How to Create TreeMap Objects using Comparable Interface in Java?

Last Updated : 22 Feb, 2023

In Java, the TreeMap class is an implementation of the SortedMap interface that stores key-value pairs in a sorted order based on the natural ordering of the keys. By default, the keys are sorted in ascending order. If you want to sort the keys based on a custom ordering criteria, you can use the Comparable interface to define the natural ordering of the keys.

Here's an example of how to create a TreeMap object using the Comparable interface in Java:

Java

import java.util.*;

class Person implements Comparable<Person> {
    private int id;
    private String name;

    public Person(int id, String name) {
        this.id = id;
        this.name = name;
    }

    public int getId() {
        return id;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    // Implement the compareTo() method of the Comparable interface
    @Override
    public int compareTo(Person other) {
        return Integer.compare(this.id, other.getId());
    }
}

public class Example {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        // Create a TreeMap object using the Person class that implements Comparable interface
        TreeMap<Person, String> treeMap = new TreeMap<>();

        // Add some key-value pairs to the TreeMap
        treeMap.put(new Person(2, "John"), "value1");
        treeMap.put(new Person(1, "Alice"), "value2");
        treeMap.put(new Person(3, "Bob"), "value3");

        // Iterate over the TreeMap and print the key-value pairs
        for (Map.Entry<Person, String> entry : treeMap.entrySet()) {
            Person key = entry.getKey();
            String value = entry.getValue();
            System.out.println(key.getId() + " " + key.getName() + " " + value);
        }
    }
}

Output

1 Alice value2
2 John value1
3 Bob value3

In this example, we have created a Person class that implements the Comparable interface and overrides the compareTo() method to define the natural ordering of the objects based on the id field. Then, we have created a TreeMap object using the Person class as the key and a String as the value. We have added some key-value pairs to the TreeMap and iterated over the entries to print the key-value pairs in sorted order based on the id field.

Note that if the keys are not unique, the TreeMap will only store the last value associated with the key. If you want to store multiple values for a key, you can use a Map implementation that supports multiple values per key, such as a HashMap with a List as the value.

Comparable interface is found in java.lang package which is used to order the objects of a user-defined class on the basis of a single attribute only. This interface contains a single method compareTo(Object). It is used to compare the current object with the specified objects and can be used o sort user-defined classes, wrapper class, and string objects.

Syntax:

compareTo(Object o) ;

Parameter: The specified object with which the current object is being compared.

Return Type: Integer value

Positive integer — If the current object is greater than the specified object.
Negative integer — If the current object is lesser than the specified object.
Zero — If the current object is equal to the specified object.

Use of Comparable Interface in Java

TreeMap in Java, elements are stored as key-value pairs which are sorted on the basis of the key. When the Key is of String class or Wrapper Classes, it implements the Comparable interface by default and stores the elements in sorted order. However, if somebody wants to make the desired key of a particular user-defined type i.e user-defined class, we need to implement the Comparable interface to order the objects in a particular order on the basis of an attribute.

Implementation: Without using the comparable interface.

Java

// Creating TreeMap objects using
// Comparable interface in Java

// Importing all generic java utility and input
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;

// Class - User defined named Employee
public class Employee {

    // Attributes of object of class
    int id;
    String name;

    // Parameterized constructor for user-defined class
    public Employee(int id, String name)
    {
        // This keyword refers to current object in a
        // constructor
        this.id = id;
        this.name = name;
    }
}

// Main class
class GFG {

    // Main driver method
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception
    {
        // Declaring and initializing a TreeMap
        TreeMap<Employee, String> tm = new TreeMap<>();

        // Employee object1
        // custom input
        Employee e1 = new Employee(1, "Pathak");

        // Employee object2
        // custom input
        Employee e2 = new Employee(2, "Anshu");

        // Put method associating specific key-value in Map
        tm.put(e1, "First");
        tm.put(e2, "Second");

        // Iterating over Map using for-each loop
        // Map with employee Key
        for (Map.Entry<Employee, String> e :
             tm.entrySet()) {

            // Print key-value pairs of TreeMap
            System.out.println(e.getKey().id + " "
                               + e.getValue());
        }
    }
}

Output: Error

The above code throws exceptions as the comparable interface has not been implemented and hence it cannot order the map elements on the basis of a key in proper order. So, in order to handle the exception

Implementation: With using the comparable interface.