java.util

Class Collections


public class Collections
extends Object

Utility class consisting of static methods that operate on, or return Collections. Contains methods to sort, search, reverse, fill and shuffle Collections, methods to facilitate interoperability with legacy APIs that are unaware of collections, a method to return a list which consists of multiple copies of one element, and methods which "wrap" collections to give them extra properties, such as thread-safety and unmodifiability.

All methods which take a collection throw a NullPointerException if that collection is null. Algorithms which can change a collection may, but are not required, to throw the UnsupportedOperationException that the underlying collection would throw during an attempt at modification. For example, Collections.singleton("").addAll(Collections.EMPTY_SET) does not throw a exception, even though addAll is an unsupported operation on a singleton; the reason for this is that addAll did not attempt to modify the set.

Since:
1.2
See Also:
Collection, Set, List, Map, Arrays

Field Summary

static List
EMPTY_LIST
An immutable, serializable, empty List, which implements RandomAccess.
static Map
EMPTY_MAP
An immutable, serializable, empty Map.
static Set
EMPTY_SET
An immutable, serializable, empty Set.

Method Summary

static int
binarySearch(List l, Object key)
Perform a binary search of a List for a key, using the natural ordering of the elements.
static int
binarySearch(List l, Object key, Comparator c)
Perform a binary search of a List for a key, using a supplied Comparator.
static void
copy(List dest, List source)
Copy one list to another.
static Enumeration
enumeration(Collection c)
Returns an Enumeration over a collection.
static void
fill(List l, Object val)
Replace every element of a list with a given value.
static int
indexOfSubList(List source, List target)
Returns the starting index where the specified sublist first occurs in a larger list, or -1 if there is no matching position.
static int
lastIndexOfSubList(List source, List target)
Returns the starting index where the specified sublist last occurs in a larger list, or -1 if there is no matching position.
static ArrayList
list(Enumeration e)
Returns an ArrayList holding the elements visited by a given Enumeration.
static Object
max(Collection c)
Find the maximum element in a Collection, according to the natural ordering of the elements.
static Object
max(Collection c, Comparator order)
Find the maximum element in a Collection, according to a specified Comparator.
static Object
min(Collection c)
Find the minimum element in a Collection, according to the natural ordering of the elements.
static Object
min(Collection c, Comparator order)
Find the minimum element in a Collection, according to a specified Comparator.
static List
nCopies(int n, Object o)
Creates an immutable list consisting of the same object repeated n times.
static boolean
replaceAll(List list, Object oldval, Object newval)
Replace all instances of one object with another in the specified list.
static void
reverse(List l)
Reverse a given list.
static Comparator
reverseOrder()
Get a comparator that implements the reverse of natural ordering.
static void
rotate(List list, int distance)
Rotate the elements in a list by a specified distance.
static void
shuffle(List l)
Shuffle a list according to a default source of randomness.
static void
shuffle(List l, Random r)
Shuffle a list according to a given source of randomness.
static Set
singleton(Object o)
Obtain an immutable Set consisting of a single element.
static List
singletonList(Object o)
Obtain an immutable List consisting of a single element.
static Map
singletonMap(Object key, Object value)
Obtain an immutable Map consisting of a single key-value pair.
static void
sort(List l)
Sort a list according to the natural ordering of its elements.
static void
sort(List l, Comparator c)
Sort a list according to a specified Comparator.
static void
swap(List l, int i, int j)
Swaps the elements at the specified positions within the list.
static Collection
synchronizedCollection(Collection c)
Returns a synchronized (thread-safe) collection wrapper backed by the given collection.
static List
synchronizedList(List l)
Returns a synchronized (thread-safe) list wrapper backed by the given list.
static Map
synchronizedMap(Map m)
Returns a synchronized (thread-safe) map wrapper backed by the given map.
static Set
synchronizedSet(Set s)
Returns a synchronized (thread-safe) set wrapper backed by the given set.
static SortedMap
synchronizedSortedMap(SortedMap m)
Returns a synchronized (thread-safe) sorted map wrapper backed by the given map.
static SortedSet
synchronizedSortedSet(SortedSet s)
Returns a synchronized (thread-safe) sorted set wrapper backed by the given set.
static Collection
unmodifiableCollection(Collection c)
Returns an unmodifiable view of the given collection.
static List
unmodifiableList(List l)
Returns an unmodifiable view of the given list.
static Map
unmodifiableMap(Map m)
Returns an unmodifiable view of the given map.
static Set
unmodifiableSet(Set s)
Returns an unmodifiable view of the given set.
static SortedMap
unmodifiableSortedMap(SortedMap m)
Returns an unmodifiable view of the given sorted map.
static SortedSet
unmodifiableSortedSet(SortedSet s)
Returns an unmodifiable view of the given sorted set.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

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

Field Details

EMPTY_LIST

public static final List EMPTY_LIST
An immutable, serializable, empty List, which implements RandomAccess.

EMPTY_MAP

public static final Map EMPTY_MAP
An immutable, serializable, empty Map.
See Also:
Serializable

EMPTY_SET

public static final Set EMPTY_SET
An immutable, serializable, empty Set.
See Also:
Serializable

Method Details

binarySearch

public static int binarySearch(List l,
                               Object key)
Perform a binary search of a List for a key, using the natural ordering of the elements. The list must be sorted (as by the sort() method) - if it is not, the behavior of this method is undefined, and may be an infinite loop. Further, the key must be comparable with every item in the list. If the list contains the key more than once, any one of them may be found.

This algorithm behaves in log(n) time for RandomAccess lists, and uses a linear search with O(n) link traversals and log(n) comparisons with AbstractSequentialList lists. Note: although the specification allows for an infinite loop if the list is unsorted, it will not happen in this (Classpath) implementation.

Parameters:
l - the list to search (must be sorted)
key - the value to search for
Returns:
the index at which the key was found, or -n-1 if it was not found, where n is the index of the first value higher than key or a.length if there is no such value
Throws:
ClassCastException - if key could not be compared with one of the elements of l
NullPointerException - if a null element has compareTo called
See Also:
sort(List)

binarySearch

public static int binarySearch(List l,
                               Object key,
                               Comparator c)
Perform a binary search of a List for a key, using a supplied Comparator. The list must be sorted (as by the sort() method with the same Comparator) - if it is not, the behavior of this method is undefined, and may be an infinite loop. Further, the key must be comparable with every item in the list. If the list contains the key more than once, any one of them may be found. If the comparator is null, the elements' natural ordering is used.

This algorithm behaves in log(n) time for RandomAccess lists, and uses a linear search with O(n) link traversals and log(n) comparisons with AbstractSequentialList lists. Note: although the specification allows for an infinite loop if the list is unsorted, it will not happen in this (Classpath) implementation.

Parameters:
l - the list to search (must be sorted)
key - the value to search for
c - the comparator by which the list is sorted
Returns:
the index at which the key was found, or -n-1 if it was not found, where n is the index of the first value higher than key or a.length if there is no such value
Throws:
ClassCastException - if key could not be compared with one of the elements of l
NullPointerException - if a null element is compared with natural ordering (only possible when c is null)

copy

public static void copy(List dest,
                        List source)
Copy one list to another. If the destination list is longer than the source list, the remaining elements are unaffected. This method runs in linear time.
Parameters:
dest - the destination list
source - the source list
Throws:
IndexOutOfBoundsException - if the destination list is shorter than the source list (the destination will be unmodified)
UnsupportedOperationException - if dest.listIterator() does not support the set operation

enumeration

public static Enumeration enumeration(Collection c)
Returns an Enumeration over a collection. This allows interoperability with legacy APIs that require an Enumeration as input.
Parameters:
c - the Collection to iterate over
Returns:
an Enumeration backed by an Iterator over c

fill

public static void fill(List l,
                        Object val)
Replace every element of a list with a given value. This method runs in linear time.
Parameters:
l - the list to fill.
val - the object to vill the list with.
Throws:
UnsupportedOperationException - if l.listIterator() does not support the set operation.

indexOfSubList

public static int indexOfSubList(List source,
                                 List target)
Returns the starting index where the specified sublist first occurs in a larger list, or -1 if there is no matching position. If target.size() > source.size(), this returns -1, otherwise this implementation uses brute force, checking for source.sublist(i, i + target.size()).equals(target) for all possible i.
Parameters:
source - the list to search
target - the sublist to search for
Returns:
the index where found, or -1
Since:
1.4

lastIndexOfSubList

public static int lastIndexOfSubList(List source,
                                     List target)
Returns the starting index where the specified sublist last occurs in a larger list, or -1 if there is no matching position. If target.size() > source.size(), this returns -1, otherwise this implementation uses brute force, checking for source.sublist(i, i + target.size()).equals(target) for all possible i.
Parameters:
source - the list to search
target - the sublist to search for
Returns:
the index where found, or -1
Since:
1.4

list

public static ArrayList list(Enumeration e)
Returns an ArrayList holding the elements visited by a given Enumeration. This method exists for interoperability between legacy APIs and the new Collection API.
Parameters:
e - the enumeration to put in a list
Returns:
a list containing the enumeration elements
Since:
1.4
See Also:
ArrayList

max

public static Object max(Collection c)
Find the maximum element in a Collection, according to the natural ordering of the elements. This implementation iterates over the Collection, so it works in linear time.
Parameters:
c - the Collection to find the maximum element of
Returns:
the maximum element of c
Throws:
NoSuchElementException - if c is empty
ClassCastException - if elements in c are not mutually comparable
NullPointerException - if null.compareTo is called

max

public static Object max(Collection c,
                         Comparator order)
Find the maximum element in a Collection, according to a specified Comparator. This implementation iterates over the Collection, so it works in linear time.
Parameters:
c - the Collection to find the maximum element of
order - the Comparator to order the elements by, or null for natural ordering
Returns:
the maximum element of c
Throws:
NoSuchElementException - if c is empty
ClassCastException - if elements in c are not mutually comparable
NullPointerException - if null is compared by natural ordering (only possible when order is null)

min

public static Object min(Collection c)
Find the minimum element in a Collection, according to the natural ordering of the elements. This implementation iterates over the Collection, so it works in linear time.
Parameters:
c - the Collection to find the minimum element of
Returns:
the minimum element of c
Throws:
NoSuchElementException - if c is empty
ClassCastException - if elements in c are not mutually comparable
NullPointerException - if null.compareTo is called

min

public static Object min(Collection c,
                         Comparator order)
Find the minimum element in a Collection, according to a specified Comparator. This implementation iterates over the Collection, so it works in linear time.
Parameters:
c - the Collection to find the minimum element of
order - the Comparator to order the elements by, or null for natural ordering
Returns:
the minimum element of c
Throws:
NoSuchElementException - if c is empty
ClassCastException - if elements in c are not mutually comparable
NullPointerException - if null is compared by natural ordering (only possible when order is null)

nCopies

public static List nCopies(int n,
                           Object o)
Creates an immutable list consisting of the same object repeated n times. The returned object is tiny, consisting of only a single reference to the object and a count of the number of elements. It is Serializable, and implements RandomAccess. You can use it in tandem with List.addAll for fast list construction.
Parameters:
n - the number of times to repeat the object
o - the object to repeat
Returns:
a List consisting of n copies of o
Throws:
IllegalArgumentException - if n < 0

replaceAll

public static boolean replaceAll(List list,
                                 Object oldval,
                                 Object newval)
Replace all instances of one object with another in the specified list. The list does not change size. An element e is replaced if oldval == null ? e == null : oldval.equals(e).
Parameters:
list - the list to iterate over
oldval - the element to replace
newval - the new value for the element
Returns:
true if a replacement occurred.
Throws:
UnsupportedOperationException - if the list iterator does not allow for the set operation
ClassCastException - if newval is of a type which cannot be added to the list
IllegalArgumentException - if some other aspect of newval stops it being added to the list
Since:
1.4

reverse

public static void reverse(List l)
Reverse a given list. This method works in linear time.
Parameters:
l - the list to reverse
Throws:
UnsupportedOperationException - if l.listIterator() does not support the set operation

reverseOrder

public static Comparator reverseOrder()
Get a comparator that implements the reverse of natural ordering. In other words, this sorts Comparable objects opposite of how their compareTo method would sort. This makes it easy to sort into reverse order, by simply passing Collections.reverseOrder() to the sort method. The return value of this method is Serializable.
Returns:
a comparator that imposes reverse natural ordering

rotate

public static void rotate(List list,
                          int distance)
Rotate the elements in a list by a specified distance. After calling this method, the element now at index i was formerly at index (i - distance) mod list.size(). The list size is unchanged.

For example, suppose a list contains [t, a, n, k, s]. After either Collections.rotate(l, 4) or Collections.rotate(l, -1), the new contents are [s, t, a, n, k]. This can be applied to sublists to rotate just a portion of the list. For example, to move element a forward two positions in the original example, use Collections.rotate(l.subList(1, 3+1), -1), which will result in [t, n, k, a, s].

If the list is small or implements RandomAccess, the implementation exchanges the first element to its destination, then the displaced element, and so on until a circuit has been completed. The process is repeated if needed on the second element, and so forth, until all elements have been swapped. For large non-random lists, the implementation breaks the list into two sublists at index -distance mod size, calls reverse(List) on the pieces, then reverses the overall list.

Parameters:
list - the list to rotate
distance - the distance to rotate by; unrestricted in value
Throws:
UnsupportedOperationException - if the list does not support set
Since:
1.4

shuffle

public static void shuffle(List l)
Shuffle a list according to a default source of randomness. The algorithm used iterates backwards over the list, swapping each element with an element randomly selected from the elements in positions less than or equal to it (using r.nextInt(int)).

This algorithm would result in a perfectly fair shuffle (that is, each element would have an equal chance of ending up in any position) if r were a perfect source of randomness. In practice the results are merely very close to perfect.

This method operates in linear time. To do this on large lists which do not implement RandomAccess, a temporary array is used to acheive this speed, since it would be quadratic access otherwise.

Parameters:
l - the list to shuffle
Throws:
UnsupportedOperationException - if l.listIterator() does not support the set operation

shuffle

public static void shuffle(List l,
                           Random r)
Shuffle a list according to a given source of randomness. The algorithm used iterates backwards over the list, swapping each element with an element randomly selected from the elements in positions less than or equal to it (using r.nextInt(int)).

This algorithm would result in a perfectly fair shuffle (that is, each element would have an equal chance of ending up in any position) if r were a perfect source of randomness. In practise (eg if r = new Random()) the results are merely very close to perfect.

This method operates in linear time. To do this on large lists which do not implement RandomAccess, a temporary array is used to acheive this speed, since it would be quadratic access otherwise.

Parameters:
l - the list to shuffle
r - the source of randomness to use for the shuffle
Throws:
UnsupportedOperationException - if l.listIterator() does not support the set operation

singleton

public static Set singleton(Object o)
Obtain an immutable Set consisting of a single element. The return value of this method is Serializable.
Parameters:
o - the single element
Returns:
an immutable Set containing only o
See Also:
Serializable

singletonList

public static List singletonList(Object o)
Obtain an immutable List consisting of a single element. The return value of this method is Serializable, and implements RandomAccess.
Parameters:
o - the single element
Returns:
an immutable List containing only o
Since:
1.3

singletonMap

public static Map singletonMap(Object key,
                               Object value)
Obtain an immutable Map consisting of a single key-value pair. The return value of this method is Serializable.
Parameters:
key - the single key
value - the single value
Returns:
an immutable Map containing only the single key-value pair
Since:
1.3
See Also:
Serializable

sort

public static void sort(List l)
Sort a list according to the natural ordering of its elements. The list must be modifiable, but can be of fixed size. The sort algorithm is precisely that used by Arrays.sort(Object[]), which offers guaranteed nlog(n) performance. This implementation dumps the list into an array, sorts the array, and then iterates over the list setting each element from the array.
Parameters:
l - the List to sort
Throws:
ClassCastException - if some items are not mutually comparable
UnsupportedOperationException - if the List is not modifiable
NullPointerException - if some element is null

sort

public static void sort(List l,
                        Comparator c)
Sort a list according to a specified Comparator. The list must be modifiable, but can be of fixed size. The sort algorithm is precisely that used by Arrays.sort(Object[], Comparator), which offers guaranteed nlog(n) performance. This implementation dumps the list into an array, sorts the array, and then iterates over the list setting each element from the array.
Parameters:
l - the List to sort
c - the Comparator specifying the ordering for the elements, or null for natural ordering
Throws:
ClassCastException - if c will not compare some pair of items
UnsupportedOperationException - if the List is not modifiable
NullPointerException - if null is compared by natural ordering (only possible when c is null)

swap

public static void swap(List l,
                        int i,
                        int j)
Swaps the elements at the specified positions within the list. Equal positions have no effect.
Parameters:
l - the list to work on
i - the first index to swap
j - the second index
Throws:
UnsupportedOperationException - if list.set is not supported
IndexOutOfBoundsException - if either i or j is < 0 or >= list.size()
Since:
1.4

synchronizedCollection

public static Collection synchronizedCollection(Collection c)
Returns a synchronized (thread-safe) collection wrapper backed by the given collection. Notice that element access through the iterators is thread-safe, but if the collection can be structurally modified (adding or removing elements) then you should synchronize around the iteration to avoid non-deterministic behavior:
 Collection c = Collections.synchronizedCollection(new Collection(...));
 ...
 synchronized (c)
   {
     Iterator i = c.iterator();
     while (i.hasNext())
       foo(i.next());
   }
 

Since the collection might be a List or a Set, and those have incompatible equals and hashCode requirements, this relies on Object's implementation rather than passing those calls on to the wrapped collection. The returned Collection implements Serializable, but can only be serialized if the collection it wraps is likewise Serializable.

Parameters:
c - the collection to wrap
Returns:
a synchronized view of the collection
See Also:
Serializable

synchronizedList

public static List synchronizedList(List l)
Returns a synchronized (thread-safe) list wrapper backed by the given list. Notice that element access through the iterators is thread-safe, but if the list can be structurally modified (adding or removing elements) then you should synchronize around the iteration to avoid non-deterministic behavior:
 List l = Collections.synchronizedList(new List(...));
 ...
 synchronized (l)
   {
     Iterator i = l.iterator();
     while (i.hasNext())
       foo(i.next());
   }
 

The returned List implements Serializable, but can only be serialized if the list it wraps is likewise Serializable. In addition, if the wrapped list implements RandomAccess, this does too.

Parameters:
l - the list to wrap
Returns:
a synchronized view of the list

synchronizedMap

public static Map synchronizedMap(Map m)
Returns a synchronized (thread-safe) map wrapper backed by the given map. Notice that element access through the collection views and their iterators are thread-safe, but if the map can be structurally modified (adding or removing elements) then you should synchronize around the iteration to avoid non-deterministic behavior:
 Map m = Collections.synchronizedMap(new Map(...));
 ...
 Set s = m.keySet(); // safe outside a synchronized block
 synchronized (m) // synch on m, not s
   {
     Iterator i = s.iterator();
     while (i.hasNext())
       foo(i.next());
   }
 

The returned Map implements Serializable, but can only be serialized if the map it wraps is likewise Serializable.

Parameters:
m - the map to wrap
Returns:
a synchronized view of the map
See Also:
Serializable

synchronizedSet

public static Set synchronizedSet(Set s)
Returns a synchronized (thread-safe) set wrapper backed by the given set. Notice that element access through the iterator is thread-safe, but if the set can be structurally modified (adding or removing elements) then you should synchronize around the iteration to avoid non-deterministic behavior:
 Set s = Collections.synchronizedSet(new Set(...));
 ...
 synchronized (s)
   {
     Iterator i = s.iterator();
     while (i.hasNext())
       foo(i.next());
   }
 

The returned Set implements Serializable, but can only be serialized if the set it wraps is likewise Serializable.

Parameters:
s - the set to wrap
Returns:
a synchronized view of the set
See Also:
Serializable

synchronizedSortedMap

public static SortedMap synchronizedSortedMap(SortedMap m)
Returns a synchronized (thread-safe) sorted map wrapper backed by the given map. Notice that element access through the collection views, subviews, and their iterators are thread-safe, but if the map can be structurally modified (adding or removing elements) then you should synchronize around the iteration to avoid non-deterministic behavior:
 SortedMap m = Collections.synchronizedSortedMap(new SortedMap(...));
 ...
 Set s = m.keySet(); // safe outside a synchronized block
 SortedMap m2 = m.headMap(foo); // safe outside a synchronized block
 Set s2 = m2.keySet(); // safe outside a synchronized block
 synchronized (m) // synch on m, not m2, s or s2
   {
     Iterator i = s.iterator();
     while (i.hasNext())
       foo(i.next());
     i = s2.iterator();
     while (i.hasNext())
       bar(i.next());
   }
 

The returned SortedMap implements Serializable, but can only be serialized if the map it wraps is likewise Serializable.

Parameters:
m - the sorted map to wrap
Returns:
a synchronized view of the sorted map
See Also:
Serializable

synchronizedSortedSet

public static SortedSet synchronizedSortedSet(SortedSet s)
Returns a synchronized (thread-safe) sorted set wrapper backed by the given set. Notice that element access through the iterator and through subviews are thread-safe, but if the set can be structurally modified (adding or removing elements) then you should synchronize around the iteration to avoid non-deterministic behavior:
 SortedSet s = Collections.synchronizedSortedSet(new SortedSet(...));
 ...
 SortedSet s2 = s.headSet(foo); // safe outside a synchronized block
 synchronized (s) // synch on s, not s2
   {
     Iterator i = s2.iterator();
     while (i.hasNext())
       foo(i.next());
   }
 

The returned SortedSet implements Serializable, but can only be serialized if the set it wraps is likewise Serializable.

Parameters:
s - the sorted set to wrap
Returns:
a synchronized view of the sorted set
See Also:
Serializable

unmodifiableCollection

public static Collection unmodifiableCollection(Collection c)
Returns an unmodifiable view of the given collection. This allows "read-only" access, although changes in the backing collection show up in this view. Attempts to modify the collection directly or via iterators will fail with UnsupportedOperationException. Although this view prevents changes to the structure of the collection and its elements, the values referenced by the objects in the collection can still be modified.

Since the collection might be a List or a Set, and those have incompatible equals and hashCode requirements, this relies on Object's implementation rather than passing those calls on to the wrapped collection. The returned Collection implements Serializable, but can only be serialized if the collection it wraps is likewise Serializable.

Parameters:
c - the collection to wrap
Returns:
a read-only view of the collection
See Also:
Serializable

unmodifiableList

public static List unmodifiableList(List l)
Returns an unmodifiable view of the given list. This allows "read-only" access, although changes in the backing list show up in this view. Attempts to modify the list directly, via iterators, or via sublists, will fail with UnsupportedOperationException. Although this view prevents changes to the structure of the list and its elements, the values referenced by the objects in the list can still be modified.

The returned List implements Serializable, but can only be serialized if the list it wraps is likewise Serializable. In addition, if the wrapped list implements RandomAccess, this does too.

Parameters:
l - the list to wrap
Returns:
a read-only view of the list

unmodifiableMap

public static Map unmodifiableMap(Map m)
Returns an unmodifiable view of the given map. This allows "read-only" access, although changes in the backing map show up in this view. Attempts to modify the map directly, or via collection views or their iterators will fail with UnsupportedOperationException. Although this view prevents changes to the structure of the map and its entries, the values referenced by the objects in the map can still be modified.

The returned Map implements Serializable, but can only be serialized if the map it wraps is likewise Serializable.

Parameters:
m - the map to wrap
Returns:
a read-only view of the map
See Also:
Serializable

unmodifiableSet

public static Set unmodifiableSet(Set s)
Returns an unmodifiable view of the given set. This allows "read-only" access, although changes in the backing set show up in this view. Attempts to modify the set directly or via iterators will fail with UnsupportedOperationException. Although this view prevents changes to the structure of the set and its entries, the values referenced by the objects in the set can still be modified.

The returned Set implements Serializable, but can only be serialized if the set it wraps is likewise Serializable.

Parameters:
s - the set to wrap
Returns:
a read-only view of the set
See Also:
Serializable

unmodifiableSortedMap

public static SortedMap unmodifiableSortedMap(SortedMap m)
Returns an unmodifiable view of the given sorted map. This allows "read-only" access, although changes in the backing map show up in this view. Attempts to modify the map directly, via subviews, via collection views, or iterators, will fail with UnsupportedOperationException. Although this view prevents changes to the structure of the map and its entries, the values referenced by the objects in the map can still be modified.

The returned SortedMap implements Serializable, but can only be serialized if the map it wraps is likewise Serializable.

Parameters:
m - the map to wrap
Returns:
a read-only view of the map
See Also:
Serializable

unmodifiableSortedSet

public static SortedSet unmodifiableSortedSet(SortedSet s)
Returns an unmodifiable view of the given sorted set. This allows "read-only" access, although changes in the backing set show up in this view. Attempts to modify the set directly, via subsets, or via iterators, will fail with UnsupportedOperationException. Although this view prevents changes to the structure of the set and its entries, the values referenced by the objects in the set can still be modified.

The returns SortedSet implements Serializable, but can only be serialized if the set it wraps is likewise Serializable.

Parameters:
s - the set to wrap
Returns:
a read-only view of the set
See Also:
Serializable

Collections.java -- Utility class with methods to operate on collections Copyright (C) 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This file is part of GNU Classpath. GNU Classpath is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later version. GNU Classpath is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with GNU Classpath; see the file COPYING. If not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA. Linking this library statically or dynamically with other modules is making a combined work based on this library. Thus, the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License cover the whole combination. As a special exception, the copyright holders of this library give you permission to link this library with independent modules to produce an executable, regardless of the license terms of these independent modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting executable under terms of your choice, provided that you also meet, for each linked independent module, the terms and conditions of the license of that module. An independent module is a module which is not derived from or based on this library. If you modify this library, you may extend this exception to your version of the library, but you are not obligated to do so. If you do not wish to do so, delete this exception statement from your version.