Convert list to map

This example will show how to transform a list to a map using groovy. In the set up we will create a Bike class while initializing a list of bikes which will be used in the first snippet. In a comparable example we demonstrate how to convert an arraylist to a map in java using java 8 and guava.

Setup

@ToString
class Bike {

    def name
    def brand

    public Bike(String name, String brand) {
        this.name = name
        this.brand = brand
    }
}

def bikes

@Before
void before() {

    bikes = [
        new Bike("SuperFly", "Trek"),
        new Bike("X-Caliber", "Trek"),
        new Bike("Big Daddy", "Huffy"),
        new Bike("CranBrook", "Huffy"),
    ]
}

Convert list of objects to map

Using collectEntries we will iterate over the collection of bikes and transform each bike object in the list to a map entry using the bike name as the key and the brand as the value.

@Test
void convert_list_of_objects_to_map() {

    def bikeMap = bikes.collectEntries {
        b -> [b.name, b.brand]
    }

    assert 4 == bikeMap.size()
    assert 'Trek' == bikeMap['SuperFly']
}

Output

[SuperFly:Trek, X-Caliber:Trek, Big Daddy:Huffy, CranBrook:Huffy]

List of strings to map

Using a SpreadMap we will convert a list of strings into a map. A SpreadMap is a helper that turns a list with an even number of elements into a Map. In the snippet below, we create a map keyed by NFL city while the value will be the team name.

@Test
void convert_list_of_strings_to_map() {

    def list = [
        'green bay',
        'packers',
        'cincinnati',
        'bengals'] as Object[]

    def map = list.toSpreadMap()

    assert 2 == map.size()
    assert 'packers' == map['green bay']
}

Output

[green bay:packers, cincinnati:bengals]