Check HashMap Values with a String

[kondakindi]

Hi,
I have a Hashmap of arraylist which means the values of the hashmap are arraylist of 1,2 ,3,5 etc
when i read the specfic value of the has map based on get and check it with a string it returns false even if the string is the same.
eg:

HashMap hm=new Hashmap();
Assume this has key like "job_cat" and multiple values in form of(ArrayList) like ['a,b']
Sytem.out.println(hm.get("job_cat"));
it returns - [a,b]

if i check using a string which has 'a' value
String str="a";
if (str.equals(hm.get("job_cat")))
or if (str==hm.get("job_cat"))

Both the above statment returns false.
Could you tell me how should i check if String value is equal to Hashmap .
It doesn't even work with containsValue();

Thanks ,

 

[timw]

If you're putting ArrayLists into the HashMap, you're gonna get ArrayLists out again. You can't compare a String directly with an ArrayList like you are trying to do. If you're wanting to see if the particular String (eg. "a" is in the returned ArrayList, you'll need to use something like the ArrayList.contains(Object) method.

String str = "a";
ArrayList list = (ArrayList)hm.get("job_cat");
if ( list != null ){
   if ( list.contains(str) ){
      // do something here
   }
}

Tim
---------------------------
"Your morbid fear of losing,
destroys the lives you're using." - Ozzy