Java Comparator thenComparing() Example

Java example of sorting a List of objects by multiple fields using Comparator.thenComparing() method. This method returns a lexicographic-order Comparator with another specified Comparator. This method gives the same effect as SQL ORDER BY clause.

//first name comparator
Comparator<Employee> compareByFirstName = Comparator.comparing( Employee::getFirstName );
 
//last name comparator
Comparator<Employee> compareByLastName = Comparator.comparing( Employee::getLastName );
 
//Compare by first name and then last name (multiple fields)
Comparator<Employee> compareByFullName = compareByFirstName.thenComparing(compareByLastName);
 
//Use Comparator
Collections.sort(employees, compareByFullName);

Sorting on Multiple Fields – ORDER BY Sort

Example of using thenComparing() to create Comparator which is capable of sorting by multiple fields.

private static ArrayList<Employee> getUnsortedEmployeeList() 
{
	ArrayList<Employee> list = new ArrayList<>();
	list.add( new Employee(2, "Lokesh", "Gupta") );
	list.add( new Employee(1, "Alex", "Gussin") );
	list.add( new Employee(4, "Brian", "Sux") );
	list.add( new Employee(5, "Neon", "Piper") );
	list.add( new Employee(3, "David", "Beckham") );
	list.add( new Employee(7, "Alex", "Beckham") );
	list.add( new Employee(6, "Brian", "Suxena") );
  return list;
}


ArrayList<Employee> employees = getUnsortedEmployeeList();
 
//Compare by first name and then last name
Comparator<Employee> compareByName = Comparator
                    .comparing(Employee::getFirstName)
                    .thenComparing(Employee::getLastName);
 
Collections.sort(employees, compareByName);

Checkout the program output that has the employees sorted first by firstName, and then by lastName in dictionary order.

[E[id=7, firstName=Alex,  lastName=Beckham], 
E [id=1, firstName=Alex,  lastName=Gussin], 
E [id=4, firstName=Brian,   lastName=Sux], 
E [id=6, firstName=Brian,   lastName=Suxena], 
E [id=3, firstName=David,   lastName=Beckham], 
E [id=2, firstName=Lokesh,  lastName=Gupta], 
E [id=5, firstName=Neon,  lastName=Piper]]

Drop me your questions in the comments section.

Happy Learning !!