Question

Suppose that I have a 2D array (matrix) in Java like this…

int[][] MyMat = {{0,1,2,3,4}, {9,8,7,6,5}};

If I want to extract the columns, I can do it easily like this…

int[] My0= MyMat[0]; //My0 = {0,1,2,3,4}
int[] My1= MyMat[1]; //My1 = {9,8,7,6,5}

But how can I extract the rows?…

int[] My_0= ?; //My_0 = {0,9}
int[] My_1= ?; //My_1 = {1,8}
int[] My_2= ?; //My_2 = {2,7}
int[] My_3= ?; //My_3 = {3,6}
int[] My_4= ?; //My_4 = {4,5}

Is there any shorthand for achieving this?

Answer 1

If you want to get the rows, you need to get the values from each array, then create a new array from the values. You can assign the values manually, or use a for-loop, such as this…

int[][] MyMat = {{0,1,2,3,4}, {9,8,7,6,5}};

// get your columns... (easy)
int[] My0= MyMat[0]; //My0 = {0,1,2,3,4}
int[] My1= MyMat[1]; //My1 = {9,8,7,6,5}

// get the rows... (manually)
int[] My_0= new int[]{MyMat[0][0],MyMat[1][0]}; //My_0 = {0,9}
int[] My_1= new int[]{MyMat[0][1],MyMat[1][1]}; //My_1 = {1,8}
int[] My_2= new int[]{MyMat[0][2],MyMat[1][2]}; //My_2 = {2,7}
int[] My_3= new int[]{MyMat[0][3],MyMat[1][3]}; //My_3 = {3,6}
int[] My_4= new int[]{MyMat[0][4],MyMat[1][4]}; //My_4 = {4,5}

// get the rows... (as a for-loop)
int size = MyMat.length;
int[] My_0 = new int[size]; //My_0 = {0,9}
int[] My_1 = new int[size]; //My_1 = {1,8}
int[] My_2 = new int[size]; //My_2 = {2,7}
int[] My_3 = new int[size]; //My_3 = {3,6}
int[] My_4 = new int[size]; //My_4 = {4,5}
for (int i=0;i<size;i++){
    My_0[i] = MyMat[i][0];
    My_1[i] = MyMat[i][1];
    My_2[i] = MyMat[i][2];
    My_3[i] = MyMat[i][3];
    My_4[i] = MyMat[i][4];
}

Otherwise, turn your entire array around so that it stores {row,column} instead of {column,row}, like this…

int[][] MyMat = {{0,9},{1,8},{2,7},{3,6},{4,5}};

// get the rows... (easy)
int[] My_0= MyMat[0]; //My_0 = {0,9}
int[] My_1= MyMat[1]; //My_1 = {1,8}
int[] My_2= MyMat[2]; //My_2 = {2,7}
int[] My_3= MyMat[3]; //My_3 = {3,6}
int[] My_4= MyMat[4]; //My_4 = {4,5}

// get the columns... (manually)
int[] My0= new int[]{MyMat[0][0],MyMat[1][0],MyMat[2][0],MyMat[3][0],MyMat[4][0]}; //My0 = {0,1,2,3,4}
int[] My1= new int[]{MyMat[0][1],MyMat[1][1],MyMat[2][1],MyMat[3][1],MyMat[4][1]}; //My1 = {9,8,7,6,5}

// get the columns... (as a for-loop)
int size = MyMat.length;
int[] My0 = new int[size]; //My0 = {0,1,2,3,4}
int[] My1 = new int[size]; //My1 = {9,8,7,6,5}
for (int i=0;i<size;i++){
    My0[i] = MyMat[0][i];
    My1[i] = MyMat[1][i];
}

Note that it isn’t possible to have a shorthand that will allow you to get both the rows and the columns easily – you’ll have to decide which you want more, and structure the arrays to be in that format.