Added in API level 1

CharacterIterator

interface CharacterIterator : Cloneable
java.text.CharacterIterator

This interface defines a protocol for bidirectional iteration over text. The iterator iterates over a bounded sequence of characters. Characters are indexed with values beginning with the value returned by getBeginIndex() and continuing through the value returned by getEndIndex()-1.

Iterators maintain a current character index, whose valid range is from getBeginIndex() to getEndIndex(); the value getEndIndex() is included to allow handling of zero-length text ranges and for historical reasons. The current index can be retrieved by calling getIndex() and set directly by calling setIndex(), first(), and last().

The methods previous() and next() are used for iteration. They return DONE if they would move outside the range from getBeginIndex() to getEndIndex() -1, signaling that the iterator has reached the end of the sequence. DONE is also returned by other methods to indicate that the current index is outside this range.

Examples:

Traverse the text from start to finish

<code>public void traverseForward(CharacterIterator iter) {
      for(char c = iter.first(); c != CharacterIterator.DONE; c = iter.next()) {
          processChar(c);
      }
  }
  </code>
Traverse the text backwards, from end to start
<code>public void traverseBackward(CharacterIterator iter) {
      for(char c = iter.last(); c != CharacterIterator.DONE; c = iter.previous()) {
          processChar(c);
      }
  }
  </code>
Traverse both forward and backward from a given position in the text. Calls to notBoundary() in this example represents some additional stopping criteria.
<code>public void traverseOut(CharacterIterator iter, int pos) {
      for (char c = iter.setIndex(pos);
               c != CharacterIterator.DONE &amp;&amp; notBoundary(c);
               c = iter.next()) {
      }
      int end = iter.getIndex();
      for (char c = iter.setIndex(pos);
              c != CharacterIterator.DONE &amp;&amp; notBoundary(c);
              c = iter.previous()) {
      }
      int start = iter.getIndex();
      processSection(start, end);
  }
  </code>

Summary

Constants
static Char

Constant that is returned when the iterator has reached either the end or the beginning of the text.

Public methods
abstract Any

Create a copy of this iterator

abstract Char

Gets the character at the current position (as returned by getIndex()).

abstract Char

Sets the position to getBeginIndex() and returns the character at that position.

abstract Int

Returns the start index of the text.

abstract Int

Returns the end index of the text.

abstract Int

Returns the current index.

abstract Char

Sets the position to getEndIndex()-1 (getEndIndex() if the text is empty) and returns the character at that position.

abstract Char

Increments the iterator's index by one and returns the character at the new index.

abstract Char

Decrements the iterator's index by one and returns the character at the new index.

abstract Char
setIndex(position: Int)

Sets the position to the specified position in the text and returns that character.

Constants

DONE

Added in API level 1
static val DONE: Char

Constant that is returned when the iterator has reached either the end or the beginning of the text. The value is '\\uFFFF', the "not a character" value which should not occur in any valid Unicode string.

Value: 65535

Public methods

clone

Added in API level 1
abstract fun clone(): Any

Create a copy of this iterator

Return
Any A copy of this
Exceptions
java.lang.CloneNotSupportedException if the object's class does not support the Cloneable interface. Subclasses that override the clone method can also throw this exception to indicate that an instance cannot be cloned.

current

Added in API level 1
abstract fun current(): Char

Gets the character at the current position (as returned by getIndex()).

Return
Char the character at the current position or DONE if the current position is off the end of the text.

See Also

first

Added in API level 1
abstract fun first(): Char

Sets the position to getBeginIndex() and returns the character at that position.

Return
Char the first character in the text, or DONE if the text is empty

See Also

getBeginIndex

Added in API level 1
abstract fun getBeginIndex(): Int

Returns the start index of the text.

Return
Int the index at which the text begins.

getEndIndex

Added in API level 1
abstract fun getEndIndex(): Int

Returns the end index of the text. This index is the index of the first character following the end of the text.

Return
Int the index after the last character in the text

getIndex

Added in API level 1
abstract fun getIndex(): Int

Returns the current index.

Return
Int the current index.

last

Added in API level 1
abstract fun last(): Char

Sets the position to getEndIndex()-1 (getEndIndex() if the text is empty) and returns the character at that position.

Return
Char the last character in the text, or DONE if the text is empty

See Also

next

Added in API level 1
abstract fun next(): Char

Increments the iterator's index by one and returns the character at the new index. If the resulting index is greater or equal to getEndIndex(), the current index is reset to getEndIndex() and a value of DONE is returned.

Return
Char the character at the new position or DONE if the new position is off the end of the text range.

previous

Added in API level 1
abstract fun previous(): Char

Decrements the iterator's index by one and returns the character at the new index. If the current index is getBeginIndex(), the index remains at getBeginIndex() and a value of DONE is returned.

Return
Char the character at the new position or DONE if the current position is equal to getBeginIndex().

setIndex

Added in API level 1
abstract fun setIndex(position: Int): Char

Sets the position to the specified position in the text and returns that character.

Parameters
position Int: the position within the text. Valid values range from getBeginIndex() to getEndIndex(). An IllegalArgumentException is thrown if an invalid value is supplied.
Return
Char the character at the specified position or DONE if the specified position is equal to getEndIndex()