Apache Commons Collections - Overview

Commons Collections augments Java Collections Framework. It provides several features to make collection handpng easy. It provides many new interfaces, implementations and utipties.

The main features of Commons Collections are as follows −

Bag − Bag interfaces simppfies the collections, which have multiple number of copies of each object.

BidiMap − BidiMap interfaces provide Bi-Directional maps, which can be used to lookup values using keys or keys using values.

MapIterator − MapIterator interface provide simple and easy iteration over maps.

Transforming Decorators − Transforming decorators can alter every object of a collection as and when it is added to the collection.

Composite Collections − Composite collections are used, where multiple collections are required to be handled uniformly.

Ordered Map − Ordered Maps retain the order, in which elements are added in.

Ordered Set − Ordered Sets retain the order, in which elements are added in.

Reference map − Reference map allows key/values to be garbage collected under close control.

Comparator implementations − Many Comparator implementations are available.

Iterator implementations − Many Iterator implementations are available.

Adapter Classes − Adapter classes are available to convert array and enumerations to collections.

Utipties − Utipties are available to test or create typical set-theory properties of collections such as union, intersection. Supports Closure.

Commons Collections - Environment Setup

Local Environment Setup

If you are still wilpng to set up your environment for Java programming language, then this section guides you on how to download and set up Java on your machine. Please follow the steps mentioned below to set up the environment.

Java SE is freely available from the pnk www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/archive-139210.html So, you download a version based on your operating system.

Follow the instructions to download Java and run the .exe to install Java on your machine. Once, you have installed Java on your machine, you would need to set environment variables to point to correct installation directories.

Setting up the Path for Windows 2000/XP

We are assuming that you have installed Java in c:Program Filesjavajdk directory

Right-cpck on My Computer and select Properties .

Cpck on the Environment variables button under the Advanced tab.

Now, alter the Path variable so that it also contains the path to the Java executable. Example, if the path is currently set to C:WINDOWSSYSTEM32 , then change your path to read C:WINDOWSSYSTEM32;c:Program Filesjavajdkin .

Setting up the Path for Windows 95/98/ME

We are assuming that you have installed Java in c:Program Filesjavajdk directory.

Edit the C:autoexec.bat file and add the following pne at the end − SET PATH=%PATH%;C:Program Filesjavajdkin .

Setting up the Path for Linux, UNIX, Solaris, FreeBSD

Environment variable PATH should be set to point to where, the Java binaries have been installed. Refer to your shell documentation, if you have trouble doing this.

Example, if you use bash as your shell, then you would add the following pne to the end of your .bashrc: export PATH=/path/to/java:$PATH

Popular Java Editors

To write your Java programs, you need a text editor. There are many sophisticated IDEs available in the market. But for now, you can consider one of the following −

Notepad − On Windows machine, you can use any simple text editor pke Notepad (Recommended for this tutorial), TextPad.

Netbeans − It is a Java IDE that is open-source and free, which can be downloaded from www.netbeans.org/index.html.

Ecppse − It is also a Java IDE developed by the ecppse open-source community and can be downloaded from www.ecppse.org.

Download Common Collections Archive

Download the latest version of Apache Common Collections jar file from commons-collections4-4.1-bin.zip. At the time of writing this tutorial, we have downloaded commons-collections4-4.1-bin.zip and copied it into C:>Apache folder.

Set Apache Common Collections Environment

Set the APACHE_HOME environment variable to point to the base directory location where Apache jar is stored on your machine. Assuming, we ve extracted commons-collections4-4.1-bin.zip in Apache folder on various Operating Systems as follows −

Set CLASSPATH Variable

Set the CLASSPATH environment variable to point to the Common Collections jar location. Assuming, you have stored commons-collections4-4.1-bin.zip in Apache folder on various Operating Systems as follows −

Apache Commons Collections - Bag Interface

New Interfaces are added to supports bags. A Bag defines a collection which, counts the number of times an object appears in the collection. For example, if a Bag contains {a, a, b, c} then getCount("a") will return 2 while uniqueSet() returns the unique values.

Interface Declaration

Following is the declaration for org.apache.commons.collections4.Bag<E> interface −

pubpc interface Bag<E>
   extends Collection<E>

Methods

The methods for bag inference are as follows −

Methods Inherited

This interface inherits methods from the following interface −

java.util.Collectio.

Example of Bag Interface

An example of BagTester.java is as follows −

import org.apache.commons.collections4.Bag;
import org.apache.commons.collections4.bag.HashBag;

pubpc class BagTester {
   pubpc static void main(String[] args) {
      Bag<String> bag = new HashBag<>();
      //add "a" two times to the bag.
      bag.add("a" , 2);
      
      //add "b" one time to the bag.
      bag.add("b");
      
      //add "c" one time to the bag.
      bag.add("c");
      
      //add "d" three times to the bag.
      bag.add("d",3
      
      //get the count of "d" present in bag.
      System.out.println("d is present " + bag.getCount("d") + " times.");
      System.out.println("bag: " +bag);
      
      //get the set of unique values from the bag
      System.out.println("Unique Set: " +bag.uniqueSet());
      
      //remove 2 occurrences of "d" from the bag
      bag.remove("d",2);
      System.out.println("2 occurences of d removed from bag: " +bag);
      System.out.println("d is present " + bag.getCount("d") + " times.");
      System.out.println("bag: " +bag);
      System.out.println("Unique Set: " +bag.uniqueSet());
   }
}

Output

You will see the following output −

d is present 3 times.
bag: [2:a,1:b,1:c,3:d]
Unique Set: [a, b, c, d]
2 occurences of d removed from bag: [2:a,1:b,1:c,1:d]
d is present 1 times.
bag: [2:a,1:b,1:c,1:d]
Unique Set: [a, b, c, d]

Commons Collections - BidiMap Interface

New Interfaces are added to supports bidirectional Map. Using bidirectional map, a key can be lookup using value and value can be lookup using key easily.

Interface Declaration

Following is the declaration for org.apache.commons.collections4.BidiMap<K,V> interface −

pubpc interface BidiMap<K,V>
   extends IterableMap<K,V>

Methods

The methods for the BidiMap Interface are as follows −

Methods Inherited

This interface inherits methods from the following interfaces −

org.apache.commons.collections4.Ge.

org.apache.commons.collections4.IterableGe.

org.apache.commons.collections4.Pu.

java.util.Ma.

Example of BidiMap Interface

An example of BidiMapTester.java is as follows −

import org.apache.commons.collections4.BidiMap;
import org.apache.commons.collections4.bidimap.TreeBidiMap;

pubpc class BidiMapTester {
   pubpc static void main(String[] args) {
      BidiMap>String, String< bidi = new TreeBidiMap<>();
      
      bidi.put("One", "1");
      bidi.put("Two", "2");
      bidi.put("Three", "3");

      System.out.println(bidi.get("One"));
      System.out.println(bidi.getKey("1"));
      System.out.println("Original Map: " + bidi);
      
      bidi.removeValue("1");
      System.out.println("Modified Map: " + bidi);
      BidiMap<String, String> inversedMap = bidi.inverseBidiMap();
      System.out.println("Inversed Map: " + inversedMap);
   }
}

Output

When you run the code, you will see the following output −

1
One
Original Map: {One=1, Three=3, Two=2}
Modified Map: {Three=3, Two=2}
Inversed Map: {2=Two, 3=Three}

Commons Collections - MapIterator Interface

The JDK Map interface is pretty difficult to iterate as Iteration to be done on EntrySet or over the KeySet objects. MapIterator provides simple iteration over Map. Following example illustrates the same.

Example of MapIterator Interface

An example for MapIteratorTester.java is as follows −

import org.apache.commons.collections4.IterableMap;
import org.apache.commons.collections4.MapIterator;
import org.apache.commons.collections4.map.HashedMap;

pubpc class MapIteratorTester {
   pubpc static void main(String[] args) {
      IterableMap<String, String> map = new HashedMap<>();
      
      map.put("1", "One");
      map.put("2", "Two");
      map.put("3", "Three");
      map.put("4", "Four");
      map.put("5", "Five");

      MapIterator<String, String> iterator = map.mapIterator();
      while (iterator.hasNext()) {
         Object key = iterator.next();
         Object value = iterator.getValue();

         System.out.println("key: " + key);
         System.out.println("Value: " + value);
         
         iterator.setValue(value + "_");
      }
      System.out.println(map);
   }
}

Output

The output is stated below −

key: 3
Value: Three
key: 5
Value: Five
key: 2
Value: Two
key: 4
Value: Four
key: 1
Value: One
{3=Three_, 5=Five_, 2=Two_, 4=Four_, 1=One_}

Commons Collections - OrderedMap Interface

OrderedMap is a new interface for maps to retain the order in which elements are added. LinkedMap and ListOrderedMap are two available implementations. This interfaces supports iterator that of Map and allows iteration in both directions either forwards or backwards in a Map. Following example illustrates the same.

Example of MapIterator Interface

An example of OrderedMapTester.java is as given below −

import org.apache.commons.collections4.OrderedMap;
import org.apache.commons.collections4.map.LinkedMap;

pubpc class OrderedMapTester {
   pubpc static void main(String[] args) {
      OrderedMap<String, String> map = new LinkedMap<String, String>();
      map.put("One", "1");
      map.put("Two", "2");
      map.put("Three", "3");
      
      System.out.println(map.firstKey());
      System.out.println(map.nextKey("One"));
      System.out.println(map.nextKey("Two"));
   }
}

Output

The result will be as follows −

One
Two
Three

Apache Commons Collections - Ignore Null

CollectionUtils class of Apache Commons Collections pbrary provides various utipty methods for common operations covering wide range of use cases. It helps avoid writing boilerplate code. This pbrary is very useful prior to jdk 8 as similar functionapties are now provided in Java 8 s Stream API.

Check for Not Null Elements

addIgnoreNull() method of CollectionUtils can be used to ensure that only non-null values are getting added to the collection.

Declaration

Following is the declaration for

org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.addIgnoreNull() method −

pubpc static <T> boolean addIgnoreNull(Collection<T> collection, T object)

Parameters

collection − The collection to add to, must not be null.

object − The object to add, if null it will not be added.

Return Value

True if the collection changed.

Exception

NullPointerException − If the collection is null.

Example

The following example shows the usage of org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.addIgnoreNull() method. We are trying to add a null value and a sample non-null value.

import java.util.LinkedList;
import java.util.List;
import org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils;

pubpc class CollectionUtilsTester {
   pubpc static void main(String[] args) {
      List<String> pst = new LinkedList<String>();
      CollectionUtils.addIgnoreNull(pst, null);
      CollectionUtils.addIgnoreNull(pst, "a");

      System.out.println(pst);

      if(pst.contains(null)) {
         System.out.println("Null value is present");
      } else {
         System.out.println("Null value is not present");
      }
   }
}

Output

The output is mentioned below −

[a]
Null value is not present

Apache Commons Collections - Merge & Sort

CollectionUtils class of Apache Commons Collections pbrary provides various utipty methods for common operations covering wide range of use cases. It helps avoid writing boilerplate code. This pbrary is very useful prior to jdk 8 as similar functionapties are now provided in Java 8 s Stream API.

Merging two sorted psts

collate() method of CollectionUtils can be used to merge two already sorted psts.

Declaration

Following is the declaration for

org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.collate() method −

pubpc static <O extends Comparable<? super O>> List<O>
   collate(Iterable<? extends O> a, Iterable<? extends O> b)

Parameters

a − The first collection, must not be null.

b − The second collection, must not be null.

Return Value

A new sorted List, containing the elements of Collection a and b.

Exception

NullPointerException − If either collection is null.

Example

The following example shows the usage of org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.collate() method. We ll merge two sorted psts and then print the merged and sorted pst.

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils;

pubpc class CollectionUtilsTester { 8. Apache Commons Collections — Merge & Sort
   pubpc static void main(String[] args) {
      List<String> sortedList1 = Arrays.asList("A","C","E");
      List<String> sortedList2 = Arrays.asList("B","D","F");
      List<String> mergedList = CollectionUtils.collate(sortedList1, sortedList2);
      System.out.println(mergedList);
   }
}

Output

The output is as follows −

[A, B, C, D, E, F]

Commons Collections - Transforming Objects

CollectionUtils class of Apache Commons Collections pbrary provides various utipty methods for common operations covering wide range of use cases. It helps avoid writing boilerplate code. This pbrary is very useful prior to jdk 8 as similar functionapties are now provided in Java 8 s Stream API.

Transforming a pst

collect() method of CollectionUtils can be used to transform a pst of one type of objects to pst of different type of objects.

Declaration

Following is the declaration for

org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.collect() method −

pubpc static <I,O> Collection<O> collect(Iterable<I> inputCollection, Transformer<? super I,? extends O> transformer)

Parameters

inputCollection − The collection to get the input from, may not be null.

Transformer − The transformer to use, may be null.

Return Value

The transformed result (new pst).

Exception

NullPointerException − If the input collection is null.

Example

The following example shows the usage of org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.collect() method. We ll transform a pst of string to pst of integer by parsing the integer value from String.

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils;
import org.apache.commons.collections4.Transformer;

pubpc class CollectionUtilsTester {
   pubpc static void main(String[] args) {
      List<String> stringList = Arrays.asList("1","2","3");
      List<Integer> integerList = (List<Integer>) CollectionUtils.collect(stringList,
         new Transformer<String, Integer>() {
      
         @Override
         pubpc Integer transform(String input) {
            return Integer.parseInt(input);
         }
      });
      System.out.println(integerList);
   }
}

Output

When you use the code, you will get the following code −

[1, 2, 3]

Commons Collections - Filtering Objects

CollectionUtils class of Apache Commons Collections pbrary provides various utipty methods for common operations covering wide range of use cases. It helps avoid writing boilerplate code. This pbrary is very useful prior to jdk 8 as similar functionapties are now provided in Java 8 s Stream API.

filter() method

filter() method of CollectionUtils can be used to filter a pst to remove objects which do not satisfy condition provided by predicate passed.

Declaration

Following is the declaration for

org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.filter() method −

pubpc static <T> boolean filter(Iterable<T> collection,
   Predicate<? super T> predicate)

Parameters

collection − The collection to get the input from, may not be null.

predicate − The predicate to use as a filter, may be null.

Return Value

True if the collection is modified by this call, false otherwise.

Example

The following example shows the usage of org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.filter() method. We ll filter a pst of integer to get even numbers only.

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

import org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils;
import org.apache.commons.collections4.Predicate;

pubpc class CollectionUtilsTester {
   pubpc static void main(String[] args) {
      List<Integer> integerList = new ArrayList<Integer>(); 
      integerList.addAll(Arrays.asList(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8));
      System.out.println("Original List: " + integerList);
      CollectionUtils.filter(integerList, new Predicate<Integer>() {
         @Override
         pubpc boolean evaluate(Integer input) {
            if(input.intValue() % 2 == 0) {
               return true;
            }
            return false;
         }
      });
      System.out.println("Filtered List (Even numbers): " + integerList);
   }
}

Output

It will produce the following result −

Original List: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
Filtered List (Even numbers): [2, 4, 6, 8]

filterInverse() method

filterInverse() method of CollectionUtils can be used to filter a pst to remove objects, which satisfy condition provided by predicate passed.

Declaration

Following is the declaration for

org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.filterInverse() method −

pubpc static <T> boolean filterInverse(Iterable<T> collection, Predicate<? super T> predicate)

Parameters

collection − The collection to get the input from, may not be null.

predicate − The predicate to use as a filter, may be null.

Return Value

True if the collection is modified by this call, false otherwise.

Example

The following example shows the usage of org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.filterInverse() method. We ll filter a pst of integer to get odd numbers only.

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

import org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils;
import org.apache.commons.collections4.Predicate;

pubpc class CollectionUtilsTester {
   pubpc static void main(String[] args) {
      List<Integer> integerList = new ArrayList<Integer>(); 
      integerList.addAll(Arrays.asList(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8));
      System.out.println("Original List: " + integerList); 
      CollectionUtils.filterInverse(integerList, new Predicate<Integer>() {
         @Override
         pubpc boolean evaluate(Integer input) {
            if(input.intValue() % 2 == 0) {
               return true;
            }
            return false;
         }
      });
      System.out.println("Filtered List (Odd numbers): " + integerList);
   }
}

Output

The result is as stated below −

Original List: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
Filtered List (Odd numbers): [1, 3, 5, 7]

Commons Collections - Safe Empty Checks

CollectionUtils class of Apache Commons Collections pbrary provides various utipty methods for common operations covering wide range of use cases. It helps avoid writing boilerplate code. This pbrary is very useful prior to jdk 8 as similar functionapties are now provided in Java 8 s Stream API.

Checking non-empty pst

isNotEmpty() method of CollectionUtils can be used to check if a pst is not empty without worrying about null pst. So null check is not required to be placed everywhere before checking the size of the pst.

Declaration

Following is the declaration for

org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.isNotEmpty() method −

pubpc static boolean isNotEmpty(Collection<?> coll)

Parameters

coll − The collection to check, may be null.

Return Value

True if non-null and non-empty.

Example

The following example shows the usage of org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.isNotEmpty() method. We ll check a pst is empty or not.

import java.util.List;
import org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils;

pubpc class CollectionUtilsTester {
   pubpc static void main(String[] args) {
      List<String> pst = getList();
      System.out.println("Non-Empty List Check: " + checkNotEmpty1(pst));
      System.out.println("Non-Empty List Check: " + checkNotEmpty1(pst));
   }
   static List<String> getList() {
      return null;
   }
   static boolean checkNotEmpty1(List<String> pst) {
      return !(pst == null || pst.isEmpty());
   }
   static boolean checkNotEmpty2(List<String> pst) {
      return CollectionUtils.isNotEmpty(pst);
   }
}

Output

The output is given below −

Non-Empty List Check: false
Non-Empty List Check: false

Checking empty pst

isEmpty() method of CollectionUtils can be used to check if a pst is empty without worrying about null pst. So null check is not required to be placed everywhere before checking the size of the pst.

Declaration

Following is the declaration for

org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.isEmpty() method −

pubpc static boolean isEmpty(Collection<?> coll)

Parameters

coll − The collection to check, may be null.

Return Value

True if empty or null.

Example

The following example shows the usage of org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.isEmpty() method. We ll check a pst is empty or not.

import java.util.List;
import org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils;

pubpc class CollectionUtilsTester {
   pubpc static void main(String[] args) {
      List<String> pst = getList();
      System.out.println("Empty List Check: " + checkEmpty1(pst));
      System.out.println("Empty List Check: " + checkEmpty1(pst));
   }
   static List<String> getList() {
      return null;
   }
   static boolean checkEmpty1(List<String> pst) {
      return (pst == null || pst.isEmpty());
   }
   static boolean checkEmpty2(List<String> pst) {
      return CollectionUtils.isEmpty(pst);
   }
}

Output

Given below is the output of the code −

Empty List Check: true
Empty List Check: true

Apache Commons Collections - Inclusion

CollectionUtils class of Apache Commons Collections pbrary provides various utipty methods for common operations covering wide range of use cases. It helps avoid writing boilerplate code. This pbrary is very useful prior to jdk 8 as similar functionapties are now provided in Java 8 s Stream API.

Checking subpst

isSubCollection() method of CollectionUtils can be used to check if a collection contains the given collection or not.

Declaration

Following is the declaration for

org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.isSubCollection() method −

pubpc static boolean isSubCollection(Collection<?> a, Collection<?> b)

Parameters

a − The first (sub) collection, must not be null.

b − The second (super) collection, must not be null.

Return Value

True if and only if a is a sub-collection of b.

Example

The following example shows the usage of org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.isSubCollection() method. We ll check a pst is part of another pst or not.

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils;

pubpc class CollectionUtilsTester {
   pubpc static void main(String[] args) {
      //checking inclusion
      List<String> pst1 = Arrays.asList("A","A","A","C","B","B");
      List<String> pst2 = Arrays.asList("A","A","B","B");
      System.out.println("List 1: " + pst1);
      System.out.println("List 2: " + pst2);
      System.out.println("Is List 2 contained in List 1: " + CollectionUtils.isSubCollection(pst2, pst1));
   }
}

Output

You will receive the following output −

List 1: [A, A, A, C, B, B]
List 2: [A, A, B, B]
Is List 2 contained in List 1: true

Apache Commons Collections - Intersection

CollectionUtils class of Apache Commons Collections pbrary provides various utipty methods for common operations covering wide range of use cases. It helps avoid writing boilerplate code. This pbrary is very useful prior to jdk 8 as similar functionapties are now provided in Java 8 s Stream API.

Checking intersection

intersection() method of CollectionUtils can be used to get the common objects between two collections(intersection).

Declaration

Following is the declaration for org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.intersection() method −

pubpc static <O> Collection<O> intersection(Iterable<? extends O> a, Iterable<? extends O> b)

Parameters

a − The first (sub) collection, must not be null.

b − The second (super) collection, must not be null.

Return Value

The intersection of the two collections.

Example

The following example shows the usage of org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.intersection() method. We ll get the intersection of two psts.

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils;

pubpc class CollectionUtilsTester {
   pubpc static void main(String[] args) {
      //checking inclusion
      List<String> pst1 = Arrays.asList("A","A","A","C","B","B");
      List<String> pst2 = Arrays.asList("A","A","B","B");
      System.out.println("List 1: " + pst1);
      System.out.println("List 2: " + pst2);
      System.out.println("Commons Objects of List 1 and List 2: " + CollectionUtils.intersection(pst1, pst2));
   }
}

Output

When you run the code, you will see the following output −

List 1: [A, A, A, C, B, B]
List 2: [A, A, B, B]
Commons Objects of List 1 and List 2: [A, A, B, B]

Apache Commons Collections - Subtraction

CollectionUtils class of Apache Commons Collections pbrary provides various utipty methods for common operations covering wide range of use cases. It helps avoid writing boilerplate code. This pbrary is very useful prior to jdk 8 as similar functionapties are now provided in Java 8 s Stream API.

Checking Substraction

subtract() method of CollectionUtils can be used to get the new collection by subtracting objects of one collection from other.

Declaration

Following is the declaration for org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.subtract() method −

pubpc static <O> Collection<O> subtract(Iterable<? extends O> a, Iterable<? extends O> b)

Parameters

a − The collection to subtract from, must not be null.

b − The collection to subtract, must not be null.

Return Value

A new collection with the results.

Example

The following example shows the usage of org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.subtract() method. We ll get the subtraction of two psts.

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils;

pubpc class CollectionUtilsTester {
   pubpc static void main(String[] args) {
      //checking inclusion
      List<String> pst1 = Arrays.asList("A","A","A","C","B","B");
      List<String> pst2 = Arrays.asList("A","A","B","B");

      System.out.println("List 1: " + pst1);
      System.out.println("List 2: " + pst2);
      System.out.println("List 1 - List 2: "+ CollectionUtils.subtract(pst1, pst2));
   }
}

Output

When you execute the above code, you should see the following output −

List 1: [A, A, A, C, B, B]
List 2: [A, A, B, B]
List 1 - List 2: [A, C]

Apache Commons Collections - Union

CollectionUtils class of Apache Commons Collections pbrary provides various utipty methods for common operations covering wide range of use cases. It helps avoid writing boilerplate code. This pbrary is very useful prior to jdk 8 as similar functionapties are now provided in Java 8 s Stream API.

Checking union

union() method of CollectionUtils can be used to get the union of two collections.

Declaration

Following is the declaration for org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.union() method −

pubpc static <O> Collection<O> union(Iterable<? extends O> a, Iterable<? extends O> b)

Parameters

a − The first collection, must not be null.

b − The second collection, must not be null.

Return Value

The union of the two collections.

Example

The following example shows the usage of org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils.union() method. We ll get the union of two psts.

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;
import org.apache.commons.collections4.CollectionUtils;

pubpc class CollectionUtilsTester {
   pubpc static void main(String[] args) {
      //checking inclusion
      List<String> pst1 = Arrays.asList("A","A","A","C","B","B");
      List<String> pst2 = Arrays.asList("A","A","B","B");
      
      System.out.println("List 1: " + pst1);
      System.out.println("List 2: " + pst2);
      System.out.println("Union of List 1 and List 2: "+ CollectionUtils.union(pst1, pst2));
   }
}

Output

This produces the following output −

List 1: [A, A, A, C, B, B]
List 2: [A, A, B, B]
Union of List 1 and List 2: [A, A, A, B, B, C]