single string list- alphabetizing

Question

I'm trying to write a code that uses a scanner to input a list of words, all in one string, then alphabetizer each individual word. What I'm getting is just the first word alphabetized by letter, how can i fix this?

the code:

else if(answer.equals("new"))
    {
      System.out.println("Enter words, separated by commas and spaces.");
      String input= scanner.next();
      char[] words= input.toCharArray(); 
      Arrays.sort(words);
      String sorted= new String(words);
      System.out.println(sorted);

    }

Result: " ,ahy "

Answer 1

You're reading in a String via scanner.next() and then breaking that String up into characters. So, as you said, it's sorting the single-string by characters via input.toCharArray() . What you need to do is read in all of the words and add them to a String [] . After all of the words have been added, use Arrays.sort(yourStringArray) to sort them. See comments for answers to your following questions.

Answer 2

You'll need to split your string into words instead of characters. One option is using String.split . Afterwards, you can join those words back into a single string:

System.out.println("Enter words, separated by commas and spaces.");
String input = scanner.nextLine();

String[] words = input.split(",| ");
Arrays.sort(words);

StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.append(words[0]);
for (int i = 1; i < words.length; i++) {
    sb.append(" ");
    sb.append(words[i]);
}
String sorted = sb.toString();

System.out.println(sorted);

Note that by default, capital letters are sorted before lowercase. If that's a problem, see this question .