In this article, we will discuss ListIterator interface in detail

1. Key points about ListIterator:

• This is introduced in Java 1.2 version
• Part of Collection framework
• This is applicable only for List classes like ArrayList or LinkedList

2. ListIterator interface:

• ListIterator is a sub-interface of Iterator interface (i.e.; ListIterator extends Iterator)
• This is part of collection framework introduced in Java 1.2 version
• ListIterator interface works only on List objects
• That is, List implemented classes like ArrayList, LinkedList or Vector
• it uses listIterator() method of List interface to iterate over List objects
• It is a bi-directional cursor
• That’s ListIterator allows to iterate over List objects on both direction i.e.; FORWARD as well as BACKWARD directions
• Using ListIterator interface, we can perform addition or replacement of new objects, in addition to read & remove operations
• Signature:

public ListIterator listIterator(); // of List interface

• Present in java.util package and extends java.util.Iterator interface

Q) How to get ListIterator object ?

• We can create ListIterator object using listIterator() method of List interface
• For example,

ListIterator ltr = list.iterator(); // list is a any List object

3. Limitation of ListIterator interface:

• It is applicable only for List objects
• Although ListIterator interface allows to iterate on both FORWARD/BACKWARD directions

4. ListIterator interface methods:

5. ListIterator examples:

ListIteratorExample.java

package in.bench.resources.java.collection;

import java.util.LinkedList;
import java.util.ListIterator;

public class ListIteratorExample {

	public static void main(String[] args) {

		// creating LinkedList object of type String
		LinkedList<String> ll = new LinkedList<String>();

		// adding elements to LinkedList object
		ll.add("Sundar Pichai");
		ll.add("Satya Nadella");
		ll.add("Shiv Nadar");
		ll.add("Shantanu Narayen");
		ll.add("Francisco D’Souza");

		// creating ListIterator reference
		ListIterator<String> ceo = ll.listIterator();

		// FORWARD direction: enumerating using while loop
		System.out.println("List Iterating in FORWARD direction\n");
		while (ceo.hasNext()){
			System.out.println(ceo.next());
		}

		// BACKWARD direction: enumerating using while loop
		System.out.println("\n\nList Iterating in BACKWARD direction\n");
		while (ceo.hasPrevious()){
			System.out.println(ceo.previous());
		}
	}
}

Output:

Iterating in FORWARD direction using ListIterator

Sundar Pichai
Satya Nadella
Shiv Nadar
Shantanu Narayen
Francisco D’Souza

Iterating in FORWARD direction using ListIterator

Francisco D’Souza
Shantanu Narayen
Shiv Nadar
Satya Nadella
Sundar Pichai

Related Articles:

• Enumeration
• Iterator
• Enumeration v/s Iterator v/s ListIterator

References:

• https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/collections/intro/
• https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/collections/interfaces/collection.html
• https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/Collection.html
• https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/collections/interfaces/list.html
• https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/List.html
• https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/ArrayList.html
• https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/Vector.html
• https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/Iterator.html
• https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/ListIterator.html

Happy Coding !!
Happy Learning !!