Question

This is the snippet of code in Java:

Object ob = new int[2];

Now let’s say I want to initialize the array.
This
ob[0] = 5; will not work because ob is of the type of Object.
Casting is not working either:

(int[])ob[0] = 5;

By the way, (int[]ob)[0]= 5;
will cause syntax error.
So, how to assign values at run-time with no hard-coding (e.g. Object ob = new int[]{1,2}?
This is not a home-work, I am trying to understand Java. That is needed in order to prepare for Java certification.
Cheers

Answer 1

You are trying to cast the value of ob[0] and not ob itself. You need to cast your ob first to int[] and then use it on index [0].

((int[])ob)[0] = 5;

Note: – Parenthesis matters. But why would you like to do something like this?

---

If you don’t want to hardcode values, and want to take it at runtime, then you should follow something mentioned by @HotLicks in comments.

Object ob = new int[5];

int[] tempArr = (int [])ob;

for (int i = 0; i < tempArr.length; i++) {
    tempArr[i] = i;
}