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Thread: Question about writing a phonebook sorting program

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    Default Question about writing a phonebook sorting program

    Hello, I have a couple of questions i'd like to ask regarding a recent assignment ive been given to do. I have to write a program that reads in a list of names & numbers in the format:

    Bill Smith 3456
    Jill Sixpack 7654578
    Fred Flintstone 835647
    Donald Duck 298465475
    Micky Mouse 0874567878
    Minnie Mouse 0874567878
    Albert Einstein 9032831

    and print them in the format(Alphabetical surname order, followed by forename then number):

    Duck, Donald 298465475
    Einstein, Albert 9032831
    Flintstone, Fred 835647
    Mouse, Micky 0874567878
    Mouse, Minnie 0874567878
    Sixpack, Jill 7654578
    Smith, Bill 3456

    It is required that we use our own selection sort method to sort the surnames in alphabetical order but what im wondering, is how will I be able to sort them whilst keeping the forename & number associated with the specific surname. For instance, if i read both the surnames & forenames at once and stored them in one array, and used my sort method to sort that alphabetically, it'd sort the forenames aswell. Whereas I only want the surnames to be sorted. Will I need more than one array? Can anyone give me a bit of guidance as to how to approach this? Many thanks


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    Default Re: Question about writing a phonebook sorting program

    Think Classes and Objects . In other words, sort a List of objects containing the appropriate data values.

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    Default Re: Question about writing a phonebook sorting program

    Thanks for the reply copeg I have everything done now and running, but my last question is about the printing format. If i enter a number that starts with a zero, for example 0871234567, it will print 871234567. How can i get it to print a leading zero, if needed. My print statement is as follows:

    System.out.printf("%-25s%-15d\n",surname+", "+forename, number);

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