org.apache.commons.collections.comparators
Class ComparableComparator

java.lang.Object
  org.apache.commons.collections.comparators.ComparableComparator

All Implemented Interfaces:

Serializable, Comparator<Comparable>

public class ComparableComparator
extends Object
implements Comparator<Comparable>, Serializable

A Comparator that compares Comparable objects.

This Comparator is useful, for example, for enforcing the natural order in custom implementations of SortedSet and SortedMap.

Note: In the 2.0 and 2.1 releases of Commons Collections, this class would throw a ClassCastException if either of the arguments to compare were null, not Comparable, or for which compareTo gave inconsistent results. This is no longer the case. See compare for details.

Since:

Commons Collections 2.0

Version:

$Revision: 1.1.1.1 $ $Date: 2005/05/23 04:34:07 $

Author:

Matt Hall, John Watkinson, Henri Yandell

See Also:

Collections.reverseOrder(), Serialized Form

Constructor Summary

ComparableComparator()
Constructor whose use should be avoided.

Method Summary

int	compare(Comparable obj1, Comparable obj2) Compare the two Comparable arguments.
boolean	equals(Object object) Returns true iff that Object is is a Comparator whose ordering is known to be equivalent to mine.
static ComparableComparator	getInstance() Gets the singleton instance of a ComparableComparator.
int	hashCode() Implement a hash code for this comparator that is consistent with equals.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, finalize, getClass, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

ComparableComparator

public ComparableComparator()

Constructor whose use should be avoided.

Please use the getInstance() method whenever possible.

Method Detail

getInstance

public static ComparableComparator getInstance()

Gets the singleton instance of a ComparableComparator.

Developers are encouraged to use the comparator returned from this method instead of constructing a new instance to reduce allocation and GC overhead when multiple comparable comparators may be used in the same VM.

Returns:

the singleton ComparableComparator

compare

public int compare(Comparable obj1,
                   Comparable obj2)

Compare the two Comparable arguments. This method is equivalent to:

((Comparable)obj1).compareTo(obj2)

Specified by:

compare in interface Comparator<Comparable>

Parameters:

obj1 - the first object to compare

obj2 - the second object to compare

Returns:

negative if obj1 is less, positive if greater, zero if equal

Throws:

NullPointerException - when obj1 is null, or when ((Comparable)obj1).compareTo(obj2) does

ClassCastException - when obj1 is not a Comparable, or when ((Comparable)obj1).compareTo(obj2) does

hashCode

public int hashCode()

Implement a hash code for this comparator that is consistent with equals.

Overrides:

hashCode in class Object

Returns:

a hash code for this comparator.

Since:

Commons Collections 3.0

equals

public boolean equals(Object object)

Returns true iff that Object is is a Comparator whose ordering is known to be equivalent to mine.

This implementation returns true iff object.getClass() equals this.getClass(). Subclasses may want to override this behavior to remain consistent with the Comparator.equals(Object) contract.

Specified by:

equals in interface Comparator<Comparable>

Overrides:

equals in class Object

Parameters:

object - the object to compare with

Returns:

true if equal

Since:

Commons Collections 3.0