How to write and read a file with a HashMap? [duplicate]

Answer 1

The simplest solution that I can think of is using Properties class.

Saving the map:

Map ldapContent = new HashMap();
Properties properties = new Properties();

for (Map.Entry entry : ldapContent.entrySet()) {
    properties.put(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue());
}

properties.store(new FileOutputStream("data.properties"), null);

Loading the map:

Map ldapContent = new HashMap();
Properties properties = new Properties();
properties.load(new FileInputStream("data.properties"));

for (String key : properties.stringPropertyNames()) {
   ldapContent.put(key, properties.get(key).toString());
}

EDIT:

if your map contains plaintext values, they will be visible if you open file data via any text editor, which is not the case if you serialize the map:

ObjectOutputStream out = new ObjectOutputStream(new FileOutputStream("data.ser"));
out.writeObject(ldapContent);
out.close();

EDIT2:

instead of for loop (as suggested by OldCurmudgeon) in saving example:

properties.putAll(ldapContent);

however, for the loading example this is the best that can be done:

ldapContent = new HashMap(properties);