Here you can find the source of sortByValue( Map
public static <K extends Comparable<? super K>, V extends Comparable<? super V>> Map<K, V> sortByValue( Map<K, V> map, final boolean ascendingValues)
//package com.java2s; //License from project: Open Source License import java.util.Collections; import java.util.Comparator; import java.util.LinkedHashMap; import java.util.LinkedList; import java.util.List; import java.util.Map; public class Main { public static <K extends Comparable<? super K>, V extends Comparable<? super V>> Map<K, V> sortByValue( Map<K, V> map, final boolean ascendingValues) { List<Map.Entry<K, V>> list = new LinkedList<Map.Entry<K, V>>(map.entrySet()); Collections.sort(list, new Comparator<Map.Entry<K, V>>() { public int compare(Map.Entry<K, V> o1, Map.Entry<K, V> o2) { // If value is equal compare the keys int value = (ascendingValues ? o1.getValue().compareTo(o2.getValue()) : o2.getValue().compareTo(o1.getValue())); if (value == 0) { value = o1.getKey().compareTo(o2.getKey()); }//from www . ja v a 2 s . c o m return value; } }); Map<K, V> result = new LinkedHashMap<K, V>(); for (Map.Entry<K, V> entry : list) { result.put(entry.getKey(), entry.getValue()); } return result; } }