Find frequency of each element in given Matrix

Last Updated : 23 Jul, 2025

Given a matrix arr[] of size N*N containing English alphabets characters, the task is to find the frequency of all the matrix elements.

Note: Print them in the decreasing order of the frequency.

Examples:

Input: N = 2, arr[] = {{'a', 'b'}, {'a', 'c'}}
Output: a : 2, b : 1, c : 1
Explanation: The frequency of a is 2.
The frequency of 'b' is 1 and the Frequency of 'c' is 1.

Input: N = 3, arr[] = {{'a', 'a', 'a'}, {'b', 'a', 'c'}, {'d', 'c', 'a'}}
Output: a : 5, c : 2 b : 1, d : 1

Approach: The idea to solve the problem is to find the frequency of each character and store each character with their frequency. Then sort the characters based on the frequency in decreasing order.

Follow the steps mentioned below to implement the approach.

Declare a map to store the frequency of each element in the matrix.
Traverse over the map and store each element with their frequency in an array (say arr2).
Sort the array in non-increasing order based on frequency.
Traverse the arr2[] and print the elements.

Below is the implementation of the above approach.

C++

// C++ code to implement the approach

#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;

// Function to find the most frequent element
vector<pair<int, char> > findMostFrequent(
    vector<vector<char> >& arr, int n)
{
    // Map to store the frequency
    // of each character
    unordered_map<char, int> unmap;
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
        for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) {
            unmap[arr[i][j]]++;
        }
    }

    // To store the frequency of character
    vector<pair<int, char> > arr2;
    for (auto i : unmap) {
        arr2.push_back({ i.second, i.first });
    }

    // Sort the array
    sort(arr2.rbegin(), arr2.rend());
    return arr2;
}

// Driver code
int main()
{
    // Size of the matrix
    int N = 3;

    // Initialize the 2D vector
    vector<vector<char> > arr = { { 'a', 'a', 'a' },
                                  { 'b', 'a', 'c' },
                                  { 'd', 'c', 'a' } };

    // Function call
    vector<pair<int, char> > ans 
        = findMostFrequent(arr, N);

    // Print the answer
    for (int i = 0; i < ans.size(); i++) {
        cout << ans[i].second << " : " 
            << ans[i].first << endl;
    }
    return 0;
}

Java

// Java code to implement the approach

import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;

class Pair<K, V> {
  private K key;
  private V value;

  public Pair(K key, V value)
  {
    this.key = key;
    this.value = value;
  }

  public K getKey() { return key; }

  public V getValue() { return value; }
}

class GFG {

  // Function to find the most frequent element
  static List<Pair<Integer, Character> >
    findMostFrequent(char[][] arr, int n)
  {
    // Map to store the frequency
    // of each character
    Map<Character, Integer> unmap = new HashMap<>();
    for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
      for (int j = 0; j < n; j++) {
        unmap.put(arr[i][j],
                  unmap.getOrDefault(arr[i][j], 0)
                  + 1);
      }
    }

    // To store the frequency of character
    List<Pair<Integer, Character> > arr2
      = new ArrayList<>();
    for (Map.Entry<Character, Integer> entry :
         unmap.entrySet()) {
      arr2.add(new Pair<>(entry.getValue(),
                          entry.getKey()));
    }

    // Sort the array
    Collections.sort(
      arr2,
      new Comparator<Pair<Integer, Character> >() {
        @Override
        public int compare(
          Pair<Integer, Character> o1,
          Pair<Integer, Character> o2)
        {
          return o2.getKey().compareTo(
            o1.getKey());
        }
      });
    return arr2;
  }

  public static void main(String[] args)
  {
    // Size of the matrix
    int N = 3;

    // Initialize the 2D array
    char[][] arr = { { 'a', 'a', 'a' },
                    { 'b', 'a', 'c' },
                    { 'd', 'c', 'a' } };

    // Function call
    List<Pair<Integer, Character> > ans
      = findMostFrequent(arr, N);

    // Print the answer
    for (int i = 0; i < ans.size(); i++) {
      System.out.println(ans.get(i).getValue() + " : "
                         + ans.get(i).getKey());
    }
  }
}

// This code is contributed by lokesh.

Python3

# Python3 code to implement the approach

# Function to find the most frequent element
def findMostFrequent(arr, n):
  
    # Map to store the frequency
    # of each character
    unmap = {}
    for i in range(n):
        for j in range(n):
            if unmap.get(arr[i][j]) != None:
                unmap[arr[i][j]] = unmap[arr[i][j]]+1
            else:
                unmap[arr[i][j]] = 1

    # To store the frequency of character
    arr2 = []
    for ele1, ele2 in unmap.items():
        temp = [ele2, ele1]
        arr2.append(temp)

    # Sort the array
    arr2.sort(reverse=True)
    return arr2

# Driver code
if __name__ == '__main__':
  
    # Size of the matrix
    N = 3

    # Initialize the 2D array
    arr = [['a', 'a', 'a'], ['b', 'a', 'c'], ['d', 'c', 'a']]

    # Function call
    ans = findMostFrequent(arr, N)
    
    # Print the answer
    for i in range(0, len(ans)):
        print(ans[i][1], ":", ans[i][0])

# This code is contributed by Rohit Pradhan

// C# program to implement above approach
using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Collections.Generic;

class GFG
{

    // Function to find the most frequent element
    static List<pair> findMostFrequent(List<List<char>> arr, int n)
    {
        // Map to store the frequency
        // of each character
        Dictionary<char, int> unmap = new Dictionary<char, int>();

        for (int i = 0 ; i < n ; i++) {
            for (int j = 0 ; j < n ; j++) {
                if(!unmap.ContainsKey(arr[i][j])){
                    unmap.Add(arr[i][j], 0);
                }
                unmap[arr[i][j]]++;
            }
        }

        // To store the frequency of character
        List<pair> arr2 = new List<pair>();
        foreach (KeyValuePair<char,int> i in unmap) {
            arr2.Add(new pair(i.Value, i.Key));
        }

        // Sort the array
        arr2.Sort(new Comp());
        return arr2;
    }


    // Driver Code
    public static void Main(string[] args){
        
        // Size of the matrix
        int N = 3;

        // Initialize the 2D vector
        List<List<char>> arr = new List<List<char>>{
            new List<char>{ 'a', 'a', 'a' },
            new List<char>{ 'b', 'a', 'c' },
            new List<char>{ 'd', 'c', 'a' }
        };

        // Function call
        List<pair> ans = findMostFrequent(arr, N);

        // Print the answer
        for (int i = 0 ; i < ans.Count ; i++) {
            Console.WriteLine(ans[i].second + " : " + ans[i].first);
        }

    }
}

public class pair{
    public int first;
    public char  second;
    public pair(int first, char second){
        this.first = first;
        this.second = second;
    }
}

class Comp : IComparer<pair>{
    public int Compare(pair o2,pair o1){
        if(o1.first == o2.first){
            return o1.second - o2.second;
        }
        return o1.first - o2.first;
    }
}

// This code is contributed by entertain20222.

JavaScript

//JavaScript code to implement the approach

class Pair {
  constructor(key, value) {
    this.key = key;
    this.value = value;
  }
}

function findMostFrequent(arr, n) {
  // Map to store the frequency of each character
  const unmap = {};
  for (let i = 0; i < n; i++) {
    for (let j = 0; j < n; j++) {
      if (!unmap[arr[i][j]]) {
        unmap[arr[i][j]] = 1;
      } else {
        unmap[arr[i][j]]++;
      }
    }
  }

  // To store the frequency of character
  const arr2 = [];
  for (const key in unmap) {
    arr2.push(new Pair(unmap[key], key));
  }

  // Sort the array
  arr2.sort((a, b) => b.key - a.key);
  return arr2;
}

// Test with sample data
const N = 3;
const arr = [
  ['a', 'a', 'a'],
  ['b', 'a', 'c'],
  ['d', 'c', 'a'],
];

const ans = findMostFrequent(arr, N);
for (let i = 0; i < ans.length; i++) {
  console.log(`${ans[i].value} : ${ans[i].key}`);
}

Output

a : 5
c : 2
d : 1
b : 1

Time complexity: O(N²)
Auxiliary space: O(N²)

Introduction to C++ Programming Language

sharath844

Improve

Article Tags :

Practice Tags :

Find frequency of each element in given Matrix

Similar Reads

C++ Overview

C++ Basics

C++ Variables and Constants

C++ Data Types and Literals

C++ Operators

C++ Input/Output

C++ Control Statements

C++ Functions

C++ Pointers and References

Thank You!

What kind of Experience do you want to share?