CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javalinked-listqueue
ChanChow
ChanChow

Reputation: 1366

Comparing elements in a linked list

I have a queue implementation as shown below.

static String a = "1 0 2014/03/03 01:34:39 0.0 0.0 0.0";
static String b = "2 1 2014/03/03 01:34:40 0.0 0.0 0.0";
static String c = "3 2 2014/03/03 01:34:41 0.0 0.0 0.0";
static String[] d;
String e;
public static void main(String[] args) {

    Queue<String> s = new LinkedList<String>();
    s.add(a);
    s.add(b);
    s.add(c);
    }

As you see each entry in the list is a string with 7 elements. I would like to compare these entries from each string. For example the first entries from a, b, c using s.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 3167

Answers (1)

ElliotSchmelliot
ElliotSchmelliot

Reputation: 8362

Here is an explanation of my comment, "Try creating a custom class for your strings and implementing the Comparable interface. Then you could write your own compareTo method."

Seeing as you have a very particular data type, you might create your own defined class. The following MyString class encapsulates a String, implements the Comparable interface, and provides an example of how you might use a compareTo method for such a class.

public class MyString implements Comparable<MyString> {
    private String data;

    public MyString(String data) {
        this.data = data;
    }

    public int compareTo(MyString other) {
        String[] thisArray = new String[6];
        String[] otherArray = new String[6];
        thisArray = this.data.split(" ");
        otherArray = other.data.split(" ");

        // Compare each pair of values in an order of your choice
        // Here I am only comparing the first two number values
        if (!thisArray[0].equals(otherArray[0])) {
            return thisArray[0].compareTo(otherArray[0]);
        } else if (!thisArray[1].equals(otherArray[1])){
            return thisArray[1].compareTo(otherArray[1]);
        } else {
            return 0;
        }
    }
}

The compareTo method returns 1, 0, or -1 depending on whether value A is respectively greater than, equal to, or lesser than value B. Again, this is just an example and I am only comparing Strings. Here is an example of how you might compare two of your formatted Strings using this method:

MyString a = new MyString("1 0 2014/03/03 01:34:39 0.0 0.0 0.0");
MyString b = new MyString("1 1 2014/03/03 01:34:40 0.0 0.0 0.0");
// Do something with the compared value, in this case -1
System.out.println(a.compareTo(b));

Documentation on Comparable and compareTo can be found here.

Upvotes: 3

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