How to Sort Objects in ArrayList by Date in Java

Asad Riaz Feb 02, 2024 Java Java ArrayList Java Sorting
  1. comparable<> Method to Sort Objects in ArrayList by Dates in Java
  2. collections.sort() Method to Sort Objects in ArrayList by Date in Java
  3. list.sort() Method to Sort Objects in ArrayList by Date in Java
How to Sort Objects in ArrayList by Date in Java

We have multiple methods to sort objects in ArrayList by date in Java. These sorting can be done based on the date or any other condition. For example, making object comparable<>, Collections.sort() and list.sort() methods.

comparable<> Method to Sort Objects in ArrayList by Dates in Java

The first method works by making the object comparable<> along with using classes compareTo(), compare() and collections.sort(). We will create a new class of DateItem object and implement Comparator<DateItem> interface to sort the array.

Example Codes:

import java.util.*;

public class SimpleTesing {
  static class DateItem {
    String datetime;

    DateItem(String date) {
      this.datetime = date;
    }
  }

  static class SortByDate implements Comparator<DateItem> {
    @Override
    public int compare(DateItem a, DateItem b) {
      return a.datetime.compareTo(b.datetime);
    }
  }

  public static void main(String args[]) {
    List<DateItem> dateList = new ArrayList<>();
    dateList.add(new DateItem("2020-03-25"));
    dateList.add(new DateItem("2019-01-27"));
    dateList.add(new DateItem("2020-03-26"));
    dateList.add(new DateItem("2020-02-26"));
    Collections.sort(dateList, new SortByDate());
    dateList.forEach(date -> { System.out.println(date.datetime); });
  }
}

Output:

2019-01-27
2020-02-26
2020-03-25
2020-03-26

collections.sort() Method to Sort Objects in ArrayList by Date in Java

The collections.sort() method could perform the sorting by date in an ArrayList.

Example Codes:

import java.util.*;

public class SimpleTesting {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    List<String> dateArray = new ArrayList<String>();
    dateArray.add("2020-03-25");
    dateArray.add("2019-01-27");
    dateArray.add("2020-03-26");
    dateArray.add("2020-02-26");
    System.out.println("The Object before sorting is : " + dateArray);
    Collections.sort(dateArray);
    System.out.println("The Object after sorting is : " + dateArray);
  }
}

Output:

The Object before sorting is : [2020-03-25, 2019-01-27, 2020-03-26, 2020-02-26]
The Object after sorting is : [2019-01-27, 2020-02-26, 2020-03-25, 2020-03-26]

list.sort() Method to Sort Objects in ArrayList by Date in Java

The list.sort() method of Java combines with a lambda expression to perform the sorting by date in an ArrayList.

Example Codes:

import java.util.*;

public class SimpleTesting {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    List<String> dateArray = new ArrayList<String>();
    dateArray.add("2020-03-25");
    dateArray.add("2019-01-27");
    dateArray.add("2020-03-26");
    dateArray.add("2020-02-26");
    System.out.println("The Object before sorting is : " + dateArray);
    dateArray.sort((d1, d2) -> d1.compareTo(d2));
    System.out.println("The Object after sorting is : " + dateArray);
  }
}

Output:

The Object before sorting is : [2020-03-25, 2019-01-27, 2020-03-26, 2020-02-26]
The Object after sorting is : [2019-01-27, 2020-02-26, 2020-03-25, 2020-03-26]
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