Sort string of characters using Stack

Difficulty Level : Medium
Last Updated : 10 Jun, 2021

Given a string of characters. The task is to write a program to print the characters of this string in sorted order using stack.

Examples:

Input: str = "geeksforgeeks" 
Output: eeeefggkkorss

Input: str = "hello395world216"
Output: 123569dehllloorw

Approach:

Initialize two stacks, one stack, and other tempstack.
Insert the first character of the string in the stack.
Iterate for all the characters in the string
1. if the i^th character is greater than or equal to the top element of the stack, then push the element.
2. if the i^th character is not greater, then push all the elements of the stack into tempstack, and then push the character into the stack. After this, push all the greater elements of tempstack to stack.

Print the all elements of the stack in reverse order when the iteration is completed.

Below is the implementation of the above approach:

C++

// C++ program to sort string of
// characters using stack 
#include <bits/stdc++.h>
using namespace std;
 
// Function to print the characters 
// in sorted order 
void printSorted(string s, int l)
{
     
    // Primary stack
    stack<char> Stack; 
     
    // Secondary stack
    stack<char> tempstack; 
       
    // Append first character  
    Stack.push(s[0]);
     
    // Iterate for all character in string 
    for(int i = 1; i < l; i++)
    {
         
        // i-th character ASCII 
        int a = s[i];
         
        // stack's top element ASCII 
        int b = Stack.top(); 
           
        // If greater or equal to top element 
        // then push to stack 
        if ((a - b) >= 1 or (a == b))
            Stack.push(s[i]); 
               
        // If smaller, then push all element 
        // to the temporary stack 
        else if ((b - a) >= 1)
        {
             
            // Push all greater elements 
            while ((b - a) >= 1)
            {
                 
                // Push operation 
                tempstack.push(Stack.top());
                Stack.pop();
                 
                // Push till the stack is not-empty 
                if (Stack.size() > 0)
                    b = Stack.top();
                else
                    break;
            }
                       
            // Push the i-th character 
            Stack.push(s[i]);
             
            // Push the tempstack back to stack 
            while (tempstack.size() > 0)
            {
                Stack.push(tempstack.top());
                tempstack.pop();
            }
        }
    }
     
    // Print the stack in reverse order
    string answer;
    while (Stack.size() > 0)
    {
        answer = Stack.top() + answer;
        Stack.pop();
    }
    cout << answer << endl;
}
 
// Driver Code   
int main()
{
    string s = "geeksforgeeks";
    int l = s.length();
     
    printSorted(s, l);
     
    return 0;
}
 
// This code is contributed by divyeshrabadiya07

Java

// Java program to sort string of
// characters using stack 
import java.io.*;
import java.util.*;
 
class GFG{
     
// Function to print the characters 
// in sorted order
public static void printSorted(String s,int l)
{
     
    // Primary stack
    Stack<Character> stack = new Stack<Character>();
     
    // Secondary stack
    Stack<Character> tempstack  = new Stack<Character>();
     
    // Append first character  
    stack.push(s.charAt(0));
     
    // Iterate for all character in string 
    for(int i = 1; i < l; i++)
    {
         
        // i-th character ASCII 
        int a = s.charAt(i);
         
        // Stack's top element ASCII 
        int b = (int)((char)stack.peek());
         
        // If greater or equal to top element 
        // then push to stack 
        if ((a - b) >= 1 || (a == b))
        {
            stack.push(s.charAt(i));
        }
         
        // If smaller, then push all element 
        // to the temporary stack
        else if ((b - a) >= 1)
        {
             
            // Push all greater elements 
            while ((b - a) >= 1)
            {
                 
                // Push operation 
                tempstack.push(stack.peek());
                stack.pop();
                 
                // Push till the stack is not-empty 
                if (stack.size() > 0)
                {
                    b = (int)((char)stack.peek());
                }
                else
                {
                    break;
                }
            }
             
            // Push the i-th character 
            stack.push(s.charAt(i));
             
            // Push the tempstack back to stack 
            while (tempstack.size() > 0)
            {
                stack.push(tempstack.peek());
                tempstack.pop();
            }
        }
    }
     
    // Print the stack in reverse order
    String answer = "";
    while (stack.size() > 0)
    {
        answer = stack.peek()+answer;
        stack.pop();
    }
    System.out.println(answer);
}
 
// Driver Code
public static void main(String []args)
{
    String s = "geeksforgeeks";
    int l = s.length();
     
    printSorted(s, l);
}
}
 
// This code is contributed by rag2127

Python3

# Python3 program to sort
# string of characters using stack
 
 
# function to print the characters
# in sorted order
def printSorted(s, l):
     
    # primary stack
    stack =[]
     
    # secondary stack
    tempstack =[]
     
    # append first character 
    stack.append(s[0])
     
    # iterate for all character in string
    for i in range(1, l):
         
        # i-th character ASCII
        a = ord(s[i])
         
        # stack's top element ASCII
        b = ord(stack[-1])
         
        # if greater or equal to top element
        # then push to stack
        if((a-b)>= 1 or (a == b)):
            stack.append(s[i])
             
        # if smaller, then push all element
        # to the temporary stack
        elif((b-a)>= 1):
             
            # push all greater elements
            while((b-a)>= 1):
                 
                # push operation
                tempstack.append(stack.pop())
                 
                # push till the stack is not-empty
                if(len(stack)>0):
                    b = ord(stack[-1])
                else:
                    break
                     
            # push the i-th character
            stack.append(s[i])
             
            # push the tempstack back to stack
            while(len(tempstack)>0):
                stack.append(tempstack.pop())
                 
    # print the stack in reverse order
    print(''.join(stack))
 
 
# Driver Code
s = "geeksforgeeks"
l = len(s)
printSorted(s, l)

C#

// C# program to sort string of
// characters using stack 
using System;
using System.Collections;
class GFG {
     
    // Function to print the characters 
    // in sorted order 
    static void printSorted(string s, int l)
    {
          
        // Primary stack
        Stack stack = new Stack();
          
        // Secondary stack
        Stack tempstack = new Stack();
            
        // Append first character  
        stack.Push(s[0]);
          
        // Iterate for all character in string 
        for(int i = 1; i < l; i++)
        {
              
            // i-th character ASCII 
            int a = s[i];
              
            // stack's top element ASCII 
            int b = (int)((char)stack.Peek()); 
                
            // If greater or equal to top element 
            // then push to stack 
            if ((a - b) >= 1 || (a == b))
                stack.Push(s[i]); 
                    
            // If smaller, then push all element 
            // to the temporary stack 
            else if ((b - a) >= 1)
            {
                  
                // Push all greater elements 
                while ((b - a) >= 1)
                {
                      
                    // Push operation 
                    tempstack.Push(stack.Peek());
                    stack.Pop();
                      
                    // Push till the stack is not-empty 
                    if (stack.Count > 0)
                        b = (int)((char)stack.Peek());
                    else
                        break;
                }
                            
                // Push the i-th character 
                stack.Push(s[i]);
                  
                // Push the tempstack back to stack 
                while (tempstack.Count > 0)
                {
                    stack.Push(tempstack.Peek());
                    tempstack.Pop();
                }
            }
        }
          
        // Print the stack in reverse order
        string answer = "";
        while (stack.Count > 0)
        {
            answer = stack.Peek() + answer;
            stack.Pop();
        }
        Console.WriteLine(answer);
    }
 
  static void Main() {
    string s = "geeksforgeeks";
    int l = s.Length;
      
    printSorted(s, l);
  }
}
 
// This code is contributed by divyesh072019

Javascript

<script>
 
// JavaScript program to sort string of
// characters using stack 
 
// Function to print the characters 
// in sorted order 
function printSorted(s, l)
{
     
    // Primary stack
    var Stack = []; 
     
    // Secondary stack
    var tempstack = []; 
       
    // Append first character  
    Stack.push(s[0].charCodeAt(0));
     
    // Iterate for all character in string 
    for(var i = 1; i < l; i++)
    {
         
        // i-th character ASCII 
        var a = s[i].charCodeAt(0);
         
        // stack's top element ASCII 
        var b = Stack[Stack.length-1]; 
           
        // If greater or equal to top element 
        // then push to stack 
        if ((a - b) >= 1 || (a == b))
            Stack.push(s[i].charCodeAt(0)); 
               
        // If smaller, then push all element 
        // to the temporary stack 
        else if ((b - a) >= 1)
        {
             
            // Push all greater elements 
            while ((b - a) >= 1)
            {
                 
                // Push operation 
                tempstack.push(Stack[Stack.length-1]);
                Stack.pop();
                 
                // Push till the stack is not-empty 
                if (Stack.length > 0)
                    b = Stack[Stack.length-1];
                else
                    break;
            }
                       
            // Push the i-th character 
            Stack.push(s[i].charCodeAt(0));
             
            // Push the tempstack back to stack 
            while (tempstack.length > 0)
            {
                Stack.push(tempstack[tempstack.length-1]);
                tempstack.pop();
            }
        }
    }
     
    // Print the stack in reverse order
    var answer = "";
    while (Stack.length > 0)
    {
        answer = String.fromCharCode(Stack[Stack.length-1]) + answer;
        Stack.pop();
    }
    document.write( answer)
}
 
// Driver Code   
var s = "geeksforgeeks";
var l = s.length;
 
printSorted(s, l);
 
</script>

Output:

eeeefggkkorss

An efficient approach using hashing has been implemented in this post

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