Finding min and max of a given array in scala

Question

I have an array as below. what I am trying to understand are min and max inbuilt functions.

val bf=Array("wheels","on","the","bus")

For Max, the output is "wheels" which is right because the number of elements for wheels is big compared to others But when I try bf.min. I get the output as "bus". If min gives element with minimum elements then it should be "on"? am I right? what am I missing here? can someone please help me understand what am I doing wrong?

"aaaaaaaa" < "b" && "bbbbbbbbbbb" < "c" & "ccccccc" < "d", StringOrdering source code — Andrey Tyukin
– Andrey Tyukin, Commented Feb 3, 2019 at 13:37
Can you explain why you think "on" is lexicographically smaller than "bus"? At least in my language's alphabet "b" comes before "o", not after. In a lexicon in your native language, would the word "bus" come after the word "on"? — Jörg W Mittag
– Jörg W Mittag, Commented Feb 3, 2019 at 17:58
@JoergWMittag Thank you that's my doubt and so the reason of posting my question here. please read my question, I was confused it as the number of elements. Yes, in english language 'b' comes before 'o' and after 'a'. Thanks for enlightening me — user2708013
– user2708013, Commented Feb 3, 2019 at 22:42

senjin.hajrulahovic · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-03 14:38:58Z

4

Alphanumeric order is used by default, when comparing strings.

You want to use minBy, maxBy if you want to get the shortest or longest string respectively.

bf.minBy(_.length)

Array#maxBy

answered Feb 3, 2019 at 14:38

senjin.hajrulahovic

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Alexey Novakov · Accepted Answer · 2019-02-03 13:42:14Z

3

min function uses Java String compareTo method to compare a Unicode value of each character in the strings.

If we compare on and bus, then bus will be smaller:

@ "on".compareTo("bus")
res16: Int = 13

13 is difference of integer values of o and b. Also, return value is positive, which means left operant is greater than right operand.

and on is smaller than wheels and so on:

@ "on".compareTo("wheels")
res17: Int = -8

Here we have negative return value, which means left operand is smaller tha right operand.

See more information here: https://www.journaldev.com/18009/java-string-compare

answered Feb 3, 2019 at 13:42

Alexey Novakov

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