diff --git a/src/main/java/com/thealgorithms/strings/Alphabetical.java b/src/main/java/com/thealgorithms/strings/Alphabetical.java
index ef2974eb427d..37b1fb068b44 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/thealgorithms/strings/Alphabetical.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/thealgorithms/strings/Alphabetical.java
@@ -1,32 +1,58 @@
package com.thealgorithms.strings;
+import java.util.Locale;
+
/**
- * Utility class for checking if a string's characters are in alphabetical order.
+ * Utility class for checking whether a string's characters are in non-decreasing
+ * lexicographical order based on Unicode code points (case-insensitive).
+ *
+ * This does NOT implement language-aware alphabetical ordering (collation rules).
+ * It simply compares lowercase Unicode character values.
*
- * Alphabetical order is a system whereby character strings are placed in order
- * based on the position of the characters in the conventional ordering of an
- * alphabet.
+ * Non-letter characters are not allowed and will cause the check to fail.
*
- * Reference: Wikipedia: Alphabetical Order
+ * Reference:
+ * Wikipedia: Alphabetical order
*/
public final class Alphabetical {
+
private Alphabetical() {
}
/**
- * Checks whether the characters in the given string are in alphabetical order.
- * Non-letter characters will cause the check to fail.
+ * Checks whether the characters in the given string are in non-decreasing
+ * lexicographical order (case-insensitive).
+ *
+ * Rules:
+ *
+ * - String must not be null or blank
+ * - All characters must be letters
+ * - Comparison is based on lowercase Unicode values
+ * - Order must be non-decreasing (equal or increasing allowed)
+ *
*
- * @param s the input string
- * @return {@code true} if all characters are in alphabetical order (case-insensitive), otherwise {@code false}
+ * @param s input string
+ * @return {@code true} if characters are in non-decreasing order, otherwise {@code false}
*/
public static boolean isAlphabetical(String s) {
- s = s.toLowerCase();
- for (int i = 0; i < s.length() - 1; ++i) {
- if (!Character.isLetter(s.charAt(i)) || s.charAt(i) > s.charAt(i + 1)) {
+ if (s == null || s.isBlank()) {
+ return false;
+ }
+
+ String normalized = s.toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT);
+
+ if (!Character.isLetter(normalized.charAt(0))) {
+ return false;
+ }
+
+ for (int i = 1; i < normalized.length(); i++) {
+ char prev = normalized.charAt(i - 1);
+ char curr = normalized.charAt(i);
+
+ if (!Character.isLetter(curr) || prev > curr) {
return false;
}
}
- return !s.isEmpty() && Character.isLetter(s.charAt(s.length() - 1));
+ return true;
}
}
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/thealgorithms/strings/AlphabeticalTest.java b/src/test/java/com/thealgorithms/strings/AlphabeticalTest.java
index 7b41e11ef22f..0c7d7e4701cf 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/thealgorithms/strings/AlphabeticalTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/thealgorithms/strings/AlphabeticalTest.java
@@ -1,15 +1,45 @@
package com.thealgorithms.strings;
import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.Arguments.arguments;
+import java.util.stream.Stream;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.DisplayName;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
import org.junit.jupiter.params.ParameterizedTest;
-import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.CsvSource;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.Arguments;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.MethodSource;
-public class AlphabeticalTest {
+@DisplayName("Alphabetical.isAlphabetical()")
+class AlphabeticalTest {
- @ParameterizedTest(name = "\"{0}\" → Expected: {1}")
- @CsvSource({"'abcdefghijklmno', true", "'abcdxxxyzzzz', true", "'123a', false", "'abcABC', false", "'abcdefghikjlmno', false", "'aBC', true", "'abc', true", "'xyzabc', false", "'abcxyz', true", "'', false", "'1', false"})
- void testIsAlphabetical(String input, boolean expected) {
- assertEquals(expected, Alphabetical.isAlphabetical(input));
+ static Stream testCases() {
+ // Workaround for SpotBugs false positive (NAB_NEEDLESS_BOOLEAN_CONSTANT_CONVERSION)
+ // due to JUnit Arguments.of(Object...) auto-boxing
+ return Stream.of(arguments("", Boolean.FALSE, "Should return false for empty string"), arguments(" ", Boolean.FALSE, "Should return false for blank string"), arguments("a1b2", Boolean.FALSE, "Should return false when string contains numbers"),
+ arguments("abc!DEF", Boolean.FALSE, "Should return false when string contains symbols"), arguments("#abc", Boolean.FALSE, "Should return false when first character is not a letter"), arguments("abc", Boolean.TRUE, "Should return true for non-decreasing order"),
+ arguments("aBcD", Boolean.TRUE, "Should return true for mixed case increasing sequence"), arguments("a", Boolean.TRUE, "Should return true for single letter"), arguments("'", Boolean.FALSE, "Should return false for single symbol"),
+ arguments("aabbcc", Boolean.TRUE, "Should return true for repeated letters"), arguments("cba", Boolean.FALSE, "Should return false when order decreases"), arguments("abzba", Boolean.FALSE, "Should return false when middle breaks order"));
+ }
+
+ private void assertAlphabetical(String input, boolean expected, String message) {
+ // Arrange & Act
+ boolean result = Alphabetical.isAlphabetical(input);
+
+ // Assert
+ assertEquals(expected, result, message);
+ }
+
+ @Test
+ @DisplayName("Should return false for null input")
+ void nullInputTest() {
+ assertAlphabetical(null, false, "Should return false for null input");
+ }
+
+ @ParameterizedTest(name = "{2}")
+ @MethodSource("testCases")
+ @DisplayName("Alphabetical cases")
+ void isAlphabeticalTest(String input, boolean expected, String message) {
+ assertAlphabetical(input, expected, message);
}
}