SortedSet<E> (GNU Classpath 0.94-pre Documentation)

A set which guarantees its iteration order. The elements in the set are related by the natural ordering if they are Comparable, or by the provided Comparator. Additional operations take advantage of the sorted nature of the set.

All elements entered in the set must be mutually comparable; in other words, k1.compareTo(k2) or comparator.compare(k1, k2) must not throw a ClassCastException. The ordering must be consistent with equals (see {@link Comparator} for this definition), if the set is to obey the general contract of the Set interface. If not, the results are well-defined, but probably not what you wanted.

It is recommended that all implementing classes provide four constructors: 1) one that takes no arguments and builds an empty set sorted by natural order of the elements; 2) one that takes a Comparator for the sorting order; 3) one that takes a Set and sorts according to the natural order of its elements; and 4) one that takes a SortedSet and sorts by the same comparator. Unfortunately, the Java language does not provide a way to enforce this.

Since: 1.2

UNKNOWN: updated to 1.4

Method Summary
Comparator<? super E>	comparator() Returns the comparator used in sorting this set, or null if it is the elements' natural ordering.
E	first() Returns the first (lowest sorted) element in the set.
SortedSet<E>	headSet(E toElement) Returns a view of the portion of the set strictly less than toElement.
E	last() Returns the last (highest sorted) element in the set.
SortedSet<E>	subSet(E fromElement, E toElement) Returns a view of the portion of the set greater than or equal to fromElement, and strictly less than toElement.
SortedSet<E>	tailSet(E fromElement) Returns a view of the portion of the set greater than or equal to fromElement.

Returns a view of the portion of the set strictly less than toElement. The view is backed by this set, so changes in one show up in the other. The subset supports all optional operations of the original.

The returned set throws an IllegalArgumentException any time an element is used which is out of the range of toElement. Note that the endpoint, toElement, is not included; if you want this value included, pass its successor object in to toElement. For example, for Integers, you could request headSet(new Integer(limit.intValue() + 1)).

Parameters: toElement the exclusive upper range of the subset

Returns: the subset

Throws: ClassCastException if toElement is not comparable to the set contents IllegalArgumentException if this is a subSet, and toElement is out of range NullPointerException if toElement is null but the set does not allow null elements

last

subSet

Returns a view of the portion of the set greater than or equal to fromElement, and strictly less than toElement. The view is backed by this set, so changes in one show up in the other. The subset supports all optional operations of the original.

The returned set throws an IllegalArgumentException any time an element is used which is out of the range of fromElement and toElement. Note that the lower endpoint is included, but the upper is not; if you want to change the inclusion or exclusion of an endpoint, pass its successor object in instead. For example, for Integers, you can request subSet(new Integer(lowlimit.intValue() + 1), new Integer(highlimit.intValue() + 1)) to reverse the inclusiveness of both endpoints.

Parameters: fromElement the inclusive lower range of the subset toElement the exclusive upper range of the subset

Returns: the subset

Throws: ClassCastException if fromElement or toElement is not comparable to the set contents IllegalArgumentException if this is a subSet, and fromElement or toElement is out of range NullPointerException if fromElement or toElement is null but the set does not allow null elements

tailSet

Returns a view of the portion of the set greater than or equal to fromElement. The view is backed by this set, so changes in one show up in the other. The subset supports all optional operations of the original.

The returned set throws an IllegalArgumentException any time an element is used which is out of the range of fromElement. Note that the endpoint, fromElement, is included; if you do not want this value to be included, pass its successor object in to fromElement. For example, for Integers, you could request tailSet(new Integer(limit.intValue() + 1)).

Parameters: fromElement the inclusive lower range of the subset

Returns: the subset

Throws: ClassCastException if fromElement is not comparable to the set contents IllegalArgumentException if this is a subSet, and fromElement is out of range NullPointerException if fromElement is null but the set does not allow null elements

Interface SortedSet<E>

Method Detail

comparator

first

headSet

last

subSet

tailSet