Sort Vector example using Collections sort

Byron KiourtzoglouNovember 11th, 2012Last Updated: May 27th, 2013

0 64 1 minute read

In this example we shall show you how to sort the elements of a Vector, using the Collections API, and in particular the sort(List list) API method. To sort the elements of a Vector one should perform the following steps:

Create a new Vector.
Populate the vector with elements, with add(E e) API method of Vector.
Invoke the sort(List list) API method of Collections. It sorts the specified vector into ascending order, according to the natural ordering of its elements.
We can get the elements of the vector, before and after sorting the vector, using get(int index) API method of Vector for all the elements of the Vector, so as to check if the elements are sorted. Before the sorting, the vector maintains the insertion order of its elements. After the sorting elements are sorted in ascending order,

as described in the code snippet below.

package com.javacodegeeks.snippets.core;

import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Vector;
 
public class SortVectorExample {
 
  public static void main(String[] args) {

    // Create a Vector and populate it with elements
    Vector vector = new Vector();
    vector.add("element_1");
    vector.add("element_3");
    vector.add("element_5");
    vector.add("element_2");
    vector.add("element_4");
 
    // Vector implementation maintains the insertion order for its elements
    System.out.println("Elements in Vector prior sorting :");
    for(int i=0; i < vector.size(); i++)

System.out.println(vector.get(i));

    // Using Collection.sort static operation we can sort Vector elements in ascending order
    Collections.sort(vector);
 
    System.out.println("Elements in Vector after sorting :");
    for(int i=0; i < vector.size(); i++)

System.out.println(vector.get(i));
 
  } 
}

Output:

Elements in Vector prior sorting :
element_1
element_3
element_5
element_2
element_4
Elements in Vector after sorting :
element_1
element_2
element_3
element_4
element_5

This was an example of how to sort the elements of a Vector with Collections.sort in Java.