How to Remove Duplicates from ArrayList in Java

Last Updated : 11 Dec, 2018

Given an ArrayList with duplicate values, the task is to remove the duplicate values from this ArrayList in Java. Examples:

  Input: List = [1, 10, 2, 2, 10, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5]  Output: List = [1, 10, 2, 3, 4, 5]    Input: List = ["G", "e", "e", "k", "s"]  Output: List = ["G", "e", "k", "s"]

Using Iterator

Approach:

Get the ArrayList with duplicate values.
Create another ArrayList.
Traverse through the first arraylist and store the first appearance of each element into the second arraylist using contains() method.
The second ArrayList contains the elements with duplicates removed.

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

Java

// Java program to remove duplicates from ArrayList  import java.util.*;  public class GFG {      // Function to remove duplicates from an ArrayList     public static <T> ArrayList<T> removeDuplicates(ArrayList<T> list)     {          // Create a new ArrayList         ArrayList<T> newList = new ArrayList<T>();          // Traverse through the first list         for (T element : list) {              // If this element is not present in newList             // then add it             if (!newList.contains(element)) {                  newList.add(element);             }         }          // return the new list         return newList;     }      // Driver code     public static void main(String args[])     {          // Get the ArrayList with duplicate values         ArrayList<Integer>             list = new ArrayList<>(                 Arrays                     .asList(1, 10, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 10, 3, 4, 5, 5));          // Print the Arraylist         System.out.println("ArrayList with duplicates: "                            + list);          // Remove duplicates         ArrayList<Integer>             newList = removeDuplicates(list);          // Print the ArrayList with duplicates removed         System.out.println("ArrayList with duplicates removed: "                            + newList);     } }

Output:

  ArrayList with duplicates: [1, 10, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 10, 3, 4, 5, 5]  ArrayList with duplicates removed: [1, 10, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Using LinkedHashSet

A better way (both time complexity and ease of implementation wise) is to remove duplicates from an ArrayList is to convert it into a Set that does not allow duplicates. Hence LinkedHashSet is the best option available as this do not allows duplicates as well it preserves the insertion order. Approach:

Get the ArrayList with duplicate values.
Create a LinkedHashSet from this ArrayList. This will remove the duplicates
Convert this LinkedHashSet back to Arraylist.
The second ArrayList contains the elements with duplicates removed.

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

Java

// Java program to remove duplicates from ArrayList  import java.util.*;  public class GFG {      // Function to remove duplicates from an ArrayList     public static <T> ArrayList<T> removeDuplicates(ArrayList<T> list)     {          // Create a new LinkedHashSet         Set<T> set = new LinkedHashSet<>();          // Add the elements to set         set.addAll(list);          // Clear the list         list.clear();          // add the elements of set         // with no duplicates to the list         list.addAll(set);          // return the list         return list;     }      // Driver code     public static void main(String args[])     {          // Get the ArrayList with duplicate values         ArrayList<Integer>             list = new ArrayList<>(                 Arrays                     .asList(1, 10, 1, 2, 2, 3, 10, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5));          // Print the Arraylist         System.out.println("ArrayList with duplicates: "                            + list);          // Remove duplicates         ArrayList<Integer>             newList = removeDuplicates(list);          // Print the ArrayList with duplicates removed         System.out.println("ArrayList with duplicates removed: "                            + newList);     } }

Output:

  ArrayList with duplicates: [1, 10, 1, 2, 2, 3, 10, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5]  ArrayList with duplicates removed: [1, 10, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Using Java 8 Stream.distinct()

You can use the distinct() method from the Stream API. The distinct() method return a new Stream without duplicates elements based on the result returned by equals() method, which can be used for further processing. The actual processing of Stream pipeline starts only after calling terminal methods like forEach() or collect(). Approach:

Get the ArrayList with duplicate values.
Create a new List from this ArrayList.
Using Stream().distinct() method which return distinct object stream.
convert this object stream into List

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

Java

// Java program to remove duplicates from ArrayList  import java.util.ArrayList; import java.util.Arrays; import java.util.List; import java.util.stream.Collectors;  // Program to remove duplicates from a List in Java 8 class GFG {     public static void main(String[] args)     {         // input list with duplicates         List<Integer> list = new ArrayList<>(             Arrays.asList(1, 10, 1, 2, 2, 3, 10, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5));             // Print the Arraylist         System.out.println("ArrayList with duplicates: "                            + list);          // Construct a new list from the set constucted from elements         // of the original list         List<Integer> newList = list.stream()                                       .distinct()                                       .collect(Collectors.toList());          // Print the ArrayList with duplicates removed         System.out.println("ArrayList with duplicates removed: "                            + newList);     } }

Output:

  ArrayList with duplicates: [1, 10, 1, 2, 2, 3, 10, 3, 3, 4, 5, 5]  ArrayList with duplicates removed: [1, 10, 2, 3, 4, 5]

How to Remove Duplicates from ArrayList in Java

RishabhPrabhu

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How to Remove Duplicates from ArrayList in Java

Using Iterator

Using LinkedHashSet

Using Java 8 Stream.distinct()

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