Java - remove items from ArrayList

In this article, we would like to show you how to remove items from ArrayList in Java.

Quick solution:

List<String> fruits = new ArrayList<>();
fruits.remove("Apple");  // remove by String
fruits.remove(0);        // remove by index

1. Remove items using remove() method

In this example, we show how to remove items with a specified index from the fruits ArrayList using remove() method.

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class Example {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<String> fruits = new ArrayList<>();

        // add items to the ArrayList
        fruits.add("Apple");
        fruits.add("Banana");
        fruits.add("Cherry");

        // remove items with specified index
        fruits.remove(0);  // removes Apple, now Banana index = 0
        System.out.println(fruits);  // [Banana, Cherry]

        fruits.remove(0);  // removes Banana
        System.out.println(fruits);  // [Cherry]
    }
}

Output:

[Banana, Cherry]
[Cherry]

We can also use remove() method with String argument to remove items from the ArrayList.

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class Example {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<String> fruits = new ArrayList<>();

        // add items to the ArrayList
        fruits.add("Apple");
        fruits.add("Banana");
        fruits.add("Cherry");

        // remove item
        fruits.remove("Apple");

        System.out.println(fruits);  // [Banana, Cherry]
    }
}

Output:

[Banana, Cherry]

2. Remove all items using clear() method

In this example, we use clear() method to remove all items from the fruits ArrayList.

import java.util.ArrayList;

public class Example {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<String> fruits = new ArrayList<>();

        // add items to the ArrayList
        fruits.add("Apple");
        fruits.add("Banana");
        fruits.add("Cherry");

        // remove all items
        fruits.clear();

        System.out.println(fruits);  // []
    }
}

Output:

[]