All elements inserted into an sorted set must implement the Comparable interface (or be accepted by the specified Comparator). Furthermore, all such elements must be mutually comparable: e1.compareTo(e2) (or comparator.compare(e1, e2)) must not throw a ClassCastException for any elements e1 and e2 in the sorted set. Attempts to violate this restriction will cause the offending method or constructor invocation to throw a ClassCastException.
Note that the ordering maintained by a sorted set (whether or not an explicit comparator is provided) must be consistent with equals if the sorted set is to correctly implement the Set interface. (See the Comparable interface or Comparator interface for a precise definition of consistent with equals.) This is so because the Set interface is defined in terms of the equals operation, but a sorted set performs all element comparisons using its compareTo (or compare) method, so two elements that are deemed equal by this method are, from the standpoint of the sorted set, equal. The behavior of a sorted set is well-defined even if its ordering is inconsistent with equals; it just fails to obey the general contract of the Set interface.
All general-purpose sorted set implementation classes should provide four "standard" constructors: 1) A void (no arguments) constructor, which creates an empty sorted set sorted according to the natural order of its elements. 2) A constructor with a single argument of type Comparator, which creates an empty sorted set sorted according to the specified comparator. 3) A constructor with a single argument of type Collection, which creates a new sorted set with the same elements as its argument, sorted according to the elements' natural ordering. 4) A constructor with a single argument of type SortedSet, which creates a new sorted set with the same elements and the same ordering as the input sorted set. There is no way to enforce this recommendation (as interfaces cannot contain constructors) but the JDK implementation (the TreeSet class) complies.
This interface is a member of the Java Collections Framework.
o, to this set if this set contains no element
e such that (o==null ? e==null :
o.equals(e)). If this set already contains the specified
element, the call leaves this set unchanged and returns false.
In combination with the restriction on constructors, this ensures that
sets never contain duplicate elements.The stipulation above does not imply that sets must accept all elements; sets may refuse to add any particular element, including null, and throwing an exception, as described in the specification for Collection.add. Individual set implementations should clearly document any restrictions on the elements that they may contain.
e such that (o==null ? e==null :
o.equals(e)).s1.equals(s2) implies that
s1.hashCode()==s2.hashCode() for any two sets
s1 and s2, as required by the general
contract of the Object.hashCode method.The sorted set returned by this method will throw an IllegalArgumentException if the user attempts to insert a element outside the specified range.
Note: this method always returns a view that does not contain its (high) endpoint. If you need a view that does contain this endpoint, and the element type allows for calculation of the successor a given value, merely request a headSet bounded by successor(highEndpoint). For example, suppose that s is a sorted set of strings. The following idiom obtains a view containing all of the strings in s that are less than or equal to high:
SortedSet head = s.headSet(high+"\0");
e such that
(o==null ? e==null : o.equals(e)), if the set contains
such an element. Returns true if the set contained the
specified element (or equivalently, if the set changed as a result of
the call). (The set will not contain the specified element once the
call returns.)The sorted set returned by this method will throw an IllegalArgumentException if the user attempts to insert a element outside the specified range.
Note: this method always returns a half-open range (which includes its low endpoint but not its high endpoint). If you need a closed range (which includes both endpoints), and the element type allows for calculation of the successor a given value, merely request the subrange from lowEndpoint to successor(highEndpoint). For example, suppose that s is a sorted set of strings. The following idiom obtains a view containing all of the strings in s from low to high, inclusive:
SortedSet sub = s.subSet(low, high+"\0");A similar technique can be used to generate an open range (which contains neither endpoint). The following idiom obtains a view containing all of the Strings in s from low to high, exclusive:
SortedSet sub = s.subSet(low+"\0", high);
The sorted set returned by this method will throw an IllegalArgumentException if the user attempts to insert a element outside the specified range.
Note: this method always returns a view that contains its (low) endpoint. If you need a view that does not contain this endpoint, and the element type allows for calculation of the successor a given value, merely request a tailSet bounded by successor(lowEndpoint). For example, suppose that s is a sorted set of strings. The following idiom obtains a view containing all of the strings in s that are strictly greater than low:
SortedSet tail = s.tailSet(low+"\0");