[FIXED] Why does the method change passed array's value

Issue

I am making changes in a local variable and returning it. I think it should print 12 at line no 9.

public class HackerEarth {

    int a[]= {3,4,5};
    int b[]=foo(a);

    void display() {
        System.out.println(a[0]+a[1]+a[2]+ " "); //line no 9
        System.out.println(b[0]+b[1]+b[2]+ " ");
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        HackerEarth he=new HackerEarth();
        he.display();
    }
    private int[] foo(int[] a2) {
        int b[]=a2;
        b[1]=7;
        return b;
    }
}

Any suggestion would be appreciated.

Solution

You're using the reference to the first array to overwrite it's value in foo method. To create another array based on values of the passed ones, consider using Arrays.copyOf:

private int[] foo(int[] a2) {
    int b[] = Arrays.copyOf(a2, a2.length);
    b[1]=7;
    return b;
}

Answered By - Andronicus

Answer Checked By - Dawn Plyler (PHPFixing Volunteer)