Sort a Map by values

Question

I am relatively new to Java, and often find that I need to sort a Map<Key, Value> on the values.

Since the values are not unique, I find myself converting the keySet into an array, and sorting that array through array sort with a custom comparator that sorts on the value associated with the key.

Is there an easier way?

Answer 1

Depending on the context, using java.util.LinkedHashMap<T> which rememebers the order in which items are placed into the map. Otherwise, if you need to sort values based on their natural ordering, I would recommend maintaining a separate List which can be sorted via Collections.sort().

Answer 2

Afaik the most cleaner way is utilizing collections to sort map on value:

Map<String, Long> map = new HashMap<String, Long>();
// populate with data to sort on Value
// use datastructure designed for sorting

Queue queue = new PriorityQueue( map.size(), new MapComparable() );
queue.addAll( map.entrySet() );

// get a sorted map
LinkedHashMap<String, Long> linkedMap = new LinkedHashMap<String, Long>();

for (Map.Entry<String, Long> entry; (entry = queue.poll())!=null;) {
    linkedMap.put(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue());
}

public static class MapComparable implements Comparator<Map.Entry<String, Long>>{

  public int compare(Entry<String, Long> e1, Entry<String, Long> e2) {
    return e1.getValue().compareTo(e2.getValue());
  }
}

Answer 3

Here's a generic-friendly version:

public class MapUtil {
    public static <K, V extends Comparable<? super V>> Map<K, V> sortByValue(Map<K, V> map) {
        List<Entry<K, V>> list = new ArrayList<>(map.entrySet());
        list.sort(Entry.comparingByValue());

        Map<K, V> result = new LinkedHashMap<>();
        for (Entry<K, V> entry : list) {
            result.put(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue());
        }

        return result;
    }
}

Answer 4

Best Approach

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Set;
import java.util.Map.Entry; 

public class OrderByValue {

  public static void main(String a[]){
    Map<String, Integer> map = new HashMap<String, Integer>();
    map.put("java", 20);
    map.put("C++", 45);
    map.put("Unix", 67);
    map.put("MAC", 26);
    map.put("Why this kolavari", 93);
    Set<Entry<String, Integer>> set = map.entrySet();
    List<Entry<String, Integer>> list = new ArrayList<Entry<String, Integer>>(set);
    Collections.sort( list, new Comparator<Map.Entry<String, Integer>>()
    {
        public int compare( Map.Entry<String, Integer> o1, Map.Entry<String, Integer> o2 )
        {
            return (o1.getValue()).compareTo( o2.getValue() );//Ascending order
            //return (o2.getValue()).compareTo( o1.getValue() );//Descending order
        }
    } );
    for(Map.Entry<String, Integer> entry:list){
        System.out.println(entry.getKey()+" ==== "+entry.getValue());
    }
  }}

Output

java ==== 20

MAC ==== 26

C++ ==== 45

Unix ==== 67

Why this kolavari ==== 93

Answer 5

Major problem. If you use the first answer (Google takes you here), change the comparator to add an equal clause, otherwise you cannot get values from the sorted_map by keys:

public int compare(String a, String b) {
        if (base.get(a) > base.get(b)) {
            return 1;
        } else if (base.get(a) < base.get(b)){
            return -1;
        } 

        return 0;
        // returning 0 would merge keys
    }

Answer 6

There are a lot of answers for this question already, but none provided me what I was looking for, a map implementation that returns keys and entries sorted by the associated value, and maintains this property as keys and values are modified in the map. Two other questions ask for this specifically.

I cooked up a generic friendly example that solves this use case. This implementation does not honor all of the contracts of the Map interface, such as reflecting value changes and removals in the sets return from keySet() and entrySet() in the original object. I felt such a solution would be too large to include in a Stack Overflow answer. If I manage to create a more complete implementation, perhaps I will post it to Github and then to it link in an updated version of this answer.

import java.util.*;

/**
 * A map where {@link #keySet()} and {@link #entrySet()} return sets ordered
 * by associated values based on the the comparator provided at construction
 * time. The order of two or more keys with identical values is not defined.
 * <p>
 * Several contracts of the Map interface are not satisfied by this minimal
 * implementation.
 */
public class ValueSortedMap<K, V> extends HashMap<K, V> {
    protected Map<V, Collection<K>> valueToKeysMap;

    // uses natural order of value object, if any
    public ValueSortedMap() {
        this((Comparator<? super V>) null);
    }

    public ValueSortedMap(Comparator<? super V> valueComparator) {
        this.valueToKeysMap = new TreeMap<V, Collection<K>>(valueComparator);
    }

    public boolean containsValue(Object o) {
        return valueToKeysMap.containsKey(o);
    }

    public V put(K k, V v) {
        V oldV = null;
        if (containsKey(k)) {
            oldV = get(k);
            valueToKeysMap.get(oldV).remove(k);
        }
        super.put(k, v);
        if (!valueToKeysMap.containsKey(v)) {
            Collection<K> keys = new ArrayList<K>();
            keys.add(k);
            valueToKeysMap.put(v, keys);
        } else {
            valueToKeysMap.get(v).add(k);
        }
        return oldV;
    }

    public void putAll(Map<? extends K, ? extends V> m) {
        for (Map.Entry<? extends K, ? extends V> e : m.entrySet())
            put(e.getKey(), e.getValue());
    }

    public V remove(Object k) {
        V oldV = null;
        if (containsKey(k)) {
            oldV = get(k);
            super.remove(k);
            valueToKeysMap.get(oldV).remove(k);
        }
        return oldV;
    }

    public void clear() {
        super.clear();
        valueToKeysMap.clear();
    }

    public Set<K> keySet() {
        LinkedHashSet<K> ret = new LinkedHashSet<K>(size());
        for (V v : valueToKeysMap.keySet()) {
            Collection<K> keys = valueToKeysMap.get(v);
            ret.addAll(keys);
        }
        return ret;
    }

    public Set<Map.Entry<K, V>> entrySet() {
        LinkedHashSet<Map.Entry<K, V>> ret = new LinkedHashSet<Map.Entry<K, V>>(size());
        for (Collection<K> keys : valueToKeysMap.values()) {
            for (final K k : keys) {
                final V v = get(k);
                ret.add(new Map.Entry<K,V>() {
                    public K getKey() {
                        return k;
                    }

                    public V getValue() {
                        return v;
                    }

                    public V setValue(V v) {
                        throw new UnsupportedOperationException();
                    }
                });
            }
        }
        return ret;
    }
}