How to sort HashMap in Java by Keys and Values

As we know that HashMap doesn’t preserve any order by default. If there is a need we need to sort it explicitly based on the requirement. In this tutorial we will learn how to sort HashMap by keys using TreeMap and by values using Comparator.

HashMap Sorting by Keys

In this example we are sorting the HashMap based on the keys using the TreeMap collection class.

package beginnersbook.com;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.TreeMap;
import java.util.Set;
import java.util.Iterator;

public class Details {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

         HashMap<Integer, String> hmap = new HashMap<Integer, String>();
         hmap.put(5, "A");
         hmap.put(11, "C");
         hmap.put(4, "Z");
         hmap.put(77, "Y");
         hmap.put(9, "P");
         hmap.put(66, "Q");
         hmap.put(0, "R");

         System.out.println("Before Sorting:");
         Set set = hmap.entrySet();
         Iterator iterator = set.iterator();
         while(iterator.hasNext()) {
               Map.Entry me = (Map.Entry)iterator.next();
               System.out.print(me.getKey() + ": ");
               System.out.println(me.getValue());
         }
         Map<Integer, String> map = new TreeMap<Integer, String>(hmap); 
         System.out.println("After Sorting:");
         Set set2 = map.entrySet();
         Iterator iterator2 = set2.iterator();
         while(iterator2.hasNext()) {
              Map.Entry me2 = (Map.Entry)iterator2.next();
              System.out.print(me2.getKey() + ": ");
              System.out.println(me2.getValue());
         }
    }
}

Output:

Before Sorting:
0: R
4: Z
5: A
66: Q
9: P
77: Y
11: C
After Sorting:
0: R
4: Z
5: A
9: P
11: C
66: Q
77: Y

HashMap Sorting by Values

In this example we are sorting HashMap by values using Comparator.

package beginnersbook.com;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.LinkedHashMap;
import java.util.LinkedList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Set;

public class HMapSortingByvalues {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
      HashMap<Integer, String> hmap = new HashMap<Integer, String>();
      hmap.put(5, "A");
      hmap.put(11, "C");
      hmap.put(4, "Z");
      hmap.put(77, "Y");
      hmap.put(9, "P");
      hmap.put(66, "Q");
      hmap.put(0, "R");
      System.out.println("Before Sorting:");
      Set set = hmap.entrySet();
      Iterator iterator = set.iterator();
      while(iterator.hasNext()) {
           Map.Entry me = (Map.Entry)iterator.next();
           System.out.print(me.getKey() + ": ");
           System.out.println(me.getValue());
      }
      Map<Integer, String> map = sortByValues(hmap); 
      System.out.println("After Sorting:");
      Set set2 = map.entrySet();
      Iterator iterator2 = set2.iterator();
      while(iterator2.hasNext()) {
           Map.Entry me2 = (Map.Entry)iterator2.next();
           System.out.print(me2.getKey() + ": ");
           System.out.println(me2.getValue());
      }
  }

  private static HashMap sortByValues(HashMap map) { 
       List list = new LinkedList(map.entrySet());
       // Defined Custom Comparator here
       Collections.sort(list, new Comparator() {
            public int compare(Object o1, Object o2) {
               return ((Comparable) ((Map.Entry) (o1)).getValue())
                  .compareTo(((Map.Entry) (o2)).getValue());
            }
       });

       // Here I am copying the sorted list in HashMap
       // using LinkedHashMap to preserve the insertion order
       HashMap sortedHashMap = new LinkedHashMap();
       for (Iterator it = list.iterator(); it.hasNext();) {
              Map.Entry entry = (Map.Entry) it.next();
              sortedHashMap.put(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue());
       } 
       return sortedHashMap;
  }
}

Output:

Before Sorting:
0: R
4: Z
5: A
66: Q
9: P
77: Y
11: C
After Sorting:
5: A
11: C
9: P
66: Q
0: R
77: Y
4: Z

References:

• HashMap Javadoc
• Comparator Documentation
• LinkedHashMap Javadoc
• TreeMap docs