Java in a Nutshell, 5th Edition

Name

CollationKey

Synopsis

CollationKey objects compare strings more quickly than is possible with Collation.compare( ). Objects of this class are returned by Collation.getCollationKey( ). To compare two CollationKey objects, invoke the compareTo( ) method of key A, passing the key B as an argument (both CollationKey objects must be created through the same Collation object). The return value of this method is less than zero if the key A is collated before the key B, equal to zero if they are equivalent for the purposes of collation, or greater than zero if the key A is collated after the key B. Use getSourceString( ) to obtain the string represented by a CollationKey.

Figure 15-5. java.text.CollationKey

public final class CollationKey implements Comparable<CollationKey> {
// No Constructor
                  // Public Instance Methods
     public int compareTo(CollationKey target);    Implements:Comparable
     public String getSourceString( );  
     public byte[ ] toByteArray( );  
// Methods Implementing Comparable
     public int compareTo(CollationKey target);  
// Public Methods Overriding Object
     public boolean equals(Object target);  
     public int hashCode( );  
}

Returned By

Collator.getCollationKey( ), RuleBasedCollator.getCollationKey( )