In Scala, array indices are zero-based. To index in an array, use () instead of [] in Java:

val arr = Array(1, 2, 3)
val one = arr(0)

Fixed-length Arrays

Array: It is implemented as a Java array, so the memory is initialized to zero or null.

val nums = Array[Int](10)

Variable-length Arrays

ArrayBuffer: Scala’s equivalency of ArrayList:

val b = ArrayBuffer[Int]()

b += 1, b += (1, 2, 3, 4) are used to append elements at the end. If multiple elements are added, enclose them in parentheses.

b ++= Array(1, 2, 3) are used to append collection to b.

elem +=: b prepend b with elem. coll ++=: b prepend coll to b.

buff -- buff2 remove all elements in buff2 from buff.

b.toArray() and a.toBuffer() can convert between Array and ArrayBuffer.

Array Traversal

Scala offers more uniform way to traverse Array and ArrayBuffer. In a for loop:

for (i <- 0 until a.length)
	println(a(i))

until constructs a Range up to the upper bound (exclusive). You can also use to, which is inclusive.

To visit every other element, use 0 until (a.length, 2). To visit elements in reverse order, use (0 until a.length).reverse.

If you don’t need to access the index, visit the elements directly:

for (elem <- a)
	println(elem)

Array Transformation

Apply a certain transformation to all elements or some elements in array: use for ... yield:

	val result = for (elem <- a if elem % 3 == 0) yield 2 * elem

It creates a new collection of the same type with results, and the original collection is not affected. Use guard if necessary. It is the same as

	a.filter(_ % 3 == 0).map(_ * 2)
	a filter {_ % 3 == 0} map {_ * 2}

It’s just a matter of style.

Common methods

• sum, min, max
• sorted: sort results into a new collection without modifying the original one. sortWith() works with a comparison function.
• quickSort(a) sort an array in place.
• a.mkString() joins elements in array and ArrayBuffer with provided string. toString() on array is useless.

Multidimensional Arrays

val matrix = Array.ofDim[Double](3, 5) creates a 3-row, 5-column matrix. ofDim can create up to 5 dimensional arrays.

To access an element, use multiple pairs of parentheses: matrix(row)(col) = 42.