How to Properly Display Contents of a HashSet with Custom toString Method in Java?

Learn how to display the contents of a `HashSet` in Java by implementing a custom `toString` method effectively.
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How to Properly Display Contents of a HashSet with Custom toString Method in Java?

When working with the HashSet class in Java, there are scenarios where you may need to display its contents in a readable format. Utilizing a custom toString method can simplify this process. This guide will walk you through efficiently displaying the contents of a HashSet by implementing a custom toString method.

Understanding HashSet

First, let’s briefly understand what a HashSet is. A HashSet is a part of the Java Collections Framework and is designed to store unique elements, meaning it does not allow duplicate values. It is backed by a HashMap and provides constant-time performance for basic operations like add, remove, contains, and size. However, HashSet does not maintain any order of its elements.

Implementing Custom toString Method

By default, calling the toString method on a HashSet provides a string representation of its elements in a format that may not always be the most readable or desirable. To achieve a more readable output, you can override the toString method in your class.

Example

Here, let's consider a simple example where we override the toString method to display the contents of a HashSet neatly.

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Explanation

HashSet Initialization: A HashSet named set is initialized to store the elements.

Adding Elements: The addElement method allows adding elements to the HashSet.

Custom toString Method: The toString method uses a StringBuilder to construct the output string. It iterates through the HashSet using a for loop, appending each element to the string builder.

Displaying Contents: The toString method outputs each element on a new line for better readability.

Output

Running the above code will produce output similar to the following:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This custom implementation of the toString method ensures that the contents of the HashSet are displayed in a clean and comprehensible format.

Conclusion

Displaying the contents of a HashSet in Java can be made clearer and more organized by implementing a custom toString method. By following the steps outlined above, you can provide a readable and user-friendly representation of your HashSet contents.