Simple way to compare 2 ArrayLists

Question

I have 2 arraylists of string object.

List sourceList = new ArrayList();
List destinationList = new ArrayList

        

Answer 1

If your requirement is to maintain the insertion order plus check the contents of the two arraylist then you should do following:

List listOne = new ArrayList();
List listTwo = new ArrayList();

listOne.add("stack");
listOne.add("overflow");

listTwo.add("stack");
listTwo.add("overflow");

boolean result = Arrays.equals(listOne.toArray(),listTwo.toArray());

This will return true.

However, if you change the ordering for example:

listOne.add("stack");
listOne.add("overflow");

listTwo.add("overflow");
listTwo.add("stack");

boolean result = Arrays.equals(listOne.toArray(),listTwo.toArray());

will return false as ordering is different.