java.text

Class Format

public abstract class Format extends Object implements Serializable, Cloneable

This class is the abstract superclass of classes that format and parse data to/from Strings. It is guaranteed that any String produced by a concrete subclass of Format will be parseable by that same subclass.

In addition to implementing the abstract methods in this class, subclasses should provide static factory methods of the form getInstance() and getInstance(Locale) if the subclass loads different formatting/parsing schemes based on locale. These subclasses should also implement a static method called getAvailableLocales() which returns an array of available locales in the current runtime environment.

Nested Class Summary
static class	Format.Field

Constructor Summary
	Format() This method initializes a new instance of `Format`.

Method Summary
Object	clone() Creates a copy of this object.
String	format(Object obj) This method formats an `Object` into a `String`.
abstract StringBuffer	format(Object obj, StringBuffer sb, FieldPosition pos) This method formats an `Object` into a `String` and appends the `String` to a `StringBuffer`.
AttributedCharacterIterator	formatToCharacterIterator(Object obj)
Object	parseObject(String str) This method parses a `String` and converts the parsed contents into an `Object`.
abstract Object	parseObject(String str, ParsePosition pos) This method parses a `String` and converts the parsed contents into an `Object`.

Constructor Detail

Format

public Format()

This method initializes a new instance of Format. It performs no actions, but acts as a default constructor for subclasses.

Method Detail

clone

public Object clone()

Creates a copy of this object.

Returns: The copied Object.

format

public final String format(Object obj)

This method formats an Object into a String.

Parameters: obj The Object to format.

Returns: The formatted String.

Throws: IllegalArgumentException If the Object cannot be formatted.

format

public abstract StringBuffer format(Object obj, StringBuffer sb, FieldPosition pos)

This method formats an Object into a String and appends the String to a StringBuffer.

Parameters: obj The Object to format. sb The StringBuffer to append to. pos The desired FieldPosition, which is also updated by this call.

Returns: The updated StringBuffer.

Throws: IllegalArgumentException If the Object cannot be formatted.

formatToCharacterIterator

public AttributedCharacterIterator formatToCharacterIterator(Object obj)

parseObject

public Object parseObject(String str)

This method parses a String and converts the parsed contents into an Object.

Parameters: str The String to parse.

Returns: The resulting Object.

Throws: ParseException If the String cannot be parsed.

parseObject

public abstract Object parseObject(String str, ParsePosition pos)

This method parses a String and converts the parsed contents into an Object.

Parameters: str The String to parse. pos The starting parse index on input, the ending parse index on output.

Returns: The parsed Object, or null in case of error.