Java: Find the maximum occurring character in a string

Last update on December 02 2023 12:11:20 (UTC/GMT +8 hours)

Java String: Exercise-43 with Solution

Write a Java program to find the character in a string that occurs the most frequently.

Sample Solution:

Java Code:

// Importing necessary Java utilities.
import java.util.*;

// Define a class named Main.
public class Main {
    
    // Define a constant for the size of the character set.
    static final int N = 256;
    
    // Method to find the character with the maximum occurrence in the string.
    static char MaxOccuringChar(String str1) {
        int ctr[] = new int[N]; // Array to count occurrences of each character.
        int l = str1.length(); // Length of the given string.
        
        // Loop through the string to count occurrences of each character.
        for (int i = 0; i < l; i++)
            ctr[str1.charAt(i)]++;
        
        int max = -1; // Variable to store maximum occurrence.
        char result = ' '; // Variable to store the character with the maximum occurrence.

        // Loop through the string to find the character with the maximum occurrence.
        for (int i = 0; i < l; i++) {
            if (max < ctr[str1.charAt(i)]) {
                max = ctr[str1.charAt(i)];
                result = str1.charAt(i);
            }
        }

        return result; // Return the character with the maximum occurrence.
    }

    // Main method to execute the program.
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String str1 = "test string"; // Given input string.
        
        // Display the given string.
        System.out.println("The given string is: " + str1);
        
        // Display the character with the maximum occurrence in the given string.
        System.out.println("Max occurring character in the given string is: " + MaxOccuringChar(str1));
    }
}

Sample Output:

The given string is: test string
Max occurring character in the given string is: t

Flowchart:

Find the character with the most appearances.

Main.java Code:

//MIT License: https://bit.ly/35gZLa3
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;

public class Main {

    private static final String TEXT = "My high school, the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, "
            + "showed me that anything is possible and that you're never too young to think big. "
            + "At 15, I worked as a computer programmer at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, "
            + "or Fermilab. After graduating, I attended Stanford for a degree in economics and "
            + "computer science.";

    public static void main(String[] args) {

        System.out.println("Input text: \n" + TEXT + "\n");

        System.out.println("HashMap based solution:");
        long startTimeV1 = System.nanoTime();

        Pair pairV1 = Strings.maxOccurenceCharacterV1(TEXT);

        displayExecutionTime(System.nanoTime() - startTimeV1);
        System.out.println("Character: " + pairV1.character);
        System.out.println("Occurrences :" + pairV1.occurrences);

        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("ASCII codes based solution:");
        long startTimeV2 = System.nanoTime();

        Pair pairV2 = Strings.maxOccurenceCharacterV2(TEXT);

        displayExecutionTime(System.nanoTime() - startTimeV2);
        System.out.println("Character: " + pairV2.character);
        System.out.println("Occurrences :" + pairV2.occurrences);

        System.out.println();
        System.out.println("Java 8, functional-style solution:");
        long startTimeV3 = System.nanoTime();

        Pair pairV3 = Strings.maxOccurenceCharacterV3(TEXT);

        displayExecutionTime(System.nanoTime() - startTimeV3);
        System.out.println("Character: " + pairV3.character);
        System.out.println("Occurrences :" + pairV3.occurrences);
    }

    private static void displayExecutionTime(long time) {
        System.out.println("Execution time: " + time + " ns" + " ("
                + TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS.convert(time, TimeUnit.NANOSECONDS) + " ms)");
    }
}

Pair.java Code:

//MIT License: https://bit.ly/35gZLa3
public final class Pair<V, C> {

    final V character;
    final C occurrences;

    public Pair(V character, C occurrences) {
        this.character = character;
        this.occurrences = occurrences;
    }

    static <V, C> Pair<V, C> of(V character, C occurrences) {
        return new Pair<>(character, occurrences);
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        return character.hashCode() ^ character.hashCode();
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object o) {
        if (!(o instanceof Pair)) {
            return false;
        }

        Pair obj = (Pair) o;
        return this.character.equals(obj.character)
                && this.occurrences.equals(obj.occurrences);
    }
}

Strings.java Code:

//MIT License: https://bit.ly/35gZLa3
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Map.Entry;
import static java.util.Map.Entry.comparingByValue;
import static java.util.stream.Collectors.counting;
import static java.util.stream.Collectors.groupingBy;

public final class Strings {

    private static final int EXTENDED_ASCII_CODES = 256;

    private Strings() {
        throw new AssertionError("Cannot be instantiated");
    }

    public static Pair<Character, Integer> maxOccurenceCharacterV1(String str) {

        if (str == null || str.isEmpty()) {
            // or throw IllegalArgumentException
            return Pair.of(Character.MIN_VALUE, -1);
        }

        Map<Character, Integer> counter = new HashMap<>();
        char[] chStr = str.toCharArray();
        for (int i = 0; i < chStr.length; i++) {

            char currentCh = chStr[i];
            if (!Character.isWhitespace(currentCh)) { // ignore spaces
                Integer noCh = counter.get(currentCh);
                if (noCh == null) {
                    counter.put(currentCh, 1);
                } else {
                    counter.put(currentCh, ++noCh);
                }
            }
        }

        int maxOccurrences = Collections.max(counter.values());

        char maxCharacter = Character.MIN_VALUE;
        for (Entry<Character, Integer> entry : counter.entrySet()) {
            if (entry.getValue() == maxOccurrences) {
                maxCharacter = entry.getKey();
            }
        }

        return Pair.of(maxCharacter, maxOccurrences);
    }

    public static Pair<Character, Integer> maxOccurenceCharacterV2(String str) {

        if (str == null || str.isEmpty()) {
            // or throw IllegalArgumentException
            return Pair.of(Character.MIN_VALUE, -1);
        }

        int maxOccurrences = -1;
        char maxCharacter = Character.MIN_VALUE;

        char[] chStr = str.toCharArray();
        int[] asciiCodes = new int[EXTENDED_ASCII_CODES];

        for (int i = 0; i < chStr.length; i++) {
            char currentCh = chStr[i];
            if (!Character.isWhitespace(currentCh)) { // ignoring space

                int code = (int) currentCh;
                asciiCodes[code]++;
                if (asciiCodes[code] > maxOccurrences) {
                    maxOccurrences = asciiCodes[code];
                    maxCharacter = currentCh;
                }
            }

        }

        return Pair.of(maxCharacter, maxOccurrences);
    }

    public static Pair<Character, Long> maxOccurenceCharacterV3(String str) {

        if (str == null || str.isEmpty()) {
            // or throw IllegalArgumentException
            return Pair.of(Character.MIN_VALUE, -1L);
        }

        return str.chars()
                .filter(c -> Character.isWhitespace(c) == false) // ignoring space
                .mapToObj(c -> (char) c)
                .collect(groupingBy(c -> c, counting()))
                .entrySet()
                .stream()
                .max(comparingByValue())
                .map(p -> Pair.of(p.getKey(), p.getValue()))
                .orElse(Pair.of(Character.MIN_VALUE, -1L));
    }
}

Sample Output:

Input text: 
My high school, the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, showed me that anything is possible and that you're never too young to think big. At 15, I worked as a computer programmer at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, or Fermilab. After graduating, I attended Stanford for a degree in economics and computer science.

HashMap based solution:
Execution time: 3438752 ns (3 ms)
Character: e
Occurrences :29

ASCII codes based solution:
Execution time: 215566 ns (0 ms)
Character: e
Occurrences :29

Java 8, functional-style solution:
Execution time: 120723045 ns (120 ms)
Character: e
Occurrences :29

Flowchart:

Java Code Editor:

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