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The enhanced for statement is designed for iteration through Collections and arrays

The Java The Java Language Specification (JLS) provides the following example of the enhanced for statement in §14.14.2, "The Enhanced for Statement" [JLS 2014]:

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This noncompliant code example attempts to process a collection of integers using an enhanced for loop. It further intends to modify one item in the collection for processing:

Code Block
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langjava
List<Integer> list = Arrays.asList(new Integer[] {13, 14, 15});
boolean first = true;

System.out.println("Processing list...");
for (Integer i: list) {
  if (first) {
    first = false;
    i = new Integer(99);
  }
  System.out.println(" New item: " + i);
  // processProcess i
}

System.out.println("Modified list?");
for (Integer i: list) {
  System.out.println("List item: " + i);
}

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Declaring i to be final mitigates this problem by causing the compiler to fail to permit i to be assigned a new value.:

Code Block
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langjava
// ...
for (final Integer i: list) {

// ...

...

Code Block
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langjava
// ...
 
for (final Integer i: list) {
  Integer item = i;
  if (first) {
    first = false;
    item = new Integer(99);
  }
  System.out.println(" New item: " + item);
  // processProcess item
}

// ...

Risk Assessment

Assignments to the loop variable of an enhanced for loop (for-each idiom) fail to affect the overall iteration order, lead to programmer confusion, and can leave data in a fragile or inconsistent state.

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Bibliography

 

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