Java Collections Class
Jakob Jenkov |
The Java Collections class, java.util.Collections, contains a long list of
utility methods for working with collections in Java. In this Collections class tutorial I will go
through some of the most useful of these methods.
addAll()
The Java Collections addAll() method can add a variable number of elements to a
Collection (typically either a List or a Set .
Here is a java code example of calling the Collections addAll() method:
List<String> list = new ArrayList<>(); Collections.addAll(list, "element 1", "element 2", "element 3");
binarySearch()
The Collections binarySearch() method can search a Java List
for an element using a binary search algorithm. The List must be sorted in ascending order before
you search it using binarySearch() . See the tutorial about sorting Java Lists
for more information about how to sort a List in ascending order.
Here is an example of searching a List using the Collections binarySearch()
method:
List<String> list = new ArrayList<>();
list.add("one");
list.add("two");
list.add("three");
list.add("four");
list.add("five");
Collections.sort(list);
int searchIndex = Collections.binarySearch(list, "four");
System.out.println(searchIndex);
copy()
The Collections copy() method can copy all elements of a List into
another List. Here is a Java example of calling the Collections copy()
method:
List<String> source = new ArrayList<>(); Collections.addAll(source, "e1", "e2", "e3"); List<String> destination = new ArrayList<>(); Collections.copy(destination, source);
reverse()
The Collections reverse() method can reverse the elements in a Java List.
Here is an example of reversing the elements of a List:
List>String< list = new ArrayList<String>();
list.add("one");
list.add("two");
list.add("three");
Collections.reverse(list);
After executing the above code, the sequence of the elements in the List will be
three, two, one .
shuffle()
The Collections shuffle() method can shuffle the elements of a List.
Here is an example of shuffling a list with the Collections shuffle() method:
List>String< list = new ArrayList<String>();
list.add("one");
list.add("two");
list.add("three");
Collections.shuffle(list);
sort()
The Collections sort() method can sort a Java List. I have covered
sorting of Lists in my sort Java List tutorial. Here is an example
of sorting a Java List using Collections sort() method:
List>String< list = new ArrayList<String>();
list.add("one");
list.add("two");
list.add("three");
list.add("four");
Collections.sort(list);
After running this code the order of the elements in the List will be
four, one, three, four, as the String
elements will be sorted alphabetically.
copy()
The Java Collections copy() method can copy one List into another.
You provide the source and destination List instances as parameters to the copy()
method. Here is how copying a List with Collections copy() :
List source = new ArrayList();
source.add("one");
source.add("two");
source.add("three");
List destination = new ArrayList();
Collections.copy(destination, source);
min()
The Collections min() method can find the minimum element in a List
according to the natural ordering of the elements (see my Java List sorting tutorial).
Here is an example of finding the minimum element in a Java List using Collections min()
method:
List source = new ArrayList();
source.add("1");
source.add("2");
source.add("3");
String min = (String) Collections.min(source);
After running the code above, the min variable will contain the String value 1 .
max()
The Collections max() method can find the maximum element in a List
according to the natural order of the elements (see my Java List sorting tutorial).
Here is an example of finding the maximum element in a Java List:
List source = new ArrayList();
source.add("1");
source.add("2");
source.add("3");
String max = (String) Collections.max(source);
After running the code above, the max variable will contain the String value 3 .
replaceAll()
The Java Collections replaceAll() method can replace all occurrences of one element
with another element. You pass the element to replace and the element to replace it with as parameters to
the replaceAll() method. The Collections replaceAll() method returns
true if any elements were replaced, and false if not.
Here is an example of replacing all occurrences of one element with another in a Java List:
List source = new ArrayList();
source.add("A");
source.add("B");
source.add("A");
boolean replacedAny = Collections.replaceAll(source, "A", "C");
After executing this example, the source List will contain the elements
C, B and C. The replacedAny variable will contain
the value true because at least one element was replaced in the List.
The Collections replaceAll() method uses the equals() method of each
element to determine if the element is equal to the element to replace or not. I have a written a few more
details about how the equals() method works in my section about the
Java equals() method.
unmodifiableSet()
The unmodifiableSet() method in the Java Collections class can create an immutable
(unmodifiable) Set from a normal Java Set . Here is a Java example of creating
an immutable Set from a normal Set:
Set normalSet = new HashSet(); Set immutableSet = Collections.unmodifiableSet(normalSet);
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