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Interface com.sun.java.util.collections.SortedMap

public interface SortedMap
extends Map
A Map that further guarantees that it will be in ascending key order, sorted according to the natural ordering of its keys (see Comparable), or by a Comparator provided at SortedMap creation time. This order is reflected when iterating over the SortedMap's Collection views (returned by the entrySet, keySet and values methods). Several additional operations are provided to take advantage of the ordering. (This interface is the Map analogue of SortedSet.)

All keys inserted into an SortedMap must implement the Comparable interface (or be accepted by the specified Comparator). Furthermore, all such keys must be mutually comparable: k1.compareTo(k2) (or comparator.compare(k1, k2)) must not throw a typeMismatchException for any elements k1 and k2 in the SortedMap. Attempts to violate this restriction will cause the offending method or constructor invocation to throw a ClassCastException.

Note that the ordering maintained by a SortedMap (whether or not an explicit Comparator is provided) must be total if the SortedMap is to correctly implement the Map interface. (See Comparable or Comparator for a definition of total ordering.) This is so because the Map interface is defined in terms of the equals operation, but a SortedMap performs all key comparisons using its compareTo (or compare) method, so two keys that are deemed equal by this method are, from the standpoint of the SortedMap, equal. The behavior of a TreeMap is well-defined even if its ordering is strictly partial; it just fails to obey the general contract of the Map interface.

All general-purpose SortedMap implementation classes should provide four "standard" constructors: 1) A void (no arguments) constructor, which creates an empty SortedMap sorted according to the natural order of its keys. 2) A constructor with a single argument of type Comparator, which creates an empty SortedMap sorted according to the specified Comparator. 3) A constructor with a single argument of type Map, which creates a new Map with the same key-value mappings as its argument, sorted according to the keys' natural ordering. 4) A constructor with a single argument of type SortedMap, which creates a new SortedMap with the same key-value mappings and the same ordering as the input SortedMap. There is no way to enforce this recommendation (as interfaces cannot contain constructors) but the JDK implementation (TreeMap) complies.

See Also:
Map, TreeMap, SortedSet, Comparator, Comparable, Collection, ClassCastException

Method Index

 o comparator()
Returns the Comparator associated with this SortedMap, or null if it uses its keys' natural ordering.
 o firstKey()
Returns the first (lowest) key currently in this SortedMap.
 o headMap(Object)
Returns a view of the portion of this SortedMap whose keys are strictly less than toKey.
 o lastKey()
Returns the last (highest) key currently in this SortedMap.
 o subMap(Object, Object)
Returns a view of the portion of this SortedMap whose keys range from fromKey, inclusive, to toKey, exclusive.
 o tailMap(Object)
Returns a view of the portion of this SortedMap whose keys are greater than or equal to fromKey.

Methods

 o comparator
 public abstract Comparator comparator()
Returns the Comparator associated with this SortedMap, or null if it uses its keys' natural ordering.

Returns:
the Comparator associated with this SortedMap, or null if it uses its keys' natural ordering.
 o subMap
 public abstract SortedMap subMap(Object fromKey,
                                  Object toKey)
Returns a view of the portion of this SortedMap whose keys range from fromKey, inclusive, to toKey, exclusive. The returned SortedMap is backed by this SortedMap, so changes in the returned SortedMap are reflected in this SortedMap, and vice-versa. The returned Map supports all optional Map operations.

The Map returned by this method will throw an IllegalArgumentException if the user attempts to insert a key outside the specified range.

Note: this method always returns a half-open range (which includes its low endpoint but not its high endpoint). If you need a closed range (which includes both endpoints), and the key type allows for calculation of the successor a given key, merely request the subrange from lowEndpoint to successor(highEndpoint). For example, suppose that m is a Map whose keys are Strings. The following idiom obtains a view containing all of the key-value mappings in m whose keys are between low and high, inclusive:

    Map sub = m.subMap(low, high+"\0");
A similarly technique can be used to generate an open range (which contains neither endpoint). The following idiom obtains a view containing all of the key-value mappings in m whose keys are between low and high, exclusive:
    Map sub = m.subMap(low+"\0", high);

Parameters:
fromKey - low endpoint (inclusive) of the subMap.
toKey - high endpoint (exclusive) of the subMap.
Returns:
a view of the specified range within this SortedMap.
Throws: ClassCastException
fromKey or toKey cannot be compared with the keys currently in the SortedMap. (Implementations may, but are not required to, throw this exception under these circumstances.)
Throws: NullPointerException
fromKey or toKey is null and this SortedMap does not tolerate null keys.
Throws: IllegalArgumentException
fromKey is greater than toKey.
 o headMap
 public abstract SortedMap headMap(Object toKey)
Returns a view of the portion of this SortedMap whose keys are strictly less than toKey. The returned SortedMap is backed by this SortedMap, so changes in the returned SortedMap are reflected in this SortedMap, and vice-versa. The returned Map supports all optional Map operations.

The Map returned by this method will throw an IllegalArgumentException if the user attempts to insert a key outside the specified range.

Note: this method always returns a view that does not contain its (high) endpoint. If you need a view that does contain this endpoint, and the key type allows for calculation of the successor a given key, merely request a headMap bounded by successor(highEndpoint). For example, suppose that suppose that m is a Map whose keys are Strings. The following idiom obtains a view containing all of the key-value mappings in m whose keys are less than or equal to high:

    Map head = m.headMap(high+"\0");

Parameters:
toKey - high endpoint (exclusive) of the subMap.
Returns:
a view of the specified initial range of this SortedMap.
Throws: ClassCastException
toKey cannot be compared with the keys currently in the SortedMap. (Implementations may, but are not required to, throw this exception under these circumstances.)
Throws: NullPointerException
toKey is null and this SortedMap does not tolerate null keys.
 o tailMap
 public abstract SortedMap tailMap(Object fromKey)
Returns a view of the portion of this SortedMap whose keys are greater than or equal to fromKey. The returned SortedMap is backed by this SortedMap, so changes in the returned SortedMap are reflected in this SortedMap, and vice-versa. The returned Map supports all optional Map operations.

The Map returned by this method will throw an IllegalArgumentException if the user attempts to insert a key outside the specified range.

Note: this method always returns a view that contains its (low) endpoint. If you need a view that does not contain this endpoint, and the element type allows for calculation of the successor a given value, merely request a tailMap bounded by successor(lowEndpoint). For For example, suppose that suppose that m is a Map whose keys are Strings. The following idiom obtains a view containing all of the key-value mappings in m whose keys are strictly greater than low:

    Map tail = m.tailMap(low+"\0");

Parameters:
fromKey - low endpoint (inclusive) of the tailMap.
Returns:
a view of the specified final range of this SortedMap.
Throws: ClassCastException
fromKey cannot be compared with the keys currently in the SortedMap. (Implementations may, but are not required to, throw this exception under these circumstances.)
Throws: NullPointerException
fromKey is null and this SortedMap does not tolerate null keys.
 o firstKey
 public abstract Object firstKey()
Returns the first (lowest) key currently in this SortedMap.

Returns:
the first (lowest) key currently in this SortedMap.
Throws: IllegalStateException
Map is empty.
 o lastKey
 public abstract Object lastKey()
Returns the last (highest) key currently in this SortedMap.

Returns:
the last (highest) key currently in this SortedMap.
Throws: IllegalStateException
Map is empty.

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