How to convert List to Map in Kotlin?

For example I have a list of strings like:

val list = listOf("a", "b", "c", "d")

and I want to convert it to a map, where the strings are the keys.

I know I should use the .toMap() function, but I don't know how, and I haven't seen any examples of it.

Solution 1:

You have two choices:

The first and most performant is to use associateBy function that takes two lambdas for generating the key and value, and inlines the creation of the map:

val map = friends.associateBy({it.facebookId}, {it.points})

The second, less performant, is to use the standard map function to create a list of Pair which can be used by toMap to generate the final map:

val map = friends.map { it.facebookId to it.points }.toMap()

Solution 2:

From List to Map with associate function

With Kotlin 1.3, List has a function called associate. associate has the following declaration:

fun <T, K, V> Iterable<T>.associate(transform: (T) -> Pair<K, V>): Map<K, V>

Returns a Map containing key-value pairs provided by transform function applied to elements of the given collection.

Usage:

class Person(val name: String, val id: Int)

fun main() {
    val friends = listOf(Person("Sue Helen", 1), Person("JR", 2), Person("Pamela", 3))
    val map = friends.associate({ Pair(it.id, it.name) })
    //val map = friends.associate({ it.id to it.name }) // also works

    println(map) // prints: {1=Sue Helen, 2=JR, 3=Pamela}
}    

From List to Map with associateBy function

With Kotlin, List has a function called associateBy. associateBy has the following declaration:

fun <T, K, V> Iterable<T>.associateBy(keySelector: (T) -> K, valueTransform: (T) -> V): Map<K, V>

Returns a Map containing the values provided by valueTransform and indexed by keySelector functions applied to elements of the given collection.

Usage:

class Person(val name: String, val id: Int)

fun main() {
    val friends = listOf(Person("Sue Helen", 1), Person("JR", 2), Person("Pamela", 3))
    val map = friends.associateBy(keySelector = { person -> person.id }, valueTransform = { person -> person.name })
    //val map = friends.associateBy({ it.id }, { it.name }) // also works

    println(map) // prints: {1=Sue Helen, 2=JR, 3=Pamela}
}