[java] Sort a two dimensional array based on one column

In Java, I have a data in my array like the following

2009.07.25 20:24 Message A
2009.07.25 20:17 Message G
2009.07.25 20:25 Message B
2009.07.25 20:30 Message D
2009.07.25 20:01 Message F
2009.07.25 21:08 Message E
2009.07.25 19:54 Message R

I would like to sort it based on the first column, so my final data can look like this

2009.07.25 19:54 Message R
2009.07.25 20:01 Message F
2009.07.25 20:17 Message G
2009.07.25 20:24 Message A
2009.07.25 20:25 Message B
2009.07.25 20:30 Message D
2009.07.25 21:08 Message E

The first column is a date of format "yyyy.MM.dd HH:mm" and the second column is a String.

This question is related to java arrays sorting

The answer is


  1. install java8 jdk+jre

  2. use lamda expression to sort 2D array.

code:

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

class SortString {

    public static void main(final String[] args) {
        final String[][] data = new String[][] {
                new String[] { "2009.07.25 20:24", "Message A" },
                new String[] { "2009.07.25 20:17", "Message G" },
                new String[] { "2009.07.25 20:25", "Message B" },
                new String[] { "2009.07.25 20:30", "Message D" },
                new String[] { "2009.07.25 20:01", "Message F" },
                new String[] { "2009.07.25 21:08", "Message E" },
                new String[] { "2009.07.25 19:54", "Message R" } 
        };
        // this is applicable only in java 8 version.
        Arrays.sort(data, (String[] s1, String[] s2) -> s1[0].compareTo(s2[0]));

        // we can also use Comparator.comparing and point to Comparable value we want to use        
        // Arrays.sort(data, Comparator.comparing(row->row[0]));

        for (final String[] s : data) {
            System.out.println(s[0] + " " + s[1]);
        }
    }
}

output

2009.07.25 19:54 Message R
2009.07.25 20:01 Message F
2009.07.25 20:17 Message G
2009.07.25 20:24 Message A
2009.07.25 20:25 Message B
2009.07.25 20:30 Message D
2009.07.25 21:08 Message E

Using Lambdas since java 8:

final String[][] data = new String[][] { new String[] { "2009.07.25 20:24", "Message A" },
        new String[] { "2009.07.25 20:17", "Message G" }, new String[] { "2009.07.25 20:25", "Message B" },
        new String[] { "2009.07.25 20:30", "Message D" }, new String[] { "2009.07.25 20:01", "Message F" },
        new String[] { "2009.07.25 21:08", "Message E" }, new String[] { "2009.07.25 19:54", "Message R" } };
String[][] out = Arrays.stream(data).sorted(Comparator.comparing(x -> x[1])).toArray(String[][]::new);

System.out.println(Arrays.deepToString(out));
    

Output:

[[2009.07.25 20:24, Message A], [2009.07.25 20:25, Message B], [2009.07.25 20:30, Message D], [2009.07.25 21:08, Message E], [2009.07.25 20:01, Message F], [2009.07.25 20:17, Message G], [2009.07.25 19:54, Message R]]


Check out the ColumnComparator. It is basically the same solution as proposed by Costi, but it also supports sorting on columns in a List and has a few more sort properties.


If you are looking for easy one liners to sort 2d array, then here you go.


Sort String[][] arr in ascending order by first column

Arrays.sort(arr, (a, b) -> a[0].compareTo(b[0]);

Sort String[][] arr in descending order by first column

Arrays.sort(arr, (a, b) -> b[0].compareTo(a[0]);

Sort String[][] arr in ascending order by second column

Arrays.sort(arr, (a, b) -> a[1].compareTo(b[1]);

Sort String[][] arr in descending order by second column

Arrays.sort(arr, (a, b) -> b[1].compareTo(a[1]);

Sort int[][] arr in ascending order by first column

Arrays.sort(arr, (a, b) -> Integer.compare(a[0], b[0]));

or

Arrays.sort(arr, (a, b) -> a[0] - b[0]);

Sort int[][] arr in descending order by first column

Arrays.sort(arr, (a, b) -> Integer.compare(b[0], a[0]));

or

Arrays.sort(arr, (a, b) -> b[0] - a[0]);

Sort int[][] arr in ascending order by second column

Arrays.sort(arr, (a, b) -> Integer.compare(a[1], b[1]));

or

Arrays.sort(arr, (a, b) -> a[1] - b[1]);

Sort int[][] arr in descending order by second column

Arrays.sort(arr, (a, b) -> Integer.compare(b[1], a[1]));

or

Arrays.sort(arr, (a, b) -> b[1] - a[1]);

class ArrayComparator implements Comparator<Comparable[]> {
    private final int columnToSort;
    private final boolean ascending;

    public ArrayComparator(int columnToSort, boolean ascending) {
        this.columnToSort = columnToSort;
        this.ascending = ascending;
    }

    public int compare(Comparable[] c1, Comparable[] c2) {
        int cmp = c1[columnToSort].compareTo(c2[columnToSort]);
        return ascending ? cmp : -cmp;
    }
}

This way you can handle any type of data in those arrays (as long as they're Comparable) and you can sort any column in ascending or descending order.

String[][] data = getData();
Arrays.sort(data, new ArrayComparator(0, true));

PS: make sure you check for ArrayIndexOutOfBounds and others.

EDIT: The above solution would only be helpful if you are able to actually store a java.util.Date in the first column or if your date format allows you to use plain String comparison for those values. Otherwise, you need to convert that String to a Date, and you can achieve that using a callback interface (as a general solution). Here's an enhanced version:

class ArrayComparator implements Comparator<Object[]> {
    private static Converter DEFAULT_CONVERTER = new Converter() {
        @Override
        public Comparable convert(Object o) {
            // simply assume the object is Comparable
            return (Comparable) o;
        }
    };
    private final int columnToSort;
    private final boolean ascending;
    private final Converter converter;


    public ArrayComparator(int columnToSort, boolean ascending) {
        this(columnToSort, ascending, DEFAULT_CONVERTER);
    }

    public ArrayComparator(int columnToSort, boolean ascending, Converter converter) {
        this.columnToSort = columnToSort;
        this.ascending = ascending;
        this.converter = converter;
    }

    public int compare(Object[] o1, Object[] o2) {
        Comparable c1 = converter.convert(o1[columnToSort]);
        Comparable c2 = converter.convert(o2[columnToSort]);
        int cmp = c1.compareTo(c2);
        return ascending ? cmp : -cmp;
    }

}

interface Converter {
    Comparable convert(Object o);
}

class DateConverter implements Converter {
    private static final DateFormat df = new SimpleDateFormat("yyyy.MM.dd hh:mm");

    @Override
    public Comparable convert(Object o) {
        try {
            return df.parse(o.toString());
        } catch (ParseException e) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException(e);
        }
    }
}

And at this point, you can sort on your first column with:

Arrays.sort(data, new ArrayComparator(0, true, new DateConverter());

I skipped the checks for nulls and other error handling issues.

I agree this is starting to look like a framework already. :)

Last (hopefully) edit: I only now realize that your date format allows you to use plain String comparison. If that is the case, you don't need the "enhanced version".


Assuming your array contains strings, you can use the following:

String[] data = new String[] { 
    "2009.07.25 20:24 Message A",
    "2009.07.25 20:17 Message G",
    "2009.07.25 20:25 Message B",
    "2009.07.25 20:30 Message D",
    "2009.07.25 20:01 Message F",
    "2009.07.25 21:08 Message E",
    "2009.07.25 19:54 Message R"
};

Arrays.sort(data, new Comparator<String>() {
    @Override
    public int compare(String s1, String s2) {
        String t1 = s1.substring(0, 16); // date/time of s1
        String t2 = s2.substring(0, 16); // date/time of s2
        return t1.compareTo(t2);
    }
});

If you have a two-dimensional array, the solution is also very similar:

String[][] data = new String[][] { 
        { "2009.07.25 20:17", "Message G" },
        { "2009.07.25 20:25", "Message B" },
        { "2009.07.25 20:30", "Message D" },
        { "2009.07.25 20:01", "Message F" },
        { "2009.07.25 21:08", "Message E" },
        { "2009.07.25 19:54", "Message R" }
};

Arrays.sort(data, new Comparator<String[]>() {
    @Override
    public int compare(String[] s1, String[] s2) {
        String t1 = s1[0];
        String t2 = s2[0];
        return t1.compareTo(t2);
    }
});

Arrays.sort(yourarray, new Comparator() {
    public int compare(Object o1, Object o2) {
        String[] elt1 = (String[])o1;
        String[] elt2 = (String[])o2;
        return elt1[0].compareTo(elt2[0]);
    }
});

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