Sort LinkedHashMap with LinkedList as key

Question

I want to sort LinkedHashMap that has LinkedList<Integer> as key and float[] as value.

For example let's say I have such LinkedHashMap like this:

LinkedHashMap<LinkedList<Integer>, float[]> hm = new LinkedHashMap<>();
LinkedList<Integer> linkedlist;

linkedlist = new LinkedList<>();
linkedlist.add(10);
linkedlist.add(7);
hm.put(linkedlist, new float[]{0.14f, 1.2f, 85.01f});

linkedlist = new LinkedList<>();
linkedlist.add(0);
linkedlist.add(41);
hm.put(linkedlist, new float[]{10.3f, 50.05f, 9.9f});

linkedlist = new LinkedList<>();
linkedlist.add(210);
linkedlist.add(3);
hm.put(linkedlist, new float[]{17.0f, 4.0f, 2.1f});

Now what I want is the output to be:

{0, 41}, {10.3f, 50.05f, 9.9f}

{10, 7}, {0.14f, 1.2f, 85.01f}

{210, 3}, {17.0f, 4.0f, 2.1f}

But when I use suggested solution (suggested by some of you in the comments section saying it is duplicate of another post that already have the right answer - the one below, link to it here) where it created new LinkedHashMap (cos I do not know how to sort the original LinkedHashMap in place by this code, unfortunately) like this:

LinkedHashMap<LinkedList<Integer>, float[]> sortedMap = new LinkedHashMap<>();
hm.entrySet()
    .stream()
    .sorted(Map.Entry.comparingByKey())
    .forEachOrdered(x -> sortedMap.put(x.getKey(), x.getValue()));
hm = sortedMap;

My NetBeans 8.0.2 show me error about the line .sorted(Map.Entry.comparingByKey()) saying:

incompatible types: inference variable K has incompatible bounds equality constraints: LinkedList<Integer> upper bounds: Comparable <? super K> where K,V are type-variables: K extends Comparable<? super K> declared in method <K,V>comparingByKey() V extends Object declared in method <K,V>comparingByKey()

I thought maybe for some reason the values in the LinkedList are wrong so I tested it like this and it shows those are all correct (I tested just first 50 entries as the list have hundreds of them):

for (int i = 0; i < hm.size(); i++) {
    if (i < 50) {
        for (Map.Entry<LinkedList<Integer>, float[]> entry : hm.entrySet()) {
            LinkedList<Integer> k = entry.getKey();
            System.out.println(k);
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

The problem with this approach is that the key you have, a LinekdList<Integer> is not Comparable. You can overcome this by providing a custom Comparator.

A common way to implement such comparators is to compare the integers in matching places, until you hit a pair that aren't equal. If one of the lists is shorter than the other and you didn't hit a non-matching element in it before its end, you can define it as "smaller" than the longer list:

Comparator<LinkedList<Integer>> cmp = new Comparator<LinkedList<Integer>>() {
    @Override
    public int compare(LinkedList<Integer> o1, LinkedList<Integer> o2) {
        Iterator<Integer> i1 = o1.iterator();
        Iterator<Integer> i2 = o2.iterator();

        // Iterate over the first list
        while (i1.hasNext()) {
            Integer x1 = i1.next();

            // If the second list has no more elements, it's "smaller"
            if (!i2.hasNext()) {
                return 1;
            }

            Integer x2 = i2.next();
            int cmp = Integer.compare(x1, x2);
            if (cmp != 0) {
                // If the matching items aren't equal, we know which list is "smaller"
                return cmp;
            }
        }

        // Done going over the first list.
        // If the second one still has items, it's "bigger"
        if (i2.hasNext()) {
            return -1;
        }

        // If not, both lists are equal
        return 0;
    }
};

Once you have that comparator available, you just need to use it for sorting the map's keys:

LinkedHashMap<LinkedList<Integer>, float[]> sortedMap = new LinkedHashMap<>();
hm.entrySet()
        .stream()
        .sorted(Map.Entry.comparingByKey(cmp)) // Here
        .forEachOrdered(x -> sortedMap.put(x.getKey(), x.getValue()));
hm = sortedMap;

Answer 2

The simple fix: You said that you wanted sorting by the first (0th) element of the list. So specify that:

    hm.entrySet()
        .stream()
        .sorted(Comparator.comparing(me -> me.getKey().get(0)))
        .forEachOrdered(x -> sortedMap.put(x.getKey(), x.getValue()));

With this sorting let’s try writing out the sorted map afterwards, for example:

    sortedMap.forEach((k, v) -> System.out.println("" + k + " -> " + Arrays.toString(v)));

[0, 41] -> [10.3, 50.05, 9.9]
[10, 7] -> [0.14, 1.2, 85.01]
[210, 3] -> [17.0, 4.0, 2.1]

If you didn’t want to create a new map, you must remove each key before inserting it again for the order to be changed:

    hm.entrySet()
        .stream()
        .sorted(Comparator.comparing(me -> me.getKey().get(0)))
        .forEachOrdered(x -> {
            hm.remove(x.getKey());
            hm.put(x.getKey(), x.getValue());
        });

    hm.forEach((k, v) -> System.out.println("" + k + " -> " + Arrays.toString(v)));

Now the output is the same as above.