Array vs ArrayList

I am busy with a program that reads in a file in an arrayList and then reads a 2nd file and looks if there are sentences beginning with a word that is in the arrayList.

But now I was wondering.
What can I use better?
An array or an arrayList?

What do you mean by "better"?

Does your current code work?
Is it easy to understand?

I decided to use an arraylist, only to find a small problem.

I am reading in a file that contains 2 lines.

>HSIBIYG
>OHOUBO7

But he only adds line 1 to the arrayList.

Code:

---


                        // Create Scanner for file1.
                        Scanner x = new Scanner(file1);
                        // We read the lines one by one in the file.

                        // Keeps track of the count after something has been found.
                        int getal = 0;

                        // Count the number of lines.
                        if (getal > 0) {
                                getal++;
                        }

                        if (x.hasNextLine()) {
                                String line = x.nextLine();
                                // Het ingelezen bestand word geprint.
                                System.out.println(line);

                                // ++ adds +1 every line.
                                getal++;

                                // We put what is in file1 into an arrayList.
                                arrayList.add(line);
                                System.out.println(arrayList);

                        }

---

That has nothing to do with ArrayList and everything to do with the fact you are only adding one line to it.

That's an 'if' statement, not a loop, so it'll only execute once.

I first had a while and not an if.
But then he prints my other while loop 2 times.

Well, that code there will only read a single line, and therefore only add a single line to the arraylist.