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Collections Class in Java

Last Updated : 17 Dec, 2024

Collections class in Java is one of the utility classes in Java Collections

Framework. The java.util package contains the Collections class in Java.
Java Collections class is used with the static methods that operate on
the collections or return the collection. All the methods of this class
throw the NullPointerException if the collection or object passed to the
methods is null.

Example 1: Here, we will use ArrayList, which is a class from the Java
Collections framework. It allows to store elements in a list by
maintaining the insertion order and also allows duplicates.

Java

1 import java.util.ArrayList;
2
3 public class Geeks {
4 public static void main(String[] args) {
5
6 // Create an ArrayList to store elements
7 ArrayList<String> al = new ArrayList<>();
8
9 // Add elements to the list
10 al.add("Apple");
11 al.add("Banana");
12 al.add("Apple"); // Duplicates are allowed
13
14 System.out.println("" + al);
15 }

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16 }

Output

[Apple, Banana, Apple]

Collection Class Declaration

public class Collections extends Object

Remember: Object is the parent class of all the classes.

Java Collection Class

Collection Framework contains both classes and interfaces. Although
both seem the same but there are certain differences between
Collection classes and the Collections framework.

To know the difference between Collection and Collections,

refer this article: Collection vs. Collections

The Collection classes in Java are mentioned below:

1. ArrayList

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ArrayList is a class implemented using a list interface, in that provides

the functionality of a dynamic array where the size of the array is not
fixed.

Syntax:

ArrayList<_type_> var_name = new ArrayList<_type_>();

2. Vector

Vector is a Part of the collection class that implements a dynamic array

that can grow or shrink its size as required.

Syntax:

public class Vector<E> extends AbstractList<E> implements

List<E>, RandomAccess,
Cloneable, Serializable

3. Stack

Stack is a part of Java collection class that models and implements a

Stack data structure. It is based on the basic principle of last-in-first-
out(LIFO).

Syntax:

public class Stack<E> extends Vector<E>

4. LinkedList

LinkedList class is an implementation of the LinkedList data structure. It

can store the elements that are not stored in contiguous locations and
every element is a separate object with a different data part and
different address part.

Syntax:

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LinkedList<_type_> var_name = new LinkedList<_type_>();

5. HashSet

HashSet is implemented using the Hashtable data structure. It offers

constant time performance for the performing operations like add,
remove, contains, and size.

Syntax:

public class HashSet<E> extends AbstractSet<E> implements

Set<E>, Cloneable, Serializable

6. LinkedHashSet

LinkedHashSet is an ordered version of HashSet that maintains a

doubly-linked List across all elements.

Syntax:

public class LinkedHashSet<E> extends HashSet<E> implements

Set<E>, Cloneable, Serializable

7. TreeSet

TreeSet class is implementations of the SortedSet interface in Java that

uses a Tree for storage. The ordering of the elements is maintained by a
set using their natural ordering whether an explicit comparator is
provided or not.

Syntax:

TreeSet<E> set = new TreeSet<>();

8. PriorityQueue

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The PriorityQueue is based on the priority heap. The elements of the

priority queue are ordered according to the natural ordering, or by a
Comparator provided at queue construction time, depending on which
constructor is used.

Syntax:

public class PriorityQueue<E> extends AbstractQueue<E>

implements Serializable

9. ArrayDeque

The ArrayDeque class in Java is an implementation of the Deque

interface that uses a resizable array to store its elements. The
ArrayDeque class provides constant-time performance for inserting and
removing elements from both ends.

Syntax:

public class ArrayDeque<E> extends

AbstractCollection<E> implements Deque<E>,
Cloneable,Serializable

10. HashMap

HashMap Class is similar to HashTable but the data unsynchronized. It

stores the data in (Key, Value) pairs, and you can access them by an
index of another type.

Syntax:

public class HashMap<K,V> extends AbstractMap<K,V>

implements Map<K,V>, Cloneable, Serializable

11. EnumMap

EnumMap extends AbstractMap and implements the Map interface in

Java.
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Syntax:

public class EnumMap<K extends Enum<K>,​V> extends

AbstractMap<K,​V> implements Serializable, Cloneable

12. AbstractMap

The AbstractMap class is a part of the Java Collection Framework. It

implements the Map interface to provide a structure to it, by doing so it
makes the further implementations easier.

Syntax:

public abstract class AbstractMap<K,V> implements Map<K,V>

13. TreeMap

A TreeMap is implemented using a Red-Black tree.TreeMap provides an

ordered collection of key-value pairs, where the keys are ordered based
on their natural order or a custom Comparator passed to the
constructor.

Syntax:

SortedMap<K, V> m = Collections.synchronizedSortedMap(new

TreeMap<>());

Java Collections Class Fields

The collection class contains 3 fields as listed below which can be used
to return immutable entities.

EMPTY_LIST to get an immutable empty List

EMPTY_SET to get an immutable empty Set
EMPTY_MAP to get an immutable empty Map

Now let us do discuss methods that are present inside this class so that
we can use these inbuilt functionalities later on in our program. Below

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are the methods have been listed below in a tabular format as shown
below as follows:

Methods Description

It is used to insert the specified

addAll(Collection<? super T> c, T…
collection elements to the
elements)
specified collection.

This method returns a view of a

asLifoQueue​(Deque<T> deque) Deque as a Last-in-first-out (Lifo)
Queue.

This method searches the key

binarySearch(List<? extends
using binary search in the
Comparable> list, T key)
specified list.

This method searches the

binarySearch​(List<? extends T> list, specified list for the specified
T key, Comparator<? super T> c) object using the binary search
algorithm.

This method returns a dynamically

checkedCollection​(Collection<E> c,
typesafe view of the specified
Class<E> type)
collection.

checkedList​(List<E> list, Class<E> This method returns a dynamically

type) typesafe view of the specified list.

This method returns a dynamically

checkedMap​(Map<K,​V> m, Class<K>
typesafe view of the specified
keyType, Class<V> valueType)
map.

checkedNavigableMap​ This method returns a dynamically

(NavigableMap<K,​V> m, Class<K> typesafe view of the specified
keyType, Class<V> valueType) navigable map.

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Methods Description

This method returns a dynamically

checkedNavigableSet​
typesafe view of the specified
(NavigableSet<E> s, Class<E> type)
navigable set.

This method returns a dynamically

checkedQueue​(Queue<E> queue,
typesafe view of the specified
Class<E> type)
queue.

checkedSet​(Set<E> s, Class<E> This method returns a dynamically

type) typesafe view of the specified set.

checkedSortedMap​(SortedMap<K,​ This method returns a dynamically

V> m, Class<K> keyType, Class<V> typesafe view of the specified
valueType) sorted map.

This method returns a dynamically

checkedSortedSet​(SortedSet<E> s,
typesafe view of the specified
Class<E> type)
sorted set.

This method copies all of the

copy​(List<? super T> dest, List<?
elements from one list into
extends T> src)
another.

This method returns true if the

disjoint​(Collection<?> c1,
two specified collections have no
Collection<?> c2)
elements in common.

This method returns an

emptyEnumeration()
enumeration that has no elements.

This method returns an iterator

emptyIterator()
that has no elements.

This method returns an empty list

emptyList()
(immutable).

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Methods Description

This method returns a list iterator

emptyListIterator()
that has no elements.

This method returns an empty

emptyMap()
map (immutable).

This method returns an empty

emptyNavigableMap()
navigable map (immutable).

This method returns an empty

emptyNavigableSet()
navigable set (immutable).

This method returns an empty set

emptySet()
(immutable).

This method returns an empty

emptySortedMap()
sorted map (immutable).

This method returns an empty

emptySortedSet()
sorted set (immutable).

This method returns an

enumeration​(Collection<T> c) enumeration over the specified
collection.

This method replaces all of the

fill​(List<? super T> list, T obj) elements of the specified list with
the specified element.

This method returns the number of

elements in the specified
frequency​(Collection<?> c, Object o)
collection equal to the specified
object.

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Methods Description

This method returns the starting

position of the first occurrence of
indexOfSubList​(List<?> source,
the specified target list within the
List<?> target)
specified source list, or -1 if there
is no such occurrence.

This method returns the starting

position of the last occurrence of
lastIndexOfSubList​(List<?> source,
the specified target list within the
List<?> target)
specified source list, or -1 if there
is no such occurrence.

This method returns an array list

containing the elements returned
list​(Enumeration<T> e) by the specified enumeration in
the order they are returned by the
enumeration.

This method returns the maximum

element of the given collection,
max​(Collection<? extends T> coll)
according to the natural ordering
of its elements.

This method returns the maximum

max​(Collection<? extends T> coll, element of the given collection,
Comparator<? super T> comp) according to the order induced by
the specified comparator.

This method returns the minimum

element of the given collection,
min​(Collection<? extends T> coll)
according to the natural ordering
of its elements.

min​(Collection<? extends T> coll, This method returns the minimum

Comparator<? super T> comp) element of the given collection,

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Methods Description

according to the order induced by

the specified comparator.

This method returns an immutable

nCopies​(int n, T o) list consisting of n copies of the
specified object.

newSetFromMap​(Map<E,​Boolean> This method returns a set backed

map) by the specified map.

This method replaces all

replaceAll​(List<T> list, T oldVal, T
occurrences of one specified value
newVal)
in a list with another.

This method reverses the order of

reverse​(List<?> list)
the elements in the specified list

This method returns a comparator

that imposes the reverse of the
reverseOrder() natural ordering on a collection of
objects that implement the
Comparable interface.

This method returns a comparator

reverseOrder​(Comparator<T> cmp) that imposes the reverse ordering
of the specified comparator.

This method rotates the elements

rotate​(List<?> list, int distance) in the specified list by the specified
distance.

This method randomly permutes

shuffle​(List<?> list) the specified list using a default
source of randomness.

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Methods Description

This method randomly permute

shuffle​(List<?> list, Random rnd) the specified list using the
specified source of randomness.

This method returns an immutable

singletonMap​(K key, V value) map, mapping only the specified
key to the specified value.

This method returns an immutable

singleton​( T o) set containing only the specified
object.

This method returns an immutable

singletonList​( T o) list containing only the specified
object.

This method sorts the specified

list into ascending order, according
sort​(List<T> list)
to the natural ordering of its
elements.

This method sorts the specified

sort​(List<T> list, Comparator<?
list according to the order induced
super T> c)
by the specified comparator.

This method swaps the elements

swap​(List<?> list, int i, int j) at the specified positions in the
specified list.

This method returns a

synchronizedCollection​ synchronized (thread-safe)
(Collection<T> c) collection backed by the specified
collection.

synchronizedList​(List<T> list) This method returns a

synchronized (thread-safe) list

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Methods Description

backed by the specified list.

This method returns a

synchronizedMap​(Map<K,​V> m) synchronized (thread-safe) map
backed by the specified map.

This method returns a

synchronizedNavigableMap​ synchronized (thread-safe)
(NavigableMap<K,​V> m) navigable map backed by the
specified navigable map.

This method returns a

synchronizedNavigableSet​ synchronized (thread-safe)
(NavigableSet<T> s) navigable set backed by the
specified navigable set.

This method returns a

synchronizedSet​(Set<T> s) synchronized (thread-safe) set
backed by the specified set.

This method returns a

synchronizedSortedMap​ synchronized (thread-safe) sorted
(SortedMap<K,​V> m) map backed by the specified
sorted map.

This method returns a

synchronizedSortedSet​ synchronized (thread-safe) sorted
(SortedSet<T> s) set backed by the specified sorted
set.

This method returns an

unmodifiableCollection​(Collection<?
unmodifiable view of the specified
extends T> c)
collection.

unmodifiableList​(List<? extends T> This method returns an

list) unmodifiable view of the specified

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Methods Description

list.

This method returns an

unmodifiableNavigableMap​
unmodifiable view of the specified
(NavigableMap<K,​? extends V> m)
navigable map.

This method returns an

unmodifiableNavigableSet​
unmodifiable view of the specified
(NavigableSet<T> s)
navigable set.

This method returns an

unmodifiableSet​(Set<? extends T>
unmodifiable view of the specified
s)
set.

This method returns an

unmodifiableSortedMap​
unmodifiable view of the specified
(SortedMap<K,​? extends V> m)
sorted map.

This method returns an

unmodifiableSortedSet​
unmodifiable view of the specified
(SortedSet<T> s)
sorted set.

Now, we have listed all the methods, It is clear how important they are
in writing optimized Java code. The Collections class is widely used and
its methods appear in almost every optimized Java program. Here, we
will implement these methods also discuss their operations.

Java Collections Example

Examples of Collections Classes in Java are mentioned below:

Adding Elements to the Collections

Sorting a Collection
Searching in a Collection
Copying Elements
Disjoint Collection

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1. Adding Elements to the Collections Class Object

The addAll() method of java.util.Collections class is used to add all the

specified elements to the specified collection. Elements to be added
may be specified individually or as an array.

Example:

Java

1 // Adding Elements
2 // Using addAll() method
3
4 import java.util.ArrayList;
5 import java.util.Collections;
6 import java.util.List;
7
8 class Geeks {
9
10 public static void main(String[] args) {
11
12 List<String> l = new ArrayList<>();
13
14 // Adding elements to the list
15 l.add("Shoes");
16 l.add("Toys");
17
18 // Add one or more elements
19 Collections.addAll(l, "Fruits", "Bat",
"Ball");
20
21 for (int i = 0; i < l.size(); i++) {
22 System.out.print(l.get(i) + " ");
23 }
24 }
25 }

Output

Shoes Toys Fruits Bat Ball

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2. Sorting a Collection

Collections.sort() is used to sort the elements present in the specified

list of Collections in ascending order. Collections.reverseOrder() is used
to sort in descending order.

Example:

Java

1 // Sorting a Collections using sort() method

2 import java.util.ArrayList;
3 import java.util.Collections;
4 import java.util.List;
5
6 class Geeks {
7
8 public static void main(String[] args) {
9
10 List<String> l = new ArrayList<>();
11
12 // Adding elements to the list
13 // using add() method
14 l.add("Shoes");
15 l.add("Toys");
16
17 // Adding one or more
18 // element using addAll()
19 Collections.addAll(l, "Fruits", "Bat",
"Mouse");
20
21 // Sorting according to default ordering
22 // using sort() method
23 Collections.sort(l);
24
25 // Printing the elements
26 for (int i = 0; i < l.size(); i++) {
27 System.out.print(l.get(i) + " ");
28 }
29
30 System.out.println();
31
32 // Sorting according to reverse ordering
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33 Collections.sort(l,
Collections.reverseOrder());
34
35 // Printing the reverse order
36 for (int i = 0; i < l.size(); i++) {
37 System.out.print(l.get(i) + " ");
38 }
39 }
40 }

Output

Bat Fruits Mouse Shoes Toys

Toys Shoes Mouse Fruits Bat

3. Searching in a Collection

Collections.binarySearch() method returns the position of an object in a

sorted list. To use this method, the list should be sorted in ascending
order, otherwise, the result returned from the method will be wrong. If
the element exists in the list, the method will return the position of the
element in the sorted list, otherwise, the result returned by the method
would be the – (insertion point where the element should have been
present if exist)-1).

Example:

Java

1 // Binary Search using Collections.binarySearch()

2 import java.util.ArrayList;
3 import java.util.Collections;
4 import java.util.List;
5
6 public class Geeks {
7
8 public static void main(String[] args) {
9
10 List<String> l = new ArrayList<>();
11

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12 // Adding elements to object

13 // using add() method
14 l.add("Shoes");
15 l.add("Toys");
16 l.add("Horse");
17 l.add("Ball");
18 l.add("Grapes");
19
20 // Sort the List
21 Collections.sort(l);
22
23 // BinarySearch on the List
24 System.out.println(
25 "The index of Horse is: "
26 + Collections.binarySearch(l, "Horse"));
27
28 // BinarySearch on the List
29 System.out.println(
30 "The index of Dog is: "
31 + Collections.binarySearch(l, "Dog"));
32 }
33 }

Output

The index of Horse is: 2

The index of Dog is: -2

4. Copying Elements

The copy() method of Collections class is used to copy all the elements
from one list into another. After the operation, the index of each copied
element in the destination list will be identical to its index in the source
list. The destination list must be at least as long as the source list. If it is
longer, the remaining elements in the destination list are unaffected.

Example:

Java

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1 // Copying Elements using copy() method

2 import java.util.ArrayList;
3 import java.util.Collections;
4 import java.util.List;
5
6 class Geeks {
7
8 public static void main(String[] args) {
9
10 List<String> l1 = new ArrayList<>();
11
12 // Add elements
13 l1.add("Shoes");
14 l1.add("Toys");
15 l1.add("Horse");
16 l1.add("Tiger");
17
18 // Print the elements
19 System.out.println(
20 "The Original Destination list is: ");
21
22 for (int i = 0; i < l1.size(); i++) {
23 System.out.print(l1.get(i) + " ");
24 }
25 System.out.println();
26
27 // Create source list
28 List<String> l2 = new ArrayList<>();
29
30 // Add elements
31 l2.add("Bat");
32 l2.add("Frog");
33 l2.add("Lion");
34
35 // Copy the elements from source to
destination
36 Collections.copy(l1, l2);
37
38 // Printing the modified list
39 System.out.println(
40 "The Destination List After copying is:
");
41
42 for (int i = 0; i < l1.size(); i++) {

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43 System.out.print(l1.get(i) + " ");

44 }
45 }
46 }

Output

The Original Destination list is:

Shoes Toys Horse Tiger
The Destination List After copying is:
Bat Frog Lion Tiger

5. Disjoint Collection

Collections.disjoint() is used to check whether two specified collections

are disjoint or not. More formally, two collections are disjoint if they
have no elements in common. It returns true if the two collections do
not have any element in common.

Example:

Java

1 // Working of Disjoint Function

2 import java.util.ArrayList;
3 import java.util.Collections;
4 import java.util.List;
5
6 class Geeks {
7
8 public static void main(String[] args) {
9
10 List<String> l1 = new ArrayList<>();
11
12 // Add elements to l1
13 l1.add("Shoes");
14 l1.add("Toys");
15 l1.add("Horse");
16 l1.add("Tiger");
17

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18 List<String> l2 = new ArrayList<>();

19
20 // Add elements to l2
21 l2.add("Bat");
22 l2.add("Frog");
23 l2.add("Lion");
24
25 // Check if disjoint or not
26 System.out.println(
27 Collections.disjoint(l1, l2));
28 }
29 }

Output

true

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