Java Collection How to - Sort a List of objects by multiple fields








Question

We would like to know how to sort a List of objects by multiple fields.

Answer

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.Iterator;
//from   w  w  w .ja  v  a 2  s  .c o m
class Person implements Comparable {
  String firstName, lastName;

  public Person(String f, String l) {
    this.firstName = f;
    this.lastName = l;
  }

  public String getFirstName() {
    return firstName;
  }

  public String getLastName() {
    return lastName;
  }

  public String toString() {
    return "[ firstname=" + firstName + ",lastname=" + lastName + "]";
  }

  public int compareTo(Object obj) {
    Person emp = (Person) obj;
    int deptComp = firstName.compareTo(emp.getFirstName());

    return ((deptComp == 0) ? lastName.compareTo(emp.getLastName()) : deptComp);
  }

  public boolean equals(Object obj) {
    if (!(obj instanceof Person)) {
      return false;
    }
    Person emp = (Person) obj;
    return firstName.equals(emp.getFirstName()) && lastName.equals(emp.getLastName());
  }
}

class PersonComparator implements Comparator<Person> {
  public int compare(Person emp1, Person emp2) {
    int nameComp = emp1.getLastName().compareTo(emp2.getLastName());
    return ((nameComp == 0) ? emp1.getFirstName().compareTo(emp2.getFirstName()) : nameComp);
  }
}

public class Main {
  public static void main(String args[]) {
    ArrayList<Person> names = new ArrayList<Person>();
    names.add(new Person("E", "T"));
    names.add(new Person("A", "G"));
    names.add(new Person("B", "H"));
    names.add(new Person("C", "J"));

    Iterator iter1 = names.iterator();
    while (iter1.hasNext()) {
      System.out.println(iter1.next());
    }
    System.out.println("Before sorting");
    Collections.sort(names, new PersonComparator());
    Iterator iter2 = names.iterator();
    while (iter2.hasNext()) {
      System.out.println(iter2.next());
    }
  }
}

The code above generates the following result.