How can I sort files and folders in a directory using their date

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Hey Guys,

I am looking for a code in which I can sort files and folders (specifically files) in a directory based on their date and name. Like suppose i want to sort files based on their names starting with "S" first. After that I want to sort those sorted files once again based on their date. So that every day I can get the files of the same date.

Till now i have sorted files based on their names. But how to sort files based on their date, that i cant understand. Can you guys help me with a sample code?
I am attaching my code in the below section.

What I have tried:

package count;
import java.io.*;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;

public class Newcount2 {

public static void main(String[] args) {
List<string> files = new ArrayList<>();
List<string> directories = new ArrayList<>();
List<string> smallScount = new ArrayList<>();
List<string> capScount = new ArrayList<>();

File folder = new File("The directory Path");
File[] listOfFiles = folder.listFiles();

for (int i = 0; i < listOfFiles.length; i++) {
if (listOfFiles[i].isFile()) {
files.add(listOfFiles[i].getName());
} else if (listOfFiles[i].isDirectory()) {
directories.add(listOfFiles[i].getName());
}
}

//dividing the files with caps S and small S.

System.out.println("Files with s and S.");
for (String file : files) {
if(file.startsWith("s"))
smallScount.add(file);
if(file.startsWith("S"))
capScount.add(file);
}

/* System.out.println("List of files :\n---------------");
for(String fName: files) System.out.println(fName);

System.out.println("\nList of directories :\n---------------------");
for(String dName: directories) System.out.println(dName);*/

/* System.out.println("List of files with small 'S' :\n---------------");
for(String fName: smallScount) System.out.println(fName);*/
/*
System.out.println("List of files with Capital 'S' :\n---------------");
for(String fName: capScount) System.out.println(fName);*/

System.out.println("Count of files with small 'S' :\n---------------");
System.out.println(smallScount.size());

System.out.println("Count of files with Capital 'S' :\n---------------");
System.out.println(capScount.size());

}
}

Posted 6-Aug-18 3:24am

Member 13939515

Updated 6-Aug-18 8:48am

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Jochen Arndt · Answer 1 · 2018-08-06T03:59:00

Use Arrays.sort() (see Arrays (Java Platform SE 7 )[^]) with a Comparator (Java Platform SE 7 )[^].

You can perform the sort on your orginal listOfFiles array or use a copy if that must be preserved.

Untested example which does not differentiate between files and folders:

Java

Arrays.sort(listOfFiles, new Comparator<File>(){
    public int compare(File f1, File f2)
    { 
        // Names beginning with 's' on top
        boolean s1 = f1.getName().startsWith("s") || f1.getName().startsWith("S");
        boolean s2 = f2.getName().startsWith("s") || f2.getName().startsWith("S");
        if (s1 && !s2)
            return -1;
        if (s2 && !s1)
            return -1;
        // Everything else including both names beginning with 's' is sorted by date
        return Long.valueOf(f1.lastModified()).compareTo(f2.lastModified());
    } });