155

I'm interested in sorting a list from a stream. This is the code I'm using:

list.stream()
    .sorted((o1, o2)->o1.getItem().getValue().compareTo(o2.getItem().getValue()))
    .collect(Collectors.toList());

Am I missing something? The list is not sorted afterward.

It should sort the lists according to the item with the lowest value.

for (int i = 0; i < list.size(); i++)
{
   System.out.println("list " + (i+1));
   print(list, i);
}

And the print method:

public static void print(List<List> list, int i)
{
    System.out.println(list.get(i).getItem().getValue());
}
rogerdpack
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Ivan C
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9 Answers9

206

This is not like Collections.sort() where the parameter reference gets sorted. In this case you just get a sorted stream that you need to collect and assign to another variable eventually:

List result = list.stream().sorted((o1, o2)->o1.getItem().getValue().
                                   compareTo(o2.getItem().getValue())).
                                   collect(Collectors.toList());

You've just missed to assign the result

Neuron
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Jan B.
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113

Use list.sort instead:

list.sort((o1, o2) -> o1.getItem().getValue().compareTo(o2.getItem().getValue()));

and make it more succinct using Comparator.comparing:

list.sort(Comparator.comparing(o -> o.getItem().getValue()));

After either of these, list itself will be sorted.

Your issue is that list.stream.sorted returns the sorted data, it doesn't sort in place as you're expecting.

River
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    `list.sort(Comparator.comparing(o -> o.getItem().getValue()));` was new to me. Great! – Neuron Apr 22 '18 at 03:47
  • Somehow, I was able to make it even more concise by removing the `Comparator.` qualifier. – MarkHu Aug 26 '22 at 00:50
  • You can even remove more boilerplate code by using method reference for Lambda: `Item::getValue`. – Pwnstar Apr 18 '23 at 08:01
  • @Pwnstar This isn't processing a list of `Item`s, it's processing a list of objects with an `Item` field. I'm not aware of a way in Java to do a nested method reference, e.g. `MyObject::getItem::getValue`. Lmk if there is such way, but otherwise the above boilerplate is required. – River Apr 25 '23 at 21:52
71

Java 8 provides different utility api methods to help us sort the streams better.

If your list is a list of Integers(or Double, Long, String etc.,) then you can simply sort the list with default comparators provided by java.

List<Integer> integerList = Arrays.asList(1, 4, 3, 4, 5);

Creating comparator on fly:

integerList.stream().sorted((i1, i2) -> i1.compareTo(i2)).forEach(System.out::println);

With default comparator provided by java 8 when no argument passed to sorted():

integerList.stream().sorted().forEach(System.out::println); //Natural order

If you want to sort the same list in reverse order:

 integerList.stream().sorted(Comparator.reverseOrder()).forEach(System.out::println); // Reverse Order

If your list is a list of user defined objects, then:

List<Person> personList = Arrays.asList(new Person(1000, "First", 25, 30000),
        new Person(2000, "Second", 30, 45000),
        new Person(3000, "Third", 35, 25000));

Creating comparator on fly:

personList.stream().sorted((p1, p2) -> ((Long)p1.getPersonId()).compareTo(p2.getPersonId()))
        .forEach(person -> System.out.println(person.getName()));

Using Comparator.comparingLong() method(We have comparingDouble(), comparingInt() methods too):

personList.stream().sorted(Comparator.comparingLong(Person::getPersonId)).forEach(person -> System.out.println(person.getName()));

Using Comparator.comparing() method(Generic method which compares based on the getter method provided):

personList.stream().sorted(Comparator.comparing(Person::getPersonId)).forEach(person -> System.out.println(person.getName()));

We can do chaining too using thenComparing() method:

personList.stream().sorted(Comparator.comparing(Person::getPersonId).thenComparing(Person::getAge)).forEach(person -> System.out.println(person.getName())); //Sorting by person id and then by age.

Person class

public class Person {
    private long personId;
    private String name;
    private int age;
    private double salary;

    public long getPersonId() {
        return personId;
    }

    public void setPersonId(long personId) {
        this.personId = personId;
    }

    public Person(long personId, String name, int age, double salary) {
        this.personId = personId;
        this.name = name;
        this.age = age;

        this.salary = salary;
    }

    public String getName() {
        return name;
    }

    public void setName(String name) {
        this.name = name;
    }

    public int getAge() {
        return age;
    }

    public void setAge(int age) {
        this.age = age;
    }

    public double getSalary() {
        return salary;
    }

    public void setSalary(double salary) {
        this.salary = salary;
    }
}
NiVeR
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    I feel like this answer is way too detailed for the question, and yet doesn't address the question at all. Consider using this answer in a self-answered Q/A instead. – River Nov 07 '18 at 06:10
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    I also feel that this is the best and correct answer. using `Comparator.comparing*` is the way better and more JDK8 oriented approach – kakabali Jan 01 '19 at 04:39
  • @River welcome to Java, it's terrible. It would just make way too much sense to use ">" and "<" to compare like Typescript does with .sort(), right? – Collin Mar 21 '23 at 16:24
2

It seems to be working fine:

List<BigDecimal> list = Arrays.asList(new BigDecimal("24.455"), new BigDecimal("23.455"), new BigDecimal("28.455"), new BigDecimal("20.455"));
System.out.println("Unsorted list: " + list);
final List<BigDecimal> sortedList = list.stream().sorted((o1, o2) -> o1.compareTo(o2)).collect(Collectors.toList());
System.out.println("Sorted list: " + sortedList);

Example Input/Output

Unsorted list: [24.455, 23.455, 28.455, 20.455]
Sorted list: [20.455, 23.455, 24.455, 28.455]

Are you sure you are not verifying list instead of sortedList [in above example] i.e. you are storing the result of stream() in a new List object and verifying that object?

River
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Tanmay Baid
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1

sorting Integer using streamAPI

arr.stream()
.sorted((item1,item2)-> Integer.compare(item1.price, item2.price))
.forEach(item-> item.show());
//asc
System.out.println("--------------------");
//desc
arr.stream()
.sorted((item1,item2)-> item1.price<item2.price?1:-1)
.forEach(item->item.show());
1

Using Comparator:

List<Type> result = list
                    .stream()
                    .sorted(Comparator.comparing(Type::getValue))
                    .collect(Collectors.toList());

EDIT: JDK 16+

List<Type> result = list
                    .stream()
                    .sorted(Comparator.comparing(Type::getValue))
                    .toList();
Pwnstar
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0

This is a simple example :

List<String> citiesName = Arrays.asList( "Delhi","Mumbai","Chennai","Banglore","Kolkata");
System.out.println("Cities : "+citiesName);
List<String> sortedByName = citiesName.stream()
                .sorted((s1,s2)->s2.compareTo(s1))
                        .collect(Collectors.toList());
System.out.println("Sorted by Name : "+ sortedByName);

It may be possible that your IDE is not getting the jdk 1.8 or upper version to compile the code.

Set the Java version 1.8 for Your_Project > properties > Project Facets > Java version 1.8

Jimmy
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0

This might help for people ending up here searching how to sort list alphabetically.

import lombok.Getter;
import lombok.Setter;
import lombok.ToString;

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

public class SortService {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        List<TestData> test = new ArrayList<>();
        test.add(prepareTestData("Asmin",1));
        test.add(prepareTestData("saurav",4));
        test.add(prepareTestData("asmin",2));
        test.add(prepareTestData("Saurav",3));

        test.forEach(data-> System.out.println(data));
        /** Output
         *  TestData(name=Asmin, id=1)
         *  TestData(name=saurav, id=4)
         *  TestData(name=asmin, id=2)
         *  TestData(name=Saurav, id=3)
         */

        test.sort(Comparator.comparing(TestData::getName,String::compareToIgnoreCase));
        test.forEach(data-> System.out.println(data));
        /**Sorted Output
         * TestData(name=Asmin, id=1)
         * TestData(name=asmin, id=2)
         * TestData(name=saurav, id=4)
         * TestData(name=Saurav, id=3)
         */
    }
    private static TestData prepareTestData(String name, int id){
        TestData testData= new TestData();
        testData.setId(id);
        testData.setName(name);
        return testData;
    }
}

@Getter
@Setter
@ToString
class TestData{
    private String name;
    private int id;
}
-1
Collection<Map<Item, Integer>> itemCollection = basket.values();
Iterator<Map<Item, Integer>> itemIterator =   itemCollection.stream().sorted(new TestComparator()).collect(Collectors.toList()).iterator();



package com.ie.util;

import com.ie.item.Item;

import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Set;

public class TestComparator implements Comparator<Map<Item, Integer>> {

// comparator is used to sort the Items based on the price


    @Override
    public int compare(Map<Item, Integer> o1, Map<Item, Integer> o2) {


      //  System.out.println("*** compare method will be called *****");


        Item item1 = null;
        Item item2 = null;


        Set<Item> itemSet1 = o1.keySet();
        Iterator<Item> itemIterator1 = itemSet1.iterator();
        if(itemIterator1.hasNext()){
           item1 =   itemIterator1.next();
        }

        Set<Item> itemSet2 = o2.keySet();
        Iterator<Item> itemIterator2 = itemSet2.iterator();
        if(itemIterator2.hasNext()){
            item2 =   itemIterator2.next();
        }


        return -item1.getPrice().compareTo(item2.getPrice());


    }
}

**** this is helpful to sort the nested map objects like Map> here i sorted based on the Item object price .