In this article, we will discuss how to sort char[] array with example

1. char:

• Size is 2 bytes
• Its range is 0 to 65,536 (unsigned)

Arrays class has various sort methods for sorting different primitive data-types

2. Sorting char[] array:

• To sort char[] array, we have 2 variant of sort methods from Arrays class

Method Signature:

public static void sort(char[] a);

public static void sort(char[] a, int fromIndex, int toIndex);

3. Sorting methods for char[] array:

 Let us move forward to discuss both methods for sorting char[] array

4. Example for Sorting char[] Arrays

1. Complete/Full Sorting of char[] Arrays
2. Partial Sorting of char[] Arrays

4.1 Complete/Full Sorting of char[] Arrays

• Here, complete array will be sorted

Method Signature:

public static void sort(char[] a);

SortingCompleteCharArray.java

package in.bench.resources.java.arrays.sorting;

import java.util.Arrays;

public class SortingCompleteCharArray {

	public static void main(String[] args) {

		// sample char[] array
		char[] cArray = {'R', 'H', 'C', 'E', 'N', 'B', 'S'};

		// before sorting
		System.out.println("Before sorting : ");
		for(char c : cArray) {
			System.out.print(c + " ");
		}

		// sorting full char[] array
		Arrays.sort(cArray);

		// after sorting
		System.out.println("\n\nAfter sorting : ");
		for(char c : cArray) {
			System.out.print(c + " ");
		}
	}
}

Output:

Before sorting :
R H C E N B S 

After sorting :
B C E H N R S

4.2 Partial Sorting of char[] Arrays

• This is the another variant to sort array
• where we can specify start & end limits within char[] array

Method Signature:

public static void sort(char[] a, int fromIndex, int toIndex);

SortingPartialCharArray.java

package in.bench.resources.java.arrays.sorting;

import java.util.Arrays;

public class SortingPartialCharArray {

	public static void main(String[] args) {

		// sample char[] array
		char[] cArray = {'R', 'H', 'C', 'E', 'N', 'B', 'S'};

		// before sorting
		System.out.println("Before sorting : ");
		for(char c : cArray) {
			System.out.print(c + " ");
		}

		// sorting partial char[] array
		Arrays.sort(cArray, 1, 6);

		// after sorting
		System.out.println("\n\nAfter sorting : ");
		for(char c : cArray) {
			System.out.print(c + " ");
		}
	}
}

Output:

Before sorting :
R H C E N B S 

After sorting :
R B C E H N S

Explanation:

• Here, there are 7 char elements in char[] array
• But, we have sorted char[] array starting from index-1 till index-5 leaving 1^st & last element
• Therefore, 1^st and last element remains as it is after sorting and only middle elements are sorted

Hope, you found this article very helpful. If you have any suggestion or want to contribute any other way or tricky situation you faced during Interview hours, then share with us. We will include that code here.

Related Articles:

• Byte Arrays sorting
• char Arrays sorting
• short Arrays sorting
• Integer Arrays sorting
• Float Arrays sorting
• Double Arrays sorting
• Long Arrays sorting
• String Arrays sorting
• Java – How to Sort Arrays in Ascending and Descending order ?
• Java – String Arrays sorting in ascending & descending order
• Java – Sorting after merging two String[] Arrays
• Java – Sorting Arrays using Comparable and Comparator interface
• Java – How to Sort String[] arrays by its length in Ascending and Descending order ?

References:

• https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/util/Arrays.html
• https://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/lang/Character.html
• https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/Character.html
• https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/lang/Character.html
• https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/nutsandbolts/datatypes.html

Happy Coding !!
Happy Learning !!