com.google.common.primitives
Class Chars

java.lang.Object
  com.google.common.primitives.Chars

public final class Chars
extends Object

Static utility methods pertaining to char primitives, that are not already found in either Character or Arrays.

All the operations in this class treat char values strictly numerically; they are neither Unicode-aware nor locale-dependent.

Since:

1

Author:

Kevin Bourrillion

BYTES

public static final int BYTES

The number of bytes required to represent a primitive char value.

See Also:

Constant Field Values

hashCode

public static int hashCode(char value)

Returns a hash code for value; equal to the result of invoking ((Character) value).hashCode().

Parameters:

value - a primitive char value

Returns:

a hash code for the value

checkedCast

public static char checkedCast(long value)

Returns the char value that is equal to value, if possible.

Parameters:

value - any value in the range of the char type

Returns:

the char value that equals value

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - if value is greater than Character.MAX_VALUE or less than Character.MIN_VALUE

saturatedCast

public static char saturatedCast(long value)

Returns the char nearest in value to value.

Parameters:

value - any long value

Returns:

the same value cast to char if it is in the range of the char type, Character.MAX_VALUE if it is too large, or Character.MIN_VALUE if it is too small

compare

public static int compare(char a,
                          char b)

Compares the two specified char values. The sign of the value returned is the same as that of ((Character) a).compareTo(b).

Parameters:

a - the first char to compare

b - the second char to compare

Returns:

a negative value if a is less than b; a positive value if a is greater than b; or zero if they are equal

contains

public static boolean contains(char[] array,
                               char target)

Returns true if target is present as an element anywhere in array.

Parameters:

array - an array of char values, possibly empty

target - a primitive char value

Returns:

true if array[i] == target for some value of i

indexOf

public static int indexOf(char[] array,
                          char target)

Returns the index of the first appearance of the value target in array.

Parameters:

array - an array of char values, possibly empty

target - a primitive char value

Returns:

the least index i for which array[i] == target, or -1 if no such index exists.

indexOf

public static int indexOf(char[] array,
                          char[] target)

Returns the start position of the first occurrence of the specified target within array, or -1 if there is no such occurrence.

More formally, returns the lowest index i such that java.util.Arrays.copyOfRange(array, i, i + target.length) contains exactly the same elements as target.

Parameters:

array - the array to search for the sequence target

target - the array to search for as a sub-sequence of array

lastIndexOf

public static int lastIndexOf(char[] array,
                              char target)

Returns the index of the last appearance of the value target in array.

Parameters:

array - an array of char values, possibly empty

target - a primitive char value

Returns:

the greatest index i for which array[i] == target, or -1 if no such index exists.

min

public static char min(char... array)

Returns the least value present in array.

Parameters:

array - a nonempty array of char values

Returns:

the value present in array that is less than or equal to every other value in the array

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - if array is empty

max

public static char max(char... array)

Returns the greatest value present in array.

Parameters:

array - a nonempty array of char values

Returns:

the value present in array that is greater than or equal to every other value in the array

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - if array is empty

concat

public static char[] concat(char[]... arrays)

Returns the values from each provided array combined into a single array. For example, concat(new char[] {a, b}, new char[] {}, new char[] {c} returns the array {a, b, c}.

Parameters:

arrays - zero or more char arrays

Returns:

a single array containing all the values from the source arrays, in order

toByteArray

public static byte[] toByteArray(char value)

Returns a big-endian representation of value in a 2-element byte array; equivalent to ByteBuffer.allocate(2).putChar(value).array(). For example, the input value '\\u5432' would yield the byte array {0x54, 0x32}.

If you need to convert and concatenate several values (possibly even of different types), use a shared ByteBuffer instance, or use ByteStreams.newDataOutput() to get a growable buffer.

fromByteArray

public static char fromByteArray(byte[] bytes)

Returns the char value whose big-endian representation is stored in the first 2 bytes of bytes; equivalent to ByteBuffer.wrap(bytes).getChar(). For example, the input byte array {0x54, 0x32} would yield the char value '\\u5432'.

Arguably, it's preferable to use ByteBuffer; that library exposes much more flexibility at little cost in readability.

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - if bytes has fewer than 2 elements

ensureCapacity

public static char[] ensureCapacity(char[] array,
                                    int minLength,
                                    int padding)

Returns an array containing the same values as array, but guaranteed to be of a specified minimum length. If array already has a length of at least minLength, it is returned directly. Otherwise, a new array of size minLength + padding is returned, containing the values of array, and zeroes in the remaining places.

Parameters:

array - the source array

minLength - the minimum length the returned array must guarantee

padding - an extra amount to "grow" the array by if growth is necessary

Returns:

an array containing the values of array, with guaranteed minimum length minLength

Throws:

IllegalArgumentException - if minLength or padding is negative

join

public static String join(String separator,
                          char... array)

Returns a string containing the supplied char values separated by separator. For example, join("-", '1', '2', '3') returns the string "1-2-3".

Parameters:

separator - the text that should appear between consecutive values in the resulting string (but not at the start or end)

array - an array of char values, possibly empty

lexicographicalComparator

public static Comparator<char[]> lexicographicalComparator()

Returns a comparator that compares two char arrays lexicographically. That is, it compares, using compare(char, char)), the first pair of values that follow any common prefix, or when one array is a prefix of the other, treats the shorter array as the lesser. For example, [] < ['a'] < ['a', 'b'] < ['b'].

The returned comparator is inconsistent with Object.equals(Object) (since arrays support only identity equality), but it is consistent with Arrays.equals(char[], char[]).

Since:

2

See Also:

Lexicographical order article at Wikipedia

toArray

public static char[] toArray(Collection<Character> collection)

Copies a collection of Character instances into a new array of primitive char values.

Elements are copied from the argument collection as if by collection.toArray(). Calling this method is as thread-safe as calling that method.

Parameters:

collection - a collection of Character objects

Returns:

an array containing the same values as collection, in the same order, converted to primitives

Throws:

NullPointerException - if collection or any of its elements is null

asList

public static List<Character> asList(char... backingArray)

Returns a fixed-size list backed by the specified array, similar to Arrays.asList(Object[]). The list supports List.set(int, Object), but any attempt to set a value to null will result in a NullPointerException.

The returned list maintains the values, but not the identities, of Character objects written to or read from it. For example, whether list.get(0) == list.get(0) is true for the returned list is unspecified.

Parameters:

backingArray - the array to back the list

Returns:

a list view of the array