How to sort an Array of Strings in Java

Array Of Strings

To sort an array of strings in Java, we can use Arrays.sort() function.

Java

// A sample Java program to
// sort an array of strings
// in ascending and descending
// orders using Arrays.sort().

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

public class SortExample {
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        String arr[] = { "practice.geeksforgeeks.org",
                         "www.geeksforgeeks.org",
                         "code.geeksforgeeks.org" };

        // Sorts arr[] in ascending order
        Arrays.sort(arr);
        System.out.printf("Modified arr[] : \n%s\n\n",
                          Arrays.toString(arr));

        // Sorts arr[] in descending order
        Arrays.sort(arr, Collections.reverseOrder());

        System.out.printf("Modified arr[] : \n%s\n\n",
                          Arrays.toString(arr));
    }
}

Output:
Modified arr[] : 

Modified arr[] : 
[www.geeksforgeeks.org, practice.geeksforgeeks.org, code.geeksforgeeks.org] 

ArrayList Of Strings

If we have an ArrayList to sort, we can use Collections.sort()

Java

// A sample Java program to sort
// an arrayList of strings
// in ascending and descending
// orders using Collections.sort().

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;

public class SortExample {
    public static void main(String[] args)
    {
        ArrayList<String> al = new ArrayList<String>();
        al.add("practice.geeksforgeeks.org");
        al.add("www.geeksforgeeks.org");
        al.add("code.geeksforgeeks.org");

        // Sorts ArrayList in ascending order
        Collections.sort(al);
        System.out.println(
            "Modified ArrayList : \n" + al);

        // Sorts arr[] in descending order
        Collections.sort(al,
                         Collections.reverseOrder());

        System.out.println(
            "Modified ArrayList : \n" + al);
    }
}

Output:
Modified ArrayList : 

Modified ArrayList : 
[www.geeksforgeeks.org, practice.geeksforgeeks.org, code.geeksforgeeks.org] 

Sort an array of strings using a custom comparator:

Java

import java.io.*;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Comparator;

    class SortStrings {
    public static void main(String[] args) { // main method
        String[] fruits = {"apple", "orange", "banana", "pear", "kiwi"};

        // Sort the array of strings by length
        Arrays.sort(fruits, Comparator.comparing(String::length));

        System.out.println("Sorted fruits by length:");// print statement
        for (String fruit : fruits) {
            System.out.println(fruit);
        }
    }
}

output :

Sorted fruits by length:
pear
kiwi
apple
orange
banana