Java doesn't have a direct API to sort HashSet and LinkedHashSet collections. However, you can sort by converting them to TreeSet and ArrayList collections

Let's walk through this tutorial to explore in more details

Sort by converting to TreeSet

You can convert a HashSet or LinkedHashSet to TreeSet by using TreeSet constructors including TreeSet<>(Collection) and TreeSet<>(Comparator)

  • If you use TreeSet<>(Collection) constructor to convert, the sorting logic will be based on the Comparable natural ordering of the underlying objects

    In the below example, Comparable is implemented in Integer by default. The descendingSet() method of a TreeSet instance can also be used to get the reversed order from the default Comparable implementation

@Test
public void sortWith_TreeSet_And_Comparable() {  
    Set<Integer> set = new HashSet<>(Set.of(3, 1, 2));

    NavigableSet<Integer> sortedSet = new TreeSet<>(set);
    assertThat(sortedSet).containsExactly(1, 2, 3);

    NavigableSet<Integer> descSet = sortedSet.descendingSet();
    assertThat(descSet).containsExactly(3, 2, 1);
}

  • If you use TreeSet<>(Comparator) constructor in conjunction with addAll(Collection) method to convert, the sorting logic will be controlled by the given Comparator

    The ordering can be inherited from the implemented Comparable of the underlying objects with Comparator.naturalOrder() or in the reverse order with Comparator.reverseOrder()

@Test
public void sortWith_TreeSet_And_Comparator() {  
    Set<Integer> set = new HashSet<>(Set.of(3, 1, 2));

    NavigableSet<Integer> sortedSet = new TreeSet<>(Comparator.reverseOrder());
    sortedSet.addAll(set);
    assertThat(sortedSet).containsExactly(3, 2, 1);
}
  • A custom sorting logic can be specified to the TreeSet<>(Comparator) constructor with Comparator.comparing(keyExtractor, keyComparator) in which keyExtractor is a function to extract the sort key from the underlying objects and keyComparator is used to compare the sort key
@Test
public void sortWith_TreeSet_And_CustomComparator() {  
    Book book1 = new Book(1, "b");
    Book book2 = new Book(2, "c");
    Book book3 = new Book(3, "c");
    Set<Book> set = new HashSet<>(Set.of(book1, book2, book3));

    Comparator<Book> c = Comparator
        .comparing(Book::getTitle, Comparator.reverseOrder())
        .thenComparing(Book::getId, Comparator.reverseOrder());

    NavigableSet<Book> sortedSet = new TreeSet<>(c);
    sortedSet.addAll(set);

    assertThat(sortedSet).containsExactly(book3, book2, book1);
}

Book is defined as the following

class Book {  
    int id;
    String title;

    Book(int id, String title) {
        this.id = id;
        this.title = title;
    }

    int getId() {
        return id;
    }

    String getTitle() {
        return title;
    }
}

Sort by converting to ArrayList

You can convert a HashSet or LinkedHashSet to ArrayList by using ArrayList constructor ArrayList<>(Collection)

  • The created ArrayList is in the order returned by the given Set iterator. To sort it, you can use the sort(Comparator.naturalOrder()) method to inherit the ordering logic defined by the implemented Comparable of the underlying objects

    Comparator.reverseOrder() can also be used to get the reversed order from the default implementation

    In the following example, Comparable is implemented in String class by default to provide the alphabetical order

@Test
public void sortWith_ArrayList_And_Comparable() {  
    Set<String> set = new HashSet<>(Set.of("c", "a", "b"));
    List<String> list = new ArrayList<>(set);

    list.sort(Comparator.naturalOrder());
    assertThat(list).containsExactly("a", "b", "c");

    list.sort(Comparator.reverseOrder());
    assertThat(list).containsExactly("c", "b", "a");
}
  • A custom sorting logic can be specified to the sort(Comparator) method of a List instance with Comparator.comparing(keyExtractor, keyComparator) as mentioned in the previous section
@Test
public void sortWith_ArrayList_And_CustomComparator() {  
    Book book1 = new Book(1, "b");
    Book book2 = new Book(2, "c");
    Book book3 = new Book(3, "c");
    Set<Book> set = new HashSet<>(Set.of(book1, book2, book3));

    List<Book> list = new ArrayList<>(set);
    list.sort(Comparator
        .comparing(Book::getTitle, Comparator.reverseOrder())
        .thenComparing(Book::getId, Comparator.reverseOrder()));

    assertThat(list).containsExactly(book3, book2, book1);
}

Learn more about sorting in ArrayList

Comparable and Comparator

In short, Comparable and Comparator provide the default and custom sorting logic, respectively, to the underlying objects in an array or collection

Learn more about Comparable and Comparator

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we learned sorting a HashSet or LinkedHashSet in Java by converting it to TreeSet or ArrayList. You can find below the full source code
JavaCollections In Java