How to Sort a List of Strings with Empty Strings First in Java

Discover how to effectively sort lists of strings in Java while prioritizing empty strings. Learn useful tips and code examples for achieving this goal.
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How to Sort a List of Strings with Empty Strings First in Java

Sorting strings in a specific order can often be a challenge, especially when the order criterion involves empty strings. If you have a list of strings and you want to sort it in reverse order while keeping all empty strings at the beginning, this guide is for you.

Understanding the Problem

The problem you may encounter is how best to sort your strings to meet the following criteria:

Empty strings should come first.

Non-empty strings should be sorted in reverse alphabetical order.

A common mistake is attempting to implement a comparator for determining string order without correctly accounting for empty cases or using a generic type.

Solution Breakdown

To achieve our goal, we'll create a custom comparator that first checks for empty strings and then sorts the non-empty strings in reverse order. Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: Create a Custom Comparator

You can create a comparator that places empty strings at the start of the list. Below is an updated implementation that handles this requirement:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 2: Implement Reverse Order Sorting

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Expected Output

When you run the above code, you will get the following output:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This shows that the empty strings are successfully placed at the beginning of the list, followed by the non-empty strings sorted in reverse order.

Conclusion

Sorting a list of strings while considering special cases like empty strings can be achieved with a custom comparator. By implementing the techniques outlined in this post, you can efficiently sort your strings according to your criteria.

Feel free to implement this in your own Java projects and tweak the comparator as per your requirements!