ISO2 country code from country name

Question

Is there an easy way in Java to get the ISO2 code from a given country name, for example "CH" when given "Switzerland"?

The only solution I can think of at the moment is to save all the country codes and names in an array and iterate over it. Any other (easier) solutions?

Answer 1

You could use the built-in Locale class:

Locale l = new Locale("", "CH"); System.out.println(l.getDisplayCountry()); 

prints "Switzerland" for example. Note that I have not provided a language.

So what you can do for the reverse lookup is build a map from the available countries:

public static void main(String[] args) throws InterruptedException {     Map<String, String> countries = new HashMap<>();     for (String iso : Locale.getISOCountries()) {         Locale l = new Locale("", iso);         countries.put(l.getDisplayCountry(), iso);     }      System.out.println(countries.get("Switzerland"));     System.out.println(countries.get("Andorra"));     System.out.println(countries.get("Japan")); } 

Answer 2

As others have mentioned Map is the easiest way, here's what I wrote/used where I had the same problem.

 import java.util.Map;  import java.util.TreeMap;    public class CountryCodes {      final Map<String, String> map = new TreeMap<String, String>   (String.CASE_INSENSITIVE_ORDER);     public CountryCodes() {       map.put("Andorra, Principality Of", "AD");      map.put("United Arab Emirates", "AE");      map.put("Afghanistan, Islamic State Of", "AF");      map.put("Antigua And Barbuda", "AG");      map.put("Anguilla", "AI");      map.put("Albania", "AL");      map.put("Armenia", "AM");      map.put("Netherlands Antilles", "AN");      map.put("Angola", "AO");      map.put("Antarctica", "AQ");      map.put("Argentina", "AR");      map.put("American Samoa", "AS");      map.put("Austria", "AT");      map.put("Australia", "AU");      map.put("Aruba", "AW");      map.put("Azerbaidjan", "AZ");      map.put("Bosnia-Herzegovina", "BA");      map.put("Barbados", "BB");      map.put("Bangladesh", "BD");      map.put("Belgium", "BE");      map.put("Burkina Faso", "BF");      map.put("Bulgaria", "BG");      map.put("Bahrain", "BH");      map.put("Burundi", "BI");      map.put("Benin", "BJ");      map.put("Bermuda", "BM");      map.put("Brunei Darussalam", "BN");      map.put("Bolivia", "BO");      map.put("Brazil", "BR");      map.put("Bahamas", "BS");      map.put("Bhutan", "BT");      map.put("Bouvet Island", "BV");      map.put("Botswana", "BW");      map.put("Belarus", "BY");      map.put("Belize", "BZ");      map.put("Canada", "CA");      map.put("Cocos (Keeling) Islands", "CC");      map.put("Central African Republic", "CF");      map.put("Congo, The Democratic Republic Of The", "CD");      map.put("Congo", "CG");      map.put("Switzerland", "CH");      map.put("Ivory Coast (Cote D'Ivoire)", "CI");      map.put("Cook Islands", "CK");      map.put("Chile", "CL");      map.put("Cameroon", "CM");      map.put("China", "CN");      map.put("Colombia", "CO");      map.put("Costa Rica", "CR");      map.put("Former Czechoslovakia", "CS");      map.put("Cuba", "CU");      map.put("Cape Verde", "CV");      map.put("Christmas Island", "CX");      map.put("Cyprus", "CY");      map.put("Czech Republic", "CZ");      map.put("Germany", "DE");      map.put("Djibouti", "DJ");      map.put("Denmark", "DK");      map.put("Dominica", "DM");      map.put("Dominican Republic", "DO");      map.put("Algeria", "DZ");      map.put("Ecuador", "EC");      map.put("Estonia", "EE");      map.put("Egypt", "EG");      map.put("Western Sahara", "EH");      map.put("Eritrea", "ER");      map.put("Spain", "ES");      map.put("Ethiopia", "ET");      map.put("Finland", "FI");      map.put("Fiji", "FJ");      map.put("Falkland Islands", "FK");      map.put("Micronesia", "FM");      map.put("Faroe Islands", "FO");      map.put("France", "FR");      map.put("France (European Territory)", "FX");      map.put("Gabon", "GA");      map.put("Great Britain", "UK");      map.put("Grenada", "GD");      map.put("Georgia", "GE");      map.put("French Guyana", "GF");      map.put("Ghana", "GH");      map.put("Gibraltar", "GI");      map.put("Greenland", "GL");      map.put("Gambia", "GM");      map.put("Guinea", "GN");      map.put("Guadeloupe (French)", "GP");      map.put("Equatorial Guinea", "GQ");      map.put("Greece", "GR");      map.put("S. Georgia & S. Sandwich Isls.", "GS");      map.put("Guatemala", "GT");      map.put("Guam (USA)", "GU");      map.put("Guinea Bissau", "GW");      map.put("Guyana", "GY");      map.put("Hong Kong", "HK");      map.put("Heard And McDonald Islands", "HM");      map.put("Honduras", "HN");      map.put("Croatia", "HR");      map.put("Haiti", "HT");      map.put("Hungary", "HU");      map.put("Indonesia", "ID");      map.put("Ireland", "IE");      map.put("Israel", "IL");      map.put("India", "IN");      map.put("British Indian Ocean Territory", "IO");      map.put("Iraq", "IQ");      map.put("Iran", "IR");      map.put("Iceland", "IS");      map.put("Italy", "IT");      map.put("Jamaica", "JM");      map.put("Jordan", "JO");      map.put("Japan", "JP");      map.put("Kenya", "KE");      map.put("Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan)", "KG");      map.put("Cambodia, Kingdom Of", "KH");      map.put("Kiribati", "KI");      map.put("Comoros", "KM");      map.put("Saint Kitts & Nevis Anguilla", "KN");      map.put("North Korea", "KP");      map.put("South Korea", "KR");      map.put("Kuwait", "KW");      map.put("Cayman Islands", "KY");      map.put("Kazakhstan", "KZ");      map.put("Laos", "LA");      map.put("Lebanon", "LB");      map.put("Saint Lucia", "LC");      map.put("Liechtenstein", "LI");      map.put("Sri Lanka", "LK");      map.put("Liberia", "LR");      map.put("Lesotho", "LS");      map.put("Lithuania", "LT");      map.put("Luxembourg", "LU");      map.put("Latvia", "LV");      map.put("Libya", "LY");      map.put("Morocco", "MA");      map.put("Monaco", "MC");      map.put("Moldavia", "MD");      map.put("Madagascar", "MG");      map.put("Marshall Islands", "MH");      map.put("Macedonia", "MK");      map.put("Mali", "ML");      map.put("Myanmar", "MM");      map.put("Mongolia", "MN");      map.put("Macau", "MO");      map.put("Northern Mariana Islands", "MP");      map.put("Martinique (French)", "MQ");      map.put("Mauritania", "MR");      map.put("Montserrat", "MS");      map.put("Malta", "MT");      map.put("Mauritius", "MU");      map.put("Maldives", "MV");      map.put("Malawi", "MW");      map.put("Mexico", "MX");      map.put("Malaysia", "MY");      map.put("Mozambique", "MZ");      map.put("Namibia", "NA");      map.put("New Caledonia (French)", "NC");      map.put("Niger", "NE");      map.put("Norfolk Island", "NF");      map.put("Nigeria", "NG");      map.put("Nicaragua", "NI");      map.put("Netherlands", "NL");      map.put("Norway", "NO");      map.put("Nepal", "NP");      map.put("Nauru", "NR");      map.put("Neutral Zone", "NT");      map.put("Niue", "NU");      map.put("New Zealand", "NZ");      map.put("Oman", "OM");      map.put("Panama", "PA");      map.put("Peru", "PE");      map.put("Polynesia (French)", "PF");      map.put("Papua New Guinea", "PG");      map.put("Philippines", "PH");      map.put("Pakistan", "PK");      map.put("Poland", "PL");      map.put("Saint Pierre And Miquelon", "PM");      map.put("Pitcairn Island", "PN");      map.put("Puerto Rico", "PR");      map.put("Portugal", "PT");      map.put("Palau", "PW");      map.put("Paraguay", "PY");      map.put("Qatar", "QA");      map.put("Reunion (French)", "RE");      map.put("Romania", "RO");      map.put("Russian Federation", "RU");      map.put("Rwanda", "RW");      map.put("Saudi Arabia", "SA");      map.put("Solomon Islands", "SB");      map.put("Seychelles", "SC");      map.put("Sudan", "SD");      map.put("Sweden", "SE");      map.put("Singapore", "SG");      map.put("Saint Helena", "SH");      map.put("Slovenia", "SI");      map.put("Svalbard And Jan Mayen Islands", "SJ");      map.put("Slovak Republic", "SK");      map.put("Sierra Leone", "SL");      map.put("San Marino", "SM");      map.put("Senegal", "SN");      map.put("Somalia", "SO");      map.put("Suriname", "SR");      map.put("Saint Tome (Sao Tome) And Principe", "ST");      map.put("Former USSR", "SU");      map.put("El Salvador", "SV");      map.put("Syria", "SY");      map.put("Swaziland", "SZ");      map.put("Turks And Caicos Islands", "TC");      map.put("Chad", "TD");      map.put("French Southern Territories", "TF");      map.put("Togo", "TG");      map.put("Thailand", "TH");      map.put("Tadjikistan", "TJ");      map.put("Tokelau", "TK");      map.put("Turkmenistan", "TM");      map.put("Tunisia", "TN");      map.put("Tonga", "TO");      map.put("East Timor", "TP");      map.put("Turkey", "TR");      map.put("Trinidad And Tobago", "TT");      map.put("Tuvalu", "TV");      map.put("Taiwan", "TW");      map.put("Tanzania", "TZ");      map.put("Ukraine", "UA");      map.put("Uganda", "UG");      map.put("United Kingdom", "UK");      map.put("USA Minor Outlying Islands", "UM");      map.put("United States", "US");      map.put("Uruguay", "UY");      map.put("Uzbekistan", "UZ");      map.put("Holy See (Vatican City State)", "VA");      map.put("Saint Vincent & Grenadines", "VC");      map.put("Venezuela", "VE");      map.put("Virgin Islands (British)", "VG");      map.put("Virgin Islands (USA)", "VI");      map.put("Vietnam", "VN");      map.put("Vanuatu", "VU");      map.put("Wallis And Futuna Islands", "WF");      map.put("Samoa", "WS");      map.put("Yemen", "YE");      map.put("Mayotte", "YT");      map.put("Yugoslavia", "YU");      map.put("South Africa", "ZA");      map.put("Zambia", "ZM");      map.put("Zaire", "ZR");      map.put("Zimbabwe", "ZW");      }       public String getCode(String country){      String countryFound = map.get(country);      if(countryFound==null){              countryFound="UK";      }      return countryFound;      } }