What is the time complexity of the get() method when searching for an element in a HashMap?

On average, the time complexity of the get() method in HashMap is O(1) — constant time. This is achieved by using a hash function for quick access to the bucket where the element is stored. However, in the worst case, with a large number of collisions, the complexity can degrade to O(n), where n is the number of elements in the bucket (for example, if all elements end up in the same bucket). Modern implementations of Java HashMap use balanced trees to store collisions, which reduces the worst case to O(log n).