Java - Iterating over a Map which contains a List

dictionary, java, list, set

Solution

for(List<String> valueList : map.values()) {
  for(String value : valueList) {
    ...
  }
}

That's really the "normal" way to do it. Or, if you need the key as well...

for(Map.Entry<String, List<String>> entry : map.entrySet()) {
  String key = entry.getKey();
  for (String value : entry.getValue()) {
    ...
  }
}

That said, if you have the option, you might be interested in Guava's `ListMultimap`, which is a lot like a `Map<K, List<V>>`, but has a lot more features -- including a `Collection<V> values()` that acts exactly like what you're asking for, "flattening" all the values in the multimap into one collection. (Disclosure: I contribute to Guava.)

Problem

First time here so I hope this makes sense! I have a Map which contains a String as it's Key, and a List of Strings as it's Value. I need to iterate over all vlaues contained within each List within the Map. So, first I want to get the Keys, which works: ``` Set<String> keys = theMap.keySet(); ``` This returns me a Set containing all my Keys. Great :) This is where I've got stuck - most of the info on the web seems to assume that the values I'd want returned from the Key would be a simple String or Integer, not another Set, or in this case a List. I tried `theMap.values()` but that didn't work, and I tried a forloop / for:eachloop, and neither of those did the trick. Thanks y'all!

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