Sorting Output of a HashMap Program Alphabetically

Question

This is the code I have that reads two files, one with words and the other with the scrambled letters. The program reads and matches the scrambled letters to words in the file. It works but I want to the output to be in alphabetical order. Where in my code can I put in a sort?

import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;

public class Tester
 {
public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception
{
    BufferedReader dictionary = new BufferedReader( new FileReader(args[0]) );
    BufferedReader jumbles = new BufferedReader( new FileReader(args[1]) );

    HashMap<String, List<String>> lookup = new HashMap<String, List<String>>();

    while(dictionary.ready())
    {
        String word = dictionary.readLine();
        addWord(word, lookup);
    }       
    dictionary.close();

    while(jumbles.ready())
    {
        String jWord = jumbles.readLine();
        List<String>dWords= lookup.get(createKey(jWord));
        String wordsString = Arrays.toString(dWords.toArray()).replace("[", "").replace("]", "").replace(",", "").trim();


        if(dWords != null){
            System.out.println(jWord + " " + wordsString);
        }
    }   
    jumbles.close();    


}


private static String createKey(String word)
{
    char[] cword = word.toCharArray();
    Arrays.sort(cword);
    return new String(cword);
}

private static void addWord(String word, Map<String, List<String>> lookup)
{
    String key = createKey(word);
     List<String> list = lookup.get(key);
     if(list == null)
     {
        list = new ArrayList<String>();
        lookup.put(key, list);
     }
     list.add(word);
  }
}

outputs:

atc act cat tac otsp post pots stop spot tops opts gdo dog god atr rat tar art arpt trap tarp part grof frog sylogs glossy

What I want:

arpt part tarp trap atc act cat tac atr art rat tar gdo dog god grof frog otsp opts post pots spot stop tops sylogs glossy

nevermind.

Fixed it with:

while(jumbles.ready())
    {
        jSorted.add(jumbles.readLine());
    }       
    jumbles.close();

    Collections.sort(jSorted);

    for(int i = 0; i < jSorted.size(); i++)
    {
        String jWord = jSorted.get(i);
        List<String>dWords= lookup.get(createKey(jWord));
        String wordsString = Arrays.toString(dWords.toArray()).replace("[", "").replace("]", "").replace(",", "").trim();


        if(dWords != null){
            System.out.println(jWord + " " + wordsString);
        }
    }

It looks like your input file isn't in alphabetical order, but you want to process the words in alphabetical order. Read the file and create an `ArrayList`, then sort the `ArrayList`, then process the words from the file. — ajb, Oct 11 '16 at 04:19
@CS_noob that won't help. It's not the dictionary input that he wants sorted. This question isn't about `HashMap` at all, despite the title. — ajb, Oct 11 '16 at 04:20

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 11 '16 at 04:32

You can create a list of strings and then sort them

    List<String> result = new ArrayList<>();
    while(jumbles.ready())
    {
        String jWord = jumbles.readLine();
        List<String>dWords= lookup.get(createKey(jWord));
        String wordsString = Arrays.toString(dWords.toArray()).replace("[", "").replace("]", "").replace(",", "").trim();


        if(dWords != null){
            result.add(jWord + " " + wordsString);
        }
    }
    jumbles.close();
    result.sort(String::compareTo);
    result.forEach(System.out::println);

Sorting Output of a HashMap Program Alphabetically

1 Answers1