How to calculate a frequency map in Java 8+

A frequency map in Java 8 or above can be created concisely with the help of Stream and Collectors.groupingBy() API.

It provides a general method to count the frequency of elements in a collection:

import java.util.stream.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.function.*;

<T> Map<T, Long>  frequencyMap(Stream<T> elements) {
  return elements.collect(
    Collectors.groupingBy(
      Function.identity(),
      HashMap::new, // can be skipped
      Collectors.counting()
    )
  );
}

Any streamable and countable collection can utilise the above method to count the frequency of elements.

Frequency map of list elements

A list can be converted to a stream by calling stream():

import java.util.stream.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.function.*;

class HelloWorld {

    public static <String> Map<String, Long>  frequencyMap(Stream<String> elements) {
        return elements.collect(
            Collectors.groupingBy(
            Function.identity(),
            HashMap::new, // can be skipped
            Collectors.counting()
            )
        );
    }

    public static void main( String args[] ) {
        List<String> words = Arrays.asList("hello", "hello", "mighty");
        System.out.println(frequencyMap(words.stream()));
    }
}

import java.util.stream.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.function.*;

class HelloWorld {

    public static <Character> Map<Character, Long>  frequencyMap(Stream<Character> elements) {
        return elements.collect(
            Collectors.groupingBy(
            Function.identity(),
            HashMap::new, // can be skipped
            Collectors.counting()
            )
        );
    }

    public static void main( String args[] ) {
        Character[] letters = {'a', 'b', 'b', 'c', 'c', 'c'};
        System.out.println(frequencyMap(Arrays.stream(letters)));
    }
}

import java.util.stream.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.function.*;

class HelloWorld {

    public static <Character> Map<Character, Long>  frequencyMap(Stream<Character> elements) {
        return elements.collect(
            Collectors.groupingBy(
            Function.identity(),
            HashMap::new, // can be skipped
            Collectors.counting()
            )
        );
    }

    public static void main( String args[] ) {
        String aString = "abc";
        System.out.println(frequencyMap(aString.chars().mapToObj(c -> (char) c)));
    }
}

import java.util.stream.*;
import java.util.*;
import java.util.function.*;

class HelloWorld {

    public static <Integer> Map<Integer, Long>  frequencyMap(Stream<Integer> elements) {
        return elements.collect(
            Collectors.groupingBy(
            Function.identity(),
            HashMap::new, // can be skipped
            Collectors.counting()
            )
        );
    }

    public static void main( String args[] ) {
        int [] numbers = {1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3};
        System.out.println(frequencyMap(Arrays.stream(numbers).boxed()));
    }
}

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How to calculate a frequency map in Java 8+

Frequency map of list elements

Frequency map of a character array

Frequency map of characters in a string

Frequency map of an integer array or unboxed type