java - How to sort an ArrayList which contain more than 1000 different Strings on the basis of similairy to another given String -

i have arraylist contains 1000 strings. want sort list on basis of similarity given string outside. strings close string come in top.

for eg. have string "beauty , beast".

my arraylist contains string like:

redwall
beauty , beast 3
bluewall
beautyqueen i
beast of rome ii
beauty , beast 1
beast beauty
bluewall 2
beautyqueen ii
beast of rome i
beauty , beast 2
...

so after sorting arraylist, should like..

beauty , beast 1
beauty , beast 2
beauty , beast 3
beast beauty
beautyqueen i
beautyqueen ii
beast of rome i
beast of rome ii
bluewall
bluewall 2
redwall

some thing this.. dont know how order going after beauty , beast 3.. should pick string have same string in beginning.

i looking algorithm can me in implementing task in java.

i have heard using levenstein distance, have no idea on how can used task.

any pointers lot of help.

i have created custom comparator per need , here's code

• s search string, matching/closely matching string s should appear first
• i have created set<string> matches store tokens(words) of search string
• i have created comparator c has method getscore(string), gives score per number of matches found in given string of list against search string
• if getscore method returns 0 both strings of list or if both strings have same number of matches, sorting them in natural ordering.

• else promoting string has highest match returning -ve

  list<string> l = new arraylist<string>(); l.add("redwall"); l.add("beauty , beast 3"); l.add("bluewall"); l.add("beautyqueen i"); l.add("beast of rome ii"); l.add("beauty , beast 1"); l.add("beast beauty"); l.add("bluewall 2"); l.add("beautyqueen ii"); l.add("beast of rome i"); l.add("beauty , beast 2");  string s = "beauty , beast"; //search string final set<string> matches = new hashset<string>(); for(string tokens : s.split("\\s")) {     matches.add(tokens.tolowercase()); //convert search string tokens }  comparator<string> c = new comparator<string>() {      @override     public int compare(string o1, string o2) {         int scorediff = getscore(o1) - getscore(o2);         if((getscore(o1) == 0 && getscore(o2) == 0) || scorediff == 0) {             return o1.compareto(o2);         }         return - (getscore(o1) - getscore(o2));     }      private int getscore(string s) {         int score = 0;         for(string match : matches) {             if(s.tolowercase().contains(match)) {                 score++;             }         }         return score;     } }; collections.sort(l, c); for(string ss : l) {     system.out.println(ss); } 

and here's output

beauty , beast 1 beauty , beast 2 beauty , beast 3 beast beauty beast of rome beast of rome ii beautyqueen beautyqueen ii bluewall bluewall 2 redwall