CollationKey (Java Platform SE 8 ) (original) (raw)

• java.lang.Object

• • java.text.CollationKey

• All Implemented Interfaces:
  Comparable<CollationKey>

public abstract class CollationKey
extends Object
implements Comparable<CollationKey>
A CollationKey represents a String under the rules of a specific Collator object. Comparing twoCollationKeys returns the relative order of theStrings they represent. Using CollationKeys to compare Strings is generally faster than usingCollator.compare. Thus, when the Strings must be compared multiple times, for example when sorting a list of Strings. It's more efficient to use CollationKeys.
You can not create CollationKeys directly. Rather, generate them by calling Collator.getCollationKey. You can only compare CollationKeys generated from the same Collator object.
Generating a CollationKey for a String involves examining the entire String and converting it to series of bits that can be compared bitwise. This allows fast comparisons once the keys are generated. The cost of generating keys is recouped in faster comparisons when Strings need to be compared many times. On the other hand, the result of a comparison is often determined by the first couple of characters of each String.Collator.compare examines only as many characters as it needs which allows it to be faster when doing single comparisons.
The following example shows how CollationKeys might be used to sort a list of Strings.

 
// Create an array of CollationKeys for the Strings to be sorted.  
Collator myCollator = Collator.getInstance();  
CollationKey[] keys = new CollationKey[3];  
keys[0] = myCollator.getCollationKey("Tom");  
keys[1] = myCollator.getCollationKey("Dick");  
keys[2] = myCollator.getCollationKey("Harry");  
sort(keys);  
 
//...  
 
// Inside body of sort routine, compare keys this way  
if (keys[i].compareTo(keys[j]) > 0)  
   // swap keys[i] and keys[j]  
 
//...  
 
// Finally, when we've returned from sort.  
System.out.println(keys[0].getSourceString());  
System.out.println(keys[1].getSourceString());  
System.out.println(keys[2].getSourceString());  
 

See Also:
Collator, RuleBasedCollator

• • Constructor Summary

  Constructors

  Modifier	Constructor	Description
  protected	CollationKey(String source)	CollationKey constructor.

  • Method Summary

  All Methods Instance Methods Abstract Methods Concrete Methods

  Modifier and Type	Method	Description
  abstract int	compareTo(CollationKey target)	Compare this CollationKey to the target CollationKey.
  String	getSourceString()	Returns the String that this CollationKey represents.
  abstract byte[]	toByteArray()	Converts the CollationKey to a sequence of bits.

     * ### Methods inherited from class java.lang.[Object](../../java/lang/Object.html "class in java.lang")  
     `[clone](../../java/lang/Object.html#clone--), [equals](../../java/lang/Object.html#equals-java.lang.Object-), [finalize](../../java/lang/Object.html#finalize--), [getClass](../../java/lang/Object.html#getClass--), [hashCode](../../java/lang/Object.html#hashCode--), [notify](../../java/lang/Object.html#notify--), [notifyAll](../../java/lang/Object.html#notifyAll--), [toString](../../java/lang/Object.html#toString--), [wait](../../java/lang/Object.html#wait--), [wait](../../java/lang/Object.html#wait-long-), [wait](../../java/lang/Object.html#wait-long-int-)`

• • Constructor Detail

     * #### CollationKey  
     protected CollationKey([String](../../java/lang/String.html "class in java.lang") source)  
     CollationKey constructor.  
     Parameters:  
     `source` \- the source string  
     Throws:  
     `[NullPointerException](../../java/lang/NullPointerException.html "class in java.lang")` \- if `source` is null  
     Since:  
     1.6  

  • Method Detail

    * #### compareTo  
    public abstract int compareTo([CollationKey](../../java/text/CollationKey.html "class in java.text") target)  
    Compare this CollationKey to the target CollationKey. The collation rules of the Collator object which created these keys are applied. **Note:** CollationKeys created by different Collators can not be compared.  
    Specified by:  
    `[compareTo](../../java/lang/Comparable.html#compareTo-T-)` in interface `[Comparable](../../java/lang/Comparable.html "interface in java.lang")<[CollationKey](../../java/text/CollationKey.html "class in java.text")>`  
    Parameters:  
    `target` \- target CollationKey  
    Returns:  
    Returns an integer value. Value is less than zero if this is less than target, value is zero if this and target are equal and value is greater than zero if this is greater than target.  
    See Also:  
    [Collator.compare(java.lang.String, java.lang.String)](../../java/text/Collator.html#compare-java.lang.String-java.lang.String-)  
    * #### getSourceString  
    public [String](../../java/lang/String.html "class in java.lang") getSourceString()  
    Returns the String that this CollationKey represents.  
    Returns:  
    the source string of this CollationKey  
    * #### toByteArray  
    public abstract byte[] toByteArray()  
    Converts the CollationKey to a sequence of bits. If two CollationKeys could be legitimately compared, then one could compare the byte arrays for each of those keys to obtain the same result. Byte arrays are organized most significant byte first.  
    Returns:  
    a byte array representation of the CollationKey

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