Scala: how to merge a collection of Maps

Question

I have a List of Map[String, Double], and I'd like to merge their contents into a single Map[String, Double]. How should I do this in an idiomatic way? I imagine that I should be able to do this with a fold. Something like:

val newMap = Map[String, Double]() /: listOfMaps { (accumulator, m) => ... }

Furthermore, I'd like to handle key collisions in a generic way. That is, if I add a key to the map that already exists, I should be able to specify a function that returns a Double (in this case) and takes the existing value for that key, plus the value I'm trying to add. If the key does not yet exist in the map, then just add it and its value unaltered.

In my specific case I'd like to build a single Map[String, Double] such that if the map already contains a key, then the Double will be added to the existing map value.

I'm working with mutable maps in my specific code, but I'm interested in more generic solutions, if possible.

Answer 1

Well, you could do:

mapList reduce (_ ++ _)

except for the special requirement for collision.

Since you do have that special requirement, perhaps the best would be doing something like this (2.8):

def combine(m1: Map, m2: Map): Map = {
  val k1 = Set(m1.keysIterator.toList: _*)
  val k2 = Set(m2.keysIterator.toList: _*)
  val intersection = k1 & k2

  val r1 = for(key <- intersection) yield (key -> (m1(key) + m2(key)))
  val r2 = m1.filterKeys(!intersection.contains(_)) ++ m2.filterKeys(!intersection.contains(_)) 
  r2 ++ r1
}

You can then add this method to the map class through the Pimp My Library pattern, and use it in the original example instead of "++":

class CombiningMap(m1: Map[Symbol, Double]) {
  def combine(m2: Map[Symbol, Double]) = {
    val k1 = Set(m1.keysIterator.toList: _*)
    val k2 = Set(m2.keysIterator.toList: _*)
    val intersection = k1 & k2
    val r1 = for(key <- intersection) yield (key -> (m1(key) + m2(key)))
    val r2 = m1.filterKeys(!intersection.contains(_)) ++ m2.filterKeys(!intersection.contains(_))
    r2 ++ r1
  }
}

// Then use this:
implicit def toCombining(m: Map[Symbol, Double]) = new CombiningMap(m)

// And finish with:
mapList reduce (_ combine _)

While this was written in 2.8, so keysIterator becomes keys for 2.7, filterKeys might need to be written in terms of filter and map, & becomes **, and so on, it shouldn't be too different.