Java - Exception in thread "main" java.util.ConcurrentModificationException

Question

Is there any way I can modify the HashMap values of a particular key while iterating over it?

A sample program is given below:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    HashMap<Integer,ArrayList<String>> hm = new HashMap<Integer, ArrayList<String>>();      
    ArrayList<String> ar = new ArrayList<String>(); 
    for(int i=0;i<50;i++){              
        ar.add(Integer.toString(i));            
    }

    hm.put(1, ar);      

    for(String s:hm.get(1)){
        hm.get(1).add("hello");
    }

}

Error Thrown:

Exception in thread "main" java.util.ConcurrentModificationException
    at java.util.ArrayList$Itr.checkForComodification(Unknown Source)
    at java.util.ArrayList$Itr.next(Unknown Source)
    at Excp.main(Excp.java:17)

Answer 1

This exception may be thrown by methods that have detected concurrent modification of an object when such modification is not permissible.

Below peice of code is causing the problem.

for(String s:hm.get(1)){
        hm.get(1).add("hello");
    }

You are iterating and modifying the same. Avoid this by creating new ArrayList

  ArrayList<String> ar1 = new ArrayList<String>();

for (String s : hm.get(1)) {
            ar1.add("hello");
        }

have a read here