Java: How to handle unexpected NullPointerException when accessing nested array elements?
After trying multiple solutions online, I still can't figure this out. I'm working on a Java application where I'm trying to access elements from a 2D array, but I'm working with a `NullPointerException` when I attempt to access elements in the nested arrays. The arrays are initialized based on input data, but it's not guaranteed that all inner arrays are populated. Here's a snippet of what I'm trying to achieve: ```java String[][] data = new String[3][]; // Declare a 2D array with some inner arrays potentially being null data[0] = new String[] {"apple", "banana"}; // Not initializing data[1] to simulate missing data data[2] = new String[] {"cherry", "date"}; for (int i = 0; i < data.length; i++) { for (int j = 0; j < data[i].length; j++) { System.out.println(data[i][j]); // This line throws NullPointerException when data[i] is null } } ``` I tried adding a check to see if `data[i]` is null before iterating over it, but it looks like I'm mismanaging the inner array checks. Here's what I attempted: ```java for (int i = 0; i < data.length; i++) { if (data[i] != null) { for (int j = 0; j < data[i].length; j++) { System.out.println(data[i][j]); } } } ``` While this prevents the `NullPointerException`, I noticed that I might be missing out on some valid data if inner arrays are empty. I'm confused about how to properly handle null values without skipping the empty inner arrays altogether. How should I best implement this to avoid exceptions while still processing my data correctly? I'm using Java 11 and running into these issues consistently in different scenarios. Any insights would be greatly appreciated! I'm working with Java in a Docker container on macOS. For reference, this is a production desktop app. Thanks, I really appreciate it!