Hi Trailblazers,
In an Apex implementation, I need to group and process records dynamically and I’m evaluating nested collection approaches such as:
List<List<String>> groupedData;
and
Map<String, List<String>> groupedData;
For record grouping, Map<Key, List<T>> seems more practical, but I’d like to understand:
- When would List<List<T>> be a better choice in a real-time project?
- Are there any performance or governor-limit considerations?
- What approach do you generally prefer when grouping SOQL results?
Would appreciate any real-world examples or best practices.
Thanks !!.
#Apex #Salesforce Developer #Trailhead #TrailblazerCommunity
Hi Deepak - for grouping, Map<Key, List<T>> is almost always the right call. List<List<T>> is rarely right for grouping because you lose the key (no O(1) lookup - you would have to scan to find a group).
When to prefer each:
- Map<Key, List<T>>: anytime you group BY something, e.g. Map<Id, List<Contact>> keyed by AccountId. O(1) lookup, keys auto-dedup, and it is the bulkification backbone in triggers.
- List<List<T>>: only when there is no meaningful key and the split is positional - fixed-size chunks for a callout that takes N records per request, or partitioning work across async jobs. You just iterate the sublists, never look up by key.
Governor / performance:
- The limit that actually bites is HEAP (6 MB sync / 12 MB async), driven by how many records you hold in memory, not the collection shape. Map's key overhead is negligible.
- Map's real win is avoiding nested loops: correlating two lists via a Map is O(n); scanning a List<List<>> to find a group re-introduces O(n-squared). That is the real consideration.
- Neither changes SOQL/DML limits - those depend on bulkifying, which you do either way.
Pattern I use for grouping SOQL results:
Map<Id, List<Contact>> byAcct = new Map<Id, List<Contact>>();
for (Contact c : [SELECT Id, AccountId FROM Contact]) {
if (!byAcct.containsKey(c.AccountId)) byAcct.put(c.AccountId, new List<Contact>());
byAcct.get(c.AccountId).add(c);
}
Two more: for a true parent-child group, a subquery like [SELECT Id, (SELECT Id FROM Contacts) FROM Account] groups it at the query level - often cleaner. And for two dimensions, Map<Key1, Map<Key2, List<T>>> stays keyed and O(1).
Net: default to Map<Key, List<T>> for grouping; reach for List<List<T>> only for keyless chunking.
If this helps, please mark it as the Best Answer so it helps the next person - thanks :)