Java ArrayList of Arrays?

Should be

private ArrayList<String[]> action = new ArrayList<String[]>();
action.add(new String[2]);
...

You can't specify the size of the array within the generic parameter, only add arrays of specific size to the list later. This also means that the compiler can't guarantee that all sub-arrays be of the same size, it must be ensured by you.

A better solution might be to encapsulate this within a class, where you can ensure the uniform size of the arrays as a type invariant.

Since the size of your string array is fixed at compile time, you'd be better off using a structure (like Pair) that mandates exactly two fields, and thus avoid the runtime errors possible with the array approach.

Code:

Since Java doesn't supply a Pair class, you'll need to define your own.

class Pair<A, B> {
  public final A first;
  public final B second;

  public Pair(final A first, final B second) {
    this.first = first;
    this.second = second;
  }

  //
  // Override 'equals', 'hashcode' and 'toString'
  //
}

and then use it as:

List<Pair<String, String>> action = new ArrayList<Pair<String, String>>();

[ Here I used List because it's considered a good practice to program to interfaces. ]

BTW. you should prefer coding against an Interface.

private ArrayList<String[]> action = new ArrayList<String[]>();

Should be

private List<String[]> action = new ArrayList<String[]>();