Sorting with Comparator, wrong order?

Question

Hello,
i've a string array, and every string in this array in form of "Firstname [MiddleName] LastName". After i sort the array i get "List A" below, but i expect to get "List B". All "Alp"s must be together like dictionary order, isn't it? What cause this?
Regards,
List A:
Alp BBBBB
Alper KKKKK
Alper SSSSSS
Alp KKKKKKK
Alp OOOO
Alp ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ
Alptuğ VVVVV
Alp YYYYY KKKKK
Alp YYYYYYYYYY
List B
Alp BBBBB
Alp KKKKKKK
Alp OOOO
Alp ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ
Alp YYYYY KKKKK
Alp YYYYYYYYYY
Alper KKKKK
Alper SSSSSS
Alptuğ VVVVV
Code
import java.text.Collator;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Locale;
public class sort {
    static final Comparator<String> x = new Comparator<String>() {
        public int compare(String o1, String o2) {
            return Collator.getInstance(new Locale("tr", "TR")).compare(o1, o2);
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String[] snames={
                 "Alp BBBBB",
                 "Alper KKKKK",
                 "Alper SSSSSS",
                 "Alp KKKKKKK",
                 "Alp OOOO",
                 "Alp ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ",
                 "Alptu&#287; VVVVV",
                 "Alp YYYYY KKKKK",
                 "Alp YYYYYYYYYY"};
        List lsnames=Arrays.asList(snames);
        Collections.sort(lsnames, x);
        System.out.println(lsnames.toString().replaceAll(",", "\n"));
}

Answer 1

static final Comparator<String> x = new Comparator<String>()
        final private Collator collator = Collator.getInstance(new Locale("tr", "TR"));
        final private Pattern splitterPattern = Pattern.compile("\\s+");
        public int compare(String o1, String o2)
            try
                final String[] fields1 = splitterPattern.split(o1, 2);
                final String[] fields2 = splitterPattern.split(o2, 2);
                for (int i = 0; i < 2; i++)
                    final int v = collator.compare(fields1, fields2[i]);
if (v != 0)
return v;
} catch (Exception e)
// Possibly nothing to do here but, depending on how
// fatal one views it, one could throw
// an unchecked exception, just print a stack
// trace or totally ignore the exception.
// Since this is probably a system error, my
// preference is for
throw new Error("Problem in comparator", e);
return -1;
public static void main(String[] args)
String[] snames =
"Alp BBBBB",
"Alper KKKKK",
"Alper SSSSSS",
"Alp KKKKKKK",
"Alp OOOO",
"Alp ÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖÖ",
"Alptu&#287; VVVVV",
"Alp YYYYY KKKKK",
"Alp YYYYYYYYYY"
List<String> lsnames = Arrays.asList(snames);
Collections.sort(lsnames, x);
System.out.println(lsnames.toString().replaceAll(",", "\n"));
}Edited by: sabre150 on Jan 6, 2009 10:37 AM