sorting files based on its creation date in android

Question

I want list of file based on my creation date. When i updating any if images and trying to retrive all images,then orders are changed randomly.

Here is my code,

 File[] files = parentDir.listFiles();
    for (File file : files) {
// I am getting files here
    }

Any help..

score 7 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 27 '14 at 06:42

    List<File> fileList = new ArrayList<File>();
    Collections.sort(fileList, new Comparator<File>() {

        @Override
        public int compare(File file1, File file2) {
            long k = file1.lastModified() - file2.lastModified();
            if(k > 0){
               return 1;
            }else if(k == 0){
               return 0;
            }else{
              return -1;
           }
        }
    });

score 6 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:00

I want list of file based on my creation date.

As the two previous answers pointed out, you can sort the files according to the modification date:

file.lastModified()

But the modification date is updated e.g. in the instant of renaming a file. So, this won't work to represent the creation date.

Unfortunately, the creation date is not available, thus you need to rethink your basic strategy:

see an old answer of CommonsWare

score 4 · Answer 3 · edited Jul 06 '18 at 00:37

Here is the code to sort the files according to the modification date as the creation date is not available.

File[] files = parentDir.listFiles();
Arrays.sort(files, new Comparator() {
    public int compare(Object o1, Object o2) {

        if (((File)o1).lastModified() > ((File)o2).lastModified()) {
            return -1;
        } else if (((File)o1).lastModified() < ((File)o2).lastModified()) {
            return +1;
        } else {
            return 0;
        }
    }

});

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Oct 27 '14 at 06:28

try this may help you,

public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
    File directory = new File(".");
    // get just files, not directories
    File[] files = directory.listFiles((FileFilter) FileFileFilter.FILE);

    System.out.println("Default order");
    displayFiles(files);

    Arrays.sort(files, LastModifiedFileComparator.LASTMODIFIED_COMPARATOR);
    System.out.println("\nLast Modified Ascending Order (LASTMODIFIED_COMPARATOR)");
    displayFiles(files);

    Arrays.sort(files, LastModifiedFileComparator.LASTMODIFIED_REVERSE);
    System.out.println("\nLast Modified Descending Order (LASTMODIFIED_REVERSE)");
    displayFiles(files);

}

public static void displayFiles(File[] files) {
    for (File file : files) {
        System.out.printf("File: %-20s Last Modified:" + new Date(file.lastModified()) + "\n", file.getName());
    }
}

I have tried this code. I have tried with renaming images, in that case I again lost my original order. newly renamed images comes last. — Jatin, Oct 27 '14 at 06:40
Note `LastModifiedFileComparator` is available in Apache's Common IO. — Fred, Oct 07 '15 at 22:16

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 22 '19 at 20:10

In the Kotlin language it can be written like this:

private fun getListFiles(parentDir: File): MutableList<File> {

    val inFiles: MutableList<File> = parentDir.listFiles().toMutableList()

    inFiles.filter { it.extension == "jpg" }

    inFiles.sortByDescending({ it.lastModified()})

    return inFiles
}

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Feb 24 '20 at 10:21

guys If you are not able to resolve this LastModifiedFileComparator problem, Here is the solution I have found.

Step 1
Open app level build.gradle and add dependency as below. To get updated version click here

implementation group: 'commons-io', name: 'commons-io', version: '2.0.1'

Step 2
If it did't work than Add mavenCentral() creating new repositories in your app level build.gradle

repositories{
   mavenCentral()
}
dependencies {
//all implementation

That all It should work like charm, If not please refer here

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 24 '20 at 08:55

1.add this to build.gradle :

    implementation group: 'commons-io', name: 'commons-io', version: '2.4'

2.add code to activity :

  File[] folderFiles = Files.listFiles();

  // Sort files in ascending order base on last modification
  Arrays.sort(files, LastModifiedFileComparator.LASTMODIFIED_COMPARATOR);

  // Sort files in descending order base on last modification
  Arrays.sort(folderFiles, LastModifiedFileComparator.LASTMODIFIED_REVERSE);

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered May 08 '21 at 11:55

One quick and elegant way to sort array of files, by date of change is:

        Arrays.sort(fileList, new Comparator<File>() {
            @Override
            public int compare(File f1, File f2) {
                return Long.compare(f1.lastModified(), f2.lastModified());
                // For descending
                // return -Long.compare(f1.lastModified(), f2.lastModified());
            }
        });

To sort array of files, by name is:

        Arrays.sort(fileList, new Comparator<File>() {
            @Override
            public int compare(File f1, File f2) {
                return f1.compareTo(f2);
                // For descending
                // return -f1.compareTo(f2);
            }
        });

sorting files based on its creation date in android

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