Sort file by date

Question

hi guys, i have a problem with sorting my files here. this is what my code look like. but i could sort it
if any one knows please help me
          for ( count = 0; count < dirList.length; count++ )
          //return the character after the ('.')
          String fileName = dirList[count].getName();
          int index = fileName.lastIndexOf('.');
          //sorting the file
          long[] date = new long[dirList.length];
          for ( int i = 0; i < dirList.length; i++ )
               date[i] = dirList.lastModified();
          for ( int j = 0; j < dirList.length; j++ )
//i have a problem here...how do I sort these files by their date
          if (date[i].equalsTo(dirList[count]) );
               //Arrays.sort(dirList);          
          }//end of the loop of sort
          }//end for innerloop for date     
                    if ( index >= 0 )
                         newString = fileName.substring(index, fileName.length());
                    out.print("<!--" + newString + "-->"); //debug
                         if ( newString.equalsIgnoreCase( ".txt"))
                              out.println("<a href='http://10.0.0.16" + dirList[count].getPath().substring(9) + "'target='right'>" + fileName + "</a><br>");
                         }// end if newstring;
               }//end if index
          }//end for
thank so much for your help.

Answer 1

if i've understood your question correctly, you have an array of File objects, and you want to sort them according to their "last modified" times. here's how you can do that, in chronological order:Comparator fileByLastModified = new java.util.Comparator() {
  public int compare( Object o1, Object o2 ) {
    java.io.File f1 = (java.io.File) o1;
    java.io.File f2 = (java.io.File) o2;
    long time1 = f1.lastModified();
    long time2 = f2.lastModified();
    if ( time1 < time2 ) {
      return -1;
    if ( time1 > time2 ) {
      return 1;
    return 0;
Arrays.sort( dirList, fileByLastModified );