Comparing the values of two generic Numbers
A working (but brittle) solution is something like this:
class NumberComparator implements Comparator<Number> {
public int compare(Number a, Number b){
return new BigDecimal(a.toString()).compareTo(new BigDecimal(b.toString()));
}
}
It's still not great, though, since it counts on toString
returning a value parsable by BigDecimal
(which the standard Java Number
classes do, but which the Number
contract doesn't demand).
Edit, seven years later: As pointed out in the comments, there are (at least?) three special cases toString
can produce that you need to take into regard:
Infinity
, which is greater than everything, except itself to which it is equal-Infinity
, which is less than everything, except itself to which it is equalNaN
, which is extremely hairy/impossible to compare since all comparisons withNaN
result infalse
, including checking equality with itself.
After having asked a similar question and studying the answers here, I came up with the following. I think it is more efficient and more robust than the solution given by gustafc:
public int compare(Number x, Number y) {
if(isSpecial(x) || isSpecial(y))
return Double.compare(x.doubleValue(), y.doubleValue());
else
return toBigDecimal(x).compareTo(toBigDecimal(y));
}
private static boolean isSpecial(Number x) {
boolean specialDouble = x instanceof Double
&& (Double.isNaN((Double) x) || Double.isInfinite((Double) x));
boolean specialFloat = x instanceof Float
&& (Float.isNaN((Float) x) || Float.isInfinite((Float) x));
return specialDouble || specialFloat;
}
private static BigDecimal toBigDecimal(Number number) {
if(number instanceof BigDecimal)
return (BigDecimal) number;
if(number instanceof BigInteger)
return new BigDecimal((BigInteger) number);
if(number instanceof Byte || number instanceof Short
|| number instanceof Integer || number instanceof Long)
return new BigDecimal(number.longValue());
if(number instanceof Float || number instanceof Double)
return new BigDecimal(number.doubleValue());
try {
return new BigDecimal(number.toString());
} catch(final NumberFormatException e) {
throw new RuntimeException("The given number (\"" + number + "\" of class " + number.getClass().getName() + ") does not have a parsable string representation", e);
}
}
This should work for all classes that extend Number, and are Comparable to themselves. By adding the & Comparable you allow to remove all the type checks and provides runtime type checks and error throwing for free when compared to Sarmun answer.
class NumberComparator<T extends Number & Comparable> implements Comparator<T> {
public int compare( T a, T b ) throws ClassCastException {
return a.compareTo( b );
}
}