[java] Sort an array in Java

I'm trying to make a program that consists of an array of 10 integers which all has a random value, so far so good.

However, now I need to sort them in order from lowest to highest value and then print it onto the screen, how would I go about doing so?

(Sorry for having so much code for a program that small, I ain't that good with loops, just started working with Java)

public static void main(String args[])
{
    int [] array = new int[10];

    array[0] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[1] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[2] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[3] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[4] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[5] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[6] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[7] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[8] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[9] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));

    System.out.println(array[0] +" " + array[1] +" " + array[2] +" " + array[3]
    +" " + array[4] +" " + array[5]+" " + array[6]+" " + array[7]+" " 
    + array[8]+" " + array[9] );        

}

This question is related to java arrays

The answer is


If you want to build the Quick sort algorithm yourself and have more understanding of how it works check the below code :

1- Create sort class

class QuickSort {
    private int input[];
    private int length;

    public void sort(int[] numbers) {
        if (numbers == null || numbers.length == 0) {
            return;
        }
        this.input = numbers;
        length = numbers.length;
        quickSort(0, length - 1);
    }
    /*
     * This method implements in-place quicksort algorithm recursively.
     */

    private void quickSort(int low, int high) {
        int i = low;
        int j = high;

        // pivot is middle index
        int pivot = input[low + (high - low) / 2];

        // Divide into two arrays
        while (i <= j) {
            /**
             * As shown in above image, In each iteration, we will identify a
             * number from left side which is greater then the pivot value, and
             * a number from right side which is less then the pivot value. Once
             * search is complete, we can swap both numbers.
             */
            while (input[i] < pivot) {
                i++;
            }
            while (input[j] > pivot) {
                j--;
            }
            if (i <= j) {
                swap(i, j);
                // move index to next position on both sides
                i++;
                j--;
            }
        }

        // calls quickSort() method recursively
        if (low < j) {
            quickSort(low, j);
        }

        if (i < high) {
            quickSort(i, high);
        }
    }

    private void swap(int i, int j) {
        int temp = input[i];
        input[i] = input[j];
        input[j] = temp;
    }
}

2- Send your unsorted array to Quicksort class

import java.util.Arrays;


public class QuickSortDemo {

    public static void main(String args[]) {
        // unsorted integer array
        int[] unsorted = {6, 5, 3, 1, 8, 7, 2, 4};
        System.out.println("Unsorted array :" + Arrays.toString(unsorted));
        QuickSort algorithm = new QuickSort();
        // sorting integer array using quicksort algorithm
        algorithm.sort(unsorted);
        // printing sorted array
        System.out.println("Sorted array :" + Arrays.toString(unsorted));
    }
}

3- Output

Unsorted array :[6, 5, 3, 1, 8, 7, 2, 4] 
Sorted array :[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

int[] array = {2, 3, 4, 5, 3, 4, 2, 34, 2, 56, 98, 32, 54};

for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
    for (int j = 0; j < array.length; j++) {
        if (array[i] < array[j]) {
            int temp = array[i];
            array[i] = array[j];
            array[j] = temp;
        }
    }
}

I was lazy and added the loops

import java.util.Arrays;


public class Sort {
    public static void main(String args[])
    {
        int [] array = new int[10];
        for ( int i = 0 ; i < array.length ; i++ ) {
            array[i] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
        }
        Arrays.sort( array );
        for ( int i = 0 ; i < array.length ; i++ ) {
            System.out.println(array[i]);
        }
    }
}

Your array has a length of 10. You need one variable (i) which takes the values from 0to 9.

for ( int i = 0  ; i < array.length ;   i++ ) 
       ^               ^                   ^
       |               |                   ------  increment ( i = i + 1 )
       |               |
       |               +-------------------------- repeat as long i < 10
       +------------------------------------------ start value of i


Arrays.sort( array );

Is a library methods that sorts arrays.


For natural order : Arrays.sort(array)

For reverse Order : Arrays.sort(array, Collections.reverseOrder()); -- > It is a static method in Collections class which will further call an inner class of itself to return a reverse Comparator.


MOST EFFECTIVE WAY!

public static void main(String args[])
{
    int [] array = new int[10];//creates an array named array to hold 10 int's
    for(int x: array)//for-each loop!
      x = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    Array.sort(array);
    for(int x: array)
      System.out.println(x+" ");
}

Add the Line before println and your array gets sorted

Arrays.sort( array );

Take a look at Arrays.sort()


Java 8 provides the option of using streams which can be used to sort int[] array as:

int[] sorted = Arrays.stream(array).sorted().toArray(); // option 1
Arrays.parallelSort(array); //option 2

As mentioned in doc for parallelSort :

The sorting algorithm is a parallel sort-merge that breaks the array into sub-arrays that are themselves sorted and then merged. When the sub-array length reaches a minimum granularity, the sub-array is sorted using the appropriate Arrays.sort method. If the length of the specified array is less than the minimum granularity, then it is sorted using the appropriate Arrays.sort method. The algorithm requires a working space no greater than the size of the original array. The ForkJoin common pool is used to execute any parallel tasks.

So if the input array is less than granularity (8192 elements in Java 9 and 4096 in Java 8 I believe), then parallelSort simply calls sequential sort algorithm.

Just in case we want to reverse sort the integer array we can make use of comparator as:

int[] reverseSorted = IntStream.of(array).boxed()
                        .sorted(Comparator.reverseOrder()).mapToInt(i -> i).toArray();

Since Java has no way to sort primitives with custom comparator, we have to use intermediate boxing or some other third party library which implements such primitive sorting.


Here is how to use this in your program:

public static void main(String args[])
{
    int [] array = new int[10];

    array[0] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[1] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[2] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[3] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[4] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[5] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[6] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[7] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[8] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
    array[9] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));

    Arrays.sort(array); 

    System.out.println(array[0] +" " + array[1] +" " + array[2] +" " + array[3]
    +" " + array[4] +" " + array[5]+" " + array[6]+" " + array[7]+" " 
    + array[8]+" " + array[9] );        

}

Simply do the following before printing the array:-

Arrays.sort(array);

Note:- you will have to import the arrays class by saying:-

import java.util.Arrays;


Arrays.sort(yourArray)

will do the job perfectly


See below, it will give you sorted ascending and descending both

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Collections;

public class SortTestArray {

/**
 * Example method for sorting an Integer array
 * in reverse & normal order.
 */
public void sortIntArrayReverseOrder() {

    Integer[] arrayToSort = new Integer[] {
        new Integer(48),
        new Integer(5),
        new Integer(89),
        new Integer(80),
        new Integer(81),
        new Integer(23),
        new Integer(45),
        new Integer(16),
        new Integer(2)
    };

    System.out.print("General Order is    : ");

    for (Integer i : arrayToSort) {
        System.out.print(i.intValue() + " ");
    }


    Arrays.sort(arrayToSort);

    System.out.print("\n\nAscending Order is  : ");

    for (Integer i : arrayToSort) {
        System.out.print(i.intValue() + " ");
    }


    Arrays.sort(arrayToSort, Collections.reverseOrder());
    System.out.print("\n\nDescinding Order is : ");
    for (Integer i : arrayToSort) {
        System.out.print(i.intValue() + " ");
    }

}


/**
 * @param args the command line arguments
 */
public static void main(String[] args) {
    SortTestArray SortTestArray = new SortTestArray();
    SortTestArray.sortIntArrayReverseOrder();
}}

Output will be

General Order is    : 48 5 89 80 81 23 45 16 2 

Ascending Order is  : 2 5 16 23 45 48 80 81 89 

Descinding Order is : 89 81 80 48 45 23 16 5 2 

Note: You can use Math.ranodm instead of adding manual numbers. Let me know if I need to change the code...

Good Luck... Cheers!!!


It may help you understand loops by implementing yourself. See Bubble sort is easy to understand:

public void bubbleSort(int[] array) {
    boolean swapped = true;
    int j = 0;
    int tmp;
    while (swapped) {
        swapped = false;
        j++;
        for (int i = 0; i < array.length - j; i++) {
            if (array[i] > array[i + 1]) {
                tmp = array[i];
                array[i] = array[i + 1];
                array[i + 1] = tmp;
                swapped = true;
            }
        }
    }
}

Of course, you should not use it in production as there are better performing algorithms for large lists such as QuickSort or MergeSort which are implemented by Arrays.sort(array)


You can sort a int array with Arrays.sort( array ).


You may use Arrays.sort() function.

sort() method is a java.util.Arrays class method.          
Declaration : Arrays.sort(arrName)

just FYI, you can now use Java 8 new API for sorting any type of array using parallelSort

parallelSort uses Fork/Join framework introduced in Java 7 to assign the sorting tasks to multiple threads available in the thread pool.

the two methods that can be used to sort int array,

parallelSort(int[] a)
parallelSort(int[] a,int fromIndex,int toIndex)

Be aware that Arrays.sort() method is not thread safe: if your array is a property of a singleton, and used in a multi-threaded enviroment, you should put the sorting code in a synchronized block, or create a copy of the array and order that copy (only the array structure is copied, using the same objects inside).

For example:

 int[] array = new int[10];
 ...
 int[] arrayCopy = Arrays.copyOf(array , array .length);
 Arrays.sort(arrayCopy);
 // use the arrayCopy;
 

We can also use binary search tree for getting sorted array by using in-order traversal method. The code also has implementation of basic binary search tree below.

class Util {
    public static void printInorder(Node node) 
    { 
        if (node == null) {
            return;
        } 

        /* traverse left child */
        printInorder(node.left); 

        System.out.print(node.data + " "); 

        /* traverse right child */
        printInorder(node.right); 
     } 

    public static void sort(ArrayList<Integer> al, Node node) {
        if (node == null) {
            return;
        } 

        /* sort left child */
        sort(al, node.left); 

        al.add(node.data);

        /* sort right child */
        sort(al, node.right); 

    }
}

class Node {
    Node left;
    Integer data;
    Node right;

    public Node(Integer data) {
        this.data = data;
    }

    public void insert(Integer element) {
        if(element.equals(data)) {
            return;
        }

        // if element is less than current then we know we will insert element to left-sub-tree
        if(element < data) {
            // if this node does not have a sub tree then this is the place we insert the element.
            if(this.left == null) {
                this.left = new Node(element);  
            } else { // if it has left subtree then we should iterate again.
                this.left.insert(element);
            }
        } else {
            if(this.right == null) {
                this.right = new Node(element);
            } else {
                this.right.insert(element);
            }
        }
    }
}

class Tree {
    Node root;

    public void insert(Integer element) {
        if(root == null) {
            root = new Node(element);
        } else {
            root.insert(element);
        }       
    }

    public void print() {
        Util.printInorder(root);
    }

    public ArrayList<Integer> sort() {
        ArrayList<Integer> al = new ArrayList<Integer>();
        Util.sort(al, root);
        return al;
    }
}

public class Test {

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        int [] array = new int[10];

        array[0] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
        array[1] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
        array[2] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
        array[3] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
        array[4] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
        array[5] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
        array[6] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
        array[7] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
        array[8] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));
        array[9] = ((int)(Math.random()*100+1));

        Tree tree = new Tree();

        for (int i = 0; i < array.length; i++) {
            tree.insert(array[i]);
        }

        tree.print();

        ArrayList<Integer> al = tree.sort();    

        System.out.println("sorted array : ");
        al.forEach(item -> System.out.print(item + " "));
}

}