java - Returning multiple ints as a single value -

hey i'm working on method picks smallest digit ones, tens, hundreds, , thousands place on 2 passed integers , returns int made of smallest values each place. example if int a= 4321 , int b=1957 method return 1321. code far, think got cant find out how return new value integer.

public static int biggestloser(int a, int b){     int first;     int second;     int third;     int fourth;     if(a>9999 || a<1000 || b>9999 || b<1000){         if(a>b)             return b;         else             return a;         }     else{         if(a%10 < b%10)             first=a%10;         else             first=b%10;         if(a/1000<b/1000)             fourth=a/1000;         else             fourth=b/1000;         if(a/100%10<b/100%10)             second=a/100%10;         else             second=b/100%10;         if(a/10%10<b/10%10)             third=a/10%10;         else             third=b/10%10;         //int total=fourth,third,second,first;?????         //return total;     } } 

first of code has minor error. have swap codes second , third.

if(a/100%10<b/100%10)     third=a/100%10; else     third=b/100%10; if(a/10%10<b/10%10)     second=a/10%10; else     second=b/10%10; 

after fixing say:

int total = first + 10 * second + 100 * third + 1000 * fourth; return total; 

and that's it.