Sort an array of Strings according frequency

Given an array of strings arr[], the task is to sort the array of strings according to frequency of each string, in ascending order. If two elements have same frequency, then they are sorted in lexicographical order.

Examples:

Input: arr[] = {“Geeks”, “for”, “Geeks”}
Output: {“for”, “Geeks”}
Explanation:
As string “Geeks” have frequency of 2 in the given array,
Hence the position of the string “Geeks” will be 2



Input: arr[] = {“abc”, “pqr”, “pqr”, “abc”}
Output: {“abc”, “pqr”}
Explanation:
As both the strings have same frequency, the array is sorted in the lexicographical order.

Approach The idea is to use custom comparator to sort the array of strings with its frequency, as per the following steps.

  • A map data structure is used to store the strings based on their frequency as (frequency, string) pairs.
  • Sort these pairs with help of custom comparator such that if two strings have different frequency, the string with lower frequency is stored before. Otherwise if the frequency is same, then compare the strings lexicographically.

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

C++

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// C++ implementation to sort the
// array of strings by its frequency
  
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
  
// Custom comparator function to
// sort the string by its frequency
bool cmp(pair<int, string> x,
         pair<int, string> y)
{
  
    // Condition to check if the
    // frequency of the string is less
    if (x.first < y.first) {
        return true;
    }
  
    // Condition to check if the
    // frequency of the string is greater
    else if (x.first > y.first) {
        return false;
    }
  
    // Condition when frequency of
    // the strings is equal
    else {
  
        // Condition to check if the
        // first string is lexicographically
        // smaller than second string
        if (x.second < y.second) {
            return false;
        }
        else {
            return true;
        }
    }
}
  
// Function to sort the array of strings
// by its frequency in the array
void printArraystring(string str[], int n)
{
    unordered_map<string, int> m;
  
    // Loop to store the frequency
    // of a string in a hash-map
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        m[str[i]]++;
    }
  
    // Iterator for the map
    vector<pair<int, string> > vec;
  
    // Loop to store the frequency and
    // string in a vector
    for (auto it = m.begin(); it != m.end();
         it++) {
        vec.push_back(
            make_pair(it->second, it->first));
    }
  
    // Sort the string
    // using custom comparator
    sort(vec.begin(), vec.end(), cmp);
  
    // Loop to print the sorted vector
    for (int i = 0; i < vec.size(); i++) {
        cout << vec[i].second << ", ";
    }
}
  
// Driver Code
int main()
{
    string arr[] = { "Geeks", "for", "Geeks",
                     "for", "arc" };
    int n = sizeof(arr) / sizeof(arr[0]);
  
    // Function to perform sorting
    printArraystring(arr, n);
  
    return 0;
}

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Python 3














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# Python 3 implementation to sort the 


# array of strings by its frequency 


  


# Custom comparator function to 


# sort the string by its frequency 


def srt(x): 


    for i in range(len(x)-1): 


        for j in range(i+1,len(x)): 


            if(x[i][0]>x[j][0]): 


                temp = x[j] 


                x[j] = x[i] 


                x[i] = temp 


            elif(x[i][0] == x[j][0]): 


                if(x[i][1]<x[j][1]): 


                    temp = x[j] 


                    x[j] = x[i] 


                    x[i] = temp 


                      


  


# Function to sort the array of strings 


# by its frequency in the array 


def printArraystring(str,n): 


    m = {str[i]:0 for i in range(n)} 


  


    # Loop to store the frequency 


    # of a string in a hash-map 


    for i in range(n): 


        m[str[i]] += 1


  


    # Iterator for the map 


    vec = [] 


  


    # Loop to store the frequency and 


    # string in a vector 


    for key,value in m.items(): 


        vec.append([value,key]) 


  


    # Sort the string 


    # using custom comparator 


    srt(vec) 


  


    # Loop to print the sorted vector 


    for i in range(len(vec)): 


        if i==len(vec)-1: 


            print(vec[i][1]) 


        else: 


            print(vec[i][1],end = ",") 


          


  


# Driver Code 


if __name__ == '__main__': 


    arr = ["Geeks", "for", "Geeks","for", "arc"] 


    n = len(arr) 


  


    # Function to perform sorting 


    printArraystring(arr, n) 


  


# This code is contributed by Surendra_Gangwar 



















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Output:


arc, for, Geeks,








    

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    Article Tags : 
Arrays
Sorting
Strings

           	
Practice Tags : 
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Strings
Sorting

        

         

         
 
         
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