2 Comments

Pawanpreet Singh Over a year ago

What these functions are doing in this hidingImage(imageCount); dataBaseCurdOperation.insertPaymentPath(jsonArray.getString(i));

Ankita Singh Over a year ago

these are my personal methods which i am using in my code :D

Awadesh · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-12 07:58:38Z

-1

Sanjay in his answer pointed it out correct , that it is not correct format.

Still if you are using Gson library to parse JSON data, then the following method take care of this format also. So you have no need to do anything :)

new Gson().fromJson(your_server_response, Model.class);

One more way to do this is using java's inbuilt method

public String replaceAll (String regularExpression, String replacement)

answered Jan 12, 2017 at 7:58

Awadesh

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