CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javalinkedhashmap
giannis christofakis
giannis christofakis

Reputation: 8321

LinkedHashMap containsKey or containsValue

Why is this happening and how can I avoid it? I assume it only checks the references but that's not very convenient.

import java.util.LinkedHashMap;

public class CheckingLinkedHashMap {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        LinkedHashMap<String[], String[]> linkedh = new LinkedHashMap<>();
        String[] a = "A".split(",");
        String[] ab = "A,B".split(",");
        linkedh.put(a, ab);
        String[] aa = "A".split(",");
        String[] aabb = "A,B".split(",");
        System.out.println("Contains key: " + linkedh.containsKey(aa));
        System.out.println("Contains value: " + linkedh.containsValue(aabb));

        System.out.println("Contains key: " + linkedh.containsKey(a));
        System.out.println("Contains value: " + linkedh.containsValue(ab));
    }
}

--

Contains key: false
Contains value: false
Contains key: true
Contains value: true

UPDATE

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;

public class CheckingLinkedHashMap {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        LinkedHashMap< List<String>, List<String>> linkedh = new LinkedHashMap<>();

        String[] a = "A".split(",");
        String[] ab = "A,B".split(",");
        List<String> al = Arrays.asList(a);
        List<String> abl = Arrays.asList(ab);
        linkedh.put(al, abl);

        String[] aa = "A".split(",");
        String[] aabb = "A,B".split(",");
        List<String> aal = Arrays.asList(aa);
        List<String> aabbl = Arrays.asList(aabb);
        linkedh.put(aal, aabbl);

        String[] aaa = "A,B".split(",");
        String[] aaabbb = "A,B".split(",");
        List<String> aaal = Arrays.asList(aaa);
        List<String> aaabbbl = Arrays.asList(aaabbb);
        linkedh.put(aaal, aaabbbl);

        String[] aaaa = "B,A".split(",");
        String[] aaaabbbb = "A,B".split(",");
        List<String> aaaal = Arrays.asList(aaaa);
        List<String> aaaabbbbl = Arrays.asList(aaaabbbb);
        linkedh.put(aaaal, aaaabbbbl);

        Iterator it = linkedh.entrySet().iterator();
        while (it.hasNext()) {
            Map.Entry pairs = (Map.Entry) it.next();
            System.out.println("Key : " + pairs.getKey() + " Value : " + pairs.getValue());
        }

        System.out.println("Contains key: " + linkedh.containsKey(aal));
        System.out.println("Contains value: " + linkedh.containsValue(aabbl));

        System.out.println("Contains key: " + linkedh.containsKey(al));
        System.out.println("Contains value: " + linkedh.containsValue(abl));
    }
}

--

Key : [A] Value : [A, B]
Key : [A, B] Value : [A, B]
Key : [B, A] Value : [A, B]
Contains key: true
Contains value: true
Contains key: true
Contains value: true

This seems to work.I guess I have to do some additional check in order to avoid key duplicates.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 7374

Answers (2)

Patrick87
Patrick87

Reputation: 28302

The containsKey and containsValue functions probably work in terms of equals() and/or hashCode(). For String[], these are probably in terms of the reference, as you correctly point out. Unless you can pass a comparator along with containsKey() and containsValue(), your option becomes to create your own class that does what String[] does, except that it can compute equals() and hashCode() in such a way that objects with the same value are equal.

Upvotes: 3

Jack
Jack

Reputation: 133599

Problem is that you are using arrays which are compared for equality by reference by default. To solve your problem you should encapsulate them into a class and override the appropriate method:

class StringBundle {
  String[] strings;

  @Override
  public boolean equals(Object o) {
    // various checks
    return Array.deepEquals(this.strings, o.strings);
  }

  @Override
  public int hashCode() {
    return Arrays.hashCode(strings);
  }
}

You need a way to provide your own version of hashCode() too otherwise you won't be able to use this class inside a hashed container successfully. Mind that Arrays.hashCode does a shallow hashcode computation which is not suitable for nested arrays.

Upvotes: 4

Related Questions