Java - remove items from ArrayList using Iterator

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

Quick solution:

Iterator<String> myIterator = letters.iterator();

while (myIterator.hasNext()) {
    if (myIterator.next() == "B") {
        myIterator.remove();
    }
}

String ArrayList example

In this example, we use Iterator to remove "B" element from the letters ArrayList.

package arraylistOperations;

import java.util.*;

public class Example {

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

        letters.add("A");
        letters.add("B");
        letters.add("C");

        Iterator<String> myIterator = letters.iterator();

        while (myIterator.hasNext()) {
            if (myIterator.next() == "B") {
                myIterator.remove();
            }
        }
        System.out.println(letters);
    }
}

Output:

[A, C]

Integer ArrayList example

In this example, we remove all items with a value less than 2 from the numbers ArrayList using Iterator.

import java.util.*;

public class Example {

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

        numbers.add(1);
        numbers.add(2);
        numbers.add(3);
        numbers.add(4);

        Iterator<Integer> myIterator = numbers.iterator();

        while (myIterator.hasNext()) {
            if (myIterator.next() < 3) {
                myIterator.remove();
            }
        }
        System.out.println(numbers);
    }
}

Output:

[3, 4]

Note:

You can achieve the same result using Collection.removeIf() method.

numbers.removeIf(x -> x < 3);