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I have a string like the following:
String str = "4*5";
Now I have to get the result of 20 by using the string.
I know in some other languages the eval() function will do this.
How can I do this in Java?
You can use the ScriptEngine class and evaluate it as a Javascript string.
ScriptEngineManager manager = new ScriptEngineManager();
ScriptEngine engine = manager.getEngineByName("js");
Object result = engine.eval("4*5");
There may be a better way, but this one works.
There is no standard Java class or method that will do what you want. Your options include:
Select and use some third-party expression evaluation library. For example JEL or any of the half dozen libraries listed here.
Wrap the expression in the Java source code for a class with an eval method, send that to the Java compiler, and then load the resulting compiled class.
Use some scripting language that can be called from Java as an expression evaluator. Possibilities include Javascript1, BeanShell, and so on. A JSR 223 compliant scripting language implementation can be called via the Scripting API.
Write your own expression evaluator from scratch.
The first approach is probably simplest. The second and third approaches are a potential security risk if you get the expression to be evaluated from an untrusted user. (Think code injection.)
1 - Javascript in Java SE is a moving target. From Java 6, a version of Mozilla's Rhino Javascript implementation was bundled with Java SE. The in Java 8, it was superseded by Nashorn. In Java 11, Nashorn was deprecated, and finally dropped from the core codebase. As of 2021, both Rhino and Nashorn are being maintained as separate (non-Oracle) products, and Oracle's GraalVM has its own Javascript implementation.
There are very few real use cases in which being able to evaluate a String as a fragment of Java code is necessary or desirable. That is, asking how to do this is really an XY problem: you actually have a different problem, which can be solved a different way.
First ask yourself, where did this String that you wish to evaluate come from? Did another part of your program generate it, or was it input provided by the user?
Another part of my program generated it: so, you want one part of your program to decide the kind of operation to perform, but not perform the operation, and a second part that performs the chosen operation. Instead of generating and then evaluating a String, use the Strategy, Command or Builder design pattern, as appropriate for your particular case.
It is user input: the user could input anything, including commands that, when executed, could cause your program to misbehave, crash, expose information that should be secret, damage persistent information (such as the content of a database), and other such nastiness. The only way to prevent that would be to parse the String yourself, check it was not malicious, and then evaluate it. But parsing it yourself is much of the work that the requested evalfunction would do, so you have saved yourself nothing. Worse still, checking that arbitrary Java was not malicious is impossible, because checking that is the halting problem.
It is user input, but the syntax and semantics of permitted text to evaluate is greatly restricted: No general purpose facility can easily implement a general purpose parser and evaluator for whatever restricted syntax and semantics you have chosen. What you need to do is implement a parser and evaluator for your chosen syntax and semantics. If the task is simple, you could write a simple recursive-descent or finite-state-machine parser by hand. If the task is difficult, you could use a compiler-compiler (such as ANTLR) to do some of the work for you.
I just want to implement a desktop calculator!: A homework assignment, eh? If you could implement the evaluation of the input expression using a provided eval function, it would not be much of a homework assignment, would it? Your program would be three lines long. Your instructor probably expects you to write the code for a simple arithmetic parser/evaluator. There is well known algorithm, shunting-yard, which you might find useful.
With Java 9, we get access to jshell, so one can write something like this:
import jdk.jshell.JShell;
import java.lang.StringBuilder;
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.IOException;
public class Eval {
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
try(JShell js = JShell.create(); BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in))) {
js.onSnippetEvent(snip -> {
if (snip.status() == jdk.jshell.Snippet.Status.VALID) {
System.out.println("➜ " + snip.value());
}
});
System.out.print("> ");
for (String line = br.readLine(); line != null; line = br.readLine()) {
js.eval(js.sourceCodeAnalysis().analyzeCompletion(line).source());
System.out.print("> ");
}
}
}
}
Sample run:
> 1 + 2 / 4 * 3
➜ 1
> 32 * 121
➜ 3872
> 4 * 5
➜ 20
> 121 * 51
➜ 6171
>
Slightly op, but that's what Java currently has to offer
I could advise you to use Exp4j. It is easy to understand as you can see from the following example code:
Expression e = new ExpressionBuilder("3 * sin(y) - 2 / (x - 2)")
.variables("x", "y")
.build()
.setVariable("x", 2.3)
.setVariable("y", 3.14);
double result = e.evaluate();
No, you can not have a generic "eval" in Java (or any compiled language). Unless you're willing to write a Java compiler AND a JVM to be executed inside of your Java program.
Yes, you can have some library to evaluate numeric algebraic expressions like the one above - see this thread for discussion.
As previous answers, there is no standard API in Java for this.
You can add groovy jar files to your path and groovy.util.Eval.me("4*5") gets your job done.
A fun way to solve your problem could be coding an eval() function on your own!
I've done it for you!
You can use FunctionSolver library simply by typing FunctionSolver.solveByX(function,value) inside your code. The function attribute is a String which represents the function you want to solve, the value attribute is the value of the independent variable
of your function (which MUST be x).
If you want to solve a function which contains more than one independent variable, you can use FunctionSolver.solve(function,values) where the values attribute is an HashMap(String,Double) which contains all your independent attributes (as Strings) and their respective values (as Doubles).
Another piece of information: I've coded a simple version of FunctionSolver, so its supports only Math methods which return a double value and which accepts one or two double values as fields (just use FunctionSolver.usableMathMethods() if you're curious) (These methods are: bs, sin, cos, tan, atan2, sqrt, log, log10, pow, exp, min, max, copySign, signum, IEEEremainder, acos, asin, atan, cbrt, ceil, cosh, expm1, floor, hypot, log1p, nextAfter, nextDown, nextUp, random, rint, sinh, tanh, toDegrees, toRadians, ulp). Also, that library supports the following operators: * / + - ^ (even if java normally does not support the ^ operator).
One last thing: while creating this library I had to use reflections to call Math methods. I think it's really cool, just have a look at this if you are interested in!
That's all, here it is the code (and the library):
package core;
import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.HashMap;
public abstract class FunctionSolver {
public static double solveNumericExpression (String expression) throws NoSuchMethodException, IllegalAccessException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException {
return solve(expression, new HashMap<>());
}
public static double solveByX (String function, double value) throws NoSuchMethodException, IllegalAccessException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException {
HashMap<String, Double> values = new HashMap<>();
values.put("x", value);
return solveComplexFunction(function, function, values);
}
public static double solve (String function, HashMap<String,Double> values) throws NoSuchMethodException, IllegalAccessException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException {
return solveComplexFunction(function, function, values);
}
private static double solveComplexFunction (String function, String motherFunction, HashMap<String, Double> values) throws NoSuchMethodException, IllegalAccessException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException {
int position = 0;
while(position < function.length()) {
if (alphabetic.contains(""+function.charAt(position))) {
if (position == 0 || !alphabetic.contains(""+function.charAt(position-1))) {
int endIndex = -1;
for (int j = position ; j < function.length()-1 ; j++) {
if (alphabetic.contains(""+function.charAt(j))
&& !alphabetic.contains(""+function.charAt(j+1))) {
endIndex = j;
break;
}
}
if (endIndex == -1 & alphabetic.contains(""+function.charAt(function.length()-1))) {
endIndex = function.length()-1;
}
if (endIndex != -1) {
String alphabeticElement = function.substring(position, endIndex+1);
if (Arrays.asList(usableMathMethods()).contains(alphabeticElement)) {
//Start analyzing a Math function
int closeParenthesisIndex = -1;
int openedParenthesisquantity = 0;
int commaIndex = -1;
for (int j = endIndex+1 ; j < function.length() ; j++) {
if (function.substring(j,j+1).equals("(")) {
openedParenthesisquantity++;
}else if (function.substring(j,j+1).equals(")")) {
openedParenthesisquantity--;
if (openedParenthesisquantity == 0) {
closeParenthesisIndex = j;
break;
}
}else if (function.substring(j,j+1).equals(",") & openedParenthesisquantity == 0) {
if (commaIndex == -1) {
commaIndex = j;
}else{
throw new IllegalArgumentException("The argument of math function (which is "+alphabeticElement+") has too many commas");
}
}
}
if (closeParenthesisIndex == -1) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("The argument of a Math function (which is "+alphabeticElement+") hasn't got the closing bracket )");
}
String functionArgument = function.substring(endIndex+2,closeParenthesisIndex);
if (commaIndex != -1) {
double firstParameter = solveComplexFunction(functionArgument.substring(0,commaIndex),motherFunction,values);
double secondParameter = solveComplexFunction(functionArgument.substring(commaIndex+1),motherFunction,values);
Method mathMethod = Math.class.getDeclaredMethod(alphabeticElement, new Class<?>[] {double.class, double.class});
mathMethod.setAccessible(true);
String newKey = getNewKey(values);
values.put(newKey, (Double) mathMethod.invoke(null, firstParameter, secondParameter));
function = function.substring(0, position)+newKey
+((closeParenthesisIndex == function.length()-1)?(""):(function.substring(closeParenthesisIndex+1)));
}else {
double firstParameter = solveComplexFunction(functionArgument, motherFunction, values);
Method mathMethod = Math.class.getDeclaredMethod(alphabeticElement, new Class<?>[] {double.class});
mathMethod.setAccessible(true);
String newKey = getNewKey(values);
values.put(newKey, (Double) mathMethod.invoke(null, firstParameter));
function = function.substring(0, position)+newKey
+((closeParenthesisIndex == function.length()-1)?(""):(function.substring(closeParenthesisIndex+1)));
}
}else if (!values.containsKey(alphabeticElement)) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Found a group of letters ("+alphabeticElement+") which is neither a variable nor a Math function: ");
}
}
}
}
position++;
}
return solveBracketsFunction(function,motherFunction,values);
}
private static double solveBracketsFunction (String function,String motherFunction,HashMap<String, Double> values) throws IllegalArgumentException{
function = function.replace(" ", "");
String openingBrackets = "([{";
String closingBrackets = ")]}";
int parenthesisIndex = 0;
do {
int position = 0;
int openParenthesisBlockIndex = -1;
String currentOpeningBracket = openingBrackets.charAt(parenthesisIndex)+"";
String currentClosingBracket = closingBrackets.charAt(parenthesisIndex)+"";
if (contOccouranceIn(currentOpeningBracket,function) != contOccouranceIn(currentClosingBracket,function)) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Error: brackets are misused in the function "+function);
}
while (position < function.length()) {
if (function.substring(position,position+1).equals(currentOpeningBracket)) {
if (position != 0 && !operators.contains(function.substring(position-1,position))) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Error in function: there must be an operator following a "+currentClosingBracket+" breacket");
}
openParenthesisBlockIndex = position;
}else if (function.substring(position,position+1).equals(currentClosingBracket)) {
if (position != function.length()-1 && !operators.contains(function.substring(position+1,position+2))) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Error in function: there must be an operator before a "+currentClosingBracket+" breacket");
}
String newKey = getNewKey(values);
values.put(newKey, solveBracketsFunction(function.substring(openParenthesisBlockIndex+1,position),motherFunction, values));
function = function.substring(0,openParenthesisBlockIndex)+newKey
+((position == function.length()-1)?(""):(function.substring(position+1)));
position = -1;
}
position++;
}
parenthesisIndex++;
}while (parenthesisIndex < openingBrackets.length());
return solveBasicFunction(function,motherFunction, values);
}
private static double solveBasicFunction (String function, String motherFunction, HashMap<String, Double> values) throws IllegalArgumentException{
if (!firstContainsOnlySecond(function, alphanumeric+operators)) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("The function "+function+" is not a basic function");
}
if (function.contains("**") |
function.contains("//") |
function.contains("--") |
function.contains("+*") |
function.contains("+/") |
function.contains("-*") |
function.contains("-/")) {
/*
* ( -+ , +- , *- , *+ , /- , /+ )> Those values are admitted
*/
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Operators are misused in the function");
}
function = function.replace(" ", "");
int position;
int operatorIndex = 0;
String currentOperator;
do {
currentOperator = operators.substring(operatorIndex,operatorIndex+1);
if (currentOperator.equals("*")) {
currentOperator+="/";
operatorIndex++;
}else if (currentOperator.equals("+")) {
currentOperator+="-";
operatorIndex++;
}
operatorIndex++;
position = 0;
while (position < function.length()) {
if ((position == 0 && !(""+function.charAt(position)).equals("-") && !(""+function.charAt(position)).equals("+") && operators.contains(""+function.charAt(position))) ||
(position == function.length()-1 && operators.contains(""+function.charAt(position)))){
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Operators are misused in the function");
}
if (currentOperator.contains(function.substring(position, position+1)) & position != 0) {
int firstTermBeginIndex = position;
while (firstTermBeginIndex > 0) {
if ((alphanumeric.contains(""+function.charAt(firstTermBeginIndex))) & (operators.contains(""+function.charAt(firstTermBeginIndex-1)))){
break;
}
firstTermBeginIndex--;
}
if (firstTermBeginIndex != 0 && (function.charAt(firstTermBeginIndex-1) == '-' | function.charAt(firstTermBeginIndex-1) == '+')) {
if (firstTermBeginIndex == 1) {
firstTermBeginIndex--;
}else if (operators.contains(""+(function.charAt(firstTermBeginIndex-2)))){
firstTermBeginIndex--;
}
}
String firstTerm = function.substring(firstTermBeginIndex,position);
int secondTermLastIndex = position;
while (secondTermLastIndex < function.length()-1) {
if ((alphanumeric.contains(""+function.charAt(secondTermLastIndex))) & (operators.contains(""+function.charAt(secondTermLastIndex+1)))) {
break;
}
secondTermLastIndex++;
}
String secondTerm = function.substring(position+1,secondTermLastIndex+1);
double result;
switch (function.substring(position,position+1)) {
case "*": result = solveSingleValue(firstTerm,values)*solveSingleValue(secondTerm,values); break;
case "/": result = solveSingleValue(firstTerm,values)/solveSingleValue(secondTerm,values); break;
case "+": result = solveSingleValue(firstTerm,values)+solveSingleValue(secondTerm,values); break;
case "-": result = solveSingleValue(firstTerm,values)-solveSingleValue(secondTerm,values); break;
case "^": result = Math.pow(solveSingleValue(firstTerm,values),solveSingleValue(secondTerm,values)); break;
default: throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown operator: "+currentOperator);
}
String newAttribute = getNewKey(values);
values.put(newAttribute, result);
function = function.substring(0,firstTermBeginIndex)+newAttribute+function.substring(secondTermLastIndex+1,function.length());
deleteValueIfPossible(firstTerm, values, motherFunction);
deleteValueIfPossible(secondTerm, values, motherFunction);
position = -1;
}
position++;
}
}while (operatorIndex < operators.length());
return solveSingleValue(function, values);
}
private static double solveSingleValue (String singleValue, HashMap<String, Double> values) throws IllegalArgumentException{
if (isDouble(singleValue)) {
return Double.parseDouble(singleValue);
}else if (firstContainsOnlySecond(singleValue, alphabetic)){
return getValueFromVariable(singleValue, values);
}else if (firstContainsOnlySecond(singleValue, alphanumeric+"-+")) {
String[] composition = splitByLettersAndNumbers(singleValue);
if (composition.length != 2) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Wrong expression: "+singleValue);
}else {
if (composition[0].equals("-")) {
composition[0] = "-1";
}else if (composition[1].equals("-")) {
composition[1] = "-1";
}else if (composition[0].equals("+")) {
composition[0] = "+1";
}else if (composition[1].equals("+")) {
composition[1] = "+1";
}
if (isDouble(composition[0])) {
return Double.parseDouble(composition[0])*getValueFromVariable(composition[1], values);
}else if (isDouble(composition[1])){
return Double.parseDouble(composition[1])*getValueFromVariable(composition[0], values);
}else {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Wrong expression: "+singleValue);
}
}
}else {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Wrong expression: "+singleValue);
}
}
private static double getValueFromVariable (String variable, HashMap<String, Double> values) throws IllegalArgumentException{
Double val = values.get(variable);
if (val == null) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown variable: "+variable);
}else {
return val;
}
}
/*
* FunctionSolver help tools:
*
*/
private static final String alphabetic = "abcdefghilmnopqrstuvzwykxy";
private static final String numeric = "0123456789.";
private static final String alphanumeric = alphabetic+numeric;
private static final String operators = "^*/+-"; //--> Operators order in important!
private static boolean firstContainsOnlySecond(String firstString, String secondString) {
for (int j = 0 ; j < firstString.length() ; j++) {
if (!secondString.contains(firstString.substring(j, j+1))) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
private static String getNewKey (HashMap<String, Double> hashMap) {
String alpha = "abcdefghilmnopqrstuvzyjkx";
for (int j = 0 ; j < alpha.length() ; j++) {
String k = alpha.substring(j,j+1);
if (!hashMap.containsKey(k) & !Arrays.asList(usableMathMethods()).contains(k)) {
return k;
}
}
for (int j = 0 ; j < alpha.length() ; j++) {
for (int i = 0 ; i < alpha.length() ; i++) {
String k = alpha.substring(j,j+1)+alpha.substring(i,i+1);
if (!hashMap.containsKey(k) & !Arrays.asList(usableMathMethods()).contains(k)) {
return k;
}
}
}
throw new NullPointerException();
}
public static String[] usableMathMethods () {
/*
* Only methods that:
* return a double type
* present one or two parameters (which are double type)
*/
Method[] mathMethods = Math.class.getDeclaredMethods();
ArrayList<String> usableMethodsNames = new ArrayList<>();
for (Method method : mathMethods) {
boolean usable = true;
int argumentsCounter = 0;
Class<?>[] methodParametersTypes = method.getParameterTypes();
for (Class<?> parameter : methodParametersTypes) {
if (!parameter.getSimpleName().equalsIgnoreCase("double")) {
usable = false;
break;
}else {
argumentsCounter++;
}
}
if (!method.getReturnType().getSimpleName().toLowerCase().equals("double")) {
usable = false;
}
if (usable & argumentsCounter<=2) {
usableMethodsNames.add(method.getName());
}
}
return usableMethodsNames.toArray(new String[usableMethodsNames.size()]);
}
private static boolean isDouble (String number) {
try {
Double.parseDouble(number);
return true;
}catch (Exception ex) {
return false;
}
}
private static String[] splitByLettersAndNumbers (String val) {
if (!firstContainsOnlySecond(val, alphanumeric+"+-")) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Wrong passed value: <<"+val+">>");
}
ArrayList<String> response = new ArrayList<>();
String searchingFor;
int lastIndex = 0;
if (firstContainsOnlySecond(""+val.charAt(0), numeric+"+-")) {
searchingFor = alphabetic;
}else {
searchingFor = numeric+"+-";
}
for (int j = 0 ; j < val.length() ; j++) {
if (searchingFor.contains(val.charAt(j)+"")) {
response.add(val.substring(lastIndex, j));
lastIndex = j;
if (searchingFor.equals(numeric+"+-")) {
searchingFor = alphabetic;
}else {
searchingFor = numeric+"+-";
}
}
}
response.add(val.substring(lastIndex,val.length()));
return response.toArray(new String[response.size()]);
}
private static void deleteValueIfPossible (String val, HashMap<String, Double> values, String function) {
if (values.get(val) != null & function != null) {
if (!function.contains(val)) {
values.remove(val);
}
}
}
private static int contOccouranceIn (String howManyOfThatString, String inThatString) {
return inThatString.length() - inThatString.replace(howManyOfThatString, "").length();
}
}
Writing your own library is not that hard as u might thing. Here is link for Shunting-yard algorithm with step by step algorithm explenation. Although, you will have to parse the input for tokens first.
There are 2 other questions wich can give you some information too:
Turn a String into a Math Expression?
What's a good library for parsing mathematical expressions in java?
As there are many answers, I'm adding my implementation on top of eval() method with some additional features like support for factorial, evaluating complex expressions etc.
package evaluation;
import java.math.BigInteger;
import java.util.EmptyStackException;
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.util.Stack;
import javax.script.ScriptEngine;
import javax.script.ScriptEngineManager;
import javax.script.ScriptException;
public class EvalPlus {
private static Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("This Evaluation is based on BODMAS rule\n");
evaluate();
}
private static void evaluate() {
StringBuilder finalStr = new StringBuilder();
System.out.println("Enter an expression to evaluate:");
String expr = scanner.nextLine();
if(isProperExpression(expr)) {
expr = replaceBefore(expr);
char[] temp = expr.toCharArray();
String operators = "(+-*/%)";
for(int i = 0; i < temp.length; i++) {
if((i == 0 && temp[i] != '*') || (i == temp.length-1 && temp[i] != '*' && temp[i] != '!')) {
finalStr.append(temp[i]);
} else if((i > 0 && i < temp.length -1) || (i==temp.length-1 && temp[i] == '!')) {
if(temp[i] == '!') {
StringBuilder str = new StringBuilder();
for(int k = i-1; k >= 0; k--) {
if(Character.isDigit(temp[k])) {
str.insert(0, temp[k] );
} else {
break;
}
}
Long prev = Long.valueOf(str.toString());
BigInteger val = new BigInteger("1");
for(Long j = prev; j > 1; j--) {
val = val.multiply(BigInteger.valueOf(j));
}
finalStr.setLength(finalStr.length() - str.length());
finalStr.append("(" + val + ")");
if(temp.length > i+1) {
char next = temp[i+1];
if(operators.indexOf(next) == -1) {
finalStr.append("*");
}
}
} else {
finalStr.append(temp[i]);
}
}
}
expr = finalStr.toString();
if(expr != null && !expr.isEmpty()) {
ScriptEngineManager mgr = new ScriptEngineManager();
ScriptEngine engine = mgr.getEngineByName("JavaScript");
try {
System.out.println("Result: " + engine.eval(expr));
evaluate();
} catch (ScriptException e) {
System.out.println(e.getMessage());
}
} else {
System.out.println("Please give an expression");
evaluate();
}
} else {
System.out.println("Not a valid expression");
evaluate();
}
}
private static String replaceBefore(String expr) {
expr = expr.replace("(", "*(");
expr = expr.replace("+*", "+").replace("-*", "-").replace("**", "*").replace("/*", "/").replace("%*", "%");
return expr;
}
private static boolean isProperExpression(String expr) {
expr = expr.replaceAll("[^()]", "");
char[] arr = expr.toCharArray();
Stack<Character> stack = new Stack<Character>();
int i =0;
while(i < arr.length) {
try {
if(arr[i] == '(') {
stack.push(arr[i]);
} else {
stack.pop();
}
} catch (EmptyStackException e) {
stack.push(arr[i]);
}
i++;
}
return stack.isEmpty();
}
}
Please find the updated gist anytime here. Also comment if any issues are there. Thanks.
There are some perfectly capable answers here. However for non-trivial script it may be desirable to retain the code in a cache, or for debugging purposes, or even to have dynamically self-updating code.
To that end, sometimes it's simpler or more robust to interact with Java via command line. Create a temporary directory, output your script and any assets, create the jar. Finally import your new code.
It's a bit beyond the scope of normal eval() use in most languages, though you could certainly implement eval by returning the result from some function in your jar.
Still, thought I'd mention this method as it does fully encapsulate everything Java can do without 3rd party tools, in case of desperation. This method allows me to turn HTML templates into objects and save them, avoiding the need to parse a template at runtime.
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.ListIterator;
class Calculate {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String strng = "8*-2*3*-1*10/2+6-2";
String[] oparator = {"+","-","*","/"};
List<String> op1 = new ArrayList<>();
String[] x = strng.split("");
int sayac=0;
for (String i : x) {
sayac ++;
for (String c : oparator) {
if (i.equals(c)) {
try {
int j = Integer.parseInt(strng.substring(0, sayac - 1));
op1.add(strng.substring(0, sayac - 1));
op1.add(c);
strng = strng.substring(sayac);
sayac = 0;
}catch (Exception e)
{
continue;
}
}
}
}
op1.add(strng);
ListIterator<String> it = op1.listIterator();
List<List> newlist = new ArrayList<>() ;
while (it.hasNext()) {
List<String> p= new ArrayList<>();
p.add(String.valueOf(it.nextIndex()));
p.add(it.next());
newlist.add(p);
}
int sayac2=0;
String oparatorvalue = "*";
calculate(sayac2,newlist,oparatorvalue);
String oparatorvalue2 = "/";
calculate(sayac2,newlist,oparatorvalue2);
String oparatorvalue3 = "+";
calculate(sayac2,newlist,oparatorvalue3);
String oparatorvalue4 = "-";
calculate(sayac2,newlist,oparatorvalue4);
System.out.println("Result:"+newlist.get(0).get(1));
}
private static void calculate(int sayac2, List<List> newlist, String oparatorvalue) {
while (sayac2<4){
try{
for (List j : newlist) {
if (j.get(1) == oparatorvalue) {
Integer opindex = newlist.indexOf(j);
Object sayi1 = newlist.get(opindex - 1).get(1);
Object sayi2 = newlist.get(opindex + 1).get(1);
int sonuc=0;
if (oparatorvalue.equals("*")){
sonuc = Integer.parseInt(sayi1.toString()) * Integer.parseInt(sayi2.toString());
}
if (oparatorvalue.equals("/")){
sonuc = Integer.parseInt(sayi1.toString()) / Integer.parseInt(sayi2.toString());
}
if (oparatorvalue.equals("+")){
sonuc = Integer.parseInt(sayi1.toString()) + Integer.parseInt(sayi2.toString());
}
if (oparatorvalue.equals("-")){
sonuc = Integer.parseInt(sayi1.toString()) - Integer.parseInt(sayi2.toString());
}
newlist.remove(opindex - 1);
newlist.remove(opindex - 1);
newlist.remove(opindex - 1);
List<String> sonuclist = new ArrayList<>();
sonuclist.add(String.valueOf(opindex - 1));
sonuclist.add(String.valueOf(sonuc));
newlist.add(opindex - 1, sonuclist);
}}}
catch (Exception e){
continue;
}
sayac2++;}
}
}
If you do not want to import heavy scripting library, you can use SimpleExpressionEvaluator directly into your code
Usage:
Expression.eval("1+2").asString(); // returns "3.0"
Expression.eval("1+2").asInt(); // returns 3
Expression.eval("2>3").asString(); // returns "false"
Expression.eval("2>3").asBoolean(); // returns false
Expression.eval("(3>2)||((2<4)&&(2>1))").asString(); // returns "true"
With variables:
HashMap<String, Object> st = new HashMap<String, Object>();
st.put("a",1);
st.put("b",2);
st.put("c",3);
st.put("d",4);
Expression.eval("a+b", st).asInt(); // or simply asString()
Expression.eval("a>b",st).asBoolean(); // or simply asString()
Expression.eval("(c>b)||((b<d)&&(b>a))",st).asBoolean(); // or simply asString()
Expression.eval("(c>2)||((2<d)&&(b>1))",st).asBoolean(); // or simply asString()
Using ExpressionBuilder:
Expression.expressionBuilder().putSymbol("a",2).putSymbol("b",3).build("(b>a)").evaluate()
The following resolved the issue:
ScriptEngineManager mgr = new ScriptEngineManager();
ScriptEngine engine = mgr.getEngineByName("JavaScript");
String str = "4*5";
System.out.println(engine.eval(str));
Question:
In this problem, the scenario we are evaluating is the following: You're standing at the base of a staircase and are heading to the top. A small stride will move up one stair, and a large stride advances two. You want to count the number of ways to climb the entire staircase based on different combinations of large and small strides. For example, a staircase of three steps can be climbed in three different ways: three small strides, one small stride followed by one large stride, or one large followed by one small.
The call of waysToClimb(3) should produce the following output:
1 1 1,
1 2,
2 1
My code:
public static void waysToClimb(int n){
if(n == 0)
System.out.print("");
else if(n == 1)
System.out.print("1");
else {
System.out.print("1 ");
waysToClimb(n - 1);
System.out.print(",");
System.out.print("2 ");
waysToClimb(n - 2);
}
}
My output:
1 1 1,
2,
2 1
My recursion doesn't seem to remember the path it took any idea how to fix it?
Edit:
Thank you guys for the responses. Sorry for the late reply
I figured it out
public static void waysToClimb(int n){
String s ="[";
int p=0;
com(s,p,n);
}
public static void com(String s,int p,int n){
if(n==0 && p==2)
System.out.print(s.substring(0,s.length()-2)+"]");
else if(n==0 && p !=0)
System.out.print(s+"");
else if(n==0 && p==0)
System.out.print("");
else if(n==1)
System.out.print(s+"1]");
else {
com(s+"1, ",1,n-1);
System.out.println();
com(s+"2, ",2,n-2);
}
}
If you explicity want to print all paths (different than counting them or finding a specific one), you need to store them all the way down to 0.
public static void waysToClimb(int n, List<Integer> path)
{
if (n == 0)
{
// print whole path
for (Integer i: path)
{
System.out.print(i + " ");
}
System.out.println();
}
else if (n == 1)
{
List<Integer> newPath = new ArrayList<Integer>(path);
newPath.add(1);
waysToClimb(n-1, newPath);
}
else if (n > 1)
{
List<Integer> newPath1 = new ArrayList<Integer>(path);
newPath1.add(1);
waysToClimb(n-1, newPath1);
List<Integer> newPath2 = new ArrayList<Integer>(path);
newPath2.add(2);
waysToClimb(n-2, newPath2);
}
}
initial call: waysToClimb(5, new ArrayList<Integer>());
Below mentioned solution will work similar to Depth First Search, it will explore one path. Once a path is completed, it will backtrace and explore other paths:
public class Demo {
private static LinkedList<Integer> ll = new LinkedList<Integer>(){{ add(1);add(2);}};
public static void main(String args[]) {
waysToClimb(4, "");
}
public static void waysToClimb(int n, String res) {
if (ll.peek() > n)
System.out.println(res);
else {
for (Integer elem : ll) {
if(n-elem >= 0)
waysToClimb(n - elem, res + String.valueOf(elem) + " ");
}
}
}
}
public class Test2 {
public int climbStairs(int n) {
// List of lists to store all the combinations
List<List<Integer>> ans = new ArrayList<List<Integer>>();
// initially, sending in an empty list that will store the first combination
csHelper(n, new ArrayList<Integer>(), ans);
// a helper method to print list of lists
print2dList(ans);
return ans.size();
}
private void csHelper(int n, List<Integer> l, List<List<Integer>> ans) {
// if there are no more stairs to climb, add the current combination to ans list
if(n == 0) {
ans.add(new ArrayList<Integer>(l));
}
// a necessary check that prevent user at (n-1)th stair to climb using 2 stairs
if(n < 0) {
return;
}
int currStep = 0;
// i varies from 1 to 2 as we have 2 choices i.e. to either climb using 1 or 2 steps
for(int i = 1; i <= 2; i++) {
// climbing using step 1 when i = 1 and using 2 when i = 2
currStep += 1;
// adding current step to the arraylist(check parameter of this method)
l.add(currStep);
// make a recursive call with less number of stairs left to climb
csHelper(n - currStep, l, ans);
l.remove(l.size() - 1);
}
}
private void print2dList(List<List<Integer>> ans) {
for (int i = 0; i < ans.size(); i++) {
for (int j = 0; j < ans.get(i).size(); j++) {
System.out.print(ans.get(i).get(j) + " ");
}
System.out.println();
}
}
public static void main(String[] args) {
Test2 t = new Test2();
t.climbStairs(3);
}
}
Please note this solution will timeout for larger inputs as this isn't a memoized recursive solution and can throw MLE(as I create a new list when a combination is found).
Hope this helps.
if anyone looking for a python solution, for this problem.
def way_to_climb(n, path=None, val=None):
path = [] if path is None else path
val = [] if val is None else val
if n==0:
val.append(path)
elif n==1:
new_path = path.copy()
new_path.append(1)
way_to_climb(n-1, new_path, val)
elif n>1:
new_path1 = path.copy()
new_path1.append(1)
way_to_climb(n-1, new_path1, val)
new_path2 = path.copy()
new_path2.append(2)
way_to_climb(n-2, new_path2, val)
return val
Note: it is based on the #unlut solution, here OP has used a top-down recursive approach. This solution is for all people who looking for all combination of staircase problem in python, no python question for this so i have added a python solution here
if we use a bottom-up approach and use memorization, then we can solve the problem faster.
Even though you did find the correct answer to the problem with your code, you can still improve upon it by using just one if to check if the steps left is 0. I used a switch to check the amount of steps taken because there are only 3 options, 0, 1, or 2. I also renamed the variables that were used to make the code more understandable to anyone seeing it for the first time, as it is quite confusing if you are just using one letter variable names. Even with all these changes the codes run the same, I just thought it might be better to add some of these things for others who might view this question in the future.
public static void climbStairsHelper(String pathStr, int stepsTaken, int stepsLeft)
{
if(stepsLeft == 0)
{
switch(stepsTaken)
{
case 2:
System.out.print(pathStr.substring(0, pathStr.length() - 2) + "]");
break;
case 1:
System.out.print(pathStr + "");
break;
case 0:
System.out.print("");
break;
}
}
else if(stepsLeft == 1)
{
System.out.print(pathStr + "1]");
}
else
{
climbStairsHelper(pathStr + "1, ", 1, stepsLeft - 1);
System.out.println();
climbStairsHelper(pathStr + "2, ", 2, stepsLeft - 2);
}
}`
`
In short, the user will input a number (say 1 through 3). This will decide which range of numbers the loop should search through.
switch(input){
case 1:
searchTerm = "i<10 && i>5";
case 2:
searchTerm = "i>=10 && i<19";
case 3:
searchTerm = "i>19 && i<24";
}
while(searchTerm){
//some function
}
Is this possible? I I've not been able to find a way to use a string as search parameters.
EDIT: I don't think I did a very good job of explaining why I needed this. What is one to do if there are different numbers of parameters? For example:
case 1:
searchTerm = "i<5"
case 2:
searchTerm = "i>25 && i<29"
case 3:
searchTerm = "(i<50 && i>25) && (i>55 && i<75)"
case 4:
searchTerm = "(i<20 && i>15) && (i>300 && i<325) && (i>360 && i<380)
Then how does one do it? Multiple loops that call the same function?
The correct way to do this is to not use a string at all:
int min, max;
switch(input){
case 1: // i<10 && i>5
min = 6;
max = 10;
break; // to avoid follow-through to the next case
case 2: // i>=10 && i<19
min = 10;
max = 20;
break;
case 3: // i>19 && i<24
min = 20;
max = 25;
break;
default:
// You need something here in case the value entered wasn't 1-3
}
for (int i = min; i < max; ++i) {
// ...
}
Re your edit:
I don't think I did a very good job of explaining why I needed this. What is one to do if there are different numbers of parameters?
In that case, you'll have to use an expression evaluator (or write one, which is a non-trivial task). There's one in Spring, for instance (not recommending, just happened to hear about it). A search for "Java expression evaluator" should turn up some options.
Another alternative, which is somewhat amusing given that some folks mistook your question for a JavaScript question, is to use the JavaScript evaluator built into Java (either Rhino or Nashorn). E.g.: Live Example
import javax.script.*;
class Ideone {
public static void main(String[] args) throws java.lang.Exception {
ScriptEngineManager manager = new ScriptEngineManager();
ScriptEngine engine = manager.getEngineByName("js");
String searchTerm = "i >= 19 && i <= 24";
int i;
try {
i = 19;
engine.put("i", i);
while ((boolean)engine.eval(searchTerm)) {
System.out.println("i = " + i);
++i;
engine.put("i", i);
}
System.out.println("Done");
} catch (ScriptException scriptException) {
System.out.println("Failed with script error");
}
}
}
...but you'll still have the problem of determining what initial value to use for i, which I've hardcoded above.
In Java 8 you can select a lambda instead of String:
Predicate<Integer> searchTerm = (Integer v) -> false;
switch (input) {
case 1:
searchTerm = (Integer v) -> v < 10 && v > 5;
break;
case 2:
searchTerm = (Integer v) -> v >= 10 && v < 19;
break;
case 3:
searchTerm = (Integer v) -> v > 19 && v < 24;
break;
}
while (searchTerm.test(i)) {
...
}
You can create an enumeration as below.
public enum SearchTerms {
None(""),
Between6And9("i<10 && i>5"),
Between10And18("i>=10 && i<19"),
Between20And23("i>19 && i<24");
private final String stringValue;
SearchTerms(String stringValue) {
this.stringValue = stringValue;
}
public String getStringValue() {
return stringValue;
}
public static SearchTerms fromStringValue(String stringValue) {
for (SearchTerms searchTerm : values()) {
if (searchTerm.getStringValue().equalsIgnoreCase(stringValue)) {
return searchTerm;
}
}
return SearchTerms.None;
}
}
Usage:
SearchTerms searchTerm = SearchTerms.fromStringValue("i<10 && i>5");
switch(searchTerm) {
case Between6And9:
//dosomething
break;
}
You can use .eval() of JavaScript.
Also don't forget break; at the end of each case:
Check out this fiddle.
Here is the snippet.
function test(input, i) {
switch (input) { //input=1
case 1:
searchTerm = "i<10 && i>5"; //this will be 'searchTerm'
break;
case 2:
searchTerm = "i>=10 && i<19";
break;
case 3:
searchTerm = "i>19 && i<24";
break;
}
while (eval(searchTerm)) { //'searchTerm' converted to boolean expression
alert(i); // alert for i=7,8,9
i++;
}
}
test(1, 7); //pass input=1 and i=7
I have a string like the following:
String str = "4*5";
Now I have to get the result of 20 by using the string.
I know in some other languages the eval() function will do this.
How can I do this in Java?
You can use the ScriptEngine class and evaluate it as a Javascript string.
ScriptEngineManager manager = new ScriptEngineManager();
ScriptEngine engine = manager.getEngineByName("js");
Object result = engine.eval("4*5");
There may be a better way, but this one works.
There is no standard Java class or method that will do what you want. Your options include:
Select and use some third-party expression evaluation library. For example JEL or any of the half dozen libraries listed here.
Wrap the expression in the Java source code for a class with an eval method, send that to the Java compiler, and then load the resulting compiled class.
Use some scripting language that can be called from Java as an expression evaluator. Possibilities include Javascript1, BeanShell, and so on. A JSR 223 compliant scripting language implementation can be called via the Scripting API.
Write your own expression evaluator from scratch.
The first approach is probably simplest. The second and third approaches are a potential security risk if you get the expression to be evaluated from an untrusted user. (Think code injection.)
1 - Javascript in Java SE is a moving target. From Java 6, a version of Mozilla's Rhino Javascript implementation was bundled with Java SE. The in Java 8, it was superseded by Nashorn. In Java 11, Nashorn was deprecated, and finally dropped from the core codebase. As of 2021, both Rhino and Nashorn are being maintained as separate (non-Oracle) products, and Oracle's GraalVM has its own Javascript implementation.
There are very few real use cases in which being able to evaluate a String as a fragment of Java code is necessary or desirable. That is, asking how to do this is really an XY problem: you actually have a different problem, which can be solved a different way.
First ask yourself, where did this String that you wish to evaluate come from? Did another part of your program generate it, or was it input provided by the user?
Another part of my program generated it: so, you want one part of your program to decide the kind of operation to perform, but not perform the operation, and a second part that performs the chosen operation. Instead of generating and then evaluating a String, use the Strategy, Command or Builder design pattern, as appropriate for your particular case.
It is user input: the user could input anything, including commands that, when executed, could cause your program to misbehave, crash, expose information that should be secret, damage persistent information (such as the content of a database), and other such nastiness. The only way to prevent that would be to parse the String yourself, check it was not malicious, and then evaluate it. But parsing it yourself is much of the work that the requested evalfunction would do, so you have saved yourself nothing. Worse still, checking that arbitrary Java was not malicious is impossible, because checking that is the halting problem.
It is user input, but the syntax and semantics of permitted text to evaluate is greatly restricted: No general purpose facility can easily implement a general purpose parser and evaluator for whatever restricted syntax and semantics you have chosen. What you need to do is implement a parser and evaluator for your chosen syntax and semantics. If the task is simple, you could write a simple recursive-descent or finite-state-machine parser by hand. If the task is difficult, you could use a compiler-compiler (such as ANTLR) to do some of the work for you.
I just want to implement a desktop calculator!: A homework assignment, eh? If you could implement the evaluation of the input expression using a provided eval function, it would not be much of a homework assignment, would it? Your program would be three lines long. Your instructor probably expects you to write the code for a simple arithmetic parser/evaluator. There is well known algorithm, shunting-yard, which you might find useful.
With Java 9, we get access to jshell, so one can write something like this:
import jdk.jshell.JShell;
import java.lang.StringBuilder;
import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.io.IOException;
public class Eval {
public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
try(JShell js = JShell.create(); BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in))) {
js.onSnippetEvent(snip -> {
if (snip.status() == jdk.jshell.Snippet.Status.VALID) {
System.out.println("➜ " + snip.value());
}
});
System.out.print("> ");
for (String line = br.readLine(); line != null; line = br.readLine()) {
js.eval(js.sourceCodeAnalysis().analyzeCompletion(line).source());
System.out.print("> ");
}
}
}
}
Sample run:
> 1 + 2 / 4 * 3
➜ 1
> 32 * 121
➜ 3872
> 4 * 5
➜ 20
> 121 * 51
➜ 6171
>
Slightly op, but that's what Java currently has to offer
I could advise you to use Exp4j. It is easy to understand as you can see from the following example code:
Expression e = new ExpressionBuilder("3 * sin(y) - 2 / (x - 2)")
.variables("x", "y")
.build()
.setVariable("x", 2.3)
.setVariable("y", 3.14);
double result = e.evaluate();
No, you can not have a generic "eval" in Java (or any compiled language). Unless you're willing to write a Java compiler AND a JVM to be executed inside of your Java program.
Yes, you can have some library to evaluate numeric algebraic expressions like the one above - see this thread for discussion.
As previous answers, there is no standard API in Java for this.
You can add groovy jar files to your path and groovy.util.Eval.me("4*5") gets your job done.
A fun way to solve your problem could be coding an eval() function on your own!
I've done it for you!
You can use FunctionSolver library simply by typing FunctionSolver.solveByX(function,value) inside your code. The function attribute is a String which represents the function you want to solve, the value attribute is the value of the independent variable
of your function (which MUST be x).
If you want to solve a function which contains more than one independent variable, you can use FunctionSolver.solve(function,values) where the values attribute is an HashMap(String,Double) which contains all your independent attributes (as Strings) and their respective values (as Doubles).
Another piece of information: I've coded a simple version of FunctionSolver, so its supports only Math methods which return a double value and which accepts one or two double values as fields (just use FunctionSolver.usableMathMethods() if you're curious) (These methods are: bs, sin, cos, tan, atan2, sqrt, log, log10, pow, exp, min, max, copySign, signum, IEEEremainder, acos, asin, atan, cbrt, ceil, cosh, expm1, floor, hypot, log1p, nextAfter, nextDown, nextUp, random, rint, sinh, tanh, toDegrees, toRadians, ulp). Also, that library supports the following operators: * / + - ^ (even if java normally does not support the ^ operator).
One last thing: while creating this library I had to use reflections to call Math methods. I think it's really cool, just have a look at this if you are interested in!
That's all, here it is the code (and the library):
package core;
import java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.HashMap;
public abstract class FunctionSolver {
public static double solveNumericExpression (String expression) throws NoSuchMethodException, IllegalAccessException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException {
return solve(expression, new HashMap<>());
}
public static double solveByX (String function, double value) throws NoSuchMethodException, IllegalAccessException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException {
HashMap<String, Double> values = new HashMap<>();
values.put("x", value);
return solveComplexFunction(function, function, values);
}
public static double solve (String function, HashMap<String,Double> values) throws NoSuchMethodException, IllegalAccessException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException {
return solveComplexFunction(function, function, values);
}
private static double solveComplexFunction (String function, String motherFunction, HashMap<String, Double> values) throws NoSuchMethodException, IllegalAccessException, IllegalArgumentException, InvocationTargetException {
int position = 0;
while(position < function.length()) {
if (alphabetic.contains(""+function.charAt(position))) {
if (position == 0 || !alphabetic.contains(""+function.charAt(position-1))) {
int endIndex = -1;
for (int j = position ; j < function.length()-1 ; j++) {
if (alphabetic.contains(""+function.charAt(j))
&& !alphabetic.contains(""+function.charAt(j+1))) {
endIndex = j;
break;
}
}
if (endIndex == -1 & alphabetic.contains(""+function.charAt(function.length()-1))) {
endIndex = function.length()-1;
}
if (endIndex != -1) {
String alphabeticElement = function.substring(position, endIndex+1);
if (Arrays.asList(usableMathMethods()).contains(alphabeticElement)) {
//Start analyzing a Math function
int closeParenthesisIndex = -1;
int openedParenthesisquantity = 0;
int commaIndex = -1;
for (int j = endIndex+1 ; j < function.length() ; j++) {
if (function.substring(j,j+1).equals("(")) {
openedParenthesisquantity++;
}else if (function.substring(j,j+1).equals(")")) {
openedParenthesisquantity--;
if (openedParenthesisquantity == 0) {
closeParenthesisIndex = j;
break;
}
}else if (function.substring(j,j+1).equals(",") & openedParenthesisquantity == 0) {
if (commaIndex == -1) {
commaIndex = j;
}else{
throw new IllegalArgumentException("The argument of math function (which is "+alphabeticElement+") has too many commas");
}
}
}
if (closeParenthesisIndex == -1) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("The argument of a Math function (which is "+alphabeticElement+") hasn't got the closing bracket )");
}
String functionArgument = function.substring(endIndex+2,closeParenthesisIndex);
if (commaIndex != -1) {
double firstParameter = solveComplexFunction(functionArgument.substring(0,commaIndex),motherFunction,values);
double secondParameter = solveComplexFunction(functionArgument.substring(commaIndex+1),motherFunction,values);
Method mathMethod = Math.class.getDeclaredMethod(alphabeticElement, new Class<?>[] {double.class, double.class});
mathMethod.setAccessible(true);
String newKey = getNewKey(values);
values.put(newKey, (Double) mathMethod.invoke(null, firstParameter, secondParameter));
function = function.substring(0, position)+newKey
+((closeParenthesisIndex == function.length()-1)?(""):(function.substring(closeParenthesisIndex+1)));
}else {
double firstParameter = solveComplexFunction(functionArgument, motherFunction, values);
Method mathMethod = Math.class.getDeclaredMethod(alphabeticElement, new Class<?>[] {double.class});
mathMethod.setAccessible(true);
String newKey = getNewKey(values);
values.put(newKey, (Double) mathMethod.invoke(null, firstParameter));
function = function.substring(0, position)+newKey
+((closeParenthesisIndex == function.length()-1)?(""):(function.substring(closeParenthesisIndex+1)));
}
}else if (!values.containsKey(alphabeticElement)) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Found a group of letters ("+alphabeticElement+") which is neither a variable nor a Math function: ");
}
}
}
}
position++;
}
return solveBracketsFunction(function,motherFunction,values);
}
private static double solveBracketsFunction (String function,String motherFunction,HashMap<String, Double> values) throws IllegalArgumentException{
function = function.replace(" ", "");
String openingBrackets = "([{";
String closingBrackets = ")]}";
int parenthesisIndex = 0;
do {
int position = 0;
int openParenthesisBlockIndex = -1;
String currentOpeningBracket = openingBrackets.charAt(parenthesisIndex)+"";
String currentClosingBracket = closingBrackets.charAt(parenthesisIndex)+"";
if (contOccouranceIn(currentOpeningBracket,function) != contOccouranceIn(currentClosingBracket,function)) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Error: brackets are misused in the function "+function);
}
while (position < function.length()) {
if (function.substring(position,position+1).equals(currentOpeningBracket)) {
if (position != 0 && !operators.contains(function.substring(position-1,position))) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Error in function: there must be an operator following a "+currentClosingBracket+" breacket");
}
openParenthesisBlockIndex = position;
}else if (function.substring(position,position+1).equals(currentClosingBracket)) {
if (position != function.length()-1 && !operators.contains(function.substring(position+1,position+2))) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Error in function: there must be an operator before a "+currentClosingBracket+" breacket");
}
String newKey = getNewKey(values);
values.put(newKey, solveBracketsFunction(function.substring(openParenthesisBlockIndex+1,position),motherFunction, values));
function = function.substring(0,openParenthesisBlockIndex)+newKey
+((position == function.length()-1)?(""):(function.substring(position+1)));
position = -1;
}
position++;
}
parenthesisIndex++;
}while (parenthesisIndex < openingBrackets.length());
return solveBasicFunction(function,motherFunction, values);
}
private static double solveBasicFunction (String function, String motherFunction, HashMap<String, Double> values) throws IllegalArgumentException{
if (!firstContainsOnlySecond(function, alphanumeric+operators)) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("The function "+function+" is not a basic function");
}
if (function.contains("**") |
function.contains("//") |
function.contains("--") |
function.contains("+*") |
function.contains("+/") |
function.contains("-*") |
function.contains("-/")) {
/*
* ( -+ , +- , *- , *+ , /- , /+ )> Those values are admitted
*/
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Operators are misused in the function");
}
function = function.replace(" ", "");
int position;
int operatorIndex = 0;
String currentOperator;
do {
currentOperator = operators.substring(operatorIndex,operatorIndex+1);
if (currentOperator.equals("*")) {
currentOperator+="/";
operatorIndex++;
}else if (currentOperator.equals("+")) {
currentOperator+="-";
operatorIndex++;
}
operatorIndex++;
position = 0;
while (position < function.length()) {
if ((position == 0 && !(""+function.charAt(position)).equals("-") && !(""+function.charAt(position)).equals("+") && operators.contains(""+function.charAt(position))) ||
(position == function.length()-1 && operators.contains(""+function.charAt(position)))){
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Operators are misused in the function");
}
if (currentOperator.contains(function.substring(position, position+1)) & position != 0) {
int firstTermBeginIndex = position;
while (firstTermBeginIndex > 0) {
if ((alphanumeric.contains(""+function.charAt(firstTermBeginIndex))) & (operators.contains(""+function.charAt(firstTermBeginIndex-1)))){
break;
}
firstTermBeginIndex--;
}
if (firstTermBeginIndex != 0 && (function.charAt(firstTermBeginIndex-1) == '-' | function.charAt(firstTermBeginIndex-1) == '+')) {
if (firstTermBeginIndex == 1) {
firstTermBeginIndex--;
}else if (operators.contains(""+(function.charAt(firstTermBeginIndex-2)))){
firstTermBeginIndex--;
}
}
String firstTerm = function.substring(firstTermBeginIndex,position);
int secondTermLastIndex = position;
while (secondTermLastIndex < function.length()-1) {
if ((alphanumeric.contains(""+function.charAt(secondTermLastIndex))) & (operators.contains(""+function.charAt(secondTermLastIndex+1)))) {
break;
}
secondTermLastIndex++;
}
String secondTerm = function.substring(position+1,secondTermLastIndex+1);
double result;
switch (function.substring(position,position+1)) {
case "*": result = solveSingleValue(firstTerm,values)*solveSingleValue(secondTerm,values); break;
case "/": result = solveSingleValue(firstTerm,values)/solveSingleValue(secondTerm,values); break;
case "+": result = solveSingleValue(firstTerm,values)+solveSingleValue(secondTerm,values); break;
case "-": result = solveSingleValue(firstTerm,values)-solveSingleValue(secondTerm,values); break;
case "^": result = Math.pow(solveSingleValue(firstTerm,values),solveSingleValue(secondTerm,values)); break;
default: throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown operator: "+currentOperator);
}
String newAttribute = getNewKey(values);
values.put(newAttribute, result);
function = function.substring(0,firstTermBeginIndex)+newAttribute+function.substring(secondTermLastIndex+1,function.length());
deleteValueIfPossible(firstTerm, values, motherFunction);
deleteValueIfPossible(secondTerm, values, motherFunction);
position = -1;
}
position++;
}
}while (operatorIndex < operators.length());
return solveSingleValue(function, values);
}
private static double solveSingleValue (String singleValue, HashMap<String, Double> values) throws IllegalArgumentException{
if (isDouble(singleValue)) {
return Double.parseDouble(singleValue);
}else if (firstContainsOnlySecond(singleValue, alphabetic)){
return getValueFromVariable(singleValue, values);
}else if (firstContainsOnlySecond(singleValue, alphanumeric+"-+")) {
String[] composition = splitByLettersAndNumbers(singleValue);
if (composition.length != 2) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Wrong expression: "+singleValue);
}else {
if (composition[0].equals("-")) {
composition[0] = "-1";
}else if (composition[1].equals("-")) {
composition[1] = "-1";
}else if (composition[0].equals("+")) {
composition[0] = "+1";
}else if (composition[1].equals("+")) {
composition[1] = "+1";
}
if (isDouble(composition[0])) {
return Double.parseDouble(composition[0])*getValueFromVariable(composition[1], values);
}else if (isDouble(composition[1])){
return Double.parseDouble(composition[1])*getValueFromVariable(composition[0], values);
}else {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Wrong expression: "+singleValue);
}
}
}else {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Wrong expression: "+singleValue);
}
}
private static double getValueFromVariable (String variable, HashMap<String, Double> values) throws IllegalArgumentException{
Double val = values.get(variable);
if (val == null) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unknown variable: "+variable);
}else {
return val;
}
}
/*
* FunctionSolver help tools:
*
*/
private static final String alphabetic = "abcdefghilmnopqrstuvzwykxy";
private static final String numeric = "0123456789.";
private static final String alphanumeric = alphabetic+numeric;
private static final String operators = "^*/+-"; //--> Operators order in important!
private static boolean firstContainsOnlySecond(String firstString, String secondString) {
for (int j = 0 ; j < firstString.length() ; j++) {
if (!secondString.contains(firstString.substring(j, j+1))) {
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
private static String getNewKey (HashMap<String, Double> hashMap) {
String alpha = "abcdefghilmnopqrstuvzyjkx";
for (int j = 0 ; j < alpha.length() ; j++) {
String k = alpha.substring(j,j+1);
if (!hashMap.containsKey(k) & !Arrays.asList(usableMathMethods()).contains(k)) {
return k;
}
}
for (int j = 0 ; j < alpha.length() ; j++) {
for (int i = 0 ; i < alpha.length() ; i++) {
String k = alpha.substring(j,j+1)+alpha.substring(i,i+1);
if (!hashMap.containsKey(k) & !Arrays.asList(usableMathMethods()).contains(k)) {
return k;
}
}
}
throw new NullPointerException();
}
public static String[] usableMathMethods () {
/*
* Only methods that:
* return a double type
* present one or two parameters (which are double type)
*/
Method[] mathMethods = Math.class.getDeclaredMethods();
ArrayList<String> usableMethodsNames = new ArrayList<>();
for (Method method : mathMethods) {
boolean usable = true;
int argumentsCounter = 0;
Class<?>[] methodParametersTypes = method.getParameterTypes();
for (Class<?> parameter : methodParametersTypes) {
if (!parameter.getSimpleName().equalsIgnoreCase("double")) {
usable = false;
break;
}else {
argumentsCounter++;
}
}
if (!method.getReturnType().getSimpleName().toLowerCase().equals("double")) {
usable = false;
}
if (usable & argumentsCounter<=2) {
usableMethodsNames.add(method.getName());
}
}
return usableMethodsNames.toArray(new String[usableMethodsNames.size()]);
}
private static boolean isDouble (String number) {
try {
Double.parseDouble(number);
return true;
}catch (Exception ex) {
return false;
}
}
private static String[] splitByLettersAndNumbers (String val) {
if (!firstContainsOnlySecond(val, alphanumeric+"+-")) {
throw new IllegalArgumentException("Wrong passed value: <<"+val+">>");
}
ArrayList<String> response = new ArrayList<>();
String searchingFor;
int lastIndex = 0;
if (firstContainsOnlySecond(""+val.charAt(0), numeric+"+-")) {
searchingFor = alphabetic;
}else {
searchingFor = numeric+"+-";
}
for (int j = 0 ; j < val.length() ; j++) {
if (searchingFor.contains(val.charAt(j)+"")) {
response.add(val.substring(lastIndex, j));
lastIndex = j;
if (searchingFor.equals(numeric+"+-")) {
searchingFor = alphabetic;
}else {
searchingFor = numeric+"+-";
}
}
}
response.add(val.substring(lastIndex,val.length()));
return response.toArray(new String[response.size()]);
}
private static void deleteValueIfPossible (String val, HashMap<String, Double> values, String function) {
if (values.get(val) != null & function != null) {
if (!function.contains(val)) {
values.remove(val);
}
}
}
private static int contOccouranceIn (String howManyOfThatString, String inThatString) {
return inThatString.length() - inThatString.replace(howManyOfThatString, "").length();
}
}
Writing your own library is not that hard as u might thing. Here is link for Shunting-yard algorithm with step by step algorithm explenation. Although, you will have to parse the input for tokens first.
There are 2 other questions wich can give you some information too:
Turn a String into a Math Expression?
What's a good library for parsing mathematical expressions in java?
As there are many answers, I'm adding my implementation on top of eval() method with some additional features like support for factorial, evaluating complex expressions etc.
package evaluation;
import java.math.BigInteger;
import java.util.EmptyStackException;
import java.util.Scanner;
import java.util.Stack;
import javax.script.ScriptEngine;
import javax.script.ScriptEngineManager;
import javax.script.ScriptException;
public class EvalPlus {
private static Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("This Evaluation is based on BODMAS rule\n");
evaluate();
}
private static void evaluate() {
StringBuilder finalStr = new StringBuilder();
System.out.println("Enter an expression to evaluate:");
String expr = scanner.nextLine();
if(isProperExpression(expr)) {
expr = replaceBefore(expr);
char[] temp = expr.toCharArray();
String operators = "(+-*/%)";
for(int i = 0; i < temp.length; i++) {
if((i == 0 && temp[i] != '*') || (i == temp.length-1 && temp[i] != '*' && temp[i] != '!')) {
finalStr.append(temp[i]);
} else if((i > 0 && i < temp.length -1) || (i==temp.length-1 && temp[i] == '!')) {
if(temp[i] == '!') {
StringBuilder str = new StringBuilder();
for(int k = i-1; k >= 0; k--) {
if(Character.isDigit(temp[k])) {
str.insert(0, temp[k] );
} else {
break;
}
}
Long prev = Long.valueOf(str.toString());
BigInteger val = new BigInteger("1");
for(Long j = prev; j > 1; j--) {
val = val.multiply(BigInteger.valueOf(j));
}
finalStr.setLength(finalStr.length() - str.length());
finalStr.append("(" + val + ")");
if(temp.length > i+1) {
char next = temp[i+1];
if(operators.indexOf(next) == -1) {
finalStr.append("*");
}
}
} else {
finalStr.append(temp[i]);
}
}
}
expr = finalStr.toString();
if(expr != null && !expr.isEmpty()) {
ScriptEngineManager mgr = new ScriptEngineManager();
ScriptEngine engine = mgr.getEngineByName("JavaScript");
try {
System.out.println("Result: " + engine.eval(expr));
evaluate();
} catch (ScriptException e) {
System.out.println(e.getMessage());
}
} else {
System.out.println("Please give an expression");
evaluate();
}
} else {
System.out.println("Not a valid expression");
evaluate();
}
}
private static String replaceBefore(String expr) {
expr = expr.replace("(", "*(");
expr = expr.replace("+*", "+").replace("-*", "-").replace("**", "*").replace("/*", "/").replace("%*", "%");
return expr;
}
private static boolean isProperExpression(String expr) {
expr = expr.replaceAll("[^()]", "");
char[] arr = expr.toCharArray();
Stack<Character> stack = new Stack<Character>();
int i =0;
while(i < arr.length) {
try {
if(arr[i] == '(') {
stack.push(arr[i]);
} else {
stack.pop();
}
} catch (EmptyStackException e) {
stack.push(arr[i]);
}
i++;
}
return stack.isEmpty();
}
}
Please find the updated gist anytime here. Also comment if any issues are there. Thanks.
There are some perfectly capable answers here. However for non-trivial script it may be desirable to retain the code in a cache, or for debugging purposes, or even to have dynamically self-updating code.
To that end, sometimes it's simpler or more robust to interact with Java via command line. Create a temporary directory, output your script and any assets, create the jar. Finally import your new code.
It's a bit beyond the scope of normal eval() use in most languages, though you could certainly implement eval by returning the result from some function in your jar.
Still, thought I'd mention this method as it does fully encapsulate everything Java can do without 3rd party tools, in case of desperation. This method allows me to turn HTML templates into objects and save them, avoiding the need to parse a template at runtime.
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.ListIterator;
class Calculate {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String strng = "8*-2*3*-1*10/2+6-2";
String[] oparator = {"+","-","*","/"};
List<String> op1 = new ArrayList<>();
String[] x = strng.split("");
int sayac=0;
for (String i : x) {
sayac ++;
for (String c : oparator) {
if (i.equals(c)) {
try {
int j = Integer.parseInt(strng.substring(0, sayac - 1));
op1.add(strng.substring(0, sayac - 1));
op1.add(c);
strng = strng.substring(sayac);
sayac = 0;
}catch (Exception e)
{
continue;
}
}
}
}
op1.add(strng);
ListIterator<String> it = op1.listIterator();
List<List> newlist = new ArrayList<>() ;
while (it.hasNext()) {
List<String> p= new ArrayList<>();
p.add(String.valueOf(it.nextIndex()));
p.add(it.next());
newlist.add(p);
}
int sayac2=0;
String oparatorvalue = "*";
calculate(sayac2,newlist,oparatorvalue);
String oparatorvalue2 = "/";
calculate(sayac2,newlist,oparatorvalue2);
String oparatorvalue3 = "+";
calculate(sayac2,newlist,oparatorvalue3);
String oparatorvalue4 = "-";
calculate(sayac2,newlist,oparatorvalue4);
System.out.println("Result:"+newlist.get(0).get(1));
}
private static void calculate(int sayac2, List<List> newlist, String oparatorvalue) {
while (sayac2<4){
try{
for (List j : newlist) {
if (j.get(1) == oparatorvalue) {
Integer opindex = newlist.indexOf(j);
Object sayi1 = newlist.get(opindex - 1).get(1);
Object sayi2 = newlist.get(opindex + 1).get(1);
int sonuc=0;
if (oparatorvalue.equals("*")){
sonuc = Integer.parseInt(sayi1.toString()) * Integer.parseInt(sayi2.toString());
}
if (oparatorvalue.equals("/")){
sonuc = Integer.parseInt(sayi1.toString()) / Integer.parseInt(sayi2.toString());
}
if (oparatorvalue.equals("+")){
sonuc = Integer.parseInt(sayi1.toString()) + Integer.parseInt(sayi2.toString());
}
if (oparatorvalue.equals("-")){
sonuc = Integer.parseInt(sayi1.toString()) - Integer.parseInt(sayi2.toString());
}
newlist.remove(opindex - 1);
newlist.remove(opindex - 1);
newlist.remove(opindex - 1);
List<String> sonuclist = new ArrayList<>();
sonuclist.add(String.valueOf(opindex - 1));
sonuclist.add(String.valueOf(sonuc));
newlist.add(opindex - 1, sonuclist);
}}}
catch (Exception e){
continue;
}
sayac2++;}
}
}
If you do not want to import heavy scripting library, you can use SimpleExpressionEvaluator directly into your code
Usage:
Expression.eval("1+2").asString(); // returns "3.0"
Expression.eval("1+2").asInt(); // returns 3
Expression.eval("2>3").asString(); // returns "false"
Expression.eval("2>3").asBoolean(); // returns false
Expression.eval("(3>2)||((2<4)&&(2>1))").asString(); // returns "true"
With variables:
HashMap<String, Object> st = new HashMap<String, Object>();
st.put("a",1);
st.put("b",2);
st.put("c",3);
st.put("d",4);
Expression.eval("a+b", st).asInt(); // or simply asString()
Expression.eval("a>b",st).asBoolean(); // or simply asString()
Expression.eval("(c>b)||((b<d)&&(b>a))",st).asBoolean(); // or simply asString()
Expression.eval("(c>2)||((2<d)&&(b>1))",st).asBoolean(); // or simply asString()
Using ExpressionBuilder:
Expression.expressionBuilder().putSymbol("a",2).putSymbol("b",3).build("(b>a)").evaluate()
The following resolved the issue:
ScriptEngineManager mgr = new ScriptEngineManager();
ScriptEngine engine = mgr.getEngineByName("JavaScript");
String str = "4*5";
System.out.println(engine.eval(str));
I want to do a specific sort. I am using java's comparable interface which means the return of my compare method must return -1 +1 or 0 depending on the equality of the two compared, then I am sorting using Collections. My trouble comes from how I wish to compare.
I have a key that is made up of either of the following
[keyName]
[siteName].[keyName]
[siteName].[pageName].[keyName]
so as an example "mysite.alampshade.color"
the tricky part is the sites must be sorted first, followed by keyname, followed by pageName. but firstly by the keynames, then site name, in the order of the number of sections to the property. Sorry. its a little complicated, an example may help. here is the order they must be:
alpha
beta
charlie
sitea.alpha
sitea.charlie
sitea.pagea.beta
sitea.pageb.beta
sitea.pagea.charlie
siteb.alpha
siteb.delta
siteb.pagef.alpha
siteb.pageb.echo
siteb.pageb.golf
siteb.pagea.hotel
siteb.pageb.hotel
siteb.pagec.hotel
I have tried many different ways and have thrown away code a few times but still cant get it perfect. some pseudocode would be of great help if not some java.
EDIT:
to add another possibly simplier to understand example
the following is sorted how I need it
a
b
c
z
a.b
a.c
a.d
a.z
a.b.a
a.c.a
a.b.b
a.b.c
a.c.c
a.a.d
b.a
b.b
b.z
b.a.a
b.b.a
b.a.b
c.c.f
Another option, making it recursive you avoid the problem if there is ever more entries.
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.List;
public class SortTest {
public static void main(String[] args) {
String[] test = new String[]{
"a",
"b",
"b.a",
"b.a.a",
"a.a.a",
"a.b.a",
"a.a",
"a.b",
"b.a.b",
"b.b.a"
};
Arrays.sort(test, new Comparator<String>() {
int compareComplexList(List<String> a, List<String> b, List<int[]> positions, int order ) {
int minimum = a.size() < b.size() ? a.size() - 1 : b.size() - 1;
if (a.get(positions.get(minimum)[order]).compareTo(b.get(positions.get(minimum)[order])) != 0)
return a.get(positions.get(minimum)[order]).compareTo(b.get(positions.get(minimum)[order]));
else if (order < minimum - 1) return compareComplexList(a,b, positions, ++order);
else return Double.compare(a.size(),b.size());
}
public int compare(String a, String b) {
List<String> partsA = Arrays.asList(a.split("\\."));
List<String> partsB = Arrays.asList(b.split("\\."));
List<int[]> orders = new ArrayList<int[]>();
orders.add(new int[] {0});
orders.add(new int[] {0,1});
orders.add(new int[] {0,2,1});
return compareComplexList(partsA, partsB, orders,0);
}
});
System.out.println("Sorted: "+Arrays.toString(test));
}
}
Should be good now.
public int compare(String a, String b) {
String[] partsA = a.split("\\.");
String[] partsB = b.split("\\.");
// If first term is different, we exit.
if (partsA[0].compareTo(partsB[0]) != 0) return partsA[0].compareTo(partsB[0]);
// Else, first term is identical.
else {
// Same number of parts
if (partsA.length == partsB.length) {
// 2 parts, we compare the 2nd part.
if (partsA.length == 2) {
return partsA[1].compareTo(partsB[1]);
// 3 parts, we compare the 3rd part first, then the 2nd part
} else {
if (partsA[2].compareTo(partsB[2]) != 0) return partsA[2].compareTo(partsB[2]);
return partsA[1].compareTo(partsB[1]);
}
// Different number of parts
} else {
// If A has only 1 part, it's first
if (partsA.length == 1) return -1;
// If B has only 1 part, it's first
if (partsB.length == 1) return 1;
// Case 2 vs 3 parts, we compare the 3rd part with the 2nd part of the other. If it's equal, the shorter is first.
if (partsA.length == 3) {
if (partsA[2].compareTo(partsB[1]) != 0) return partsA[2].compareTo(partsB[1]);
else return 1;
} else {
if (partsA[1].compareTo(partsB[2]) != 0) return partsA[1].compareTo(partsB[2]);
else return -1;
}
}
}
}
My other answer started getting too gnarly. Here's a better, more natural solution:
public class StrangeComparator {
private static class Entry implements Comparable<Entry> {
// What to split with.
static final String dot = Pattern.quote(".");
// The parts.
final String key;
final String page;
final String site;
public Entry(String s) {
String [] parts = s.split(dot);
switch (parts.length) {
case 1:
key = parts[0];
page = "";
site = "";
break;
case 2:
key = parts[1];
page = "";
site = parts[0];
break;
case 3:
key = parts[2];
page = parts[1];
site = parts[0];
break;
default:
throw new IllegalArgumentException("There must be at least one part to an entry.");
}
}
#Override
public int compareTo(Entry t) {
int diff = site.compareTo(t.site);
if ( diff == 0 ) {
diff = page.compareTo(t.page);
}
if ( diff == 0 ) {
diff = key.compareTo(t.key);
}
return diff;
}
#Override
public String toString () {
return (site.length() > 0 ? site + "." : "")
+ (page.length() > 0 ? page + "." : "")
+ key;
}
}
public void test() {
String[] test = new String[]{
"alpha",
"beta",
"charlie",
"zeta", // Added to demonstrate correctness.
"sitea.alpha",
"sitea.charlie",
"sitea.pagea.beta",
"sitea.pageb.beta",
"sitea.pagea.charlie",
"siteb.alpha",
"siteb.delta",
"siteb.pagef.alpha",
"siteb.pageb.echo",
"siteb.pageb.golf",
"siteb.pagea.hotel",
"siteb.pageb.hotel",
"siteb.pagec.hotel"
};
Arrays.sort(test);
System.out.println("Normal sort: " + Separator.separate("\n", "\n", test));
Entry[] entries = new Entry[test.length];
for ( int i = 0; i < test.length; i++ ) {
entries[i] = new Entry(test[i]);
}
Arrays.sort(entries);
System.out.println("Special sort: " + Separator.separate("\n", "\n", entries));
}
public static void main(String args[]) {
new StrangeComparator().test();
}
}
Output order is:
alpha
beta
charlie
zeta
sitea.alpha
sitea.charlie
sitea.pagea.beta
sitea.pagea.charlie
sitea.pageb.beta
siteb.alpha
siteb.delta
siteb.pagea.hotel
siteb.pageb.echo
siteb.pageb.golf
siteb.pageb.hotel
siteb.pagec.hotel
siteb.pagef.alpha
Which kinda does what you say but doesn't match your example.
Here's an alternative - if a component is found to contain less that 3 parts then parts are added at the start to take up the slack. It then uses a sort order array to define which columns should be compared next:
public void test() {
String[] test = new String[]{
"alpha",
"beta",
"charlie",
"zeta", // Added to demonstrate correctness.
"sitea.alpha",
"sitea.charlie",
"sitea.pagea.beta",
"sitea.pageb.beta",
"sitea.pagea.charlie",
"siteb.alpha",
"siteb.delta",
"siteb.pagef.alpha",
"siteb.pageb.echo",
"siteb.pageb.golf",
"siteb.pagea.hotel",
"siteb.pageb.hotel",
"siteb.pagec.hotel"
};
Arrays.sort(test);
System.out.println("Normal sort: "+Arrays.toString(test));
Arrays.sort(test, new Comparator<String>() {
// How many columns to pad to.
final int padTo = 3;
// What to pad with.
final String padWith = "";
// What order to compare the resultant columns in.
final int[] order = {0, 2, 1};
#Override
public int compare(String s1, String s2) {
String[] s1parts = padArray(s1.split(Pattern.quote(".")), padTo, padWith);
String[] s2parts = padArray(s2.split(Pattern.quote(".")), padTo, padWith);
int diff = 0;
for ( int i = 0; diff == 0 && i < order.length; i++ ) {
diff = s1parts[order[i]].compareTo(s2parts[order[i]]);
}
return diff;
}
String [] padArray(String[] array, int padTo, String padWith) {
String [] padded = new String[padTo];
for ( int i = 0; i < padded.length; i++ ) {
padded[padded.length - i - 1] = i < array.length ? array[i]: padWith;
}
return padded;
}
});
System.out.println("Special sort: "+Arrays.toString(test));
}
prints (more or less):
Normal sort: [alpha,
beta,
charlie,
sitea.alpha,
sitea.charlie,
sitea.pagea.beta,
sitea.pagea.charlie,
sitea.pageb.beta,
siteb.alpha,
siteb.delta,
siteb.pagea.hotel,
siteb.pageb.echo,
siteb.pageb.golf,
siteb.pageb.hotel,
siteb.pagec.hotel,
siteb.pagef.alpha,
zeta]
Special sort: [alpha,
beta,
charlie,
sitea.alpha,
sitea.charlie,
siteb.alpha,
siteb.delta,
zeta,
siteb.pagef.alpha,
sitea.pagea.beta,
sitea.pageb.beta,
sitea.pagea.charlie,
siteb.pageb.echo,
siteb.pageb.golf,
siteb.pagea.hotel,
siteb.pageb.hotel,
siteb.pagec.hotel]
There does seem to be some ambiguity in your requirements but this code is structured so you can, with trivial tweaks, achieve most interpretations of your comparison quite simply.