Java Tip: How to Sort Arrays in Java using java.util.Arrays class

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Here is a small but very useful tip that every Java programmer should be aware of. Have you ever tried sorting arrays in Java? Well, java.util.Arrays class has built in method to make your job easy. You can use following method to sort any array in Java.

import java.util.Arrays;
...
...
Arrays.sort (int [])
Arrays.sort (String [])
Arrays.sort (float [])
Arrays.sort (double [])
Arrays.sort (long [])
Arrays.sort (Object [])
...

Let us check an example were we will sort an array of String in ascending as well as descending order. Here is a string array we defined in Java.

String [] stringArray = {"ab", "aB", "c", "0", "2", "1Ad", "a10"};

System.out.println("****** Unsorted String Array *******");
for (String str : stringArray) {
	System.out.println(str);
}

Output:

****** unsorted string *******
ab
aB
c
0
2
1Ad
a10

In above code we simple define an array of String and printed its value. Now lets sort this array in ascending order using Arrays.sort() method.

Sort in Ascending Order

//Sort array in ascending order
Arrays.sort(stringArray);

System.out.println("****** Sorted String Array *******");
for (String str : stringArray) {
	System.out.println(str);
}

Output:

****** Sorted String Array *******
0
1Ad
2
a10
aB
ab
c

Note that we just sorted an array of String in ascending order using sort method. Wasn’t it easy..

Sort in Descending Order

Now lets try to sort the array in reverse order. For this we will use a different signature of sort method.

Arrays.sort (Object [], Comparator)

Following is the code to sort array in reverse order.

//Sort array in reverse order
Arrays.sort(stringArray, Collections.reverseOrder());

System.out.println("****** Reverse Sorted String Array *******");
for (String str : stringArray) {
	System.out.println(str);
}

Output:

****** Reverse Sorted String Array *******
c
ab
aB
a10
2
1Ad
0

Selective Sorting

Using Arrays.sort() method it is possible to sort an array selectively. i.e. if you want a subpart of array to be sorted, that is possible using following method.

Arrays.sort (Object [], int startIndex, int endIndex)

In following code we are sorting the array starting from index 3 till the end.

//Sorting array starting from index 3 till 6
Arrays.sort(stringArray, 3, 6);

System.out.println("****** Selective Sort String Array *******");
for (String str : stringArray) {
	System.out.println(str);
}

Output:

****** Selective Sort String Array *******
ab
aB
c
0
1Ad
2
a10

Happy sorting..