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Set in Java - GeeksforGeeks

Last Updated : 07 Aug, 2025

In Java, the Set interface is a part of the Java Collection Framework, located in the java.util package. It represents a collection of unique elements, meaning it does not allow duplicate values.

• No duplicates: Set does not allow duplicate elements; each item must be unique.
• No guaranteed order: Elements in a Set are not stored or retrieved in any defined order.
• Ordering exceptions: LinkedHashSet maintains insertion order, while TreeSet keeps elements sorted.
• One null allowed: Most Set implementations allow only a single null element.
• Collection methods inherited: Set supports standard methods like add(), remove(), contains(), size() and iterator() from the Collection interface.

Example: Java Program to Implementing Set Interface

import java.util.HashSet;
import java.util.Set;

public class Geeks {
    
  	public static void main(String args[]) 
    {
        // Create a Set using HashSet
        Set<String> s = new HashSet<>();

        // Displaying the Set
        System.out.println("Set Elements: " + s);
    }
}

Explanation: In the above example, HashSet will appear as an empty set, as no elements were added. The order of elements in HashSet is not guaranteed, so the elements will be displayed in a random order if any are added.

The image below demonstrates the hierarchy of Java Set interface.

The declaration of Set interface is listed below:

public interface Set extends Collection 

Since Set is an interface, objects cannot be created of the typeset. We always need a class that extends this list in order to create an object. And also, after the introduction of Generics in Java 1.5, it is possible to restrict the type of object that can be stored in the Set. This type-safe set can be defined as:

// Obj is the type of the object to be stored in Set 
Set<Obj> set = new HashSet<Obj> (); 

Set interface provides commonly used operations to manage unique elements in a collection. These include:

1. Adding elements
2. Accessing elements
3. Removing elements
4. Iterating elements

Now let us discuss these operations individually as follows:

To add elements to a Set in Java, use the add() method.

Example: This example demonstrates how HashSet stores unique element and does not maintain any insertion order.

import java.util.*;

// Main class
class Geeks {
 
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        Set<String> s = new HashSet<String>();

        s.add("B");
        s.add("B");
        s.add("C");
        s.add("A");

        System.out.println(s);
    }
}

After adding the elements, if we wish to access the elements, we can use inbuilt methods like contains().

Example: This example demonstrates how to check if a specified element exists or not using the contains() method.

import java.util.*;

class Geeks {

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        Set<String> h = new HashSet<String>();

        h.add("A");
        h.add("B");
        h.add("C");
        h.add("A");

        System.out.println("Set is " + h);

        String s = "D";

        System.out.println("Contains " + s + " " + h.contains(s));
    }
}

Set is [A, B, C]
Contains D false

The values can be removed from the Set using the remove() method.

Example: This example demonstrates how to remove element from a HashSet using remove() method

import java.util.*;
class Geeks {

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        // Declaring object of Set of type String
        Set<String> h = new HashSet<String>();

        // Elements are added using add() method, Custom input elements
        h.add("A");
        h.add("B");
        h.add("C");
        h.add("B");
        h.add("D");
        h.add("E");
        
        System.out.println("Initial HashSet " + h);

        // Removing custom element using remove() method
        h.remove("B");
        System.out.println("After removing element " + h);
    }
}

Initial HashSet [A, B, C, D, E]
After removing element [A, C, D, E]

There are various ways to iterate through the Set. The most famous one is to use the enhanced for loop.

Example: This example demonstrates how to iterate through a HashSet.

 import java.util.*;

class Geeks {

    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        // Creating object of Set and declaring String type
        Set<String> h = new HashSet<String>();

        // Adding elements to Set using add() method, Custom input elements 
        h.add("A");
        h.add("B");
        h.add("C");
        h.add("B");
        h.add("D");
        h.add("E");

        // Iterating through the Set via for-each loop 
        for (String value : h)

            // Printing all the values inside the object 
            System.out.print(value + ", ");
        
        System.out.println();
    }
}

1. HashSet: HashSet is a collection class that implements a hash table-based Set, storing elements based on their hashcode without maintaining insertion order and allowing one null element.

2. EnumSet: EnumSet is a specialized Set implementation for use with enum types. It is part of the Java Collections Framework and offers high performance, often faster than HashSet. All elements in an EnumSet must belong to the same enum type, defined at creation time.

3. LinkedHashSet: LinkedHashSet is an ordered version of HashSet that maintains insertion order using a doubly-linked list across all elements.

4. TreeSet: TreeSet is a SortedSet implementation that stores elements in ascending order using a tree structure, ensuring natural ordering or a custom comparator.

Let us discuss methods present in the Set interface provided below in a tabular format below as follows:

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