Filter an array of arrays based on some criteria

Question

Hi Folks:
Is there a way to filter an array of arrays based on some criteria?
Say I have the below set of records in an array of arrays. testArr[][]
ID     DTLNUM           PARTNUM          PARTDESC
AB11     AB11-1           6531079          bath towel
AB11     AB11-2           5122830          bathtub mat
AB11     AB11-3           3649100          shower curtain
AB11     AB11-4           1143784          hamper
AB11     AB11-5            2672324          bath scaleI want to filter the above array and get all records having PARTDESC beginning with the letters "bath" into another array of arrays, resultArr[][] //I want to get the result in this one.
How could this be done?
Please help.
Thank you for your time.

Answer 1

Say I have the below set of records in an array of arrays. testArr[][]
Why array of arrays? Why not an array of objects of a class say 'Part'?
class Part{
     String id;
     String dtlnum;
     String partnum;
     String partdesc;
     // getters and setters
}As far as filtering is concerned, regex match would be very easy...
Part[] parts;
Part[] filtered;
//initiallize parts
void filter(String keyword){
     ArrayList<Part> list=new ArrayList<Part>();
     for(Part p:parts){
         if(p.getPartdesc().matches(keyword+".*"))list.add(p);
     filtered=list.toArray();
// call filter function to filter
filter("bath");Thanks!
PS: This code is neither tested nor compiled.