Sort an array of strings in ascending order with each string sorted in descending order

Last Updated : 29 Jan, 2021

Given a array of strings S[] of size N (1 ≤ N ≤ 10⁵), sort characters of each string in descending order and then print the array of strings in ascending order.

Examples:

Input: s[] = {“apple”, “box”, “cat”}
Output: pplea tca xob
Explanation:
Sorting each string in descending order, S[] modfies to {“pplea”, “xob”, “tca”}.
Sorting the array in ascending order modifies S[] to {pplea, tca, xob}.

Input: s[] = {“pqr”, “moon”, “geeks”}
Output: oonm rqp skgee

Approach: Follow the steps below to solve the problem:

Traverse the array.
Sort each string in descending order.q c2
After sorting each string, sort the array of strings in ascending order.
Print the sorted array of strings.

Below is the implementation of the above approach.

C++

// C++ program of the above approach
 
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
// Function to sort the strings in
// descending order and sort the
// array in ascending order
void sortStr(string s[], int N)
{
 
    // Traverse the array of strings
    for (int i = 0; i < N; i++) {
 
        // Sort each string in descending order
        sort(s[i].begin(), s[i].end(),
             greater<char>());
    }
 
    // Sort the array in ascending order
    sort(s, s + N);
 
    // Print the array of strings
    for (int i = 0; i < N; i++) {
        cout << s[i] << " ";
    }
}
 
// Driver Code
int main()
{
    string s[] = { "apple", "box", "cat" };
    int N = sizeof(s) / sizeof(s[0]);
    sortStr(s, N);
 
    return 0;
}

Java

// Java program of the above approach
import java.util.Arrays;
class GFG{
 
  // Function to sort the Strings in
  // descending order and sort the
  // array in ascending order
  static void sortStr(String s[], int N)
  {
 
    // Traverse the array of Strings
    for (int i = 0; i < N; i++) 
    {
 
      // Sort each String in descending order        
      s[i] = reverse(sortString(s[i]));
    }
 
    // Sort the array in ascending order
    Arrays.sort(s);
 
    // Print the array of Strings
    for (int i = 0; i < N; i++) 
    {
      System.out.print(s[i]+ " ");
    }
  }
  static String sortString(String inputString) 
  { 
 
    // convert input string to char array 
    char tempArray[] = inputString.toCharArray(); 
 
    // sort tempArray 
    Arrays.sort(tempArray); 
 
    // return new sorted string 
    return new String(tempArray); 
  } 
  static String reverse(String input)
  {
    char[] a = input.toCharArray();
    int l, r = a.length - 1;
    for (l = 0; l < r; l++, r--)
    {
      char temp = a[l];
      a[l] = a[r];
      a[r] = temp;
    }
    return String.valueOf(a);
  }
 
  // Driver Code
  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
    String s[] = { "apple", "box", "cat" };
    int N = s.length;
    sortStr(s, N);
  }
}
 
// This code is contributed by shikhasingrajput

Python3

# Python program of the above approach
 
# Function to sort the Strings in
# descending order and sort the
# array in ascending order
def sortStr(s, N):
   
    # Traverse the array of Strings
    for i in range(N):
       
        # Sort each String in descending order
        s[i] = "".join(reversed("".join(sorted(s[i])))) ;
         
    # Sort the array in ascending order
    s = " ".join(sorted(s))
 
    # Prthe array of Strings
    print(s)
 
# Driver Code
if __name__ == '__main__':
    s = ["apple", "box", "cat"];
    N = len(s);
    sortStr(s, N);
 
    # This code is contributed by shikhasingrajput

C#

// C# program of the above approach
using System;
class GFG {
 
  static void reverse(char[] a)
  {
    int i, n = a.Length;
    char t;
    for (i = 0; i < n / 2; i++) 
    {
      t = a[i];
      a[i] = a[n - i - 1];
      a[n - i - 1] = t;
    }
  }
 
  // Function to sort the strings in
  // descending order and sort the
  // array in ascending order
  static void sortStr(string[] s, int N)
  {
 
    // Traverse the array of strings
    for (int i = 0; i < N; i++) 
    {
      char[] t = s[i].ToCharArray();
 
      // Sort each string
      Array.Sort(t);
 
      // Reverse the string
      reverse(t);
      s[i] = String.Join("", t);
    }
 
    // Sort the array in ascending order
    Array.Sort(s);
 
    // Print the array of strings
    for (int i = 0; i < N; i++) 
    {
      Console.Write(s[i] + " ");
    }
  }
 
  // Driver Code
  public static void Main()
  {
    string[] s = { "apple", "box", "cat" };
    int N = s.Length;
    sortStr(s, N);
  }
}
 
// This code is contributed by subhammahato348

Output:

pplea tca xob

Time Complexity: O(NlogN)
Auxiliary Space: O(1)

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