Comparator Definition

Comparator (in computer science)—a significant concept for comparing elements in data structures. It serves as a mechanism for defining criteria in order to enable the ordering and sorting of objects or values. Comparators in Java are meant to be used in sorting objects in a collection and are widely used in sorting arrays, priority queues, search trees, and so many other algorithms and data structures in which one needs to perform such an operation.

In a method that displays comparison, a comparator represents the method or function through which two elements are passed as arguments, and a value that says how these two elements are ordered is returned.

The comparison result is used for putting elements in increasing or decreasing order, respectively. It gives flexibility in sorting operations in which it can be considered that a developer can define any custom comparison logic to meet the requirements. It gives an array sorting provision on the basis of different attributes or properties of the object, which gives flexibility for many different situations.