Searching for a String within an linked list

[phil128]

Hi All. I'm trying to implement sorting through an linked list just using an string. I'm not too sure how to do this. But one thought is converting this into an array then sorting it then converting the nodes back into the link list. Does anybody know how i can implement this?

Thanks people

[neilcoffey]

Actually, that's usually the best way to sort a linked list, unless you know in advance that the list is more-or-less sorted.

My advice would be use Collections.sort() -- sorting a list is precisely what it's there for. If you're interested in how it actually does its job, you could look at the source code.

[Tshegofatsom]

Hi

I'm not sure what you mean by "just using a string" but I think what you want to do is:
Declare a List
Do whatever with the list
Declare a new array and store the list in this array by using the method list.toArray() or toArray(Object[] a) . The later method returns an array of the type specified.
sort the array
clear your list
loop through your array and add each element to the list using the method add(Object o)

Good luck

[OrangeDog]

Why do that when you can just sort the list with Collections.sort()?

[Tshegofatsom]

Because he/she wants to convert it into an array?

[neilcoffey]

The OP said they wanted to convert the linked list to an array purely to sort then convert back to a linked list. That's precisely what Collections.sort() does. There's a reason the JDK contains megabytes of library classes: so you can use them...