Find largest (or smallest) element in unordered array in one statement while preserving order [duplicate]

Question

I know how to find the largest and smallest elements of a Java:

sort the array
use a for loop to iterate over the array and check for the smallest.

But is there a way to check for the largest or smallest in one statement? Also, order needs to be preserved.

Conditions:

No method calls in the same class
Sequence is unsorted, and remains unsorted
No access to external libraries (i.e. ArrayUtils is not allowed).

Assume that this is a plain Java array, i.e. int[], not ArrayList<T> or LinkedList<T>.

If it's naturally sorted, largest and smallest are first/last or last/first elements (depending on the sort order), why the loop!? — user180100
– user180100, Commented Nov 16, 2013 at 13:45
Oh sorry, it is unsorted (I put unordered in the title, but meant unsorted). — user473973
– user473973, Commented Nov 16, 2013 at 13:46
@user473973 what RC meant: If you sort the array in step 1, you don't have to loop because the smallest element is then the first element of the array - that's what sorting usually does! — isnot2bad
– isnot2bad, Commented Nov 16, 2013 at 13:51

Sage · Accepted Answer · 2013-11-16 14:18:35Z

2

Integer arr[] = new Integer[50];
// fill the array with integers
Collections.min(Arrays.asList(arr));
Collections.max(Arrays.asList(arr));

Example:

Integer arr[] = {7, 8, 1, 2, 6};
System.out.println(Collections.min(Arrays.asList(arr)));
System.out.println(Collections.max(Arrays.asList(arr)));

Output:

1
8

If you must use int[] instead of Integer[] with the one statement constraint as proposed, you can make use of ArrayUtils.toObject function which will convert the int[] to it's corresponding wrapper class Integer[]. But i don't think you are after using external library though.

edited Nov 16, 2013 at 14:18

answered Nov 16, 2013 at 13:51

Sage

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3 Comments

Maarten Bodewes Over a year ago

Slightly cheating, but as asList() wrapps the array it is probably allowed. For performance direct array access will be faster, so be aware of huge arrays.

user180100 Over a year ago

this won't work with int[] however

Sage Over a year ago

yup, but OP requires the operation in one statement. Here it is, in one statement ;) :P

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