How to sort strings.xml alphabetically in Android Studio - android-studio

Question

Hello is there a way to sort the string names alphabetically in strings.xml ?
It should sort it like this
Before
<string name="ccc">CText</string>
<string name="aaa">AText</string>
<string name="bbb">BText</string>
After
<string name="aaa">AText</string>
<string name="bbb">BText</string>
<string name="ccc">CText</string>
I am using Android Studio 1.5.1

Answer 1

I used AndroidXmlSorter plugin and it works perfectly for me.
How to install:
Go to Android Studio -> Preferences -> Plugins and hit Browse repositories..
Search for AndroidXmlSorter, install and restart your Android Studio. Go to your strings.xml file and hit Ctrl+L. Voila.
Disclaimer: I'm not the author of this plugin, I just found it by chance and I think all the credits should go to the plugin author. The repo is here: https://github.com/roana0229/android-xml-sorter

Answer 2

For anyone else who bumps into this. Copy all the string elements, paste into an Excel spreadsheet sort A-Z and then copy and paste back.
[Sort Android strings.xml in Alphabetical Order]

Answer 3

There is a plugin called Lines Sorter which can sort selected lines or whole files.

Answer 4

2022-09 | Simple plugin free solution:
Android studio includes option to sort lines / reverse lines.
Highlight lines of code to be sorted
unsorted lines
Edit > sort lines or Edit > reverse lines
sort line
Enjoy (reverse) alphabetical order
sorted lines

Answer 5

Sadly AndroidXmlSorter doesn't work for me when sorting multi-line strings.
My solution: Sort the strings.xml according to my android_strings_format.xslt (with xsltproc) and reformat it (with xmllint).
Cons: You have to execute a script. Therefore, it is not a true native feature of Android Studio. But you can easily execute scripts in Android Studio.
The script:
#!/bin/sh
sort_xml_file() {
xsltproc --output "$1" android_strings_format.xslt "$1"
export XMLLINT_INDENT=" "
xmllint --format --encode "utf-8" --output "$1" "$1"
}
sort_xml_file "src/main/res/values/strings.xml"
The android_strings_format.xslt file:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0"
xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:output
method="xml"
version="1.0"
encoding="UTF-8"
indent="yes"
omit-xml-declaration="yes"/>
<xsl:template match="/resources">
<resources>
<xsl:for-each select="string">
<xsl:sort select="#name"/>
<string name="{#name}">
<xsl:copy-of select="#* | node()"/>
</string>
</xsl:for-each>
</resources>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>
Works on Manjaro Linux x64.
EDIT: I have found a way to prevent multi-line text. I can enclose the text with quotes. <string name="available_version_error">"<u>ERRORa</u>"</string>

Answer 6

I used a XML formatter with an xslt definition - but this was too complex if you also uses plurals.
My solution: writing my own Python script:
import re
# add your files here
strings_files = ["path/to/strings.xml"]
# 1. transform the strings.xml file to a dict
# 2. sort the dict
# 3. transform the dict to a strings.xml file
def sort_strings_xml_file(path_to_file: str):
entries = dict()
current_entry_name = None
# read entries from strings.xml file
with open(path_to_file, "r") as file:
for line in file.readlines():
# a new entry was found in the strings.xml file
if line.strip().startswith("<string ") or line.strip().startswith("<plurals "):
current_entry_name = re.search(r'name="(.+)"', line).group(1)
entries[current_entry_name] = ""
# store content for the current entry
if current_entry_name is not None:
entries[current_entry_name] += line
# stop recording for the current entry
if line.strip().endswith("</string>") or line.strip().endswith("</plurals>"):
current_entry_name = None
entries = dict(sorted(entries.items()))
# write results back to the strings.xml file
with open(path_to_file, "w") as file:
file.write(('<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>'
'<resources>'
f'{"".join(entries.values())}</resources>'))
print(f"{path_to_file} was sorted")
for strings_file in strings_files:
sort_strings_xml_file(strings_file)

Answer 7

i would turn them to ASCII then sort that one and turn them back to string, very easy and very effective

Answer 8

Update: Easiest way is: Ctrl+A then Ctrl+Alt+L
For configuration: In Android studio, you can quickly sort XML code by following step:
Select all XML code in a file by Ctrl+A
Use combination: Ctrl+Alt+Shift+L
Select "Selected text" + "Rearrange code" Then Press RUN