byte[] array as HashMap key?

[Timo Nentwig]

Hi!

Is there any way to use a byte[] array as a HashMap key? Like

Map m = new HashMap();
m.put(new byte[]{'a','b','c','d'}, new Foo());

and look up:

m.get(new byte[s, o, m, e]);

The above won't work. I want to prevent creating String objects but no way
to do this, is there?

 

[Kevin McMurtrie]

Hi!

Is there any way to use a byte[] array as a HashMap key? Like

Map m = new HashMap();
m.put(new byte[]{'a','b','c','d'}, new Foo());

and look up:

m.get(new byte[s, o, m, e]);

The above won't work. I want to prevent creating String objects but no way
to do this, is there?

You can create a thin wrapper to implement equals(Object) and hashCode()
on the contents of an array. The class java.util.Arrays can help with
some of the work.

If you're mostly dealing with constants, then definitely use Strings.
The String class is optimized for use in hashing maps. The only part
that sucks is using StringBuffer or char[] to create new Strings.