Java Utility Library

Java Collections - min() Method

The java.util.Collections.min() method returns the minimum element of the given collection, according to the order induced by the specified comparator.

Syntax

public static <T> T min(Collection<? extends T> coll, 
                        Comparator<? super T> comp)

Here, T is the type of element in the collection.

Parameters

`coll`	Specify the collection whose minimum element is to be determined.
`comp`	Specify the comparator with which to determine the minimum element. A null value indicates that the elements' natural ordering should be used.

Return Value

Return the minimum element of the given collection, according to the specified comparator.

Exception

Throws ClassCastException, if the collection contains elements that are not mutually comparable using the specified comparator.
Throws NoSuchElementException, if the collection is empty.

Example:

In the example below, the java.util.Collections.min() method is used to find the minimum element in a given collection according to the specified comparator.

import java.util.*;

public class MyClass {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    //creating a list object
    List<Integer> MyList = new ArrayList<Integer>();

    //populating MyList
    MyList.add(10);
    MyList.add(20);
    MyList.add(-30);
    MyList.add(-40);
    MyList.add(100);

    //printing the list
    System.out.println("MyList contains: " + MyList);  

    //creating a comparator for natural order sorting
    Comparator<Integer> comp = Comparator.naturalOrder();

    //finding minimum element in the list
    int retval = Collections.min(MyList, comp);
    System.out.println("Maximum element in MyList: " + retval); 
  }
}

The output of the above code will be:

MyList contains: [10, 20, -30, -40, 100]
Maximum element in MyList: -40

❮ Java.util - Collections