How to putAll on Java hashMap contents of one to another, but not replace existing keys and values?

I need to copy all keys and values from one A HashMap onto another one B, but not to replace existing keys and values.

Whats the best way to do that?

I was thinking instead iterating the keySet and checkig if it exist or not, I would

Map temp = new HashMap(); // generic later
temp.putAll(Amap);
A.clear();
A.putAll(Bmap);
A.putAll(temp);

Solution 1:

It looks like you are willing to create a temporary Map, so I'd do it like this:

Map tmp = new HashMap(patch);
tmp.keySet().removeAll(target.keySet());
target.putAll(tmp);

Here, patch is the map that you are adding to the target map.

Thanks to Louis Wasserman, here's a version that takes advantage of the new methods in Java 8:

patch.forEach(target::putIfAbsent);

Solution 2:

Using Guava's Maps class' utility methods to compute the difference of 2 maps you can do it in a single line, with a method signature which makes it more clear what you are trying to accomplish:

public static void main(final String[] args) {
    // Create some maps
    final Map<Integer, String> map1 = new HashMap<Integer, String>();
    map1.put(1, "Hello");
    map1.put(2, "There");
    final Map<Integer, String> map2 = new HashMap<Integer, String>();
    map2.put(2, "There");
    map2.put(3, "is");
    map2.put(4, "a");
    map2.put(5, "bird");

    // Add everything in map1 not in map2 to map2
    map2.putAll(Maps.difference(map1, map2).entriesOnlyOnLeft());
}