You shall not modify the key after having inserted it in the map.
Edit : I found the extract of javadoc in Map :
Note: great care must be exercised if mutable objects are used as map keys. The behavior of a map is not specified if the value of an object is changed in a manner that affects equals comparisons while the object is a key in the map.
Example with a simple wrapper class:
public static class MyWrapper {
private int i;
public MyWrapper(int i) {
this.i = i;
}
public void setI(int i) {
this.i = i;
}
@Override
public boolean equals(Object o) {
if (this == o) return true;
if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;
return i == ((MyWrapper) o).i;
}
@Override
public int hashCode() {
return i;
}
}
and the test :
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
Map<MyWrapper, String> map = new HashMap<MyWrapper, String>();
MyWrapper wrapper = new MyWrapper(1);
map.put(wrapper, "hello");
System.out.println(map.containsKey(wrapper));
wrapper.setI(2);
System.out.println(map.containsKey(wrapper));
}
Output :
true
false
Note : If you dont override hashcode() then you will get true only