ZetCode

Java sort list

last modified January 27, 2024

Java sort list tutorial shows how to sort lists in Java.

Sorting

Sorting is arranging elements in an ordered sequence. Over the years, several algorithms were developed to perform sorting on data; for instance merge sort, quick sort, selection sort, or bubble sort. (Another meaning of sorting is categorizing: grouping elements with similar properties.)

The opposite of sorting, rearranging a sequence of elements in a random or meaningless order, is called shuffling.

Data can be sorted alphabetically or numerically. The sort key specifies the criteria used to do the sorting. It is possible to sort objects by multiple keys. For instance, when sorting users, the names of the users could be used as primary sort key, and their salary as the secondary sort key.

Sorting order

A standard order is called the ascending order: a to z, 0 to 9. The reverse order is called the descending order: z to a, 9 to 0. For dates and times, ascending means that earlier values precede later ones e.g. 5/5/2020 will sort ahead of 11/11/2021.

Stable sort

A stable sort is one where the initial order of equal elements is preserved. Some sorting algorithms are naturally stable, some are unstable. For instance, the merge sort and the bubble sort are stable sorting algorithms. On the other hand, heap sort and quick sort are examples of unstable sorting algorithms.

Consider the following values: 3715593. A stable sorting produces the following: 1335579. The ordering of the values 3 and 5 is kept. An unstable sorting may produce the following: 1335579.

Java internally uses a stable sort algorithms.

Java sort methods

In Java, we can sort a list in-place or we can return a new sorted list.

default void sort​(Comparator<? super E> c)

The List.sort method sorts the list according to the order induced by the specified Comparator. The sort is stable. The method modifies the list in-place.

Stream<T> sorted(Comparator<? super T> comparator)

The Stream.sorted method returns a stream consisting of the elements of this stream, sorted according to the provided Comparator. For ordered streams, the sort is stable. For unordered streams, no stability guarantees are made. The method does not modify the original list; it returns a new sorted stream/list.

Java sort list of integers

In the following example, we sort a list of integers.

com/zetcode/ListSortIntegers.java
package com.zetcode;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.List;

public class ListSortIntegers {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        List<Integer> vals = Arrays.asList(5, -4, 0, 2, -1, 4, 7, 6, 1, -1, 3, 8, -2);
        vals.sort(Comparator.naturalOrder());
        System.out.println(vals);

        vals.sort(Comparator.reverseOrder());
        System.out.println(vals);
    }
}

The integers are sorted in ascending and descending orders. The data is sorted in-place; i.e. the original list is modified.

$ java ListSortIntegers.java
[-4, -2, -1, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
[8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, -1, -1, -2, -4]

In the next example, we do not modify the original source of data.

com/zetcode/ListSortIntegers2.java
package com.zetcode;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.List;

public class ListSortIntegers2 {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        List<Integer> vals = Arrays.asList(5, -4, 0, 2, -1, 4, 7, 6, 1, -1, 3, 8, -2);

        System.out.println("Ascending order");

        var sorted1 = vals.stream().sorted().toList();
        System.out.println(sorted1);

        System.out.println("-------------------------------");

        System.out.println("Descending order");

        var sorted2 = vals.stream().sorted(Comparator.reverseOrder()).toList();
        System.out.println(sorted2);

        System.out.println("-------------------------------");

        System.out.println("Original order");
        System.out.println(vals);
    }
}

We sort integers with Stream.sorted. The original source is intact.

$ java ListSortIntegers2.java 
Ascending order
[-4, -2, -1, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]
-------------------------------
Descending order
[8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, -1, -1, -2, -4]
-------------------------------
Original order
[5, -4, 0, 2, -1, 4, 7, 6, 1, -1, 3, 8, -2]

Java sort list of strings

The following example sorts strings.

com/zetcode/ListSortStrings.java
package com.zetcode;

import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.List;

public class ListSortStrings {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        var words = List.of("sky", "cloud", "atom", "club", "carpet", "wood", "water",
                "silk", "bike", "falcon", "owl", "mars");

        var sorted = words.stream().sorted().toList();
        System.out.println(sorted);

        var sorted2 = words.stream().sorted(Comparator.reverseOrder()).toList();
        System.out.println(sorted2);
    }
}

We have a list of words. We sort them with Stream.sorted.

$ java ListSortStrings.java
[atom, bike, carpet, cloud, club, falcon, mars, owl, silk, sky, water, wood]
[wood, water, sky, silk, owl, mars, falcon, club, cloud, carpet, bike, atom]

Java case insensitive list sort

In the following example, we show how to sort strings in case-insensitive order.

com/zetcode/ListSortCaseInsensitive.java
package com.zetcode;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Comparator;

public class ListSortCaseInsensitive {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        var words = Arrays.asList("world", "War", "abbot", "Caesar", "castle", "sky",
                "den", "forest", "ocean", "water", "falcon", "owl", "rain", "Earth");

        words.sort(Comparator.naturalOrder());
        System.out.println(words);

        words.sort(String::compareToIgnoreCase);
        System.out.println(words);
    }
}

We sort a list of words in-place in natural order and later regardless of case.

$ java ListSortCaseInsensitive.java
[Caesar, Earth, War, abbot, castle, den, falcon, forest, ocean, owl, rain, sky, ...
[abbot, Caesar, castle, den, Earth, falcon, forest, ocean, owl, rain, sky, War, ...

Java sort list of names by surname

The following example sorts full names by surname.

com/zetcode/ListSortSurname.java
package com.zetcode;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.function.BiFunction;
import java.util.function.Function;

public class ListSortSurname {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        var names = Arrays.asList("John Doe", "Lucy Smith",
                "Benjamin Young", "Robert Brown", "Thomas Moore",
                "Linda Black", "Adam Smith", "Jane Smith");

        Function<String, String> fun = (String fullName) -> fullName.split("\s")[1];
        names.sort(Comparator.comparing(fun).reversed());

        System.out.println(names);
    }
}

We have a list of names. We wort the names by surnames, in reverse order. By default, they would be sorted by first names, because they preced surnames.

Function<String, String> fun = (String fullName) -> fullName.split("\s")[1];

We create a Function which is a key extractor. It extracts the surnmaes from the strings.

names.sort(Comparator.comparing(fun).reversed());

We pass the function to the Comparator.comparing method.

$  java ListSortSurname.java
[Benjamin Young, Lucy Smith, Adam Smith, Jane Smith, Thomas Moore, John Doe, ...

Java sort list by fields

We are going to sort a list of objects by their fields.

com/zetcode/ListSortByFields.java
package com.zetcode;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Comparator;

public class ListSortByFields {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        var cars = Arrays.asList(new Car("Volvo", 23400),
                new Car("Mazda", 13700), new Car("Porsche", 353800),
                new Car("Skoda", 8900),  new Car("Volkswagen", 19900));

        cars.sort(Comparator.comparing(Car::price));
        System.out.println(cars);

        cars.sort(Comparator.comparing(Car::name));
        System.out.println(cars);
    }

    record Car(String name, int price) {}
}

We have a list of cars. We sort the cars by their price and later by their name.

cars.sort(Comparator.comparing(Car::price));

We pass the reference of the price method to Comparator.comparing.

$ java ListSortByFields.java
[Car[name=Skoda, price=8900], Car[name=Mazda, price=13700], Car[name=Volkswagen, ...
[Car[name=Mazda, price=13700], Car[name=Porsche, price=353800], Car[name=Skoda, ...

Java sort list by multiple fields

The next example shows how to sort objects by multiple fields.

com/zetcode/ListSortMultiple.java
package com.zetcode;

import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.time.Period;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.function.Function;

public class ListSortMultiple {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        var persons = List.of(
                new Person("Peter", LocalDate.of(1998, 5, 11), "New York"),
                new Person("Sarah", LocalDate.of(2008, 8, 21), "Las Vegas"),
                new Person("Lucy", LocalDate.of(1988, 12, 10), "Toronto"),
                new Person("Sarah", LocalDate.of(2000, 9, 19), "New York"),
                new Person("Tom", LocalDate.of(2004, 8, 30), "Toronto"),
                new Person("Robert", LocalDate.of(2008, 11, 1), "San Diego"),
                new Person("Lucy", LocalDate.of(2008, 10, 5), "Los Angeles"),
                new Person("Sam", LocalDate.of(1986, 6, 17), "Dallas"),
                new Person("Elisabeth", LocalDate.of(1985, 7, 12), "New York"),
                new Person("Ruth", LocalDate.of(1994, 4, 28), "New York"),
                new Person("Sarah", LocalDate.of(1977, 11, 30), "New York")
        );

        var sorted = persons.stream().sorted(Comparator.comparing(Person::age)
                .thenComparing(Person::name).reversed());

        sorted.forEach(System.out::println);
    }
}

record Person(String name, LocalDate dateOfBirth, String city) {

    public int age() {

        return Period.between(dateOfBirth(), LocalDate.now()).getYears();
    }
}

The list of persons is sorted by age and then by name.

var sorted = persons.stream().sorted(Comparator.comparing(Person::age)
    .thenComparing(Person::name).reversed());

The list is sorted by age by Comparator.comparing; the second sorting is done by thenComparing.

$ java ListSortMultiple.java
Person[name=Sarah, dateOfBirth=1977-11-30, city=New York]
Person[name=Elisabeth, dateOfBirth=1985-07-12, city=New York]
Person[name=Sam, dateOfBirth=1986-06-17, city=Dallas]
Person[name=Lucy, dateOfBirth=1988-12-10, city=Toronto]
Person[name=Ruth, dateOfBirth=1994-04-28, city=New York]
Person[name=Peter, dateOfBirth=1998-05-11, city=New York]
Person[name=Sarah, dateOfBirth=2000-09-19, city=New York]
Person[name=Tom, dateOfBirth=2004-08-30, city=Toronto]
Person[name=Sarah, dateOfBirth=2008-08-21, city=Las Vegas]
Person[name=Robert, dateOfBirth=2008-11-01, city=San Diego]
Person[name=Lucy, dateOfBirth=2008-10-05, city=Los Angeles]

Java sort list with custom comparator

We sort a list of objects by defining an external comparator object.

com/zetcode/ListSortCards.java
package com.zetcode;

import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.List;

public class ListSortCards {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        var cards = List.of(
                new Card(Rank.KING, Suit.DIAMONDS),
                new Card(Rank.FIVE, Suit.HEARTS),
                new Card(Rank.ACE, Suit.CLUBS),
                new Card(Rank.NINE, Suit.SPADES),
                new Card(Rank.JACK, Suit.SPADES),
                new Card(Rank.JACK, Suit.DIAMONDS));

        var sorted = cards.stream().sorted(CardComparator.build()).toList();
        sorted.forEach(System.out::println);
    }
}

enum Rank {
    TWO,
    THREE,
    FOUR,
    FIVE,
    SIX,
    SEVEN,
    EIGHT,
    NINE,
    TEN,
    JACK,
    QUEEN,
    KING,
    ACE,
}

enum Suit {
    CLUBS,
    DIAMONDS,
    HEARTS,
    SPADES
}

record Card(Rank rank, Suit suit) {
}

class CardComparator implements Comparator<Card> {

    static CardComparator build() {
        return new CardComparator();
    }

    @Override
    public int compare(Card o1, Card o2) {
        return Comparator.comparing(Card::rank)
                .thenComparing(Card::suit)
                .compare(o1, o2);
    }
}

A deck of cards is sorted first by rank and in case of equal rank by suit.

class CardComparator implements Comparator<Card> {

    static CardComparator build() {
        return new CardComparator();
    }

    @Override
    public int compare(Card o1, Card o2) {
        return Comparator.comparing(Card::rank)
                .thenComparing(Card::suit)
                .compare(o1, o2);
    }
}

We define an external comparator, which implements the Comparator interface and defines the compare method.

$ java ListSortCards.java
Card[rank=FIVE, suit=HEARTS]
Card[rank=NINE, suit=SPADES]
Card[rank=JACK, suit=DIAMONDS]
Card[rank=JACK, suit=SPADES]
Card[rank=KING, suit=DIAMONDS]
Card[rank=ACE, suit=CLUBS]

Java sort list with a Comparable object

Now we use Comparable interface to sort objects.

com/zetcode/ListSortCards2.java
package com.zetcode;

import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.List;

class Card implements Comparable<Card> {

    @Override
    public int compareTo(Card o) {

        return Comparator.comparing(Card::getRank)
                .thenComparing(Card::getSuit)
                .compare(this, o);
    }

    public enum Suit {
        CLUBS,
        DIAMONDS,
        HEARTS,
        SPADES
    }

    public enum Rank {
        TWO,
        THREE,
        FOUR,
        FIVE,
        SIX,
        SEVEN,
        EIGHT,
        NINE,
        TEN,
        JACK,
        QUEEN,
        KING,
        ACE,
    }

    private Suit suit;
    private Rank rank;

    public Card(Rank rank, Suit suit) {

        this.rank = rank;
        this.suit = suit;
    }

    public Rank getRank() {
        return rank;
    }

    public Suit getSuit() {
        return suit;
    }

    public void showCard() {

        rank = getRank();
        suit = getSuit();

        System.out.println(rank + " of " + suit);
    }

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        final StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder("Card{");
        sb.append("suit=").append(suit);
        sb.append(", rank=").append(rank);
        sb.append('}');
        return sb.toString();
    }
}

public class ListSortCards2 {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        var cards = List.of(
                new Card(Card.Rank.KING, Card.Suit.DIAMONDS),
                new Card(Card.Rank.FIVE, Card.Suit.HEARTS),
                new Card(Card.Rank.ACE, Card.Suit.CLUBS),
                new Card(Card.Rank.NINE, Card.Suit.SPADES),
                new Card(Card.Rank.JACK, Card.Suit.SPADES),
                new Card(Card.Rank.JACK, Card.Suit.DIAMONDS));

        var sorted = cards.stream().sorted().toList();
        sorted.forEach(System.out::println);
    }
}

The Comparable interface defines an internal compareTo sorting method.

$ java ListSortCards2.java 
Card{suit=HEARTS, rank=FIVE}
Card{suit=SPADES, rank=NINE}
Card{suit=DIAMONDS, rank=JACK}
Card{suit=SPADES, rank=JACK}
Card{suit=DIAMONDS, rank=KING}
Card{suit=CLUBS, rank=ACE}

Java sort list final example

The final example summarizes several sorting techniques.

com/zetcode/ListSortEx.java
package com.zetcode;

import java.time.LocalDate;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.function.Function;

public class ListSortEx {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        var data = """
                 John Doe, gardener, 1985-11-10
                 Roger Roe, driver, 1998-09-11
                 Lucia Smith, teacher, 1995-08-18
                 Peter Black, programmer, 1997-04-04
                 Roman Grant, programmer, 1987-07-14
                 Michael Miller, programmer, 2002-05-14
                """;

        System.out.println("Sorted by date of birth");

        var users = data.lines().map(line -> line.trim().split(",\s?"))
                .map(parts -> new User(parts[0], parts[1], 
                    LocalDate.parse(parts[2]))).toList();

        var sortedByDob = users.stream()
                .sorted(Comparator.comparing(User::dateOfBirth));
        sortedByDob.forEach(System.out::println);

        System.out.println("--------------------------------");

        System.out.println("Sorted by date of birth reversed");

        var sortedByDob2 = users.stream()
                .sorted(Comparator.comparing(User::dateOfBirth).reversed());
        sortedByDob2.forEach(System.out::println);

        System.out.println("--------------------------------");

        System.out.println("Sorted by last name");

        Function<User, String> byLastName = user -> user.name.split("\s")[1];

        var sortedByLastName = users.stream()
                .sorted(Comparator.comparing(byLastName));
        sortedByLastName.forEach(System.out::println);

        System.out.println("--------------------------------");

        System.out.println("Sorted by occupation");

        var sortedByOccupation = users.stream()
                .sorted(Comparator.comparing(User::occupation));

        sortedByOccupation.forEach(System.out::println);

        System.out.println("--------------------------------");

        System.out.println("Sorted by occupation and date of birth reversed");

        var sortedByOccupationAndDateOfBirth = users.stream()
                .sorted(Comparator.comparing(User::occupation)
                        .thenComparing(User::dateOfBirth).reversed());

        sortedByOccupationAndDateOfBirth.forEach(System.out::println);

    }

    record User(String name, String occupation, LocalDate dateOfBirth) {}
}

We parse a multiline string to form a list of users. Then we sort the list by date of birth, last name, occupation, and occupation and reversed date of birth.

$ java ListSortEx.java
Sorted by date of birth
User[name="John Doe, occupation=gardener, dateOfBirth=1985-11-10]
User[name=Roman Grant, occupation=programmer, dateOfBirth=1987-07-14]
User[name=Lucia Smith, occupation=teacher, dateOfBirth=1995-08-18]
User[name=Peter Black, occupation=programmer, dateOfBirth=1997-04-04]
User[name=Roger Roe, occupation=driver, dateOfBirth=1998-09-11]
User[name=Michael Miller, occupation=programmer, dateOfBirth=2002-05-14]
--------------------------------
Sorted by date of birth reversed
User[name=Michael Miller, occupation=programmer, dateOfBirth=2002-05-14]
User[name=Roger Roe, occupation=driver, dateOfBirth=1998-09-11]
User[name=Peter Black, occupation=programmer, dateOfBirth=1997-04-04]
User[name=Lucia Smith, occupation=teacher, dateOfBirth=1995-08-18]
User[name=Roman Grant, occupation=programmer, dateOfBirth=1987-07-14]
User[name="John Doe, occupation=gardener, dateOfBirth=1985-11-10]
--------------------------------
Sorted by last name
User[name=Peter Black, occupation=programmer, dateOfBirth=1997-04-04]
User[name="John Doe, occupation=gardener, dateOfBirth=1985-11-10]
User[name=Roman Grant, occupation=programmer, dateOfBirth=1987-07-14]
User[name=Michael Miller, occupation=programmer, dateOfBirth=2002-05-14]
User[name=Roger Roe, occupation=driver, dateOfBirth=1998-09-11]
User[name=Lucia Smith, occupation=teacher, dateOfBirth=1995-08-18]
--------------------------------
Sorted by occupation
User[name=Roger Roe, occupation=driver, dateOfBirth=1998-09-11]
User[name="John Doe, occupation=gardener, dateOfBirth=1985-11-10]
User[name=Peter Black, occupation=programmer, dateOfBirth=1997-04-04]
User[name=Roman Grant, occupation=programmer, dateOfBirth=1987-07-14]
User[name=Michael Miller, occupation=programmer, dateOfBirth=2002-05-14]
User[name=Lucia Smith, occupation=teacher, dateOfBirth=1995-08-18]
--------------------------------
Sorted by occupation and date of birth reversed
User[name=Lucia Smith, occupation=teacher, dateOfBirth=1995-08-18]
User[name=Michael Miller, occupation=programmer, dateOfBirth=2002-05-14]
User[name=Peter Black, occupation=programmer, dateOfBirth=1997-04-04]
User[name=Roman Grant, occupation=programmer, dateOfBirth=1987-07-14]
User[name="John Doe, occupation=gardener, dateOfBirth=1985-11-10]
User[name=Roger Roe, occupation=driver, dateOfBirth=1998-09-11]

Source

Java ArrayList - language reference

In this article we have sorted lists in Java.

Author

My name is Jan Bodnar and I am a passionate programmer with many years of programming experience. I have been writing programming articles since 2007. So far, I have written over 1400 articles and 8 e-books. I have over eight years of experience in teaching programming.

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