Advice on how to solve problem

Question

I need to compare two lists against each other. If they both contain the same key then I need to compare each of their values for said key. Based on the values I need to take certain action.
My problem is with checking the keys against each other in the lists.
I have tried the following three solutions but they are not producing my desired results. I guess I am not sure how I cant take one item from listA - check all of listBs keys against it and then move on to another key in listA... Any help would be appreciated.
Here are the two lists I am using in this example. I know i and q are not good names but I am just in development right now - I will change them once I have it working.
i{20051004-01=1, 20051014-01=1, 20051017-01=2, 20051017-02=1}
q{20051017-01=1, 20051017-02=1}
solution one
while(ita.hasNext()) {
    Map.Entry entry = (Map.Entry)ita.next();
    Object ikey = entry.getKey();
    Object ivalue = entry.getValue();
    Integer ival = (Integer) ivalue; // cast primitive from object to int.
    int iv = ival.intValue();
     System.out.println("ikey" + ikey);
     while(itb.hasNext()) {
         Map.Entry entry2 = (Map.Entry)itb.next();
         Object qkey = entry2.getKey();
         Object qvalue = entry2.getValue();
         Integer qval = (Integer) qvalue; // cast primitive from object to int.
         int qv = qval.intValue();
         System.out.println("qkey" + qkey);  
         if(ikey.equals(qkey)) {
              System.out.println("ikey + qkey _ THE KEYS EQUAL!"
              + ikey +" AND " + qkey);
         } else {
             System.out.println("ikey + qkey _ THE KEYS DO NOT EQUAL!"
             + ikey +" AND " + qkey);  
STDOUT OUTPUT
ikey20051004-01
qkey20051017-01
ikey + qkey _ THE KEYS DO NOT EQUAL!
    20051004-01 AND 20051017-01
qkey20051017-02
ikey + qkey _ THE KEYS DO NOT EQUAL!
    20051004-01 AND 20051017-02
ikey20051014-01
ikey20051017-01
ikey20051017-02
solution two
do{
     if(ita.next().equals(itb.hasNext())) {
         System.out.println("ita.next() + itb.next()_ THE KEYS EQUAL!"
         + ita.next() +" AND " + itb.next());
     } else {
         System.out.println("ita.next() + itb.next() _ THE KEYS DO NOT
         EQUAL!" + ita.next() +" AND " + itb.next()); 
} while(ita.hasNext());
STDOUT OUTPUT
ita.next() + itb.next() _ THE KEYS DO NOT EQUAL!
     20051014-01=1 AND 20051017-01=1
ita.next() + itb.next() _ THE KEYS DO NOT EQUAL!
     20051017-02=1 AND 20051017-02=1
solution three
while(ita.hasNext()) {
     if(ita.next().equals(itb.hasNext())) {
          System.out.println("ita.next() + itb.next()_ THE KEYS EQUAL!" +
          ita.next() +" AND " + itb.next());
     } else {
         System.out.println("ita.next() + itb.next() _ THE KEYS DO NOT
         EQUAL!" + ita.next() +" AND " + itb.next()); 
STDOUT OUTPUT
ita.next() + itb.next() _ THE KEYS DO NOT EQUAL!
     20051014-01=1 AND 20051017-01=1
ita.next() + itb.next() _ THE KEYS DO NOT EQUAL!
     20051017-02=1 AND 20051017-02=1Thanks in advance for all help. Someday I hope this will finally click for me.
Crystal

Answer 1

I agree with the last post. The itb is all used up after the first element of i is checked. Reset the iterator for itb so that all of q will be checked for each element of i.