javacannot-find-symboljshell

'Cannot find symbol' when sorting a stream of files using compareToIgnoreCase (JShell)


Using JShell of java 13.0.1 on Debian Stretch:

    import static java.nio.file.Files.*;
    var hm=Path.of(System.getProperty("user.home"));
    void p(String s) {System.out.println(s);}
    list(hm).sorted((a,b)->a.compareTo(b)).forEach(x -> p(x.toString().substring(hm.toString().length()+1)));
    list(hm).sorted().forEach(x -> p(x.toString().substring(hm.toString().length()+1)));
    "a".compareToIgnoreCase("A");

This all works (it lists the files in the home folder two times, and returns 0).

But when I enter:

    list(hm).sorted((a,b)->a.compareToIgnoreCase(b)).forEach(x -> p(x.toString().substring(hm.toString().length()+1)));

It leads to an error:

Cannot find symbol, symbol: method compareToIgnoreCase.

Any idea what make compareToIgnoreCase to fail?


Solution

  • hm is a Path, thus list(hm) returns a Stream<Path>. There is no method compareToIgnoreCases(...) in class Path. If one wants to use compareToIgnoreCase from String, one needs to transform the Path to String first, e.g. by calling toString():

    list(hm)
        .sorted((a,b) -> a.toString().compareToIgnoreCase(b.toString()))
        .forEach(x -> p(x.toString().substring(hm.toString().length() + 1)));
    

    Looking at what is done in the stream-chain, mapping the entries to String before further execution seems sensible:

    list(hm)
        .map(Path::toString) // convert Stream<Path> to Stream<String>
        .sorted(String::compareToIgnoreCase)
        .map(x -> x.substring(hm.toString().length() + 1))
        .forEach(this::p);
    

    (The code above assumes that p is an instance method of the this-object)