Java HashMap: How to get a key and value by index?

Question

I am trying to use a HashMap to map a unique string to a string ArrayList like this:

HashMap<String, ArrayList<String>>

Basically, I want to be able to access the keys by number, not by using the key's name. And I want to be able to access said key's value, to iterate over it. I'm imagining something like this:

for(all keys in my hashmap) {
    for(int i=0; i < myhashmap.currentKey.getValue.size(); i++) {
        // do things with the hashmaps elements
    }
}

Is there an easy way to do this?

Answer 1

If you don't care about the actual key, a concise way to iterate over all the Map's values would be to use its values() method

Map<String, List<String>> myMap;

for ( List<String> stringList : myMap.values() ) {
    for ( String myString : stringList ) {
        // process the string here
    }
}

The values() method is part of the Map interface and returns a Collection view of the values in the map.

Answer 2

You can iterate over keys by calling map.keySet(), or iterate over the entries by calling map.entrySet(). Iterating over entries will probably be faster.

for (Map.Entry<String, List<String>> entry : map.entrySet()) {
    List<String> list = entry.getValue();
    // Do things with the list
}

If you want to ensure that you iterate over the keys in the same order you inserted them then use a LinkedHashMap.

By the way, I'd recommend changing the declared type of the map to <String, List<String>>. Always best to declare types in terms of the interface rather than the implementation.