Java Program to Remove duplicate elements from ArrayList

To understand this example, you should have the knowledge of the following Java programming topics:


Example 1: Remove duplicate elements from ArrayList using Set

Output

ArrayList with duplicate elements: [1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 3]
ArrayList without duplicate elements: [1, 2, 3, 4]

In the above example, we have created an arraylist named numbers. The arraylist contains duplicate elements.

To remove duplicate elements from the arraylist, we have

  • add all elements from arraylist to set
  • empty the arraylist using clear() method
  • add all elements from set to arraylist

Here, we have used the LinkedHashSet to create a set. It is because it removes the duplicate elements and maintains insertion order. To learn more, visit Java LinkedHashSet.


Example 2: Remove duplicate elements from ArrayList using Stream

Output

ArrayList with duplicate elements: [1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 3]
ArrayList without duplicate elements: [1, 2, 3, 4]

In the above example, we have created an arraylist named numbers. The arraylist contains duplicate elements.

Here, we have used the Stream class to remove duplicate elements from the arraylist.

  • numbers.stream() - create a stream from the arraylist
  • stream.distinct() - removes duplicate elements
  • stream.collect(Collectors.toList()) - returns a list from the stream

Here, we have used typecasting to convert the returned list into an arraylist.