Dictionary Methods in Java



Dictionary is an abstract class that represents a key/value storage repository and operates much like Map. Given a key and value, you can store the value in a Dictionary object. Once the value is stored, you can retrieve it by using its key. Thus, like a map, a dictionary can be thought of as a list of key/value pairs.

Following are the methods defined by Dictionary are listed below −

Sr.No Method & Description
1 Enumeration elements( )
Returns an enumeration of the values contained in the dictionary.
2 Object get(Object key)
Returns the object that contains the value associated with the key. If the key is not in the dictionary, a null object is returned.
3 boolean isEmpty( )
Returns true if the dictionary is empty, and returns false if it contains at least one key.
4 Enumeration keys( )
Returns an enumeration of the keys contained in the dictionary.
5 Object put(Object key, Object value)
Inserts a key and its value into the dictionary. Returns null if the key is not already in the dictionary; returns the previous value associated with the key if the key is already in the dictionary.
6 Object remove(Object key)
Removes the key and its value. Returns the value associated with the key. If the key is not in the dictionary, a null is returned.
7 int size( )
Returns the number of entries in the dictionary.

Following is an example implementing put() and get() method of the Dictionary class −

Example

import java.util.*;
public class Demo {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      Dictionary dictionary = new Hashtable();
      dictionary.put("20", "John");
      dictionary.put("40", "Tom");
      dictionary.put("60", "Steve");
      dictionary.put("80", "Kevin");
      dictionary.put("100", "Ryan");
      dictionary.put("120", "Tim");
      dictionary.put("140", "Jacob");
      dictionary.put("160", "David");
      System.out.println("Value at key 20 = " + dictionary.get("20"));
      System.out.println("Value at key 40 = " + dictionary.get("40"));
      System.out.println("Value at key 30 = " + dictionary.get("30"));
      System.out.println("Value at key 90 = " + dictionary.get("90"));
   }
}

Output

Value at key 20 = John
Value at key 40 = Tom
Value at key 30 = null
Value at key 90 = null

Let us see another example wherein we are displaying the Dictionary values as well using the elements () method −

Example

import java.util.*;
public class Demo {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      Dictionary dictionary = new Hashtable();
      dictionary.put("20", "John");
      dictionary.put("40", "Tom");
      dictionary.put("60", "Steve");
      dictionary.put("80", "Kevin");
      dictionary.put("100", "Ryan");
      dictionary.put("120", "Tim");
      dictionary.put("140", "Jacob");
      dictionary.put("160", "David");
      System.out.println("Dictionary Values...");
      for (Enumeration i = dictionary.elements(); i.hasMoreElements();) {
         System.out.println(i.nextElement());
      }
      System.out.println("Value at key 20 = " + dictionary.get("20"));
      System.out.println("Value at key 40 = " + dictionary.get("40"));
      System.out.println("Value at key 30 = " + dictionary.get("30"));
      System.out.println("Value at key 90 = " + dictionary.get("90"));
   }
}

Output

Dictionary Values...
Tom
Jacob
Steve
Ryan
David
John
Kevin
Tim
Value at key 20 = John
Value at key 40 = Tom
Value at key 30 = null
Value at key 90 = null
Updated on: 2019-09-24T07:47:44+05:30

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