Sort a List in Case-Sensitive Order in Java

In this article, we will learn to sort a List in case-sensitive order in Java. Sorting in case-sensitive order places uppercase letters before lowercase letters (e.g., 'A' before 'a'), meaning that uppercase letters are prioritized in sorting. This program uses Java's built-in Collections.sort method to arrange elements in this specific order. 

Problem Statement

Given a list of mixed uppercase and lowercase letters, write a Java program that sorts the list in a case-sensitive order.

Input

{ "P", "W", "g", "K", "H", "t", "E" }

Output

List = [P, W, g, K, H, t, E]

Case Sensitive Sort = [E, H, K, P, W, g, t]

Steps to sort a list in case-sensitive order

Following are the steps to sort a list in case-sensitive order ?

• First, we will import the Arrays, Collections, and List classes from java.util package
• Create an array of strings with both uppercase and lowercase letters.
  
• After that we will convert the array to a list using Arrays.asList, allowing us to use Java's list methods.
  
• Print the list to show the original order of elements.
  
• Use Collections.sort on the list, which sorts the elements in case-sensitive order, prioritizing uppercase letters.
  
• At the end, we will print the sorted list to display the elements arranged in case-sensitive order.

Java program to sort a list in case-sensitive order

Below is the Java program to sort a list in case-sensitive order ?

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.List;

public class Demo {
   public static void main(String[] arg) throws Exception {
      String[] arr = new String[] { "P", "W", "g", "K", "H", "t", "E" };
      List list = Arrays.asList(arr);
      System.out.println("List = " + list);
      Collections.sort(list);
      System.out.println("Case Sensitive Sort = " + list);
   }
}

Output

List = [P, W, g, K, H, t, E]
Case Sensitive Sort = [E, H, K, P, W, g, t]

Code explanation

The above program begins by creating an array of strings that includes both uppercase and lowercase letters. We then convert this array into a list using Arrays.asList, which allows us to use the Collections.sort method for sorting. Since the default behavior of Collections.sort is case-sensitive, it automatically arranges the list such that uppercase letters appear before lowercase ones. Finally, the sorted list is printed, showing the elements in case-sensitive order.