Java: How to convert List to Map

Question

Recently I have conversation with a colleague about what would be the optimal way to convert List to Map in Java and if there any specific benefits of doing so.

I want to know optimal conversion approach and would really appreciate if any one can guide me.

Is this good approach:

List<Object[]> results;
Map<Integer, String> resultsMap = new HashMap<Integer, String>();
for (Object[] o : results) {
    resultsMap.put((Integer) o[0], (String) o[1]);
}

Answer 1

Many solutions come to mind, depending on what you want to achive:

Every List item is key and value

for( Object o : list ) {
    map.put(o,o);
}

List elements have something to look them up, maybe a name:

for( MyObject o : list ) {
    map.put(o.name,o);
}

List elements have something to look them up, and there is no guarantee that they are unique: Use Googles MultiMaps

for( MyObject o : list ) {
    multimap.put(o.name,o);
}

Giving all the elements the position as a key:

for( int i=0; i<list.size; i++ ) {
    map.put(i,list.get(i));
}

...

It really depends on what you want to achive.

As you can see from the examples, a Map is a mapping from a key to a value, while a list is just a series of elements having a position each. So they are simply not automatically convertible.

Answer 2

Since Java 8, the answer by @ZouZou using the Collectors.toMap collector is certainly the idiomatic way to solve this problem.

And as this is such a common task, we can make it into a static utility.

That way the solution truly becomes a one-liner.

/**
 * Returns a map where each entry is an item of {@code list} mapped by the
 * key produced by applying {@code mapper} to the item.
 *
 * @param list the list to map
 * @param mapper the function to produce the key from a list item
 * @return the resulting map
 * @throws IllegalStateException on duplicate key
 */
public static <K, T> Map<K, T> toMapBy(List<T> list,
        Function<? super T, ? extends K> mapper) {
    return list.stream().collect(Collectors.toMap(mapper, Function.identity()));
}

And here's how you would use it on a List<Student>:

Map<Long, Student> studentsById = toMapBy(students, Student::getId);

Answer 3

With java-8, you'll be able to do this in one line using streams, and the Collectors class.

Map<String, Item> map = 
    list.stream().collect(Collectors.toMap(Item::getKey, item -> item));

Short demo:

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;

public class Test{
    public static void main (String [] args){
        List<Item> list = IntStream.rangeClosed(1, 4)
                                   .mapToObj(Item::new)
                                   .collect(Collectors.toList()); //[Item [i=1], Item [i=2], Item [i=3], Item [i=4]]

        Map<String, Item> map = 
            list.stream().collect(Collectors.toMap(Item::getKey, item -> item));

        map.forEach((k, v) -> System.out.println(k + " => " + v));
    }
}
class Item {

    private final int i;

    public Item(int i){
        this.i = i;
    }

    public String getKey(){
        return "Key-"+i;
    }

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return "Item [i=" + i + "]";
    }
}

Output:

Key-1 => Item [i=1]
Key-2 => Item [i=2]
Key-3 => Item [i=3]
Key-4 => Item [i=4]

As noted in comments, you can use Function.identity() instead of item -> item, although I find i -> i rather explicit.

And to be complete note that you can use a binary operator if your function is not bijective. For example let's consider this List and the mapping function that for an int value, compute the result of it modulo 3:

List<Integer> intList = Arrays.asList(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6);
Map<String, Integer> map = 
    intList.stream().collect(toMap(i -> String.valueOf(i % 3), i -> i));

When running this code, you'll get an error saying java.lang.IllegalStateException: Duplicate key 1. This is because 1 % 3 is the same as 4 % 3 and hence have the same key value given the key mapping function. In this case you can provide a merge operator.

Here's one that sum the values; (i1, i2) -> i1 + i2; that can be replaced with the method reference Integer::sum.

Map<String, Integer> map = 
    intList.stream().collect(toMap(i -> String.valueOf(i % 3), 
                                   i -> i, 
                                   Integer::sum));

which now outputs:

0 => 9 (i.e 3 + 6)
1 => 5 (i.e 1 + 4)
2 => 7 (i.e 2 + 5)

Hope it helps! :)

Answer 4

Apache Commons MapUtils.populateMap

If you don't use Java 8 and you don't want to use a explicit loop for some reason, try MapUtils.populateMap from Apache Commons.

MapUtils.populateMap

Say you have a list of Pairs.

List<ImmutablePair<String, String>> pairs = ImmutableList.of(
    new ImmutablePair<>("A", "aaa"),
    new ImmutablePair<>("B", "bbb")
);

And you now want a Map of the Pair's key to the Pair object.

Map<String, Pair<String, String>> map = new HashMap<>();
MapUtils.populateMap(map, pairs, new Transformer<Pair<String, String>, String>() {

  @Override
  public String transform(Pair<String, String> input) {
    return input.getKey();
  }
});

System.out.println(map);

gives output:

{A=(A,aaa), B=(B,bbb)}

That being said, a for loop is maybe easier to understand. (This below gives the same output):

Map<String, Pair<String, String>> map = new HashMap<>();
for (Pair<String, String> pair : pairs) {
  map.put(pair.getKey(), pair);
}
System.out.println(map);