Top 10 Map/Object utility methods you should know (Dart) 🎯

In this article we will look at the top 10 utility methods you should know about the Map type in Dart. This is a sister article to the earlier "Top 10" I did on Array/List types, so let's jump right into it.

1. addAll()

This allows you to merge all key/value pairs of the provided map to the current one.

var user = {
  "firstName": "Tom",
  "age": 25,
};

user.addAll({
  "lastName": "Smith",
  "age": 26,
});

print(user); // => {"firstName": "Tom", "age": 26, "lastName": "Smith"}

If a key already exists, its value will be replaced. This works similarly to Object.assign in JavaScript.

2. containsKey()

Checks whether the given key exists

print(user.containsKey("age")); // => true
print(user.containsKey("accessToken")); // => false

3. containsValue()

Checks whether the given value exists

print(user.containsValue("Smith")); // => true
print(user.containsValue(40)); // => false

4. forEach()

Runs the given function over each key/value pair

user.forEach((key, value) => print('Key: $key, Value: $value')); // => "Key: firstName, Value: Tom" "Key: age, Value: 26" "Key: lastName, Value: Smith"

5. putIfAbsent()

Adds a key/value pair if non-existent. If key already exists, a value will be set if there isn't one.

user.putIfAbsent("accessToken", () => "abf329jklr90rnlk2..."); // => {"firstName": "Tom", "age": 26, "lastName": "Smith", "accessToken": "abf329jklr90rnlk2..."}

6. remove()

Removes the provided key and its associated value

user.remove("accessToken"); // => abf329jklr90rnlk2...

This will return the value that was removed.

7. removeWhere()

Removes the key/value pair if the given condition is true

user.removeWhere((key, value) => key == "lastName");

8. clear()

Removes every key/value pair in the map

user.clear();
print(user); // => {}

9. update()

Updates the value for the given key

user["age"] = 25;
user.update("age", (dynamic val) => ++val); // => 26

This also returns the new value. To prevent an error being thrown should the key not exist, there's a third parameter:

user.update("name", (dynamic val) => "Jim", ifAbsent: () => "Jane");
print(user); // => {"age": 26, "name": "Jane"};

In most cases you could update using array bracket notation:

user["name"] = "Mary";

10. Map.from()

This technically is a constructor, but still useful as a utility. It creates and returns a copy of the provided map:

var userCopy = Map.from(user);

Conclusion

I hope this was insightful and if this is your first exposure to Dart, read my first steps tutorial to grasp the basics. The code snippets for this article are available on DartPad.

Like and follow me 😍 for more articles on Dart. Thanks so much.

Quicklinks

1. Map<K,V> class Documentation
2. Free Dart screencasts on Egghead.io

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