001/*
002 * Copyright (C) 2007 The Guava Authors
003 *
004 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
005 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
006 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
007 *
008 * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
009 *
010 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
011 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
012 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
013 * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
014 * limitations under the License.
015 */
016
017package com.google.common.collect;
018
019import com.google.common.annotations.GwtCompatible;
020import com.google.errorprone.annotations.CanIgnoreReturnValue;
021import java.util.Collection;
022import java.util.List;
023import java.util.Map;
024import java.util.Set;
025import javax.annotation.Nullable;
026
027/**
028 * A collection that maps keys to values, similar to {@link Map}, but in which
029 * each key may be associated with <i>multiple</i> values. You can visualize the
030 * contents of a multimap either as a map from keys to <i>nonempty</i>
031 * collections of values:
032 *
033 * <ul>
034 * <li>a → 1, 2
035 * <li>b → 3
036 * </ul>
037 *
038 * ... or as a single "flattened" collection of key-value pairs:
039 *
040 * <ul>
041 * <li>a → 1
042 * <li>a → 2
043 * <li>b → 3
044 * </ul>
045 *
046 * <p><b>Important:</b> although the first interpretation resembles how most
047 * multimaps are <i>implemented</i>, the design of the {@code Multimap} API is
048 * based on the <i>second</i> form. So, using the multimap shown above as an
049 * example, the {@link #size} is {@code 3}, not {@code 2}, and the {@link
050 * #values} collection is {@code [1, 2, 3]}, not {@code [[1, 2], [3]]}. For
051 * those times when the first style is more useful, use the multimap's {@link
052 * #asMap} view (or create a {@code Map<K, Collection<V>>} in the first place).
053 *
054 * <h3>Example</h3>
055 *
056 * <p>The following code: <pre>   {@code
057 *
058 *   ListMultimap<String, String> multimap = ArrayListMultimap.create();
059 *   for (President pres : US_PRESIDENTS_IN_ORDER) {
060 *     multimap.put(pres.firstName(), pres.lastName());
061 *   }
062 *   for (String firstName : multimap.keySet()) {
063 *     List<String> lastNames = multimap.get(firstName);
064 *     out.println(firstName + ": " + lastNames);
065 *   }}</pre>
066 *
067 * ... produces output such as: <pre>   {@code
068 *
069 *   Zachary: [Taylor]
070 *   John: [Adams, Adams, Tyler, Kennedy]  // Remember, Quincy!
071 *   George: [Washington, Bush, Bush]
072 *   Grover: [Cleveland, Cleveland]        // Two, non-consecutive terms, rep'ing NJ!
073 *   ...}</pre>
074 *
075 * <h3>Views</h3>
076 *
077 * <p>Much of the power of the multimap API comes from the <i>view
078 * collections</i> it provides. These always reflect the latest state of the
079 * multimap itself. When they support modification, the changes are
080 * <i>write-through</i> (they automatically update the backing multimap). These
081 * view collections are:
082 *
083 * <ul>
084 * <li>{@link #asMap}, mentioned above</li>
085 * <li>{@link #keys}, {@link #keySet}, {@link #values}, {@link #entries}, which
086 *     are similar to the corresponding view collections of {@link Map}
087 * <li>and, notably, even the collection returned by {@link #get get(key)} is an
088 *     active view of the values corresponding to {@code key}
089 * </ul>
090 *
091 * <p>The collections returned by the {@link #replaceValues replaceValues} and
092 * {@link #removeAll removeAll} methods, which contain values that have just
093 * been removed from the multimap, are naturally <i>not</i> views.
094 *
095 * <h3>Subinterfaces</h3>
096 *
097 * <p>Instead of using the {@code Multimap} interface directly, prefer the
098 * subinterfaces {@link ListMultimap} and {@link SetMultimap}. These take their
099 * names from the fact that the collections they return from {@code get} behave
100 * like (and, of course, implement) {@link List} and {@link Set}, respectively.
101 *
102 * <p>For example, the "presidents" code snippet above used a {@code
103 * ListMultimap}; if it had used a {@code SetMultimap} instead, two presidents
104 * would have vanished, and last names might or might not appear in
105 * chronological order.
106 *
107 * <p><b>Warning:</b> instances of type {@code Multimap} may not implement
108 * {@link Object#equals} in the way you expect.  Multimaps containing the same
109 * key-value pairs, even in the same order, may or may not be equal and may or
110 * may not have the same {@code hashCode}. The recommended subinterfaces
111 * provide much stronger guarantees.
112 *
113 * <h3>Comparison to a map of collections</h3>
114 *
115 * <p>Multimaps are commonly used in places where a {@code Map<K,
116 * Collection<V>>} would otherwise have appeared. The differences include:
117 *
118 * <ul>
119 * <li>There is no need to populate an empty collection before adding an entry
120 *     with {@link #put put}.
121 * <li>{@code get} never returns {@code null}, only an empty collection.
122 * <li>A key is contained in the multimap if and only if it maps to at least
123 *     one value. Any operation that causes a key to have zero associated
124 *     values has the effect of <i>removing</i> that key from the multimap.
125 * <li>The total entry count is available as {@link #size}.
126 * <li>Many complex operations become easier; for example, {@code
127 *     Collections.min(multimap.values())} finds the smallest value across all
128 *     keys.
129 * </ul>
130 *
131 * <h3>Implementations</h3>
132 *
133 * <p>As always, prefer the immutable implementations, {@link
134 * ImmutableListMultimap} and {@link ImmutableSetMultimap}. General-purpose
135 * mutable implementations are listed above under "All Known Implementing
136 * Classes". You can also create a <i>custom</i> multimap, backed by any {@code
137 * Map} and {@link Collection} types, using the {@link Multimaps#newMultimap
138 * Multimaps.newMultimap} family of methods. Finally, another popular way to
139 * obtain a multimap is using {@link Multimaps#index Multimaps.index}. See
140 * the {@link Multimaps} class for these and other static utilities related
141 * to multimaps.
142 *
143 * <h3>Other Notes</h3>
144 *
145 * <p>As with {@code Map}, the behavior of a {@code Multimap} is not specified
146 * if key objects already present in the multimap change in a manner that
147 * affects {@code equals} comparisons.  Use caution if mutable objects are used
148 * as keys in a {@code Multimap}.
149 *
150 * <p>All methods that modify the multimap are optional. The view collections
151 * returned by the multimap may or may not be modifiable. Any modification
152 * method that is not supported will throw {@link
153 * UnsupportedOperationException}.
154 *
155 * <p>See the Guava User Guide article on <a href=
156 * "https://github.com/google/guava/wiki/NewCollectionTypesExplained#multimap">
157 * {@code Multimap}</a>.
158 *
159 * @author Jared Levy
160 * @since 2.0
161 */
162@GwtCompatible
163public interface Multimap<K, V> {
164  // Query Operations
165
166  /**
167   * Returns the number of key-value pairs in this multimap.
168   *
169   * <p><b>Note:</b> this method does not return the number of <i>distinct
170   * keys</i> in the multimap, which is given by {@code keySet().size()} or
171   * {@code asMap().size()}. See the opening section of the {@link Multimap}
172   * class documentation for clarification.
173   */
174  int size();
175
176  /**
177   * Returns {@code true} if this multimap contains no key-value pairs.
178   * Equivalent to {@code size() == 0}, but can in some cases be more efficient.
179   */
180  boolean isEmpty();
181
182  /**
183   * Returns {@code true} if this multimap contains at least one key-value pair
184   * with the key {@code key}.
185   */
186  boolean containsKey(@Nullable Object key);
187
188  /**
189   * Returns {@code true} if this multimap contains at least one key-value pair
190   * with the value {@code value}.
191   */
192  boolean containsValue(@Nullable Object value);
193
194  /**
195   * Returns {@code true} if this multimap contains at least one key-value pair
196   * with the key {@code key} and the value {@code value}.
197   */
198  boolean containsEntry(@Nullable Object key, @Nullable Object value);
199
200  // Modification Operations
201
202  /**
203   * Stores a key-value pair in this multimap.
204   *
205   * <p>Some multimap implementations allow duplicate key-value pairs, in which
206   * case {@code put} always adds a new key-value pair and increases the
207   * multimap size by 1. Other implementations prohibit duplicates, and storing
208   * a key-value pair that's already in the multimap has no effect.
209   *
210   * @return {@code true} if the method increased the size of the multimap, or
211   *     {@code false} if the multimap already contained the key-value pair and
212   *     doesn't allow duplicates
213   */
214  @CanIgnoreReturnValue
215  boolean put(@Nullable K key, @Nullable V value);
216
217  /**
218   * Removes a single key-value pair with the key {@code key} and the value
219   * {@code value} from this multimap, if such exists. If multiple key-value
220   * pairs in the multimap fit this description, which one is removed is
221   * unspecified.
222   *
223   * @return {@code true} if the multimap changed
224   */
225  @CanIgnoreReturnValue
226  boolean remove(@Nullable Object key, @Nullable Object value);
227
228  // Bulk Operations
229
230  /**
231   * Stores a key-value pair in this multimap for each of {@code values}, all
232   * using the same key, {@code key}. Equivalent to (but expected to be more
233   * efficient than): <pre>   {@code
234   *
235   *   for (V value : values) {
236   *     put(key, value);
237   *   }}</pre>
238   *
239   * <p>In particular, this is a no-op if {@code values} is empty.
240   *
241   * @return {@code true} if the multimap changed
242   */
243  @CanIgnoreReturnValue
244  boolean putAll(@Nullable K key, Iterable<? extends V> values);
245
246  /**
247   * Stores all key-value pairs of {@code multimap} in this multimap, in the
248   * order returned by {@code multimap.entries()}.
249   *
250   * @return {@code true} if the multimap changed
251   */
252  @CanIgnoreReturnValue
253  boolean putAll(Multimap<? extends K, ? extends V> multimap);
254
255  /**
256   * Stores a collection of values with the same key, replacing any existing
257   * values for that key.
258   *
259   * <p>If {@code values} is empty, this is equivalent to
260   * {@link #removeAll(Object) removeAll(key)}.
261   *
262   * @return the collection of replaced values, or an empty collection if no
263   *     values were previously associated with the key. The collection
264   *     <i>may</i> be modifiable, but updating it will have no effect on the
265   *     multimap.
266   */
267  @CanIgnoreReturnValue
268  Collection<V> replaceValues(@Nullable K key, Iterable<? extends V> values);
269
270  /**
271   * Removes all values associated with the key {@code key}.
272   *
273   * <p>Once this method returns, {@code key} will not be mapped to any values,
274   * so it will not appear in {@link #keySet()}, {@link #asMap()}, or any other
275   * views.
276   *
277   * @return the values that were removed (possibly empty). The returned
278   *     collection <i>may</i> be modifiable, but updating it will have no
279   *     effect on the multimap.
280   */
281  @CanIgnoreReturnValue
282  Collection<V> removeAll(@Nullable Object key);
283
284  /**
285   * Removes all key-value pairs from the multimap, leaving it {@linkplain
286   * #isEmpty empty}.
287   */
288  void clear();
289
290  // Views
291
292  /**
293   * Returns a view collection of the values associated with {@code key} in this
294   * multimap, if any. Note that when {@code containsKey(key)} is false, this
295   * returns an empty collection, not {@code null}.
296   *
297   * <p>Changes to the returned collection will update the underlying multimap,
298   * and vice versa.
299   */
300  Collection<V> get(@Nullable K key);
301
302  /**
303   * Returns a view collection of all <i>distinct</i> keys contained in this
304   * multimap. Note that the key set contains a key if and only if this multimap
305   * maps that key to at least one value.
306   *
307   * <p>Changes to the returned set will update the underlying multimap, and
308   * vice versa. However, <i>adding</i> to the returned set is not possible.
309   */
310  Set<K> keySet();
311
312  /**
313   * Returns a view collection containing the key from each key-value pair in
314   * this multimap, <i>without</i> collapsing duplicates. This collection has
315   * the same size as this multimap, and {@code keys().count(k) ==
316   * get(k).size()} for all {@code k}.
317   *
318   * <p>Changes to the returned multiset will update the underlying multimap,
319   * and vice versa. However, <i>adding</i> to the returned collection is not
320   * possible.
321   */
322  Multiset<K> keys();
323
324  /**
325   * Returns a view collection containing the <i>value</i> from each key-value
326   * pair contained in this multimap, without collapsing duplicates (so {@code
327   * values().size() == size()}).
328   *
329   * <p>Changes to the returned collection will update the underlying multimap,
330   * and vice versa. However, <i>adding</i> to the returned collection is not
331   * possible.
332   */
333  Collection<V> values();
334
335  /**
336   * Returns a view collection of all key-value pairs contained in this
337   * multimap, as {@link Map.Entry} instances.
338   *
339   * <p>Changes to the returned collection or the entries it contains will
340   * update the underlying multimap, and vice versa. However, <i>adding</i> to
341   * the returned collection is not possible.
342   */
343  Collection<Map.Entry<K, V>> entries();
344
345  /**
346   * Returns a view of this multimap as a {@code Map} from each distinct key
347   * to the nonempty collection of that key's associated values. Note that
348   * {@code this.asMap().get(k)} is equivalent to {@code this.get(k)} only when
349   * {@code k} is a key contained in the multimap; otherwise it returns {@code
350   * null} as opposed to an empty collection.
351   *
352   * <p>Changes to the returned map or the collections that serve as its values
353   * will update the underlying multimap, and vice versa. The map does not
354   * support {@code put} or {@code putAll}, nor do its entries support {@link
355   * Map.Entry#setValue setValue}.
356   */
357  Map<K, Collection<V>> asMap();
358
359  // Comparison and hashing
360
361  /**
362   * Compares the specified object with this multimap for equality. Two
363   * multimaps are equal when their map views, as returned by {@link #asMap},
364   * are also equal.
365   *
366   * <p>In general, two multimaps with identical key-value mappings may or may
367   * not be equal, depending on the implementation. For example, two
368   * {@link SetMultimap} instances with the same key-value mappings are equal,
369   * but equality of two {@link ListMultimap} instances depends on the ordering
370   * of the values for each key.
371   *
372   * <p>A non-empty {@link SetMultimap} cannot be equal to a non-empty
373   * {@link ListMultimap}, since their {@link #asMap} views contain unequal
374   * collections as values. However, any two empty multimaps are equal, because
375   * they both have empty {@link #asMap} views.
376   */
377  @Override
378  boolean equals(@Nullable Object obj);
379
380  /**
381   * Returns the hash code for this multimap.
382   *
383   * <p>The hash code of a multimap is defined as the hash code of the map view,
384   * as returned by {@link Multimap#asMap}.
385   *
386   * <p>In general, two multimaps with identical key-value mappings may or may
387   * not have the same hash codes, depending on the implementation. For
388   * example, two {@link SetMultimap} instances with the same key-value
389   * mappings will have the same {@code hashCode}, but the {@code hashCode}
390   * of {@link ListMultimap} instances depends on the ordering of the values
391   * for each key.
392   */
393  @Override
394  int hashCode();
395}