Convert HashMap.toString() back to HashMap in Java

Question

I put a key-value pair in a Java HashMap and converted it to a String using the toString() method.

Is it possible to convert this String representation back to a HashMap object and retrieve the value with its corresponding key?

Thanks

Answer 1

It will work if toString() contains all data needed to restore the object. For example it will work for map of strings (where string is used as key and value):

// create map Map<String, String> map = new HashMap<String, String>(); // populate the map  // create string representation String str = map.toString();  // use properties to restore the map Properties props = new Properties(); props.load(new StringReader(str.substring(1, str.length() - 1).replace(", ", "\n")));        Map<String, String> map2 = new HashMap<String, String>(); for (Map.Entry<Object, Object> e : props.entrySet()) {     map2.put((String)e.getKey(), (String)e.getValue()); } 

This works although I really do not understand why do you need this.