[java] Copying a HashMap in Java

I am trying to keep a temporary container of a class that contains member :

HashMap<Integer,myObject> myobjectHashMap

A class called myobjectsList

Then I do

myobjectsListA = new myobjectsList();
myobjectsListB = new myobjectsList();

then: Add some hashmap items to A (like 2)

then:

myobjectListB = myobjectListA; //B has 2

then: Add hashmap items to A (like 4 more)

then: return A to the items stored in B

myobjectListA = myobjectListb;

But when I do this, B grows with A while I am adding hashmap items to A. A now has 6 items in it because B had 6.

I want A to still have the original 2 at the end after last assignment. In C++ I would use copy with objects, what is the java equivalent?

Added: OK I left something out explaining this. MyObjectsList does not contain the HashMap, it is derived from a class MyBaseOjbectsList which has the HashMap member and MyObjectsList extends MyBaseOjbectsList. Does this make a difference?

There is a small (HUGE) understatement here. If you want to copy a HashMap with nested structures, HashMap.putAll() will copy by reference, because it doesn't know how to exactly copy your object. For example:

import java.util.*;
class Playground {
    public static void main(String[ ] args) {
        Map<Integer, Map<Integer,List<Float>>> dataA = new HashMap<>();
        Map<Integer, Map<Integer,List<Float>>> dataB = new HashMap<>();

        dataA.put(1, new HashMap<>());
        dataB.putAll(dataA);

        assert(dataB.get(1).size() == 0);

        dataA.get(1).put(2, new ArrayList<>());

        if (dataB.get(1).size() == 1) { // true
            System.out.println(
                "Sorry object reference was copied - not the values");
        }
    }
}

So basically you will need to copy the fields yourself like here

List <Float> aX = new ArrayList<>(accelerometerReadingsX);
List <Float> aY = new ArrayList<>(accelerometerReadingsY);

List <Float> gX = new ArrayList<>(gyroscopeReadingsX);
List <Float> gY = new ArrayList<>(gyroscopeReadingsY);

Map<Integer, Map<Integer, Float>> readings = new HashMap<>();

Map<Integer,List<Float>> accelerometerReadings = new HashMap<>();
accelerometerReadings.put(X_axis, aX);
accelerometerReadings.put(Y_axis, aY);
readings.put(Sensor.TYPE_ACCELEROMETER, accelerometerReadings);

Map<Integer,List<Float>> gyroscopeReadings = new HashMap<>();
gyroscopeReadings.put(X_axis, gX);
gyroscopeReadings.put(Y_axis, gY);
readings.put(Sensor.TYPE_GYROSCOPE, gyroscopeReadings);

If we want to copy an object in Java, there are two possibilities that we need to consider: a shallow copy and a deep copy.

The shallow copy is the approach when we only copy field values. Therefore, the copy might be dependent on the original object. In the deep copy approach, we make sure that all the objects in the tree are deeply copied, so the copy is not dependent on any earlier existing object that might ever change.

This question is the perfect definition for the application of the deep copy approach.

First, if you have a simple HashMap<Integer, List<T>> map then we just create a workaround like this. Creating a new instance of the List<T>.

public static <T> HashMap<Integer, List<T>> deepCopyWorkAround(HashMap<Integer, List<T>> original)
{
    HashMap<Integer, List<T>> copy = new HashMap<>();
    for (Map.Entry<Integer, List<T>> entry : original.entrySet()) {
        copy.put(entry.getKey(), new ArrayList<>(entry.getValue()));
    }
    return copy;
}

This one uses Stream.collect() method to create the clone map, but uses the same idea as the previous method.

public static <T> Map<Integer, List<T>> deepCopyStreamWorkAround(Map<Integer, List<T>> original)
{
    return original
            .entrySet()
            .stream()
            .collect(Collectors.toMap(Map.Entry::getKey, valueMapper -> new ArrayList<>(valueMapper.getValue())));
}   

But, if the instances inside T are also mutable objects we have a big problem. In this case a real deep copy is an alternative that solves this problem. Its advantage is that at least each mutable object in the object graph is recursively copied. Since the copy is not dependent on any mutable object that was created earlier, it won’t get modified by accident like we saw with the shallow copy.

To solve that this deep copy implementations will do the work.

public class DeepClone
{
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        Map<Long, Item> itemMap = Stream.of(
                entry(0L, new Item(2558584)),
                entry(1L, new Item(254243232)),
                entry(2L, new Item(986786)),
                entry(3L, new Item(672542)),
                entry(4L, new Item(4846)),
                entry(5L, new Item(76867467)),
                entry(6L, new Item(986786)),
                entry(7L, new Item(7969768)),
                entry(8L, new Item(68868486)),
                entry(9L, new Item(923)),
                entry(10L, new Item(986786)),
                entry(11L, new Item(549768)),
                entry(12L, new Item(796168)),
                entry(13L, new Item(868421)),
                entry(14L, new Item(923)),
                entry(15L, new Item(986786)),
                entry(16L, new Item(549768)),
                entry(17L, new Item(4846)),
                entry(18L, new Item(4846)),
                entry(19L, new Item(76867467)),
                entry(20L, new Item(986786)),
                entry(21L, new Item(7969768)),
                entry(22L, new Item(923)),
                entry(23L, new Item(4846)),
                entry(24L, new Item(986786)),
                entry(25L, new Item(549768))
        ).collect(entriesToMap());


        Map<Long, Item> clone = DeepClone.deepClone(itemMap);
        clone.remove(1L);
        clone.remove(2L);

        System.out.println(itemMap);
        System.out.println(clone);
    }

    private DeepClone() {}

    public static <T> T deepClone(final T input)
    {
        if (input == null) return null;

        if (input instanceof Map<?, ?>) {
            return (T) deepCloneMap((Map<?, ?>) input);
        } else if (input instanceof Collection<?>) {
            return (T) deepCloneCollection((Collection<?>) input);
        } else if (input instanceof Object[]) {
            return (T) deepCloneObjectArray((Object[]) input);
        } else if (input.getClass().isArray()) {
            return (T) clonePrimitiveArray((Object) input);
        }

        return input;
    }

    private static Object clonePrimitiveArray(final Object input)
    {
        final int length = Array.getLength(input);
        final Object output = Array.newInstance(input.getClass().getComponentType(), length);
        System.arraycopy(input, 0, output, 0, length);
        return output;
    }

    private static <E> E[] deepCloneObjectArray(final E[] input)
    {
        final E[] clone = (E[]) Array.newInstance(input.getClass().getComponentType(), input.length);
        for (int i = 0; i < input.length; i++) {
            clone[i] = deepClone(input[i]);
        }

        return clone;
    }

    private static <E> Collection<E> deepCloneCollection(final Collection<E> input)
    {
        Collection<E> clone;
        if (input instanceof LinkedList<?>) {
            clone = new LinkedList<>();
        } else if (input instanceof SortedSet<?>) {
            clone = new TreeSet<>();
        } else if (input instanceof Set) {
            clone = new HashSet<>();
        } else {
            clone = new ArrayList<>();
        }

        for (E item : input) {
            clone.add(deepClone(item));
        }

        return clone;
    }

    private static <K, V> Map<K, V> deepCloneMap(final Map<K, V> map)
    {
        Map<K, V> clone;
        if (map instanceof LinkedHashMap<?, ?>) {
            clone = new LinkedHashMap<>();
        } else if (map instanceof TreeMap<?, ?>) {
            clone = new TreeMap<>();
        } else {
            clone = new HashMap<>();
        }

        for (Map.Entry<K, V> entry : map.entrySet()) {
            clone.put(deepClone(entry.getKey()), deepClone(entry.getValue()));
        }

        return clone;
    }
}

Since this question is still unanswered and I had a similar problem, I will try to answer this. The problem (as others already mentioned) is that you just copy references to the same object and thus a modify on the copy will also modify the origin object. So what you have to to is to copy the object (your map value) itself. The far easiest way to do so is to make all your objects implementing the serializeable interface. Then serialize and deserialize your map to get a real copy. You can do this by yourself or use the apache commons SerializationUtils#clone() which you can find here: https://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-lang/javadocs/api-2.6/org/apache/commons/lang/SerializationUtils.html But be aware this is the simplest approach but it is an expensive task to serialize and deserialize a lot of objects.

In Java, when you write:

Object objectA = new Object();
Object objectB = objectA;

objectA and objectB are the same and point to the same reference. Changing one will change the other. So if you change the state of objectA (not its reference) objectB will reflect that change too.

However, if you write:

objectA = new Object()

Then objectB is still pointing to the first object you created (original objectA) while objectA is now pointing to a new Object.

You can also use

clone()

Method to copy all elements from one hashmap to another hashmap

Program for copy all elements from one hashmap to another

import java.util.HashMap;

public class CloneHashMap {    
     public static void main(String a[]) {    
        HashMap hashMap = new HashMap();    
        HashMap hashMap1 = new HashMap();    
        hashMap.put(1, "One");
        hashMap.put(2, "Two");
        hashMap.put(3, "Three");
        System.out.println("Original HashMap : " + hashMap);
        hashMap1 = (HashMap) hashMap.clone();
        System.out.println("Copied HashMap : " + hashMap1);    
    }    
}

source : http://www.tutorialdata.com/examples/java/collection-framework/hashmap/copy-all-elements-from-one-hashmap-to-another

If you want a copy of the HashMap you need to construct a new one with.

myobjectListB = new HashMap<Integer,myObject>(myobjectListA);

This will create a (shallow) copy of the map.

Since the OP has mentioned he does not have access to the base class inside of which exists a HashMap - I am afraid there are very few options available.

One (painfully slow and resource intensive) way of performing a deep copy of an object in Java is to abuse the 'Serializable' interface which many classes either intentionally - or unintentionally extend - and then utilise this to serialise your class to ByteStream. Upon de-serialisation you will have a deep copy of the object in question.

A guide for this can be found here: https://www.avajava.com/tutorials/lessons/how-do-i-perform-a-deep-clone-using-serializable.html

Java supports shallow(not deep) copy concept

You can archive it using:

• constructor
• clone()
• putAll()

The difference is that in C++ your object is on the stack, whereas in Java, your object is in the heap. If A and B are Objects, any time in Java you do:

B = A

A and B point to the same object, so anything you do to A you do to B and vice versa.

Use new HashMap() if you want two different objects.

And you can use Map.putAll(...) to copy data between two Maps.

What you assign one object to another, all you're doing is copying the reference to the object, not the contents of it. What you need to do is take your object B and manually copy the contents of object A into it.

If you do this often, you might consider implementing a clone() method on the class that will create a new object of the same type, and copy all of it's contents into the new object.

Since Java 10 it is possible to use

Map.copyOf

for creating a shallow copy, which is also immutable. (Here is its Javadoc). For a deep copy, as mentioned in this answer you, need some kind of value mapper to make a safe copy of values. You don't need to copy keys though, since they must be immutable.