Java: Is int[][] a primitive type? Or does it generate a different instance with clone() method?

Belen :

I'm working with an int[n][n] board:

0 2 3 
4 1 5 
7 8 6 

I want to make a copy called twin, then return the modified copy.

For example:

    int [][] twin = board.clone();

    twin[0][0] = board[0][1];
    twin[0][1] = board[0][0];

    return twin;

What I expected is:

//board
0 2 3 
4 1 5 
7 8 6 

//twin
2 0 3 
4 1 5 
7 8 6 

But the result is:

//board
2 2 3 
4 1 5 
7 8 6 

//twin
2 2 3 
4 1 5 
7 8 6 

The board and twin were the same all along and the clone was not working as expected. Is it because int[][] is not an object?

Is there a way to clone int[][] and modify the way I was expecting? Should I loop over board and copy the values to twin?

rgettman :

First, an array is not a primitive type; it's an object. Second, multidimensional arrays are implemented as arrays of arrays. Also, the clone method for arrays is shallow. When you clone a multi-dimensional array, your new multidimensional array still refers back to the original internal arrays.

board -> [ .           .           . ]
           |           |           |
           v           v           v
          [0, 2, 3], [4, 1, 5], [7, 8, 6]
           ^           ^           ^
           |           |           |
 twin -> [ .           .           . ]

So when you modify the values, you're not copying from two different arrays, you're copying from the same array, which is why you wind up with [2, 2, 3].

If you're going to clone a multidimensional array, you'll need to clone all the way down to the one-dimensional arrays also.

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

Now I get [[2, 0, 3], [4, 1, 5], [7, 8, 6]].

Other possibilities include declaring your new multidimensional array without cloning, and using loops and System.arraycopy to copy individual one-dimensional arrays.